Link recommendation for basic service set transition management request for a multi-link device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12356255-B2
Application number	US-202117645849-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 23, 2021
Priority date	Oct 22, 2021
Publication date	Jul 8, 2025
Grant date	Jul 8, 2025

Abstract

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to link recommendation. A device may determine that a first STA associated with an AP MLD requires transitioning a first station device (STA) to at least one AP MLD of a plurality of AP MLDs. The device may generate a basic service set transition management (BTM) frame comprising a neighbor report element for a first AP MLD of the plurality of AP MLDs. The device may include a Multi-Link information element for the first AP MLD of the plurality of AP MLDs, wherein the Multi-Link information element is for recommending the transition of the first STA to the first AP MLD of the first AP MLD. The device may configure the processing circuitry to send the BTM frame to the first STA.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device, the device comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to:
determine that a first station device (STA) associated with an access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) requires transitioning the first STA to at least one AP MLD of a plurality of AP MLDs;
generate a basic service set transition management (BTM) frame comprising a neighbor report element for a first AP MLD of the plurality of AP MLDs;
include a Multi-Link information element for the first AP MLD of the plurality of AP MLDs, wherein the Multi-Link information element is for recommending the transition of the first STA to the first AP MLD of the first AP MLD; and
configure the processing circuitry to send the BTM frame to the first STA.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to include a preferred candidate list in the neighbor report element of the BTM frame.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the BTM frame comprises one neighbor report per recommended AP for transitioning associated STAs.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein a second AP of the first AP MLD is not recommended when information associated with the second AP is not included in the BTM frame.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the Multi-Link information element includes a bitmap set per link of the first AP MLD.

6. The device of claim 5 , wherein a first bit is set to 1 in the bitmap to indicate a recommended link for transitioning an associated STA.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to include information associated with the first AP MLD of the first AP MLD in a common part field of the Multi-Link information element.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the Multi-Link information element includes a link ID describing the first AP MLD of the first AP MLD.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:
determining that a first station device (STA) associated with an access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) requires transitioning the first STA to at least one AP MLD of a plurality of AP MLDs;
generating a basic service set transition management (BTM) frame comprising a neighbor report element for a first AP MLD of the plurality of AP MLDs;
including a Multi-Link information element for the first AP MLD of the plurality of AP MLDs, wherein the Multi-Link information element is for recommending the transition of the first STA to the first AP MLD of the first AP MLD; and
configuring the processing circuitry to send the BTM frame to the first STA.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise including a preferred candidate list in the neighbor report element of the BTM frame.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the BTM frame comprises one neighbor report per recommended AP for transitioning associated STAs.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein a second AP of the first AP MLD is not recommended when information associated with the second AP is not included in the BTM frame.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the Multi-Link information element includes a bitmap set per link of the first AP MLD.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein a first bit is set to 1 in the bitmap to indicate a recommended link for transitioning an associated STA.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise including information associated with the first AP MLD of the first AP MLD in a common part field of the Multi-Link information element.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the Multi-Link information element includes a link ID describing the first AP MLD of the first AP MLD.

17. A method comprising:
determining, by one or more processors, that a first station device (STA) associated with an access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) requires transitioning the first STA to at least one AP MLD of a plurality of AP MLDs;
generating a basic service set transition management (BTM) frame comprising a neighbor report element for a first AP MLD of the plurality of AP MLDs;
including a Multi-Link information element for the first AP MLD of the plurality of AP MLDs, wherein the Multi-Link information element is for recommending the transition of the first STA to the first AP MLD of the first AP MLD; and
configuring the processing circuitry to send the BTM frame to the first STA.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising including a preferred candidate list in the neighbor report element of the BTM frame.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the BTM frame comprises one neighbor report per recommended AP for transitioning associated STAs.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein a second AP of the first AP MLD is not recommended when information associated with the second AP is not included in the BTM frame.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Cariou Laurent
• Bravo Daniel

Classifications

• H04W36/08

  Reselecting an access point · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W36/00835

  Determination of neighbour cell lists · CPC title

• H04W36/0027 Primary

  for a plurality of data sessions of end-to-end connections, e.g. multi-call or multi-bearer end-to-end data connections · CPC title