Non-simultaneous transmit-receive (NSTR) soft access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11864045-B2
Application number	US-202117409370-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2021
Priority date	Aug 23, 2021
Publication date	Jan 2, 2024
Grant date	Jan 2, 2024

Abstract

A wireless station (STA) operating as a non-simultaneous transmit-receive (NSTR) soft access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) associated with a primary link and a non-primary link determines that the non-primary link is unavailable, and transmits, on only the primary link, a frame carrying an indication of the unavailability of the non-primary link. The NSTR softAP MLD may set a Do Not Transmit (DNT) bit to a value of 1 and may operate as a single-link device on the primary link based on the unavailability of the non-primary link. In some instances, the NSTR softAP MLD determines that the non-primary link is available while operating as the single-link device on the primary link, resets the DNT bit based on the availability of the non-primary link, and transmits the reset DNT bit in another frame on only the primary link.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for wireless communication by a wireless station (STA), comprising:
operating as a non-simultaneous transmit-receive (NSTR) soft access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) including a first AP associated with a primary link and including a second AP associated with a non-primary link;
and
transmitting, on only the primary link, one or more frames carrying an indication of an unavailability of the non-primary link, the indication comprising a Do Not Transmit (DNT) bit carried in a Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) Element of the one or more frames transmitted on the primary link.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more frames comprise one or more beacon frames, one or more probe response frames, or more action frames.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more frames include a Capability Information field carrying a Critical Update Flag (CUF), the CUF set to a value of 1 based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
operating as a single-link device on the primary link based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining that the non-primary link is available while operating as the single-link device on the primary link;
resetting the DNT bit to a value of 0 based on the availability of the non-primary link; and
transmitting the reset DNT bit in another one or more frames on only the primary link, the other one or more frames including a Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) element carrying the reset DNT bit having the value of 0.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the non-primary link is available after transmitting the indication;
transmitting, on only the primary link, an indication of the availability of the non-primary link; and
operating as a multi-link device on the primary link and the non-primary link based on the availability of the non-primary link.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising disabling the non-primary link based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein disabling the non-primary link includes removing the non-primary link from a multi-link context associated with the NSTR softAP MLD.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining that the non-primary link is available after removing the non-primary link from the multi-link context; and
adding the non-primary link to the multi-link context based on the availability of the non-primary link.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein disabling the non-primary link includes re-mapping traffic identifiers (TIDs) from the non-primary link to the primary link.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining that the non-primary link is available after disabling the non-primary link; and
re-mapping the TIDs from the primary link to the non-primary link based on the availability of the non-primary link.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a ready-to-send (RTS) frame from a STA MLD on the primary link;
transmitting a clear-to-send (CTS) frame to the STA MLD on the primary link and the non-primary link based on receiving the RTS frame; and
receiving one or more uplink (UL) physical-layer protocol data units (PPDUs) from the STA MLD on the primary link and the non-primary link.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
switching the primary link from a first channel to a second channel concurrently with switching the non-primary link from the second channel to the first channel.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first channel is in one of a 5 GHz frequency band or a 6 GHz frequency band, and the second channel is in the other of the 5 GHz frequency band or the 6 GHz frequency band.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication of the unavailability of the non-primary link is based at least in part on the primary link comprising a 5 GHz frequency spectrum and the non-primary link comprising a 6 GHz frequency spectrum.

16. A wireless communication device comprising:
at least one modem;
at least one processor communicatively coupled with the at least one modem; and
at least one memory communicatively coupled with the at least one processor and storing processor-readable code that, when executed by the at least one processor in conjunction with the at least one modem, is configured to:
operate as a non-simultaneous transmit-receive (NSTR) soft access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) including a first AP associated with a primary link and including a second AP associated with a non-primary link; and
transmit, on only the primary link, one or more frames carrying an indication of an unavailability of the non-primary link, the indication comprising a Do Not Transmit (DNT) bit carried in a Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) Element of the one or more frames transmitted on the primary link.

17. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein the one or more frames comprise one or more beacon frames, one or more probe response frames, or more action frames.

18. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein the one or more frames include a Capability Information field carrying a Critical Update Flag (CUF), the CUF set to a value of 1 based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

19. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:
operate as a single-link device on the primary link based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

20. The wireless communication device of claim 19 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:
determine that the non-primary link is available while operating as the single-link device on the primary link;
reset the DNT bit to a value of 0 based on the availability of the non-primary link; and
transmit the reset DNT bit in another one or more frames on only the primary link, the other one or more frames including a Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) element carrying the reset DNT bit having the value of 0.

21. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:
determine that the non-primary link is available after transmitting the indication;
transmit, on only the primary link, an indication of the availability of the non-primary link; and
operate as a multi-link device on the primary link and the non-primary link based on the availability of the non-primary link.

22. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to disable the non-primary link based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

23. The wireless communication device of claim 22 , wherein disabling the non-primary link includes removing the non-primary link from a multi-link context associated with the NSTR softAP MLD.

24. The wireless communication device of claim 23 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:
determine that the non-primary link is available after removing the non-primary link from the multi-link context; and
add the non-primary link to the multi-link context based on the availability of the non-primary link.

25. The wireless communication device of claim 22 , wherein disabling the non-primary link includes re-mapping traffic

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Patil Abhishek Pramod
• Cherian George
• Asterjadhi Alfred
• Ho Sai Yiu Duncan
• Sun Yanjun
• Naik Gaurang
• Bhattacharyya Tushnim
• Phogat Vikram

Classifications

• H04W76/15

  Setup of multiple wireless link connections · CPC title

• H04W36/18 Primary

  for allowing seamless reselection, e.g. soft reselection · CPC title

• H04W36/00835

  Determination of neighbour cell lists · CPC title

• H04W36/06

  Reselecting a communication resource in the serving access point · CPC title

• H04W74/0816 Primary

  with collision avoidance · CPC title