阅读说明：本技术 无线通信终端及无线通信方法 (Wireless communication terminal and wireless communication method ) 是由 林英佑 于 2021-04-29 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种无线通信装置及相关方法。无线通信终端包括无线收发器执行与接入点之间的无线发送和接收,控制器接收包括第一资源单元分配子字段的触发帧,触发帧具有一个比特来指示经由无线收发器来自AP的对320MHz带宽的支持,触发帧根据第一资源单元分配子字段确定在基于触发器的物理层协议数据单元中使用的资源单元组合,并响应于触发帧,经由无线收发器将用于上行链路数据传输的基于触发器的物理层协议数据单元发送到接入点。本发明的无线通信装置及方法可以支持具有多RU的EHT TB PPDU。(The invention provides a wireless communication device and a related method. The wireless communication terminal includes a wireless transceiver to perform wireless transmission and reception with an access point, a controller to receive a trigger frame including a first resource unit allocation subfield, the trigger frame having one bit to indicate support of a 320MHz bandwidth from the AP via the wireless transceiver, the trigger frame to determine a combination of resource units to be used in a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit according to the first resource unit allocation subfield, and to transmit the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit for uplink data transmission to the access point via the wireless transceiver in response to the trigger frame. The wireless communication apparatus and method of the present invention may support an EHT TB PPDU having multiple RUs.)

1. A wireless communication terminal, operating as a station, comprising:

a wireless transceiver configured to perform wireless transmission and reception with an access point; and

a controller coupled to the wireless transceiver and configured to receive a trigger frame including a first resource unit allocation subfield, the trigger frame having one bit to indicate support of a 320MHz bandwidth from an AP via the wireless transceiver, the trigger frame determining a combination of resource units to use in a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit according to the first resource unit allocation subfield, and in response to the trigger frame, transmitting the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit for uplink data transmission to the access point via the wireless transceiver.

2. The wireless communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame is a very high throughput trigger frame and the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit is a very high throughput trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit conforming to an institute of electrical and electronics engineers 802.11be standard.

3. The wireless communication terminal of claim 2, wherein the first resource unit allocation subfield is 9 bits long and the bit indicating support for a 320MHz bandwidth is introduced as the first bit of the first resource unit allocation subfield.

4. The wireless communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame further comprises: a subfield for indicating a number of resource units to be used in the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit, and a second resource unit allocation subfield having the same format as the first resource unit allocation subfield; and each of the first resource unit allocation subfield and the second resource unit allocation subfield indicates a respective one of the resource units to be used in the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit.

5. The wireless communication terminal of claim 3, wherein the third through ninth bits of the first resource unit allocation subfield represent a value greater than 68 to indicate the combination of resource units for very high throughput.

6. The wireless communication terminal of claim 2, wherein the trigger frame further comprises a subtype subfield and a trigger type subfield, and one of the subtype subfield and the trigger type subfield is set to a value for very high throughput identification.

7. A wireless communication method performed by a wireless communication terminal as a station, the wireless communication method comprising:

receiving a trigger frame including a first resource unit allocation subfield, the trigger frame having one bit from an access point to indicate support for a 320MHz bandwidth;

determining a combination of resource units to be used in a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit according to the first resource unit allocation subfield; and

in response to the trigger frame, a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit for uplink data transmission is sent to the access point.

8. The wireless communication method of claim 7, wherein the trigger frame is a very high throughput trigger frame and the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit is a very high throughput trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit conforming to an institute of electrical and electronics engineers 802.11be standard.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first resource unit allocation subfield is 9 bits long and the bit indicating support for a 320MHz bandwidth is introduced into a first bit of the first resource unit allocation subfield.

10. The wireless communication method of claim 7, wherein the trigger frame further comprises a subfield indicating a number of resource units to be used in the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit and a second resource unit allocation subfield having a format identical to a format of the first resource unit allocation subfield; each of the first resource unit allocation subfield and the second resource unit allocation subfield indicates a respective one of the resource units to be used in the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the third through ninth bits of the first resource unit allocation subfield represent a value greater than 68 to indicate the combination of resource units for very high throughput.

12. The wireless communication method of claim 8, wherein the trigger frame further comprises a subtype subfield and a trigger type subfield, and one of the subtype subfield and the trigger type subfield is set to a value for very high throughput identification.

13. A wireless communication method performed by a wireless communication device operating as an access point, the wireless communication method comprising:

transmitting a trigger frame including a first resource unit allocation subfield having one bit to indicate support for a 320MHz bandwidth to a station; and

receiving a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit from the STA in response to the trigger frame;

wherein the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit includes the combination of resource units as indicated by the first resource unit allocation subfield.

14. The wireless communication method of claim 13, wherein the trigger frame is a very high throughput trigger frame and the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit is a very high throughput trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit conforming to an institute of electrical and electronics engineers 802.11be standard.

15. The wireless communication method of claim 14, wherein the first resource unit allocation subfield is 9 bits long and the bit indicating support for a 320MHz bandwidth is introduced as the first bit of the first resource unit allocation subfield.

16. The wireless communication method of claim 13, wherein the trigger frame further comprises a subfield indicating a number of resource units to be used in the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit, and a second resource unit allocation subfield having a same format as the first resource unit allocation subfield; each of the first resource unit allocation subfield and the second resource unit allocation subfield indicates a respective one of the resource units to be used in the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the third through ninth bits of the first resource unit allocation subfield represent a value greater than 68 to indicate the combination of resource units for very high throughput.

18. The wireless communication method of claim 14, wherein the trigger frame further comprises a subtype subfield and a trigger type subfield, and one of the subtype subfield and the trigger type subfield is set to a value for very high throughput identification.

[ technical field ] A method for producing a semiconductor device

The present application relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for Resource Unit (RU) allocation signaling to support Trigger-Based physical layer protocol data Unit (TB PPDU) with multiple RUs.

[ background of the invention ]

With the increasing demand for ubiquitous computing and networking, various wireless technologies, including wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), which is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology that allows mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets, portable computers, portable multimedia players, embedded devices, etc., have been developed to obtain wireless services in the 2.4GHz, 5GHz, or 60GHz bands.

Since the use of 2.4GHz frequency to support the initial WLAN technology, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11 has commercialized or developed various technical standards. For example, IEEE 802.11ac supports Multi-User (MU) transmission using spatial degrees of freedom (spatial degrees of freedom) by an MU-Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) scheme in a Downlink (DL) direction from an Access Point (AP) to a Station (STA). To improve the experience of the above-mentioned mobile device users requiring high capacity and high rate services, IEEE 802.11ax has been proposed, which uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA for short) and/or MU-MIMO in both DL and Uplink (UL) directions. That is, in addition to supporting frequency and spatial multiplexing from the AP to the STAs, transmission from the STAs to the AP is also supported in IEEE 802.11 ax.

In IEEE 802.11ax, a Resource Unit (RU) refers to a set of 78.125KHz bandwidth subcarriers (tones) used in DL and UL transmissions for a single STA, and an MU PPDU can carry multiple RUs, allowing multiple users to efficiently access an AP at the same time. In IEEE 802.11be, which has agreed among IEEE members, a plurality of RUs may be allocated to a single STA in DL and UL transmission. However, the current IEEE 802.11ax specifications only define a usage scenario of RU allocation signaling for EHT physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs) transmitted to a plurality of STAs (i.e., DL transmissions), and do not define a usage scenario of RU allocation signaling for EHT Trigger (TB) -based PPDUs (i.e., UL transmissions) having a plurality of RUs.

Therefore, it is desirable to have a robust and feasible RU allocation signaling approach to support EHT TB PPDUs with multiple RUs.

[ summary of the invention ]

The following summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. That is, the following summary is provided to introduce the concepts, benefits and advantages of the novel and advanced technology described herein. The selection implementation is further described below in the detailed description. Thus, the following summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended for use in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the following methods and corresponding apparatuses are proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems.

The present invention provides a wireless communication terminal operating as a station, including a wireless transceiver configured to perform wireless transmission and reception with an access point; and a controller coupled to the wireless transceiver and configured to receive a trigger frame including a first resource unit allocation subfield, the trigger frame having one bit to indicate support of a 320MHz bandwidth from the AP via the wireless transceiver, the trigger frame determining a combination of resource units to use in a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit according to the first resource unit allocation subfield, and in response to the trigger frame, transmitting the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit for uplink data transmission to the access point via the wireless transceiver.

The present invention also provides a wireless communication method performed by a wireless communication terminal as a station, the wireless communication method including: receiving a trigger frame including a first resource unit allocation subfield, the trigger frame having one bit from an access point to indicate support for a 320MHz bandwidth; determining a combination of resource units to be used in a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit according to the first resource unit allocation subfield; and transmitting a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit for uplink data transmission to the access point in response to the trigger frame.

The present invention also provides a wireless communication method performed by a wireless communication apparatus operating as an access point, the wireless communication method including: transmitting a trigger frame including a first resource unit allocation subfield having one bit to indicate support for a 320MHz bandwidth to a station; and receiving a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit from the STA in response to the trigger frame; wherein the trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit includes the combination of resource units as indicated by the first resource unit allocation subfield.

The wireless communication apparatus and method of the present invention may support an EHT TB PPDU having multiple RUs.

[ description of the drawings ]

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It will be appreciated that the drawings are not necessarily to scale, since some features may be shown out of proportion to actual implementation dimensions in order to clearly illustrate the concepts of the present disclosure.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a STA120/130/140 and an AP 110 according to an embodiment of the application.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a format of an EHT trigger frame according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating a format of a user information field of an EHT trigger frame according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating a channel arrangement for a 320MHz bandwidth according to an embodiment of the application.

Fig. 6 illustrates an exemplary RU allocation for an EHT.

Fig. 7 illustrates another exemplary RU allocation for an EHT.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating a format of a user information field of an EHT trigger frame according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 shows an exemplary RU combination.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method for RU allocation signaling by a STA to support a TB PPDU having multiple RUs according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method of RU allocation signaling for an AP supporting a TB PPDU having multiple RUs according to an embodiment of the present application.

[ detailed description ] embodiments

The following description is the best mode for carrying out the invention. This description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the present invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is determined by reference to the appended claims.

Certain terms are used throughout the description and claims to refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, electronic device manufacturers may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. In the following specification and claims, the word "comprise" is an open-ended term, and thus should be interpreted to mean "including, but not limited to …". Additionally, the term "coupled" is intended to mean either an indirect electrical connection or a direct electrical connection. Thus, when one device is coupled to another device, that connection may be through a direct electrical connection or through an electrical connection via other devices and connections.

Reference will now be made in detail to several embodiments. While the subject matter will be described in conjunction with the alternative embodiments, it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the claimed subject matter to these embodiments. On the contrary, the claimed subject matter is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter as defined by the appended claims.

Furthermore, in the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of claimed subject matter. However, it will be recognized by one skilled in the art that embodiments may be practiced without these specific details or with equivalents thereof. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects and features of the subject matter.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless communication system 100 includes an Access Point (AP)110 and a plurality of Stations (STAs) AP 110 is a wireless communication device compatible with the IEEE 802.11 standard to be a STAProviding and managing access to the wireless medium. The AP 110 has a coverage area 1100 such that STAs within the areaWithin range of AP 110. STA (station)Dispersed throughout the coverage area 1100. Each STAMay be fixed, mobile, or a combination thereof.

In one embodiment, the AP 110 may be an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) AP compatible with the IEEE 802.11be standard or an EHT STA operating in AP mode.

In another embodiment, the AP 110 may be an AP or AP mode STA that is compatible with any IEEE 802.11 standard that is later than 802.11 be.

STAEach of which may be a mobile phone (e.g., a feature phone or smart phone), a panel Personal Computer (PC), a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a smart television, or any wireless communication terminal, as long as it is compatible with the same IEEE 802.11 standard as the AP 110. Each STAMay operate in a non-AP (non-AP) mode to associate with the AP 110 and communicate to transmit or receive data in an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) PPDU having multiple RUs.

According to one novel aspect, STAs may be triggered by AP 110To transmit uplink data in a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU), wherein a plurality of RUs are allocated to one single STA. In particular, the AP 110 may transmit to the STAThe trigger frame is sent and may include an RU allocation subfield in which an additional bit (additional bit) is newly introduced to indicate support for 320MHz bandwidth (i.e., RU allocation is applicable for EHT). In response to the trigger frame, the STA120/130/140 may determine an RU combination to be used in the TB PPDU according to the RU allocation subfield and transmit the TB PPDU for UL data transmission to the AP 110.

According to another novel aspect, additional values for EHT identification may be redefined for the subtype subfield and/or the trigger type subfield of the trigger frame.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a STA120/130/140 and an AP 110 according to an embodiment of the application.

As shown in fig. 2, the STA120/130/140 may include a wireless transceiver 10, a controller 20, a storage device 30, a display device 40, and an input/output (I/O) device 50.

The wireless transceiver 10 is configured to perform wireless transmission and reception with the AP 110 or an AP mode STA. For example, the wireless transceiver 10 may be a Wi-Fi chip.

In particular, the wireless transceiver 10 may include a baseband processing device 11, a Radio Frequency (RF) device 12, and an antenna 13, where the antenna 13 may include an antenna array for UL/DL multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO).

The baseband processing device 11 is configured to perform baseband signal processing such as analog-to-digital conversion (ADC)/digital-to-analog conversion (DAC), gain adjustment, modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, and the like. The baseband processing device 11 may contain a number of hardware components, such as a baseband processor, to perform baseband signal processing.

The RF device 12 may receive an RF wireless signal via the antenna 13, convert the received RF wireless signal into a baseband signal processed by the baseband processing device 11, or receive a baseband signal from the baseband processing device 11 and convert the received baseband signal into an RF wireless signal, and then transmit it again through the antenna 13. The RF device 12 may also contain a number of hardware devices to perform radio frequency conversion. For example, the RF device 12 may include a mixer to multiply the baseband signal with a carrier that oscillates in the radio frequencies of the supported cellular technology, where the radio frequencies may be 2.4GHz, 5GHz, or 60GHz as used in Wi-Fi technology, or any radio frequencies used in future developments of Wi-Fi technology.

The controller 20 may be a general purpose processor, a Micro Control Unit (MCU), an application processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), etc., which includes various circuits for providing data processing and computing functions, controlling the wireless transceiver 10 to wirelessly communicate with the AP 110, storing and retrieving data (e.g., program code) from the storage device 30, transmitting a series of frame data (e.g., representing text messages, graphics, images, etc.) to the display device 40, and receiving user input or output signals via the I/O device 50.

In particular, the controller 20 coordinates the aforementioned operations of the wireless transceiver 10, the storage device 30, the display device 40, and the I/O device 50 to perform the methods of the present application.

In another embodiment, the controller 20 may be incorporated into the baseband processing apparatus 11 to function as a baseband processor.

The storage device 30 may be a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including memory such as FLASH memory or non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), or magnetic storage devices such as hard disks or magnetic tape, optical disks, or any combination thereof, for storing data, instructions, and/or program code for applications, Wi-Fi protocol (IEEE 802.11be or other protocol version) and/or methods of the present application.

The display device 40 may be a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Light Emitting Diode (LED) display, an organic LED (oled) display, or an Electronic Paper Display (EPD), etc., to provide a display function. Alternatively, the display device 40 may further include one or more touch sensors for sensing touch, contact, or the like of an object such as a finger or a pen.

The I/O device 50 may include one or more buttons, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch pad, a camera, a microphone, and/or a speaker, etc., to serve as a Man-Machine Interface (abbreviated MMI) for interacting with a user.

Similarly, the AP 110 may include a wireless transceiver 60, a controller 70, a storage device 80, and an I/O device 90.

The wireless transceiver 60 is configured to perform to and from the STAsWireless transmission and reception. For example, the wireless transceiver 60 may be a Wi-Fi chip.

In particular, the wireless transceiver 60 may comprise a baseband processing device 61, an RF device 62 and an antenna 63, wherein the antenna 63 may comprise an antenna array for UL/DL MU-MIMO.

The baseband processing device 61 is configured to perform baseband signal processing, such as ADC/DAC, gain adjustment, modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, and the like. The baseband processing device 61 may contain a number of hardware components, such as a baseband processor, to perform baseband signal processing.

The RF device 62 may receive an RF wireless signal via the antenna 63, convert the received RF wireless signal into a baseband signal processed by the baseband processing device 61, or receive a baseband signal from the baseband processing device 61 and convert the received baseband signal into an RF wireless signal, and then transmit it through the antenna 63. The RF device 62 may also contain a number of hardware devices to perform radio frequency conversion. For example, the RF device 62 may include a mixer to multiply the baseband signal with a carrier that oscillates in the radio frequencies of the supported cellular technology, where the radio frequencies may be 2.4GHz, 5GHz, or 60GHz as used in Wi-Fi technology, or any radio frequencies used in future developments of Wi-Fi technology.

The controller 70 may be a general purpose processor, MCU, application processor, DSP, etc. that includes various circuitry for providing data processing and computing functionality, controls the wireless transceiver 60 to wirelessly communicate with the APs 120-140, stores data (e.g., program code) to and retrieves data from the storage device 80, sends a series of frame data (e.g., representing text messages, graphics, images, etc.) to the display device 40, and receives user input or output signals via the I/O device 90.

In particular, the controller 70 coordinates the aforementioned operations of the wireless transceiver 60, the storage device 80, and the I/O device 90 to perform the methods of the present application.

In another embodiment, the controller 70 may be incorporated into the baseband processing device 61 to function as a baseband processor.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the circuitry of the controllers 20 and 70 may include transistors configured to control the operation of the circuitry in accordance with the functions and operations described herein. As will be further appreciated, the specific structure or interconnection of the transistors may be determined by a compiler, such as a Register Transfer Language (RTL) compiler. An RTL compiler can be operated on scripts very similar to assembly language code by a processor to compile the scripts into a form for final circuit layout or fabrication. Indeed, RTL is known for its role and use in facilitating the design of electronic and digital systems.

The storage device 80 may be a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including memory such as FLASH memory or NVRAM, or magnetic storage such as hard disk or magnetic tape, optical disk, or any combination of the above storage devices, for storing data, instructions, and/or program code for an application program, Wi-Fi protocol (IEEE 802.11be or other protocol version), and/or methods of the present application.

The I/O device 90 may include one or more buttons, a keyboard, a touch pad, a display device (e.g., LCD, LED, OLED, EPD, etc.), a light emitting device, a microphone, and/or a speaker, etc., to serve as an MMI for interacting with a user.

It should be understood that the components described in the embodiment of FIG. 2 are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application. For example, the AP 110 or STA120/130/140 may include further components, such as another wireless transceiver for providing telecommunication services, a Global Positioning System (GPS) device for certain location-based services or applications, and/or a battery for powering the other components. Alternatively, the AP 110 or STAs 120/130/140 may include fewer components. For example, STA120/130/140 may not include display device 40 and/or I/O device 50.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a format of an EHT trigger frame according to an embodiment of the present application.

The AP (or AP mode STA) uses a trigger frame to allocate resources and request one or more EHT TB PPDU transmissions. Generally, the trigger frame includes information required for the responding STA to transmit the EHT TB PPDU.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 3, the EHT trigger Frame may include a Media Access Control (MAC) header, a common information field, a user information field list, padding bits (padding bits), and a Frame Check Sequence (FCS) field.

The MAC header consists of a frame control field, a duration field, a Receiver Address (RA) field, and a TA field. The frame control field may include control information required for frame transmission/reception. The duration field may be set to a time for transmitting the corresponding frame. The RA field may indicate an address of the receiver STA. For example, the RA field may be set to a broadcast group address. The TA field may indicate an address of an AP/STA transmitting the EHT trigger frame.

The common information field may include common information for all the triggered STAs, and each user information field may include information specific to the respective triggered STA.

It should be noted that unlike conventional Trigger frames (e.g., HE Trigger frames), the Trigger frames described herein may be applied to EHT by defining a new value for EHT identification in a subtype subfield of a frame control field or in a Trigger Type subfield (Trigger Type subfield) of a Common information field (Common Info field). For example, valid control type value and subtype value combinations may be defined in table 1 as follows, while trigger type subfield encoding may be defined in table 2 as follows.

Control type value	Description of control types	Subtype value	Subtype description
				01	Control of	0000-0001	Retention
01	Control of	0010	Triggering
				01	Control of	0101	VHT/HE NDP advertisement
01	Control of	1010	EHT identification

TABLE 1

TABLE 2

Further, unlike conventional trigger frames (e.g., HE trigger frames), the EHT trigger frames described herein are enhanced for RU allocation signaling to support EHT TB PPDUs with multiple RUs by modifying the RU allocation subfield format of the user information field. The details of this improvement will be described later in the embodiments of the following drawings.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating a format of a user information field of an EHT trigger frame according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 4, the RU allocation subfield of the user information field is 9 bits, in contrast to the RU allocation subfield of 8 bits length of the user information field in the legacy trigger frame (e.g., HE long trigger frame).

Specifically, an additional bit is newly introduced as the first bit (i.e., B0) in the RU allocation subfield to indicate support for 320MHz bandwidth in EHT. For example, a setting of B0 of the RU allocation subfield to 0 indicates that the RU allocates a primary 160MHz channel suitable for a bandwidth of 320MHz, and a setting of 1 indicates that the RU allocates a secondary 160MHz channel suitable for a bandwidth of 320 MHz.

In addition, the second bit of the RU allocation subfield (i.e., B1) indicates whether the RU allocation applies to the primary 80MHz channel of the 320MHz bandwidth. For example, B1 of the RU allocation subfield is set to 0 to indicate that the RU allocation applies to the primary 80MHz channel and is set to 1 to indicate that the RU allocation applies to the secondary 80MHz channel.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating a channel arrangement for a 320MHz bandwidth according to an embodiment of the application.

As shown in fig. 5, the 320MHz bandwidth is divided into four contiguous 80MHz channels. The 160MHz channel, which consists of the first two 80MHz channels, may be configured as the primary 160MHz channel of the EHT, and the 160MHz channel, which consists of the last two 80MHz channels, may be configured as the secondary 160MHz channel of the EHT.

Further, a first 80MHz channel of the first primary 160MHz channels may be configured as a primary 80MHz channel, while another 80MHz channel may be configured as a secondary 80MHz channel.

Note that the channel arrangement described in the embodiment of fig. 5 is for illustration purposes only and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application. For example, a 160MHz channel consisting of the last two 80MHz channels may be configured as the primary 160MHz channel of the EHT, while a 160MHz channel consisting of the first two 80MHz channels may be configured as the secondary 160MHz channel of the EHT. Similarly, any 80MHz channel other than the first 80MHz channel may be configured as a primary 80MHz channel.

Referring again to fig. 4, bits 3 to 9 (i.e., B2 to B8) of the RU allocation subfield indicate that a value greater than 68 may be set to indicate an RU combination for EHT.

Specifically, values 0-68 have been defined for the legacy protocol version in the IEEE 802.11ax standard. Since the bandwidth in IEEE 802.11be increases from 160MHz to 320MHz, new values are proposed for EHT here, as shown in tables 3 and 4.

TABLE 3

TABLE 4

Fig. 6 illustrates an exemplary RU allocation for an EHT. Fig. 7 illustrates another exemplary RU allocation for an EHT. Note that the numbers in parentheses in table 3 refer to RUs in the exemplary RU allocation for an EHT shown in fig. 6, and the numbers in parentheses in table 4 refer to RUs in the exemplary RU allocation for an EHT shown in fig. 7.

It should be understood that the 7 bits of the RU allocation subfield (i.e., B2 through B8) may represent a total of 128 RU combinations, where 69 RU combinations are defined for the legacy protocol version, and thus, only the remaining 59 RU combinations need to be defined to accommodate the EHT. If there may be more than 59 RU combinations in the future to accommodate the EHT, then only one RU assignment subfield may not be sufficient to represent the complete combination of RUs in the EHT. In response to this consideration, the present application proposes another solution as follows.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating a format of a user information field of an EHT trigger frame according to another embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 8, the user information field is extended to include other subfields such as a number of RU subfields (Num of RUs subfield) and one or more RU allocation subfields. The number of RU subfield indicates the number of RUs to be used in the TB PPDU, and accordingly, the same number of RU allocation subfields are in the user information field. For example, the RU subfield number may be 3 bits long, and if it is set to "000" (in binary), one RU is represented; if it is set to "001", two RUs are indicated.

In contrast to the 8-bit long RU allocation subfield of the user information field in a regular trigger frame (e.g., HE trigger frame), each RU allocation subfield of the user information field is 9 bits long. Similar to the embodiment of fig. 4, an additional bit is newly introduced as the first bit (i.e., B0) in the RU allocation subfield to indicate support for 320MHz bandwidth in EHT. Fig. 9 shows an exemplary RU combination.

For example, if the RU subfield number is set to "001" to indicate that two RUs are to be used in the TB PPDU, the first RU allocation subfield is set to "000001000" (binary representation form from B8 to B0) and the second RU allocation subfield is set to "010011000", the RU combination represented by a dark background in fig. 9 may be determined.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method for RU allocation signaling by a STA to support a TB PPDU having multiple RUs according to an embodiment of the present application.

In this embodiment, the method for RU allocation signaling to support TB PPDUs with multiple RUs may be applied to and performed by STAs (e.g., STA 120/130/140) that support the use of 320MHz bandwidth.

First, the STA receives a trigger frame including a first RU allocation subfield having one bit indicating that a 320MHz bandwidth is supported from the AP (step S1010).

Next, the STA determines an RU combination to be used in the TB PPDU according to the first RU allocation subfield (step S1020).

After that, the STA transmits a TB PPDU for UL data transmission to the AP in response to the trigger frame (step S1030).

The trigger frame may be an EHT trigger frame and the TB PPDU is an EHT TB PPDU conforming to the IEEE 802.11be standard or any future development of IEEE 802.11 be.

The trigger frame may include a subtype subfield and a trigger type subfield in addition to the first RU allocation subfield, and one or both of the subtype subfield and the trigger type subfield may be set to a value for EHT identification.

Specifically, the first RU allocation subfield may be 9 bits long, and a bit indicating that a bandwidth of 320GHz is supported may be introduced as the first bit of the first RU allocation subfield, and the third to ninth bit allocation subfields of the first RU indicate a value greater than 68 to indicate an RU combination of the EHT.

In one embodiment, only one RU allocation subfield (i.e., the first RU allocation subfield) may be used in the user information field of the trigger frame to indicate an RU combination to be used in the TB PPDU if the third through ninth bits of the first RU allocation subfield are sufficient to represent the entire combination of RUs for the EHT.

In another embodiment, if the third through ninth bits of only one RU allocation subfield are insufficient to represent a complete combination of RUs of an EHT, two or more RU allocation subfields may be used in the user information field of the trigger frame to indicate an RU combination to be used in the TB PPDU. For example, the trigger frame may further include: a number of RU subfields for indicating a number of RUs to be used in the TB PPDU, and a second RU allocation subfield having the same format as the first RU allocation subfield, wherein each of the first and second RU allocation subfields indicates a corresponding one of the RUs to be used in the TB PPDU.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method of RU allocation signaling for an AP supporting a TB PPDU having multiple RUs according to an embodiment of the present application.

In this embodiment, the method for RU allocation signaling to support TB PPDUs with multiple RUs may be applied to and performed by an AP (e.g., AP 110 or AP mode STA) supporting a 320MHz bandwidth.

First, the AP transmits to the STA a trigger frame including a first RU allocation subfield having one bit indicating that a 320MHz bandwidth is supported (step S1110).

Next, the AP receives a TB PPDU from the STA in response to the trigger frame, wherein the TB PPDU includes an RU combination as indicated by the first RU allocation subfield (step S1120).

In view of the foregoing embodiments, it will be appreciated that the present application implements RU allocation signaling to support an EHT TB PPDU with multiple RUs by introducing additional bits in the RU allocation subfield of the trigger frame to indicate support for the 320MHz bandwidth and defining new values for the EHT identity in the subtype subfield and/or the trigger type subfield of the trigger frame.

While the present application has been described by way of example and in accordance with preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the application is not so limited. Various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art without departing from the scope or spirit of the present application. Accordingly, the scope of the application should be defined and protected by the following claims and their equivalents.

Some embodiments may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Typically, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.

The subject matter described herein sometimes illustrates different components contained within, or connected with, different other components. It should be understood that: such depicted architectures are merely exemplary, and, in fact, many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively "associated" such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as "associated with" each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Similarly, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being "operably connected," or "operably coupled," to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being "operably couplable," to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of "operatively couplable" include, but are not limited to: physically couplable and/or physically interacting, interacting components, and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interacting components, and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactable components.

Furthermore, with respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as "open" terms (e.g., the term "including" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," the term "having" should be interpreted as "having at least," the term "includes" should be interpreted as "includes but is not limited to," etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to: introduction of a claim recitation object by the indefinite article "a" or "an" limits any claim containing such introduced claim recitation object to inventions containing only one such recitation object, even when the same claim contains the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an" (e.g., "a" and/or "an" should typically be interpreted to mean "at least one" or "one or more"); the foregoing also applies to the introduction of claim recitations by definite articles. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that: such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations," without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Further, where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B and C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B and C" would include but not be limited to systems having A alone, B alone, C, A and B alone, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B and C together, etc.). Where a convention analogous to "A, B or at least one of C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B or C" would include but not be limited to systems having A alone, B alone, C, A and B alone, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase "a or B" should be understood to encompass the possibilities of "a", "B", or "a and B".

Although some example techniques have been described and illustrated herein using different methods, apparatus, and systems, those skilled in the art will understand that: various other modifications may be made, and equivalents may be substituted, without departing from claimed subject matter. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation to the teachings of the claimed subject matter without departing from the central concept described herein. Therefore, it is intended that claimed subject matter not be limited to the particular examples disclosed, but that such claimed subject matter may also include all implementations falling within the scope of the appended claims, and equivalents thereof.