WO2018080602A1

WO2018080602A1 - Traffic indication map for opportunistic power save

Info

Publication number: WO2018080602A1
Application number: PCT/US2017/039684
Authority: WO
Inventors: Laurent Cariou; Robert J. Stacey
Original assignee: Laurent Cariou; Stacey Robert J
Priority date: 2016-10-27
Filing date: 2017-06-28
Publication date: 2018-05-03
Also published as: DE112017005440T5

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable medium are described for supporting an opportunistic power save mode. An awake state of a station is determined by an access point. The number of unicast and multicast frames that will be transmitted to the station in a current service period is determined. A bit within a bitmap corresponding to the association identifier of the station is determined and set based upon the awake state of the station and the number of frames that will be transmitted to the station. The bitmap is encoded for transmission. The station uses its corresponding bit to determine if the station may enter a doze state.

Description

TRAFFIC INDICATION MAP FOR OPPORTUNISTIC POWER SAVE

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims priority to United States Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/413,537 filed October 27, 2016, entitled "MODIFICATION OF TRAFFIC INDICATION MAP (TIM) ELEMENT FOR OPPORTUNISTIC POWER SAVE" which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] Embodiments pertain to wireless networks and wireless communications. Some embodiments relate to wireless local area networks (WLANs) and Wi-Fi networks including networks operating in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 family of standards. Some embodiments relate to IEEE

802.1 lax. Some embodiments relate to methods, computer readable media, and apparatus for a modification of traffic indication map (TIM) element for opportunistic power save.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Efficient use of the resources of a wireless local-area network (WLAN) is important to provide bandwidth and acceptable response times to the users of the WLAN. However, often there are many devices trying to share the same resources and some devices may be limited by the communication protocol they use or by their hardware bandwidth. Moreover, wireless devices may need to operate with both newer protocols and with legacy device protocols.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which:

i [0005] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some embodiments;

[0006] FIG. 2 illustrates a front-end module circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments;

[0007] FIG. 3 illustrates a radio IC circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. J in accordance with some embodiments;

[0008] FIG. 4 illustrates a baseband processing circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG.1 in accordance with some embodiments;

[0009] FIG. 5 illustrates a WLAN in accordance with some

embodiments;

[0010] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a modified traffic indication map element (eTIM) in accordance with some embodiments;

[0011] FIG. 7 illustrates a messaging diagram allowing a station to use opportunistic power save in accordance with some embodiments.

[0012] FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed herein may perform; and

[0013] FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless device upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies or operations) discussed herein may perform.

[0014] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodim ents.

However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. [0015] The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

DESCRIPTION

[0016] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 100 in accordance with some embodiments. Radio architecture 100 may include radio front-end module (FEM) circuitry 104, radio IC circuitry 106 and baseband processing circuitry 108. Radio architecture 100 as shown includes both Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality although embodiments are not so limited. In this disclosure, "WLAN" and "Wi-Fi" are used interchangeably.

[0017] FEM circuitry 104 may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry

104 A and a Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry 104B. The WLAN FEM circuitry 104A may include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 101, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 106A for further processing. The BT FEM circuitry 104B may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 101, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuitry 106B for further processing. FEM circuitry 104 A may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 106 A for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 101. In addition, FEM circuitry 104B may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 106B for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, although FEM 104 A and FEM 104B are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of an FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least some of the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

[0018] Radio IC circuitry 106 as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry 106 A and BT radio IC circuitry 106B. The WLAN radio IC circuitry 106A may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down- convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 104 A and provide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108A. BT radio IC circuitry 106B may in turn include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 104B and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 08B.

WLAN radio IC circuitry 106A may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108 A and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 104A for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 101. BT radio IC circuitry 106B may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry 108B and provide BT RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 104B for subsequent wireless

transmission by the one or more antennas 101. In the embodiment of FIG. I, although radio IC circuitries 106 A and 106B are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of a radio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and/or a receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more radio IC circuitries where at least some of the radio IC circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

[0019] Baseband processing circuity 108 may include a WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108A and a BT baseband processing circuitry 108B. The WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108 A may include a memory, such as, for example, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108 A. Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry 108 A and the BT baseband circuitry 108B may further include one or more processors and control logic to process the signals received from the corresponding WLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 106, and to also generate

corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 106. Each of the baseband processing circuitries 108 A and

108B may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with application processor 1 11 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio IC circuitry 106.

[0020] Referring still to FIG. 1, according to the shown embodiment,

WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 1 13 may include logic providing an interface between the WLAN baseband circuitry 108 A and the BT baseband circuitry 108B to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. In addition, a switch 103 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuitry 104 A and the BT FEM circuitry 104B to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios according to application needs. In addition, although the antennas 101 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLAN FEM circuitry 104 A and the BT FEM circuitry 104B, embodiments include within their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between the WL AN and BT FEMs, or the provision of more than one antenna connected to each of FEM 104 A or 104B.

[0021] In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 104, the radio IC circuitry 106, and baseband processing circuitry 108 may be provided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 102. In some other

embodiments, the one or more antennas 101, the FEM circuitry 104 and the radio IC circuitry 106 may be provided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 106 and the baseband processing circuitry 108 may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as IC 112.

[0022] In some embodiments, the wireless radio card 102 may include a

WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals over a multicarrier communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMA signals may comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers,

[0023] In some of these multicarrier embodiments, radio architecture 100 may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA) such as a wireless access point (AP), a base station or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device. In some of these embodiments, radio architecture 100 may be configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with specific communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards including, IEEE 802.1 l n-2009, IEEE 802, 11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016, IEEE 802.1 lac, and/or IEEE 802.1 lax standards and/or proposed specifications for WLANs, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. Radio architecture 100 may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.

[0024] In some embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured for high-efficiency (HE) W^?i-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.1 l ax standard. In these embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMA technique, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0025] In some other embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time-division multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect ,

[0026] In some embodiments, as further shown in FIG. 1, the BT baseband circuitry 108B may be compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivity standard such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 4.0 or Bluetooth 5.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth Standard. In embodiments that include BT functionality as shown for example in Fig. 1, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to establish a BT synchronous connection oriented (SCO) link and/or a BT low energy (BT LE) link. In some of the embodiments that include functionality, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to establish an extended SCO (eSCO) link for BT communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments that include a BT functionality, the radio architecture may be configured to engage in a BT Asynchronous Connection-Less (ACL) communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. I , the functions of a BT radio card and WLAN radio card may be combined on a single wireless radio card, such as single wireless radio card 102, although embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope discrete WL AN and BT radio cards

[0027] In some embodiments, the radio-architecture 100 may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 3GPP such as LTE, LTE-Advanced or 5G communications).

[0028] In some IEEE 802.1 1 embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths including bandwidths having center frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of about 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 4 MHz, 5MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 16 MHz, 20 MHz, 40MHz, 8()MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or 80+80MHz (160MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths). In some embodiments, a 320 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of the embodiments is not limited with respect to the above center frequencies however.

[0029] FIG. 2 illustrates FEM circuitry 200 in accordance with some embodiments. The FEM circuitry 200 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN and/or BT FEM circuitry 104 A/104B (FIG. 1), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

[0030] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 200 may include a

TX/RX switch 202 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 200 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 206 to amplify received RF signals 203 and provide the amplified received RF signals 207 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuitry 106 (FIG. 1)). The transmit signal path of the circuitry 200 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals 209 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 106), and one or more filters 212, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters (LPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 215 for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 101 (FIG. 1)).

[0031] In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the

FEM circuitry 200 may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum or the 5 GHz frequency spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may include a receive signal path duplexer 204 to separate the signals from each spectrum as well as provide a separate

LN A 206 for each spectrum as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may also include a power amplifier 210 and a filter 212, such as a BPF, a LPF or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 214 to provide the signals of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by the one or more of the antennas 101 (FIG. 1). In some embodiments, BT communications may utilize the 2.4 GHZ signal paths and may utilize the same FEM circuitry 200 as the one used for WLAN communications.

[0032] FIG. 3 ill strates radio IC circuitry 300 in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuitry 300 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry 106A/106B (FIG. 1), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

[0033] In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 300 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 300 may include at least mixer circuitry 302, such as, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry 306 and filter circuitry 308. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 300 may include at least filter circuitry 312 and mixer circuitry 314, such as, for example, up- conversion mixer circuitry. Radio IC circuitry 300 may also include synthesizer circuitry 304 for synthesizing a frequency 305 for use by the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314. The mixer circuitry 302 and/or 314 may each, according to some embodiments, be configured to provide direct conversion functionality. The latter type of circuitry presents a much simpler architecture as compared with standard super-heterodyne mixer circuitries, and any flicker noise brought about by the same may be alleviated for example through the use of OFDM modulation. Fig. 3 illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and may include, although not shown, embodiments where each of the depicted circuitries may include more than one component. For instance, mixer circuitry 320 and/or 314 may each include one or more mixers, and filter circuitries 308 and/or 312 may each include one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to application needs. For example, when mixer circuitries are of the direct-conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.

[0034] In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 302 may be configured to down-convert RF signals 207 received from the FEM circuitry 104 (FIG. 1) based on the synthesized frequency 305 provided by synthesizer circuitry 304. The amplifier circuitry 306 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 308 may include a LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals 307. Output baseband signals 307 may be provided to the baseband processing circuitry 108 (FIG. 1) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 307 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 302 may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0035] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 314 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals 311 based on the synthesized frequency 305 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 304 to generate RF^' output signals 209 for the FEM circuitry 104. The baseband signals 31 1 may be provided by the baseband processing circuitry 108 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 312. The filter circuitry 312 may include a LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0036] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up-conversion respectively with the help of synthesizer 304. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may each include two or more mixers each configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may be arranged for direct down- conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may be configured for superheterodyne operation, although this is not a requirement.

[0037] Mixer circuitry 302 may comprise, according to one embodiment: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, RF input signal 207 from Fig. 3 may be down- converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor

[0038] Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety- degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuitry which may be configured to receive a LO frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or a synthesizer, such as LO frequency 305 of synthesizer 304 (FIG. 3). In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be the carrier frequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero and ninety-degree time-varying switching signals may be generated by the synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0039] In some embodiments, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle

(the percentage of one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset (the difference between start points of the period). In some embodiments, the LO signals may have a 25% duty cycle and a 50% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at a 25%> duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction is power consumption.

[0040] The RF input signal 207 (FIG. 2) may comprise a balanced signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to low-nose amplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 306 (FIG. 3) or to filter circuitry 308 (FIG. 3). [0041] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 307 and the input baseband signals 311 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate

embodiments, the output baseband signals 307 and the input baseband signals 31 1 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.

[0042] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for other spectrums not mentioned here, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0043] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 304 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 304 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 304 may include digital synthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuitry is that, although it may still include some analog components, its footprint may be scaled down much more than the footprint of an analog synthesizer circuitry. In some embodiments, frequency input into synthesizer circuity 304 may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. A divider control input may further be provided by either the baseband processing circuitry 108 (FIG. 1) or the application processor 111 (FIG. 1) depending on the desired output frequency 305. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel center frequency as determined or indicated by the application processor 111.

[0044] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 304 may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 305, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 305 may be a fraction of the carrier

I I frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 305 may be a LO frequency (fLO).

[0045] FIG. 4 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processing circuitry 400 in accordance with some embodiments. The baseband processing circuitry 400 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 108 (FIG. 1), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. The baseband processing circuitry 400 may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 402 for processing receive baseband signals 309 provided by the radio IC circuitry 106 (FIG. 1) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 404 for generating transmit baseband signals 311 for the radio IC circuitry 106. The baseband processing circuitry 400 may also include control logic 406 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processing circuitry 400.

[0046] In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchanged between the baseband processing circuitry 400 and the radio IC circuitry 106), the baseband processing circuitry 400 may include ADC 410 to convert analog baseband signals received from the radio IC circuitry 106 to digital baseband signals for processing by the RX BBP 402, In these

embodiments, the baseband processing circuitry 400 may also include DAC 412 to convert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 404 to analog baseband signals.

[0047] In some embodiments that communicate OFDM signals or

OFDMA signals, such as through baseband processor 108 A, the transmit baseband processor 404 may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDM A signals as appropriate for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). The receive baseband processor 402 may be configured to process received OFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT. In some embodiments, the receive baseband processor 402 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an autocorrelation, to detect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and by performing a cross-correlation, to detect a long preamble. The preambles may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication. [0048] Referring to FIG. 1, in some embodiments, the antennas 101

(FIG. 1) may each comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipoie antennas, monopoie antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result.

Antennas 101 may each include a set of phased-array antennas, although embodiments are not so limited,

[0049] Although the radio-architecture 100 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may^¬ be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

[0050] FIG. 5 illustrates a WLAN 500 in accordance with some embodiments. The WLAN 500 may comprise a basis service set (BSS) that may include a HE access point (AP) 502, which may be an AP, a plurality of high- efficiency wireless (e.g., IEEE 802.1 lax) (FIE) stations 504, and a plurality of legacy (e.g., IEEE 802.1 ln/ac) devices 506.

[0051] The HE AP 502 may be an AP using the IEEE 802, 11 to transmit and receive. The HE AP 502 may be a base station. The HE AP 502 may use other communications protocols as well as the IEEE 802.1 1 protocol. The IEEE 802.11 protocol may be IEEE 802.1 lax. The IEEE 802.11 protocol may include using orthogonal frequency division multiple-access (OFDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), and/or code division multiple access (CDMA), The IEEE 802.1 1 protocol may include a multiple access technique. For example, the IEEE 802.11 protocol may include space-division multiple access (SDMA) and/or multiple-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMQ). There may^¬ be more than one HE AP 502 that is part of an extended service set (ESS). A controller (not illustrated) may store information that is common to the more than one HE APs 502.

[0052] The legacy devices 506 may operate in accordance with one or more of IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ad/af/ah/aj/ay, or another legacy wireless communication standard. The legacy devices 506 may be stations (STAs) or IEEE STAs. The HE STAs 504 may be wireless transmit and receive devices such as cellular telephone, portable electronic wireless communication devices, smart telephone, handheld wireless device, wireless glasses, wireless watch, wireless personal device, tablet, or another device that may be transmitting and receiving using the IEEE 802.11 protocol such as IEEE 802.1 lax or another wireless protocol. In some embodiments, the HE STAs 504 may be termed high efficiency (HE) stations.

[0053] The HE AP 502 may communicate with legacy devices 506 in accordance with legacy IEEE 802, 1 1 communication techniques. In example embodiments, the HE AP 502 may also be configured to communicate with HE STAs 504 in accordance with legacy IEEE 802.11 communication techniques.

[0054] In some embodiments, a HE frame may be configurable to have the same bandwidth as a channel. The HE frame may be a physical Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU). In some embodiments, there may be different types of PPDUs that may have different fields and different physical layers and/or different media access control (MAC) layers.

[0055] The bandwidth of a channel may be 20MHz, 40MHz, or 80MHz,

160MHz, 320MHz contiguous bandwidths or an 80+80MHz (160MHz) noncontiguous bandwidth. In some embodiments, the bandwidth of a channel may^¬ be 1 MHz, 1.25MHz, 2.03MHz, 2.5MHz, 4.06 MHz, 5MHz and 10MHz, or a combination thereof or another bandwidth that is less or equal to the available bandwidth may also be used. In some embodiments, the bandwidth of the channels may be based on a number of active data subcarriers. In some embodiments, the bandwidth of the channels is based on 26, 52, 106, 242, 484, 996, or 2x996 active data subcarriers or tones that are spaced by 20 MHz. In some embodiments, the bandwidth of the channels is 256 tones spaced by 20 MHz. In some embodiments, the channels are multiple of 26 tones or a multiple of 20 MHz. In some embodiments, a 20 MHz channel may comprise 242 active data subcarriers or tones, which may determine the size of a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT ). An allocation of a bandwidth or a number of tones or sub- carriers may be termed a resource unit (RU) allocation in accordance with some embodiments.

[0056] In some embodiments, the 26-subcarrier RU and 52-subcarrier

RU are used in the 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz and 80+80 MHz OFDMA HE PPDU formats. In some embodiments, the 106-subcarrier RU is used in the 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz and 80+80 MHz OFDMA and MU-MIMO HE PPDU formats. In some embodiments, the 242-subcarrier RU is used in the 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz and 80+80 MHz OFDMA and MU- MIMO HE PPDU formats. In some embodiments, the 484-subcarrier RU is used in the 80 MHz, 160 MHz and 80+80 MHz OFDMA and MU-MIMO HE PPDU formats. In some embodiments, the 996-subcarrier RU is used in the 160 MHz and 80+80 MHz OFDMA and MU-MIMO HE PPDU formats.

[0057] A HE frame may be configured for transmitting a number of spatial streams, which may be in accordance with MU-MIMO and may be in accordance with OFDMA. In other embodiments, the HE AP 502, HE STA 504, and/or legacy device 506 may also implement different technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA) 2000, CDMA 2000 IX, CDMA 2000 Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), IEEE 802, 16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), BlueTooth®, or other technologies.

[0058] Some embodiments relate to HE communications. In accordance with some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, e.g., IEEE 802.1 lax embodiments, a HE AP 502 may operate as a master station which may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium (e.g., during a contention period) to receive exclusive control of the medium for an HE control period. In some embodiments, the HE control period may be termed a transmission opportunity (TXOP). The HE AP 502 may transmit a HE master-sync transmission, which may be a trigger frame or HE control and schedule transmission, at the beginning of the HE control period. The HE AP 502 may transmit a time duration of the TXOP and sub-channel information. During the HE control period, HE ST As 504 may communicate with the HE AP 502 in accordance with a non-contention based multiple access technique such as OFDMA or MU-MIMO. This is unlike conventional WLAN communications in which devices communicate in accordance with a contention-based communication technique, rather than a multiple access technique. During the HE control period, the HE AP 502 may communicate with HE stations 504 using one or more HE frames. During the HE control period, the HE STAs 504 may operate on a sub-channel smaller than the operating range of the HE AP 502. During the HE control period, legacy stations refrain from communicating. The legacy stations may need to receive the communication from the HE AP 502 to defer from communicating.

[0059] In accordance with some embodiments, during the TXOP the HE

STAs 504 may contend for the wireless medium with the legacy devices 506 being excluded from contending for the wireless medium during the master-sync transmission. In some embodiments, the trigger frame may indicate an uplink (UL) UL-MU-MIMO and/or UL OFDMA TXOP. In some embodiments, the trigger frame may include a DL UL-MU-MIMO and/or DL OFDMA with a schedule indicated in a preamble portion of trigger frame.

[0060] In some embodiments, the multiple-access technique used during the HE TXOP may be a scheduled OFDMA technique, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, the multiple access technique may be a time-division multiple access (TDMA) technique or a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) technique. In some embodiments, the multiple access technique may be a space-division multiple access (SDMA) technique. In some embodiments, the multiple access technique may be a Code division multiple access (CDMA).

[0061] The HE AP 502 may also communicate with legacy stations 506 and/or HE stations 504 in accordance with legacy IEEE 802.11 communication techniques. In some embodiments, the HE AP 502 may also be configurable to communicate with HE stations 504 outside the HE TXOP in accordance with legacy IEEE 802. 1 communication techniques, although this is not a requirement.

[0062] In some embodiments, the HE station 504 may be a "group owner" (GO) for peer-to-peer modes of operation. A wireless device may be a HE station 502 or a HE AP 502.

[0063] In some embodiments, the HE station 504 and/or HE AP 502 may be configured to operate in accordance with IEEE 802.1 lmc. In example embodiments, the radio architecture of FIG. 1 is configured to implement the FIE station 504 and/or the HE AP 502. In example embodiments, the front-end module circuitry of FIG. 2 is configured to implement the FIE station 504 and/or the HE AP 502. In example embodiments, the radio IC circuitry of FIG. 3 is configured to implement the HE station 504 and/or the HE AP 502. In example embodiments, the base-band processing circuitry of FIG. 4 is configured to implement the HE station 504 and/or the HE AP 502.

[0064] In example embodiments, the HE stations 504, HE AP 502, an apparatus of the HE stations 504, and/or an apparatus of the HE AP 502 may include one or more of the following: the radio architecture of FIG. 1, the front- end module circuitry of FIG. 2, the radio IC circuitry of FIG. 3, and/or the base- band processing ci rcuitry of FIG. 4.

[0065] In example embodiments, the radio architecture of FIG. 1, the front-end module circuitry of FIG. 2, the radio IC circuitry of FIG. 3, and/or the base-band processing circuitry of FIG. 4 may be configured to perform the methods and operations/functions herein described in conjunction with FIGS, 1- 8.

[0066] In example embodiments, the HE station 504 and/or the HE AP

502 are configured to perform the methods and operations/functions described herein in conjunction with FIGS. 1-8. In example embodiments, an apparatus of the HE station 504 and/or an apparatus of the HE AP 502 are configured to perform the methods and functions described herein in conjunction with FIGS. 1 -8. The term Wi-Fi may refer to one or more of the IEEE 802.1 1

communication standards. AP and ST A may refer to HE access point 502 and/or HE station 504 as well as legacy devices 506. [0067] In some embodiments, a HE AP 502 or a HE STA 504 performing at least some functions of an HE AP 502 may be referred to as HE AP STA. In some embodiments, a HE STA 504 may be referred to as a HE non- AP STA. In some embodiments, a HE STA 504 may be referred to as either a HE AP STA and/or HE non-AP.

[0068] In some embodiments, systems/devices/methods described herein provide measurement protocols for next generation positioning protocol in WLAN (802.1 laz), which enhances the existing methods. In some

embodiments, in the IEEE 802.11 specification, the protocol that can be used to measure the distance between AP and STA is called fine timing measurement (FTM) protocol. In some embodiments, the FTM protocol utilizes the round-trip time (RTT) between the AP and STA to estimate the range of STA. After the AP receives the range estimation request from STA, several packets will be exchanged between AP and STA and the RTT is derived based on these packets. Previous specifications had two limitations with the FTM protocol. First, in each packet exchange procedure it only allows the AP to conduct timing measurement for a single STA. When the AP needs to assist several STAs to measure the RTTs, the measurements can only be done sequentially and the efficiency of FTM is limited. The second limitation is that FTM doesn't utilize MIMO antennas to improve the estimation accuracy of RTT. In some embodiments, in the next generation VVLAN (802.1 lax), a new feature is the multi-user MIMO in the uplink transmission from STAs to AP, and based on this feature, more efficient measurement protocols are designed for range estimation.

[0069] In some embodiments, systems/devices/methods described herein provide new designs using MIMO antennas and the IEEE 802.1 1 ax uplink MU- MIMO feature. In some embodiments, the AP can exchange timing

measurement packets with multiple STAs simultaneously, which will reduce the number of packet exchanges between AP and STA significantly. Second, various embodiments described below exploit the benefit of MIMO to improve the accuracy of RTT estimation. Third, various embodiments described below are more compatible with the 802.1 lax specification. Various embodiments, therefore, require minimal change to the existing hardware. [0070] In some embodiments, systems/devices/methods described herein enable the AP to exchange the measurement packets with multiple STAs simultaneously. Furthermore, in some embodiments, for the uplink transmission, the trigger-based physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) in IEEE 802.1 lax can be utilized to allow the stations to transmit sounding packets to the AP simultaneously. For the downlink transmission from AP to STA, the AP may send a null data packet (NDP) announcement (NPDA) and NDP sounding packets to all the STAs. After the two rounds of packet exchanges, both AP and STAs will obtain the time of arrival (ToA) and time of departure (ToD) information, and the RTT can be calculated using these ToA and ToD information.

[0071] In some embodiments, systems/devices/methods described herein define a PowerSave-announce control frame, which is sent/broadcasted by an access point (AP) in a regular manner. In some embodiments, this frame can be sent in or with beacons {e.g., every 100ms) and in mini-beacons {e.g., every 20- 50ms), or possibly along with fast initial link setup (FILS) discovery frames (e.g., every 20ms). The duration between two PowerSave-announce frames should be relatively static. In some embodiments, the duration between two PowerSave-announce frames is the service period.

[0072] In some embodiments, the PowerSave-announce control frame includes information about a next service period (e.g., the period that starts at the receipt of the PowerSave-announce control frame until the next PowerSave- announce frame). The information about the next service period may include the list of stations (STAs) that will be scheduled during the service period and/or the list of STAs that will not be scheduled during the sendee period, unless some event arises like a specific request from that STA during the period,

[0073] In some embodiments, the information regarding the STAs that will not be scheduled during the service period may be communicated using a bitmap (TIM-like) with the association ID (AID)s of the STAs, Each index of the bitmap may correspond to an AID (and therefore a STA). Each bit may be set to 1 to indicate that the STA will not be scheduled during the current service period, and to 0 otherwise. In some embodiments, if more information is desired more bits may be associated with each AID. For example, two bits may be associated with each AID. The two bits may indicate if the STA should enter power save, if the STA should enter power save for 2, 3, 4, etc, service periods, should stay in the awake state. In some embodiments, lowering the size of the bitmap may be achieved by using the SFA-ID (short PHY-feedback allocation identification) instead of the AID.

[0074] In some embodiments, when a STA receives the PowerSave- announce control frame, the STA may decide to go to power save if the STA is not to be scheduled in the current service period or stay awake if the STA is to be scheduled in the current service period.

[0075] The PowerSave-account control frame described above may lead to important overhead as for example in beacons, there may already be a TIM: element and some embodiments would add another ΤΓΜ-like partial virtual bitmap. Reducing possibly redundant information between the TIM: element and another ΊΊΜ-like partial virtual bitmap would lead to improved efficiency.

[0076] In an example, reusing the partial virtual bitmap in a TIM element is possible to reduce this redundant information. An AP may set bits within the partial virtual bitmap for STAs that are in a doze state as before (e.g., as in the current IEEE 802, 1 IREVmc specification). The bit, however, may be used for STAs in the awake state to provide an indication as to if the STA will be scheduled in the current service period. For a ST A known to be in the awake state, the STA's corresponding bit may be used to allow the STA to enter an opportunistic power save mode for the current service period. Thus, the bit within the virtual partial bitmap has a different meaning based upon the doze/awake state of the STA. If the state of a STA is unknown, the state may be assumed to be in the doze state, such that the bit corresponding to the STA is set as before,

[0077] The TIM element may be transmitted to stations in beacons and in other frames, such as fast initial link setup (FILS) discovery frames.

[0078] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a modified traffic indication map (TIM) element 600 in accordance with some embodiments. The modified TIM element 600 may be described as a "modified TIM element", "eTIM element" or "eTIM". [0080] In some embodiments, the Element ID 602 and Length 604 fields are defined in section 9.4.2, 1 (General) of 802. 1 I REVmc spec. In some embodiments, the Length 604 field for the TIIVl element 600 is constrained as described below and describes the length of the TIM element 600. In some embodiments, the DTIM Count field 606 indicates how many beacon frames (including the current frame) appear before the next delivery TIM (DTIM). A DTIM count of 0 indicates that the current TIM is a DTIM, The DTIM Count field 606 may be a single octet. When an TIM element is included in a TIM frame, the D I Count field may be reserved,

[0081] In some embodiments, the DTIM Period 608 field indicates the number of beacon intervals between successive DTIMs. If all TIMs are DTIMs, the DTIM Period field 608 has the value 1 , The DTIM Period value 0 is reserved. The DTIM period field may be a single octet.

[0082] In some embodiments, the Bitmap Control field 610 is a single octet. Bit 0 of the field contains the traffic indication virtual bitmap bit associated with AID 0, AID 0 is reserved for broadcast/multicast transmissions. This bit is set to 1 in TIM elements with a value of 0 in the DTIM Count field when one or more group addressed MAC Service Data Umts/MAC Management Protocol Data Units (MSDUs MMPDUs) are buffered at the AP or the mesh ST A, The remaining 7 bits of the field form a Bitmap Offset.

[0083] In some embodiments, the traffic indication virtual bitmap 612, maintained by the AP or the mesh STA that generates the TIM element 600, consists of 2008 bits, and is organized into 251 octets such that bit number N (0 ≤ N < 2007) in the bitmap corresponds to bit number (N mod 8) in octet number [N / 8] where the low-order bit of each octet is bit number 0, and the high order bit is bit number 7.

[0084] In some embodiments, each bit in the traffic indication virtual bitmap corresponds to a specific neighbor peer mesh STA within the mesh basic service set (MBSS) or for a STA within the base service set (BSS).

[0085] In some embodiments, the meaning of each bit in the traffic indication virtual bitmap is different depending on whether the corresponding STA is known by the AP to be in the awake state, in a doze state, or for which the AP does not know the STA's state. In some embodiments, each STA has a corresponding bit in the traffic indication virtual bitmap 612. A bit may be set to 1 for a STA if the AP or mesh STA has individually addressed

MSDUs/MMPDUs for that STA.

[0086] The value of a bit, N, for a particular ST A, which is in a doze state or whose state is unknown to the AP, may be used to indicate if the STA is likely to receive frames in the current service period. The value of a bit may be set to 1 if any of the following are true:

A) If the STA is not using automatic power save delivery

(APSD), and any individually addressed MSDUs/MMPDUs for that STA are buffered and the AP or the mesh STA and the AP is prepared to deliver the DUs;

B) If the STA is using APSD, and any individually addressed MSDUs/MMPDUs for that STA are buffered in at least one nondelivery-enabled access category (AC) (if there exists at least one nondelivery-enabled AC), or

C) If the STA is using APSD, all ACs are delivery-enabled, and any individually addressed MSDUs/MMPDUs for that STA are buffered in any AC.

[0087] If none of the above are true, then the bit may be set to 0 to indicate that the STA will not receive frames in the current service period.

[0088] In some embodiments, if bit N in the traffic indication virtual bitmap corresponds to a STA whose AID is N and that is known to be in the awake state, the bit is set to 0 if the STA may be able to enter a power save mode. For example, the bit may be set to 0 if the AP or mesh STA will not transmit unicast or multicast frames to the STA. In addition, the AP or mesh STA will not trigger the STA to transmit data to the AP, e.g., an UL MU transmission or a trigger-based PHY Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU), before the target time of the next TIM element. If frames will be transmitted to the STA or the STA will be triggered to send a transmission, the STA's corresponding bit is set to 1. [0089] AP operation during the contention period (CP) for opportunistic power save

[0090] In some embodiments, if an AP activates a schedul e-assisted power save mode, the AP may include an eTIM element in beacon frames to allow STAs to possibly enter an opportunistic power save mode. The AP may also define the interval between the transmission of two consecutive eTI : elements. In some embodiments, by default, the interval is equal to a beacon interval. In some embodiments, the AP may define this interval to be smaller than the beacon interval by including in beacon frames a broadcast target wake time (TWT) element that defines a periodic TWT service period (SP) for opportunistic power save. The TWT SP is the interval during which a STA may enter a doze state based upon the eTIM element. A STA that takes advantage of the opportunistic power save may wake at the end of the TWT SP to receive the next eTIM element.

[0091] In some embodiments, the periodic TWT SP for opportunistic power save may be defined by the value of the TWT field which is set to the TSF timer at which the first TWT is scheduled for this TWT parameter set. As noted above, this value is equal to the interval between the transmission of two consecutive eTIM elements. The period TWT SP may also be a value of the listen interval between consecutive target beacon transmission times (TBTT) in the TWT Wake Interval Mantissa and TWT Wake Interval Exponent fields is set to the interval between two consecutive eTIM elements. The TWT flow identifier field may be set to a new value, e.g., 3, to indicate that the TWT service period starts with the transmission of an eTIM element and that there are no constraints on the frames transmitted during the TWT SP.

[0092] The opportunistic power save has benefits for STAs that are in the awake state, as they STAs may enter a doze state for TWT SPs. In an example, for each eTI : transmission, the AP may follow the procedure in 11.2.2.6 (AP operation during the CP) in 1 IREVmc for STAs that are known to be in doze state or for which it does not know that they are in awake state.

[0093] In some embodiments, for STAs that are known to be in awake state when the eTIM is transmitted, and for which the AP set their corresponding bit in the traffic indication virtual bitmap field of the eTIM element to 0, the AP may neither send unicast or multicast frames to those STAs, nor trigger those ST As for UL transmissions until the transmission of the next eTIM element. This allows the STAs to enter in a doze state until the next eTIM element is transmitted.

[0094] STA operation during the CP for opportunistic power save

[0095] When receiving an eTIM element, a STA with AID N that is in opportunistic power save mode may enter the doze state until the target transmission time of the next eTIM element, if the bit N in the traffic indication virtual bitmap field of the eTIM element is set to 0. In an example, the STA is in the awake state before entering the doze state. In addition, a STA may be configured to take advantage of the opportunistic power save mode.

[0096] FIG. 7 illustrates a messaging diagram allowing a station to use opportunistic power save in accordance with some embodiments. An AP 700 is communicating with a station 702. Previously, the AP 700 assigned an AID to the STA 702. In addition, the AP 700 is aware of the STA's current awake/doze state. For the example messaging in FIG. 7, the state of the STA initially is awake. A TIM 720 is transmitted to the STA 702. Knowing the STA 702 is awake, the AP 700 determines if there are any buffered frames for the STA 702. In an example, the AP 700 determines if a buffered frame will be transmitted to the STA 702 in the current sendee period. From the AP's perspective, the current service period is the period between the current TIM element and the next TIM element. In this example the first current service period is the period between TIM 720 and a next TIM 722. As noted above, a TIM element may be transmitted in a TIM or FILS. If a frame will be or likely transmitted to the STA 702, the AP 700 sets the bit in the bitmap of the TIM element corresponding to that STA to 1. In the first TIM 720, the AP determines that no frame will be transmitted to the STA 702 nor will the AP 700 trigger an UL transmission from the STA 702. Accordingly, the bit corresponding to the STA 702 in the TIM element of the TIM 720 is set to 0. The bit within the TIM element's bitmap corresponding to the STA 702 may be bit N, where N is equal to the STA's AID.

[0097] Upon receipt of the TIM 720, the STA 702 may decode the TIM element and the STA's corresponding bit. The STA 702 decodes its bit and determines the bit is sit to 0, indicating that the STA 702 will not receive any frames from the AP 700 before a next TIM 722. The STA 702, therefore, may determine to enter a doze state 710 up and until the next TIM 722 is received. Entering the doze state, allows the STA 702 to save power and reduce battery drain. Without the enhanced TIM element contained within the TIM 720, the station 702 would have to remain in the awake state. The STA 702, however, is not required to enter a doze state. For example, the STA 702 is free to transmit data to the AP 700 before the next TIM 722.

[0098] In an example, the STA 702 does not provide any indication to the STA 700 that the STA 702 has entered a doze state. The AP 700, therefore, continues to consider the STA 702 to be in an awake state. Even though the AP 700 considers the STA 702 to be awake, the AP 700 does not send any frames until after the TIM 722 based upon setting the STA's bit to 0 in the TIM 720. In another example, the AP 700 may believe the STA 702 will enter a doze state based upon the STA' bit in the TIM 720.

[0099] In preparing the TIM element for TIM 722, the AP 700 determines there are frames that will be transmitted to the STA 702 or the STA 702 will be triggered to send UL frames to the AP 700. Accordingly, the STA's bit in the TIM 722 will be set to 1. Upon receipt of the TIM 722, the STA 702 determines its bit in the TIM element of TIM 722 indicates that a transmission to/from the STA 702 will occur before a next TIM 726. The STA 702, therefore, will remain awake 712. Downlink frames may be received by the STA 702 or uplink frames may be sent 724 by the STA 702 during the current service period, i.e., the period between the TIM 722 and TIM 726.

[00100] In preparing the TIM 726, the AP 700 follows a similar procedure as above and determines if any frames will be transmitted in the current service period and sets the STA's bit in the TIM 726 accordingly. In the example, the AP 700 determines no frames will be transmitted to the STA 702 and sets the STA's bit to 0. Upon receipt of the TIM 726, the STA 702 may enter a doze state. The STA 702 may determine that a stored configuration allows the STA 702 to enter the doze state. Conversely, the STA 702 may determine that the doze state is not to be entered based upon stored configuration information. [00101] FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine 1300 upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed herein may perform. In alternative embodiments, the machine 1300 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 1300 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both in server-client network environments. In an example, the machine 1300 may act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment. The machine 1300 may be a HE AP 502, HE station 504, personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable communications device, a mobile telephone, a smart phone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), other computer cluster configurations.

[00102] Machine (e.g., computer system) 1300 may include a hardware processor 1302 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 1304 and a static memory 1306, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 1308.

[00103] Specific examples of main memory 1304 include Random Access Memory (RAM), and semiconductor memory devices, which may include, in some embodiments, storage locations in semiconductors such as registers.

Specific examples of static memory 1306 include non- volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only

Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks, RAM; and CD-ROM and

DV D-ROM disks. [00104] The machine 1300 may further include a display device 1310, an input device 1312 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 1314 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the display device 1310, input device 1312 and UI navigation device 1314 may be a touch screen display. The machine 1300 may additionally include a mass storage (e.g., drive unit) 1316, a signal generation device 1318 (e.g., a speaker), a network interface device 1320, and one or more sensors 1321, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, compass, accelero meter, or another sensor. The machine 1300 may include an output controller 1328, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.). In some embodiments, the processor 1302 and/or instructions 1324 may comprise processing circuitry and/or transceiver circuitry.

[00105] The storage device 1316 may include a machine readable medium 1322 on which is stored one or more sets of data stmctures or instructions 1324 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions 1324 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 1304, within static memory 1306, or within the hardware processor 1302 during execution thereof by the machine 1300. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 1302, the main memory 1304, the static memory 1306, or the storage device 13 16 may constitute machine readable media.

[00106] Specific examples of machine readable media may include: nonvolatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., EPROM or EEPROM) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks, RAM; and CD-ROM and DV D-ROM disks.

[00107] While the machine readable medium 1322 is illustrated as a single medium, the term "machine readable medium" may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 1324. [00108] An apparatus of the machine 1300 may be one or more of a hardware processor 1302 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 1304 and a static memory 1306, sensors 1321, network interface device 1320, antennas 1360, a display device 13 0, an input device 13 12, a UI navigation device 1314, a mass storage 1316, instructions 1324, a signal generation device 1318, and an output controller 1328. The apparatus may be configured to perform one or more of the methods and/or operations disclosed herein. The apparatus may be intended as a component of the machine 1300 to perform one or more of the methods and/or operations disclosed herein, and/or to perform a portion of one or more of the methods and/or operations disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the apparatus may include a pin or other means to receive power. In some embodiments, the apparatus may include power conditioning hardware.

[00109] The term "machine readable medium" may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 1300 and that cause the machine 1300 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non- limiting machine readable medium examples may include solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of machine readable media may include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks;

magneto-optical disks, Random Access Memory (RAM); and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. In some examples, machine readable media may include non-transitory machine readable media. In some examples, machine readable media may include machine readable media that is not a transitory propagating signal.

[00110] The instructions 1324 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 1326 using a transmission medium via the network interface device 1320 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.1 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) family of standards, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) family of standards, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others,

[00111] In an example, the network interface device 1320 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communications network 1326. In an example, the network interface device 1320 may include one or more antennas 1360 to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MI SO) techniques. In some examples, the network interface device 1320 may wirelessly communicate using Multiple User MIMO techniques. The term "transmission medium" shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 1300, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of such software.

[00112] Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangible entities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example, circuits may be arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to external entities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. In an example, the whole or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardware processors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g., instructions, an application portion, or an application) as a module that operates to perform specified operations. In an example, the software may reside on a machine readable medium. In an example, the software, when executed by the underlying hardware of the module, causes the hardware to perform the specified operations.

[00113] Accordingly, the term "module" is understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specifically configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., transitorily) configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or to perform part or all of any operation described herein. Considering examples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of the modules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example, where the modules comprise a general-purpose hardware processor configured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may be configured as respective different modules at different times. Software may accordingly configure a hardware processor, for example, to constitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitute a different module at a different instance of time.

[00114] Some embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in software and/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but not limited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readable medium may include any tangible non- transitory medium for storing information in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but not limited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media, flash memory, etc.

[00115] FIG. 14 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless device 1400 upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies or operations) discussed herein may perform. The wireless device 1400 may be a HE device. The wireless device 1400 may be a HE ST A 504 and/or HE AP 502 (e.g., FIG. 5). A HE STA 504 and/or HE AP 502 may include some or all of the components shown in FIGS. 1-5, 13, and 14. The wireless device 1400 may be an example machine 1300 as disclosed in conjunction with FIG. 13,

[00116] The wireless device 1400 may include processing circuitry 1408.

The processing circuitry 1408 may include a transceiver 1402, physical layer circuitry (PHY circuitry) 1404, and MAC layer circuitry (MAC circuitry) 406, one or more of which may enable transmission and reception of signals to and from other wireless devices 1400 (e.g., HE AP 502, HE STA 504, and/or legacy devices 506) using one or more antennas 1412. As an example, the PHY circuitry 1404 may perform various encoding and decoding functions that may include formation of baseband signals for transmission and decoding of received signals. As another example, the transceiver 1402 may perform various transmission and reception functions such as conversion of signals between a baseband range and a Radio Frequency (RF) range.

[00117] Accordingly, the PHY circuitry 1404 and the transceiver 1402 may be separate components or may be part of a combined component, e.g., processing circuitry 1408. In addition, some of the described functionality related to transmission and reception of signals may be performed by a combination that may include one, any or all of the PHY circuitry 1404 the transceiver 1402, MAC circuitry 1406, memory 1410, and other components or layers. The MAC circuitry 1406 may control access to the wireless medium. The wireless device 1400 may also include memory 1410 arranged to perform the operations described herein, e.g., some of the operations described herein may be performed by instructions stored in the memory 1410.

[00118] The antennas 1412 (some embodiments may include only one antenna) may comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas 1412 may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result.

[00119] One or more of the memory 1410, the transceiver 1402, the PHY circuitry 1404, the MAC circuitry 1406, the antennas 1412, and/or the processing circuitry 1408 may be coupled with one another. Moreover, although memory 1410, the transceiver 1402, the PHY circuitry 1404, the MAC circuitry 1406, the antennas 1412 are illustrated as separate components, one or more of memory 1410, the transceiver 1402, the PHY circuitry 1404, the MAC circuitry 1406, the antennas 1412 may be integrated in an electronic package or chip.

[00120] In some embodiments, the wireless device 1400 may be a mobile device as described in conjunction with FIG. 13. In some embodiments the wireless device 1400 may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more wireless communication standards as described herein (e.g., as described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-5 and 13, IEEE 802.1 1). In some embodiments, the wireless device 1400 may include one or more of the components as described in conjunction with FIG. 13 (e.g., display device 1310, input device 1312, etc.) Although the wireless device 1400 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits ( ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

[00121] In some embodiments, an apparatus of or used by the wireless device 1400 may include various components of the wireless device 1400 as shown in FIG. 14 and/or components from FIGS. 1-5 and 13. Accordingly, techniques and operations described herein that refer to the wireless device 1400 may be applicable to an apparatus for a wireless device 1400 (e.g., HE AP 502 and/or HE STA 504), in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the wireless device 1400 is configured to decode and/or encode signals, packets, and/or frames as described herein, e.g., PPDUs.

[00122] In some embodiments, the MAC circuitry 1406 may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium during a contention period to receive control of the medium for a HE TXOP and encode or decode a HE PPDU. In some embodiments, the MAC circuitry 1406 may be arranged to contend for the wireless medium based on channel contention settings, a transmitting power level, and a clear channel assessment level (e.g., an energy detect level).

[00123] The PHY circuitry 1404 may be arranged to transmit signals in accordance with one or more communication standards described herein. For example, the PHY circuitry 1404 may be configured to transmit a HE PPDU. The PHY circuitry 1404 may include circuitry for modulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering, amplification, etc. In some

embodiments, the processing circuitry 1408 may include one or more processors. The processing circuitry 1408 may be configured to perform functions based on instructions being stored in a RAM or ROM, or based on special purpose circuitry. The processing circuitry 1408 may include a processor such as a general purpose processor or special purpose processor. The processing circuitry 1408 may implement one or more functions associated with antennas 1412, the transceiver 1402, the PHY circuitry 1404, the MAC circuitry 1406, and/or the memory 1410. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1408 may be configured to perform one or more of the functions/operations and/or methods described herein,

[0061] In mmWave technology, communication between a station (e.g., the HE stations 504 of FIG. 5 or wireless device 1400) and an access point (e.g., the HE AP 502 of FIG. 5 or wireless device 1400 ) may use associated effective wireless channels that are highly directionally dependent. To accommodate the directionality, beamforming techniques may be utilized to radiate energy in a certain direction with certain beamwidth to communicate between two devices. The directed propagation concentrates transmitted energy toward a target device in order to compensate for significant energy loss in the channel between the two communicating devices. Using directed transmission may extend the range of the millimeter- wave communication versus utilizing the same transmitted energy in omni-directional propagation.

[0062] Various embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in software and/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but not limited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readable medium may include any tangible non- transitory medium for storing information in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but not limited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory, etc.

[0063] Additional notes and examples:

[0064] Example 1 is an access point, the access point comprising: memory; and processing circuitry, to: determine an awake state of a station (STA), the STA associated with an association identifier (AID) determined by the access point (AP); determine a number of unicast frames to be transmitted to the STA between a current target wake time (TWT) service period (SP) and a next TWT SP; determine a number of multicast frames to be transmitted to the STA between the current TWT SP and the next TWT SP, determine a location of a bit in a partiai virtuai bitmap corresponding to the AID of the STA; set the bit in the partial virtual bitmap based on the awake state of the STA, the number of unicast frames, and the number of multicast frames to indicate if the STA will receive any unicast frames or any multicast frames before the next TWT SP; and encode, for transmission to the STA, the partial bitmap into a traffic indication map (TIM) element.

[0065] In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 optionally includes the processing circuitry to determine if the AP is to trigger the STA for an uplink (UL) transmission between the current TWT SP and the next TWT SP.

[0066] In Example 3, the subject matter of Example 2 optionally includes wherein the number of unicast frames and the number of multicast frames to be transmitted to the STA between the current TWT SP and the next TWT SP is zero, the AP will refrain from triggering the STA for the UL transmission.

[0067] In Example 4, the subject matter of Example 3 optionally includes to indicate the STA is to enter the doze state up until the next TWT SP.

[0068] In Example 5, the subject matter of Example 4 optionally includes wherein the awake state of the STA is determined to be awake. [0069] In Example 6, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 4-5 optionally include wherein the awake state of the STA is unknown.

[0070] In Example 7, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-6 optionally include the processing circuitry to encode a TWT element in a beacon, the T WT element comprising a TWT field that provides an interval between transmission of two consecutive TIM elements, a start time of the current TWT SP based upon the TWT field.

[0071] In Example 8, the subject matter of Example 7 optionally includes wherein the TWT element comprises a TWT flow identifier.

[0072] In Example 9, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-8 optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to encode the TIM element in a TIM frame.

[0073] In Example 10, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1- 9 optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to encode the TIM element in a fast initial link setup discovery frame.

[0074] Example 1 is a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause an access point (AP), upon execution of the instructions by processing circuitry of the AP, to: determine an awake state of a station (STA), the STA associated with an association identifier (AID) determined by the access point (AP); determine a number of unicast frames to be transmitted to the STA between a current target wake time (TWT) service period (SP) and a next TWT SP, determine a number of multicast frames to be transmitted to the STA between the current TWT SP and the next TWT SP; determine a location of a bit in a partial virtual bitmap corresponding to the AID of the STA; set the bit in the partial virtual bitmap based on the awake state of the STA, the number of unicast frames, and the number of multicast frames to indicate if the STA will receive any unicast frames or any multicast frames before the next TWT SP; and encode, for transmission to the STA, the partial bitmap into a traffic indication map (TIM) element,

[0075] In Example 12, the subject matter of Example 11 optionally includes the AP to determine if the AP is to trigger the STA for an uplink (UL) transmission between the current T WT SP and the next TWT SP. [0076] In Example 13, the subject matter of Example 12 optionally includes wherein the number of unicast frames and the number of multicast frames to be transmitted to the STA between the current TWT SP and the next TWT SP is zero, the AP will refrain from triggering the STA for the UL transmission.

[0077] In Example 14, the subject matter of Example 13 optionally includes to indicate the STA is to enter the doze state up until the next TWT SP.

[0078] In Example 15, the subject matter of Example 14 optionally includes wherein the awake state of the STA is determined to be awake.

[0079] In Example 16, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 14-15 optionally include wherein the awake state of the STA is unknown.

[0080] In Example 1 7, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 11-16 optionally include the AP to encode a TWT element in a beacon, the TWT element comprising a TWT field that provides an interval between transmission of two consecutive TIM elements, a start time of the current TWT SP based upon the TWT field.

[0081] In Example 18, the subject matter of Example 17 optionally includes wherein the TWT element comprises a TWT flow identifier.

[0082] In Example 19, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 11-18 optionally include the AP to encode the TIM element in a TIM frame.

[0083] In Example 20, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 11-19 optionally include the AP to encode the TIM element in a fast initial link setup discovery frame.

[0084] Example 21 is a station (STA), the station comprising: memory; and processing circuitry, to: decode a target wake time (TWT) element in a beacon, received from an access point (AP), the TWT element comprising a TWT field that provides an interval between transmission of two consecutive traffic indication map (TIM) elements, a start time of a current T WT sendee period (SP) based upon the TWT field; decode a TIM element, received from the AP and transmitted at the current TWT SP, comprising a partial bitmap; decode a bit within the partial bitmap corresponding the STA based upon a association identifier (AID) associated with the STA, the bit to indicate if the STA will receive or transmit data in the current TWT SP; and enter a doze state up, based upon the decoded bit, until the time of a start of a next TWT SP based upon the TWT field.

[0085] In Example 22, the subject matter of Example 21 optionally includes the bit in the partial virtual bitmap set based on a number of unicast frames and a number of multicast frames to be transmitted from the AP to the STA in the current TWT SP.

[0086] In Example 23, the subject matter of Example 22 optionally includes the bit in the partial virtual bitmap is zero when the number of unicast frames and the number of multicast frames to be transmitted from the AP to the STA in the current TWT SP is zero.

[0087] In Example 24, the subject matter of Example 23 optionally includes the bit in the partial virtual bitmap is zero when the STA is in an awake state.

[0088] In Example 25, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 23-24 optionally include the bit in the partial virtual bitmap is zero when the awake of the STA is unknown to the AP.

[0089] In Example 26, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 21-25 optionally include wherein the TWT element comprises a TWT flow identifier,

[0090] In Example 27, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 21-26 optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the TIM element from a TIM frame.

[0091] In Example 28, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 21-27 optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the TIM element from a fast initial link setup discovery frame.

[0092] Example 29 is a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a station (STA), upon execution of the instructions by processing circuitry of the STA, to: decode a target wake time (TWT) element in a beacon, received from an access point (AP), the TWT element comprising a TWT field that provides an interval between transmission of two consecutive traffic indication map (TIM) elements, a start time of a current TWT service period (SP) based upon the TWT field; decode a TIM element, received from the AP and transmitted at the current TWT SP, comprising a partial bitmap; decode a bit within the partial bitmap corresponding the STA based upon a association identifier (AID) associated with the STA, the bit to indicate if the STA will receive or transmit data in the current TWT SP; and enter a doze state up, based upon the decoded bit, until the time of a start of a next TWT SP based upon the TWT field,

[00931 In Example 30, the subject matter of Example 29 optionally includes the bit in the partial virtual bitmap set based on a number of unicast frames and a number of multicast frames to be transmitted from the AP to the STA in the current TWT SP.

[0094] In Example 31, the subject matter of Example 30 optionally includes the bit in the partial virtual bitmap is zero when the number of unicast frames and the number of multicast frames to be transmitted from the AP to the STA in the current TWT SP is zero.

[0095] In Example 32, the subject matter of Example 3 J optionally includes the bit in the partial virtual bitmap is zero when the STA is in an awake state.

[0096] In Example 33, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 31-32 optionally include the bit in the partial virtual bitmap is zero when the awake of the STA is unknown to the AP.

[0097] In Example 34, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 29-33 optionally include wherein the TWT element comprises a TWT flow identifier.

[0098] In Example 35, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 29-34 optionally include the STA to decode the TIM element from a TIM frame.

[0099] In Example 36, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 29-35 optionally include the STA to decode the TIM element from a fast initial link setup discovery frame.

[00100] Example 37 is an apparatus of an access point (AP), comprising means for performing the functions performed by the memory and processing circuitry of any of Examples 1 through 10.

[00101] Example 38 is a station, comprising means for performing the functions performed by the memory and processing circuitry of any of Examples 21 through 28.

[00102] The above detailed description includes references to the

accompanying drawings, which form a part of the detailed description. The drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments that may be practiced. These embodiments are also referred to herein as "examples." Such examples may include elements in addition to those shown or described.

However, also contemplated are examples that include the elements shown or described. Moreover, also contemplate are examples using any combination or permutation of those elements shown or described (or one or more aspects thereof), either with respect to a particular example (or one or more aspects thereof), or with respect to other examples (or one or more aspects thereof) shown or described herein,

[00103] Publications, patents, and patent documents referred to in this document are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, as though individually incorporated by reference. In the event of inconsistent usages between this document and those documents so incorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s) are supplementary to that of this document, for irreconcilable inconsistencies, the usage in this document controls.

[00104] In this document, the terms "a" or "an" are used, as is common in patent documents, to include one or more than one, independent of any other instances or usages of "at least one" or "one or more." In this document, the term "or" is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that "A or B" includes "A but not B," "B but not A," and "A and B," unless otherwise indicated. In the appended claims, the terms "including" and "in which" are used as the plain- English equivalents of the respective terms "comprising" and "wherein." Also, in the following claims, the terms "including" and "comprising" are open-ended, that is, a system, device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to those listed after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within the scope of that claim. Moreover, in the following claims, the terms "first," "second," and "third," etc. are used merely as labels, and are not intended to suggest a numerical order for their objects.

[00105] The above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or more aspects thereof) may be used in combination with others. Other embodiments may be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The Abstract is to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Also, in the above Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together to streamline the disclosure. However, the claims may not set forth every feature disclosed herein as embodiments may feature a subset of said features. Further, embodiments may include fewer features than those disclosed in a particular example. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with a claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. The scope of the embodiments disclosed herein is to be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

Claims

What is claimed is;

An access point, the access point comprising:

memory; and

processing circuitry, to:

determine an awake state of a station (STA), the STA associated with an association identifier (AID) determined by the access point (AP);

determine a number of unicast frames to be transmitted to the STA between a current target wake time (TWT) serv ce period (SP) and a next TWT SP; determine a number of multicast frames to be transmitted to the STA between the current TWT SP and the next TWT SP;

determine a location of a bit in a partial virtual bitmap

corresponding to the AID of the STA;

set the bit in the partial virtual bitmap based on the awake state of the STA, the number of unicast frames, and the number of multicast frames to indicate if the STA will receive any unicast frames or any multicast frames before the next TWT SP; and

encode, for transmission to the STA, the partial bitmap into a traffic indication map (TIM) element.

The access point of claim 1 , the processing circuitry to determine if the AP is to trigger the STA for an uplink (UL) transmission between the current TWT SP and the next TWT SP.

The access point of claim 2, wherein the number of unicast frames and the number of multicast frames to be transmitted to the STA between the current TWT SP and the next TWT SP is zero, the AP will refrain from triggering the STA for the UL transmission.

The access point of claim 3, wherein the bit is set to 0 to indicate the STA is to enter the doze state up until the next TWT SP. The access point of claim 4, wherein the awake state of the STA is determined to be awake.

6. The access point of claim 4, wherein the awake state of the STA is unknown. 7. The access point of claim 1, the processing circuitry to encode a TWT element in a beacon, the TWT element comprising a TWT field that provides an interval between transmission of two consecutive TIM elements, a start time of the current TWT SP based upon the TWT field.

8. The access point of claim 7, wherein the TWT element comprises a TWT flow identifier.

9. The access point of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is to encode the TIM element in a TIM frame.

10. The access point of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is to encode the TIM element in a fast initial link setup discovery frame.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause an access point (AP), upon execution of the instructions by processing circuitry of the AP, to;

determine an awake state of a station (ST A), the STA associated with an association identifier (AID) determined by the access point

(AP);

determine a number of unicast frames to be transmitted to the STA between a current target wake time (TWT) service period (SP) and a next TWT SP; determine a number of multicast frames to be transmitted to the STA between the current TWT SP and the next TWT SP;

determine a location of a bit in a partial virtual bitmap corresponding to the ATD of the STA;

The computer-readable medium of claim 11, the AP to determine if the AP is to trigger the STA for an uplink (UL) transmission between the current TWT SP and the next TWT SP,

The computer-readable medium point of claim 12, wherein the number of unicast frames and the number of multicast frames to be transmitted to the STA between the current TWT SP and the next TWT SP is zero, the AP will refrain from triggering the STA for the UL transmission.

The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the bit is set to 0 to indicate the STA is to enter the doze state up until the next TWT SP.

A station (STA), the station comprising:

memory; and

processing circuitry, to:

decode a target wake time (TWT) element in a beacon, received from an access point (AP), the TWT element comprising a TWT field that provides an interval between transmission of two consecutive traffic indication map (TIM) elements, a start time of a current TWT service period (SP) based upon the TWT field;

decode a TIM element, received from the AP and transmitted at the current TWT SP, comprising a partial bitmap;

decode a bit within the partial bitmap corresponding the STA based upon a association identifier (AID) associated with the STA, the bit to indicate if the STA will receive or transmit data in the current TWT SP; and enter a doze state up, based upon the decoded bit, until the time of a start of a next TWT SP based upon the TWT field.

16. The station of claim 15, the bit in the partial virtual bitmap set based on a number of unicast frames and a number of multicast frames to be transmitted from the AP to the STA in the current TWT SP.

17. The station of claim 16, the bit in the partial virtual bitmap is zero when the number of unicast frames and the number of multicast frames to be transmitted from the AP to the STA in the current TWT SP is zero, 18. The station of claim 17, the bit in the partial virtual bitmap is zero when the STA is in an awake state.

19. The station of claim 18, the bit in the partial virtual bitmap is zero when the awake of the STA is unknown to the AP.

20. The station of claim 15, wherein the TWT element comprises a TWT flow identifier.

21. The station of claim 15, wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the TIM element from a TIM frame.

22. The station of claim 15, wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the TIM element from a fast initial link setup discovery frame. 23. An apparatus of an access point (AP), comprising means for

performing the functions performed by the memory and processing circuitry of any of claims 1 through 10.

24, A station, comprising means for performing the functions performed by the memory and processing circuitry of any of claims 1 through 10.