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US-12627397-B2 - Indicating channel puncturing in a PHY header

US12627397B2US 12627397 B2US12627397 B2US 12627397B2US-12627397-B2

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for indicating channel puncturing in a physical (PHY) header of a PPDU are disclosed. Apparatuses of a non-access point (AP) station (STA) or of an AP are disclosed, where the apparatuses comprise processing circuitry configured to: decode a first portion of a physical (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU), the first portion of the PPDU comprising a bandwidth subfield and a puncturing pattern subfield, the bandwidth subfield indicating a bandwidth of a transmission channel for the PPDU, and the puncturing pattern subfield indicating whether 20 MHz subchannels within the transmission channel are punctured. The processing circuitry is further configured to decode the second portion of the PPDU in accordance with the transmission channel and the punctured 20 MHz subchannels.

Inventors

  • Laurent Cariou

Assignees

  • INTEL CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20221201

Claims (17)

  1. 1 . An apparatus for a non-access point (AP) station (STA) (non-AP STA), the apparatus comprising memory; and processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to: decode a first portion of a physical (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU), the first portion of the PPDU comprising a PHY header, the PHY header comprising a bandwidth subfield and a service field, the service field comprising a puncturing pattern subfield, the bandwidth subfield indicating a bandwidth of a transmission channel for the PPDU, and the puncturing pattern subfield indicating which 20 MHz subchannels within the transmission channel are punctured; decode a second portion of the PPDU, in accordance with the transmission channel and the punctured 20 MHz subchannels; encode a response PPDU in response to the PPDU and in accordance with the transmission channel and the punctured 20 MHz subchannels, wherein the non-AP STA refrains from indicating which 20 MHz subchannels are punctured in the response PPDU; and configure the non-AP STA to transmit the response PPDU in accordance with the transmission channel and the punctured 20 MHz subchannels.
  2. 2 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the puncturing pattern subfield comprises 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 bits.
  3. 3 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the puncturing pattern subfield indicates a puncture pattern index, the puncture pattern index indicating a pattern of punctured 20 MHz subchannels.
  4. 4 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein for the bandwidth lower than or equal to 160 MHz, one bit of the puncturing pattern subfield corresponds to each 20 MHz subchannel of the bandwidth and indicates whether the 20 MHz subchannel is punctured.
  5. 5 . The apparatus of claim 4 wherein for the bandwidth greater than 160 MHz, one bit of the puncturing pattern subfield corresponds to each 40 MHz subchannel of the bandwidth and indicates whether the 40 MHz subchannel is punctured.
  6. 6 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein one bit of the puncturing pattern subfield corresponds to a subchannel of the bandwidth and indicates whether the subchannel is punctured.
  7. 7 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein one or two bits of the puncturing pattern subfield indicate a parity check for bits of the puncturing pattern subfield.
  8. 8 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the puncturing pattern subfield indicates a puncturing pattern index into a table of puncturing patterns for the bandwidth.
  9. 9 . The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the bandwidth indicates 80 MHz, 160 MHz, or 320 MHz.
  10. 10 . The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the puncturing patterns indicate which 20 MHz channels within the bandwidth are punctured.
  11. 11 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: decode a beacon frame from an access point (AP), the beacon frame indicating a disabled subchannel bitmap field, the disabled subchannel bitmap field which 20 MHz subchannels are disabled or punctured.
  12. 12 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the PPDU is a first PPDU, the bandwidth subfield is a first bandwidth subfield, the puncturing pattern subfield is a first puncturing pattern subfield, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: encode for transmission a second PPDU, the second PPDU comprising a second bandwidth subfield and a second puncturing pattern subfield, the second bandwidth subfield indicating a bandwidth of a transmission channel for the second PPDU, and the puncturing pattern subfield indicating whether subchannels within the transmission channel are punctured; and configure the non-AP STA to transmit the second PPDU in accordance with the bandwidth and the puncturing pattern subfield.
  13. 13 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the non-AP STA is part of a multi-link device (MLD).
  14. 14 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the non-AP STA is configured to operate in accordance with an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE) 802.11 communication protocol.
  15. 15 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising transceiver circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry, the transceiver circuitry coupled to two or more patch antennas for receiving signaling in accordance with a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technique.
  16. 16 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of an apparatus for an apparatus for a non-access point (AP) station (STA), the instructions to configure the one or more processors to: decode a first portion of a physical (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU), the first portion of the PPDU comprising a PHY header, the PHY header comprising a bandwidth subfield and a service field, the service field comprising a puncturing pattern subfield, the bandwidth subfield indicating a bandwidth of a transmission channel for the PPDU, and the puncturing pattern subfield indicating which 20 MHz subchannels within the transmission channel are punctured; decode a second portion of the PPDU, in accordance with the transmission channel and the punctured 20 MHz subchannels; encode a response PPDU in response to the PPDU and in accordance with the transmission channel and the punctured 20 MHz subchannels, wherein the non-AP STA refrains from indicating which 20 MHz subchannels are punctured in the response PPDU; and configure the non-AP STA to transmit the response PPDU in accordance with the transmission channel and the punctured 20 MHz subchannels.
  17. 17 . An apparatus for an access point (AP), the apparatus comprising memory; and processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to: decode a first portion of a physical (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU), the first portion of the PPDU comprising a PHY header, the PHY header comprising a bandwidth subfield and a service field, the service field comprising a puncturing pattern subfield, the bandwidth subfield indicating a bandwidth of a transmission channel for the PPDU, and the puncturing pattern subfield indicating which 20 MHz subchannels within the transmission channel are punctured; decode a second portion of the PPDU, in accordance with the transmission channel and the punctured 20 MHz subchannels; encode a response PPDU in response to the PPDU and in accordance with the transmission channel and the punctured 20 MHz subchannels, wherein the non-AP STA refrains from indicating which 20 MHz subchannels are punctured in the response PPDU; and configure the non-AP STA to transmit the response PPDU in accordance with the transmission channel and the punctured 20 MHz subchannels.

Description

This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. 119e to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/350,202, filed Jun. 8, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD Embodiments relate to indicating subchannel puncturing in the physical header of a physical (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) in accordance with wireless local area networks (WLANs) and Wi-Fi networks including networks operating in accordance with different versions or generations of the IEEE 802.11 family of standards. BACKGROUND Efficient use of the resources of a wireless local-area network (WLAN) is important to provide bandwidth and acceptable response times to the users of the WLAN. However, often there are many devices trying to share the same resources and some devices may be limited by the communication protocol they use or by their hardware bandwidth. Moreover, wireless devices may need to operate with both newer protocols and with legacy device protocols. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which: FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 2 illustrates a front-end module circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 3 illustrates a radio IC circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 4 illustrates a baseband processing circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 5 illustrates a WLAN in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed herein may perform. FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless device upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies or operations) discussed herein may perform. FIG. 8 illustrates multi-link devices (MLDs), in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 9 illustrates a PPDU, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, puncturing is provided by static puncturing. FIG. 10 illustrates an example of puncturing, in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 11 illustrates a PPDU, in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 12 illustrates a method for indicating channel puncturing in a physical (PHY) header, in accordance with some embodiments. DESCRIPTION The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims. Some embodiments relate to methods, computer readable media, and apparatus for ordering or scheduling location measurement reports, traffic indication maps (TIMs), and other information during SPs. Some embodiments relate to methods, computer readable media, and apparatus for extending TIMs. Some embodiments relate to methods, computer readable media, and apparatus for defining SPs during beacon intervals (BI), which may be based on TWTs. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 100 in accordance with some embodiments. Radio architecture 100 may include radio front-end module (FEM) circuitry 104, radio IC circuitry 106 and baseband processing circuitry 108. Radio architecture 100 as shown includes both Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality although embodiments are not so limited. In this disclosure, “WLAN” and “Wi-Fi” are used interchangeably. FEM circuitry 104 may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 104A and a Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry 104B. The WLAN FEM circuitry 104A may include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 101, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 106A for further processing. The BT FEM circuitry 104B may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 101, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuitry 106B for further processing. FEM circuitry 104A may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 106A for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 101. In addition, FEM circuitry 104B may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configu