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EP-4085724-B1 - MULTI-LINK COMMUNICATIONS OF A WIRELESS NETWORK WITH DYNAMIC LINK CONFIGURATION

EP4085724B1EP 4085724 B1EP4085724 B1EP 4085724B1EP-4085724-B1

Inventors

  • FANG, YONGGANG
  • SUN, BO
  • HAN, ZHIQIANG
  • LI, NAN

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20200731

Claims (13)

  1. A method for wireless communication in a wireless local area network, WLAN, comprising: receiving, by a multiple link station, an indication message from a multiple link access point, ML-AP, the indication message indicating that the ML-AP is capable of transmitting information over one or more wireless links; transmitting, by the multiple link station, a first request message to the ML-AP, wherein the ML-AP is configured to associate the multiple link station to the one or more wireless links based on receiving the first request message; transmitting, by the multiple link station, a control request message to the ML-AP over the one or more wireless links, the control request message including information for a configuration of a multi-link transmission and a receiving chain; and receiving, by the multiple link station, a control response message from the ML-AP, wherein the multiple link station is configured to establish a multi-link transmission opportunity, TXOP, over the one or more wireless links configured based on a received configuration of the multi-link transmission.
  2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the multiple link station, a control message from the ML-AP, wherein the control message identifies a multi-radio configuration that includes the one or more wireless links.
  3. The method of claim 1, wherein the control request message includes a ready-to-send, RTS, or a multi-user RTS, MU-RTS, message, and wherein the control response message includes clear-to-send, CTS, or multi-user clear-to-send, MU-CTS, message.
  4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, by the multiple link station, a ready-to-send, RTS, or multi-user ready-to-send, MU-RTS, message to the ML-AP associated with the multiple link station over the one or more wireless links associated with the multiple link station; and receiving, by the multiple link station, a clear-to-send, CTS, or multi-user clear-to-send, MU-CTS, message from the ML-AP associated with the multiple link station over the one or more wireless links associated with the multiple link station to establish a multi-link transmission opportunity, TXOP, across the one or more wireless links.
  5. The method of claim 1, wherein a second multiple link station not associated with the one or more wireless links is configured to update a network-allocation vector, NAV, to prevent transmission of data during a multi-link transmission opportunity time period based on receiving any of a RTS/MU-RTS message and a CTS/MU-CTS message.
  6. A method for wireless communication in a wireless local area network, WLAN, comprising: transmitting, by a ML-AP, an indication message to a multiple link station, the indication message indicating that the ML-AP is capable of transmitting information over at least one wireless link; receiving, by the ML-AP from the multiple link station, a first request message including multi-link capability information; associating one or more wireless links with the multiple link station based on the multi-link capability information; receiving, by the ML-AP, a control request message from the multiple link station over the one or more wireless links, the control request message including information for a configuration of a multi-link transmission and a receiving chain; and transmitting, by the ML-AP, a control response message to the multiple link station wherein the multiple link station is configured to establish a multi-link transmission opportunity, TXOP, over the one or more wireless links configured based on a received configuration of the multi-link transmission.
  7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: transmitting, by the ML-AP, a control message to the multiple link station, wherein the control message identifies a multi-radio configuration that includes the one or more wireless links.
  8. The method of claim 6, wherein a configuration of the multiple link station includes setting a state of a first link of the one or more wireless links to an enabled state if the first link was in a disabled state.
  9. The method of claim 6, wherein the control request message includes a ready-to-send, RTS, or a multi-user RTS, MU-RTS, message, and wherein the control response message includes clear-to-send, CTS, or multi-user clear-to-send, MU-CTS, message.
  10. The method of claim 6, further comprising: receiving, by the ML-AP, a ready-to-send, RTS, or multi-user ready-to-send, MU- RTS, message from the multiple link station over the one or more wireless links associated with the multiple link station; and transmitting, by the ML-AP, a clear-to-send, CTS, or multi-user clear-to-send, MU-CTS, message to the multiple link station over the one or more wireless links associated with the multiple link station to establish a multi-link transmission opportunity, TXOP, across the one or more wireless links.
  11. The method of claim 6, wherein a second multiple link station not associated with the one or more wireless links is configured to update a network-allocation vector, NAV, to prevent transmission of data during a multi-link transmission opportunity time period based on receiving any of an RTS/MU-RTS message and a CTS/MU-CTS message.
  12. An apparatus for wireless communication in a wireless local area network, WLAN, comprising a processor that is configured to carry out the method of any of claims 1 to 5 when the processor is embodied in a multiple link station, or claims 6-11 when the processor is embodied in a multiple link access point.
  13. A non-transitory computer readable medium having code stored thereon, the code when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement a method recited in any of claims 1 to 5 when the processor is embodied in a multiple link station, or claims 6 to 11 when the processor is embodied in a multiple link access point.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD This patent document is directed generally to wireless communications. BACKGROUND Wireless communication systems can include a network of one or more access points (APs) that communicate with one or more wireless stations (STAs). An AP may emit radio signals that carry management information, control information or user data to one or more STAs. A STA may transmit radio signals to an AP in the same frequency channel using a technique such as time division duplexing (TDD) or in a different frequency using a technique such as frequency division duplexing (FDD). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specifies a specification for a wireless local area network (WLAN) over radio channels in license-exempt bands. The basic unit of a WLAN is a basic service set (BSS). An infrastructure BSS may include the BSS with stations through associating with an Access Point (AP) to connect to the wired network or Internet. In an infrastructure BSS, both an access point and a station may share the same frequency channel via using Carrier Sensing Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) technology, a kind of TDD mechanism, for multiple access and data transmission. WO 2018/136516 A1, IEEE Draft (Qualcomm) "MLO: Support for Constrained Devices", IEEE 802.11-20/0026r0, IEEE Draft (Samsung) "Multi-link Channel Access Follow-up" IEEE 802.11-19/1836r4, IEE Draft (Broadcom Inc) "MLO-Synch-Transmission" IEEE 802.11-20/0081r1, are related prior art documents. SUMMARY The invention is specified by the independent claims. Preferred embodiments are defined in the dependent claims. In the following description, although numerous features may be designated as optional, it is nevertheless acknowledged that all features comprised in the independent claims are not to be read as optional. This document discloses methods, systems, and devices related to digital wireless communications, and more specifically, to techniques related to utilizing multiple wireless connection links between a wireless station and an access point to transmit user data to reduce the access delay, improve transmission reliability, and increase transmission throughput. In one exemplary aspect, a method for wireless communication is provided as defined by the independent claim 1. In another exemplary embodiment, a method for wireless communication is provided as defined by the independent claim 6. In another exemplary aspect, a wireless communications apparatus is provided as defined by the independent claim 12. In yet another exemplary aspect, the various techniques described herein may be embodied as processor-executable code and stored on a computer-readable program medium as defined by the independent claim 13. The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying attachments, the drawings, and the description below. Other features will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1A illustrates an example infrastructure BSS.FIG. 1B illustrates a first example of multiple links being carried on one or more radio frequency channels.FIG. 1C illustrates a second example of multiple links being carried on one or more radio frequency channels.FIG. 1D illustrates a third example of multiple links being carried on one or more radio frequency channels.FIG. 2A illustrates a first example of ML station and access point system architecture.FIG. 2B illustrates a second example of ML station and access point system architecture.FIG. 2C illustrates a third example of ML station and access point system architecture.FIG. 2D illustrates a fourth example of ML station and access point system architecture.FIG. 2E illustrates a fifth example of ML station and access point system architecture.FIG. 2F illustrates a sixth example of ML station and access point system architecture.FIG. 2G illustrates a seventh example of ML station and access point system architecture.FIG. 2H illustrates an eighth example of ML station and access point system architecture.FIG. 2I illustrates a ninth example of ML station and access point system architecture.FIG. 2J illustrates a tenth example of ML station and access point system architecture.FIG. 3 illustrates an example extremely high throughput capability information element with multi-link support informationFIG. 4 illustrates an example signaling process of multi-link communication establishment based on association request and response message exchanges.FIG. 5A illustrates a first example signaling process to utilize multi-link operation for support of low latency, high reliable or high throughput transmissions.FIG. 5B illustrates a second example signaling process to utilize multi-link operation for support of low latency, high reliable or high throughput transmissions.FIG. 5C illustrates a third example signaling process to utilize multi-link operation for support of low latency, high reliable or high throughput tran