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US-20260129549-A1 - Multi-link Low Latency Relaying

US20260129549A1US 20260129549 A1US20260129549 A1US 20260129549A1US-20260129549-A1

Abstract

A first station (STA) receives a first portion of a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) via a first link from a second STA. Based on the first portion of the first PPDU indicating low latency relaying and comprising an address of the first STA as a first receiver address of the first PPDU, the first STA decodes and forwards a second portion of the first PPDU for transmission in a second PPDU via a second link to a third STA.

Inventors

  • Serhat Erkucuk
  • Leonardo Alisasis Lanante
  • Esmael Hejazi Dinan
  • Jeongki Kim

Assignees

  • OFINNO, LLC

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251230

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A first station (STA) comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first STA to: receive a first portion of a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) via a first link from a second STA; and based on the first portion of the first PPDU indicating low latency relaying and comprising an address of the first STA as a first receiver address of the first PPDU, decode and forward a second portion of the first PPDU for transmission in a second PPDU via a second link to a third STA.
  2. 2 . The first STA of claim 1 , wherein the first portion comprises a portion of a physical layer (PHY) header of the first PPDU.
  3. 3 . The first STA of claim 1 , wherein the first portion comprises an indication of low latency relaying.
  4. 4 . The first STA of claim 3 , wherein the indication comprises a flag.
  5. 5 . The first STA of claim 1 , wherein the first portion comprises a destination address of the first PPDU or a destination address of a data unit of the first PPDU.
  6. 6 . The first STA of claim 1 , wherein forwarding the second portion of the first PPDU for transmission in the second PPDU does not comprise modifying the second portion.
  7. 7 . The first STA of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the cause the first STA to decode and forward the second portion of the first PPDU for transmission in the second PPDU via the second link to the third STA, while receiving the first PPDU via the first link from the second STA.
  8. 8 . A first station (STA) comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first STA to: transmit a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) via a first link to a second STA, wherein the first PPDU comprises a first portion indicating low latency relaying and comprising an address of the second STA as a first receiver address of the first PPDU.
  9. 9 . The first STA of claim 8 , wherein the first portion comprises a portion of a physical layer (PHY) header of the first PPDU.
  10. 10 . The first STA of claim 8 , wherein the indication comprises a flag.
  11. 11 . The first STA of claim 8 , wherein the first portion comprises a destination address of the first PPDU or a destination address of a data unit of the first PPDU.
  12. 12 . The first STA of claim 11 , wherein the first portion indicates low latency relaying based on the destination address being different than the first receiver address.
  13. 13 . The first STA of claim 8 , wherein the first PPDU further comprises a second portion.
  14. 14 . The first STA of claim 13 , wherein the second portion comprises a portion of a physical layer (PHY) header of the first PPDU or a medium access control (MAC) header of the data unit of the first PPDU.
  15. 15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a first station (STA), cause the first STA to: receive a first portion of a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) via a first link from a second STA; and based on the first portion of the first PPDU indicating low latency relaying and comprising an address of the first STA as a first receiver address of the first PPDU, decode and forward a second portion of the first PPDU for transmission in a second PPDU via a second link to a third STA.
  16. 16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the first portion comprises a portion of a physical layer (PHY) header of the first PPDU.
  17. 17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the first portion comprises an indication of low latency relaying.
  18. 18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the first portion comprises a destination address of the first PPDU or a destination address of a data unit of the first PPDU.
  19. 19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein forwarding the second portion of the first PPDU for transmission in the second PPDU does not comprise modifying the second portion.
  20. 20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further cause the cause the first STA to decode and forward the second portion of the first PPDU for transmission in the second PPDU via the second link to the third STA, while receiving the first PPDU via the first link from the second STA.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/US2024/036064, filed Jun. 28, 2024, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/524,269, filed Jun. 30, 2023, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Examples of several of the various embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 illustrates example wireless communication networks in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating example implementations of a station (STA) and an access point (AP). FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a Medium Access Control (MAC) frame format. FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a Quality of Service (QoS) null frame indicating buffer status information. FIG. 5 illustrates an example format of a physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU). FIG. 6 illustrates an example that includes buffer status reporting by STAs, scheduling by an AP of uplink multi-user (MU) transmissions, and transmission of scheduled uplink transmissions by the STAs. FIG. 7 illustrates an example reference model for a multi-link device (MLD). FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an AP MLD and an associated non-AP MLD. FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a multi-link setup between an AP MLD and a non-AP MLD. FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a traffic identifier (TID)-to-link mapping in a multi-link communication environment. FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a sub-1 GHz (S1G) relay architecture. FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a source-relay-destination link. FIG. 13 is an example that illustrates relaying with no transmission opportunity (TXOP) protection. FIG. 14 illustrates an example Request-to-Send (RTS)/Clear-to-Send (CTS) procedure. FIG. 15 is an example that illustrates relaying with TXOP protection. FIG. 16 is an example that illustrates the use of a second link by an MLD relay when a first link of the MLD relay is busy. FIG. 17 is an example that illustrates an MLD relay transmitting via a first link while receiving via a second link. FIG. 18 is an example that illustrates a relay configuration. FIG. 19 is an example that illustrates multiple MLD relays transmitting via a link while receiving via another link. FIG. 20 is an example that illustrates a procedure which may be used to relay low latency data by an MLD relay. FIG. 21 is an example that illustrates another procedure which may be used to relay low latency data by an MLD relay. FIG. 22 is an example that illustrates another procedure which may be used to relay low latency data by an MLD relay. FIG. 23 is an example that illustrates another procedure which may be used to relay low latency data by an MLD relay. FIG. 24 is an example that illustrates another procedure which may be used to relay low latency data by an MLD relay. FIG. 25 is an example that illustrates a procedure for protecting a TXOP while performing low latency relaying. FIGS. 26A-26B illustrate examples of fields which may be used in embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 27 illustrates an example process according to an embodiment. FIG. 28 illustrates another example process according to an embodiment. FIG. 29 illustrates another example process according to an embodiment. FIG. 30 illustrates another example process according to an embodiment. FIG. 31 illustrates another example process according to an embodiment. FIG. 32 illustrates another example process according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION 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. 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 combi