US-12628219-B2 - Device, system, and method for multi-link (ML) reconfiguration

Abstract

A device, a system, and a method for Multi-Link (ML) reconfiguration are disclosed. In an embodiment, the device includes a processor configured to generate an ML Configuration Action frame to change a number of active links while maintaining frame exchanges on at least one established link, where the ML Configuration frame includes a Reconfiguration ML Information Element (IE) that defines operating capabilities of at least one associated link, and exchange frames according to the operating capabilities of the at least one associated link.

Inventors

• Liwen Chu
• Young Hoon Kwon
• Hongyuan Zhang
• Huiling Lou

Assignees

• NXP USA, INC.

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20220412

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A device comprising: a processor configured to: generate a Multi-Link (ML) Configuration Action frame to change a number of active links while maintaining frame exchanges on at least one established link, wherein the ML Configuration frame includes a Reconfiguration ML Information Element (IE) that defines operating capabilities of at least one associated link; and exchange frames according to the operating capabilities of the at least one associated link.
2. 2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the ML Configuration Action frame is transmitted to a Multi-Link Device (MLD), and wherein the device and the MLD negotiate the number of active links.
3. 3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Common Info field that indicates a field that describes a total number of simultaneous active links if the number of simultaneous active links changes.
4. 4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Per Link Info field of an added link, and wherein a non-Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (NSTR) Bitmap indicates whether the added link and the at least one established link are an NSTR pair.
5. 5 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Per Link Info field of the at least one established link, and wherein an NSTR Bitmap indicates whether the at least one established link and another link are an NSTR pair.
6. 6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the number of active links decreases, and wherein a Link Identification (ID) value of the at least one established link is not changed if a link with a smaller Link ID value is at least one of removed and disabled.
7. 7 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the number of active links increases, and wherein a Link ID value of an added link is a smallest Link ID value that has not been allocated by the device.
8. 8 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Common Info field with at least one of an enhanced ML Single-Radio (eMLSR) capability announcement and an enhanced ML Multi-Radio (eMLMR) capability announcement.
9. 9 . The device of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the enhanced eMLSR capability announcement and the enhanced eMLMR capability announcement indicate at least one of: links that support at least one of an eMLSR mode and an eMLMR mode; a delay time of a radio switch; an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) (EHT-MCS) supported by at least one of the eMLSR mode and the eMLMR mode; and a Number of spatial streams (Nss) supported by at least one of the eMLSR mode and the eMLMR mode.
10. 10 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the number of active links decreases, and wherein the device announces disablement of a removed link for non-Access Point (non-AP) MLDs that do not support ML reconfiguration.
11. 11 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the number of active links increases, and wherein the device announces enablement of an added link.
12. 12 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Max Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) (MaxBSSID) Indicator field; and wherein the device cannot add an Access Point (AP) in a link with a non-transmitted BSSID if the added AP increases a value of the MaxBSSID Indicator field.
13. 13 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a MaxBSSID Indicator field; and wherein if the device adds an AP in a link with a non-transmitted BSSID that increases a value of the MaxBSSID Indicator field of a Multiple BSSID IE related to the non- transmitted BSSID, then another AP in another link affiliated with the device announces a Change Sequence for the link with the non-transmitted BSSID.
14. 14 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the device includes an EHT AP that can announce a co-host AP set for at least one of a network allocation vector (NAV) operation and a spatial reuse operation.
15. 15 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Max Co-hosted BSSID Indicator field; and wherein the device cannot add an AP in a link with a BSSID if the added AP increases a value of the Max Co-hosted BSSID Indicator field.
16. 16 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Max Co-hosted BSSID Indicator field; and wherein if the device adds an AP in a link with a non-transmitted BSSID that increases a value of the Max Co-hosted BSSID Indicator field, then another AP in another link affiliated with the device announces a Change Sequence for the link with the non-transmitted BSSID.
17. 17 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the number of active links increases, and wherein the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a field that indicates an added link.
18. 18 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the number of active links decreases, and wherein the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a field that indicates at least one of a removed link and a disabled link.
19. 19 . A device comprising: a processor configured to: generate a Multi-Link (ML) Configuration Action frame to change a number of active links while maintaining frame exchanges on at least one established link; wherein the ML Configuration frame includes a Reconfiguration ML Information Element (IE) that defines operating capabilities of at least one associated link; exchange frames according to the operating capabilities of the at least one associated link; wherein the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Per Link Info field of an added link or an established link; and wherein a non-Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (NSTR) Bitmap indicates whether, the added link and the at least one established link are an NSTR pair, or the established link and another link are an NSTR pair.
20. 20 . A device comprising: a processor configured to: generate a Multi-Link (ML) Configuration Action frame to change a number of active links while maintaining frame exchanges on at least one established link, wherein the ML Configuration frame includes a Reconfiguration ML Information Element (IE) that defines operating capabilities of at least one associated link; exchange frames according to the operating capabilities of the at least one associated link; wherein the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Common Info field with at least one of an enhanced ML Single-Radio (eMLSR) capability announcement and an enhanced ML Multi-Radio (eMLMR) capability announcement; and wherein at least one of the enhanced eMLSR capability announcement and the enhanced eMLMR capability announcement indicate at least one of: links that support at least one of an eMLSR mode and an eMLMR mode; a delay time of a radio switch; an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) (EHT-MCS) supported by at least one of the eMLSR mode and the eMLMR mode; and a Number of spatial streams (Nss) supported by at least one of the eMLSR mode and the eMLMR mode.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is entitled to the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/173,845, filed on Apr. 12, 2021, which is incorporated by reference herein. BACKGROUND In multi-link operations, wireless devices, e.g., multi-link devices (MLDs), can execute various wireless operations, such as coordinate some features or operations for devices in a multi-link operation via one or more links. As an example, an MLD may use a Reconfiguration Multi-Link (ML) Information Element (IE) of an ML Configuration Action frame (e.g., an ML Configuration Request/Response Action frame) to add, remove, and/or disable a link after establishing links with another MLD via multi-link association. However, conventional ML Configuration Action frames may not include fields that indicate whether an MLD's number of active links is changing, and/or that define operating capabilities of the MLD's associated links when the number of active links is changed. SUMMARY A device, a system, and a method for Multi-Link (ML) reconfiguration are disclosed. In an embodiment, the device includes a processor configured to generate an ML Configuration Action frame to change a number of active links while maintaining frame exchanges on at least one established link, where the ML Configuration frame includes a Reconfiguration ML Information Element (IE) that defines operating capabilities of at least one associated link, and exchange frames according to the operating capabilities of the at least one associated link. In an embodiment, the ML Configuration Action frame is transmitted to a Multi-Link Device (MLD), and where the device and the MLD negotiate the number of active links. In an embodiment, the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Common Info field that indicates a field that describes a number of simultaneous active links if the number of simultaneous active links changes. In an embodiment, the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Per Link Info field of an added link, and where a non-Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (NSTR) Bitmap indicates whether the added link and the at least one established link are an NSTR pair. In an embodiment, the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Per Link Info field of the at least one established link, and where an NSTR Bitmap indicates whether the at least one established link and another link are an NSTR pair. In an embodiment, the number of active links decreases, and where a Link Identification (ID) value of the at least one established link is not changed if a link with a smaller Link ID value is at least one of removed and disabled. In an embodiment, the number of active links increases, and where a Link ID value of an added link is a smallest Link ID value that has not been allocated by the device. In an embodiment, the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Common Info field with at least one of an enhanced ML Single-Radio (eMLSR) capability announcement and an enhanced ML Multi-Radio (eMLMR) capability announcement. In an embodiment, at least one of the enhanced eMLSR capability announcement and the enhanced eMLMR capability announcement indicate at least one of links that support at least one of an eMLSR mode and an eMLMR mode, a delay time of a radio switch, an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) (EHT-MCS) supported by at least one of the eMLSR mode and the eMLMR mode, and a Number of spatial streams (Nss) supported by at least one of the eMLSR mode and the eMLMR mode. In an embodiment, the number of active links decreases, and where the device announces disablement of a removed link for non-Access Point (non-AP) MLDs that do not support ML reconfiguration. In an embodiment, the number of active links increases, and where the device announces enablement of an added link. In an embodiment, the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Max Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) (MaxBSSID) Indicator field, and where the device cannot add an Access Point (AP) in a link with a non-transmitted BSSID if the added AP increases a value of the MaxBSSID Indicator field. In an embodiment, the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a MaxBSSID Indicator field, and where if the device adds an AP in a link with a non-transmitted BSSID that increases a value of the MaxBSSID Indicator field of a Multiple BSSID IE related to the non-transmitted BSSID, then another AP in another link affiliated with the device announces a Change Sequence for the link with the non-transmitted BSSID. In an embodiment, the device includes an EHT AP that can announce a co-host AP set for at least one of a network allocation vector (NAV) operation and a spatial reuse operation. In an embodiment, the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Max Co-hosted BSSID Indicator field, and where the device cannot add an AP in a link with a BSSID if the added AP increases a value of the Max Co-hosted BSSID Indicator field. In an embodiment, the Reconfiguration ML IE includes a Max Co-hosted BSSID Indicator field