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EP-4740667-A1 - FREQUENCY-SELECTIVE SERVICE PERIOD

EP4740667A1EP 4740667 A1EP4740667 A1EP 4740667A1EP-4740667-A1

Abstract

Frequency-selective service period An access point (10) of a wireless communication system operates on a first wireless channel. The access point (10) sends an indication of at least one scheduled service period for transmission of first data traffic of a group of one or more devices. The indication comprises information on frequency resources of the first wireless channel which are reserved for the first data traffic. Further, the access point (10) participates in transmission of at least a part of the first data traffic on the reserved frequency resources.

Inventors

  • DI TARANTO, ROCCO
  • SUNDMAN, Dennis
  • AMBEDE, Abhishek
  • WILHELMSSON, LEIF
  • PETTERSSON, Charlie
  • MAX, SEBASTIAN

Assignees

  • Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240429

Claims (20)

  1. 1. A method of controlling wireless transmissions in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: an access point (10; 800) of the wireless communication system operating on a first wireless channel; the access point (10; 800) sending an indication of at least one scheduled service period for transmission of first data traffic of a group of one or more devices (10, 20; 800, 900), the indication comprising information on frequency resources of the first wireless channel which are reserved for the first data traffic; and the access point (10; 800) participating in transmission of at least a part of the first data traffic on the reserved frequency resources.
  2. 2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the information indicates a subchannel of the first wireless channel, the subchannel being reserved for the first data traffic of the group.
  3. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the subchannel is different from a primary subchannel of the access point.
  4. 4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the indication is receivable by a further access point of the wireless communication system, the further access point operating on a second wireless channel which at least partially overlaps in frequency with the first wireless channel, and wherein the subchannel is different from a primary subchannel of the further access point.
  5. 5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the information comprises an indication of the first wireless channel.
  6. 6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the information comprises an indication of a bandwidth of the first wireless channel.
  7. 7. The method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the information comprises an indication of one or more resource units of the first wireless channel.
  8. 8. The method according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the information comprises an indication that the at least one service period applies to downlink data traffic from the access point (10; 800).
  9. 9. The method according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the information comprises an indication that the at least one service period applies to uplink data traffic to the access point (10; 800).
  10. 10. The method according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the information comprises an indication that the at least one service period applies to data traffic between the wireless devices (20; 900).
  11. 11. The method according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the information comprises an indication that the at least one service period applies to data traffic between the access point (10; 800) and another access point (10; 800).
  12. 12. The method according to any of claims 1 to 11 , wherein the information comprises an indication of required frequency separation of the reserved frequency resources from other frequency resources of the first wireless channel.
  13. 13. The method according to any of claims 1 to 12, wherein the information comprises an indication of a full-duplex capability of the access point (10; 800).
  14. 14. The method according to any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the information comprises an indication of a channel access mode for the reserved frequency resources of the first wireless channel.
  15. 15. The method according to any of claims 1 to 14, wherein the information comprises an indication of a channel access mode for other frequency resources of the first wireless channel.
  16. 16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein the wireless communication system is based on a Wireless Local Area Network technology according to the IEEE 802.11 standards family.
  17. 17. A method of controlling wireless transmissions in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: a wireless communication device (10, 20; 800; 900) receiving, from an access point (10; 800) of the wireless communication system operating on a first wireless channel, an indication of at least one scheduled service period for transmission of first data traffic of a group of one or more devices (10, 20; 800, 900), the indication comprising information on frequency resources of the first wireless channel which are reserved for the first data traffic; and based on the indication, the wireless communication device (10, 20; 800; 900) controlling usage of the first wireless channel by the wireless communication device (10, 20; 800; 900).
  18. 18. The method according to claim 17, comprising: in response to the wireless communication device (10, 20; 800; 900) being member of the group, the wireless communication device (10, 20; 800; 900) participating in transmission of at least a part of the first data traffic on the reserved frequency resources.
  19. 19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, comprising: in response to the wireless communication device (10, 20; 800; 900) being member of the group and a need to transmit second data traffic, the wireless communication device (10, 20; 800; 900) contending for access to other frequency resources of the first wireless channel to transmit the second data traffic to the access point (10; 800).
  20. 20. The method according to any of claim 17 to 19, comprising: in response to the wireless communication device (10, 20; 800; 900) not being member of the group, the wireless communication device (10, 20; 800; 900) contending for access to other frequency resources of the first wireless channel to transmit third data traffic.

Description

Frequency-selective service period Technical Field The present invention relates to methods for controlling wireless transmissions and to corresponding devices, systems, and computer programs. Background Wireless communication technologies may use licensed frequency bands and/or licenseexempt frequency bands. A typical example of a wireless communication technology operating in license-exempt frequency bands is the WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) technology, according to "IEEE Standard for Information Technology-Telecommunications and Information Exchange between Systems - Local and Metropolitan Area Networks-Specific Requirements - Part 11 : Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications," in IEEE Std 802.11-2020 (Revision of IEEE Std 802.11-2016), pp.1- 4379, 26 Feb. 2021 , in the following denoted as “IEEE 802.11 standard”. The WLAN technology based on the IEEE 802.11 Standard is also referred to as “Wi-Fi”. In a recent amendment to the IEEE 802.11 standard, “IEEE Standard for Information Technology-Telecommunications and Information Exchange between Systems Local and Metropolitan Area Networks-Specific Requirements Part 11 : Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications Amendment 1 : Enhancements for High-Efficiency WLAN”, in the following denoted as “802.11 ax Amendment”, a functionality denoted as target wake-up time (TWT) was introduced. The TWT functionality allows an AP (Access Point) to schedule activity in the BSS (Basic Service Set), with the aim of reducing contention between STAs (stations). Further, the TWT functionality can be used for reducing the required amount of time that a STA utilizing a power management mode needs to be awake. The TWT functionality allows STAs to allocate and operate at nonoverlapping times and/or frequencies, and to concentrate the frame exchanges in predefined service periods (SPs). TWT SPs may be set up by negotiation of individual TWT agreements among AP and STA(s) or by announcement of TWT SPs in beacon frames transmitted by the AP. The latter variant is denoted as “Broadcast TWT announcement”. Broadcast TWT announcements indicate upcoming SPs and information about which member STAs should be prepared to participate. In both cases, it is to be noted that even though an AP can force a TWT capable STA to either join a broadcast TWT schedule or set up an individual TWT agreement, the STA may immediately teardown the TWT agreement. To support such negotiations, there are several options that can be signaled between devices to reach an agreement that both sides are satisfied with. Furthermore, an SP may be terminated by an AP if the SP is no longer required for delivery of data, e.g., due to overprovisioning. In “Standard for Information technology-Telecommunications and information exchange between systems Local and metropolitan area networks-Specific requirements - Part 11 : Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications Amendment: Enhancements for Extremely High Throughput (EHT)”, in the following denoted as “802.11 be Amendment”, a restricted TWT (R-TWT) was introduced. The R-TWT is based on a similar framework of scheduling STAs as the TWT, but also allows an AP to prioritize certain latency sensitive traffic flows. To protect the SP from other devices trying to access the medium a scheduling AP may signal a quiet interval with the same start time as the SP with a duration of one time unit (TU) (corresponding to 1024 ps). Further, R-TWT capable non- AP STAs must ensure that their TXOP (Transmit Opportunity) ends before an upcoming SP that they are not a member of. Similarly, such non-AP STAs cannot start new data transmissions that will not finish before the SP starts. As compared to the TWT of the 802.11 ax amendment, the R-TWT is based on broadcast TWT operation for setting up periodic SPs. An AP can set up such broadcast TWT operation by signaling a broadcast TWT information element in its beacon frame. Details concerning the possibilities of setting up a broadcast TWT operation are specified in the 802.11 ax Amendment. The R-TWT functionality may for example provide benefits for UHR (Ultra High Reliability) applications. For example, EHT devices capable of operating on large bandwidths, such as 160 MHz or 320 MHz, may deliver their critical traffic in a timely manner using the R-TWT mechanism. The use of R-TWT across several neighboring BSS is also being considered. Such mechanisms are also referred to as Multi-AP R-TWT mechanism. For example, in “Considerations for AP coordination in UHR: Coordinated Medium Access”, IEEE contribution IEEE 802.11-23/226r1 , by Abdel Karim Ajami et al., available online under “https://mentor.ieee.org/802.11/dcn/23/11-23-0226-01-0uhr-coordination-of-r-twt-for-multi- ap-deployment.pptx” (2023) it is suggested to synchronize the R-TWT SP across neighboring BSSs. Two levels of synchronization are proposed. In the first, sim