CN118041499A

CN118041499A - Synchronization/coordination/control link or channel system or method

Info

Publication number: CN118041499A
Application number: CN202311444194.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: S·维尔马; S·阿迪卡里; M·J·菲舍尔; V·埃尔采格
Original assignee: Avago Technologies General IP Singapore Pte Ltd
Current assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Ltd
Priority date: 2022-11-12
Filing date: 2023-11-01
Publication date: 2024-05-14

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to synchronization/coordination/control link or channel systems or methods. Some embodiments relate to a first apparatus for communicating with a second apparatus. The first device includes circuitry configured to transfer data to the second device using a resource. The resource has a bandwidth less than a total bandwidth of a primary channel of the plurality of links, and the data is low latency data or control data.

Description

Synchronization/coordination/control link or channel system or method

Cross reference to related applications

The present application claims priority from the indian provisional patent application No. 2022-21064888 filed on 11/12 of 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods of communication between a Station (STA) and an Access Point (AP) or other communication device.

Background

Over the past few decades, the market for wireless communication devices has grown by orders of magnitude due to the use of portable devices and the increase in connectivity and data transfer between a wide variety of devices. Digital switching technology facilitates the massive deployment of wireless communication networks that are affordable and easy to use. Further, improvements in digital and Radio Frequency (RF) circuit fabrication, as well as advances in circuit integration and other aspects, have made wireless devices smaller, cheaper, and more reliable. Wireless communications may operate in accordance with various standards such as IEEE 802.11x, bluetooth, global system for mobile communications (GSM), code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and so on. With the development of higher data throughput and other changes, newer standards are continually being developed and adopted, such as advances from IEEE 802.11n to IEEE 802.11ac to 802.11 be.

Disclosure of Invention

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a first apparatus for communicating with a second apparatus, the first apparatus comprising: circuitry configured to: the method includes communicating data to the second device using a first resource, wherein the first resource has a bandwidth that is less than a total bandwidth of a primary channel of a plurality of links, and wherein the data is low latency data or control data.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a first apparatus for communicating over a network, the first apparatus comprising: circuitry configured to: accessing a resource, wherein the resource has a bandwidth that is less than a total bandwidth of a primary channel of a plurality of links; and allocating to other devices an opportunity to transmit short packets on the resources.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of data communication with a second device, the method comprising: providing a short packet containing said data; and communicating the short packet to the second device using a first resource, wherein the first resource has a bandwidth that is less than a total bandwidth of a primary channel of a plurality of links.

Drawings

Various objects, aspects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent and better understood by referring to the detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like characters identify corresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements.

Fig. 1A is a block diagram depicting a network environment including one or more access points in communication with one or more devices or stations, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIGS. 1B and 1C are block diagrams depicting computing devices used in connection with the methods and systems described herein, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 2A is a block diagram depicting a network including Access Points (APs) and Stations (STAs), according to some embodiments.

Fig. 2B is a more detailed block diagram of an STA configured for non-primary channel utilization operation in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a wider bandwidth including subbands for use in the network illustrated in fig. 2A, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram depicting a transmitting device and a receiving device configured for non-primary channel utilization, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example transmission device operations for a non-primary channel utilization setting operation of the network illustrated in fig. 2A, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating example receiving device operations for a non-primary channel utilization setting operation of the network illustrated in fig. 2A, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of resources for use in the network illustrated in fig. 2A, according to some embodiments.

The details of various embodiments of methods and systems are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below.

Detailed Description

The following IEEE standards, including any draft versions of such standards(s) and draft modifications of such standards, are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety and form part of this disclosure for all purposes: the WiFi alliance standards and IEEE 802.11 standards, including but not limited to IEEE 802.11a^TM、IEEE 802.11b^TM、IEEE 802.11g^TM、IEEE 802.11n^TM;802.11be^TM and IEEE P802.11ac ^TM standards. While the present disclosure may refer to aspects of the standard(s), the present disclosure is in no way limited by the standard(s).

For the purposes of reading the description of the various embodiments below, the following descriptions of the various sections of the specification and their respective contents may be helpful:

Section a describes a network environment and computing environment that may be used to practice the embodiments described herein; and

Section B describes embodiments of control link protocols and methods, and apparatuses using such protocols and methods.

Various embodiments disclosed herein relate to protocols for handling control and/or latency sensitive information. In some embodiments, the amount of control and/or latency sensitive information is not high, but still competes with a higher amount of traffic on the Wi-Fi network. In some embodiments, latency sensitive/control information may be critical to ensure throughput/latency performance of other data traffic carried via Wi-Fi. In some embodiments, the systems and methods provide a more deterministic scheme for the transmission of latency sensitive/control information. In some embodiments, the systems and methods disclosed herein provide resource sharing across multiple devices for transmission of latency sensitive/control information.

In some embodiments, the STA or AP is configured to communicate control and/or latency sensitive information with less contention for network bandwidth or resources and higher traffic than under conventional 802.11 operation. In some embodiments, the STA or AP is configured to provide resources (e.g., bandwidth, links, or channels) dedicated to traffic transmission of control and/or latency sensitive information. The size of the traffic is typically relatively small (e.g., short duration and/or small amount of data). In some embodiments, the dedicated resource is a synchronization link or channel, a coordination link or channel, or a control link or channel. In some embodiments, the systems and methods communicate latency sensitive or control information without using a priority channel access class scheme associated with conventional 802.11 networks.

The STA or AP may be implemented in a device composed of one or more Integrated Circuits (ICs). Latency sensitive information or data may refer to data having a quality such that the information should be transmitted with less delay, as in some embodiments, delay will affect the ability to properly use the data. For example, latency sensitive information includes, but is not limited to, audio data, data needed to complete time-limited computing, control or communication tasks, real-time usage data, augmented reality data, virtual reality data, packets for video conferencing, voice packets, or low latency data. Low latency data or information refers to a data packet that includes a transmission priority that exceeds the priority of other packets of the same device. The low latency data may be or include latency sensitive information or data; latency sensitive information or data may be transferred as low latency data. In some embodiments, control information or data may refer to data that is such that the information should be transmitted with less delay, as the delay will adversely affect communication, control, or computing operations. For example, control information includes, but is not limited to, information for coordinating non-primary channel use, handshakes, synchronization information, acknowledgement messages or frames, TCP control or TCP acknowledgement messages, and the like. In some embodiments, latency sensitive data or control data is provided in short packets. In some embodiments, a packet may refer to a base data unit that may be part of a larger message or may be a single message. The packet may include data in a format such as a header (e.g., control data portion-addressing, error detection code, ordering information, etc.) and a payload. In some embodiments, a short packet may refer to a packet containing hundreds of bits or less (e.g., hundreds of bits).

In some embodiments, a channel may refer to any portion of the electromagnetic spectrum used to communicate data. The portions may have various bandwidths and may be combined to form a wider bandwidth or channel. In some embodiments, the channel may have a 5MHz spacing around the center frequency and may occupy a frequency band of at least 20 MHz. Authentication and association under the 802.11 standard provides a method for provisioning client devices in a network with different levels of access. The connection between the AP and the STA must typically be authenticated by and associated with the AP, which may then be used to exchange data packets. In some embodiments, the primary channel or primary control channel may refer to a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum used to authorize and/or authenticate a connection. In some embodiments, the primary channel is a channel used to transmit beacon signals and other management frames. In some embodiments, the primary channel may be indicated in a primary channel field.

In some embodiments, authentication may refer to a procedure of how a client device accesses a network. In some embodiments, authentication provides identification to ensure that the client is allowed to access the network. In some embodiments, association may refer to a handshake procedure or other procedure for associating two devices. In some embodiments, association refers to a procedure that causes an authenticated client device to become associated with an AP. In some embodiments, the association allows the network to determine where to send data intended for the client device (e.g., send the data through an AP associated with the client device). In general, client devices are associated with only a single AP. The association may involve the exchange of parameters and information (e.g., capability information and supplemental channel selection information) for coordinating communications between devices. In some embodiments, the association may involve beacon frames, response frames, and other management frames.

According to some example network operations, the AP uses a primary control channel (e.g., 40/80/160/320MHz sub-band or channel) within a wider bandwidth. Authentication and association is performed at least on the primary control channel. For example, management frames including, but not limited to, beacons, probe responses, deauthentication/disassociation frames are communicated upon channels including a wider bandwidth primary control channel (e.g., 20MHz sub-band).

In some embodiments, a primary channel or primary control channel may refer to a channel contained within the bandwidth (e.g., wider bandwidth) of a larger channel that includes a secondary bandwidth channel or secondary channel. For example, a link may include a set of consecutive 20MHz channels, with one of the channels being the primary channel. In some embodiments, the primary channel uses the upper half or the lower half of the bandwidth of the wider channel, while the secondary channel uses the remaining half of the bandwidth of the wider channel. In some embodiments, the bandwidths of the primary and secondary channels are unequal, and the primary channel occupies a subband and one or more secondary channels occupy the remaining subbands in the wider bandwidth. In some embodiments, the secondary channel has more or less bandwidth than the primary channel. In some embodiments, the primary channel is for client devices supporting only a smaller channel bandwidth (e.g., 20 MHz), while the primary and secondary channels may be used for client devices supporting wider channel capabilities. In some embodiments, there are multiple secondary bandwidth channels and a single primary bandwidth channel each having the same bandwidth. In some embodiments, the terms primary and secondary do not imply a particular priority and are interchangeable with the first and second, and vice versa.

In some embodiments, the primary channel may refer to a common operating channel for All Stations (STAs) that are members of a Basic Service Set (BSS) and are monitored for activity, where the presence or absence of this activity is one input in an algorithm that determines whether the monitoring STA may attempt to access the medium using, for example, a random access protocol (e.g., 802.11EDCA protocol). For example, in a 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, 160MHz, or 80+80MHz, 320MHz bandwidth BSS, the primary channel is a 20MHz channel. In some embodiments, the primary channel is used to transmit all management frames, and the secondary channel is an adjacent channel to the primary channel. The secondary channel may be combined with the primary channel to form another primary channel of the next broader bandwidth.

A frame may refer to a data transmission unit. For example, a frame may refer to a container of a single network packet. A data frame may refer to a frame containing data. An ACK frame may refer to an acknowledgement message acknowledging receipt of a frame, and a block ACK frame may refer to an acknowledgement message acknowledging receipt of a number of frames. Parameters for use in non-primary channel utilization may be provided in management frames and acknowledgement frames. In some embodiments, a management frame may refer to any frame used to provide data control or coordinated communications. The management frames may include frames provided during association and authentication, as well as other handshakes and messaging.

Some embodiments relate to a first apparatus for communicating with a second apparatus. The first device is configured to communicate data to the second device using the resources. In a 2.4GHz link, a 5GHz link, or a 6GHz link, the resources have a bandwidth less than 2.1MHz and the data is latency sensitive data or control data.

Some embodiments relate to a first apparatus for communicating with a second apparatus. The first device is configured to communicate data to the second device using the resources. The resource has a bandwidth less than a total bandwidth of a primary channel of the plurality of links, and the data is latency sensitive data or control data.

In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to communicate a frame that assigns other devices an opportunity to transmit on the resource. In some embodiments, the first device comprises an access point device that communicates via an 802.11be protocol. In some embodiments, the resource is 26-tone bandwidth. In some embodiments, each tone has a bandwidth less than 80 kilohertz wide. In some embodiments, the data is augmented reality data, virtual reality data, packets for video conferencing, or voice packets. In some embodiments, the frame provides time division multiplexing parameters of the resources. In some embodiments, the frames provide frequency division multiplexing parameters for the resources. In some embodiments, a voice packet may refer to a packet containing voice data, including but not limited to voice data used in telephony applications, video conferencing, and the like. In some embodiments, a packet for a video conference may refer to a packet containing video, screen presentation data, and/or voice data associated with the video conference. In some embodiments, the augmented reality data may refer to control, graphics, audio, or video data associated with an augmented reality application. In some embodiments, virtual reality data may refer to control, graphics, audio, or video data associated with a virtual reality application.

In some embodiments, the data includes occupancy of a primary channel, occupancy of an enhanced multi-link single radio (EMLSR) primary link, or spatial reuse coordination information. In some embodiments, the resources are within a 2.4GHz link. In some embodiments, the resource is a set of resources, each resource having a bandwidth of less than 2.1 MHz. In some embodiments, the data is used for non-primary channel utilization. The data may include information regarding channel and non-primary channel utilization and/or device capabilities. In some embodiments, occupancy may refer to a device using a channel such that communications by other devices on the channel are adversely affected (e.g., due to interference, noise, etc.). In some embodiments, occupancy may be caused by Overlapping Business Service Sets (OBSSs). In some embodiments, occupancy may be detected by sensing the received signal strength on the channel or carrier sensing. In some embodiments, occupancy may be detected by operations including, but not limited to, operations that may include a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) operation or a preamble decoding operation.

In some embodiments, the data is used for non-primary channel utilization. The data may include information regarding channel and non-primary channel utilization and/or device capabilities. In some embodiments, occupancy may refer to a device using a channel such that communications by other devices on the channel are adversely affected (e.g., due to interference, noise, etc.). In some embodiments, occupancy may be caused by Overlapping Business Service Sets (OBSSs). In some embodiments, occupancy may be detected by sensing the received signal strength on the channel or carrier sensing. In some embodiments, occupancy may be detected by operations including, but not limited to, operations that may include a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) operation or a preamble decoding operation. In some embodiments, the primary channel may refer to a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum used to authorize and/or authenticate the connection. In some embodiments, the primary channel is a channel used to transmit beacon signals and other management frames. In some embodiments, the primary channel may be indicated in a primary channel field. The terms primary channel and primary control channel are used interchangeably herein. The secondary channel may refer to a channel that is not a primary channel. In some embodiments, the spatial reuse coordination information may refer to data used to coordinate channel reuse. In some embodiments, this information is maintained on a spatial reuse group BSS color bitmap of a spatial reuse parameter set that stores different BSS colors belonging to the same spatial reuse group. In some embodiments, the AP of a given BSS is responsible for maintaining the bitmap. In some embodiments, EMLSR primary links may refer to primary channels for devices that communicate using EMLSR. In some embodiments, non-primary channel utilization refers to an operation that causes a device to switch to a secondary channel based on the device's capabilities when the primary channel is occupied.

Some embodiments relate to a first apparatus for communicating over a network. The first device includes circuitry configured to access the first resource and assign an opportunity to transmit a short packet to the other device on the first resource or the second resource. The resource has a bandwidth that is less than a total bandwidth of the primary channels of the plurality of links. In some embodiments, the first resource may be used to control the second resource, or may be used directly for low latency data transfer. In some embodiments, the first resource has limited capacity, so it cannot be widely used for such low latency data transfers, and the first resource is used as a control channel for the second higher bandwidth capacity resource.

In some embodiments, the first device comprises a Station (STA) device that communicates via an 802.11be protocol. In some embodiments, the resource has a 26-tone bandwidth. In some embodiments, tone has a bandwidth of 78.125 kilohertz wide. In some embodiments, the short packets include augmented reality data, virtual reality data, packets for video conferencing, or voice packets.

Some embodiments relate to a method of data communication with a second device. The method includes providing a short packet containing data and communicating the short packet to a second device using a resource, wherein the resource has a bandwidth that is less than a total bandwidth of a primary channel of a plurality of links.

In some embodiments, the data is low latency data or control data. In some embodiments, the short packet contains occupancy information for the 20MHz primary channel. In some embodiments, the short packet contains scheduling information for a 20MHz primary channel or other channel.

A. Computing and network environment

Before discussing particular embodiments of the present solution, it may be helpful to describe aspects of the operating environment and related associated components (e.g., hardware elements) in connection with the methods and systems described herein. Referring to fig. 1A, an embodiment of a network environment is depicted. Briefly, a network environment includes a wireless communication system including one or more Access Points (APs) or network devices 106, one or more client devices (e.g., STAs) or wireless communication devices 102, and network hardware components or network hardware 192. For example, the wireless communication device 102 may include a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a personal computer, and/or a cellular telephone device. Details of embodiments of each station or wireless communication device 102 and AP or network device 106 are described in more detail with reference to fig. 1B and 1C. In one embodiment, the network environment may be an ad hoc network environment, an infrastructure wireless network environment, a subnet environment, and the like. The network device 106 or AP may be operably coupled to the network hardware 192 via a local area network connection. In some embodiments, the network device 106 is a 5G base station. Network hardware 192, which may include routers, gateways, switches, bridges, modems, system controllers, appliances, and the like, may provide local area network connectivity for the communication system. Each of the network devices 106 or APs may have an associated antenna or antenna array to communicate with wireless communication devices in its area. The wireless communication device 102 may register with a particular network device 106 or AP to receive services from the communication system (e.g., via SU-MIMO or MU-MIMO configuration). For direct connections (e.g., point-to-point communications), some wireless communication devices may communicate directly via an allocated channel and communication protocol. Some wireless communication devices 102 may be mobile or relatively stationary with respect to the network device 106 or the AP.

In some embodiments, the network device 106 or AP includes a device or module (including a combination of hardware and software) that allows the wireless communication device 102 to connect to a wired network using wireless fidelity (WiFi) or other standards. The network device 106 or AP may sometimes be referred to as a Wireless Access Point (WAP). The network device 106 or AP may be implemented (e.g., configured, designed, and/or constructed) for operation in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). In some embodiments, the network device 106 or the AP may connect to the router as a standalone device (e.g., via a wired network). In other embodiments, the network device 106 or AP may be a component of a router. The network device 106 or AP may provide multiple devices with access to the network. For example, the network device 106 or AP may connect to a wired ethernet connection and provide wireless connectivity for other devices 102 using a radio frequency link to utilize the wired connection. The network device 106 or AP may be implemented to support standards for sending and receiving data using one or more radio frequencies. Those standards and frequencies used by them may be defined by IEEE (e.g., IEEE 802.11 standards). The network device 106 or AP may be configured and/or used to support public internet hotspots and/or extend the Wi-Fi signal range of the network over the network.

In some embodiments, the access point or network device 106 may be used for a wireless network (e.g., IEEE 802.11, bluetooth, zigBee, any other type of radio frequency based network protocol, and/or variations thereof), such as in a home, in a vehicle, or in a building. Each of the wireless communication devices 102 may include a built-in radio and/or be coupled to a radio. Such wireless communication devices 102 and/or access points or network devices 106 may operate in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure presented herein to enhance performance, reduce cost and/or size, and/or enhance broadband applications. Each wireless communication device 102 may have the capability to function as a client node seeking access to resources (e.g., data and connections with network nodes such as servers) via one or more access points or network devices 106.

The network connection may include any type and/or form of network and may include any of the following: point-to-point networks, broadcast networks, telecommunications networks, data communication networks, computer networks. The topology of the network may be a bus, star or ring network topology. The network may have any such network topology known to those of skill in the art that is capable of supporting the operations described herein. In some embodiments, different types of data may be transmitted via different protocols. In other embodiments, the same type of data may be transmitted via different protocols.

The communication device 102 and access point or network device 106 may be deployed and/or executed on any type and form of computing device, such as a computer, network device, or appliance capable of communicating over any type and form of network and performing the operations described herein. Fig. 1B and 1C depict block diagrams of a computing device 100 for practicing an embodiment of a wireless communication device 102 or a network device 106. As shown in fig. 1B and 1C, each computing device 100 includes a processor 121 (e.g., a central processing unit) and a main memory unit 122. As shown in fig. 1B, computing device 100 may include storage 128, mounting device 116, network interface 118, I/O controller 123, display devices 124 a-124 n, keyboard 126, and pointing device 127 (e.g., a mouse). The storage 128 may include an operating system and/or software. As shown in fig. 1C, each computing device 100 may also include additional optional elements, such as a memory port 103, a bridge 170, one or more input/output devices 130 a-130 n, and a cache memory 140 in communication with the central processing unit or processor 121.

Central processing unit or processor 121 is any logic circuitry that is responsive to main memory unit 122 and processes instructions fetched from the main memory unit. In many embodiments, the central processing unit or processor 121 is provided by a microprocessor unit, such as: a microprocessor unit manufactured by intel corporation (Intel Corporation of SANTA CLARA, california) of santa clara, california; a microprocessor unit manufactured by International Business machines corporation of white Prain, N.Y. (International Business Machines of WHITE PLAINS, new York); or a microprocessor unit manufactured by advanced micro-device company (Advanced Micro Devices of Sunnyvale, california) of senyverer, california. The computing device 100 may be based on any of these processors, or any other processor capable of operating as described herein.

Main memory unit 122 may be one or more memory chips capable of storing data and allowing microprocessor or processor 121 to directly access any storage location, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), NAND flash, NOR flash, and Solid State Disk (SSD), of any type or variation. The main memory unit 122 may be based on any of the memory chips described above, or any other available memory chip capable of operating as described herein. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1B, processor 121 communicates with a main memory unit 122 via a system bus 150 (described in more detail below). FIG. 1C depicts an embodiment of a computing device 100 in which the processor communicates directly with a main memory unit 122 via a memory port 103. For example, in FIG. 1C, the main memory unit 122 may be a DRDRAM.

FIG. 1C depicts an embodiment in which the main processor 121 communicates directly with the cache memory 140 via an auxiliary bus (sometimes referred to as a backside bus). In other embodiments, the main processor 121 communicates with the cache memory 140 using the system bus 150. The cache 140 typically has a faster response time than the main memory unit 122 and is provided by, for example, SRAM, BSRAM, or EDRAM. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1C, the processor 121 communicates with various I/O devices 130 via a local system bus (e.g., system bus 150). Various buses may be used to connect the central processing unit or processor 121 to any of the I/O devices 130, such as a VESA VL bus, an ISA bus, an EISA bus, a Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, a PCI-X bus, a PCI-Express bus, or a NuBus. For embodiments in which the I/O device is a video display 124, the processor 121 may use an Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) to communicate with the display 124. FIG. 1C depicts an embodiment of a computer or computer system 100 in which a host processor 121 may communicate directly with I/O device 130b, e.g., via HYPERTRANSPORT, RAPIDIO or INFINIBAND communication techniques. Fig. 1C also depicts an embodiment in which a local bus is mixed with direct communication: the processor 121 communicates with I/O device 130a using a local interconnect bus while communicating directly with I/O device 130 b.

A wide variety of I/O devices 130 a-130 n may be present in computing device 100. The input device includes a keyboard, a mouse, a track pad, a track ball, a microphone, a dial, a touch pad, a touch screen, and a drawing pad. The output device comprises a video display, a loudspeaker, an ink-jet printer, a laser printer, a projector and a dye-sublimation printer. The I/O devices may be controlled by an I/O controller 123, as shown in FIG. 1B. The I/O controller may control one or more I/O devices such as a keyboard 126 and a pointing device 127, such as a mouse or optical pen. In addition, the I/O devices may also provide storage and/or installation media for the computing device 100. In other embodiments, computing device 100 may provide a USB connection (not shown) to receive a handheld USB storage device, such as the USB flash drive family of devices manufactured by Roche Alamitos, inc. (Twintech Industry, inc. of Los Alamitos, california).

Referring again to FIG. 1B, the computing device 100 may support any suitable mounting device 116, such as a disk drive, CD-ROM drive, CD-R/RW drive, DVD-ROM drive, flash memory drive, tape drives of various formats, USB devices, hard drives, network interfaces, or any other device suitable for installing software and programs. The computing device 100 may further include a storage device (e.g., one or more hard drives or redundant arrays of independent disks) for storing an operating system and other related software and for storing application software programs, such as any program or software 120 for implementing (e.g., configured and/or designed for) the systems and methods described herein. Optionally, any of the mounting devices 116 may also be used as a storage device. Additionally, the operating system and software may run from a bootable medium.

Furthermore, computing device 100 may include a network interface 118 to interface to a network through various connections including, but not limited to, standard telephone lines, LAN or WAN links (e.g., 802.11, T1, T3, 56kb, X.25, SNA, DECNET), broadband connections (e.g., ISDN, frame Relay, ATM, gigabit Ethernet, ethernet over SONET), wireless connections, or some combination of any or all of the above. The connection may be established using various communication protocols, such as TCP/IP, IPX, SPX, netBIOS, ethernet, ARCNET, SONET, SDH, fiber distributed data interface (FDDI)、RS232、IEEE 802.11、IEEE 802.11a、IEEE 802.11b、IEEE 802.11g、IEEE 802.11n、IEEE 802.11ac、IEEE 802.11ad、CDMA、GSM、WiMax, and direct asynchronous connection. In one embodiment, the computing device 100 communicates with other computing devices 100' via any type and/or form of gateway or tunneling protocol, such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS). The network interface 118 may comprise a built-in network adapter, network interface card, PCMCIA network card, card bus network adapter, wireless network adapter, USB network adapter, modem, or any other device suitable for interfacing the computing device 100 to any type of network capable of communication and performing the operations described herein.

In some embodiments, the computing device 100 may include or be connected to one or more display devices 124 a-124 n. As such, any of the I/O devices 130 a-130 n and/or the I/O controller 123 may include any type and/or form of suitable hardware, software, or combination of hardware and software to support, enable, or provide for the connection and use of the display devices 124 a-124 n by the computing device 100. For example, computing device 100 may include any type and/or form of video adapter, video card, driver, and/or library to interface, communicate, connect, or otherwise use display devices 124 a-124 n. In one embodiment, the video adapter may include a plurality of connectors to interface to the display devices 124 a-124 n. In other embodiments, computing device 100 may include multiple video adapters, with each video adapter connected to display devices 124 a-124 n. In some embodiments, any portion of the operating system of computing device 100 may be configured to use multiple display devices 124 a-124 n. In other embodiments, the I/O device 130 may be a bridge between the system bus 150 and an external communication bus, such as a USB bus, a apple desktop bus, an RS-232 serial connection, a SCSI bus, a FireWire 800 bus, an Ethernet bus, an AppleTalk bus, a gigabit Ethernet bus, an asynchronous transfer mode bus, a fibre channel bus, a fiber optic bus, a serial attached Small computer System interface bus, a USB connection, or an HDMI bus.

The computing device 100 of the kind depicted in fig. 1B and 1C may operate under the control of an operating system that controls the scheduling of tasks and access to system resources. The computing device 100 may run any operating system, such as any version of the Microsoft WINDOWS operating system, different releases of the Unix and Linux operating systems, any version of the MAC OS for a Macintosh computer, any embedded operating system, any real-time operating system, any open source operating system, any proprietary operating system, any operating system for a mobile computing device, or any other operating system capable of running on a computing device and performing the operations described herein. Typical operating systems include, but are not limited to: android manufactured by Google inc (Google inc.); WINDOWS 7, 8, and 10 manufactured by microsoft corporation (Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, washington) of redmond, washington; MAC OS manufactured by apple computer of cupertino, california (Apple Computer of Cupertino); webOS manufactured by dynamic research corporation (RESEARCH IN Motion) (RIM); OS/2 manufactured by International Business machines corporation of Armonk, N.Y.; and freely available operating system Linux issued by the company of karde, salt lake city, utah (Caldera corp. Of SALT LAKE CITY, utah), or any type and/or form of Unix operating system, among others.

The computer system or computing device 100 may be any workstation, telephone, desktop, laptop or notebook computer, server, handheld computer, mobile telephone or other portable telecommunications device, media playback device, gaming system, mobile computing device, or any other type and/or form of computing, telecommunications or media device capable of communicating. In some embodiments, computing device 100 may have different processors, operating systems, and input devices consistent with the device. For example, in one embodiment, computing device 100 is a smart phone, mobile device, tablet computer, or personal digital assistant. Moreover, computing device 100 may be any workstation, desktop, laptop or notebook computer, server, handheld computer, mobile telephone, any other computer, or other form of computing or telecommunications device capable of communicating and having sufficient processor power and memory capacity to perform the operations described herein.

Aspects of the operating environments and components described above will become apparent in the context of the systems and methods disclosed herein.

B. Control link protocol

According to some embodiments, disclosed herein are systems and methods for establishing smaller-sized channels/links between devices (e.g., STAs (e.g., wireless clients) and APs) dedicated to transmission control and/or latency-sensitive traffic. The AP and STA establish a wireless connection to communicate data. In some embodiments, establishing the connection involves a three-step process, including probing, associating, and authenticating.

The STA is assigned a channel of the AP and negotiates the use of the port. Keying security measures are applied so that communication can take place over the connection. After meeting security requirements, an established IP-level communication connection is implemented and communications using network standards and protocols are performed. The STA typically must be in an authenticated and associated state before the AP will bridge traffic between the STA and other devices on the network. Although association and authentication are described above, the systems and methods may be used with other access procedures and protocols, including access procedures that do not use association or authentication. For example, the systems and methods may be used with associated protocols that are not followed by an authorization protocol.

Referring generally to fig. 2A through 5, the system and method generally relate to wireless network communications. In some embodiments, communicatively coupled may refer to the case where two or more devices communicate with each other directly or indirectly via wireless or wired media. In some embodiments, communicatively coupling an Access Point (AP) with one or more client devices may refer to a situation where the AP and at least one client device reach communication with one or more devices directly or indirectly via wireless or wired media.

The operating bandwidth may refer to a communication frequency range. Thus, the operating bandwidth may include a maximum and/or minimum value (e.g., minimum operating bandwidth, maximum operating bandwidth). In some embodiments, the operating bandwidth of a particular device refers to the range of frequencies that the particular device can use for wireless network communications. For example, an AP and/or a non-AP device may have an operating bandwidth range that includes a maximum operating bandwidth and/or a minimum operating bandwidth. The values of the maximum and minimum operating bandwidths are typically defined in the communication standard.

Any number of STAs 202, 204, and 206 and APs 212, 214, and 216 may be used in the network or system 200. A station or STA may refer to any device for communicating in the communication system 200 and includes, but is not limited to, a fixed, portable, or mobile laptop computer, a desktop personal computer, a personal digital assistant, a workstation, a wearable device, a smart phone, or a Wi-Fi phone. In some embodiments, a STA (e.g., a client device) may connect to another STA.

An Access Point (AP) may refer to a device for communicatively coupling one or more "non-AP" devices (e.g., client devices) to a network. More specifically, the AP may enable non-AP devices to connect and communicate with the network. In some embodiments, the AP is a "wireless access point" (WAP) configured to enable wireless communications between non-AP devices. APs include, but are not limited to, mobile, portable, or fixed hotspots, routers, bridges, or other communication devices. The AP may provide services to STAs, e.g., to act as a point of attachment to another network. In some embodiments, a non-AP device may refer to a device capable of communicating wirelessly but not an AP.

STAs 202, 204, and 208 and APs 212, 214, and 216 may each include a wireless transceiver and various modules for communicating via a connection. The modules may be software (e.g., firmware) and/or hardware components. In some embodiments, each of STAs 202, 204, and 206 and APs 212, 214, and 216 includes a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer circuit compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard and a Physical (PHY) layer interface to wireless media and may be part of a larger device or system. In some embodiments, each of STAs 202, 204, and 206 and APs 212, 214, and 216 operate in accordance with standards other than the IEEE 802.11 standard. In some embodiments, STAs 202, 204, and 206 and APs 212, 214, and 216 may communicate directly with each other (e.g., via a direct connection external to a network associated with system 200).

After authentication and association, a connection for wireless communication may be established between at least one of the STAs 202, 204, and 206 and at least one of the APs 212, 214, and 216. For example, STA 202 has a connection 218 to AP 212. STAs 202, 204, and 206 each include circuitry (e.g., a processor or processing circuit 230), and APs 212, 214, and 216 each include circuitry (e.g., processing circuit 220) for establishing and canceling connection 218 and communicating data across connection 218. In some embodiments, connection 218 is a wireless connection formed using association and authorization operations. Connection 318 may be used to communicate data, such as frames.

In some embodiments, connection 218 is a connection that uses resources as a synchronization, coordination, or control link or channel. In some embodiments, a resource may refer to a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum used for communication. The resource may be a bandwidth associated with any frequency band (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 frequency band). In some embodiments, system 200 is a coordinated IEEE 802.11 network. In some embodiments, system 200 includes an AP of a coordinator configured to coordinate communications within a network. In some embodiments, STAs (e.g., of STAs 202, 204, and 206 and APs 212, 214, and 216) or APs that gain access to resources (e.g., control channels/links) may allocate opportunities to transmit control/high priority short packets to all other devices. In some embodiments, information is exchanged at network start-up and/or allocation so that coordinator AP can select or assign resources for handling control and/or latency sensitive information. The coordinator AP may increase the amount or capacity of resources depending on the traffic used to handle the control and/or latency sensitive information. In some embodiments, information for shared resources may be exchanged at the time of association or network establishment.

The components of STAs 202, 204, and 206 and APs 212, 214, and 216 may be provided as one or more ICs in an Integrated Circuit (IC) package. The IC package may be a single chip package or a multi-chip module. In some embodiments, STAs 202, 204, and 206 and APs 212, 214, and 216 operating in accordance with the 802.11be standard may support 320MHz as the maximum operating bandwidth on any one link. non-AP devices such as STAs 202, 204, and 206 (shown as device 102 in fig. 1A) may support bandwidths less than 320 MHz. Accordingly, the AP or network device 106 may utilize a channel switching protocol to improve network traffic (e.g., uplink traffic and downlink traffic) from the AP or network device 106 to the non-AP or wireless communication device 102 (fig. 1C).

In some embodiments, system 200 may operate on one or more links. For example, the AP 212 operating on more than one link is an AP multi-link device (AP MLD). AP MLDs operating on two links typically utilize one 5 gigahertz (GHz) link and one 6GHz link. In some embodiments, the 5GHz link is 160MHz and the bandwidth is narrower. In some embodiments, the bandwidth of the 6GHz link is up to 320MHz. In some embodiments, the AP MLD may optionally have an additional 2.4GHz link. In some embodiments, the 2.4GHz link has a narrower bandwidth than the 5GHz and 6GHz links. An STA 208 operating on a link with an AP 212, where the STA operating bandwidth is narrower than the AP bandwidth on the link, may be configured to switch between a primary channel and a secondary channel of the AP operating bandwidth. For example, the 320MHz operating bandwidth of an AP may be divided into 160MHz primary (160P) subchannels and 160MHz secondary (160S) subchannels. It should be appreciated that other bandwidth values are possible. For example, a 160MHz operating channel may be divided into 4x 40MHz subchannels, with the first subchannel being the primary channel and the other subchannels being the secondary channels. In some embodiments, the width of the sub-channels may be 20MHz or 40MHz or 80MHz or 160MHz, etc., while the width of the operating channels may be 40MHz, 80MHz, 160MHz, 320MHz, etc. In some embodiments, the sub-channel is a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) sub-channel.

In some embodiments, STAs 208 associated with the AP 212 typically operate on a portion of the overall operating channel that includes the primary 20MHz sub-channel or channels designated by the AP 212 as the primary 20MHz channel. For example, when two 160MHz STAs are associated with an AP 212 operating a 320MHz channel, the two STAs will operate on the same 160MHz subchannel of the 320MHz operating channel. Since the 20MHz primary channel exists in only one location and two STAs must include the 20MHz primary channel in the corresponding operational width. STAs that may switch from a primary subchannel or channel to operate at least temporarily on a different subchannel or channel that does not include the primary 20MHz subchannel or channel are labeled as bandwidth aggregation (BWA) STAs and/or STAs. This STA indicates this capability when associated with the AP. In some embodiments, the terms subchannel and channel, and bandwidth and sub-bandwidth are used interchangeably.

For example, for 320 megahertz bandwidths of the primary and secondary channels, each 20MHz channel may be available or unavailable independently, as there are other Wi-Fi devices operating with smaller bandwidths (e.g., other technologies-for some technologies and transmit power, the access granularity in unlicensed spectrum is 20 megahertz). Wi-Fi channel access may be restricted using a particular 20 megahertz channel.

Referring to fig. 2B, the STA 208 is configured for non-primary channel utilization, according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, STA 208 includes network interface 210, processing circuitry 230, channel switching module 238, receiver 240, and transmitter 242. The processing circuit 230 includes a processor 234 and a memory 236. The processing circuitry 230 is any circuitry or components that may perform logic and communication processing for the STA 208. The AP 212 may have similar architecture and components as the STA 208 and is configured for non-primary channel utilization. STAs 202, 204, and 206 and APs 214 and 216 may have similar architecture and components to STA 208.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 230 is implemented as a field programmable gate array, application specific integrated circuit, hardware, software executing processor, or state machine. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 230 is part of several layers (e.g., MAC layer, network layer, PHY layer) of an IEEE 802.11 standard device. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 230 may be configured to perform communication operations, non-primary channel operations and their settings, channel selection, frame construction and processing, association operations, authorization operations, connection settings, disassociation operations, and deauthentication operations. In some embodiments, instructions for processing circuitry 230 may be stored in a non-transitory medium such as memory 236. Processing circuitry 230 of AP 212 is similar to processing circuitry 230.

Memory 236 may be one or more devices (e.g., RAM, ROM, flash memory, hard disk storage) for storing data and/or computer code to complete and/or facilitate the various processes described herein. Memory 236 may be or include non-transitory volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and non-transitory computer storage media. Memory 236 may include database components, object code components, script components, or any other type of information structure for supporting the various activities and information structures described herein. The memory 236 may be communicatively coupled to the processor 234 and include computer code or instructions for performing one or more processes described herein. The processor 234 may be implemented as one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), hardware, field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), a set of processing components, as well as a software executing processor, state machine, or other suitable electronic processing components. As such, the STA 208, AP 212, or network device 106 (fig. 1A-C) is configured to run various modules and/or programs and store associated data in a database of memory 236. The modules (e.g., module 238) may be implemented in AP software (e.g., MAC layer or PHY layer software) or STA software (e.g., MAC layer or PHY layer software).

In some embodiments, the network interface 210 is structured and used to establish connections with other computing systems and devices, such as the wireless communication device 102, the network hardware 192, other access points, or the network device 106 (fig. 1A-C), via a network, such as a WAN connection, a LAN connection, a WLAN connection, etc. The network interface 210 contains program logic that facilitates the connection of the STA 208 to a network connection. For example, the network interface 210 may include any combination of wireless network transceivers (e.g., cellular modems, bluetooth transceivers, wi-Fi transceivers, transmitters 242, etc.) and/or wired network transceivers (e.g., ethernet transceivers). In some arrangements, the network interface 210 includes hardware (e.g., processors, memory, etc.) and machine readable media sufficient to support communication via a plurality of data communication channels. A network interface or network interface circuit may refer to any circuit or circuitry (with or without software) configured to establish a connection with other computing systems. The network interface 210 may include the physical layer circuitry necessary to communicate with a data link layer standard, such as ethernet or Wi-Fi. The circuit may prepare and control the flow of data over the network.

In various embodiments, transmitter 242 is a transmitter module (sometimes referred to as a "transmitter circuit"). Transmitter 242 may be configured to provide or transmit wireless signals representative of data or frames. A transmitter may refer to any circuit for communicating radio frequency data (e.g., frames). The transmitter 242 may include circuitry for encoding, modulating, processing, and providing frames as wireless signals.

In various embodiments, the receiver 240 is a receiver module (sometimes referred to as a "receiver circuit"). Receiver 240 may be configured to receive wireless signals representing data or frames. A receiver may refer to any circuit for communicating radio frequency data (e.g., frames). Receiver 240 may include circuitry for decoding, demodulating, processing, and providing frames derived from the transmitted wireless signal.

In some embodiments, processing circuitry 230 includes a channel switching module 238 (sometimes referred to as "channel switching circuitry 238"). Channel switching module 238 may be configured to communicatively couple with one or more client devices or STAs 208 (e.g., non-AP devices) and may be configured to allocate one or more STAs 202, 204, 206, and 208 and APs 212, 214, and 216 on one of the primary or secondary channels (e.g., an anchor channel). In particular, channel switching module 238 may be configured to perform the non-primary channel utilization operations described herein. For example, the channel switching module 238 may be configured to determine network traffic associated with the STA 208. Accordingly, the channel switching module 238 may utilize a channel switching protocol to improve network traffic (e.g., uplink traffic and downlink traffic) from the AP 212 to the STA 208. The channel switching protocol includes a protocol for moving between a primary channel and a secondary channel. In particular, the channel switching module 238 may enable the AP 212 or STA 208 to dynamically switch between channels based on, for example, actual network traffic and/or expected network traffic. For example, the channel switching module 238 may be configured to switch from the primary bandwidth channel to operate on the secondary bandwidth channel when the primary channel becomes busy due to network traffic unrelated to this BSS and is indicated to be busy for at least the next 3 milliseconds (ms). A channel switching circuit or unit may refer to any circuit or circuitry (with or without software) configured to designate one or more devices to communicate over a channel or portion of a channel.

In various embodiments, channel switching for non-primary channel utilization is performed by channel switching module 238. In particular, in some embodiments, the channel switching module 238 may be configured to cause the AP 212 or STA 208 to select a channel based on information obtained earlier (e.g., during association). In some embodiments, the channel switching module 238 may operate or share operations with other components of the STA 208 or the AP 212 to enable channel selection, non-primary channel utilization, and control link utilization.

Referring to fig. 3, in some embodiments, AP 212 may communicate with STA 204 using channel 300. Channel 300 includes a primary channel 302 (e.g., 20 MHz), a secondary channel 304 (e.g., 20 MHz), a secondary channel 306 (e.g., 20 MHz), a secondary channel 308 (e.g., 20 MHz), a secondary channel 310 (e.g., 20 MHz), a secondary channel 312 (e.g., 20 MHz), a secondary channel 314 (e.g., 20 MHz), and a secondary channel 316 (e.g., 20 MHz). Any of the secondary channels 304-316 may be primary control channels and the primary channel 302 may be changed to a secondary channel. Channel 300 may also be allocated as a single wider bandwidth 340 (e.g., 160 MHz), wider bandwidth 330 (e.g., 80 MHz), and wider bandwidth 332 (e.g., 80 MHz). Channel 300 may also be allocated as wider bandwidth 320 (e.g., 40 MHz), wider bandwidth 322 (e.g., 40 MHz), wider bandwidth 324 (e.g., 40 MHz), and wider bandwidth 326 (e.g., 40 MHz). Communications may occur over any of channels 302 to 316 or wider bandwidths 320 to 340. Channels 302-316 and wider bandwidths 320-340 may be referred to as channels, subbands, bandwidths, or bandwidth channels.

In some embodiments, the transmitter 242 is configured with parallel multi-channel capability. In some embodiments, transmitter 242 may include multiple radio components for parallel operation on multiple channels. In some embodiments, the multi-channel capability allows the STA 208 to perform a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) operation in parallel on multiple channels in its operating bandwidth, including a primary channel (e.g., primary channel 302). If the primary channel is busy, CCA operations are performed on other channels, such as secondary channels (e.g., channels 304-316). In some embodiments, the STA 208 is configured to perform full CCA operations in parallel on multiple channels, thereby reducing delay in gaining access to non-primary channels. In some embodiments, CCA operations are performed on N channels in parallel. The number N may be any integer (e.g., 2, 4, 5, 8, 16, 32, etc.). In some embodiments, the number N is related to the capabilities of the transmitter 242 and the receiver 240. In some embodiments, performing CCA operations in parallel may refer to CCA operations performed on different channels at least partially simultaneously, nearly simultaneously, or within the same time period.

In some embodiments, clear Channel Assessment (CCA) may refer to operations performed by any device to determine whether a channel is clear (e.g., clear for a period of time (e.g., random)). CCA may be performed in unlicensed spectrum because devices do not have exclusive access and typically must determine whether the channel is clear.

In some embodiments, transmitter 242 may not be configured with multiple parallel channel capability. In some embodiments, the STA 208 is configured to perform full CCA operations (e.g., ED plus virtual CCA and Preamble Detection (PD)) on only one channel at a time. In some embodiments, the transmitter 242 without parallel multi-channel capability is configured to perform full CCA operation on other channels after it determines that the primary channel is busy and the source and/or destination of the busy channel is not related to the STA 208 and/or BSS. In some embodiments, sequential CCA operations (e.g., suitable for devices that cannot perform full CCA in parallel on multiple channels) may delay gaining access to a clear non-primary channel. In some embodiments, sequentially performing CCA operations may refer to CCA operations performed at least partially on different channels at different times (e.g., one after another). In some embodiments, the STA 208 is configured to perform sequential CCA operations only during occupancy of a primary channel (e.g., channel 302) determined by examining a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) and/or a duration of a transmission opportunity (TXOP) occupying the primary channel.

In some embodiments, a PPDU may refer to a frame containing a preamble and a data field. In some embodiments, the preamble field contains transmission vector format information. In some embodiments, a TXOP may refer to the duration during which STAs 208 may exchange frames after gaining control over the transmission medium through a contention process. By providing this information about the expected frame exchange time period, the TXOP is intended to increase the throughput of high priority data (e.g., voice and video) and provide virtual media occupancy information used by other STAs in performing CCA operations.

In some embodiments, the receiver 240 is configured with multiple parallel channel capabilities. In some embodiments, receiver 240 may include multiple radio components for parallel operation on multiple channels. Receiver 240 is configured to perform preamble decoding in parallel on multiple channels in its operating bandwidth, including a primary channel (e.g., primary channel 302). Thus, the transmitter 242 may select any of the non-primary channels (e.g., secondary channels 304-316) to transmit data to the receiver 240. For a receiver 240 with a single receive chain for the entire link, once preamble decoding is started on a particular channel, the preamble being broadcast on the remaining channels may not be received during the brief period of time that preamble decoding is being performed on one particular channel. In some embodiments, the receiver 240 is configured to reallocate receiver chain resources from the primary channel after the receiver chain has decoded sufficient information to determine the duration of primary channel occupancy and the correlation of the busy channel, where the correlation is determined at least in part by the identity of the BSS of the STA involved in the frame exchange that is generating the busy channel condition, or where the busy condition is not due to a transmission created by or intended to be received by a given peer of the STA 208.

In some embodiments, the receiver 240 may not be configured with multiple parallel channel capability. In some embodiments, the receiver 240 may be configured to perform preamble decoding operations on only one channel at a time. In some embodiments, the receiver 240 is configured to perform a preamble decoding operation on the other channel after the receiver 240 or STA 208 determines that the primary channel is busy. In some embodiments, STAs 208 that are unable to perform preamble decoding operations in parallel on multiple channels perform sequential preamble decoding operations. The sequential preamble decoding operation may limit the flexibility of the transmitter 242 (of another device) to select any of the non-primary channels to transmit data to the receiver 240. In some embodiments, once STA 208 determines that the primary channel is occupied by a non-related device (e.g., a device that is not a member of the same BSS as receiver 240), and receiver 240 has decoded sufficient information to determine the duration of primary channel occupancy, receiver 240 may switch to alternate channels for possible reception on those channels. In some embodiments, an uncorrelated device may refer to any device that is not involved in frame exchanges involving a given peer of STA 208. The STA 208 and the AP 212 may have a receiver and a transmitter with the respective capabilities of the receiver 240 and the transmitter 242 discussed above.

In some embodiments, a preamble decoding operation may refer to an operation performed by any device to determine a preamble to detect the presence of a packet on a channel. In some embodiments, performing preamble decoding operations in parallel may refer to preamble decoding operations performed on different channels at least partially simultaneously, nearly simultaneously, or within the same time period. In some embodiments, sequentially performing CCA preamble decoding operations may refer to CCA operations performed at least partially on different channels at different times (e.g., one after the other).

Non-primary channel utilization operation is discussed below with respect to transmitting device 404 and receiving device 408 with reference to fig. 4. In some embodiments, the transmitting device 404 is a STA or AP, such as STAs 202, 204, 206, and 208 and APs 212, 214, and 216 operating in accordance with the 802.11 standard as modified herein. In some embodiments, receiving device 408 is a STA or AP, such as STAs 202, 204, 206, and 208 and APs 212, 214, and 216 operating in accordance with the 802.11 standard as modified herein. In some embodiments, receiving device 408 and transmitting device 404 include similar components.

The transmission device 404 includes processing circuitry or other circuitry configured to provide operations as described herein. In some embodiments, the transmitting device 404 includes a memory or storage device 410 for storing capabilities of the device 404 and other devices including the receiving device 408, a memory or storage device 410 for storing channels for use in non-primary channel utilization, and a CCA module 414 for CCA operation. In some embodiments, receiving device 408 includes a memory or storage device 410 for storing capabilities of device 408 and other devices including transmitting device 404, a memory or storage device 410 for storing channels for use in non-primary channel utilization, and a decoding module 414 for preamble decoding operations.

When receiving device 408 receives an indication of some external OBSS (overlapping BSSs), e.g., detects a preamble from another set of devices outside the network, receiving device 408 assumes that transmitting device 404 also detects an OBSS and moves to the next channel in a particular order for transmission. In order to reduce the probability that the transmitting device 404 does not detect an OBSS and the receiving device 408 has detected an OBSS (and vice versa), the threshold for detecting an OBSS may be increased. For example, a threshold for signal strength from an OBSS may be increased to increase the probability that both receiving device 408 and transmitting device 404 detect an OBSS. In some embodiments, the threshold is set at-72 dBm and may be increased to-62 dBm.

In some embodiments, if the channels can be decoded in parallel, the set delay of receiving device 408 may be used for a re-tuning operation to begin listening on multiple channels. If the channels can be decoded serially, the receiving device 408 must switch from one channel to another and the delay may be different. A set of delays may be provided for the retuning operation. In some embodiments, operations and capabilities including receiver and transmitter capabilities and/or anchor channels are provided during association (at the beginning of association). This information may be provided in a message of a frame (e.g., a management frame provided during association). In some embodiments, retuning (retune or retuning) may refer to an operation in which the radio is set to a frequency or bandwidth that is different from its current frequency or bandwidth.

In some embodiments, if receiving device 408 is configured with parallel multi-channel capability and transmitting device 404 is configured with parallel multi-channel capability or is configured to perform full CCA operation (i.e., ED plus virtual CCA and preamble detection) on only one channel at a time, transmitting device 404 and receiving device 408 may operate according to the first non-primary channel utilization operation. According to the first non-primary channel utilization operation, if the receiving device 408 supports preamble decoding operations on multiple channels in parallel, non-primary channel utilization is possible. In a first non-primary channel utilization operation, transmitting device 404 and receiving device 408 agree on a set of anchor channels. In some embodiments, the set may be determined based on information exchanged between the receiving device 408 and the transmitting device 404. The information may include capability information related to the capabilities of the respective transmitter 242 and receiver 240. In some embodiments, the information may be exchanged during association or authentication, in response to a request, during synchronization, or in other handshake operations. In some embodiments, an anchor channel may refer to any channel determined to be used for non-primary channel utilization. In some embodiments, the anchor channel may be provided as a list during association or handshake of two devices. The anchor channel may be a bandwidth associated with a wider bandwidth that serves a wider bandwidth channel. In some embodiments, the anchor channel may be a channel on which beacons and other broadcast frames are transmitted. Not all PPDU transmissions necessarily contain an anchor channel.

According to one example, if the transmitting device 404 is capable of performing CCA in parallel on four 20MHz channels and the receiving device 408 is capable of receiving the preamble in parallel on four 20MHz channels and the operating bandwidth is 80MHz (e.g., four 20MHz channels), then there is no anchor channel. Transmitting device 404 may freely transmit on any 20MHz channel and receiving device 408 is able to decode the transmission. In one example, if the operating bandwidth is 160MHz (e.g., eight 20MHz channels) instead of 80MHz, then parallel operation covers 80MHz of the 160MHz operating bandwidth. In some embodiments, the transmitting device 404 and the receiving device 408 may divide the bandwidth into four sets of 40MHz bandwidths, with each 40MHz bandwidth having one 20MHz anchor channel. In some embodiments, in 8 channels (e.g., an operating bandwidth of 160 MHz), transmitting device 404 and receiving device 408 select four channels that serve as anchor channels and may operate in parallel if receiving device 408 attempts to decode the preamble. Any transmission includes at least one of the four channels. The other four channels may be included as long as the transmission uses at least one of the anchor channels that allows the receiving device 408 to detect and decode the preamble.

In some embodiments, the number of anchor channels is less than or equal to the number of channels on which receiving device 408 supports parallel preamble decoding operations. In some embodiments, the number of anchor channels is greater than the number of channels on which the transmitting device 404 supports parallel CCA operation. In some embodiments, the anchor channels may be equally spaced in the operating bandwidth of the transmission/reception device 408, and the first anchor channel is a primary 20MHz channel.

In some embodiments, the transmission is provided on at least one of the anchor channels associated with the first non-primary channel utilization operation. In one example where the number of channels on which the transmitting device 404 supports parallel CCA operation is less than the number of anchor channels, the transmitting device 404 may divide the anchor channels into a smaller set of the same number of channels on which the transmitting device 404 supports parallel CCA operation. In some embodiments, the transmitting device 404 starts a new CCA operation or procedure and media synchronization operation or procedure on the first set and moves from one set to the next if it is determined that the selected first set is busy for some minimum duration.

In some embodiments, if the primary 20MHz channel is occupied by an Overlapping BSS (OBSS), then the primary channel is not part of the transmission. In some embodiments, the primary 20MHz channel is not part of the transmission only for the duration of the first non-primary channel utilization operation. In some embodiments, only the perspective of the transmitting device 404 is important. In some embodiments, since receiving device 408 is able to decode the preamble in parallel on other anchor channels, receiving device 408 sees that OBSS on the primary 20MHz does not adversely affect the first non-primary channel utilization operation. In some embodiments, receiving device 408 is able to receive the preamble on any of those channels, regardless of whether the primary 20MHz is busy, because the number of anchor channels is less than or equal to the number of channels on which receiving device 408 supports parallel preamble decoding operations, and because the anchor channels were previously negotiated or selected.

In some embodiments, prior to transmission by the transmitting device 404 on any of the anchor channels, the transmitting device 404 allows the receiving device 408 a time gap (e.g., SAMESETDELAY parameters) to re-tune to a state in which the receiving device 408 can again decode the preambles on all of the anchor channels if the transmitting device 404 has detected a preamble on any of the other anchor channels. SAMESETDELAY parameters may be negotiated or derived from information received or exchanged between the receiving device 408 and the transmitting device 404 (e.g., during association).

In some embodiments, if receiving device 408 is configured to have parallel multi-channel capability or is configured to perform sequential preamble decoding operations and transmitting device 404 is configured to perform full CCA operations in parallel or is configured to perform full CCA operations (i.e., energy Detection (ED) plus virtual CCA) on only one channel at a time, transmitting device 404 and receiving device 408 may operate according to a second non-primary channel utilization operation. According to the second non-primary channel utilization operation, non-primary channel utilization is possible even if the receiving device 408 supports preamble decoding operations on only one channel at a time. In some embodiments, receiving device 408 is configured to support preamble decoding operations on one channel at a time and is configured to switch to an alternate channel after determining the correlation and duration of the primary channel's occupancy (e.g., OBSS occupancy).

In some embodiments, transmitting device 404 and receiving device 408 agree on the order in which the different channels are used for data exchange without any anchor channels in the second non-primary channel utilization operation. In some embodiments, the order is TR1, TR2, etc., where TR1 and TR2 represent data transfer (e.g., over a series of channels). In some embodiments, the transmitting device 404 has its own sequence of channel sets in which to perform parallel CCA operations. In some embodiments, the sets are T1, T2, etc., where T1 and T2 are channel sets. In some embodiments, the transmitting device 404 is configured to perform CCA operations by decoding a preamble on a first channel or set of channels in the sequence of channels used for data transmission TR1. In some embodiments, this set includes the primary 20MHz channel and thus has overlap with the first channel or set of channels negotiated for data transfer TR1. In some embodiments, if Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) is done on any channel corresponding to TR1 (i.e., the device wins the channel access), the device transmits on that channel for data transfer TR1.

In some embodiments, before transmitting on any of the channels in the set, if the transmitting device 404 has detected a preamble on any of the channels in the data transfer TR1, the transmitting device 404 is configured to allow the receiving device 408 to re-tune in the time slot corresponding to the SAMESETDELAY parameters of the data transfer TR 1. In some embodiments, if no channel corresponding to data transfer TR1 is available and the primary 20MHz channel is occupied by an OBSS, then transmission device 404 attempts to transmit on the second channel or set of channels for data transfer TR2 only for the duration that the primary 20MHz channel is busy with data transfer TR 1. In some embodiments, transmitting device 404 allows or waits for a time gap corresponding to OtherSetDelay parameters of receiving device 408 when attempting to transmit on the next set of channels.

In some embodiments, if the second channel or set of channels for data transfer TR2 is outside of channel set T1, then the second channel or set of channels is intended to be part of data transfer TR 2. In that case, the transmitting device 404 needs to start a new CCA procedure on channel T2. Further, in the case, a media synchronization process is used. In some embodiments, media synchronization may be performed by forcing a request to send/clear to send (RTS/CTS) at the beginning of a transmission, using a lower CCA threshold, and/or setting a limit on the maximum number of failed attempts.

In some embodiments, when the primary 20MHz channel is busy and the second set of channels for data transmission TR2 is also unavailable, the transmitting device 404 attempts to transmit on the set of channels for data transmission TR3 (if data transmission TR3 has a channel outside of channel T3, then a new CCA procedure is started). In some embodiments, this may continue until all channels are unavailable.

In some embodiments, control returns to the first set of channels for data transfer TR1 upon expiration of a duration (e.g., NAV or PPDU length) determined during decoding on the primary 20MHz channel. After returning to the primary 20MHz channel, if the return is before the expiration of the decoding duration, then the media synchronization process need not be used.

According to one example, the transmitting device 404 and the receiving device 408 operate in a serial manner over multiple sets of channels. In some embodiments, with the same capabilities as described in the anchor channel example above (the transmitting device 404 is able to perform CCA in parallel on four 20MHz channels and the receiving device 408 is able to receive preambles in parallel on four 20MHz channels), when the operating bandwidth is 160MHz, the transmitting device 404 and the receiving device 408 divide the channels into two groups of four channels each. The two groups are channels for data transfer TR1 and TR 2. When operating on group TR1, transmitting device 404 and receiving device 408 may exchange data on any of the four 20MHz channels of TR1 without any anchor channels. When none of the channels of group TR1 are available, operation moves to group TR2 and there are no anchor channels in any set. In some embodiments where the transmitting device 404 and the receiving device 408 are capable of supporting CCA/preamble decoding (e.g., non-parallel operation) on only one channel at a time, each group TR1, TR2, etc. would each contain only one channel (e.g., there would be eight sets, one channel per set).

Network Allocation Vector (NAV) may refer to a virtual carrier sensing mechanism used with wireless network protocols such as IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) and IEEE 802.16 (WiMax). Virtual carrier sensing may be a logical abstraction that limits the need for physical carrier sensing at the air interface of the listening device performing CCA in order to save power and allow determination of a busy channel in which occupied transmissions may not be detected by the listening device due to the topological relationship between the transmitting device and the listening device. The MAC layer frame header contains a duration field that specifies the transmission time required to transmit one or more frames of the frame exchange during which the media will be busy. In some embodiments, a STA listening on a wireless medium reads the duration field and sets its NAV, which is an indicator for a station as to how long the station must defer from accessing the medium.

In some embodiments, the NAV uses a counter that counts down to zero at a uniform rate. When the counter is zero, the virtual carrier sensing indicates that the media is idle; when the counter is non-zero, the indication is busy. When a STA is transmitting, the medium or channel is typically determined to be busy. In IEEE 802.11, the NAV represents the number of microseconds (a maximum of 32,767 microseconds) that a sending STA intends to busy media with its transmissions and any response transmissions by its intended recipient STA, and optionally additional such exchanges. When the sender sends a Request To Send (RTS), the receiver waits for a short interframe space (SIFS) before sending a CTS. The sender will wait for SIFS again before sending a data bearer or management frame. Again, the receiver will wait for SIFS before sending an ACK or preventing an ACK or no response. In some embodiments, the NAV is the duration from the first SIFS to the end of the ACK or block the ACK. Additional such exchanges may occur within the ACK or SIFS that prevents the ACK from ending. During this time, the media is considered busy. In some embodiments, SIFS may refer to the amount of time in microseconds required for a wireless interface to process a received frame and initiate a response transmission with a response frame.

The second non-primary channel utilization operation uses a common understanding between transmitting device 404 and receiving device 408 that the primary 20MHz channel is occupied by OBSS and that any other channels are not available. In some embodiments, the transmitting and receiving device 408 attempts to detect the same OBSS on the primary 20MHz channel and then moves to the next set of channels. The signal strength from the OBSS is compared to a threshold to detect the OBSS. In some embodiments, the threshold is set to increase the probability that both transmitting device 404 and receiving device 408 detect OBSS. In some embodiments, the threshold is set to less than-62 dBm or-72 dBm. Similarly, in some embodiments, whether other channels are busy or idle may be determined by comparing the signal strength on the channel to a threshold value, e.g., greater than or less than-62 dBm (or-72 dBm), respectively. In some embodiments, transmitting device 404 and/or receiving device 408 detect OBSS or other busy activity by detecting whether there is an indication transmitted over the control link. If a control link is present and an indication to switch to another channel is transmitted on the control link, the transmitting device 404 moves to another channel in the set of channels. In some embodiments, transmitting device 404 and/or receiving device 408 detect OBSS or other busy activity in response to identifying information within the preamble and/or MAC portion of the frame. In some embodiments, this detection scheme is used in a coordination system.

Referring to fig. 5, in some embodiments, a flow 500 may be performed in system 200 for a transmitting device non-primary channel utilization setup operation. The flow 500 is for a transmitting device and includes an operation 502. At operation 502, the transmitting device determines whether non-primary channel transmission is supported. If not, then flow 500 ends. If so, the transmission apparatus proceeds to operation 503.

At operation 503, the transmitting device determines the number of channels (e.g., 1,2, 3, 4, 8, etc.) that may support CCA operation in some embodiments. In some embodiments, if the transmitting device may only support one channel for CCA operation, then in operation 504 the transmitting device determines an order in which CCA operations are supported on the channel. In some embodiments, if the transmitting device may support more than one channel for CCA operation, the transmitting device determines channels for supporting CCA operation in parallel in operation 508. In some embodiments, if all channels do not support CCA operation, then in operation 508, an order in which CCA operations are supported on the multiple sets of channels is determined.

Referring to fig. 6, in some embodiments, a flow 600 may be performed in system 200 for a receiving device non-primary channel utilization setup operation. The flow 600 is for a receiving device and includes an operation 602. At operation 602, the receiving device determines whether non-primary channel reception is supported. If not, then flow 600 ends. If so, the receiving apparatus proceeds to operation 603.

At operation 603, the receiving device determines the number of channels (e.g., 1,2, 3, 4, 8, etc.) that may support preamble decoding operations in parallel in some embodiments. If the receiving device can support only one channel for CCA operation, the receiving device determines an order in which preamble decoding operations are supported on the channel in operation 604. In operation 606, the delay (e.g., SAMESETDELAY parameters) required to move from one channel to the next may be determined. In some embodiments, if the receiving device can support more than one channel for the preamble decoding operation, then in operation 608 the receiving device determines the channels for the preamble decoding operation in parallel. In some embodiments, if all channels do not support preamble decoding operations, then in operation 608, an order in which preamble decoding operations are supported on the multiple sets of channels is determined. In some embodiments, in operation 608, the receiving device determines whether simultaneous preamble decoding is supported on multiple channels, even though the multiple channels support preamble decoding in parallel. In some embodiments, if not, then in operation 610, the delay required to complete preamble decoding on one channel corresponding to the non-self packet is determined. In some embodiments, the delay may be determined based on device parameters.

In some embodiments, the capability negotiations in flows 500 and 600 allow transmitting and receiving devices to determine, negotiate, and/or agree on a number of parameters for non-primary channel utilization operations. For example, the parameters may include an indication of whether a non-primary channel exchange is to be performed, a parallel/sequential order in which the non-primary channel exchange is to be performed, a time gap (e.g., SAMESETDELAY parameters) parameter required between preambles on two different channels in the same set for successful decoding of the preamble at the receiving device, a time gap (e.g., otherSetDelay parameters) required between preambles on two channels in two different sets for successful decoding of the preamble at the receiving device, and so on.

Examples of parallel/sequential order of performing non-primary channel exchanges include set 1: channels 1, k+1, 2k+1, … (TR 1); set 2: channel 2, k+2, 2k+2, (TR 2); etc. Examples of SAMESETDELAY parameters include 0 microseconds (us), 50us, 100us, 200us, and the like. Examples of OtherSetDelay parameters include 0us, 50us, 100us, 200us, and the like.

In some embodiments, during transmission on one channel, blindness on all other channels is assumed. During reception on one channel, blindness on any other channel is determined. If the blind view on the channel is not aligned with the known virtual current sense (NAV), then a media synchronization process is used. When the blind view ends at the end of transmission or reception, a synchronization process timer is started, wherein the timer duration is set to achieve a conservative behavior after returning from the channel. In some embodiments, a lower Energy Detection (ED) threshold may be used to make the return device more sensitive to detecting an ongoing transmission when the timer is running.

Transmitting on any subset of channels of the link may make the transmission device blind to the channels that are missing from the perspective of preamble detection. In some embodiments, whenever a transmitting device is left out of view of a set of channels for the purpose of CCA operation, the transmitting device performs conservative access measures upon returning to the set of channels to avoid penalizing the transmitted device. In some embodiments, whenever a transmitting device is left out of view of a set of channels for CCA operation, the transmitting device performs conservative access measures upon returning to the set of channels so that other transmitting devices are not penalized.

In some embodiments, several implementations of the flows 500 and 600 may operate concurrently in the communication system 200. The flows 500 and 600 may be performed in firmware executing on hardware of the STAs 202, 204, 206 and 208 and the APs 212, 214 and 216. The firmware may operate in the protocol stack layer or MAC layer of the STAs 202, 204, and 206 and/or APs 212, 214, and 216.

In some embodiments, STAs 202, 204, 206 and 208 and/or APs 212, 214 and 216 may employ control link techniques to communicate low-latency data or control data. A device that gains (e.g., wins) access to the control channel/link may send frame addressing to other coordinated devices and assign transmission opportunities to the other coordinated devices. In some embodiments, the frame is a special trigger frame. In some embodiments, a special trigger frame may refer to a frame that provides an assignment and may allocate time, subbands, and other parameters. The allocation may have a time and Resource Unit (RU) granularity and may be narrowband, such as a 26-tone RU width. In some embodiments, the 26-tone RU width may correspond to a 2MHz bandwidth (e.g., less than 2.1 MHz). An RU may be a group of 78.125kHz bandwidth subcarriers (tone) in a channel bandwidth used in Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL) transmissions. With Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (OFDMA), different transmission powers may be applied to different RUs. In some embodiments, tone bandwidth or tone may refer to a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (e.g., generally smaller than the primary channel).

Referring to fig. 7, a resource may be one or more of a group 702a, 702b, … n of subcarriers or bandwidths. In some embodiments, the groups 702a, 702b, …, 702n are part of either the primary channel 302 or the secondary channels 304-316. In some embodiments, each subcarrier in the groups 702a, 702b, …, 702n has a 78.125kHz bandwidth. Each of the groups 702a, 702b, …, 702N may have any number of subcarriers from 1 to N, where N is any number (e.g., 1, 5, 8, 25, 26, 32, 50, 64, 72, 78, 100, 200, etc.). In some embodiments, the subcarriers in each of the groups 702a, 702b, …, 702n are contiguous.

In some embodiments, dedicated resources, e.g., dedicated subcarriers or subcarrier groups (groups 702a, 702b, …, 702 n), may be semi-persistently allocated to AP and non-AP devices (STAs 202, 204, 206, and 208 and/or APs 212, 214, and 216). In some embodiments, semi-persistent scheduling allows each device to have real-time allocations to transmit periodically (e.g., every 5 or 10 milliseconds) on the resources. In some embodiments, the schedule may also assign a frequency allocation for each device. In some embodiments, the use of one or several resources is coordinated among different devices or OBSSs. For example, time scheduling and/or frequency levels may be used to ensure that any device that must transmit latency sensitive or control packets receives access with less delay than conventional 802.11 priority schemes. Multiple narrowband resources (e.g., 78.125kHz or less than 80 kHz) bandwidth subcarriers may be allocated to increase diversity (e.g., if desired). The frequency bands, bandwidths, amounts of resources, and tone widths discussed above are exemplary. Other frequency bands, bandwidths, amounts of resources, and tone widths may be utilized. In some embodiments, resources have a narrower bandwidth than primary channels and are dedicated to exchanging specific information (e.g., time critical information, low latency information, control information, non-primary channel utilization information, resource sharing information, and resource scheduling information, etc.). In some embodiments, the smaller resource bandwidth may be used with differently defined subcarrier spacings (e.g., in a scalable manner). In some embodiments, wider resources and multiple such resources may be used (to carry a greater amount of critical information or to achieve diversity (e.g., by repetition)).

Resources may be allocated within the TXOP of an AP or non-AP device. In some embodiments, time and frequency multiplexing is used to transfer control or latency sensitive data to/from multiple non-APs. In some embodiments, time multiplexing may refer to assigning a particular number of symbols to each addressed device in a time sequence. In some embodiments, frequency multiplexing may refer to assigning a specific number of tones to each addressed device in a specific slot of several OFDMA symbols. In some embodiments, the parameters for time multiplexing may refer to one or more parameters for assigning symbols in a time sequence. In some embodiments, the parameters for frequency multiplexing may refer to one or more parameters for assigning a tone.

In some embodiments, one or several resources (e.g., one or more of the groups 702a, 702b, … 702 n) are shared via random access or multiplexing by orthogonal or quasi-orthogonal codes. Random access may refer to a protocol in which each addressed device has a random probability of gaining opportunity for transmission in the allocated resources. In some embodiments, the protocol is similar to UL OFDMA-based random access (UORA). In some embodiments, one or several special contention window parameters are assigned to each device, indicating the likelihood that the device is able to randomly transmit on the allocated resources. In some embodiments, an orthogonal code may refer to a code in which a first symbol does not interfere with a second symbol. In some embodiments, quasi-orthogonal codes may refer to codes with relaxed orthogonality requirements.

In some embodiments, STAs 202, 204, 206 and 208 and/or APs 212, 214 and 216 may be configured to use resources (e.g., one or more of groups 702a, 702b, …, 702 n) to carry scheduling information for other resources that are not part of the critical information specific resources. In some embodiments, a particular portion (e.g., a particular time period) of the dedicated resources (e.g., control resources) carries scheduling information for the remainder of the control resources and another portion of the dedicated resources carries scheduling information for resources other than the dedicated resources.

In some embodiments, the opportunities are allocated by starting transmissions in an interleaved manner, with the highest priority transmission having the least interleaving. The other devices will automatically mute once the first device begins transmitting.

In some embodiments, physical layer orthogonal codes are assigned to transmissions of devices (when the transmissions are very short, e.g., a few bits), which may enable individual transmissions to be distinguished even if the transmissions are in the same resource. In some embodiments, quasi-orthogonal or orthogonal codes (e.g., noise codes or Walsh codes) are used. In some embodiments, one device transmits only negative 1 or positive 1 (real) and the other device transmits only negative i or positive i.

In some embodiments, resources may be shared across Basic Service Sets (BSSs) via inter-BSS coordination in order to reduce contention/collision of transmissions within such resources. For example, a controller BSS within a BSS network may control the use of shared resources, indicating to each BSS how it must share resources and how it may use shared resources. In some embodiments, the controller BSS obtains information about its resource requirements/characteristics for control and short low latency traffic from each of the participating BSSs. The device may indicate/share control information to/with other devices within the time allocated by the controller BSS. Some examples of control information include, but are not limited to: occupancy of the primary 20MHz channel by others using EDCA, occupancy of the enhanced multi-link single radio (EMLSR) primary link by an Overlapping BSS (OBSS) in the case of EMLSR AP/mobile AP, spatial reuse coordination information, and/or coordination information for distributed/non-collocated APs of a multi-link AP device (AP MLD) in a multi-AP coordination technique.

In some embodiments, the device transmits latency sensitive short packets and/or transmission control protocol acknowledgements (TCP-ACKs) over the resources. In some embodiments, the channel or resource is in a 2.4G band/link. In some embodiments, the 2.4GHz band/link is used for transmission latency-sensitive short packets and/or transmission control protocol acknowledgements (TCP-ACKs). In some embodiments, using resources in the 2.4GHz band as a Simultaneous Transmission and Reception (STR) control link allows control messages and short high-priority packets to be transmitted, regardless of activity on the 5G/6G links.

In some embodiments, the transmission may use a lower throughput Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS) with higher reliability, lower path loss, and lower bandwidth, thus higher Power Spectral Density (PSD). The parallel use of a 2.4GHz control channel with a data channel in a 5GHz/6GHz link provides significant advantages because the control channel coverage becomes larger or higher than the data channel. Transmission in the 2.4GHz control channel may occur regardless of the transmission/reception status of the 5GHz/6GHz channel (e.g., even if the 5G or 6G link is busy, the 2.4GHz control channel or resource may be used). In some embodiments, the 2.4GHz band or link is dedicated to control or latency sensitive data transmission. In some embodiments, transmission/reception operations for any other data may use other 802.11 bands, with higher bandwidths being available.

It should be noted that particular paragraphs of this disclosure may refer to terms (e.g., "first" and "second") in conjunction with subsets of frames, responses and devices for the purpose of identifying or distinguishing one from another or from others. These terms are not intended to relate entities (e.g., first device and second device) in time or according to order, although in some cases these entities may include such a relationship. Nor do these terms limit the number of possible entities (e.g., STAs, APs, beamformers, and/or beamformed receivers (beam formee)) that may operate within a system or environment. It should be understood that the system described above may provide multiple components in any or each of those components and that these components may be provided on separate machines or, in some embodiments, on multiple machines in a distributed system. Further, the bit field positions may be changed and multi-bit words may be used. Additionally, the systems and methods described above may be provided as one or more computer readable programs or executable instructions embodied on or in one or more articles of manufacture (e.g., a floppy disk, hard disk, CD-ROM, flash memory card, PROM, RAM, ROM, or magnetic tape). The program may be implemented in any programming language (e.g., LISP, PERL, C, C ++, c#) or in any byte code language (e.g., JAVA). The software programs or executable instructions may be stored as object code on or in one or more articles of manufacture. Circuitry may refer to any electronic circuit or circuitry.

While the foregoing written description of the methods and systems enables one of ordinary skill to make and use embodiments thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiments, methods, and examples herein. For example, the particular values of bandwidth, channel, and sub-band discussed above are exemplary. Thus, the present methods and systems should not be limited by the embodiments, methods, and examples described above, but rather by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.

While the foregoing written description of the methods and systems enables one of ordinary skill to make and use embodiments thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiments, methods, and examples herein. Thus, the present methods and systems should not be limited by the embodiments, methods, and examples described above, but rather by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A first apparatus for communicating with a second apparatus, the first apparatus comprising:

circuitry configured to:

The method includes communicating data to the second device using a first resource, wherein the first resource has a bandwidth that is less than a total bandwidth of a primary channel of a plurality of links, and wherein the data is low latency data or control data.

2. The first device of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to communicate frames that assign other devices opportunities to transmit on the first or second resources, and wherein a first resource bandwidth is less than 2.1MHz in a 2.4GHz link, a 5GHz link, or a 6GHz link.

3. The first device of claim 2, wherein the first device comprises an access point device that communicates via an 802.11be protocol.

4. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first resource is 26-tone bandwidth.

5. The first device of claim 4, wherein each tone has a bandwidth of less than 80 kilohertz wide.

6. The first device of claim 2, wherein the data is augmented reality data, virtual reality data, packets for video conferencing, or voice packets.

7. The first device of claim 2, wherein the frame provides time division multiplexing parameters for the first resource or the second resource.

8. The first device of claim 2, wherein the frame provides a frequency division multiplexing parameter for the first resource or the second resource.

9. The first apparatus of claim 2, wherein the data comprises occupancy of a primary channel, occupancy of an enhanced multi-link single radio (EMLSR) primary link, or spatial reuse coordination information.

10. The first device of claim 2, wherein the first resource is within the 2.4GHz link.

11. The first device of claim 2, wherein the circuitry is further configured to communicate frames that assign opportunities to other devices to transmit on a set of resources, each resource having a bandwidth of less than 2.1 MHz.

12. The first device of claim 1, wherein the data is for non-primary channel utilization.

13. A first apparatus for communicating over a network, the first apparatus comprising:

circuitry configured to:

Accessing a resource, wherein the resource has a bandwidth that is less than a total bandwidth of a primary channel of a plurality of links; and

Other devices are assigned the opportunity to transmit short packets on the resources.

14. The first device of claim 13, wherein the first device comprises a Station (STA) device that communicates via an 802.11be protocol, and the first resource bandwidth is less than 2.1MHz in a 2.4GHz link, a 5GHz link, or a 6GHz link.

15. The first apparatus of claim 13, wherein the resources comprise 26-tone bandwidth.

16. The first device of claim 15, wherein the tone has a bandwidth of 78.125 kilohertz wide.

17. The first device of claim 13, wherein the short packets comprise augmented reality data, virtual reality data, packets for video conferencing, or voice packets.

18. A method of data communication with a second device, the method comprising:

Providing a short packet containing said data; and

The short packet is communicated to the second device using a first resource, wherein the first resource has a bandwidth that is less than a total bandwidth of a primary channel of a plurality of links.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the data is latency sensitive data or control data.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the short packet comprises occupancy information for a 20MHz primary channel, wherein a first resource bandwidth is less than 2.1MHz in a 2.4GHz link, a 5GHz link, or a 6GHz link.