WO2018217310A1 - Filtering neighbor reports from wireless access points - Google Patents

Abstract

Described herein are mechanisms for a wireless station (STA) to provide criteria in a request for a Neighbor Report sent to an access point (AP) that allows the AP to filter the basic service sets (BSSs) that are included in the Neighbor Report. In one embodiment, the BTM (BSS Transition Management) query frame and/or the ANQP (Access Network Query Protocol) query frame are modified in order to include a list of one or more criteria that the AP is to use to filter its neighbor report list so that it contains only the neighbor candidate BSSs that meet the STA's criteria.

Description

FILTERING NEIGHBOR REPORTS FROM WIRELESS

ACCESS POINTS

Priority Claim 100011 This application claims priority to United States Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/510,889 filed May 25, 2017, which is incorporated herein b reference in its entirety

Technical Field

[0002] Embodiments described herein relate generally to wireless networks and communications systems.

Background

100031 Wireless networking based on the Wi-Fi IEEE 802.1 1 standards is one of the most widely adopted wireless technologies. An 802. 1 1 network may be based on a star topology with two types of wireless devices: clients and access points (APs), both of which may be referred to as stations (STAs).

Access points (APs) provide an infrastructure function by communicating directly with client devices and linking them to other networks such as the internet. STAs associate with an AP to receive these services.

[0004] In order to assist roaming STAs in locating suitable APs with which to associate, the current Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA ) specifications provide for Neighbor Reports that are sent by an AP to a ST A upon request. Such Neighbor Reports list basic service sets (BSSs) or APs that neighbor the AP so that, should it choose to do so, a ST A may disassociate from its serv ing AP and associate with a more suitable AP.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0005] FIG. I is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some embodiments. 100061 FIG. 2 illustrates a front-end module circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments.

100071 FIG 3 il lustrates a radio IC circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments.

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

[0009] FIG . 5 illustrates an example of a computing machine according to some embodiments.

[0010] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a wireless station device according to some embodiments.

[0011] FIG. 7 illustrates a basic service set that includes station devices associated with an access point according to some embodiments.

[0012] FIG. 8 illii strates an example of a multi-band operation (MBO) information element (IE) according to some embodiments.

[0013] FIG. 9 i l lustrates an example of MBO attributes accord ing to some embodiments.

Detailed Description

[0014] In order for a ST A to receive a Neighbor Report, the ST A sends a Neighbor Report t to an AP. The A returns the Neighbor Report containing information about neighboring BSSs or APs that are known candidates for the STA to associate with should it choose to do so. The Neighbor Report thus enables the ST A to collect information about the neighboring APs or BSSs of the AP it is currently associated with for use in identifying potential candidates for re-association whi le roaming. The Neighbor Report speeds up scanning since the STA does have to engage in the time consuming process of actively probing for APs or listening to channels for beacons in order to find a suitable AP for re-association and can instead focus on the list of known available neighbors. The faster scanning also results in reduced power consumption by the STA and more efficient use of the wireless medium. Described herein are mechanisms to enhance the efficiency of Neighbor Reports in informing a STA of suitable APs with which to associate. Example Radio Architecture

[0015] FIG 1 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 100 in accordance with some embodiments. Radio architecture 100 may include radio front -end module (FEM) circuitry 104, radio IC circuitry 106 and baseband processing circuitry 108. Radio architecture 100 as shown includes both Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality although embodiments are not so limited. In this disclosure, "WLAN^" and "Wi-Fi^" are used interchangeably.

[0016] FEM circuitry 104 may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 104a and a Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry 104b. The WLAN FEM circuitry 1 04a may include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured to operate on WL AN RF signals received from one or more antennas 101, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WL AN radio IC circuitry 1 06a for further processing. The BT FEM circuitry 1 04b may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 102, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuitry 106b for further processing. FEM circuitry 104a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify WL AN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 106a for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 101 . In addition, FEM circuitry 1 04b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 106b for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, although FEM 104a and FEM 104 b are shown as being di tinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include w ithin their scope the use of an FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least some of the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLA and BT signals.

[0017] Radio IC circuitry 106 as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry 106a and BT radio IC circuitry 106b. The WLAN radio IC circuitry 106a may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down- convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 104a and provide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108a. BT radio IC circuitry 106b may in turn include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 104b and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 108b. WLAN radio IC circuitry 106a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108a and provide WL AN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 104a for subsequent w ireless transmission by the one or more antennas 101. BT radio IC circuitry 106b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry 108b and provide BT RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 1 04b for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 101. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, although radio IC circuitries 106a and 106b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of a radio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and/or a receive signal path for both WLAN and B T signals, or the use of one or more radio IC circuitries where at least some of the radio IC circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

[0018] Baseband processing circuity 108 may include a WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108a and a BT baseband processing circuitry 108b. The WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108a may include a memory, such as, for example, a set of R AM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform block (not shown) of the WLA baseband processing circuitry 108a. Each of the WLA N baseband circuitry 108a and the BT baseband circuitry 1 08b may further include one or more processors and control logic to process the signals received from the corresponding W^'L AN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 106, and to also generate

corresponding WL AN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 106. Each of the baseband processing circuitries 1 08a and 108b may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with application processor 1 10 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio IC circuitry 106.

[0019] Referring still to FIG. 1, according to the shown embodiment, WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 1 13 may include logic providing an interface between the WLAN baseband circuitry 108a and the BT baseband circuitry 108b to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. In addition, a switch 103 may be provided between the WL A FEM circuitry 104a and the BT FEM circuitry 104b to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios according to application needs. In addition, although the antennas 101 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WL AN FEM circuitry 104a and the BT FEM circuitry 104b, embodiments include within their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between the WLAN and BT FEMs, or the provision of more than one antenna connected to each of FEM 104a or 104b.

100201 In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 104, the radio IC circuitry 106, and baseband processing circuitry 108 may be provided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 102. In some other embodiments, the one or more antennas 101, the FEM circuitry 1 04 and the radio IC circuitry 106 may be prov ided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 106 and the baseband processing circuitry 108 may be prov ided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as IC I 12.

[0021] In some embodiments, the wireless radio card 102 may include a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency div ision multiplexed (OFDM ) or orthogonal frequency div ision multiple access (OFDM A ) communication signals ov er a multicarrier communication channel . The OFDM or OFDM A signals may comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

[0022] In some of these multicarrier embodiments, radio architecture 100 may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station ( STA) such as a wireless access point ( AP), a base station or a mobile dev ice including a Wi-Fi device. In some of these embodiments, radio architecture 100 may be configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with specific communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards including, 802. 1 l n-2009, IEEE 802.1 1-2012, 802. 1 l n-2009, 802.1 lac, and/or 802. 1 lax standards and/or proposed specifications for W'LA s, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in thi s respect . Radio architecture 100 may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.

100231 In some embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured for high-efficiency (HE) Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802. 1 lax standard. In these embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMA technique, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0024] In some other embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code div ision multiple access (DS-CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code div ision multiple access (FH-CDM A)), time-division multiplexing (T DM ) modulation, and/or frequency-div ision multiplexing (FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0025] In some embodiments, as further shown in FIG. 1, the BT baseband circuitry 108b may be compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivity standard such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 4.0 or Bluetooth 5.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth Standard. In embodiments that include BT functionality as shown for example in FIG. 1, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to establish a BT synchronous connection oriented (SCO) link and or a BT low energy (BT LE) link. In some of the embodiments that include functionality, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to establish an extended SCO (eSCO) link for BT communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments that include a BT functionality, the radio architecture may be configured to engage in a BT Asynchronous

Connection-Less (ACL) communications, although the scope of the

embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 1, the functions of a BT radio card and W L A radio card may be combined on a single wireless radio card, such as single wireless radio card 102, although embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope discrete WLAN and BT radio cards

[0026] In some embodiments, the radio-architecture 100 may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 3GPP such as LTE, LTE- Advanced or 5G communications).

[0027] In some IEEE 802.1 1 embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths including bandwidths having center frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of about 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 16 MHz, 20 MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or 80+80MHz (160MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths). In some embodiments, a 320 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of the embodiments is not limited with respect to the above center frequencies however.

[0028] FIG. 2 illustrates FEM circuitry 200 in accordance with some embodiments. The FEM circuitry 200 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN and/or BT FEM circuitry 104a/104b (FIG. 1), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

[0029] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 200 may include a T X/RX switch 202 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 200 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receiv e signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 206 to amplify received RF signals 203 and provide the amplified received RF signals 207 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuitry 106 (FIG . 1)). The transmit signal path of the circuitry 200 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals 209 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 106), and one or more filters 212, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low- pass filters (LPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 215 for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 101 (FIG. 1)).

[0030] In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the FEM circuitry 200 may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum or the 5 GHz frequency spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may include a receive signal path duplexer 204 to separate the signals from each spectrum as well as provide a separate LNA 206 for each spectrum as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may also include a power amplifier 2 10 and a filter 2 12, such as a BPF, a LPF or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 214 to prov ide the signals of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by the one or more of the antennas 101 (FIG. 1). In some embodiments, BT communications may utilize the 2.4 GHZ signal paths and may utilize the same FEM circuitry 200 as the one used for WLAN communications.

[0031] FIG. 3 illustrates radio IC circuitry 300 in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuitry 300 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry 106a/ 106b (FIG. 1), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

[0032] In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 300 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 300 may include at least mixer circuitry 302, such as, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, ampli ier circuitry 306 and filter circuitry 308. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 300 may include at least filter circuitry 3 1 2 and mixer circuitry 3 14, such as, for example, up- conversion mixer circuitry. Radio IC circuitry 300 may also include synthesizer circuitry 304 for synthesizing a frequency 305 for use by the mixer circuitrv 302 and the mixer circuitry 3 14. The mixer circuitry 302 and/or 3 14 may each, according to some embodiments, be configured to prov ide direct conv ersion functionality. The latter type of circuitry presents a much simpler architecture as compared with standard super-heterodyne mixer circuitries, and any flicker noise brought about by the same may be allev iated for example through the use of OFDM modulation. Fig. 3 illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and may include, although not shown, embodiments where each of the depicted circuitries may include more than one component. For instance, mixer circuitry 320 and/or 3 14 may each include one or more mixers, and fi lter circuitries 308 and/or 3 12 may each include one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to application needs. For example, hen mixer circuitries are of the direct-conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.

100331 In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 302 may be configured to down-convert RF signals 207 received from the FEM circuitry 104 (FIG. 1) based on the synthesized frequency 305 provided by synthesizer circuitry 304. The amplifier circuitry 306 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 308 may include a LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals 307. Output baseband signals 307 may be provided to the baseband processing circuitry 108 (FIG. 1) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 307 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 302 may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0034] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 3 14 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals 3 1 1 based on the synthesized frequency 305 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 304 to generate RF output signals 209 for the FEM circuitry 104. The baseband signals 31 1 may be provided by the baseband processing circuitry 108 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 3 1 2. The filter circuitry 3 12 may include a LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0035] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up-conversion respectively with the help of synthesizer 304. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 3 14 may each include two or more mixers each configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 3 14 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 02 and the mixer circuitry 3 14 may be configured for super-heterodyne operation, although this is not a requirement.

[0036] Mixer circuitry 302 may comprise, according to one embodiment: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, RF input signal 207 from Fig. 3 may be down- converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor

[0037] Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety degree time-varying 1.0 switching signals provided by a quadrature circuitry which may be configured to receive a LO frequency (fLo) from a local oscillator or a synthesizer, such as LO frequency 305 of synthesizer 304 (FIG. 3). In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be the carrier frequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency ). In some embodiments, the zero and ninety degree time-varying switching signals may be generated by the synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments i s not limited in this respect.

[0038] In some embodiments, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle (the percentage of one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset (the difference between start points of the period). In some embodiments, the LO signals may have a 25% duty cycle and a 50% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at a 25%> duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction is power consumption.

[0039] The RF input signal 207 (FIG. 2) may comprise a balanced signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I and 0 baseband output signals may be provided to low-nose amplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 306 (FIG. 3 ) or to filter circuitry 308 (FIG. 3).

[0040] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 307 and the input baseband signals 311 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals 307 and the input baseband signals 31 1 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.

[0041] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for other spectrums not mentioned here, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

100421 In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 304 may be a fractional- synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 304 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 304 may include digital synthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuitry is that, although it may still include some analog components, its footprint may be scaled down much more than the footprint of an analog synthesizer circuitry. In some embodiments, frequency input into synthesizer circuity 304 may be provided by a voltage- controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. A divider control input may further be provided by either the baseband processing circuitry 108 (FIG. 1) or the application processor 1 10 (FIG. I) depending on the desired output frequency 305. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel center frequency as determined or indicated by the application processor 1 10.

[0043] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 304 may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 305, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 305 may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 305 may be a .0 frequency (fLo).

[0044] FIG. 4 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processing circuitry 400 in accordance with some embodiments. The baseband processing circuitry 400 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 108 (FIG. 1), although other circuitry

configurations may also be suitable. The baseband processing circuitry 400 may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 402 for processing receive baseband signals 309 provided by the radio IC circuitry 106 ( FIG. 1) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 404 for generating transmit baseband signals 31 1 for the radio IC circuitry 106. The baseband processing circuitry 400 may also include control logic 406 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processing circuitry 400.

[0045] In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchanged between the baseband processing circuitry 400 and the radio IC circuitry 106), the baseband processing circuitry 400 may include ADC 4 10 to convert analog baseband signals received from the radio IC circuitry 106 to digital baseband signals for processing by the RX BBP 402. In these embodiments, the baseband processing circuitry 400 may also include DAC 4 1 2 to convert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 404 to analog baseband signals.

100461 In some embodiments that communicate OFDM signals or OFDMA signals, such as through baseband processor 108a, the transmit baseband processor 404 may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDMA signals as appropriate for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform ( IFFT). The receive baseband processor 402 may be configured to process received OFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT. In some embodiments, the receive baseband processor 402 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDM A signal by performing an autocorrelation, to detect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and by performing a cross-correlation, to detect a long preamble. The preambles may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.

[0047] Referring back to FIG. 1, in some embodiments, the antennas 101 (FIG. 1) may each comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, micro strip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result.

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

[0048] Although the radio-architecture 100 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

Example Machine Description

100491 FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine 500 upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed herein may perform In alternative embodiments, the machine 500 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 500 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both in server-client network env ironments. In an example, the machine 500 may act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment. The machine 500 may be a user equipment ( UE), evolved Node B (eNB), Wi-Fi access point ( AP), Wi-Fi station ( ST A), personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box ( ST B), a personal digital assistant ( PDA), a mobile telephone, a smart phone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine^" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service ( SaaS), other computer cluster configurations.

100501 Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangible entities (e ., hardware) capable of performing specified operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example, circuits may be arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to external entities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. In an example, the whole or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardware processors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g., instructions, an application portion, or an application) as a module that operates to perform specified operations. In an example, the software may reside on a machine readable medium. In an example, the software, when executed by the underlying hardware of the module, causes the hardware to perform the specified operations.

[0051] Accordingly, the term "module" is understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specifically configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., transitorily ) configured (e.g., programmed ) to operate in a specified manner or to perform part or all of any operation described herein. Considering examples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of the modules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example, where the modules comprise a general-purpose hardware processor configured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may be configured as respective different modules at different times. Software may accordingly configure a hardware processor, for example, to constitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitute a different module at a different instance of time.

[0052] Machine (e.g., computer system) 500 may include a hardware processor 502 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 504 and a static memory 506, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 508. The machine 500 may further include a display unit 510, an alphanumeric input device 512 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 5 14 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the display unit 5 10, input device 5 12 and UI navigation device 5 14 may be a touch screen display. The machine 500 may additionally include a storage device (e.g., drive unit) 516, a signal generation device 518 (e.g., a speaker), a network interface device 520, and one or more sensors 52 1 , such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 500 may include an output controller 528, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc. ) connection to communicate or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.).

[0053] The storage device 516 may include a machine readable medium 522 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 524 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions 524 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 504, within static memory 506, or within the hardware processor 502 during execution thereof by the machine 500. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 502, the main memory 504, the static memory 506, or the storage device 516 may constitute machine readable media.

[0054] While the machine readable medium 522 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 524.

[0055] The term "machine readable medium^" may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 500 and that cause the machine 500 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non- limiting machine readable medium examples may include solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of machine readable media may include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices ( e.g.. Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks;

magneto-optical disks; Random Access Memory ( RAM); and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. In some examples, machine readable media may include non-transitory machine readable media. In some examples, machine readable media may include machine readable media that is not a transitory propagating signal. [0056] The instructions 524 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 526 using a transmission medium via the network interface device 520 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc. ). Example communication networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet ), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), Plain Old Telephone ( POTS) networks, and wireless data networks (e.g.. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.1 1 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IE E 802.16 family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802 1 5.4 family of standards, a Long Term Evolution ( L I E) family of standards, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) family of standards, peer-to-peer ( P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the network interface device 520 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 526. In an example, the network interface device 520 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 (MI SO) techniques. In some examples, the network interface device 520 may wirelessly communicate using Multiple User M IMO 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 500, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of such software.

Example STA Description

[0057] As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC ), an electronic circuit, a processor ( shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware.

[0058] Embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software. FIG. 6 illustrates, for one embodiment, example components of a STA or User Equipment (UE) device 600. In some embodiments, the STA device 600 may include application circuitry 602, baseband circuitry 604, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 606, front- end module (FEM) circuitry 608 and one or more antennas 610, coupled together at least as shown.

[0059] The application circuitry 602 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 602 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general -purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc. ). The processors may be coupled with and/or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems to run on the system.

100601 The baseband circuitry 604 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 604 may include one or more baseband processors and/or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606. Baseband processing circuity 604 may interface with the application circuitry 602 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 606. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include a second generation (2G) baseband processor 604a, third generation (3G) baseband processor 604b, fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 604c, and/or other baseband processor(s) 604d for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., fifth generation (5G), 6G, etc. ). The baseband circuitry 604 (e.g. , one or more of baseband processors 604a-d) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 606. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation,

encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modu I at ion/demodu 1 at ion circuitry of the baseband circuitry 604 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), preceding, and/or constellation

mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 604 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, and/or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

[0061] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include elements of a protocol stack such as, for example, elements of an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (FAIT RA N) protocol including, for example, physical (PHY), media access control ( MAC), radio link control

(RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), and/or radio resource control ( RRC) elements. A central processing unit (CPU) 604e of the baseband circuitry 604 may be configured to run elements of the protocol stack for signaling of the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP and/or RRC layers. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may include one or more audio digital signal processor( s) (DSP) 604f. The audio DSP(s) 6041^" may be include elements for

compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 604 and the application circuitry 602 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip ( SOC).

[0062] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 604 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0063] RF circuitry 606 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 604. RF circuitry 606 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 608 for transmission.

[0064] In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 may include mixer circuitry 606a, amplifier circuitry 606b and filter circuitry 606c. The transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606 may include filter circuitry 606c and mixer circuitry 606a. RF circuitry 606 may also include synthesizer circuitry 606d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuit ry 606a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 606d. The amplifier circuitry 606b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 606c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 604 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. [0065] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-conv ert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 606d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 608. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 606c. The filter circuitry 606c may include a low-pass filter (LPF), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

100661 In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and/or upconversion respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley i mage rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a may be arranged for direct downconversion and/or direct upconversion, respectively. In some

embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0067] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include analog-to-digital conv erter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 604 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 606.

[0068] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be prov ided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0069] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a fractional- synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0070] The synthesizer circuitry 606d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606a of the RF circuitry 606 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a fractional N/N+l synthesizer.

[0071] In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 604 or the applications processor 602 depending on the desired output frequency. In some

embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 602.

[0072] Synthesizer circuitry 606d of the RF circuit ry 606 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DP A). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to div ide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional div ision ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0073] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 606d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fix)). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include an IQ/polar converter.

100741 FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 610, amplify the receiv ed signals and provide the amplified versions of the receiv ed signals to the RF circuitry 606 for further processing. FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 610.

[0075] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 608 may include a T X/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receiv e mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receiv e signal path and a transmit signal path. The receiv e signal path of the FEM circuitry may include a low -noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify receiv ed RF signals and prov ide the amplified receiv ed RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 606). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include a pow er amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., prov ided by RF circuitry 606), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 610.

[0076] In some embodiments, the UE dev ice 600 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, and/or input/output (I/O) interface.

Description of Embodiments

100771 In an 802.1 1 local area network (LAN), the entities that wirelessly communicate are referred to as stations ( STAs). A basic serv ice set (BSS) refers to a plurality of stations that remain w ithin a certain cov erage area and form some sort of association. In one form of association, the stations communicate directly with one another in an ad-hoc network. More typically, however, the stations associate with a central station dedicated to managing the BSS and referred to as an access point (AP). FIG. 7 illustrates a BSS that includes a station device 1 100 associated with an access point (AP) 1 1 10, where the AP 1 1 10 may be associated with a number of other stations 1 120. The dev ice 1 100 may be any type of device with functionality for connecting to a WiFi network such as a computer, smart phone, or a UE (user equipment) with WLA access capability, the latter referring to terminals in a LTE (Long Term Evolution) network. Each of the station devices include an RF (radio frequency transceiver) I 102 and processing circuitry 1 101 as shown by the depict ions of devices 1 100 and 1 1 10. The processing circuitry includes the functionalities for WiFi network access via the RF transceiver as well as functionalities for processing as described herein. The RF transceivers of the station dev ice 1 100 and access point 1 1 10 may each incorporate one or more antennas. The RF transceiver 1 100 with multiple antennas and processing circuitry 101 may implement one or more MI MO (multi-input multi-output) techniques such as spatial multiplexing, transmit/receive div ersity, and beam forming. The dev ices 1 100 and 1 1 10 are representativ e of the wireless access points and stations that may communicate using N AN operations as described below.

100781 In an 802.1 1 WLAN network, the stations communicate via a layered protocol that includes a physical layer (PHY) and a medium access control ( MAC) layer. The MAC layer is a set of rules that determine how to access the medium in order to send and receiv e data, and the details of transmission and reception are left to the PHY layer. At the MAC layer, transmissions in an 802. 1 1 network are in the form of M AC frames of which there are three main types: data frames, control frames, and management frames. Management frames are used for sending Neighbor Reports as described below in order to help STAs locate suitable APs for associating with .

100791 IEEE 802. 1 1 has defined several mechanisms in order to improv e STA ' s mobility between di fferent APs in the same or different frequency bands. One i mportant mechanism inv olv es an AP sending a STA a

Neighbor Report that prov ides the l ist of BS Ss i n the neighborhood with w hich the STA can associate w ith or transition to. One such mechanism allows a STA to request its serving AP to prov ide it with a Neighbor Report. Another mechani sm allows an unassoci ated STA to request a non- serving AP to prov ide it with a Neighbor Report. Another mechanism allows an AP to transmit Neighbor Reports to their associated STAs without any requests. The STA uses Neighbor Report to scan only the channels for which a BSS1D is identified in the Neighbor Report. This helps the STA gain information about the neighbors to be used as potential BSS transition candidate, to reduce its scanning activity, to prepare better for BSS transitions, and to achieve faster discovery. The Wi-Fi Al liance ( WFA) MBO ( Multi-Band Operations) speci fications provide for the functionalities as described below.

100801 The MBO mechani sm for a STA to request a candidate AP (i.e., an AP with which the ST A is not associated ) to provide a Neighbor Report is based on the Access Network Query Protocol (ANQP). The WFA specifications dictate that an MBO STA should be capable of requesting from a candidate MBO AP a prioritized list of BSSs, ithin the AP' s ESS, that the MBO AP considers to be appropriate candidates for the MBO STA to associate with. I n this case, the MBO STA sends an A QP Query to the AP, where the ANQP Query includes a Query Li st ANQP-element that requests a Neighbor Report element. On receipt of an ANQP Query, the

MBO AP responds with an A NQP Response that includes a Query Response field. The Query Response contains zero or more Neighbor Report elements, each of w hich contains the BSS Transition Candidate Preference sub-element, and further may i nclude a Neighbor Report element for the AP' s own BSS

100811 The WFA MBO speci fications al so provide a mechani m for a STA to request a Neighbor Report from its serving AP ( i. e., the AP w ith w hich it is associated) usi ng BSS Transition Management ( BTM ) frames. The WFA MBO specifications say that an MBO STA should be capable of requesting from its serving MBO AP a prioriti zed l ist of BSSs w ithin the AP ^' s ESS to w hich the MBO STA may transition by sending a BTM Query frame. On receipt of a BTM Query frame, the AP i s to respond with a BTM Request frame that includes a BSS Transition Candidate List. The BSS Transition Candidate List contains zero or more Neighbor Report elements, each of w hich includes the BSS Transition Candidate Preference sub- element, and may contain a Neighbor Report element for the AP' s own B SS 100821 The list of BSSs that are indicated in a Neighbor Report provided by the mechanisms described above can be quite large. This forces the STA to scan many channel s i n order to select the best AP from the list of APs provided in the Neighbor Report. Furthermore, in order to improve BSS discovery and transitions based upon the information provided from APs to ST As, the Neighbor Report may be extended in the future to include not only the BSSs within the ESS but also any BSSs that the AP is aware of in the neighborhood . This would further exacerbate the problem.

Additionally, as the AP provides the list of BSS without any other information from the ST A, the Neighbor Report may i nclude information about candidate neighbor APs that are not interesting for the STA. For example, the Neighbor Report may include APs that do not support a specific capabi lity that the STA seeks.

100831 In order to solve thi s issue, described herein are mechanisms for the STA to provide criteria in the request for a Neighbor Report that allows an AP to filter the BSSs that are included in the Neighbor Report. In one embodiment, the BTM ( BSS Transition Management ) query frame and/or the AN QP ( Access Network Query Protocol ) query frame are modified in order to include a list of one or more criteria that the AP is to use to filter its neighbor report list so that the response contains only the neighbor report for the neighbor candidate BSSs that meet the STA' s criteria. This new criteria i nformation may be contained in a new ly defined element, or in the MBO I E as presently defined in the WFA MBO speci fication. I f included in the MBO IE, the new criteria may be defined as one or multiple new attributes.

100841 The criteria information received by the AP would then be used to construct its Neighbor Report before sending to the requesting STA. in one embodiment, after receiving a BTM request or ANQP-query for a Neighbor Report from a STA with the criteria included, the AP filters its neighbor report list to generate a sub-list that contains only the BSSs that meet the criteria of the STA. Although not limited to such, the criteria could include information relating to one or more of the following: specific capabi lity support for an AP such as BSSID, Operating Class, Channel Number, PHY Type, Optional Sub- elements ( Distance, Bearing, Wide Bandwidth Channel, Channel Width, Channel Center Frequency, Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Information), Spectrum Management, quality of serv ice (QoS ), Automatic Power Save Delivery (APSD), Radio Measurement, Delayed Block Ack, Immediate Block Ack, Security, AP Reachability, Mobility Domain, Fine Timing Measurement (FTM), dynamic frequency selection (DFS) Support and Distance, support for rates above a threshold, support for HE MU operation, support for location service, BSSs belonging or not to the ESS of the AP to which the request is made, and that the STA has the credential to connect to the APs.

[0085] Including criteria information in the requests for Neighbor Reports as described abov e will help reduce the size of the Neighbor Report and over-the-air thrashing, and improve the usefulness of the report for the STAs. The STA can then do scanning only on the reported BSSs that are ensured to meet its criteria instead of scanning for a long list of BSSs and then filter those who meet its criteria based on the reception of each BSSs beacon. The STA will thus do less scanni ng ith faster BSS transitions, less overhead, and less wasted airtime usage with management frames. 100861 As noted above, in one embodiment a new information element i s defined that carries the list of criteria. In another embodiment, new attributes are added to the MBO attribute field of the existi ng M BO 1 E. FIG. 8 shows the MBO IE as includi ng sev eral MBO attribute fields. FIG. 9 illustrates an example of multiple MBO attributes that have already been defined for the MBO IE and also shows reserved attribute IDs that may be used for the attributes carrying the filtering criteria. The new attribute(s) can signal additional criteria that may be used to filter the neighbor report response, when the MBO IE with one of these attributes is included in a BTM request or ANQP-query for neighbor report.

100871 In one mode of operation, a new MBO attribute, that may be referred to as Neighbor Report Filtering, is defined. This attribute may be made of a list of 1 -bit field s in some embodiments, where each of these fields corresponds to one criterion. Such a field may be defi ned for ev ery criterion that is considered useful such as a criteria relating to a specific capability BSSID, PHY Type, Optional sub-elements (Distance, Bearing, Wide Bandwidth Channel, Channel Width, Channel Center Frequency, and TSF Information), Spectrum Management, quality of serv ice (Qo)S, APSD, Radio Measurement, Delayed Block Ack, Immediate Block Ack, Security, AP

Reachability, Mobility Domain, FTM, DFS Support, location service support, high throughput (HT) support, very high throughput ( VHT) support, high efficiency (HE) support, 40MHz support, 80MHz support, uplink multiuser (UL MU) support, or a specific mode of operation.

[0088] In some embodiments, when a Neighbor Report Filtering attribute is i ncluded in the BTM request or in the ANQP-query, the AP checks to see which of the criteria bits are set. If the bit corresponding to a particular criterion is set to 1 , the AP fi lters the Neighbor Report to ensure that all the BSSs that are indicated in the report meet that criterion . If the bit is set to 0, then the corresponding criterion is not used to filter the response.

[0089] In some embodiments, the filtering criteria may be divided into two classes: "hard" or "soft.^" For all criteria classified as "hard^", there should be an exact match before a BSS is deemed to meet those criteria. For all criteria under "soft", it is considered by the AP to be an optional request on the part of the ST A but still desired. In order to implement this hard/soft classification, a 2-bits field per criteria instead of a 1 -bit may be defined to capture the hard/soft

classification. Alternativ ely, separate attributes are defined for the hard and soft classifications.

100901

Additional Notes and Examples

[00911 In Example 1 , an apparatus for a wireless station ( ST A) comprises: memory and processing circuitry, wherein the processing circuitry is to: encode a Neighbor Report request to send to an access point (AP); and, include one or more neighbor fi ltering criteria in the Neighbor Report request, where each such criterion instructs the AP to include neighboring BSSs in the Neighbor Report that meet the criterion and exclude BSSs that do not meet the criterion.

[0092] In Example l a, the subject matter of Example 1 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the Neighbor Report received from the AP and evaluate whether to associate with BSSs listed therein.

100931 In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to encode the Neighbor Report request as a basic service set (BSS) Transition Management (BTM) query frame.

100941 In Example 3, the subject matter of Example 1 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to encode the Neighbor Report request as an Access Network Query Protocol (ANQP) query frame.

[0095] In Example 4, the subject matter of Example 1 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to encode the Neighbor Report request as an information element (IE) that carries the neighbor filtering criteria.

[0096] In Example 5, the subject matter of Example 1 o any of the

Examples herein may optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to encode the Neighbor Report request as a multi-band operation (MBO) information element having attributes that carry the neighbor filtering criteria.

[0097] In Example 6, the subject matter of Example 1 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include wherein the neighbor filtering criteria are represented as 1-bit fields in the Neighbor Report request.

100981 In Example 7, the subject matter of Example I or any of the Examples herein may optionally include wherein the neighbor filtering criteria are classified in the Neighbor Report request as being either hard or soft, wherein a hard criterion instructs the AP to exclude BSSs that do not meet the criterion from the Neighbor Report, and wherein a soft criterion instructs the AP that the criterion is desired but BSSs not meeting the criterion should not be excluded from the Neighbor Report.

[0099] In Example 8, the subject matter of Example 1 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include wherein the neighbor filtering criteria with hard and soft classifications are encoded as 2-bit fields in the Neighbor Report request. [00100] In Example 9, the subject matter of Example 1 or any of the

Examples herein may optionally include wherein separate attributes are defined for the hard and soft classifications of the neighbor filtering criteria.

[00101] In Example 10, the subject matter of Example 1 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include where the one or more filtering criteria include criteria that relate to channel number, physical layer (PHY) type, distance, bearing, wide bandwidth channel, channel width, channel center frequency, timing synchronization function (TSF) information, spectrum management, quality of service (QoS), automatic power save delivery ( APSD), radio measurement, delayed Block Ack support, immediate Block Ack support, security, AP reachability, mobility domain, fine timing measurement (FTM) support, dynamic frequency selection (DFS) support, location service support, high throughput (HT) support, very high throughput ( VHT) support, high efficiency ( HE) support, 40 MHz support, 80MHz support, upl ink multiuser (UL MU) support, or a specific mode of operation.

[00102| In Example 1 1 , an apparatus for a wireless access point ( AP) comprises: memory and processing circuitry, herein the processing circuitry is to: decode a Neighbor Report request received from a wireless station (ST A), wherein the Neighbor Report request includes one or more neighbor fi ltering criteria; and, encode a Neighbor Report that includes neighboring BSSs that meet the one or more neighbor filtering criteria and excludes neighboring BSSs that do not meet the one or more neighbor filtering criteria.

[00103] In Example 1 2, the subject matter of Example 1 1 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the Neighbor Report request as a basic service set (BSS) Transition Management (BTM) query frame.

1001041 In Example 13, the subject matter of Example 1 1 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the Neighbor Report request as an Access Network Query Protocol (ANQP) query frame.

[00105] In Example 14, the subject matter of Example 1 1 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the Neighbor Report request as an information element (IE) that carries the neighbor filtering criteria.

1001061 In Example 1 5, the subject matter of Example 1 1 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the Neighbor Report request as a multi-band operation (MBO) information element having attributes that carry the neighbor filtering criteria.

[00107| In Example 16, a computer-readable medium comprises instructions to cause a wireless station ( ST A), upon execution of the instructions by processing circuitry of the ST A, to: encode a Neighbor Report request to send to an access point (AP); and, include one or more neighbor filtering criteria in the Neighbor Report request, where each such criterion instructs the AP to include neighboring BSSs in the Neighbor Report that meet the criterion and exclude BSSs that do not meet the criterion.

[00108] In Example 1 7, the subject matter of Example 16 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include instructions to encode the Neighbor Report request as a basic service set (BSS) Transition Management (BTM) query frame.

1001091 In Example 1 8, the subject matter of Example 16 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include instructions to encode the Neighbor Report request as an Access Network Query Protocol (ANQP) query frame. |001 101 In Example 19, the subject matter of Example 16 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include instructions to encode the Neighbor Report request as an information element ( IE ) that carries the neighbor filtering criteria.

[00111] In Example 20, the subject matter of Example 16 or any of the Examples herein may optionally include instructions to encode the Neighbor Report request as a multi-band operation (MBO) information element having attributes that carry the neighbor filtering criteria.

[00112] In Example 2 1 , the subject matter of any of the Examples herein may optionally include: a radio transceiver having one or more antennas connected to the processing circuitry; and, wherein the processing circuitry includes a baseband processor. [00113] In Example 22, a computer-readable medium contains instructions to cause a wireless station (STA) or access point (AP), upon execution of the instructions by processing circuitry of the STA or AP, to perform any of the functions of the processing circuitry as recited by any of the Examples herein.

[00114] In Example 23, a method for operating a wireless station or access point comprises performing any of the functions of the processing circuitry and/or radio transceiver as recited by any of the Examples herein.

100115] In Example 24, an apparatus for a wireless station or access point comprises means for performing any of the functions of the processing circuitry and/or radio transceiver as recited by any of the Examples herein.

[00116] The above detailed description includes references to the

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

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

100117] Publications, patents, and patent documents referred to in this document are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, as though indiv idually incorporated by reference. In the event of inconsistent usages between this document and those documents so incorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s) are supplementary to that of this document; for irreconcilable inconsistencies, the usage in this document controls.

[00118] In this document, the terms "a" or "an" are used, as is common in patent documents, to include one or more than one, independent of any other instances or usages of "at least one^" or "one or more.^" In this document, the term "or" is used to refer to a nonexclusiv e or, such that "A or B" includes "A but not B," "B but not A," and "A and B," unless otherwise indicated, in the appended claims, the terms "including" and "in which" are used as the plain- English equivalents of the respective terms "comprising" and "wherein." Also, in the following claims, the terms "including" and "comprising" are open-ended, that is, a system, device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to those listed after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within the scope of that claim. Moreover, in the following claims, the terms "first," "second," and "third," etc. are used merely as labels, and are not intended to suggest a numerical order for their objects.

[00119] The embodiments as described above may be implemented in various hardware configurations that may include a processor for executing instructions that perform the techniques described. Such instructions may be contained in a machine-readable medium such as a suitable storage medium or a memory or other processor-executable medium.

[00120] The embodiments as described herein may be implemented in a number of environments such as part of a wireless local area network (WLAN), 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), or Long-Term-Evolution (LTE) or a Long-Term-Evolution (LTE) communication system, although the scope of the disclosure is not limited in this respect. An example LTE system includes a number of mobile stations, defined by the LTE specification as User Equipment (UE), communicating with a base station, defined by the LTE specifications as an eNodeB.

[00121] Antennas referred to herein may comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some 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, antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result between each of antennas and the antennas of a transmitting station. In some MIMO embodiments, antennas may be separated by up to 1/10 of a wavelength or more. [00122] In some embodiments, a receiver as described herein may be configured to receive signals in accordance with specific communication standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards including IEEE 802. 1 1 -2007 and/or 802.1 l(n) standards and/or proposed specifications for WLANs, although the scope of the disclosure is not limited in this respect as they may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards. In some embodiments, the receiver may be configured to receive signals in accordance with the IEEE 802. 16-2004, the IEEE 802.16(e) and/or IEEE 802.16(m) standards for wireless metropolitan area networks (WMANs) including variations and evolutions thereof although the scope of the disclosure is not limited in this respect as they may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards. In some embodiments, the receiver may be configured to receive signals in accordance with the Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network ( UTRAN) L I E

communication standards. For more information with respect to the IEEE 802. 1 1 and IEEE 802. 16 standards, please refer to IEEE Standards for

Information Technology— Telecommunications and Information Exchange between Systems^" - Local Area Networks - Specific Requirements - Part 1 1 "Wireless LA Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer ( PHY), I SO/I EC 8802- 1 1 : 1999", and Metropolitan Area Networks - Specific

Requirements - Part 16: "Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems,^" May 2005 and related amendments/versions. For more information with respect to UTRAN LTE standards, see the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) standards for UTRAN-LTE, release 8, March 2008, including variations and evolutions thereof.

[00123| The above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or more aspects thereof) may be used in combination with others. Other embodiments may be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The Abstract is to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Also, in the above Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together to streamline the disclosure. However, the claims may not set forth every feature disclosed herein as embodiments may feature a subset of said features. Further, embodiments may include fewer features than those disclosed in a particular example. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with a claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. The scope of the embodiments disclosed herein is to be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

Claims

1. An apparatus for a wireless station (STA), the apparatus comprising: memory and processing circuitry, wherein the processing circuitry is to: encode a Neighbor Report request to for transmission to an access point (AP); and, include one or more neighbor filtering criteria in the Neighbor Report request, where each such criterion instructs the AP to include neighboring BSSs in the Neighbor Report that meet the criterion and exclude BSSs that do not meet the criterion.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the Neighbor Report received from the AP and evaluate whether to associate w ith BSSs listed therein.

3 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is to encode the Neighbor Report request as a basic service set (BSS) Transition Management (BTM) query frame.

4 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is to encode the Neighbor Report request as an Access Network Query Protocol ( A NQP) query frame.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 w herein the processing circuitry is to encode the Neighbor Report request as an information element ( IE) that carries the neighbor filtering criteria or as a multi-band operation (M BO) information element having attributes that carry the neighbor filtering criteria.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the neighbor filtering criteria are represented as 1 -bit fields in the Neighbor Report request.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the neighbor filtering criteria are classified in the Neighbor Report request as being either hard or soft, wherein a hard criterion instructs the AP to exclude BSSs that do not meet the criterion from the Neighbor Report, and wherein a soft criterion instructs the AP that the criterion is desired but BSSs not meeting the criterion should not be excluded from the Neighbor Report,

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the neighbor filtering criteria with hard and soft classifications are encoded as 2-bit fields in the Neighbor Report request or defined as separate attributes for the hard and soft classifications of the neighbor filtering criteria.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: a radio transceiver having one or more antennas connected to the processing circuitry; and, wherein the processing circuitry includes a baseband processor.

10. The apparatus of any of claim 1 wherein the one or more filtering criteria include criteria that relate to channel number, physical layer ( PHY) type, distance, bearing, wide bandwidth channel, channel width, channel center frequency, timing synchronization function (TSF) information, spectrum management, quality of service (QoS), automatic power save delivery (APSD), radio measurement, delayed Block Ack support, immediate Block Ack support, security, AP reachability, mobility domain, fine timing measurement (FTM) support, dynamic frequency selection (DFS) support, location service support. high throughput (HT) support, very high throughput (VHT) support, high efficiency (HE) support, 40MHz support, 80MHz support, uplink multiuser (UL MU) support, or a specific mode of operation.

1 1. An apparatus for a wireless access point (AP), the apparatus comprising: memory and processing circuitry, wherein the processing circuitry is to: decode a Neighbor Report request received from a wireless station (STA), wherein the Neighbor Report request includes one or more neighbor filtering criteria; and, encode a Neighbor Report that includes neighboring BSSs that meet the one or more neighbor filtering criteria and excludes BSSs that do not meet the one or more neighbor filtering criteria.

12 The apparatus of claim 1 1 wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the Neighbor Report request as a basic service set (BSS) Transition Management (BTM) query frame.

13 The apparatus of claim 1 1 wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the Neighbor Report request as an Access Network Query Protocol (ANQP) query frame.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 1 wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the Neighbor Report request as an information element (IE) that carries the neighbor filtering criteria.

15 The apparatus of claim 1 1 wherein the processing circuitry is to decode the Neighbor Report request as a multi-band operation (MBO) information element having attributes that carry the neighbor filtering criteria.

1 6. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a wireless station ( ST A), upon execution of the instructions by processing circuitry of the ST A, to: encode a Neighbor Report request to send to an access point (AP); and, include one or more neighbor filtering criteria in the Neighbor Report request, where each such criterion instructs the AP to include neighboring BSSs in the Neighbor Report that meet the criterion and exclude BSSs that do not meet the criterion.

1 7. The medium of claim 16 further comprising instructions to encode the Neighbor Report request a a basic service set (BSS) Transition Management

(BTM) query frame.

1 8. The medium of claim 16 further comprising instructions to encode the Neighbor Report request as an Access Network Query Protocol (ANQP) query frame.

19. The medium of claim 16 further comprising instructions to encode the Neighbor Report request a an information element (IE) that carries the neighbor filtering criteria.

20. The medium of claim 16 further comprising instructions to encode the Neighbor Report request as a multi-band operation (MBO) information element having attributes that cany the neighbor filtering criteria.