WO2024052572A1 - Single channel parallel packets communication mode - Google Patents

Abstract

A method, system and apparatus for single channel parallel packets communication mode are disclosed. According to one aspect, a method in an AP station or a non-AP station includes, when operating in a single channel parallel packets, SCPP, communication mode, transmitting multiple packets in parallel to the second station on multiple non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel.

Description

SINGLE CHANNEL PARALLEL PACKETS COMMUNICATION MODE

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and in particular, to single channel parallel packets communication mode.

INTRODUCTION

The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has developed and is developing standards for Fourth Generation (4G) (also referred to as Long Term Evolution (LTE)) and Fifth Generation (5G) (also referred to as New Radio (NR)) wireless communication systems. Such systems provide, among other features, broadband communication between network nodes, such as base stations, and mobile wireless devices (WD), as well as communication between network nodes and between non-AP stations. Sixth Generation (6G) wireless communication systems are also under development.

In addition to these standards, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) has developed and continues to develop standards for other types of wireless communication networks, including Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), marketed as Wi-Fi. WLANs include wireless communication between access points (APs) and non-AP stations.

License-exempt frequency spectrum is characterized by different non-overlapping or partially overlapping frequency channels in frequency bands such as 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz resp. low 5 GHz and high 5 GHz, and 6 GHz resp. low 6 GHz and high 6 GHz. While operating in the license-exempt frequency spectrum, wideband wireless communication systems typically operate using the listen before talk (LBT) mechanism, also referred to as carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA). The working procedure of LBT is as the name suggests. Before a transmission can be initiated, a transmitter listens on the wireless medium to determine whether a desired channel is occupied (“busy”) or unoccupied (“idle”) by using an appropriate carrier sensing mechanism. If the channel is found to be “idle,” the transmission can be initiated with a channel access mechanism that involves a random backoff procedure. On the contrary, if the channel is found to be “busy,” the transmitter must defer from transmission and essentially keep sensing the channel until it becomes idle. The communication is challenging especially in the presence of interference which may occur, for example, due to collisions when other transmitters gain access to the channel at the same time or when there are other systems (wideband or narrowband) operating in partially or completely overlapping channels. It may also happen that the full desired channel bandwidth is not idle for a transmitter to use, due to certain portions of the desired channel bandwidth being busy.

Greatly encouraged by the large amount of license-exempt spectrum available in the 6 GHz frequency band, there is an ever-increasing interest in low (bounded) latency and high reliability wireless communications in this spectrum to support, for example, applications in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and gaming. A requirement in such applications is for a packet to always be transmitted “at the right time,” i.e., a transmitter should preferably be able to access the wireless channel with a delay (latency) whose variation around the mean (jitter) is bounded. It is challenging to fulfill this requirement due to the inherent randomness of the aforementioned channel access procedures, distributed medium access attempts, and independent devices and networks competing with each other for access to the wireless medium in licenseexempt spectrum.

The above challenges are commonly faced by, for example, devices operating according to different aspects of IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLANs), commonly referred to as Wi-Fi networks. Such devices, termed IEEE 802.11 WLAN stations (STAs) or simply STAs, are required to perform appropriate carrier sensing mechanisms whenever they intend to transmit over the wireless medium or intend to reserve the wireless medium for their use for a certain amount of time (termed reserving a transmit opportunity, TXOP).

Clear channel assessment mechanisms for carrier sensing in IEEE 802, 11 WLANs

The IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard supports two physical layer (PHY) carrier sensing mechanisms that can help STAs to assess and identify the idle and busy portions of their operating channels. These mechanisms are termed clear channel assessment (CCA) mechanisms. For example:

• CCA using energy detection (ED) threshold: This may be the simplest CCA mechanism to detect interferers. In this mechanism, a STA is required to defer its transmissions over the channel while the energy it senses on the channel is at or above the ED threshold. For example, a typical value of the ED threshold for a 20 MHz channel is -62 dBm in the 5 GHz frequency band. The ED threshold value is based on spectrum regulations and may differ for different frequency bands. The CCA using the ED threshold enables STAs to detect and coexist with both Wi-Fi and non-Wi-Fi interferers.

• CCA using preamble detection (PD) threshold: This is another CCA mechanism that relies on known signals specific to a technology. Thus, this mechanism works exclusively within one technology or family of technologies. In Wi-Fi, if a STA detects the start of a signal with a valid IEEE 802.11 preamble at, or above, the PD threshold in a particular channel, the STA is required to defer its transmissions over that channel for a duration corresponding to the frame length value that is included in the preamble. For example, a typical value of PD threshold for a 20 MHz channel is -82 dBm. Since the IEEE 802.11 preamble is only used for Wi-Fi signals, the CCA using PD threshold limits IEEE 802.11 WLAN STAs to detect and coexist with Wi-Fi interferers only and therefore, mainly targets spectrum sharing among neighboring Wi-Fi networks.

To efficiently use the large amount of available license-exempt frequency spectrum, larger and larger operating channel bandwidths are being supported in each new generation of the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard. A motivation is to be able to support higher peak throughputs as the IEEE 802.11 WLAN technology evolves. The latest IEEE P802.1 Ibe Extremely High Throughput (EHT) draft amendment supports operating channel bandwidths up to 320 MHz. When intending to communicate (i.e., transmit and/ or receive) using channel bandwidths wider than 20 MHz, the CCA resolution mandated by the IEEE 802.11 standard is 20 MHz. Spectrum regulations may also mandate the same CCA resolution. Thus, it is mandatory for the devices to perform channel sensing separately for different portions of the intended communication bandwidth, wherein the bandwidth of each portion is equal to the CCA resolution bandwidth. Thus, for example, if the intended communication bandwidth is 320 MHz for an EHT STA, the STA needs to independently perform CCA for 16 portions (each of 20 MHz) of the channel. The 802.11 CCA mechanism described here is intended as a general explanation. Some further details about 802.1 l’s CCA mechanism are discussed in the context of the solution disclosed herein.

Dynamic Bandwidth Operation using RTS/ CTS Frame Exchange Protocol

Wi-Fi features an optional control frame exchange protocol involving request-to-send (RTS) and clear-to-send (CTS) frames, which can be used by a transmitter STA immediately prior to transmitting a packet or a burst of packets to one or more intended receiver STAs, for example:

• for ensuring that the intended receiver STA(s) is (are) alert and ready for reception; and

• for knowing the available reception bandwidth at the intended receiver STA(s), i.e., the portions of the operating bandwidth assessed by the carrier sensing mechanisms of the intended receiver as being “idle”; and

• for reserving and protecting the TXOP and preventing hidden node related interference by setting the network allocation vector (NAV) timers at all neighboring STAs belonging to the same basic service set (BSS) that are not intended receivers as well as STAs belonging to any overlapping BSSs (OBSSs). The NAV is an indicator maintained by each STA of time periods when transmission onto the wireless medium should not be initiated by the STA, regardless of whether the STA’s CCA mechanisms assesses the medium to be busy or idle.

In the most basic RTS/ CTS frame exchange, a transmitter STA first transmits an RTS frame using the full channel bandwidth over which it gains channel access and intends to undertake the subsequent packet transmission(s). For compatibility with legacy equipment, the IEEE 802.11 standard mandates duplicating RTS frames over every 20 MHz subchannel. This channel bandwidth, over which channel access is gained by the transmitting station, is also indicated in the RTS frame and let us term it as intended transmission bandwidth. Upon receiving the RTS frame, an intended receiver checks the status of the CCA for every 20 MHz subchannel from the intended transmission bandwidth and also checks the status of the NAV. If the following two conditions are satisfied:

• Status of NAV is idle; and

• CCA per 20 MHz indicates that none of the 20 MHz subchannels is busy;

• then the receiver responds with a CTS frame using the full intended transmission bandwidth. Considering transceiver turn-around and medium access control (MAC) processing and relevant inter-frame spacing, there may not be enough time for the RTS frame recipient (i.e., intended receiver) to perform CCA-based channel sensing before answering with a CTS frame. The receiver may thus respond with a CTS frame that is based upon only implicit (or indirect) channel sensing performed using the NAV. Similar to the RTS frame, the CTS frame is also duplicated over every 20 MHz subchannel. The same channel bandwidth is also indicated in the CTS frame, and may be referred to as available reception bandwidth. However, if both the above conditions are not satisfied, the receiver does not respond with a CTS frame at all and the transmitter in turn cannot undertake its packet transmission(s).

There is another more flexible version of the RTS/CTS frame exchange related to the feature of “dynamic bandwidth operation” introduced in the IEEE 802.1 lac Very High Throughput (VHT) amendment. In this version, if the transmitter STA indicates in the RTS frame that it supports dynamic bandwidth operation, then an intended receiver has some flexibility while responding with a CTS frame. It can essentially transmit a CTS frame using only the channel bandwidth that is assessed as being “idle” based on the status of NAV, CCA, and channel bonding rules. Channel bonding in IEEE 802.11 is explained below:

Channel Bonding

Channel bonding, introduced in the IEEE 802.1 In High Throughput (HT) amendment, allows an IEEE 802.11 STA to cascade adjacent subchannels to increase the transmission bandwidth. FIG. 1 illustrates channel bonding nomenclature and some related channel hierarchy. When a transmitter performs carrier sensing for attempting a transmission (or when a receiver performs carrier sensing for assessing the available reception bandwidth before sending a CTS) over the wireless medium, the allowed transmission bandwidth (or available reception bandwidth) is determined by first assessing whether the primary 20 MHz subchannel of the operating bandwidth is idle and then assessing and appropriately cascading the non-primary subchannels. For example, an 80 MHz transmission is composed of one primary and one secondary 40 MHz subchannels. Furthermore, the primary 40 MHz subchannel is itself composed of one primary and one secondary 20 MHz subchannel. Even if channel bonding is aimed at improving the flexibility of transmissions, it still comes with significant limitations. As an example based on FIG. 1 and how a transmitter and receiver can interact to determine an allowed transmission bandwidth, if P2 happens to be not available at the receiver (while the whole 160 MHz is available at the transmitter), then only Pl can be used and this means that only 20 MHz in a 160 MHz channel may be used regardless of the status of P3 up to P8.

While using the RTS/CTS frame exchange together with dynamic bandwidth operation, the indicated available reception bandwidth can be the same as or smaller than the intended transmission bandwidth. If the full intended transmission bandwidth is not assessed as being “idle” by the receiver, the dynamic bandwidth operation can thus allow the transmitter to undertake the data frame transmission(s) at least over the indicated available reception bandwidth.

FIG. 2 illustrates some example communication scenarios that are possible while using the RTS/CTS frame exchange protocol.

Preamble Puncturing in IEEE 802, 11 WLANs

A feature introduced in the IEEE 802.1 lax High Efficiency (HE) amendment is preamble puncturing. Preamble puncturing allows an HE STA to transmit or receive a PHY protocol data unit (PPDU) over a channel while leaving a portion of the channel bandwidth silent. In other words, the corresponding portion of the bandwidth throughout the entire PPDU is left empty, including the preamble and data fields. Although this concept is referred to as preamble puncturing, the entire PPDU is punctured. The typical usage of preamble puncturing, hereafter referred to as puncturing, is when certain portions of the operating bandwidth of a basic service set (BSS) are either assessed to be unavailable based on rules and spectrum regulations applicable in the presence of incumbent higher priority non-WLAN signals (such as radar signals), or assessed to be busy due to presence of OBSS signals, interference, or noise. The puncturing in HE is limited to orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based multi-user transmissions with channel bandwidths greater than or equal to 80 MHz, wherein one or more portions of the bandwidth (each corresponding to a different STA) are punctured. The EHT amendment extends the puncturing feature to support many more punctured bandwidth scenarios involving OFDMA as well as non-OFDMA transmissions. This extended support is because of various newly introduced features in EHT - such as maximum transmission bandwidth of 320 MHz, possibility to allocate more than one bandwidth portions (called resource units, RUs) to a single STA, etc. According to the HE and EHT amendments, the puncturing resolution for an HE as well as EHT PPDU is 20 MHz. Also, the primary 20 MHz subchannel is not allowed to be punctured. Correspondingly, for example, a 20 MHz portion can be punctured in an 80 MHz channel, or a 20 MHz/40 MHz portion can be punctured in a 160 MHz channel. Thus, aggregate bandwidths such as 60 MHz, 120 MHz, or 140 MHz are possible in EHT. The allowed puncturing configurations in EHT are standardized.

FIG. 3 illustrates some example communication scenarios that are possible with or without puncturing. It can be noted from FIGS. 2 and 3 that puncturing allows for more portions of the idle channel bandwidths to be used than dynamic bandwidth operation. The main reason for this is the dependency of the dynamic bandwidth operation on channel bonding rules.

In the license-exempt frequency spectrum, there is an inherent uncertainty with regards to accessing the full desired amount of the wireless medium when needed. Inherently, this prevents quality of service (QoS) requirements for the data to be supported. This puts limitations on the achievable performance, for example, in terms of bounded latency or reliability of the communications.

While larger and larger operating channel bandwidths are being supported in each new generation of the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard, the CCA resolution bandwidth remains as 20 MHz (one reason is to maintain operational compatibility with previous generations). As a result, in Wi-Fi devices, it is challenging to implement algorithms for making ‘the most suitable’ decisions while intending to communicate. Some examples of relevant considerations are - what bandwidth to select for the packets, how much of the operating channel bandwidth to sense as the desired communication bandwidth, what to do if the full desired communication bandwidth is not sensed as being “idle”, whether to communicate using dynamic bandwidth operation or not (if this operation is supported by the communicating devices), whether to communicate using puncturing or not (if puncturing is supported by the communicating devices), etc.

It is observed that if Wi-Fi devices do not sense the full desired channel bandwidth as being “idle”, they abort the corresponding attempt to communicate and make new attempts. This may happen despite standardized mechanisms such as dynamic bandwidth operation and preamble puncturing that may be leveraged in such circumstances for communicating without giving up the channel access attempt. (Of course, communicating devices also need to be able to support these mechanisms). Reasons for this behavior include the difficulties in implementing such standardized mechanisms in hardware devices. For example, from a transmitter’s perspective, there would be a very short amount of time (of order of a few microseconds) in which either the prepared PPDUs would need to be adapted (for example, punctured) or new PPDUs would have to be generated based on the outcome of the channel sensing mechanisms. Also, from a receiver’s perspective, considering transceiver turn-around and MAC processing and relevant inter-frame spacing, there may not be enough time for an RTS frame recipient (i.e., intended receiver) to perform CCA-based channel sensing before answering with a CTS frame.

Last-moment cancellation of communication attempts even when communication would have been possible (on the idle portions of the desired channel bandwidth) may be highly disadvantageous for a device subject to stringent QoS requirements. The device may suffer from large channel access delays on the order of many milliseconds. The maximum allowed single TXOP duration can be up to ~6 ms and it may take multiple TXOP durations before the full desired channel bandwidth is sensed idle and the device is able to access the channel again. This may be detrimental to the quality of the communications.

Another aspect to consider is that recently in July 2022, the IEEE 802.11 Working Group (WG) has considered starting a Study Group Ultra High Reliability (SG UHR) to initiate the development of the next generation major amendment of the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard. It has been considered that SG UHR will investigate technology which may improve reliability of WLAN connectivity, reduce latencies, along with other improvements. Thus, challenges such as the ones described above are relevant and need to be addressed. Correspondingly, methods are necessary to help devices make the maximum use of the amount of the operating channel bandwidth that is sensed as being ‘idle’ by the channel sensing mechanisms.

SUMMARY

Aspects are provided by the independent claims, and embodiments thereof are provided by the dependent claims. Some embodiments advantageously provide methods, systems, and apparatuses for single channel parallel packets communication mode.

In some embodiments, methods are disclosed to communicate using operating channel bandwidths that are wider than the CCA resolution bandwidth. In some embodiments, a device prepares multiple narrow packets and send them to another device in parallel using the different idle portions (e.g., subchannels) of a wide operating channel. This is in contrast to attempting to send a single wide packet for which it would have to necessarily sense a correspondingly large amount of the operating channel bandwidth as being idle. For simplicity of description in this disclosure, methods disclosed herein may be referred to as Single Channel Parallel Packets (SCPP) communication mode. Some embodiments are related to information signaling between the communicating devices, and/or embodiments related to flexibility aspects of the SCPP communication mode, etc.

The SCPP communication mode disclosed herein extends the capability of an EHT device to simultaneously communicate over multiple links, of which each is operated in a different frequency channel (in frequency bands such as 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz resp. low 5 GHz and high 5 GHz, and 6 GHz resp. low 6 GHz and high 6 GHz), by an option to simultaneously communicate over multiple segments (e.g., 20 MHz) within a single frequency channel. Whereas EHT’s Multi -Link Operation (MLO) mode may be practically limited to having e. g. three links, one each in 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands, the SCPP communication mode enables devices to have multiple links within one frequency band, thereby increasing the number of links. For example, a device capable of communicating using the SCPP mode might operate two 20 MHz links in 2.4 GHz, three in 5 GHz, and four in 6 GHz. Other combinations are possible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present embodiments, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein: FIG. 1 illustrates channel bonding nomenclature and some related channel hierarchy; FIG. 2 illustrates some example communication scenarios that are possible while using the RTS/CTS frame exchange protocol;

FIG 3 illustrates some example communication scenarios that are possible with or without puncturing;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an example network architecture illustrating a communication system connected via an intermediate network to a host computer according to the principles in the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via an AP station with a non-AP station over an at least partially wireless connection according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating example methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, an AP station and a non-AP station for executing a client application at a non-AP station according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating example methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, an AP station and a non-AP station for receiving user data at a non-AP station according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating example methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, an AP station and a non-AP station for receiving user data from the non-AP station at a host computer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating example methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, an AP station and a non-AP station for receiving user data at a host computer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example process in one of an AP station and a non-AP station for single channel parallel packets communication mode;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of another example process in one of an AP station and a non-AP station for single channel parallel packets communication mode;

FIG. 12 illustrates example usages of the SCPP communication mode from a transmitter STA’s perspective;

FIG. 13 illustrates how latency and reliability improvements can be achieved by using the SCPP communication mode;

FIG. 14 illustrates a single decision whether to apply SCPP or a legacy method; and

FIG. 15 illustrates eight 20 MHz subchannels SubCHl-SubCH8 being available within a 160 MHz channel bandwidth.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before describing in detail example embodiments, it is noted that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of apparatus components and processing steps related to single channel parallel packets communication mode. Accordingly, components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description.

As used herein, relational terms, such as “first” and “second,” “top” and “bottom,” and the like, may be used solely to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element without necessarily requiring or implying any physical or logical relationship or order between such entities or elements. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the concepts described herein. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

In embodiments described herein, the joining term, “in communication with” and the like, may be used to indicate electrical or data communication, which may be accomplished by physical contact, induction, electromagnetic radiation, radio signaling, infrared signaling or optical signaling, for example. One having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that multiple components may interoperate and modifications and variations are possible of achieving the electrical and data communication.

In some embodiments described herein, the term “coupled,” “connected,” and the like, may be used herein to indicate a connection, although not necessarily directly, and may include wired and/or wireless connections.

The term “network node” used herein can be any kind of network node or AP station, comprised in a radio network which may further comprise any of a WLAN access point (AP) base station (BS), radio base station, base transceiver station (BTS), base station controller (BSC), radio network controller (RNC), g Node B (gNB), evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB), Node B, multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, multi-cell/multicast coordination entity (MCE), integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, relay node, donor node controlling relay, radio access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH), a core network node (e.g., mobile management entity (MME), self-organizing network (SON) node, a coordinating node, positioning node, MDT node, etc.), an external node (e.g., 3rd party node, a node external to the current network), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), a spectrum access system (SAS) node, an element management system (EMS), etc. The AP station may also comprise test equipment.

In some embodiments, the non-limiting terms wireless device (WD) or non-AP station or user equipment (UE) are used interchangeably. The non-AP station can be any type of wireless device capable of communicating with an AP station or another non-AP station over radio signals, such as wireless device (WD). The non-AP station may also be a radio communication device, target device, device to device (D2D) WD, machine type WD or WD capable of machine to machine communication (M2M), low-cost and/or low-complexity WD, a sensor equipped with WD, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, or a Narrowband loT (NB-IOT) device, etc.

Also, in some embodiments the generic term “radio network node” is used. It can be any kind of a radio network node which may comprise any of base station, radio base station, base transceiver station, base station controller, network controller, RNC, evolved Node B (eNB), Node B, gNB, Multi-cell/multicast Coordination Entity (MCE), IAB node, relay node, access point, radio access point, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH).

Also, the term “bandwidth” is used in several different contexts. Operating bandwidth is the bandwidth available for operation. Desired channel bandwidth is the bandwidth over which operation is desired. CCA channel resolution bandwidth is the bandwidth over which CCA may be performed. Intended communication bandwidth is the bandwidth over which communication is intended.

The terms "simultaneously", "concurrently", and "in parallel" are used interchangeably.

Note that although terminology from one particular wireless system, such as, for example, WLAN, 3GPP LTE and/or New Radio (NR), may be used in this disclosure, this should not be seen as limiting the scope of the disclosure to only the aforementioned system. Other wireless systems, including without limitation Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), may also benefit from exploiting the ideas covered within this disclosure. As used herein, an AP-station and a non-AP station may operate according to more than one wireless communication standard, such as both WLAN and NR, for example.

Note further, that functions described herein as being performed by a non-AP station or an AP station may be distributed over a plurality of non-AP stations and/or AP stations. In other words, it is contemplated that the functions of the AP station and non-AP station described herein are not limited to performance by a single physical device and, in fact, can be distributed among several physical devices.

In some embodiments, the general description elements in the form of “one of A and B” corresponds to A or B. In some embodiments, at least one of A and B corresponds to A, B or AB, or to one or more of A and B. In some embodiments, at least one of A, B and C corresponds to one or more of A, B and C, and/or A, B, C or a combination thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Some embodiments provide single channel parallel packets communication mode. One advantage of some embodiments of the disclosed SCPP communication mode is simplification of channel access algorithm implementation for hardware devices that operate in licenseexempt frequency spectrum. The corresponding solution would help to avoid the last-moment cancellation of communication attempts by a device when it does not sense the full desired channel bandwidth as being idle, thereby enabling faster access to the wireless medium. The SCPP communication mode thus has the potential to provide improvements in latency performance. Also, with embodiments that allow for replication of data across different frequency resources, the SCPP communication mode also has the potential to provide improved reliability performance. Moreover, the SCPP communication mode may also provide improved flexibility when two devices communicate with each other.

Returning now to the drawing figures, in which like elements are referred to by like reference numerals, there is shown in FIG. 4 a schematic diagram of a communication system 10, according to an embodiment, such as a Wi-Fi or WLAN network, 3GPP-type cellular network that may support standards such as LTE and/or NR (5G), which comprises an access network 12, such as a radio access network, and a core network 14. The access network 12 comprises a plurality of AP stations 16a, 16b, 16c (referred to collectively as AP stations 16), such as APs, NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 18a, 18b, 18c (referred to collectively as coverage areas 18). Each AP station 16a, 16b, 16c is connectable to the core network 14 over a wired or wireless connection 20. A first non-AP station 22a (hereinafter referred to as non-AP station 22a) located in coverage area 18a is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding AP station 16a. A second non-AP station 22b in coverage area 18b is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding AP station 16b. While a plurality of non-AP stations 22a, 22b (collectively referred to as non-AP station 22) are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole non-AP station is in the coverage area or where a sole non-AP station is connecting to the corresponding AP station 16. Note that although only two non-AP stations 22 and three AP stations 16 are shown for convenience, the communication system may include many more non-AP stations 22 and AP stations 16.

Also, it is contemplated that a non-AP station 22 may be configured to separately communicate with more than one AP station 16 and more than one type of AP station 16. For example, a non-AP station 22 may have dual connectivity with an AP station 16 that supports LTE and the same or a different AP station 16 that supports NR. As an example, non-AP station 22 may also be in communication with an eNB for LTEZE-UTRAN and a gNB for NR/NG- RAN.

The communication system 10 may itself be connected to a host computer 24, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. The host computer 24 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The connections 26, 28 between the communication system 10 and the host computer 24 may extend directly from the core network 14 to the host computer 24 or may extend via an optional intermediate network 30. The intermediate network 30 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network. The intermediate network 30, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet. In some embodiments, the intermediate network 30 may comprise two or more subnetworks (not shown).

The communication system of FIG. 4 as a whole enables connectivity between one of the connected non-AP stations 22a, 22b and the host computer 24. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection. The host computer 24 and the connected non-AP stations 22a, 22b are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via the OTT connection, using the access network 12, the core network 14, any intermediate network 30 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection may be transparent in the sense that at least some of the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, an AP station 16 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from a host computer 24 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected non-AP station 22a. Similarly, the AP station 16 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the non-AP station 22a towards the host computer 24.

An AP station 16 is configured to include an SCPP unit A 32 which is configured to, when operating in a single channel parallel packets, SCPP, communication mode, transmit multiple packets in parallel to the second station on multiple non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel. Similarly, the non-AP station 22 may be configured to include an SCPP unit B 34, which is also configured to, when operating in a single channel parallel packets, SCPP, communication mode, transmit multiple packets in parallel to the second station on multiple non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel. In some embodiments, either one or both of the SCPP unit A 32 and the SCPP unit B 34 may be configured to, when operating in a first communication mode, transmit to the second station an indication of idle subchannels of a plurality of non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel on which multiple packets are to be transmitted in parallel by the second station. Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the non-AP station 22, AP station 16 and host computer 24 discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 5. In a communication system 10, a host computer 24 comprises hardware (HW) 38 including a communication interface 40 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 10. The host computer 24 further comprises processing circuitry 42, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. The processing circuitry 42 may include a processor 44 and memory 46. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor, such as a central processing unit, and memory, the processing circuitry 42 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 44 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) memory 46, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read- Only Memory).

Processing circuitry 42 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by host computer 24. Processor 44 corresponds to one or more processors 44 for performing host computer 24 functions described herein. The host computer 24 includes memory 46 that is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 48 and/or the host application 50 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 44 and/or processing circuitry 42, causes the processor 44 and/or processing circuitry 42 to perform the processes described herein with respect to host computer 24. The instructions may be software associated with the host computer 24.

• The software 48 may be executable by the processing circuitry 42. The software 48 includes a host application 50. The host application 50 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as a non-AP station 22 connecting via an OTT connection 52 terminating at the non-AP station 22 and the host computer 24. In providing the service to the remote user, the host application 50 may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 52. The “user data” may be data and information described herein as implementing the described functionality. In one embodiment, the host computer 24 may be configured for providing control and functionality to a service provider and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The processing circuitry 42 of the host computer 24 may enable the host computer 24 to observe, monitor, control, transmit to and/or receive from the AP station 16 and or the non-AP station 22.

The communication system 10 further includes an AP station 16 provided in a communication system 10 and including hardware 58 enabling it to communicate with the host computer 24 and with the non-AP station 22. The hardware 58 may include a communication interface 60 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 10, as well as a radio interface 62 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 64 with a non-AP station 22 located in a coverage area 18 served by the AP station 16. The radio interface 62 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more RF transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers. The communication interface 60 may be configured to facilitate a connection 66 to the host computer 24. The connection 66 may be direct or it may pass through a core network 14 of the communication system 10 and/or through one or more intermediate networks 30 outside the communication system 10.

In the embodiment shown, the hardware 58 of the AP station 16 further includes processing circuitry 68. The processing circuitry 68 may include a processor 70 and a memory 72. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor, such as a central processing unit, and memory, the processing circuitry 68 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 70 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 72, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Thus, the AP station 16 further has software 74 stored internally in, for example, memory 72, or stored in external memory (e.g., database, storage array, network storage device, etc.) accessible by the AP station 16 via an external connection. The software 74 may be executable by the processing circuitry 68. The processing circuitry 68 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by AP station 16. Processor 70 corresponds to one or more processors 70 for performing AP station 16 functions described herein. The memory 72 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 74 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 70 and/or processing circuitry 68, causes the processor 70 and/or processing circuitry 68 to perform the processes described herein with respect to AP station 16. For example, processing circuitry 68 of the AP station 16 may an SCPP unit A 32 which is configured to, when operating in a single channel parallel packets, SCPP, communication mode, transmit multiple packets in parallel to the second station on multiple non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel.

The communication system 10 further includes the non-AP station 22 already referred to. The non-AP station 22 may have hardware 80 that may include a radio interface 82 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 64 with an AP station 16 serving a coverage area 18 in which the non-AP station 22 is currently located. The radio interface 82 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more RF transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers.

The hardware 80 of the non-AP station 22 further includes processing circuitry 84. The processing circuitry 84 may include a processor 86 and memory 88. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor, such as a central processing unit, and memory, the processing circuitry 84 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 86 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) memory 88, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Thus, the non-AP station 22 may further comprise software 90, which is stored in, for example, memory 88 at the non-AP station 22, or stored in external memory (e.g., database, storage array, network storage device, etc.) accessible by the non-AP station 22. The software 90 may be executable by the processing circuitry 84. The software 90 may include a client application 92. The client application 92 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the non-AP station 22, with the support of the host computer 24. In the host computer 24, an executing host application 50 may communicate with the executing client application 92 via the OTT connection 52 terminating at the non-AP station 22 and the host computer 24. In providing the service to the user, the client application 92 may receive request data from the host application 50 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 52 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 92 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

The processing circuitry 84 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by non-AP station 22. The processor 86 corresponds to one or more processors 86 for performing non-AP station 22 functions described herein. The non-AP station 22 includes memory 88 that is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 90 and/or the client application 92 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 86 and/or processing circuitry 84, causes the processor 86 and/or processing circuitry 84 to perform the processes described herein with respect to non-AP station 22. For example, the processing circuitry 84 of the non-AP station 22 may include an SCPP unit B 34, which is also configured to, when operating in a single channel parallel packets, SCPP, communication mode, transmit multiple packets in parallel to the second station on multiple non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel.

In some embodiments, the inner workings of the AP station 16, non-AP station 22, and host computer 24 may be as shown in FIG. 5 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of FIG. 4.

In FIG. 5, the OTT connection 52 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host computer 24 and the non-AP station 22 via the AP station 16, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from the non-AP station 22 or from the service provider operating the host computer 24, or both. While the OTT connection 52 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).

The wireless connection 64 between the non-AP station 22 and the AP station 16 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the non- AP station 22 using the OTT connection 52, in which the wireless connection 64 may form the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of some of these embodiments may improve the data rate, latency, and/or power consumption and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, better responsiveness, extended battery lifetime, etc.

In some embodiments, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 52 between the host computer 24 and non-AP station 22, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 52 may be implemented in the software 48 of the host computer 24 or in the software 90 of the non-AP station 22, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection 52 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software 48, 90 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 52 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the AP station 16, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the AP station 16. Some such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary WD signaling facilitating the host computer’s 24 measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. In some embodiments, the measurements may be implemented in that the software 48, 90 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 52 while it monitors propagation times, errors, etc.

Thus, in some embodiments, the host computer 24 includes processing circuitry 42 configured to provide user data and a communication interface 40 that is configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to the non-AP station 22. In some embodiments, the cellular network also includes the AP station 16 with a radio interface 62. In some embodiments, the AP station 16 is configured to, and/or the AP station’s 16 processing circuitry 68 is configured to perform the functions and/or methods described herein for preparing/initiating/ maintaining/supporting/ending a transmission to the non-AP station 22, and/or preparing/terminating/maintaining/supporting/ending in receipt of a transmission from the non-AP station 22.

In some embodiments, the host computer 24 includes processing circuitry 42 and a communication interface 40 that is configured to a communication interface 40 configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a non-AP station 22 to an AP station 16. In some embodiments, the non-AP station 22 is configured to, and/or comprises a radio interface 82 and/or processing circuitry 84 configured to perform the functions and/or methods described herein for preparing/initiating/ maintaining/supporting/ending a transmission to the AP station 16, and/or preparing/terminating/maintaining/supporting/ending in receipt of a transmission from the AP station 16.

Although FIGS. 4 and 5 show various “units” such as SCPP unit A 32, and SCPP unit B 34 as being within a respective processor, it is contemplated that these units may be implemented such that a portion of the unit is stored in a corresponding memory within the processing circuitry. In other words, the units may be implemented in hardware or in a combination of hardware and software within the processing circuitry.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIGS. 4 and 5, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 24, an AP station 16 and a non-AP station 22, which may be those described with reference to FIG. 5. In a first step of the method, the host computer 24 provides user data (Block SI 00). In an optional substep of the first step, the host computer 24 provides the user data by executing a host application, such as, for example, the host application 50 (Block SI 02). In a second step, the host computer 24 initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the non-AP station 22 (Block SI 04). In an optional third step, the AP station 16 transmits to the non-AP station 22 the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer 24 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure (Block SI 06). In an optional fourth step, the non-AP station 22 executes a client application, such as, for example, the client application 92, associated with the host application 50 executed by the host computer 24 (Block S108).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIG. 4, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 24, an AP station 16 and a non-AP station 22, which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In a first step of the method, the host computer 24 provides user data (Block SI 10). In an optional substep (not shown) the host computer 24 provides the user data by executing a host application, such as, for example, the host application 50. In a second step, the host computer 24 initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the non-AP station 22 (Block SI 12). The transmission may pass via the AP station 16, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional third step, the non-AP station 22 receives the user data carried in the transmission (Block SI 14).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIG. 4, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 24, an AP station 16 and a non-AP station 22, which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In an optional first step of the method, the non-AP station 22 receives input data provided by the host computer 24 (Block SI 16). In an optional substep of the first step, the non-AP station 22 executes the client application 92, which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer 24 (Block SI 18). Additionally or alternatively, in an optional second step, the non-AP station 22 provides user data (Block S120). In an optional substep of the second step, the WD provides the user data by executing a client application, such as, for example, client application 92 (Block S122). In providing the user data, the executed client application 92 may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the non-AP station 22 may initiate, in an optional third substep, transmission of the user data to the host computer 24 (Block S124). In a fourth step of the method, the host computer 24 receives the user data transmitted from the non-AP station 22, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure (Block S126).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIG. 4, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 24, an AP station 16 and a non-AP station 22, which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In an optional first step of the method, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the AP station 16 receives user data from the non-AP station 22 (Block S128). In an optional second step, the AP station 16 initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer 24 (Block S130). In a third step, the host computer 24 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the AP station 16 (Block SI 32).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example process in an AP station 16 or a non-AP station 22 for single channel parallel packets communication mode. The process may be performed in AP station 16, such as by one or more of processing circuitry 68 (including the SCPP unit A 32), processor 70, radio interface 62 and/or communication interface 60. The process may also or in the alternative be performed by a non-AP station 22, such as by one or more of processing circuitry 84 (including the SCPP unit B 34), processor 86, and/or radio interface 82. The process includes, when operating in a single channel parallel packets, SCPP, communication mode, transmitting multiple packets in parallel to the second station on multiple non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel (Block SI 34).

In some embodiments, the multiple packets transmitted in parallel are grouped into groups, each group having at least one packet. In some embodiments, decoding of data contained in a group depends only on reception of the at least one packet in the group. In some embodiments, the grouping avoids transmission of medium access control protocol data units, MPDUs, and codewords across multiple packets. In some embodiments, bandwidths of the transmitted multiple packets are integer multiples of 20 MHz. In some embodiments, bandwidths of the transmitted packets are less than 20 MHz. In some embodiments, bandwidths of the transmitted packets are not identical. In some embodiments, a bandwidth of a transmitted packet is selected based at least in part on sensing idle bandwidths within the operating channel. In some embodiments, the transmitted multiple packets are prepared in parallel. In some embodiments, the method also includes transmitting multiple packets to multiple second stations simultaneously. In some embodiments, first station is an access point, AP, station and the second station is a non-AP station. In some embodiments, the first station is a non-AP station and the second station is an AP station. In some embodiments, the method also includes implementing an intermediate layer for multiplexing the multiple packets to be transmitted in parallel. In some embodiments, the method also includes transmitting information to the second station, the information including at least one of a number of packets that may be transmitted in parallel, packet frequency locations, packet bandwidth information, packet modulation and coding scheme information. In some embodiments, the transmitted information is indicated in one of a trigger frame, a request to send, RTS, frame and a clear to send, CTS, frame. In some embodiments, transmission of multiple packets in parallel is conditioned on at least one of a probability of bandwidth availability, a throughput comparison and time-criticality of data of the multiple packets. In some embodiments, start times of the transmission of the multiple packets are aligned. In some embodiments, end times of the transmission of the multiple packets are aligned. In some embodiments, data contained in two or more of the multiple packets is identical. In some embodiments, types of data contained in multiple packets are not identical. In some embodiments, transmitting is performed in a license-exempt frequency spectrum. In some embodiments, the wireless communications are based on a Wireless Local Area Network technology according to the IEEE 802.11 standards family. In some embodiments, the first communication mode is a single channel parallel packets, SCPP, communication mode. In some embodiments, bandwidths of the multiple packets are integer multiples of a clear channel assessment (CCA) resolution bandwidth. In some embodiments, at least one of a modulation and coding scheme, a number of spatial streams, and a transmit power associated with different ones of the multiple packets are not identical. In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving an indication of which of idle subchannels are to be used to transmit the multiple packets in parallel.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example process in an AP station 16 or a non-AP station 22 for single channel parallel packets communication mode. The process may be performed in AP station 16, such as by one or more of processing circuitry 68 (including the SCPP unit A 32), processor 70, radio interface 62 and/or communication interface 60. The process may also or in the alternative be performed by a non-AP station 22, such as by one or more of processing circuitry 84 (including the SCPP unit B 34), processor 86, and/or radio interface 82. The process includes, when operating in a first communication mode, transmit to the second station an indication of idle subchannels of a plurality of non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel on which multiple packets are to be transmitted in parallel by the second station (Block S136).

In some embodiments, decoding of data contained in a group depends only on reception of the at least one packet in the group. In some embodiments, the first station is an access point, AP, station and the second station is a non-AP station. In some embodiments, the first station is a non-AP station and the second station is an AP station.

Having described the general process flow of arrangements of the disclosure and having provided examples of hardware and software arrangements for implementing the processes and functions of the disclosure, the sections below provide details and examples of arrangements for single channel parallel packets communication mode.

Detailed aspects of the SCPP communication mode disclosed herein will be exemplified in the context of Wi-Fi systems. The extension to non-Wi-Fi systems is straightforward. In some embodiments, the SCPP communication mode allows a STA to transmit multiple packets in parallel to another STA, wherein the packets use different non-overlapping subchannels of a single operating channel. In some embodiments, the multiple packets that are being transmitted using the SCPP communication mode are grouped such that each group contains at least one packet. In some embodiments, decoding of the data contained in any of the groups is dependent only on the reception of the one or more packets in that group. In one corresponding scenario, each such group may only contain one packet resulting in that each packet may be decoded on its own. Thus, in such a scenario, the receiver would not have to wait until multiple packets are received to be able to decode the data contained in any of the packets. To enable such independent reception, in some embodiments, a transmitter ensures that medium access control protocol data units (MPDUs) and codewords are not spread across multiple packets that are to be transmitted while using the SCPP communication mode.

A STA intending to communicate using license-exempt spectrum may perform CCA to identify idle portions of its desired communication bandwidth. For such a STA to communicate using the SCPP communication mode, in some embodiments, the bandwidths of the transmitted packets are integer multiples of the CCA resolution bandwidth. Correspondingly, in some embodiments, the bandwidths of the transmitted packets are integer multiples of 20 MHz since the CCA resolution bandwidth in IEEE 802.11 WLANs is 20 MHz. Bandwidths that are narrower than 20 MHz for the transmitted packets are not excluded. However, this may call for support for narrower packets in the standard as well as narrower CCA resolution bandwidth supported by both the standard as well as spectrum regulations.

In some embodiments, the bandwidths of the packets that are transmitted by a STA while communicating using the SCPP communication mode are not identical. For example, to communicate using 60 MHz idle portion of an 80 MHz operating channel, a transmitter STA may transmit two packets in parallel - one packet of 40 MHz bandwidth and another of 20 MHz bandwidth. It may not always be necessary to prepare/transmit only 20 MHz packets (assuming CCA resolution bandwidth is 20 MHz), when, for example, it is with high probability that some 40 MHz or wider portions are always being sensed idle. Thus, a transmitter may flexibly select how many packets to prepare and with which bandwidths. The selections may depend on, for example, presence of OBSSs and their channel allocations, interference statistics observed at runtime, etc. Another reason for not limiting preparation to only 20 MHz packets may be to increase robustness of some packets by leveraging >20 MHz bandwidths (spreading the data over a wider frequency range). For example, if a transmitter device intends to transmit over an 80 MHz operating channel, it performs channel sensing over the corresponding 80 MHz bandwidth. Then, depending on whether it senses the full desired 80 MHz bandwidth to be idle or less than the full desired 80 MHz bandwidth to be idle, the device performs the actual transmissions using the SCPP communication mode.

Although one implementation solution for a STA would be to always prepare packets with bandwidths equal to the CCA resolution bandwidth, it may not be the most efficient approach, for example from the perspective of hardware and software resources needed for preparing the multiple packets. The packets may be prepared in parallel or in a sequence and depending on the device’s implementation, the corresponding number of encoders, discrete Fourier transform (DFT) engines, memory/buffering requirements, etc., would vary. However, the ever-increasing performance of silicon solutions may allow for simultaneously preparing multiple packets in various configurations without consuming too much energy.

Note that usage of the SCPP communication mode is not restricted to scenarios when the overall ongoing communication is only between two STAs. This mode may also be leveraged when, for example an Access Point (AP) STA is simultaneously communicating with multiple non-AP STAs. In such a scenario, any pair of communicating devices, i.e., the AP STA and any non-AP STA may be using the SCPP communication mode. This is different from downlink (DL) OFDMA or uplink (UL) OFDMA which are relevant examples of already standardized communication modes wherein multiple STAs are simultaneously communicating. In DL OFDMA, the AP STA may be considered as transmitting multiple packets using different subchannels of a single channel, but each non-AP STA always receives a single (self-contained) PHY packet. The packet may use contiguous or non-contiguous frequency resources called resource units, i.e., RUs. Similarly, in UL OFDMA, the AP STA may be considered as receiving multiple packets using different subchannels of a single channel, but each non-AP STA always transmits a single PHY packet (the packet may use contiguous or non-contiguous RUs). Thus, in both cases, for any pair of communicating STAs among the multiple simultaneously communicating STAs, only one PHY packet is being communicated at a time. On the contrary, between a pair of STAs communicating using the SCPP communication mode (when two or more STAs are communicating), multiple PHY packets are always being communicated at the same time.

FIG. 12 illustrates example usages of the SCPP communication mode from a transmitter STA’s perspective. The time scale in FIG. 12 is simplified for clarity of illustration.

In general, the SCPP communication mode may be used by any pair of two communicating devices - when one is an AP STA and the other is a non-AP STA, when both are AP STAs, as well as when both are non-AP STAs. Also, another aspect to note is that the SCPP communication mode may be used both in DL as well as UL directions. Additionally, it may be possible that two communicating devices that may use the SCPP communication mode are also capable of simultaneously communicating with each other over multiple channels, for example using the multi-link operation in EHT or using the legacy multi-band operation. In such scenarios, the two devices may use the SCPP communication mode on one or more out of these multiple channels such that SCPP communication mode is used on each channel independently.

Potential for latency improvements

Consider an example baseline scenario: Suppose a first STA operates using a 160 MHz channel and intends to transmit data to a second STA using a 1 ms long packet prepared in advance with 160 MHz bandwidth. When the first STA performs CCA over its 160 MHz operating channel before starting the packet transmission, if all the 20 MHz subchannels are not idle and if the first STA cannot adapt or create a new packet at the last moment within few microseconds based on the outcome of the CCA, it would have to cancel the transmission attempt. At the same time, if the one or more busy 20 MHz subchannels have been reserved by a third STA for a TXOP duration of 6 ms, the full desired 160 MHz bandwidth of the first STA won’t become available at least until the end of the third STA’s TXOP.

Now, consider an improved scenario made possible by the disclosed SCPP communication mode: To transmit the same data to the second STA, suppose the first STA has now prepared in advance 8 independent packets of 20 MHz each, with 1 ms duration of each packet. Then, depending on the outcome of the CCA performed over 160 MHz before starting its transmission, the first STA may send these packets in parallel over the 20 MHz subchannels that are sensed idle. Thus, when only two out of the eight 20 MHz subchannels are idle, then the packets may be sent in parallel one after the other in a total duration of little over 4 ms (including the mandatory gap of few microseconds after each packet). Alternatively, when four 20 MHz subchannels are idle, then the packets may be sent in parallel one after the other in a total duration of little over 2 ms.

Compared to the baseline scenario described above, the SCPP communication mode thus provides the potential to improve the latency performance.

Potential for reliability improvements

Due to multiple narrow bandwidth packets being sent in parallel over different subchannels of a wide bandwidth channel, the SCPP communication mode may allow for sending the same packet in more than one subchannels simultaneously to improve the reliability. This enables the leveraging of frequency diversity to improve the reliability of communication.

Consider reliability for the communication between the first STA and the second STA in the example described above. In the scenario using the SCPP communication mode, the first STA may send the same 20 MHz packet in two subchannels in parallel. Thus, when four 20 MHz subchannels are idle, the first STA may duplicate and send two packets at a time in a total duration of little over 4 ms.

Corresponding to the example described above, FIG. 13 illustrates how latency and reliability improvements may be achieved by using the SCPP communication mode. Please note that the time scale in FIG. 13, is simplified clarity of illustration.

To achieve improved reliability or robustness of transmissions while communicating using the SCPP mode, an intermediate layer that provides for redundancy and multiplexing may also be implemented. For example, there may be three packets that are to be transmitted by a device. Suppose the packets have 10 B, 1000 B, and 250 B size. Thus, 1260 B need to be transmitted in total. An intermediate layer may add a varying amount of redundancy (3:2, 16:9, 2: 1, etc.). For example, the 1260 B may be split into nine fragments of equal size (140 B). Then, if the targeted redundancy is 16:9, 16 of such 140 B fragments may be transmitted by the device. If at least nine of them would be received, the aggregate of the three data packets would have been successfully received. Moreover, if the device is capable of multi-link or multi-band operation, it may also be possible that four fragments are transmitted in a channel in the 2.4 GHz band, four fragments are transmitted in a channel in the lower part of the 5 GHz band, four fragments are transmitted in a channel in higher part of the 5 GHz band, and four fragments are transmitted in a channel in the 6 GHz band. Thus, an intermediate layer may provide improved reliability in many flexible ways while communicating using the SCPP mode.

Information signaling

Some embodiments may include signaling between the communicating devices of information relevant to capability of communication, such as whether the SCPP communication mode is supported, how many packets may be communicated in parallel, etc. The information may include information about a configuration of the communication, such as number of packets, their frequency locations, whether all packets are of the same bandwidth, and/or whether all packets are with the same transmit parameters such as modulation and coding scheme, etc. The signaling may also be performed between the communicating devices to indicate the start and/or end times of using the SCPP communication mode.

Some embodiments may include signaling of information when a receiver STA helps a transmitter STA to gather or infer information about different subchannels of the operating channel, for example, with a resolution of the CCA resolution bandwidth. Such information may correspond to, for example, the quality of the subchannels from the receiver’s perspective (e.g., in terms of signal-to-noise ratio SNR, signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio SINR, interference- to-noise ratio INR), and/or the preferred set of subchannels out of a larger available set of subchannels, etc. When communicating using the SCPP communication mode, availability of such information may help the transmitter STA to make well-informed decisions, for example, regarding placement of packets with different modulation and coding schemes in appropriate subchannels, regarding placement of packets containing different types of data in appropriate subchannels, and/pr regarding selection of an appropriate set of subchannels for communication out of a larger set of subchannels, etc.

Another embodiment related to information signaling may be, for example when an AP maintains available bandwidth statistics, for example probability of availability of a full 160 MHz channel, the 2 subchannels with 80 MHz each, the 4 subchannels with 40 MHz each, etc. This information may be conveyed to other APs or non-AP STAs through for example the beacon.

As an information signaling related embodiment, some, or all, of the information signaling occurs before transmitting the multiple packets in the SCPP communication mode. Such signaling (especially for the information regarding configuration of packets) may occur using a control frame such as a trigger frame, RTS frame, CTS frame. Alternatively, such signaling (especially for the information regarding capability of communication) may occur using a management frame such as an (re-)association request frame, (re-)association response frame, probe request frame, and/or probe response frame.

In some embodiments, some or all of the information signaling may occur during the transmission of the packets itself, and the information is embedded in at least one of the packets being transmitted, for example in the preamble of at least one of the packets.

Elaboration on enabling SCPP communication mode

There are multiple choices for determining when to use the SCPP communication mode. Consider, for example, a full desired bandwidth of 160 MHz and SCPP communication mode with 8x20 MHz subchannels. Assume that the encoding of data into a PPDU takes some time, requiring the STA to prepare the PPDU before obtaining the TXOP.

Consider the following 3 questions:

1. What is the probability that a portion of the full desired bandwidth will be busy at the time of transmission?

2. What is the sacrificed throughput by transmitting using the SCPP communication mode compared to a traditional transmission?

3. How time-critical is the data? In 1), if there is a 0 probability that a part of the full desired bandwidth will be busy at the time of transmission, the methods described herein may optionally not be applied. Similarly, if there is a high probability that a part of the BW is busy at the time of transmission, applying the methods described herein is beneficial.

For 2), When the methods described herein are applied, the full desired bandwidth may be obtained anyway. Assume that the full desired bandwidth is 160 MHz, the granularity is 8x20 MHz and the channel is flat enough that the same MCS is used on each subchannel as the full desired bandwidth. Assume further MCS 6 in all cases. The full 160 MHz using 802.1 lax numerology with 1 spatial stream (SS), 0.8 ps guard interval (GI) gives a PHY data rate of 648.5 Mbit/s. If instead, 8x20 MHz, yields 8x77.4 = 619.2 Mbit/s. Thus, by applying the methods disclosed herein, in a worst case scenario less than 5% of the performance is sacrificed when the wrong decision is made. Note that this example is not complete since a 160 MHz frame would be more robust to fading compared to each of the 20 MHz frames. On the other hand, when a deep fade happens at some part of the full desired bandwidth, using the method disclosed herein, several frames would still be recovered whereas the full 160 MHz frame may be completely lost.

Regarding 3), the more time-critical nature of the data, more is gained by applying the method disclosed herein. Thus, the decision whether the data should be packaged for SCPP communication mode or by legacy methods may be dependent on the data traffic class.

Combining the arguments from 1-3, a single decision as shown in FIG. 14 may be devised. In FIG. 14, when there is a significant probability that the full desired bandwidth will be available at the time of transmission, a legacy method may be applied. Otherwise, the methods disclosed herein may be applied. What “significant” means in practical terms depends on data type (latency-critical, background, etc.) as well as the numerologies being used. If one only considers throughput and uses the example as above with a 5% sacrifice in throughput, “significant” would mean somewhere between 95%-100%. Determining the probability can be done through monitoring of the channel and building statistics, or through information signaling as discussed above.

Flexibility aspects

If allowed by spectrum regulations and implemented in the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard, the SCPP communication mode may allow for flexibility such that the transmissions of the packets using the different subchannels of a single channel may not start at the same time or may not end at the same time, or both.

Meanwhile, even though spectrum regulations may support it, the channel access mechanism specified in the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard does not support performing independent random backoffs over different 20 MHz subchannels of the operating channel. The specified channel access mechanism is of less complexity when, before initiating transmission over multiple subchannels of a wide operating channel, a STA needs to perform the random backoff procedure only on the primary 20 MHz subchannel and may only perform a single short duration (25 ps) CCA check on the other subchannels. The subsequent actual transmission may only be performed on the idle subchannels. As a result of this channel access mechanism, single- user transmissions from one STA to another STA are not allowed to be performed without using the primary 20 MHz channel. If this does not change, then to use the SCPP communication mode, there may be a packet that uses the primary 20 MHz subchannel. Also, the start times of all the packets being transmitted in parallel may be the same. These conditions may arise due to restrictions in the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard and the SCPP communication modes disclosed herein are also applicable in situations where these conditions do not apply.

In some embodiments related to flexibility of the SCPP communication mode, the modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) used for the different packets are not identical, thereby making it possible to achieve different data rates in the different subchannels of a wide bandwidth operating channel. To limit the increase in complexity due to such flexibility, a device may use different modulation orders and keep the same code rate for the different packets. That way, only the constellation mappers and demappers might increase in complexity (for example, in terms of the number of them being used in parallel), but the complexity of the encoders and decoders would not increase. Thus, the SCPP communication mode disclosed herein may also allow the potentially frequency selective nature of wide operating channels as well as different transmit power limitations imposed by spectrum regulation (e. g. 20 dBm in 2.4 GHz and 30 dBm in 5 GHz) to be leveraged. In some embodiments, the transmit powers used for the different packets may not be identical.

In some embodiments, the availability of multiple antennas in the two communicating STAs may be leveraged to, for example, selectively increase the robustness of the communication. Therefore, in some embodiments, the number of spatial streams used for preparing the multiple packets are not identical. Suppose a STA is transmitting two packets in parallel to another STA using the SCPP communication mode, and both STAs have two antennas. For one of the packets, the transmitter STA may achieve increased robustness by sending the same data using its two antennas (for example, using space-time-block-coding), whereas for the other packet, the transmitter STA may achieve higher data rate by encoding the data using two spatial streams (i.e., using its two antennas for transmitting two spatial streams, for example, using spatial multiplexing). The SCPP communication mode may also allow for mixing of data corresponding to different access categories (ACs) or traffic identifiers (TIDs) in the different packets that are transmitted in parallel. This may be done in order to, for example, avoid unnecessary padding when the packets are being prepared such that their end times are aligned when they are transmitted. Such mixing of data corresponding to different ACs is already supported in the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard, for example when creating OFDMA based packets or when filling up a TXOP after finishing the MPDUs of the AC for which the TXOP was reserved.

When the transmission is prepared for two different ACs, where the transmission may be to one or more STAs, the application of SCPP may also allow for a possibility to favor the AC with the most demanding latency requirements. Specifically, if a transmission has data belonging to both the AC Voice and the AC best effort, it may be that only the AC Voice packet may be transmitted if only one or a few 20 MHz channels are found to be idle.

In another situation where packets are sent in parallel, one packet may be transmitted for the first time whereas another packet is retransmitted. In this case, when most of the 20 MHz channels are found to be busy, then the transmitter may prioritize the packet that already has been transmitted once in order to avoid or prevent excessive delay even if the AC, is best effort. This way of prioritizing may be beneficial for certain automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocols where there is a certain window for how many packets may be waiting to be acknowledged.

Practical feasibility aspects

Consider some practical feasibility aspects for devices to be able to support the SCPP communication mode. To communicate using the SCPP communication mode, it is not required for devices to have multiple radios, since the operation is over a single operating channel itself. Thus, in terms of complexity of radio front-ends (both digital and analog), there may be less complexity for a STA to support the SCPP communication mode when compared to a conventional single radio STA.

From the transmission perspective, the STA may either support multiple encoders to be able to concurrently prepare multiple packets, or may support fewer encoders which may be used in pipelined fashion together with buffering capability. Similarly, from the reception perspective, the STA may either support multiple decoders to be able to decode multiple packets in parallel, or may support fewer decoders which may be used in pipelined fashion together with buffering capability. It may be noted that for some multi-user communication features that are already specified in the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard, for example, multi-user multiple-input-multiple- output (MU-MIMO) and OFDMA, AP STAs already support the capability to either transmit multiple packets in parallel or receive multiple packets in parallel. Thus, feasibility wise, at least for AP STAs, there would be no major complexity overhead to support the SCPP communication mode.

Considering the evolutionary trend of the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard involving complex features such as multi-link operation in EHT, one may generally say that it would not be infeasible or complex to implement both AP STAs as well as non-AP STAs that support the SCPP communication mode, because its complexity would not be as high as many of the already standardized complex features.

Example usage in multi-BSS scenarios

Consider an example of how the SCPP communication may be leveraged in multi-BSS deployment scenarios that may operate over the same portion of the license-exempt frequency spectrum.

FIG. 15 illustrates eight 20 MHz subchannels SubCHl-SubCH8 being available within a 160 MHz channel bandwidth. Suppose this 160 MHz is to be used across four Wi-Fi OBSSs - BSS1, BSS2, BSS3, BSS4. There are at least two alternatives deployment: (1) use the full 160 MHz bandwidth in all four BSSs and (2) use separate dedicated non-overlapping sub-portions in different BSSs. In practical deployments, performance of the first alternative is worse, resulting from increased collisions or from last-moment cancellation of communication attempts (CCA failures). This is so because the devices would almost always try to reserve the maximum 160 MHz bandwidth. Therefore, the most common trend in practical deployments use the second alternative. However, the second alternative strictly limits the maximum bandwidth that may be used in each BSS. As an example, in the second alternative, at most only up to 40 MHz dedicated portions may be used in each BSS, for example, SubCHI and SubCH2 in BSS1, SubCH3 and SubCH4 in BSS2, SubCH5 and SubCH6 in BSS3, and SubCH7 and SubCH8 in BSS4.

A third alternative obtains benefits of the first and second alternatives. Each BSS may be allocated a dedicated separate 20 MHz subchannel as the primary subchannel, and this subchannel may be statically punctured (i.e., disabled or never used) in all other BSSs. For example, say SubCHI is the primary 20 MHz subchannel in BSS 1 and all other BSSs statically puncture it. As a result, each BSS may be guaranteed an exclusive 20 MHz subchannel and at the same time, allowed to use up to 100 MHz bandwidth out of the total 160 MHz bandwidth. Thereafter, devices in each BSS may communicate using the SCPP communication mode in order to be able to use as many 20 MHz subchannels as may be sensed idle. As discussed in previous sections, the SCPP communication mode may help to avoid last-moment cancellation of communication attempts while also providing increased flexibility and simplicity of implementation.

In summary, compared to the first alternative, the third alternative would be better since each BSS would have an exclusive portion of the bandwidth for itself while also being able to use a larger bandwidth whenever possible. Also, compared to the second alternative wherein the maximum allowed bandwidth may be capped at 40 MHz, the third alternative would be better since each BSS would be able to use up to 100 MHz bandwidth.

Some embodiments may include one or more of the following examples:

1) A method for performing wireless communications (i.e., transmissions and/ or receptions), the method comprising: a first wireless communication device transmitting multiple packets in parallel to a second wireless communication device, the packets being transmitted using different nonoverlapping frequency resources (sub-channels) of a single operating channel, the packets being grouped such that each group contains at least one packet, the decoding of the data contained in any group is dependent only on the reception of the one or more packets in that group.

2) The method according to example 1, wherein the wireless communications are performed using license-exempt frequency spectrum.

3) The method according to example 2, wherein the bandwidths of the multiple packets are integer multiples of the clear channel assessment (CCA) resolution bandwidth.

4) The method according to any one of the preceding examples, wherein the data contained in two or more out of the multiple packets is identical to improve the reliability of the communication.

5) The method according to any one of the preceding examples, wherein the bandwidths of the multiple packets are integer multiples of 20 MHz.

6) The method according to any one of the preceding examples, wherein the start times of the transmission of the multiple packets are aligned (identical).

7) The method according to any one of the preceding examples, wherein the end times of the transmission of the multiple packets are aligned (identical).

8) The method according to any one of the preceding examples, wherein the transmit parameters, such as modulation and coding schemes and/ or number of spatial streams and/ or transmit powers etc., used for preparing (encoding) the multiple packets are not identical.

9) The method according to any one of the preceding examples, wherein the type of data (e.g., characterized by its access category, AC, or traffic identifier, TID) contained in the multiple packets is not identical. 10) The method according to any one of the preceding examples, wherein some relevant information, such as: a) information regarding capability of communication (for example - whether multiple packets can be communicated in parallel using the proposed method, how many packets can be communicated in parallel, etc.); and/or b) information regarding configuration of the communication (for example - number of packets, their frequency locations, whether all packets are of the same bandwidth, whether all packets are with the same transmit parameters such as modulation and coding scheme, etc.); and/or c) information regarding quality (e.g., SNR, SINR, INR) of the different frequency resources(sub-channels); and/or d) information regarding the preferred frequency resources out of the different frequency resources (sub-channels); e) statistical information regarding availability of the different frequency resources, etc.; and/or f) is signaled between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device.

11) The method according to examples 10, wherein some (or all) of the information signaling occurs before transmission of the multiple packets.

12) The method according to examples 11, wherein the information signaling occurs using a control frame such as a trigger frame, request-to-send (RTS) frame, clear-to-send (CTS) frame.

13) The method according to examples 11, wherein the information signaling occurs using a management frame such as an (re-)association request frame, (re-)association response frame, probe request frame, probe response frame.

14) The method according to any one of the preceding examples, wherein some (or all) of the information signaling occurs during the transmission of the multiple packets itself, and wherein the information is embedded in at least one out of the multiple packets being communicated - for example in the preamble of at least one out of the multiple packets.

15) The method according to any one of the preceding examples, wherein the wireless communications are based on a Wireless Local Area Network technology according to the IEEE 802.11 standards family.

16) Independent and corresponding dependent examples for a transmitter device.

17) Independent and corresponding dependent examples based on the above for a receiver device.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the concepts described herein may be embodied as a method, data processing system, computer program product and/or computer storage media storing an executable computer program. Accordingly, the concepts described herein may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects all generally referred to herein as a “circuit” or “module.” Any process, step, action and/or functionality described herein may be performed by, and/or associated to, a corresponding module, which may be implemented in software and/or firmware and/or hardware. Furthermore, the disclosure may take the form of a computer program product on a tangible computer usable storage medium having computer program code embodied in the medium that can be executed by a computer. Any suitable tangible computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, electronic storage devices, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices.

Some embodiments are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, systems and computer program products. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer (to thereby create a special purpose computer), special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable memory or storage medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block 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 steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. It is to be understood that the functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the operational illustrations. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. Although some of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths to show a primary direction of communication, it is to be understood that communication may occur in the opposite direction to the depicted arrows.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the concepts described herein may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Python, Java® or C++. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the disclosure may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

Many different embodiments have been disclosed herein, in connection with the above description and the drawings. It will be understood that it would be unduly repetitious and obfuscating to literally describe and illustrate every combination and subcombination of these embodiments. Accordingly, all embodiments can be combined in any way and/or combination, and the present specification, including the drawings, shall be construed to constitute a complete written description of all combinations and subcombinations of the embodiments described herein, and of the manner and process of making and using them, and shall support claims to any such combination or subcombination.

Abbreviations that may be used in the preceding description include:

AC Access Category

AP Access Point

BSS Basic Service Set

CCA Clear Channel Assessment

CTS Clear-To-Send

CSMA/CA Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance

DL Downlink

ED Energy Detection

EHT Extremely High Throughput GI Guard Interval

HE High Efficiency

HT High Throughput

INR Interference to Noise Ratio

LBT Listen Before Talk

MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme

MPDU Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit

MU-MIMO Multi-User Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output

NAV Network Allocation Vector

OBSS Overlapping Basic Service Set

OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

PD Preamble Detection

PHY Physical Layer

RTS Request-To-Send

SCPP Single Channel Parallel Packets

SINR Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio

SNR Signal to Noise Ratio

SS Spatial Stream

ST A Station

TID Traffic Identifier

TXOP Transmit Opportunity

UL Uplink

VHT Very High Throughput

WD Wireless Device

WG Working Group

WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein are not limited to what has been particularly shown and described herein above. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale. A variety of modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. Embodiments:

Embodiment Al . A first station configured to communicate with a second station, the first station configured to, and/or comprising a radio interface and/or comprising processing circuitry configured to: when operating in a first communication mode, transmit multiple packets in parallel to the second station on multiple non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel.

Embodiment A2. The first station of Embodiment Al, wherein the multiple packets transmitted in parallel are grouped into groups, each group having at least one packet.

Embodiment A3. The first station of Embodiment A2, wherein decoding of data contained in a group depends only on reception of the at least one packet in the group,

Embodiment A4. The first station of any of Embodiments A2 and A3, wherein the grouping avoids transmission of medium access control protocol data units, MPDUs, and codewords across multiple packets.

Embodiment A5. The first station of any of Embodiments A1-A4, wherein bandwidths of the transmitted multiple packets are integer multiples of 20 MHz.

Embodiment A6. The first station of any of Embodiments A1-A4, wherein bandwidths of the transmitted packets are less than 20 MHz.

Embodiment A7. The first station of any of Embodiments A1-A6, wherein bandwidths of the transmitted packets are not identical.

Embodiment A8. The first station of Embodiment A7, wherein a bandwidth of a transmitted packet is selected based at least in part on sensing idle bandwidths within the operating channel.

Embodiment A9. The first station of any of Embodiments A1-A8, wherein the transmitted multiple packets are prepared in parallel. Embodiment A10. The first station of any of Embodiments A1-A9, wherein the first station, radio interface, and/or processing circuitry are further configured to transmit multiple packets to multiple second stations simultaneously.

Embodiment Al 1. The first station of any of Embodiments A1-A10, wherein the first station is an access point, AP, station and the second station is a non-AP station.

Embodiment A12. The first station of any of Embodiments A1-A10, wherein the first station is a non-AP station and the second station is an AP station.

Embodiment Al 3. The first station of any of Embodiments Al -Al 1, wherein the first station, radio interface and/or processing circuitry are further configured to implement an intermediate layer for multiplexing the multiple packets to be transmitted in parallel.

Embodiment A14. The first station of any of Embodiments A1-A12, wherein the first station, radio interface and/or processing circuitry are further configured to transmit information to the second station, the information including at least one of a number of packets that can be transmitted in parallel, packet frequency locations, packet bandwidth information, packet modulation and coding scheme information.

Embodiment A15. The first station of Embodiment A13, wherein the transmitted information is indicated in one of a trigger frame, a request to send, RTS, frame and a clear to send, CTS, frame.

Embodiment A16. The first station of any of Embodiments A1-A14, wherein transmission of multiple packets in parallel is conditioned on at least one of a probability of bandwidth availability, a throughput comparison and time-criticality of data of the multiple packets.

Embodiment Al 7. The first station of any of Embodiments Al -Al 6, wherein start times of the transmission of the multiple packets are aligned.

Embodiment A18. The first station of any of Embodiments A1-A16, wherein end times of the transmission of the multiple packets are aligned. Embodiment Al 9. The first station of any of Embodiments Al -Al 6, wherein data contained in two or more of the multiple packets is identical.

Embodiment A20. The first station of any of Embodiments Al -Al 6, wherein types of data contained in multiple packets are not identical.

Embodiment A21. The first station of any of Embodiments Al -Al 6, wherein transmitting is performed in a license-exempt frequency spectrum.

Embodiment A22. The first station of any of Embodiments Al -Al 6, wherein the wireless communications are based on a Wireless Local Area Network technology according to the IEEE 802.11 standards family.

Embodiment A23. The first station of any of Embodiments Al -Al 6, wherein the first communication mode is a single channel parallel packets, SCPP, communication mode.

Embodiment A24. The first station of any of Embodiments Al -Al 6, wherein bandwidths of the multiple packets are integer multiples of a clear channel assessment (CCA) resolution bandwidth.

Embodiment A25. The first station of any of Embodiments Al -Al 6, wherein at least one of a modulation and coding scheme, a number of spatial streams, and a transmit power associated with different ones of the multiple packets are not identical.

Embodiment A26. The first station of any of Embodiments A1-A25, wherein the first station, radio interface and/or processing circuitry are further configured to: receive an indication of which of idle subchannels are to be used to transmit the multiple packets in parallel.

Embodiment Bl. A method implemented in a first station configured to communicate with a second station, the method comprising: when operating in a single channel parallel packets, SCPP, communication mode, transmitting multiple packets in parallel to the second station on multiple non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel. Embodiment B2. The method of Embodiment Bl, wherein the multiple packets transmitted in parallel are grouped into groups, each group having at least one packet.

Embodiment B3. The method of Embodiment B2, wherein decoding of data contained in a group depends only on reception of the at least one packet in the group,

Embodiment B4. The method of any of Embodiments B2 and B3, wherein the grouping avoids transmission of medium access control protocol data units, MPDUs, and codewords across multiple packets.

Embodiment B5. The method of any of Embodiments B1-B4, wherein bandwidths of the transmitted multiple packets are integer multiples of 20 MHz.

Embodiment B6. The method of any of Embodiments B1-B4, wherein bandwidths of the transmitted packets are less than 20 MHz.

Embodiment B7. The method of any of Embodiments B1-B6, wherein bandwidths of the transmitted packets are not identical.

Embodiment B8. The method of Embodiment B7, wherein a bandwidth of a transmitted packet is selected based at least in part on sensing idle bandwidths within the operating channel.

Embodiment B9. The method of any of Embodiments B1-B8, wherein the transmitted multiple packets are prepared in parallel.

Embodiment B10. The method of any of Embodiments B1-B9, further comprising transmitting multiple packets to multiple second stations simultaneously.

Embodiment B 11. The method of any of Embodiments B 1 -B 10, wherein the first station is an access point, AP, station and the second station is a non-AP station.

Embodiment B 12. The method of any of Embodiments B1-B10, wherein the first station is a non-AP station and the second station is an AP station. Embodiment B 13. The method of any of Embodiments B 1 -B 11 , further comprising implementing an intermediate layer for multiplexing the multiple packets to be transmitted in parallel.

Embodiment B 14. The method of any of Embodiments B1-B12, further comprising transmitting information to the second station, the information including at least one of a number of packets that can be transmitted in parallel, packet frequency locations, packet bandwidth information, packet modulation and coding scheme information.

Embodiment Bl 5. The method of Embodiment Bl 3, wherein the transmitted information is indicated in one of a trigger frame, a request to send, RTS, frame and a clear to send, CTS, frame.

Embodiment Bl 6. The method of any of Embodiments B1-B14, wherein transmission of multiple packets in parallel is conditioned on at least one of a probability of bandwidth availability, a throughput comparison and time-criticality of data of the multiple packets.

Embodiment B 17. The method of any of Embodiments B 1 -B 16, wherein start times of the transmission of the multiple packets are aligned.

Embodiment Bl 8. The method of any of Embodiments B1-B16, wherein end times of the transmission of the multiple packets are aligned.

Embodiment B 19. The method of any of Embodiments B 1 -B 16, wherein data contained in two or more of the multiple packets is identical.

Embodiment B20. The method of any of Embodiments Bl -Bl 6, wherein types of data contained in multiple packets are not identical.

Embodiment B21. The method of any of Embodiments B 1 -B 16, wherein transmitting is performed in a license-exempt frequency spectrum.

Embodiment B22. The method of any of Embodiments Bl -Bl 6, wherein the wireless communications are based on a Wireless Local Area Network technology according to the IEEE 802.11 standards family.

Embodiment B23. The method of any of Embodiments B 1 -B 16, wherein the first communication mode is a single channel parallel packets, SCPP, communication mode.

Embodiment B24. The method of any of Embodiments Bl -Bl 6, wherein bandwidths of the multiple packets are integer multiples of a clear channel assessment (CCA) resolution bandwidth.

Embodiment B25. The method of any of Embodiments Bl -Bl 6, wherein at least one of a modulation and coding scheme, a number of spatial streams, and a transmit power associated with different ones of the multiple packets are not identical.

Embodiment B26. The method of any of Embodiments B1-B25, further comprising receiving an indication of which of idle subchannels are to be used to transmit the multiple packets in parallel.

Embodiment Cl. A first station configured to communicate with a second station, the first station configured to, and/or comprising a radio interface and/or comprising processing circuitry configured to: when operating in a first communication mode, transmit to the second station an indication of idle subchannels of a plurality of non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel on which multiple packets are to be transmitted in parallel by the second station.

Embodiment C2. The first station of Embodiment Cl, wherein decoding of data contained in a group depends only on reception of the at least one packet in the group.

Embodiment C3. The first station of any of Embodiments Cl and C2, wherein the first station is an access point, AP, station and the second station is a non-AP station.

Embodiment C4. The first station of any of Embodiments C1-C3 wherein the first station is a non-AP station and the second station is an AP station. Embodiment DI . A method in a first station configured to communicate with a second station, the method comprising: when operating in a first communication mode, transmitting to the second station an indication of idle subchannels of a plurality of non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel on which multiple packets are to be transmitted in parallel by the second station.

Embodiment D2. The method of Embodiment DI, wherein decoding of data contained in a group depends only on reception of the at least one packet in the group. Embodiment D3. The method of any of Embodiments DI and D2, wherein the first station is an access point, AP, station and the second station is a non-AP station.

Embodiment D4. The method of any of Embodiments D1-D3, wherein the first station is a non-AP station and the second station is an AP station.

Claims

1. A first station configured to communicate with a second station, the first station configured to, and/or comprising a radio interface and/or comprising processing circuitry configured to: when operating in a first communication mode, transmit multiple packets in parallel to the second station on multiple non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel.

2. The first station of claim 1, wherein the multiple packets transmitted in parallel are grouped into groups, each group having at least one packet.

3. The first station of claim 2, wherein decoding of data contained in a group depends only on reception of the at least one packet in the group,

4. The first station of any of claims 2 and 3, wherein the grouping avoids transmission of medium access control protocol data units, MPDUs, and codewords across multiple packets.

5. The first station of any of claims 1-4, wherein bandwidths of the transmitted multiple packets are integer multiples of 20 MHz.

6. The first station of any of claims 1-4, wherein bandwidths of the transmitted packets are less than 20 MHz.

7. The first station of any of claims 1-6, wherein bandwidths of the transmitted packets are not identical.

8. The first station of claim 7, wherein a bandwidth of a transmitted packet is selected based at least in part on sensing idle bandwidths within the operating channel.

9. The first station of any of claims 1-8, wherein the transmitted multiple packets are prepared in parallel.

10. The first station of any of claims 1-9, wherein the first station, radio interface, and/or processing circuitry are further configured to transmit multiple packets to multiple second stations simultaneously.

11. The first station of any of claims 1-10, wherein the first station is an access point, AP, station and the second station is a non-AP station.

12. The first station of any of claims 1-11, wherein the first station is a non-AP station and the second station is an AP station.

13. The first station of any of claims 1-12, wherein the first station, radio interface and/or processing circuitry are further configured to implement an intermediate layer for multiplexing the multiple packets to be transmitted in parallel.

14. The first station of any of claims 1-13, wherein the first station, radio interface and/or processing circuitry are further configured to transmit information to the second station, the information including at least one of a number of packets that can be transmitted in parallel, packet frequency locations, packet bandwidth information, packet modulation and coding scheme information.

15. The first station of claim 14, wherein the transmitted information is indicated in one of a trigger frame, a request to send, RTS, frame and a clear to send, CTS, frame.

16. The first station of any of claims 1-15, wherein transmission of multiple packets in parallel is conditioned on at least one of a probability of bandwidth availability, a throughput comparison and time-criticality of data of the multiple packets.

17. The first station of any of claims 1-16, wherein start times of the transmission of the multiple packets are aligned.

18. The first station of any of claims 1-16, wherein end times of the transmission of the multiple packets are aligned.

19. The first station of any of claims 1-18, wherein data contained in two or more of the multiple packets is identical.

20. The first station of any of claims 1-18, wherein types of data contained in multiple packets are not identical.

21. The first station of any of claims 1-20, wherein transmitting is performed in a license-exempt frequency spectrum.

22. The first station of any of claims 1-21, wherein the wireless communications are based on a Wireless Local Area Network technology according to the IEEE 802.11 standards family.

23. The first station of any of claims 1-22, wherein the first communication mode is a single channel parallel packets, SCPP, communication mode.

24. The first station of any of claims 1-23, wherein bandwidths of the multiple packets are integer multiples of a clear channel assessment (CCA) resolution bandwidth.

25. The first station of any of claims 1-24, wherein at least one of a modulation and coding scheme, a number of spatial streams, and a transmit power associated with different ones of the multiple packets are not identical.

26. The first station of any of claims 1-25, wherein the first station, radio interface and/or processing circuitry are further configured to: receive an indication of which of idle subchannels are to be used to transmit the multiple packets in parallel.

27. A method implemented in a first station configured to communicate with a second station, the method comprising: when operating in a first communication mode, transmitting multiple packets in parallel to the second station on multiple non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the multiple packets transmitted in parallel are grouped into groups, each group having at least one packet.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein decoding of data contained in a group depends only on reception of the at least one packet in the group,

30. The method of any of claims 28 and 29, wherein the grouping avoids transmission of medium access control protocol data units, MPDUs, and codewords across multiple packets.

31. The method of any of claims 27-30, wherein bandwidths of the transmitted multiple packets are integer multiples of 20 MHz.

32. The method of any of claims 27-30, wherein bandwidths of the transmitted packets are less than 20 MHz.

33. The method of any of claims 27-32, wherein bandwidths of the transmitted packets are not identical.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein a bandwidth of a transmitted packet is selected based at least in part on sensing idle bandwidths within the operating channel.

35. The method of any of claims 27-34, wherein the transmitted multiple packets are prepared in parallel.

36. The method of any of claims 27-35, further comprising transmitting multiple packets to multiple second stations simultaneously.

37. The method of any of claims 27-36, wherein the first station is an access point, AP, station and the second station is a non-AP station.

38. The method of any of claims 27-36, wherein the first station is a non-AP station and the second station is an AP station.

39. The method of any of claims 27-38, further comprising implementing an intermediate layer for multiplexing the multiple packets to be transmitted in parallel.

40. The method of any of claims 27-39, further comprising transmitting information to the second station, the information including at least one of a number of packets that can be transmitted in parallel, packet frequency locations, packet bandwidth information, packet modulation and coding scheme information.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the transmitted information is indicated in one of a trigger frame, a request to send, RTS, frame and a clear to send, CTS, frame.

42. The method of any of claims 27-41, wherein transmission of multiple packets in parallel is conditioned on at least one of a probability of bandwidth availability, a throughput comparison and time-criticality of data of the multiple packets.

43. The method of any of claims 27-42, wherein start times of the transmission of the multiple packets are aligned.

44. The method of any of claims 27-42, wherein end times of the transmission of the multiple packets are aligned.

45. The method of any of claims 27-44, wherein data contained in two or more of the multiple packets is identical.

46. The method of any of claims 27-44, wherein types of data contained in multiple packets are not identical.

47. The method of any of claims 27-46, wherein transmitting is performed in a license-exempt frequency spectrum.

48. The method of any of claims 27-47, wherein the wireless communications are based on a Wireless Local Area Network technology according to the IEEE 802.11 standards family.

49. The method of any of claims 27-48, wherein the first communication mode is a single channel parallel packets, SCPP, communication mode.

50. The method of any of claims 27-49, wherein bandwidths of the multiple packets are integer multiples of a clear channel assessment (CCA) resolution bandwidth.

51. The method of any of claims 27-50, wherein at least one of a modulation and coding scheme, a number of spatial streams, and a transmit power associated with different ones of the multiple packets are not identical.

52. The method of any of claims 27-51, further comprising receiving an indication of which of idle subchannels are to be used to transmit the multiple packets in parallel.

53. A first station configured to communicate with a second station, the first station configured to, and/or comprising a radio interface and/or comprising processing circuitry configured to: when operating in a first communication mode, transmit to the second station an indication of idle subchannels of a plurality of non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel on which multiple packets are to be transmitted in parallel by the second station.

54. The first station of claim 53, wherein the first station is an access point, AP, station and the second station is a non-AP station.

55. The first station of claim 53, wherein the first station is a non-AP station and the second station is an AP station.

56. A method in a first station configured to communicate with a second station, the method comprising: when operating in a first communication mode, transmitting to the second station an indication of idle subchannels of a plurality of non-overlapping idle subchannels of an operating channel on which multiple packets are to be transmitted in parallel by the second station.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein the first station is an access point, AP, station and the second station is a non-AP station.

58. The method of claim 56, wherein the first station is a non-AP station and the second station is an AP station.