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EP-4736553-A1 - COORDINATED MULTI-ACCESS POINT TRIGGER FRAME EXTENSION SCHEMES

EP4736553A1EP 4736553 A1EP4736553 A1EP 4736553A1EP-4736553-A1

Abstract

Various techniques pertaining to coordinated multi-access point (CMAP) trigger frame (TF) extension schemes in wireless communications are described. An apparatus (e.g., an access point (AP) ) transmits or receives a trigger frame (TF) that triggers a coordinated beamforming (CBF) transmission. The apparatus then participates in the CBF transmission. The TF provides an extension of time allowing each of one or more shared APs to finish recalculation of one or more steering matrixes for the CBF transmission before participating in the CBF transmission.

Inventors

  • FENG, SHULING
  • LIU, JIANHAN
  • HSIEH, HUNG-TAO
  • LU, Kai Ying

Assignees

  • MediaTek Inc.

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20240607

Claims (20)

  1. A method, comprising: transmitting, by a processor of a sharing access point (AP) , a trigger frame (TF) to one or more shared APs to trigger a coordinated beamforming (CBF) transmission; and participating, by the processor, in the CBF transmission with the one or more shared APs, wherein the TF provides an extension of time allowing each of the one or more shared APs to finish recalculation of one or more steering matrixes for the CBF transmission before participating in the CBF transmission.
  2. The method of Claim 1, wherein the TF comprises an existing TF specified under an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ax specification with a definition of a subfield for trigger frame medium access control (MAC) padding duration expanded from non-access point (non-AP) stations (STAs) to cover APs.
  3. The method of Claim 2, wherein the subfield for trigger frame MAC padding duration is expanded to 4 bits such that the duration for each of the one or more shared APs to perform matrix recalculation is extended up to 96 microseconds.
  4. The method of Claim 2, wherein the TF is padded based on a largest minimum trigger processing time (MinTrigProcTime) of all shared APs of the one or more shared APs participating in the CBF transmission.
  5. The method of Claim 2, wherein the TF is extended with extra symbols at an end of a packet of the TF, and wherein the extra symbols comprise: repetitions of long-training field (LTF) symbols used to decode data symbols, or packet extension (PE) symbols.
  6. The method of Claim 1, wherein the TF comprises a CBF TF with a new subfield for CBF AP trigger frame medium access control (MAC) padding duration that indicates a minimum CBF AP trigger processing time (MinCBFAPTrigProcTime) which is used to pad the CBF TF.
  7. The method of Claim 6, wherein the subfield for CBF AP trigger frame MAC padding duration has 4 bits such that the duration for each of the one or more shared APs to perform matrix recalculation is extended up to 96 microseconds.
  8. The method of Claim 6, wherein the CBF TF is padded based on a largest MinCBFAPTrigProcTime of all shared APs of the one or more shared APs participating in the CBF transmission.
  9. The method of Claim 6, wherein the CBF TF is extended with extra symbols at an end of a packet of the TF, and wherein the extra symbols comprise: repetitions of long-training field (LTF) symbols used to decode data symbols, or packet extension (PE) symbols.
  10. A method, comprising: receiving, by a processor of a shared access point (AP) , a trigger frame (TF) from a sharing AP that triggers a coordinated beamforming (CBF) transmission; and participating, by the processor, in the CBF transmission with the sharing AP, wherein the TF provides an extension of time allowing the shared AP to finish recalculation of one or more steering matrixes for the CBF transmission before participating in the CBF transmission.
  11. The method of Claim 10, wherein the TF comprises an existing TF specified under an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ax specification with a definition of a subfield for trigger frame medium access control (MAC) padding duration expanded from non-access point (non-AP) stations (STAs) to cover APs.
  12. The method of Claim 11, wherein the subfield for trigger frame MAC padding duration is expanded to 4 bits such that the duration for the shared AP to perform matrix recalculation is extended up to 96 microseconds.
  13. The method of Claim 11, wherein the TF is padded based on a largest minimum trigger processing time (MinTrigProcTime) of all shared APs, including the shared AP, participating in the CBF transmission.
  14. The method of Claim 11, wherein the TF is extended with extra symbols at an end of a packet of the TF, and wherein the extra symbols comprise: repetitions of long-training field (LTF) symbols used to decode data symbols, or packet extension (PE) symbols.
  15. The method of Claim 10, wherein the TF comprises a CBF TF with a new subfield for CBF AP trigger frame medium access control (MAC) padding duration that indicates a minimum CBF AP trigger processing time (MinCBFAPTrigProcTime) which is used to pad the CBF TF.
  16. The method of Claim 15, wherein the subfield for CBF AP trigger frame MAC padding duration has 4 bits such that the duration for the shared AP to perform matrix recalculation is extended up to 96 microseconds.
  17. The method of Claim 15, wherein the CBF TF is padded based on a largest MinCBFAPTrigProcTime of all shared APs, including the shared AP, participating in the CBF transmission.
  18. The method of Claim 15, wherein the CBF TF is extended with extra symbols at an end of a packet of the TF, and wherein the extra symbols comprise: repetitions of long-training field (LTF) symbols used to decode data symbols, or packet extension (PE) symbols.
  19. An apparatus, comprising: a transceiver configured to communicate wirelessly; and a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform operations comprising: transmitting or receiving, via the transceiver, a trigger frame (TF) that triggers a coordinated beamforming (CBF) transmission; and participating, via the transceiver, in the CBF transmission, wherein the TF provides an extension of time allowing each of one or more shared access points (APs) to finish recalculation of one or more steering matrixes for the CBF transmission before participating in the CBF transmission.
  20. The apparatus of Claim 19, wherein the TF comprises either: an existing TF specified under an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ax specification with a definition of a subfield for trigger frame medium access control (MAC) padding duration expanded from non-access point (non-AP) stations (STAs) to cover APs; or a CBF TF with a new subfield for CBF AP trigger frame MAC padding duration that indicates a minimum CBF AP trigger processing time (MinCBFAPTrigProcTime) which is used to pad the CBF TF.

Description

COORDINATED MULTI-ACCESS POINT TRIGGER FRAME EXTENSION SCHEMES CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION The present disclosure is part of a non-provisional patent application claiming the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/510,926, filed 29 June 2023, the content of which herein being incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure is generally related to wireless communications and, more particularly, to coordinated multi-access point (CMAP) trigger frame (TF) extension schemes in wireless communications. BACKGROUND Unless otherwise indicated herein, approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section. In wireless communications such as WiFi (or Wi-Fi) and WLANs under the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specifications, coordinated transmission beamforming (herein interchangeably referred to as “coordinated TxBF” and “CBF” ) transmissions are proposed for Ultra High Reliability (UHR) in next-generation WLAN. CBF is intended to allow multiple access points (APs) to transmit to multiple stations (STAs) simultaneously on the same frequency band. Given adequate antenna resources, each AP beamforms its transmission power toward its own targeted STAs and nulls transmission power at STAs served by other CBF APs. CBF transmissions improve overall network throughput by mitigating interference powers that STAs receive from APs other than their associated AP. However, at the time of invention as described in the present disclosure, further enhancement to trigger frames (TFs) to support CBF needs to be specified. Therefore, there is a need for a solution of CMAP TF extension schemes in wireless communications. SUMMARY The following summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be limiting in any way. That is, the following summary is provided to introduce concepts, highlights, benefits and advantages of the novel and non-obvious techniques described herein. Select implementations are 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. An objective of the present disclosure is to provide schemes, concepts, designs, techniques, methods and apparatuses pertaining to CMAP TF extension schemes in wireless communications. It is believed that various schemes proposed herein may address or otherwise alleviate the aforementioned issue (s) . It is noteworthy that the proposed schemes described herein may be applied to CMAP scenarios, although not limited to the context of CBF. Moreover, the proposed schemes may be applied to lightly coordinated beamforming (LCBF) , such as asynchronous CBF (A-CBF) , MAP scenarios. In one aspect, a method may involve a processor of a sharing AP transmitting a trigger frame to one or more shared APs to trigger a CBF transmission. The method may also involve the processor participating in the CBF transmission with the one or more shared APs. The trigger frame may provide an extension of time allowing each of the one or more shared APs to finish recalculation of one or more steering matrixes for the CBF transmission before participating in the CBF transmission. In another aspect, a method may involve a processor of a shared AP receiving a trigger frame from a sharing AP that triggers a CBF transmission. The method may also involve the processor participating in the CBF transmission with the sharing AP. The trigger frame may provide an extension of time allowing the shared AP to finish recalculation of one or more steering matrixes for the CBF transmission before participating in the CBF transmission. In yet another aspect, an apparatus may include a transceiver configured to communicate wirelessly and a processor coupled to the transceiver. The processor may transmit or receive a trigger frame that triggers a CBF transmission. The processor may also participate in the CBF transmission. The trigger frame may provide an extension of time allowing each of one or more shared APs to finish  recalculation of one or more steering matrixes for the CBF transmission before participating in the CBF transmission. It is noteworthy that, although description provided herein may be in the context of certain radio access technologies, networks and network topologies such as, WiFi/WLAN, the proposed concepts, schemes and any variation (s) /derivative (s) thereof may be implemented in, for and by other types of radio access technologies, networks and network topologies such as, for example and without limitation, Bluetooth, ZigBee, 5th Generation (5G) /New Radio (NR) , Long-Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro, Internet-of-Things (IoT) , Industrial IoT (IIoT) and narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) . Thus, the scope of the