Apparatus and methods for proxy address resolution protocol (ARP) service for multi-link operation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12317374-B2
Application number	US-202418420587-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2024
Priority date	Apr 7, 2020
Publication date	May 27, 2025
Grant date	May 27, 2025

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention are drawn to electronic systems capable of transmitting a group addressed frame that identifies an MLD according to an MLD MAC address. The group addressed frame can include an ARP request, for example, and can be transmitted by an AP MLD responsive to an individually addressed frame transmitted by a non-AP STA MLD associated with the AP MLD. The AP MLD can provide a proxy ARP service for associated non-AP STA MLDs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a plurality of wireless transceivers;
a memory; and
a processor operable to cause at least one of the plurality of wireless transceivers to:
transmit an individually addressed MPDU to an access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD), the individually addressed MPDU comprising:
a MAC address identifying an AP of the AP MLD;
a MAC address of a wireless station (STA) of the plurality of wireless transceivers; and
a group MAC address for transmitting a group addressed MPDU; and
receive the group addressed MPDU transmitted to the group MAC address.

2. The apparatus as described in claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operable to cause at least one of the plurality of wireless transceivers to determine that the group addressed MPDU is a duplicate of the individually addressed MPDU.

3. The apparatus as described in claim 2 , wherein the group addressed MPDU comprises an MLD MAC address associated with the plurality of wireless transceivers, and wherein the to determine that the group addressed MPDU is a duplicate of the individually addressed MPDU further comprises to determine that the MLD MAC address of the group addressed MPDU identifies the plurality of wireless transceivers.

4. The apparatus as described in claim 2 , wherein the group addressed MPDU comprises an MLD MAC address associated with the plurality of wireless transceivers, and wherein to determine that the group addressed MPDU is a duplicate of the individually addressed MPDU further comprises to determine that the MLD MAC address of the group addressed MPDU identifies the STA.

5. The apparatus as described in claim 2 , wherein the processor is further operable to filter out the group addressed MPDU responsive to the determining.

6. The apparatus as described in claim 1 , wherein the group addressed MPDU comprises:
the group MAC address;
a plurality of addresses identifying respective APs of the AP MLD that transmit the group addressed MPDU; and
an MLD MAC Address associated with the plurality of wireless transceivers.

7. The apparatus as described in claim 1 , wherein the AP MLD is operable to transmit the group addressed frame responsive to the individually addressed MPDU.

8. An apparatus comprising:
a plurality of wireless transceivers;
a memory; and
a processor operable to cause at least one of the plurality of wireless transceivers to:
receive an individually addressed MPDU from an STA of a non-AP STA MLD, the individually addressed MPDU comprising:
a MAC address identifying an access point (AP) of the plurality of wireless transceivers;
a MAC address of the STA of the non-AP STA MLD; and
a group MAC address for transmitting a group addressed MPDU; and

transmit the group addressed MPDU by a plurality of APs of the plurality of wireless transceivers, the group addressed MPDU comprising:
the group MAC Address;
a plurality of MAC addresses identifying the plurality of APs that transmit the group addressed MPDU; and
an MLD MAC Address of the non-AP STA MLD.

9. The apparatus as described in claim 8 , wherein the processor is further operable to perform a multi-link setup procedure with the non-AP STA MLD.

10. The apparatus as described in claim 8 , wherein the multi-link setup procedure comprises receiving the MLD MAC address of the non-AP STA MLD during the multi-link setup procedure.

11. The apparatus as described in claim 10 , wherein the MLD MAC address is included in an association request frame.

12. The apparatus as described in claim 8 , wherein the processor is further operable to set a Proxy ARP field to 1 in an Extended Capabilities element of a frame transmitted to the non-AP STA MLD.

13. The apparatus as described in claim 12 , wherein the processor is further operable to maintain an MLD MAC Address to IP mapping comprising a mapping of the MLD MAC Address of the non-AP STA MLD to an IP of the non-AP STA MLD.

14. The apparatus as described in claim 13 , wherein the processor is further operable to update the MLD MAC Address according to IP mapping when the IP of the STA MLD changes.

15. An apparatus comprising:
a plurality of wireless transceivers;
a memory; and
a processor operable to cause at least one of the plurality of wireless transceivers to:
transmit an extended capabilities information element of a frame having a field indicating that proxy ARP is enabled;
generate a mapping of MLD MAC addresses to IP addresses for a plurality of MLDs of a wireless network;
receive a first ARP request frame in an individually addressed MPDU from a non-AP STA MLD of the plurality of MLDs; and
broadcast a second ARP request frame in a group addressed MPDU over multiple wireless links of the wireless network according to the first ARP request frame and the mapping of MLD MAC addresses to IP addresses.

16. The apparatus as described in claim 15 , wherein the first ARP request frame comprises:
a MAC address identifying an AP of the plurality of wireless transceivers;
a MAC address of the an STA of the non-AP STA MLD; and
a group MAC address for transmitting the group addressed MPDU.

17. The apparatus as described in claim 16 , wherein the second ARP request frame comprises:
the group MAC Address;
a plurality of MAC addresses identifying a plurality of APs that transmit the group addressed MPDU; and
an MLD MAC Address of the non-AP STA MLD.

18. The apparatus as described in claim 17 , wherein the processor is further operable to perform a multi-link setup procedure with the non-AP STA MLD to determine the MLD MAC address of the non-AP STA MLD.

19. The apparatus as described in claim 15 , wherein the processor is further operable to respond on behalf of the non-AP STA MLD to a third APR request.

20. The apparatus as described in claim 15 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
respond to an Internet Control Message Protocol version 6 (IMPv6) Neighbor Solicitation message on behalf of the non-AP STA MLD; and
transmit an unsolicited Neighbor Advertisement Messages on behalf of the STA MLD when an IP address of the non-AP STA MLD changes.

Assignees

• Mediatek Singapore Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Seok Yongho
• Lu Kai Ying
• Yee James Chih-Shi

Classifications

• H04W72/53

  based on regulatory allocation policies · CPC title

• H04L2101/622

  Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses · CPC title

• H04W72/0446

  Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames · CPC title

• H04L61/103 Primary

  across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP] · CPC title

• H04L2101/677

  Multiple interfaces, e.g. multihomed nodes · CPC title