Method and apparatus used in WLAN networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11812445-B2
Application number	US-202016953416-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2020
Priority date	Nov 20, 2020
Publication date	Nov 7, 2023
Grant date	Nov 7, 2023

Abstract

The application provides a method, including: generating a Physical Layer (PHY) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) comprising both information for one or more first-generation stations (R1 STAs) and information for one or more second-generation stations (R2 STAs); and transmitting the PPDU to the one or more R1 STAs and the one or more R2 STAs, wherein a preamble portion of the PPDU comprises Resource Unit (RU) allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R1 STAs and RU allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R2 STAs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
generating a Physical Layer (PHY) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) comprising both information for one or more first-generation stations (R1 STAs) and information for one or more second-generation stations (R2 STAs); and
transmitting the PPDU to the one or more R1 STAs and the one or more R2 STAs, wherein
a preamble portion of the PPDU comprises Resource Unit (RU) allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R1 STAs and RU allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R2 STAs,
the RU allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R1 STAs are selected from RU allocation entries for indicating RUs defined for R1 STAs in a 802.11be RU allocation table, and the RU allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R2 STAs are selected from RU allocation entries for indicating RUs defined for R2 STAs in the 802.11be RU allocation table, wherein
eight RU allocation entries are allocated for indicating 1 to 8 users allocated to each RU defined for the R2 STAs, and the RU allocation entries for indicating RUs defined for the R2 STAs are used to indicate at least 27 RUs defined for the R2 STAs, or
ten of the RU allocation entries that are not used for indicating the RUs defined for the R1 STAs in the 802.11 be RU allocation table are used for indicating the RUs defined for the R2 STAs.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the RU allocation entries for indicating the RUs defined for the R1 STAs are a part of RU allocation entries in the 802.11 be RU allocation table, and the RU allocation entries for indicating the RUs defined for the R2 STAs are a different part of the RU allocation entries in the 802.11be RU allocation table.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein an index value of a RU allocation entry for indicating 1 to 8 users allocated to a RU defined for the R2 STAs is used to indicate the number of user fields, which are contributed to user specific fields in the same content channel as RU allocation subfields comprising the RU allocation entry in the preamble portion.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the number of user fields contributed to the user specific fields is derived based on the following expression:
N _user=mod( n _index,8)+1
wherein N_user denotes the number of user fields contributed to the user specific fields and n_index denotes the index value of the RU allocation entry.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a RU allocation entry for indicating a RU assigned to any of the one or more R2 STAs is selected from eight RU allocation entries for indicating the RU.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the RU allocation entry for indicating the RU assigned to the R2 STA is selected according to the number of STAs within the R2 STA.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the RU allocation entry for indicating the RU assigned to the R2 STA contributes a number of user fields to user specific fields in the same content channel as RU allocation subfields comprising the RU allocation entry in the preamble portion and the number of user fields is equal to the number of STAs within the R2 STA.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein both the RUs defined for the R1 STAs and the RUs defined for the R2 STAS are multi-RUs (MRUs).

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein the RU allocation entries for indicating the RUs defined for the R2 STAs comprise R2RU_1User_Start, R2RU_0User_Start, and R2RU_0User_end, wherein
the R2RU_1User_Start is used to indicate the start of a RU defined for the R2 STAs,
the R2RU_0User_Start is used to indicate a RU allocation subfield comprising the R2RU_0User_Start is a continuation of the previous RU rather than a new RU, and
the R2RU_0User_end is used to indicate the end of a RU corresponding to R2RU_1User_Start or R2RU_0User_Start, which is closest to the R2RU_0User_end.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the RU allocation entries for indicating the RUs defined for the R2 STAs further comprise R2RU_XUser_Start, X is an integer larger than 1 and less than or equal to 8, wherein
the R2RU_XUser_Start is used to indicate the start of a RU defined for a R2 STA comprising X STAs.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the RU allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R1 STAs and the RU allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R2 STAs are comprised in RU allocation subfields of the preamble portion.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PPDU is an extremely high throughput (EHT) PPDU.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the RU allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R1 STAs and the RU allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R2 STAs are contained in EHT-SIG of the preamble portion.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is applied in 802.11be Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs).

15. An apparatus, comprising processor circuitry configured to:
generate a Physical Layer (PHY) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) comprising both information for one or more first-generation stations (R1 STAs) and information for one or more second-generation stations (R2 STAs); and
transmit the PPDU to the one or more R1 STAs and the one or more R2 STAs, wherein
a preamble portion of the PPDU comprises Resource Unit (RU) allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R1 STAs and RU allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R2 STAs,
the RU allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R1 STAs are selected from RU allocation entries for indicating RUs defined for R1 STAs in a 802.11be RU allocation table, and the RU allocation entries corresponding to the one or more R2 STAs are selected from RU allocation entries for indicating RUs defined for R2 STAs in the 802.11be RU allocation table, wherein
eight RU allocation entries are allocated for indicating 1 to 8 users allocated to each RU defined for the R2 STAs, and the RU allocation entries for indicating RUs defined for the R2 STAs are used to indicate at least 27 RUs defined for the R2 STAs, or
ten of the RU allocation entries that are not used for indicating the RUs defined for the R1 STAs in the 802.11be RU allocation table are used for indicating the RUs defined for the R2 STAs.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the RU allocation entries for indicating the RUs defined for the R1 STAs are a part of RU allocation entries in the 802.11be RU allocation table, and the RU allocation entries for indicating the RUs defined for the R2 STAs are a different part of the RU allocation entries in the 802.11be RU allocation table.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein an index value of a RU allocation entry for indicating 1 to 8 users allocated to a RU defined for the R2 STAs is used to indicate the number of user fields, which are contributed to user specific fields in the same content channel as RU allocation subfields comprising the RU allocation entry in the preamble portion.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the number of user fields contributed to the user specific fields is derived based on the following expression:
N _user=mod( n _index,8)+1
wherein N_user denotes the number of user fields contributed to the user specific fields and n_index denotes the index value of the RU allocation entry.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the RU allocation entries for indicating the RUs defined for the R2 STAs comprise R2RU_1User_Start, R2RU_0User_Start, and R2RU_0User_end, wherein
the R2RU_1User_Start is used to indicate the start of a RU defined for the R2 STAs,
the R2RU_0User_Start is used to indicate a RU allocation subfield comprising the R2RU_0User_Start is

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Chen Xiaogang
• Kenney Thomas
• Li Qinghua

Classifications

• H04W72/30 Primary

  Resource management for broadcast services · CPC title

• H04W72/27

  between access points · CPC title

• H04W72/53

  based on regulatory allocation policies · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04L5/0053 Primary

  Allocation of signalling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals · CPC title