WO2018132593A1 - Self-classification capability of enhanced directional multigigabit devices - Google Patents

Abstract

This disclosure describes methods, apparatus, and systems related to self-classification capability. A device may determine one or more beacon frames to be sent to one or more station devices during a beacon time interval (BTI) associated with beamforming training. The device may determine one or more parameters associated with one or more antennas. The device may cause to broadcast a first beacon frame of the one or more beacon frames to a first station device and a second station device of the one or more station devices, wherein the first beacon frame comprises the one or more parameters. The device may identify, in a legacy association beamforming training (A-BFT) part of the beamforming training, one or more sector sweep (SSW) frames received from the first station device.

Description

SELF-CLASSIFICATION CAPABILITY OF ENHANCED DIRECTIONAL MULTI- GIGABIT DEVICES

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

[0001] This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/445,567, filed January 12, 2017, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in full. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for wireless communications and, more particularly, to self-classification capability of enhanced directional multi-gigabit (EDMG) devices.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Wireless devices are becoming widely prevalent and are increasingly requesting access to wireless channels. A wireless communication network in a millimeter-wave band may provide high-speed data access for users of wireless communication devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] FIG. 1 depicts a network diagram illustrating an example network environment of an illustrative self-classification capability system, according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0005] FIGs. 2A and 2B depict illustrative schematic diagrams of an enhanced sector-level sweep (SLS) beamforming, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0006] FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative flowchart for the behavior of an enhanced directional multi-gigabit (EDMG) station (STA) with "near-far" self-classification capability, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0007] FIG. 4A depicts a flow diagram of an illustrative process for an illustrative self- classification capability system, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0008] FIG. 4B depicts a flow diagram of an illustrative process for an illustrative self- classification capability system, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. [0009] FIG. 5 depicts a functional diagram of an example communication station that may be suitable for use as a user device, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0010] FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of an example machine upon which any of one or more techniques (e.g., methods) may be performed, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0011] Example embodiments described herein provide certain systems, methods, and devices for self-classification capability of Wi-Fi devices in various Wi-Fi networks including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.1 lay.

[0012] 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.

[0013] During communication between two devices, one or more frames may be sent and received. These frames may include one or more fields (or symbols) that may be based on IEEE 802.11 specifications including, but not limited to, an IEEE 802.1 lad specification, or an IEEE 802.1 lay specification. Devices may operate in multiuser multiple-input and multiple-output (MU-MIMO) technology. It is understood that MIMO facilitates multiplying the capacity of a radio link using multiple transmit and receive antennas to exploit multipath propagation. MIMO provides a practical technique for sending and receiving more than one data signal on the same radio channel at the same time via multipath propagation. MU-MIMO provides a means for wireless devices to communicate with each other using multiple antennas such that the wireless devices may transmit at the same time and frequency and still be separated by their spatial signatures. For example, using MU-MIMO technology, an access point (AP) may be able to communicate with multiple devices using multiple antennas at the same time to send and receive data. An AP operating in MU-MIMO and in a 60 GHz frequency band may utilize an MU-MIMO frame to communicate with devices serviced by that AP.

[0014] The IEEE 802.1 lay task group is currently developing a new standard in the mmWave (60 GHz) band which is an evolution of the IEEE 802.1 lad standard also known as WiGig. One of the proposed IEEE 802. Hay use cases, to be supported in the future standard, defines a "hot spot" (small cell) scenario with a large number of users (STAs) and distances up to 100 to 200 meters.

[0015] The current IEEE 802.1 lad sector-level sweep (SLS) procedure considers the alternate AP and STA transmit antenna training while the receiver's antenna pattern is configured to a quasi-omni mode. Unlike the AP, the STA is usually equipped with a smaller antenna and has less TX power (AP-STA asymmetrical configuration). Therefore, the faraway STAs, after detecting the directional multi-gigabit (DMG) beacon frame from the AP (which was sent in a directional mode), may have insufficient link budget for sending a response that can be detected by the AP in a quasi-omni mode during association beamforming training (A-BFT), in which the AP should operate in accordance with the IEEE 802.1 lad specification.

[0016] Therefore, in scenarios with an asymmetrical AP-STA configuration, the legacy IEEE 802. Had beamforming will limit the range of the communication between the AP and the STA to values of about 20-30 meters, which is far below the new IEEE 802.1 lay requirements.

[0017] Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems, methods, and devices for self-classification capability.

[0018] In some demonstrative embodiments, one or more devices may be configured to communicate a single user (SU) or MU-MIMO frame, for example, over a 60 GHz frequency band. The one or more devices may be configured to communicate in a mixed environment such that one or more legacy devices are able to communicate with one or more non-legacy devices. That is, devices following one or more IEEE 802.11 specifications may communicate with each other regardless of which IEEE 802.11 specification is followed.

[0019] A directional multi-gigabit (DMG) communications may involve one or more directional links to communicate at a rate of multiple gigabits per second, for example, at least 1 gigabit per second, e.g., 7 gigabits per second, or any other rate. An amendment to a DMG operation in a 60 GHz band, e.g., according to an IEEE 802. Had standard, may be defined, for example, by an IEEE 802. Hay project.

[0020] In some demonstrative embodiments, one or more devices may be configured to communicate over a next generation 60 GHz (NG60) network, an extended DMG (EDMG) network, and/or any other network. For example, the one or more devices may be configured to communicate over the NG60 or EDMG networks. [0021] In some demonstrative embodiments, one or more devices may be configured to support the one or more mechanisms and/or features in a backwards compatible manner, for example, in a manner which may be compatible with one or more devices ("legacy devices"), which may not support these mechanisms and/or features, for example, one or more non- EDMG devices (e.g., devices configured according to an IEEE 802. Had standard), and the like. In one example, a legacy device, for example, a DMG device, may include, may comply with, and/or may be configured according to, a first specification, for example, an IEEE 802.1 lad specification, while a non- legacy device, for example, an EDMG device, may include, may comply with, and/or may be configured according to, a second specification, for example, an IEEE 802.11 ay specification.

[0022] In one embodiment, a self-classification capability system may facilitate an enhanced beamforming flow based on the directional transmission and directional reception both for the AP or a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point (PCP) and STA (e.g., a user device, also referred to as a non-AP STA).

[0023] In one embodiment, after receiving the DMG beacon frame during the beacon time interval (BTI) of a beamforming training session, the EDMG STA at first may follow the legacy procedure and may try to negotiate with the AP during the A-BFT period while the AP is in a quasi-omni mode. If the access to the A-BFT is not successful, the EDMG STA may go to a special allocation in the data transmission interval (DTI) - beamforming SP, where the directional AP RX is used.

[0024] In one embodiment, in an enhanced SLS beamforming system, there are two important parts. The first part is in the BTI, where there are one or more transmit sector sweeps (SSW-TXs), where multiple DMG beacon frames are transmitted in different sectors associated with different directions from the AP to an STA. These multiple DMG beacon frames are a same DMG beacon frame that is transmitted on different sectors. Training fields may be appended to each of these DMG beacon frames at the end of each DMG beacon frame. These training fields are used by the receiving STA. In that sense, after the BTI, the STAs will know the best sector to be used for the STA from the point of view of the AP. That is, each STA would know the best AP transmit (TX) sector and would know the best STA receive (RX) sector. The second part is in a portion of the DTI referred to as a beamforming service period (SP) or any other name indicating a period where the AP is listening during one or more space time slots in a particular sector or one or more sectors of an antenna on the AP. In this part, the AP will be listening in a directional mode. [0025] In one embodiment, the self-classification system may consider that the directional AP RX for negotiation (from the enhanced SLS) may be implemented as part of the A-BFT period (beamforming training period), for example, directional A-BFT, before or after the legacy A-BFT. However, while trying to negotiate with the AP, the far-away EDMG STAs perform useless transmissions, which cause additional interference resulting in an increase in the collision probability during the A-BFT and is undesirable from the power consumption point of view. Each time the EDMG STA tries to negotiate with the AP during the legacy A- BFT period, it performs a responder transmit sector sweep (R-TXSS). However, following the enhanced SLS, the EDMG STA with TX-RX sector alignment does not need to perform the R- TXSS since it has already trained its antenna using TRN-R during the BTI. Therefore, the legacy A-BFT will duplicate this functionality of the EDMG STAs causing more interference.

[0026] Therefore, it is desirable to sort the STAs by their range and capabilities relative to the AP/PCP, and separate the EDMG STAs that can be served with the legacy procedure (negotiation in legacy A-BFT and access in legacy allocations) from the EDMG STAs that can be served only by using the directional transmission reception in the directional A- BFT/beamforming SP and the directional allocations in the DTI.

[0027] In one embodiment, the self-classification system may facilitate the EDMG STA "near-far" self-classification capability which may allow the STA to predict whether it will be able to communicate with an AP during legacy A-BFT or whether the STA can skip the A- BFT and go to the directional part of the A-BFT or beamforming SP.

[0028] In one embodiment, the self-classification capability system may facilitate the EDMG STA predicting whether it will be able to successfully perform beamforming with an AP during the legacy A-BFT or whether it should go to the directional A-BFT/Beamforming SP and skip the legacy A-BFT.

[0029] In one embodiment, the self-classification capability system may facilitate that the PCP/AP may provide its characteristics while broadcasting the DMG beacon frames in the BTI. Using this information and its own parameters, the EDMG STA may estimate whether the link budget associated with a link from the STA to the AP, considering quasi-omni AP reception, will be enough for successful access to the legacy A-BFT. If not, then this EDMG STA may skip the legacy A-BFT period and may try to reach the AP using the directional A- BFT/beamforming SP during the DTI. The quantized values of the required parameters should be broadcasted directionally by the AP.

[0030] The above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting. Numerous other examples, configurations, processes, etc., may exist, some of which are described in greater detail below. Example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures.

[0031] FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Wireless network 100 may include one or more user device(s) 120 and one or more access point(s) (AP) 102, which may communicate in accordance with IEEE 802.11 communication standards, such as, IEEE 802.1 lad and/or IEEE 802.1 lay specifications. The user device(s) 120 may be mobile devices that are non- stationary and do not have fixed locations.

[0032] In some embodiments, the user device(s) 120 and AP 102 may include one or more computer systems similar to that of the functional diagram of FIG. 5 and/or the example machine/system of FIG. 6.

[0033] One or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102 may be operable by one or more user(s) 110. It should be noted that any addressable unit may be a station (STA). An STA may take on multiple distinct characteristics, each of which shape its function. For example, a single addressable unit might simultaneously be a portable STA, a quality-of- service (QoS) STA, a dependent STA, and a hidden STA. The one or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and the AP(s) 102 may be STAs. The one or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102 may operate as a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point/access point (PCP/AP). The user device(s) 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and/or AP 102 may include any suitable processor-driven device including, but not limited to, a mobile device or a non-mobile, e.g., a static, device. For example, user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102 may include, for example, a DMG device, an EDMG device, a UE, an MD, a station (STA), an access point (AP), a personal computer (PC), a wearable wireless device (e.g., bracelet, watch, glasses, ring, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabook™ computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, an internet of things (IoT) device, a sensor device, a PDA device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone functionalities with PDA device functionalities), a consumer device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a PCS device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable GPS device, a DVB device, a relatively small computing device, a non-desktop computer, a "carry small live large" (CSLL) device, an ultra mobile device (UMD), an ultra mobile PC (UMPC), a mobile internet device (MID), an "origami" device or computing device, a device that supports dynamically composable computing (DCC), a context-aware device, a video device, an audio device, an A/V device, a set-top-box (STB), a blu-ray disc (BD) player, a BD recorder, a digital video disc (DVD) player, a high definition (HD) DVD player, a DVD recorder, a HD DVD recorder, a personal video recorder (PVR), a broadcast HD receiver, a video source, an audio source, a video sink, an audio sink, a stereo tuner, a broadcast radio receiver, a flat panel display, a personal media player (PMP), a digital video camera (DVC), a digital audio player, a speaker, an audio receiver, an audio amplifier, a gaming device, a data source, a data sink, a digital still camera (DSC), a media player, a smartphone, a television, a music player, or the like.

[0034] Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP 102 may be configured to communicate with each other via one or more communications networks 130 and/or 135 wirelessly or wired. Any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may include, but not limited to, any one of a combination of different types of suitable communications networks such as, for example, broadcasting networks, cable networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks, wireless networks, cellular networks, or any other suitable private and/or public networks. Further, any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith and may include, for example, global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), or personal area networks (PANs). In addition, any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may include any type of medium over which network traffic may be carried including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire, optical fiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication mediums, white space communication mediums, ultra-high frequency communication mediums, satellite communication mediums, or any combination thereof.

[0035] Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP 102 may include one or more communications antennas. Communications antenna may be any suitable type of antenna corresponding to the communications protocols used by the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 124 and 128), and AP 102. Some non-limiting examples of suitable communications antennas include Wi-Fi antennas, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards compatible antennas, directional antennas, non- directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, or the like. The communications antenna may be communicatively coupled to a radio component to transmit and/or receive signals, such as communications signals to and/or from the user device(s) 120. [0036] Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and/or AP 102 may include any suitable radio and/or transceiver for transmitting and/or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in the bandwidth and/or channels corresponding to the communications protocols utilized by any of the user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102 to communicate with each other. The radio components may include hardware and/or software to modulate and/or demodulate communications signals according to pre-established transmission protocols. The radio components may further have hardware and/or software instructions to communicate via one or more Wi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi direct protocols, as standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards. In certain example embodiments, the radio component, in cooperation with the communications antennas, may be configured to communicate via 2.4 GHz channels (e.g., 802.11b, 802. l lg, 802.11η, 802.1 lax), 5 GHz channels (e.g., 802.11η, 802.11ac, 802.11ax), or 60 GHz channels (e.g., 802.11ad). In some embodiments, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used for communications between devices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) (e.g. IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.22), white band frequency (e.g., white spaces), or other packetized radio communications. The radio component may include any known receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via the communications protocols. The radio component may further include a low noise amplifier (LNA), additional signal amplifiers, an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, one or more buffers, and a digital baseband.

[0037] Some demonstrative embodiments may be used in conjunction with a wireless communication network communicating over a frequency band of 60 GHz. However, other embodiments may be implemented utilizing any other suitable wireless communication frequency bands, for example, an Extremely High Frequency (EHF) band (the millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency band), e.g., a frequency band within the frequency band of between 20 GHz and 300 GHz, a WLAN frequency band, a WPAN frequency band, a frequency band according to the WGA specification, and the like.

[0038] The phrases "directional multi-gigabit (DMG)" and "directional band" (DBand), as used herein, may relate to a frequency band wherein the channel starting frequency is above 45 GHz. In one example, DMG communications may involve one or more directional links to communicate at a rate of multiple gigabits per second, for example, at least 1 Gigabit per second, e.g., 7 Gigabits per second, or any other rate.

[0039] In some demonstrative embodiments, user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102 may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more specifications, for example, including, one or more IEEE 802.11 specifications, e.g., an IEEE 802.11 ad specification, an IEEE 802.1 lay specification, and/or any other specification and/or protocol. For example, an amendment to a DMG operation in the 60 GHz band, e.g., according to an IEEE 802.1 lad Standard, may be defined, for example, by an IEEE 802.11 ay project.

[0040] Some communications over a wireless communication band, for example, a DMG band may be performed over a single channel bandwidth (BW). For example, The IEEE 802.1 lad specification defines a 60 GHz system with a single channel bandwidth (BW) of 2.16 GHz, which is to be used by all Stations (STAs) for both transmission and reception.

[0041] In some demonstrative embodiments, user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102 may be configured to implement one or more mechanisms, which may, for example, enable to extend a single-channel BW scheme, e.g., according to the IEEE 802. Had specification, for higher data rates and/or increased capabilities.

[0042] Some specifications, e.g., an IEEE 802.1 lad specification, may be configured to support a single user (SU) system, in which an STA cannot transmit frames to more than a single STA at a time. Such specifications may not be able, for example, to support a STA transmitting to multiple STAs simultaneously, for example, using a multi-user MIMO (MU- MIMO) scheme, e.g., a downlink (DL) MU-MIMO, or any other MU scheme.

[0043] In some demonstrative embodiments, user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102 may be configured to implement one or more Multi-User (MU) mechanisms. For example, user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102 may be configured to implement one or more MU mechanisms, which may be configured to enable MU communication of Downlink (DL) frames using a Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) scheme, for example, between a device, e.g., AP 102, and a plurality of user devices, e.g., including user device(s) 120 and/or one or more other devices.

[0044] In some demonstrative embodiments, user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102 may be configured to communicate over a Next Generation 60 GHz (NG60) network, an Extended DMG (EDMG) network, and/or any other network. For example, user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102 may be configured to communicate MIMO, e.g., DL MU-MIMO, transmissions and/or use channel bonding, for example, for communicating over the NG60 and/or EDMG networks.

[0045] In some demonstrative embodiments, user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102 may be configured to support one or more mechanisms and/or features, for example, channel bonding, single user (SU) MIMO, and/or and multi-user (MU) MIMO, for example, in accordance with an EDMG standard, an IEEE 802.11 ay standard and/or any other standard and/or protocol.

[0046] In one embodiment, and with reference to FIG. 1, an initiator (e.g., AP 102) may be configured to communicate with one or more responders (e.g., non-AP STAs, such as, user devices 120). For example, in order for the AP 102 to establish communication with two devices (e.g., user device 124 and user device 128), the AP 102 may need to perform beamforming training with the user device 124 and the user device 128 using beams 104 and 106.

[0047] In one embodiment, a self-classification capability system may consider additional capabilities of EDMG STAs, rendering them more "intelligent," and may decide whether to participate in the legacy A-BFT period for beamforming negotiations or not and go to the directional AP RX thus avoiding useless transmissions. For example, the EDMG STA with TX-RX sector alignment may not need to perform the R-TXSS since it has already trained its antenna using TRN-R during the BTI. However, the SLS procedure in the legacy A-BFT considers the R-TXSS by default. Therefore, a self-classification capability system may avoid duplication of this functionality by skipping the legacy A-BFT.

[0048] In one embodiment, the transmission of the STA parameters may also be useful in the uplink (e.g., STA->AP) case. The AP may use this information to intelligently control its transmit power for further communication.

[0049] It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

[0050] FIGs. 2A and 2B depict illustrative schematic diagrams of an enhanced SLS beamforming, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0051] Typically, the far-away STAs (e.g., relative to the AP) allocate special directional A-BFT or beamforming SP in order to associate with the AP, where the directional AP RX is used to extend coverage. In accordance with that mechanism, the EDMG STA may try to negotiate with the AP during the legacy A-BFT 238 period while the AP is in the quasi-omni mode. If the access to the legacy A-BFT 238 is not successful, the EDMG STA may go to the directional A-BFT/beamforming SP.

[0052] Referring to FIG. 2A, there are shown beamforming training intervals using directional TX and RX between an AP 202 (or a PCP) and user devices 222, 224 and 226. In this scenario, the user devices 222, 224 and 226 may be EDMG or DMG devices. The beamforming training intervals include a beacon transmission interval (BTI) 231, a legacy association beamforming training (A-BFT), which is included in the A-BFT 232, and a data transmission interval (DTI) 233. Since these are intervals, the next BTI may be BTI 234, the next A-BFT is A-BFT 235 and the next DTI is DTI 236. If a user device failed to train and negotiate with an AP during the BTI 231, the A-BTF 232 and the DTI 233, the user device may attempt to negotiate with the AP during the BTI 234, the A-BFT 235, and the DTI 236. [0053] The AP 202 may be an initiator device that may perform a transmit and initiator sector sweep (I-TXSS) during the BTI interval by sending one or more directional beacon frames (e.g., DMG beacon frames 212) to one or more responder STAs (e.g., user devices 222, 224, and 226). These DMG beacon frames 212 may be associated with one or more directions. For example, a DMG beacon with ID = 0 may have a direction 209, while the DMG beacon frame 208, which may have an ID = 1, may have a direction 211, and a DMG beacon frame with ID = N (where N is a positive integer), may have a direction 213 and so on.

[0054] The STAs may receive the DMG frames in at least one of a non-directional mode (e.g., quasi-omni mode) or a directional mode in the BTI interval. The reception may be depicted as frames 214, 215 and 216 at the user devices 222, 224 and 226, respectively. In the directional mode, the user devices may need to listen directionally for signals coming from the initiator device (e.g., the AP/PCP 202). It should be understood that the STAs may be non-AP devices and will be used interchangeably.

[0055] The STA typically tries to use the A-BFT to send frames. However, if the STA is a far STA, then its frames may not successfully reach the AP/PCP 202. Therefore, these failed transmissions would be only treated as interference at the AP/PCP 202. Therefore, it would be desirable that the STA determines first if the frames sent in the A-BFT would likely be successfully received by the AP. In the case where the STA determines that it is not likely that the frames during the A-BFT would be successfully received by the AP/PCP 202, then the STA may refrain from sending these frames in order to minimize the possible interference introduced by these frames.

[0056] In crowded areas/hotspot scenarios, the user devices may be close to each other, covered by the same antenna sector of the AP, or may just be on the same direction from the AP 202 at different distances. In this case, collisions may occur within a space time slot designated to the specific sector in the directional A-BFT 240 (in A-BFT 232) or the beamforming SP 241 (in the DTI 233).

[0057] In case of a collision (e.g., simultaneous transmissions from different user devices) of the SSW frame transmissions (e.g., SSW frames 221, 223, and 225) during the directional AP RX interval, which could be in the directional A-BFT 240 or the beamforming SP 241, the AP may successfully process only one transmission (or maybe none), probably from the closely spaced user device with the strongest signal. For example, the SSW frames 221 and 225 may be received on sector 203 during space time slots 207. However, space time slots 206 of sector 203 may be empty, meaning that nothing was received from the user devices during those times. [0058] To avoid further collisions, the AP may inform the user devices in the desired sector, which user devices were discovered and associated, and which should try to perform beamforming in the next possible access period with the directional AP RX. For example, the AP 202 may send a sector feedback 205, which may include sector acknowledgment frames that are acknowledgments to the received SSWs that were received during one of the sectors during the directional AP RX. Since the user device 222 sent the SSW frame 221 that was successfully received by the AP 202 in sector 203, the AP 202 may send a sector acknowledgment frame to the user device 222.

[0059] In one embodiment, a new information element (IE) may be included in the sector feedback 205 that contains IDs of all discovered user devices (e.g., user devices 222, 224 and 226). The user device behavior after reception of this sector feedback 205 with the new IE may be that if the user device finds its own user device ID in the IE, it assumes that beamforming training is finished, and it may start data transmission in a usual way. If the user device ID is absent in the IE, the user device would continue the negotiation process at the next possible opportunity. The next possible opportunity may be in the directional CBAP/SP 242 of the DTI 233. The user device may check the extended schedule element that would have been included in a beacon frame received by the user device during the BTI 231. The user device may determine whether the extended schedule element includes allocations information during a portion of the DTI 233. That portion of the DTI 233 may be a directional service period (e.g., beamforming SP 241) or a contention-based access period (e.g., directional CBAP/SP 242). If the user device determines that the extended schedule element did not include allocations information for a certain sector, which indicates that a directional CBAP/SP was not allocated, then the user device must perform additional negotiations with the AP.

[0060] Moreover, to avoid collisions during the next directional A-BFT/beamforming SP, the AP 202 may adaptively increase the amount of resources (space time slots) in the crowded sector at the expense of the time slots of the desolate sectors (sectors that were not used, e.g., sector 201). To support the unequal duration of different sector reception, special information should be sent in a DMG beacon frame (e.g., DMG beacon frame 208). The DMG beacon frame 208 transmitted in AP sector i may include the start time of the first space time slot allocated for AP sector i and the end time of the last space time slot allocated for AP sector i. Based on this information, the user device can calculate the exact number of space time slots available in AP sector i.

[0061] In one embodiment, a self-classification capability system may facilitate that an STA determine whether it would be able to reach the AP/PCP during the legacy A-BFT 238. The STA may classify itself as a "near" STA or a "far" STA. If it is a "far" STA, then the STA may refrain from transmitting in the legacy A-BFT 238 and may try to transmit in the directional A-BFT where the AP is to receive frames directionally (e.g., directional AP RX period 237). However, the directional AP RX period 237 may or may not be present.

[0062] It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

[0063] In one embodiment and still referring to FIG. 2A, a self-classification capability system may facilitate the EDMG STA to estimate by itself whether it is far away or not and based on that information it may decide what type of beamforming training it should use (e.g., legacy A-BFT 238 or directional A-BFT 240/beamforming SP 241).

[0064] In one embodiment, the AP may provide its capabilities to the STAs using one or more AP parameters that may be sent from the AP to the STAs. With knowledge of the AP parameters, its own parameters and the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurements, the STA may decide whether its signal can be reliably received by the AP in the quasi-omni mode (in legacy A-BFT 238) or not.

[0065] In one embodiment, if the STA determines that its signal cannot be reliably received by the AP in the quasi-omni mode, the STA may try to negotiate during the directional A-BFT 240 or the beamforming SP 241 of the beamforming training.

[0066] The transmission of these parameters can also be useful in the uplink STA->AP case. The AP can use this information to intelligently control its transmit power for further communication.

[0067] The STA may determine its classification (e.g., near or far) based on the signal associated with the DMG beacon that was received from the AP. For example, the STA may measure the RSSI of the received DMG beacon and may identify one or more AP parameters included in the DMG beacon in order to perform the calculations below. The one or more AP parameters may be parameters used for the transmission of the DMG beacon (e.g., transmitted power and antenna gain at the AP). The one or more parameters may include at least in part an AP transmit power of a DMG beacon, and/or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the AP. [0068] The pathloss between the AP and the STA may be calculated by the STA using Equation (1)

Pathloss = PAPtx + G_Aptx + G_STArx - RSSI

[0069] Where PAPIX - is the AP transmit power of a DMG beacon, GAPIX - is the AP antenna gain during the transmission in the current sector of the DMG beacon (can be different in different sectors), GSTA™ - is the STA antenna gain during the AP frame reception, and the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is measured by the STA.

[0070] Based on the calculated pathloss, the STA TX antenna gain (GsTAtx) and the TX power (PSTA), the AP antenna gain in quasi-omni mode for the current sector (GAPomn x) and the AP receiver sensitivity (PAPsensMvity), the STA may estimate whether its signal can be reliably received by the AP in quasi-omni mode (e.g., legacy A-BFT 238), or whether it should try beamforming negotiation during the directional A-BFT/beamforming SP. The EDMG STA may participate in the legacy A-BFT 238 if the inequality (2) is satisfied.

GsTAtx+ GAPo nLrx " PathlOSS >P 4P_S ensitivity

[0071 ] PpArx is the AP' s receive power.

[0072] The F 'APse itivity is the AP's sensitivity power. The PAPsens vity is the power of a received signal at the AP, which the AP is capable of detecting and decoding. Any signal power that is below the AP' s sensitivity power may not be successfully detected and decoded by the AP.

[0073] Such an approach may decrease the collision rate during the negotiation periods and even separate users located in the same sector of the AP, but at different distances. The AP should directionally broadcast (e.g., during BTI) the quantized values of the following four parameters: 1. AP TX power in dBm (P_APa) These two parameters may also be

transmitted as one parameter: equivalent

2. AP antenna gain during the =>

isotropically radiated power (EIRP) value transmission in dBi (G_Ap_a)

for current transmission (in dBm)

3. AP RX antenna gain in quasi-omni mode in dBi (GAP₀mm_rx)

4. AP minimum receiver sensitivity, in dBm (PAPsensUMty)

[0074] It should be understood that quantization, in mathematics and digital signal processing, is the process of mapping input values from a large set (often a continuous set) to output values in a (countable) smaller set. Rounding and truncation are typical examples of quantization processes. It should also be understood that dBi or dB(isotropic) is the forward gain of an antenna compared to the hypothetical isotropic antenna, which uniformly distributes energy in all directions, and dBm or dB(mW) is the power relative to 1 milliwatt.

[0075] In another embodiment, a self-classification capability system may consider the transmission of one value of the AP antenna gain relative to the AP antenna gain in quasi-omni mode instead of transmission of both absolute values. In that case, Equation (1) transforms to Equation (3).

[0076] Where GAPtx_rd = GAPIX - GAPomni and GAPomni is the AP antenna gain in quasi-omni mode for RX on the AP. In this case, the GAPomni in inequality (2) may be calculated together with Pathloss using equation (3), so there is no need to transmit its value (see inequality (4)).

ΡΑΡΓΧ—Ρ STA+ GsTAtx+ GAPomni Pathloss>P A_f Ps ensitivity

V t v_ ' (4)

STA parameters Calc ulated u sing equation (3) Given by AP

[0077] In this case, the quantized values of the following parameters should be transmitted to the STAs:

[0078] It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

[0079] Referring to FIG. 2B, there is shown the AP/PCP 202 of FIG. 2 A, as an initiator device that may perform an initiator transmit (TX) sector sweep (I-TXSS) during the BTI interval by sending one or more directional beacon frames (e.g., DMG beacon frames 212 of FIG. 2A) to one or more responder STAs (e.g., user device 222). These DMG beacon frames 212 may be associated with one or more directions. For example, the DMG beacon frame with ID = 0 may have a direction 209, while the DMG beacon frame 208, which may have an ID = 1, may have a direction 211, and a DMG beacon frame with ID = N (where N is a positive integer) may have a direction 213 and so on. It should be understood that the STAs and the user devices may be non-AP devices and will be used interchangeably.

[0080] In one embodiment, the effective collision resolution in an enhanced SLS beamforming system may define a directional beacon frame (e.g., DMG beacon frame 208) to append a training (TRN-R) field 254 to one or more fields of the directional beacon frame. For example, the DMG beacon frame 208 may include, at least in part, a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy channel estimation (L-CE), a legacy header (L-Header), a data field, an automatic gain control (AGC), and an appended TRN-R field 254.

[0081] In one embodiment, the effective collision resolution in an enhanced SLS beamforming system may facilitate that a responder device (e.g., user device 222) may receive in at least one of a non-directional mode (e.g., quasi-omni mode) or a directional mode in the BTI interval. For example, the user device 222 may be able to receive in non-directional receive mode 258 and/or a directional mode 256. In the directional mode 256, the responder device (e.g., user device 222) may need to listen directionally for signals coming from the initiator device (e.g., the AP/PCP 202).

[0082] The TRN-R field 254 may facilitate the training of a responder's receive (RX) sectors. As shown in FIG. 2B, a TRN-R field 254 is appended to the DMG beacon frame 208 to allow the training of the user device 222 's RX sectors. This may allow the user device 222 to discover its best RX sector. The TRN-R field 254 may include one or more training sequences that may help the user device 222 to identify an operating sector (e.g., best RX sector) to be used when transmitting in later intervals to the AP/PCP 202 in a particular direction.

[0083] In one embodiment, the AP/PCP 202 may transmit DMG beacon frames over different antenna sectors. The STAs may listen for the SSW frames in the non-directional mode. In this way, the best TX sector of the AP/PCP 202 may be determined. Due to antenna reciprocity, the best RX sector for the AP/PCP 202 may also be determined. On the other hand, the AP/PCP 202 may append training fields (TRN-Rs) at the end of each beacon frame, and for each training field, an STA may sweep its receiving antenna sectors to determine its best RX sector, then due to antenna reciprocity, the STAs also may determine their best TX sectors.

[0084] The user device 222 may determine its own best RX sector, which may be aligned with the best TX sector of the AP/PCP 202. The same is true for the best TX sector of the user device 222 being aligned with the best RX sector of the AP/PCP 202 because of the antenna reciprocity presumption. Antenna reciprocity means that a best transmit sector is also the best receiving sector. If a transceiver has TX-RX sector alignment, discovering the best RX sector for the transceiver may mean finding the best TX sector (applicable for both APs and STAs) and selecting the corresponding RX sector. It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

[0085] FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative flowchart 300 for a behavior of the EDMG STA with "near-far" self-classification capability, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0086] Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a flowchart 300 illustrating the behavior of an EDMG STA with "near-far" self-classification capability.

[0087] At block 302, an EDMG STA (e.g., a user device 120 of FIG. 1) may receive a DMG beacon frame (e.g., DMG beacon frames 212 of FIG. 2A) from an AP (e.g., AP 102 of FIG. 1). The EDMG STA may identify one or more parameters that may be included in the received DMG beacon frame. For example, the DMG beacon frame may comprise one or more parameters associated with the AP. These parameters may facilitate the determination of whether the EDMG STA may be classified as a "near" or "far" STA.

[0088] At block 304, the EDMG STA may perform calculations using the one or more parameters associated with the AP (e.g., using equation (1) or equation (3) and inequality (2) or inequality (4) from the description of FIG. 2A).

[0089] At block 306, the STA may classify itself as a "near" STA based on the results of equation (1) or equation (3) and inequality (2) or inequality (4) from the description of FIG. 2A.

[0090] At block 310, the STA may determine whether an A-BFT interval is present in the current beacon interval.

[0091] If the STA determines that the A-BFT interval is not present in the current beacon interval, the STA may be granted access to the network (block 312) without having to perform a transmit sector sweep (e.g., R-TXSS in A-BFT), which means that the STA will participate in data transmission during the DTI without having to perform the beamforming training. This is true because it may be assumed that since there is no A-BFT interval, the AP may have already performed beamforming with this STA which may be already associated with the AP.

[0092] At block 314, if the STA determines that the A-BFT interval is present, the STA may perform R-TXSS in A-BFT before it can be granted access to the network by the AP.

[0093] At block 316, the STA may determine whether an SSW feedback has been received from the AP (e.g., sector feedback 205 of FIG. 2A). Some examples where the STA did not receive SSW feedback include errors generated during the calculations using the above equations and inequalities, or possible collisions causing the SSW feedback not to be received.

[0094] If the STA did receive an SSW feedback from the AP, the STA may be granted access to the network (block 312) from the AP.

[0095] If the STA did not receive an SSW feedback from the AP, the STA may determine if a beamforming training or directional allocation has been scheduled by the AP (block 320).

[0096] If the STA determines that a beamforming training or directional allocation has been scheduled by the AP, the STA may, at block 322, perform an enhanced SLS in beamforming training allocation in the DTI (e.g., beamforming SP 241 in the DTI 233 of FIG. 2A).

[0097] If the STA determines that a beamforming training or directional allocation has not been scheduled by the AP, the STA may not be granted access to the network (block 324). [0098] At block 318, if the STA classifies itself as a "far" STA, it skips the legacy A-BFT period and tries to perform beamforming negotiations during the directional A- BFT/beamforming SP following the enhanced SLS procedure.

[0099] It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

[00100] FIG. 4A illustrates a flow diagram of an illustrative process 400 for a self- classification capability system, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00101] At block 402, an initiator device (e.g., the AP 102 of FIG. 1) may determine one or more beacon frames to be sent to one or more station devices during a beacon time interval (BTI) associated with beamforming training. For example, during beamforming training for devices, there are one or more periods. These one or more periods may include BTI, A-BFT, and DTI. In an enhanced sector-level sweep (SLS) beamforming system, there are two important parts. The first part is in the BTI, where there are one or more transmit sector sweeps (SSW-TXs), where multiple DMG beacon frames are transmitted in different sectors associated with different directions from the AP to an STA. These multiple DMG beacon frames are a same DMG beacon frame that is transmitted on different sectors. Training fields may be appended to each of these DMG beacon frames at the end of each DMG beacon frame. These training fields are used by the receiving STA. In that sense, after the BTI, the STAs will know the best sector to be used for the station from the point of view of the AP. That is, each STA would know the best AP TX sector and would know the best STA RX sector. The second part is in a portion of the DTI referred to as a beamforming service period (SP) or any other name indicating a period where the AP is listening during one or more space time slots in a particular sector or one or more sectors of an antenna on the AP. In this part, the AP will be listening in a directional mode. Further, the STA would know when the AP will be listening in a particular direction.

[00102] At block 404, the initiator device may determine one or more parameters associated with one or more antennas. For example an AP/PCP may determine its characteristics while broadcasting the DMG beacon frames in the BTI. The one or more parameters may include at least in part an AP transmit power of a DMG beacon, and/or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the AP.

[00103] At block 406, the initiator device may cause to broadcast a first beacon frame of the one or more beacon frames to a first station device and a second station device of the one or more station devices, wherein the first beacon frame comprises the one or more parameters. The first beacon frame may be a DMG beacon frame. The AP/PCP may broadcast the DMG beacon frame in the BTI to one or more devices to initiate the beamforming training. Unlike the AP, the responder device (e.g., an STA) is usually equipped with a smaller antenna and has less TX power (AP-STA asymmetrical configuration). Therefore, the far-away responder devices, after detecting the DMG beacon frame from the AP (which was sent in a directional mode), may have insufficient link budget for sending a response that can be detected by the AP in a quasi- omni mode during association beamforming training (A-BFT), in which the AP should operate. However, having the responder device perform calculations using the one or more parameters received from the AP, the responder device may intelligently determine whether or not to send a response that can be detected by the AP in a quasi-omni mode during the A-BFT. For example, the responder device may perform calculations using the one or more parameters associated with the AP (e.g., using equation (1) or equation (3) and inequality (2) or inequality (4) from the description of FIG. 2A). If the responder device determines that the calculation of the AP's received power that may be estimated using the received one or more AP parameters is less than or equal to the AP' s sensitivity power, the responder device may classify itself as a far device. On the other hand, if the responder device determines that the calculation of the AP' s receive power that may be estimated using the received one or more AP parameters is greater than the AP's sensitivity power, the responder device may classify itself as a near device. In that sense, the responder device may have confidence that its signals sent to the AP during the A-BFT part of the beamforming training may be received by the AP.

[00104] At block 408, the initiator device may identify, in a legacy association beamforming training (A-BFT) part of the beamforming training, one or more sector sweep (SSW) frames received from the first station device. The responder device may determine whether an A-BFT interval is present in the current beacon interval. If the responder device determines that the A-BFT interval is not present in the current beacon interval, the STA may be granted access to the network without having to perform a transmit sector sweep (e.g., R-TXSS in A-BFT),which means that the responder device will participate in data transmission during the DTI without having to perform the beamforming training. If the responder device determines that the A- BFT interval is present, the STA may perform the R-TXSS in the A-BFT before it can be granted access to the network by the AP. For example, the responder device may send the SSW frames to the AP during the A-BFT. If the SSW frames are successfully received and decoded by the AP, the AP may send an SSW feedback acknowledging that these SSW frames were received from the responder device. Afterwards, the initiator device would be granted access to the network by associating with the AP. [00105] It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

[00106] FIG. 4B illustrates a flow diagram of an illustrative process 450 for a self- classification capability system, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00107] At block 452, a responder device (e.g., the user device(s) 120 of FIG. 1) may identify a beacon frame received from an AP or a PCP, wherein the beacon frame comprises one or more parameters associated with the access point. The beacon frame may be a DMG beacon frame. For example, during beamforming training of the devices (e.g., STAs or APs) there are one or more periods. These one or more periods may include BTI, A-BFT, and DTI. In an enhanced sector-level sweep (SLS) beamforming system, there are two important parts. The first part is in the BTI, where there are one or more transmit sector sweeps (SSW-TXs), where multiple DMG beacon frames are transmitted in different sectors associated with different directions from the AP to an STA. These multiple DMG beacon frames are a same DMG beacon frame that is transmitted on different sectors. Training fields may be appended to each of these DMG beacon frames at the end of each DMG beacon frame. These training fields are used by the receiving STA. In that sense, after the BTI, the STAs will know the best sector to be used for the station from the point of view of the AP. That is, each STA would know the best AP TX sector and would know the best STA RX sector. The second part is in a portion of the DTI referred to as a beamforming service period (SP) or any other name indicating a period where the AP is listening during one or more space time slots in a particular sector or one or more sectors of an antenna on the AP. In this part, the AP will be listening in a directional mode. Further, the STA would know when the AP will be listening in a particular direction.

[00108] At block 454, the responder device may determine a self-classification capability based at least in part on the one or more parameters. For example, an AP/PCP may provide its characteristics while broadcasting the DMG beacon frames in the BTI. Using this information and its own parameters, the EDMG STA may estimate whether the STA to AP link budget, considering quasi-omni AP reception, will be enough for successful access to the legacy A- BFT. If not, then this EDMG STA may skip the legacy A-BFT period and may try to reach the AP using the directional A-BFT/beamforming SP during the DTI. The quantized values of the required parameters should be directionally broadcasted by the AP. The one or more parameters may include at least in part an AP transmit power of a DMG beacon, and/or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the AP. [00109] At block 456, the responder device may determine a beamforming status during a beamforming training period with a device based at least in part on the self-classification capability. For example, the responder device may identify one or more parameters that may be included in the received DMG beacon frame. For example, the DMG beacon frame may comprise one or more parameters associated with the AP. These parameters may facilitate the determination of whether the EDMG STA may be classified as a "near" or "far" STA. For example, the responder device may perform calculations using the one or more parameters associated with the AP (e.g., using equation (1) or equation (3) and inequality (2) or inequality (4) from the description of FIG. 2A). If the responder device determines that the calculation of the AP's received power that may be estimated using the received one or more AP parameters is less than or equal to the AP's sensitivity power, the responder device may classify itself as a far device. On the other hand, if the responder device determines that the calculation of the AP' s receive power that may be estimated using the received one or more AP parameters is greater than the AP's sensitivity power, the responder device may classify itself as a near device. In that sense, the responder device may have confidence that its signals sent to the AP during the A-BFT part of the beamforming training may be received by the AP.

[00110] At block 458, the responder device may cause to perform beamforming training with the device based on the beamforming status. For example, as mentioned before, the responder device (e.g., an STA) may classify itself as a "near" STA based on the results of equation (1) or equation (3) and inequality (2) or inequality (4) from the description of FIG. 2A. The responder device may determine whether an A-BFT interval is present in the current beacon interval. If the responder device determines that the A-BFT interval is not present in the current beacon interval, the STA may be granted access to the network without having to perform a transmit sector sweep (e.g., R-TXSS in A-BFT), which means that the responder device will participate in data transmission during the DTI without having to perform the beamforming training. If the responder device determines that the A-BFT interval is present, the STA may perform the R-TXSS in the A-BFT before it can be granted access to the network by the AP.

[00111] It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

[00112] FIG. 5 shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station 500 in accordance with some embodiments. In one embodiment, FIG. 5 illustrates a functional block diagram of a communication station that may be suitable for use as an AP 102 (FIG. 1) or user device 120 (FIG. 1) in accordance with some embodiments. The communication station 500 may also be suitable for use as a handheld device, a mobile device, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.

[00113] The communication station 500 may include communications circuitry 502 and a transceiver 510 for transmitting and receiving signals to and from other communication stations using one or more antennas 501. The communications circuitry 502 may include circuitry that can operate the physical layer (PHY) communications and/or media access control (MAC) communications for controlling access to the wireless medium, and/or any other communications layers for transmitting and receiving signals. The communication station 500 may also include processing circuitry 506 and memory 508 arranged to perform the operations described herein. In some embodiments, the communications circuitry 502 and the processing circuitry 506 may be configured to perform operations detailed in FIGs. 2A, 2B, 3, 4A and 4B.

[00114] In accordance with some embodiments, the communications circuitry 502 may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium and configure frames or packets for communicating over the wireless medium. The communications circuitry 502 may be arranged to transmit and receive signals. The communications circuitry 502 may also include circuitry for modulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering, amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 506 of the communication station 500 may include one or more processors. In other embodiments, two or more antennas 501 may be coupled to the communications circuitry 502 arranged for sending and receiving signals. The memory 508 may store information for configuring the processing circuitry 506 to perform operations for configuring and transmitting message frames and performing the various operations described herein. The memory 508 may include any type of memory, including non-transitory memory, for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, the memory 508 may include a computer-readable storage device, read-only memory (ROM), random- access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices and other storage devices and media.

[00115] In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may be part of a portable wireless communication device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, a smartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computer device, or another device that may receive and/or transmit information wirelessly.

[00116] In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may include one or more antennas 501. The antennas 501 may include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some embodiments, instead of two or more antennas, a single antenna with multiple apertures may be used. In these embodiments, each aperture may be considered a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated for spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result between each of the antennas and the antennas of a transmitting station.

[00117] In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may include one or more of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multiple antennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, speakers, and other mobile device elements. The display may be an LCD screen including a touch screen.

[00118] Although the communication station 500 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, two or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements of the communication station 500 may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

[00119] Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a computer-readable storage device may include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices and media. In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may include one or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device memory. [00120] FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a machine 600 or system upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed herein may be performed. In other embodiments, the machine 600 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 600 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both in server-client network environments. In an example, the machine 600 may act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environments. The machine 600 may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a wearable computer device, a web appliance, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine, such as a base station. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer cluster configurations.

[00121] Examples, as described herein, may include or may operate on logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangible entities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations when operating. A module includes hardware. In an example, the hardware may be specifically configured to carry out a specific operation (e.g., hardwired). In another example, the hardware may include configurable execution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computer readable medium containing instructions where the instructions configure the execution units to carry out a specific operation when in operation. The configuring may occur under the direction of the executions units or a loading mechanism. Accordingly, the execution units are communicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium when the device is operating. In this example, the execution units may be a member of more than one module. For example, under operation, the execution units may be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a first module at one point in time and reconfigured by a second set of instructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.

[00122] The machine (e.g., computer system) 600 may include a hardware processor 602 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 604 and a static memory 606, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 608. The machine 600 may further include a power management device 632, a graphics display device 610, an alphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 614 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the graphics display device 610, alphanumeric input device 612, and UI navigation device 614 may be a touch screen display. The machine 600 may additionally include a storage device (i.e., drive unit) 616, a signal generation device 618 (e.g., a speaker), a self-classification capability device 619, a network interface device/transceiver 620 coupled to antenna(s) 630, and one or more sensors 628, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 600 may include an output controller 634, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, a card reader, etc.)).

[00123] The storage device 616 may include a machine readable medium 622 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 624 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions 624 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 604, within the static memory 606, or within the hardware processor 602 during execution thereof by the machine 600. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 602, the main memory 604, the static memory 606, or the storage device 616 may constitute machine-readable media.

[00124] The self-classification capability device 619 may carry out or perform any of the operations and processes (e.g., processes 400 and 450) described and shown above. For example, the self-classification capability device 619 may be configured to facilitate an enhanced beamforming flow based on the directional transmission and directional reception both for the AP and the STA.

[00125] The self-classification capability device 619 may facilitate that after receiving the DMG beacon frame during the beacon time interval (BTI) of a beamforming training session, the EDMG STA at first may follow the legacy procedure and may try to negotiate with the AP during the A-BFT period while the AP is in a quasi-omni mode. If the access to the A-BFT is not successful, the EDMG STA may go to a special allocation in the data transmission interval (DTI) - beamforming SP, where the directional AP RX is used.

[00126] The self-classification capability device 619 may facilitate an enhanced sector- level sweep (SLS) beamforming system that may have two important parts. The first part is in the BTI, where there are one or more transmit sector sweeps (SSW-TXs), where multiple DMG beacon frames are transmitted in different sectors associated with different directions from the AP to an STA. These multiple DMG beacon frames are a same DMG beacon frame that is transmitted on different sectors. Training fields may be appended to each of these DMG beacon frames at the end of each DMG beacon frame. These training fields are used by the receiving STA. In that sense, after the BTI, the STAs will know the best sector to be used for the STA from the point of view of the AP. That is, each STA would know the best AP transmit (TX) sector and would know the best STA receive (RX) sector. The second part is in a portion of the DTI referred to as a beamforming service period (SP) or any other name indicating a period where the AP is listening during one or more space time slots in a particular sector or one or more sectors of an antenna on the AP. In this part, the AP will be listening in a directional mode.

[00127] The self-classification capability device 619 may consider that the directional AP RX for negotiation (from the enhanced SLS) may be implemented as part of the A-BFT period (beamforming training period), for example, directional A-BFT, before or after the legacy A- BFT. However, while trying to negotiate with the AP, the far-away EDMG STAs perform useless transmissions, which cause additional interference resulting in an increase in the collision probability during the A-BFT and is undesirable from the power consumption point of view. Each time the EDMG STA tries to negotiate with the AP during the legacy A-BFT period, it performs the R-TXSS. However, following the enhanced SLS, the EDMG STA with the TX-RX sector alignment does not need to perform responder transmit sector sweep (R- TXSS) since it has already trained its antenna using the TRN-R during the BTI. Therefore, the legacy A-BFT will duplicate this functionality of the EDMG STAs causing more interference. Therefore, it is desirable to sort the STAs by their range and capabilities, and separate the EDMG STAs that can be served with the legacy procedure (negotiation in legacy A-BFT and access in legacy allocations) from the EDMG STAs that can be served only by using the directional transmission reception in the directional A-BFT/beamforming SP and the directional allocations in the DTI.

[00128] The self-classification capability device 619 may facilitate the EDMG STA "near- far" self-classification capability which may allow the STA to predict whether it will be able to communicate with an AP during the legacy A-BFT or whether the STA can skip the A-BFT and go to the directional part of the A-BFT or beamforming SP.

[00129] The self-classification capability device 619 may facilitate the EDMG STA predicting whether it will be able to successfully perform beamforming with an AP during the legacy A-BFT or whether it should go to the directional A-BFT/beamforming SP and skip the legacy A-BFT. [00130] The self-classification capability device 619 may facilitate that the PCP/AP may provide its characteristics while broadcasting the DMG beacon frames in the BTI. Using this information and its own parameters, the EDMG STA may estimate whether the STA->AP link budget, considering quasi-omni AP reception, will be enough for successful access to the legacy A-BFT. If not, then this EDMG STA may skip the legacy A-BFT period and may try to reach the AP using the directional A-BFT/beamforming SP during the DTI. The quantized values of the required parameters should be directionally broadcasted by the AP.

[00131] It is understood that the above are only a subset of what the self-classification capability device 619 may be configured to perform and that other functions included throughout this disclosure may also be performed by the self-classification capability device 619.

[00132] While the machine -readable medium 622 is illustrated as a single medium, the term "machine-readable medium" may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 624.

[00133] Various embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in software and/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but not limited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readable medium may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storing information in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but not limited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; a flash memory, etc.

[00134] The term "machine-readable medium" may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 600 and that cause the machine 600 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non- limiting machine-readable medium examples may include solid-state memories and optical and magnetic media. In an example, a massed machine-readable medium includes a machine -readable medium with a plurality of particles having resting mass. Specific examples of massed machine -readable media may include non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD- ROM disks.

[00135] The instructions 624 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 626 using a transmission medium via the network interface device/transceiver 620 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communications networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), plain old telephone (POTS) networks, wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the network interface device/transceiver 620 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communications network 626. In an example, the network interface device/transceiver 620 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple- output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. The term "transmission medium" shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 600 and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible media to facilitate communication of such software. The operations and processes described and shown above may be carried out or performed in any suitable order as desired in various implementations. Additionally, in certain implementations, at least a portion of the operations may be carried out in parallel. Furthermore, in certain implementations, less than or more than the operations described may be performed.

[00136] The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The terms "computing device," "user device," "communication station," "station," "handheld device," "mobile device," "wireless device" and "user equipment" (UE) as used herein refers to a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may be either mobile or stationary.

[00137] As used within this document, the term "communicate" is intended to include transmitting, or receiving, or both transmitting and receiving. This may be particularly useful in claims when describing the organization of data that is being transmitted by one device and received by another, but only the functionality of one of those devices is required to infringe the claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchange of data between two devices (both devices transmit and receive during the exchange) may be described as "communicating," when only the functionality of one of those devices is being claimed. The term "communicating" as used herein with respect to a wireless communication signal includes transmitting the wireless communication signal and/or receiving the wireless communication signal. For example, a wireless communication unit, which is capable of communicating a wireless communication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to transmit the wireless communication signal to at least one other wireless communication unit, and/or a wireless communication receiver to receive the wireless communication signal from at least one other wireless communication unit.

[00138] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinal adjectives "first," "second," "third," etc., to describe a common object, merely indicates that different instances of like objects are being referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.

[00139] The term "access point" (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. An access point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station, or some other similar terminology known in the art. An access terminal may also be called a mobile station, user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similar terminology known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein generally pertain to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to wireless networks that operate in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

[00140] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, for example, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an onboard device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non- vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio- video (A/V) device, a wired or wireless network, a wireless area network, a wireless video area network (WVAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a personal area network (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.

[00141] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, a personal communication system (PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable global positioning system (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFID element or chip, a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transceiver or device, a single-input multiple-output (SIMO) transceiver or device, a multiple-input single-output (MISO) transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, digital video broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi- standard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a smartphone, a wireless application protocol (WAP) device, or the like.

[00142] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and/or systems following one or more wireless communication protocols, for example, radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM), time-division multiple access (TDM A), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS), extended GPRS, code-division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi- tone (DMT), Bluetooth®, global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra- wideband (UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3 GPP, long term evolution (LTE), LTE advanced, enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), or the like. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices, systems, and/or networks.

[00143] Example 1 may include a device comprising memory and processing circuitry configured to: determine one or more beacon frames to be sent to one or more station devices during a beacon time interval (BTI) associated with beamforming training; determine one or more parameters associated with one or more antennas; cause to broadcast a first beacon frame of the one or more beacon frames to a first station device and a second station device of the one or more station devices, wherein the first beacon frame comprises the one or more parameters; and identify, in a legacy association beamforming training (A-BFT) part of the beamforming training, one or more sector sweep (SSW) frames received from the first station device.

[00144] Example 2 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more beacon frames are directional multi-gigabit (DMG) frames.

[00145] Example 3 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of a transmit power associated with the first beacon frame or transmit antenna gain associated with the first beacon frame or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the device or a receive antenna gain in quasi-omni mode associated with the device.

[00146] Example 4 may include the device of example 3 and/or some other example herein, wherein the sensitivity power threshold may be a power level above which the device may be capable of detecting or decoding a signal.

[00147] Example 5 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more parameters are combined into a single parameter to be included in the first beacon frame.

[00148] Example 6 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein the memory and the processing circuitry are further configured to cause to send SSW feedback frames to the first station device.

[00149] Example 7 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other example herein, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit and receive wireless signals.

[00150] Example 8 may include the device of example 7 and/or some other example herein, further comprising an antenna coupled to the transceiver.

[00151] Example 9 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising: identifying a beacon frame received from an access point, wherein the beacon frame comprises one or more parameters associated with the access point; determining a self-classification capability based on the one or more parameters; determining a beamforming status during a beamforming training period with a device based on the self- classification capability; and causing to perform beamforming training with the device based on the beamforming status.

[00152] Example 10 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or some other example herein, wherein the beacon frame may be a directional multi- gigabit (DMG) frame. [00153] Example 11 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or some other example herein, wherein the beacon frame may be received during a beacon transmission interval of a beamforming training session.

[00154] Example 12 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of example 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the self-classification capability may include a first self-classification capability and a second self-classification capability, wherein the first self-classification capability identifies as a near device and the second self-classification capability identifies as a far device.

[00155] Example 13 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more parameters include at least one of a transmit power associated with the beacon frame or transmit antenna gain associated with the beacon frame or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point or a receive antenna gain in quasi-omni mode associated with the device.

[00156] Example 14 may include the non- transitory computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operations further comprise determining a pathloss based on at least one of the one or more parameters, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) associated with the received beacon frame, or a receive antenna gain.

[00157] Example 15 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of example 14 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operations for determining the pathloss further comprise the operations for determining to add a transmit power of the beacon frame at the access point to an access point antenna gain during a transmission of the beacon frame and to further add a receive antenna gain, and to subtract a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the beacon frame.

[00158] Example 16 may include the non- transitory computer-readable medium of example 12 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operations further comprise: determining that a transmit power plus transmit antenna gain associated with a station device plus antenna gain associated with the access point in quasi-omni mode minus a pathloss may be greater than a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point; determining the self- classification capability may be the first self-classification capability; determining the beamforming training session comprises an association beamforming training (A-BFT) part; and determining to perform a responder transmit sector sweep (R-TXSS) during association beamforming training (A-BFT).

[00159] Example 17 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of example 16 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operations further comprise identifying a sector sweep (SSW) feedback frame received from the access point based on the R-TXSS performed during the A-BFT.

[00160] Example 18 may include the non- transitory computer-readable medium of example 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operations further comprise: determining no sector sweep (SSW) feedback frame may be received from the access point; determining a scheduled beamforming training allocation or directional allocation during the beamforming training session; and causing to perform beamforming during the scheduled beamforming training allocation or directional allocation.

[00161] Example 19 may include the non- transitory computer-readable medium of example 12 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operations further comprise: determining that a transmit power plus transmit antenna gain associated with a station device plus antenna gain associated with the access point in quasi-omni mode minus a pathloss may be less than or equal to a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point; determining the self- classification capability may be the second self-classification capability; determining a beamforming training allocation or scheduled directional allocation during a beamforming training session; and causing to perform beamforming during the beamforming training allocation or the scheduled directional allocation.

[00162] Example 20 may include a method comprising: determining, by one or more processors, one or more beacon frames to be sent to one or more station devices during a beacon time interval (BTI) associated with beamforming training; determining one or more parameters associated with one or more antennas; cause to broadcast a first beacon frame of the one or more beacon frames to a first station device and a second station device of the one or more station devices, wherein the first beacon frame comprises the one or more parameters; and identifying, in a legacy association beamforming training (A-BFT) part of the beamforming training, one or more sector sweep (SSW) frames received from the first station device.

[00163] Example 21 may include the method of example 20 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more beacon frames are directional multi-gigabit (DMG) frames.

[00164] Example 22 may include the method of example 20 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of a transmit power associated with the first beacon frame or transmit antenna gain associated with the first beacon frame or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the device.

[00165] Example 23 may include the method of example 20 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more parameters are combined into a single parameter to be included in the first beacon frame. [00166] Example 24 may include the method of example 20 and/or some other example herein, further comprising causing to send one or more SSW feedback frames to the first station device.

[00167] Example 25 may include the method of example 22 and/or some other example herein, wherein the sensitivity power threshold may be a power level above which the device may be capable of detecting or decoding a signal.

[00168] Example 26 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing a method as claimed in any one of examples 20-25.

[00169] Example 27 may include a system comprising at least one memory device having programmed instruction that, in response to execution cause at least one processor to perform the method of any one of examples 20-25.

[00170] Example 28 may include a machine readable medium including code, when executed, to cause a machine to perform the method of any one of examples 20-25.

[00171] Example 29 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising: determining, by one or more processors, one or more beacon frames to be sent to one or more station devices during a beacon time interval (BTI) associated with beamforming training; determining one or more parameters associated with one or more antennas; cause to broadcast a first beacon frame of the one or more beacon frames to a first station device and a second station device of the one or more station devices, wherein the first beacon frame comprises the one or more parameters; and identifying, in a legacy association beamforming training (A-BFT) part of the beamforming training, one or more sector sweep (SSW) frames received from the first station device.

[00172] Example 30 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of example 29 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more beacon frames are directional multi-gigabit (DMG) frames.

[00173] Example 31 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of example 29 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of a transmit power associated with the first beacon frame or transmit antenna gain associated with the first beacon frame or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the device.

[00174] Example 32 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of example 29 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more parameters are combined into a single parameter to be included in the first beacon frame. [00175] Example 33 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of example 29 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operations further comprise causing to send one or more SSW feedback frames to the first station device.

[00176] Example 34 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of example 31 and/or some other example herein, wherein the sensitivity power threshold may be a power level above which the device may be capable of detecting or decoding a signal.

[00177] Example 35 may include an apparatus comprising means for determining, by one or more processors, one or more beacon frames to be sent to one or more station devices during a beacon time interval (BTI) associated with beamforming training; means for determining one or more parameters associated with one or more antennas; means for causing to broadcast a first beacon frame of the one or more beacon frames to a first station device and a second station device of the one or more station devices, wherein the first beacon frame comprises the one or more parameters; and means for identifying, in a legacy association beamforming training (A-BFT) part of the beamforming training, one or more sector sweep (SSW) frames received from the first station device.

[00178] Example 36 may include the apparatus of example 35 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more beacon frames are directional multi-gigabit (DMG) frames.

[00179] Example 37 may include the apparatus of example 35 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of a transmit power associated with the first beacon frame or transmit antenna gain associated with the first beacon frame or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the device.

[00180] Example 38 may include the apparatus of example 35 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more parameters are combined into a single parameter to be included in the first beacon frame.

[00181] Example 39 may include the apparatus of example 35 and/or some other example herein, further comprising causing to send one or more SSW feedback frames to the first station device.

[00182] Example 40 may include the apparatus of example 37 and/or some other example herein, wherein the sensitivity power threshold may be a power level above which the device may be capable of detecting or decoding a signal.

[00183] Example 41 may include a device comprising memory and processing circuitry configured to: identify a beacon frame received from an access point, wherein the beacon frame comprises one or more parameters associated with the access point; determine a self- classification capability based on the one or more parameters; determine a beamforming status during a beamforming training period with a device based on the self-classification capability; and cause to perform beamforming training with the device based on the beamforming status.

[00184] Example 42 may include the device of example 41 and/or some other example herein, wherein the beacon frame may be a directional multi-gigabit (DMG) frame.

[00185] Example 43 may include the device of example 41 and/or some other example herein, wherein the beacon frame may be received during a beacon transmission interval of a beamforming training session.

[00186] Example 44 may include the device of example 43 and/or some other example herein, wherein the self-classification capability may include a first self-classification capability and a second self-classification capability, wherein the first self-classification capability identifies as a near device and the second self-classification capability identifies as a far device.

[00187] Example 45 may include the device of example 41 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more parameters include at least one of a transmit power associated with the beacon frame or transmit antenna gain associated with the beacon frame or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point or a receive antenna gain in quasi-omni mode associated with the device.

[00188] Example 46 may include the device of example 41 and/or some other example herein, wherein the memory and the processing circuitry are further configured to determine a pathloss based on at least one of the one or more parameters, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) associated with the received beacon frame, or a receive antenna gain.

[00189] Example 47 may include the device of example 46 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operations for determining the pathloss further comprise the operations for determining to add a transmit power of the beacon frame at the access point to an access point antenna gain during a transmission of the beacon frame and to further add a receive antenna gain, and to subtract a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the beacon frame.

[00190] Example 48 may include the device of example 47 and/or some other example herein, wherein the memory and the processing circuitry are further configured to: determine that a transmit power plus transmit antenna gain associated with a station device plus antenna gain associated with the access point in quasi-omni mode minus a pathloss may be greater than a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point; determine the self-classification capability may be the first self-classification capability; determine the beamforming training session comprises an association beamforming training (A-BFT) part; and determine to perform a responder transmit sector sweep (R-TXSS) during association beamforming training (A-BFT).

[00191] Example 49 may include the device of example 48 and/or some other example herein, wherein the memory and the processing circuitry are further configured to identify a sector sweep (SSW) feedback frame received from the access point based on the R-TXSS performed during the A-BFT.

[00192] Example 50 may include the device of example 43 and/or some other example herein, wherein the memory and the processing circuitry are further configured to: determine no sector sweep (SSW) feedback frame may be received from the access point; determine a scheduled beamforming training allocation or directional allocation during the beamforming training session; and cause to perform beamforming during the scheduled beamforming training allocation or directional allocation.

[00193] Example 51 may include the device of example 44 and/or some other example herein, wherein the memory and the processing circuitry are further configured to: determine that a transmit power plus transmit antenna gain associated with a station device plus antenna gain associated with the access point in quasi-omni mode minus a pathloss may be less than or equal to a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point; determine the self- classification capability may be the second self-classification capability; determine a beamforming training allocation or scheduled directional allocation during a beamforming training session; and cause to perform beamforming during the beamforming training allocation or the scheduled directional allocation.

[00194] Example 52 may include a method comprising: identifying a beacon frame received from an access point, wherein the beacon frame comprises one or more parameters associated with the access point; determining a self-classification capability based on the one or more parameters; determining a beamforming status during a beamforming training period with a device based on the self-classification capability; and causing to perform beamforming training with the device based on the beamforming status.

[00195] Example 53 may include the method of example 52 and/or some other example herein, wherein the beacon frame may be a directional multi-gigabit (DMG) frame.

[00196] Example 54 may include the method of example 52 and/or some other example herein, wherein the beacon frame may be received during a beacon transmission interval of a beamforming training session.

[00197] Example 55 may include the method of example 54 and/or some other example herein, wherein the self-classification capability may include a first self-classification capability and a second self-classification capability, wherein the first self-classification capability identifies as a near device and the second self-classification capability identifies as a far device.

[00198] Example 56 may include the method of example 52 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more parameters include at least one of a transmit power associated with the beacon frame or transmit antenna gain associated with the beacon frame or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point or a receive antenna gain in quasi-omni mode associated with the device.

[00199] Example 57 may include the method of example 52 and/or some other example herein, further comprising determining a pathloss based on at least one of the one or more parameters, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) associated with the received beacon frame, or a receive antenna gain.

[00200] Example 58 may include the method of example 57 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operations for determining the pathloss further comprise the operations for determining to add a transmit power of the beacon frame at the access point to an access point antenna gain during a transmission of the beacon frame and to further add a receive antenna gain, and to subtract a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the beacon frame.

[00201] Example 59 may include the method of example 55 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: determining that a transmit power plus transmit antenna gain associated with a station device plus antenna gain associated with the access point in quasi- omni mode minus a pathloss may be greater than a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point; determining the self-classification capability may be the first self- classification capability; determining the beamforming training session comprises an association beamforming training (A-BFT) part; and determining to perform a responder transmit sector sweep (R-TXSS) during association beamforming training (A-BFT).

[00202] Example 60 may include the method of example 52 and/or some other example herein, further comprising identifying a sector sweep (SSW) feedback frame received from the access point based on the R-TXSS performed during the A-BFT.

[00203] Example 61 may include the method of example 54 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: determining no sector sweep (SSW) feedback frame may be received from the access point; determining a scheduled beamforming training allocation or directional allocation during the beamforming training session; and causing to perform beamforming during the scheduled beamforming training allocation or directional allocation. [00204] Example 62 may include the method of example 55 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operations further comprising: determining that a transmit power plus transmit antenna gain associated with a station device plus antenna gain associated with the access point in quasi-omni mode minus a pathloss may be less than or equal to a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point; determining the self-classification capability may be the second self-classification capability; determining a beamforming training allocation or scheduled directional allocation during a beamforming training session; and causing to perform beamforming during the beamforming training allocation or the scheduled directional allocation.

[00205] Example 63 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing a method as claimed in any one of examples 52-62.

[00206] Example 64 may include a system comprising at least one memory device having programmed instruction that, in response to execution cause at least one processor to perform the method of any one of examples 52-62.

[00207] Example 65 may include a machine readable medium including code, when executed, to cause a machine to perform the method of any one of examples 52-62.

[00208] Example 66 may include an apparatus comprising means for identifying a beacon frame received from an access point, wherein the beacon frame comprises one or more parameters associated with the access point; means for determining a self-classification capability based on the one or more parameters; means for determining a beamforming status during a beamforming training period with a device based on the self-classification capability; and means for causing to perform beamforming training with the device based on the beamforming status.

[00209] Example 67 may include the apparatus of example 66 and/or some other example herein, wherein the beacon frame may be a directional multi-gigabit (DMG) frame.

[00210] Example 68 may include the apparatus of example 66 and/or some other example herein, wherein the beacon frame may be received during a beacon transmission interval of a beamforming training session.

[00211] Example 69 may include the apparatus of example 68 and/or some other example herein, wherein the self-classification capability may include a first self-classification capability and a second self-classification capability, wherein the first self-classification capability identifies as a near device and the second self-classification capability identifies as a far device. [00212] Example 70 may include the apparatus of example 66 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or more parameters include at least one of a transmit power associated with the beacon frame or transmit antenna gain associated with the beacon frame or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point or a receive antenna gain in quasi-omni mode associated with the device.

[00213] Example 71 may include the apparatus of example 66 and/or some other example herein, further comprising means for determining a pathloss based on at least one of the one or more parameters, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) associated with the received beacon frame, or a receive antenna gain.

[00214] Example 72 may include the apparatus of example 71 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operations for determining the pathloss further comprise the operations for determining to add a transmit power of the beacon frame at the access point to an access point antenna gain during a transmission of the beacon frame and to further add a receive antenna gain, and to subtract a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the beacon frame.

[00215] Example 73 may include the apparatus of example 69 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: means for determining that a transmit power plus transmit antenna gain associated with a station device plus antenna gain associated with the access point in quasi- omni mode minus a pathloss may be greater than a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point; means for determining the self-classification capability may be the first self- classification capability; means for determining the beamforming training session comprises an association beamforming training (A-BFT) part; and means for determining to perform a responder transmit sector sweep (R-TXSS) during association beamforming training (A-BFT).

[00216] Example 74 may include the apparatus of example 73 and/or some other example herein, further comprising means for identifying a sector sweep (SSW) feedback frame received from the access point based on the R-TXSS performed during the A-BFT.

[00217] Example 75 may include the apparatus of example 68 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: means for determining no sector sweep (SSW) feedback frame may be received from the access point; means for determining a scheduled beamforming training allocation or directional allocation during the beamforming training session; and means for causing to perform beamforming during the scheduled beamforming training allocation or directional allocation.

[00218] Example 76 may include the apparatus of example 69 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: means for determining that a transmit power plus transmit antenna gain associated with a station device plus antenna gain associated with the access point in quasi- omni mode minus a pathloss may be less than or equal to a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point; means for determining the self-classification capability may be the second self-classification capability; means for determining a beamforming training allocation or scheduled directional allocation during a beamforming training session; and means for causing to perform beamforming during the beamforming training allocation or the scheduled directional allocation.

[00219] Example 77 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing a method as claimed in any of the preceding examples.

[00220] Example 78 may include a machine-readable storage including machine -readable instructions, when executed, to implement a method as claimed in any preceding example.

[00221] Example 79 may include a machine-readable storage including machine -readable instructions, when executed, to implement a method or realize an apparatus as claimed in any preceding example.

[00222] Example 80 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-79, or any other method or process described herein

[00223] Example 81 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and/or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-79, or any other method or process described herein.

[00224] Example 82 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-79, or portions or parts thereof.

[00225] Example 83 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-79, or portions thereof.

[00226] Example 84 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[00227] Example 85 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[00228] Example 86 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. [00229] Embodiments according to the disclosure are in particular disclosed in the attached claims directed to a method, a storage medium, a device and a computer program product, wherein any feature mentioned in one claim category, e.g., method, can be claimed in another claim category, e.g., system, as well. The dependencies or references back in the attached claims are chosen for formal reasons only. However, any subject matter resulting from a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (in particular multiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that any combination of claims and the features thereof are disclosed and can be claimed regardless of the dependencies chosen in the attached claims. The subject- matter which can be claimed comprises not only the combinations of features as set out in the attached claims but also any other combination of features in the claims, wherein each feature mentioned in the claims can be combined with any other feature or combination of other features in the claims. Furthermore, any of the embodiments and features described or depicted herein can be claimed in a separate claim and/or in any combination with any embodiment or feature described or depicted herein or with any of the features of the attached claims.

[00230] The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

[00231] Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference to block and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/or computer program products according to various implementations. It will be understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flow diagrams, respectively, may be implemented by computer-executable program instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the order presented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, according to some implementations.

[00232] These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto a special- purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particular machine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage media or memory that may direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage media produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. As an example, certain implementations may provide for a computer program product, comprising a computer- readable storage medium having a computer-readable program code or program instructions implemented therein, said computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements or steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elements or steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks.

[00233] Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, or combinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

[00234] Conditional language, such as, among others, "can," "could," "might," or "may," unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain implementations could include, while other implementations do not include, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or more implementations or that one or more implementations necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to be performed in any particular implementation.

[00235] Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forth herein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific implementations disclosed and that modifications and other implementations are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A device, the device comprising memory and processing circuitry configured to:

determine one or more beacon frames to be sent to one or more station devices during a beacon time interval (BTI) associated with beamforming training;

determine one or more parameters associated with one or more antennas;

cause to broadcast a first beacon frame of the one or more beacon frames to a first station device and a second station device of the one or more station devices, wherein the first beacon frame comprises the one or more parameters; and

identify, in a legacy association beamforming training (A-BFT) part of the

beamforming training, one or more sector sweep (SSW) frames received from the first station device.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more beacon frames are directional multi- gigabit (DMG) frames.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of a transmit power associated with the first beacon frame or transmit antenna gain associated with the first beacon frame or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the device or a receive antenna gain in quasi-omni mode associated with the device.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the sensitivity power threshold is a power level above which the device is capable of detecting or decoding a signal.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters are combined into a single parameter to be included in the first beacon frame.

6. The device of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the memory and the processing circuitry are further configured to cause to send SSW feedback frames to the first station device.

7. The device of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit and receive wireless signals.

8. The device of claim 7, further comprising an antenna coupled to the transceiver.

9. A non- transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising: identifying a beacon frame received from an access point, wherein the beacon frame comprises one or more parameters associated with the access point;

determining a self-classification capability based on the one or more parameters;

determining a beamforming status during a beamforming training period with a device based on the self-classification capability; and

causing to perform beamforming training with the device based on the beamforming status.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the beacon frame is a directional multi-gigabit (DMG) frame.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the beacon frame is received during a beacon transmission interval of a beamforming training session.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the self- classification capability includes a first self-classification capability and a second self- classification capability, wherein the first self-classification capability identifies as a near device and the second self-classification capability identifies as a far device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the one or more parameters include at least one of a transmit power associated with the beacon frame or transmit antenna gain associated with the beacon frame or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point or a receive antenna gain in quasi-omni mode associated with the device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of claims 9-13, wherein the operations further comprise determining a pathloss based on at least one of the one or more parameters, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) associated with the received beacon frame, or a receive antenna gain.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the operations for determining the pathloss further comprise the operations for determining to add a transmit power of the beacon frame at the access point to an access point antenna gain during a transmission of the beacon frame and to further add a receive antenna gain, and to subtract a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the beacon frame.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that a transmit power plus transmit antenna gain associated with a station device plus antenna gain associated with the access point in quasi-omni mode minus a pathloss is greater than a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point;

determining the self-classification capability is the first self-classification capability; determining the beamforming training session comprises an association beamforming training (A-BFT) part; and

determining to perform a responder transmit sector sweep (R-TXSS) during association beamforming training (A-BFT).

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise identifying a sector sweep (SSW) feedback frame received from the access point based on the R-TXSS performed during the A-BFT.

18. The non- transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining no sector sweep (SSW) feedback frame is received from the access point; determining a scheduled beamforming training allocation or directional allocation during the beamforming training session; and causing to perform beamforming during the scheduled beamforming training allocation or directional allocation.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that a transmit power plus transmit antenna gain associated with a station device plus antenna gain associated with the access point in quasi-omni mode minus a pathloss is less than or equal to a sensitivity power threshold associated with the access point;

determining the self-classification capability is the second self-classification capability;

determining a beamforming training allocation or scheduled directional allocation during a beamforming training session; and

causing to perform beamforming during the beamforming training allocation or the scheduled directional allocation.

20. A method comprising:

determining, by one or more processors, one or more beacon frames to be sent to one or more station devices during a beacon time interval (BTI) associated with beamforming training;

determining one or more parameters associated with one or more antennas;

cause to broadcast a first beacon frame of the one or more beacon frames to a first station device and a second station device of the one or more station devices, wherein the first beacon frame comprises the one or more parameters; and

identifying, in a legacy association beamforming training (A-BFT) part of the beamforming training, one or more sector sweep (SSW) frames received from the first station device.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the one or more beacon frames are directional multi- gigabit (DMG) frames.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of a transmit power associated with the first beacon frame or transmit antenna gain associated with the first beacon frame or a sensitivity power threshold associated with the device.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the one or more parameters are combined into a single parameter to be included in the first beacon frame.

24. The method of any one of claim 20-23, further comprising causing to send one or more SSW feedback frames to the first station device.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the sensitivity power threshold is a power level above which the device is capable of detecting or decoding a signal.