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EP-4740668-A1 - TRANSMISSION OPPORTUNITY (TXOP) RETURN

EP4740668A1EP 4740668 A1EP4740668 A1EP 4740668A1EP-4740668-A1

Abstract

A first access point (AP) receives, from a second AP during a transmission opportunity (TXOP) obtained by the second AP, first frames comprising: a first indication of a portion, of the TXOP, allocated to the first AP, and a second indication of whether the first AP is to return the allocated portion when the first AP finishes communicating before an end of the allocated portion. The first AP transmits, to the second AP, a TXOP return frame based on: the second indication indicating that the first AP is to return the allocated portion when the first AP finishes communicating before the end of the allocated portion, the first AP finishing communicating before the end of the allocated portion, and a remaining time of the allocated portion being greater than a threshold.

Inventors

  • ERKUCUK, SERHAT
  • LANANTE, Leonardo Alisasis
  • Dinan, Esmael Hejazi
  • KIM, JEONGKI
  • BAYKAS, TUNCER
  • ZHANG, JIAYI

Assignees

  • Ofinno, LLC

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20250522

Claims (20)

  1. 1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a first access point (AP) from a second AP, during a transmission opportunity (TXOP) obtained by the second AP, one or more first frames comprising: a first indication of a portion, of the TXOP, allocated to the first AP; and a second indication of whether the first AP is to return the allocated portion of the TXOP when the first AP finishes communicating before an end of the allocated portion of the TXOP; and transmitting, by the first AP to the second AP, a TXOP return frame based on: the second indication indicating that the first AP is to return the allocated portion of the TXOP when the first AP finishes communicating before the end of the allocated portion of the TXOP; the first AP finishing communicating before the end of the allocated portion of the TXOP; and a remaining time of the allocated portion of the TXOP being greater than a threshold.
  2. 2. A method, comprising: receiving, by a first access point (AP) from a second AP, during a transmission opportunity (TXOP) obtained by the second AP, one or more first frames comprising: a first indication of a portion, of the TXOP, allocated to the first AP; and a second indication of whether the first AP is to return the allocated portion of the TXOP when the first AP finishes communicating before an end of the allocated portion of the TXOP.
  3. 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting, by the first AP to the second AP, a second frame based on: the second indication indicating that the first AP is to return the allocated portion of the TXOP when the first AP finishes communicating before the end of the allocated portion of the TXOP; and the first AP finishing communicating before the end of the allocated portion of the TXOP.
  4. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the transmitting of the second frame is further based on a remaining time of the allocated portion of the TXOP being greater than a threshold.
  5. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the threshold comprises a duration of a physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) comprising the second frame.
  6. 6. The method of any of claims 3-5, wherein the second frame comprises a TXOP return frame.
  7. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the TXOP return frame comprises one or more of, a management frame, an action frame, a multi-user request-to-send triggered TXOP sharing (MU-RTS TXS) trigger (MRTT) frame, a quality of service (QoS) null/data frame or a contention free-end (CF-end) frame.
  8. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the QoS null/data frame comprises a command and status (CAS) control field with a reverse direction grant (RDG)/more physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) subfield equal to a zero value.
  9. 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the CF-end frame comprises a transmitter address (TA) indicating the first AP and a receiver address (RA) indicating the second AP.
  10. 10. The method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting, by the first AP, a third frame based on: the second indication indicating that the first AP is not to return the allocated portion of the TXOP when the first AP finishes communicating before the end of the allocated portion of the TXOP; and the first AP finishing communicating before the end of the allocated portion of the TXOP.
  11. 11 . The method of claim 10, wherein the transmitting of the third frame is further based on a remaining time of the allocated portion of the TXOP being greater than a threshold.
  12. 12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the threshold comprises a duration of a physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) comprising the third frame.
  13. 13. The method of claims 10-12, wherein the third frame comprises a TXOP truncation frame.
  14. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the TXOP truncation frame comprises a contention free-end (CF- end) frame.
  15. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the CF-end frame comprises a transmitter address (TA) indicating the first AP and a receiver address (RA) indicating a broadcast address.
  16. 16. The method of any of claims 2-15, wherein the one or more first frames comprises a fourth frame and a fifth frame, wherein the fourth frame comprises a schedule announcement frame and the fifth frame comprises a TXOP allocation frame.
  17. 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the fourth frame comprises the second indication.
  18. 18. The method of any of claims 16-17, wherein the fourth frame comprises a trigger frame.
  19. 19. The method of any of claims 16-18, further comprising transmitting, by the first AP to the second AP, a first response frame in response to the fourth frame.
  20. 20. The method of claim 16, wherein the fifth frame comprises the first indication.

Description

TITLE Transmission Opportunity (TXOP) Return CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/651 ,075, filed May 23, 2024, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/743,256, filed January 9, 2025, all of which is hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0002] Examples of several of the various embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to the drawings. [0003] FIG. 1 illustrates example wireless communication networks in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. [0004] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating example implementations of a station (STA) and an access point (AP). [0005] FIG. 3 illustrates an example Medium Access Control (MAC) frame format. [0006] FIG. 4 illustrates an example management frame which may be used as an action frame. [0007] FIG. 5 illustrates an example control frame which may be used as a trigger frame. [0008] FIG. 6 illustrates an example data frame which may be used as a Quality of Service (QoS) null frame. [0009] FIG. 7 illustrates an example format of a physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU). [0010] FIG. 8 illustrates an example multi-AP network. [0011] FIG. 9 illustrates an example network that includes a coordinated AP set. [0012] FIG. 10 illustrates an example multi-AP operation procedure. [0013] FIG. 11 illustrates an example multi-AP sounding phase. [0014] FIG. 12 illustrates an example multi-AP downlink data transmission phase. [0015] FIG. 13 illustrates an example multi-AP uplink data transmission phase. [0016] FIG. 14 illustrates an example Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) and Coordinated Time Division Multiple Access (CTDMA). [0017] FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a Multi-User Request-to-Send (MU-RTS) trigger frame which may be used in a triggered Transmission Opportunity (TXOP) sharing (TXS) procedure. [0018] FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a TXS procedure (Mode =1). [0019] FIG. 17 illustrates an example of a TXS procedure (Mode =2). [0020] FIG. 18 illustrates an example of an existing CTDMA procedure. [0021] FIG. 19 illustrates an example that highlights a problem that may arise in association with an implementation of a CTDMA procedure. [0022] FIG. 20 illustrates an example of a procedure according to an embodiment. [0023] FIG. 21 illustrates another example of a procedure according to an embodiment. [0024] FIG. 22 illustrates another example of a procedure according to an embodiment. [0025] FIG. 23 illustrates another example of a procedure according to an embodiment. [0026] FIG. 24 illustrates an example process according to an embodiment. [0027] FIG. 25 illustrates another example process according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0028] In the present disclosure, various embodiments are presented as examples of how the disclosed techniques may be implemented and/or how the disclosed techniques may be practiced in environments and scenarios. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the scope. After reading the description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art how to implement alternative embodiments. The present embodiments may not be limited by any of the described exemplary embodiments. The embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Limitations, features, and/or elements from the disclosed example embodiments may be combined to create further embodiments within the scope of the disclosure. Any figures which highlight the functionality and advantages, are presented for example purposes only. The disclosed architecture is sufficiently flexible and configurable, such that it may be utilized in ways other than that shown. For example, the actions listed in any flowchart may be re-ordered or only optionally used in some embodiments. [0029] Embodiments may be configured to operate as needed. The disclosed mechanism may be performed when certain criteria are met, for example, in a station, an access point, a radio environment, a network, a combination of the above, and/or the like. Example criteria may be based, at least in part, on for example, wireless device or network node configurations, traffic load, initial system set up, packet sizes, traffic characteristics, a combination of the above, and/or the like. When the one or more criteria are met, various example embodiments may be applied. Therefore, it may be possible to implement example embodiments that selectively implement disclosed protocols. [0030] In this disclosure, "a” and "an” and similar phrases are to be interpreted as "at least one” and "one or more.” Similarly, any term that ends with the suffix “(s)” is to be interpreted as "at least one” and “one or more.” In this disclosure, the term "may” is to be interpreted as “may, for e