System parameters transmission scheme in wireless communications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12369171-B2
Application number	US-202217825116-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 26, 2022
Priority date	Jun 1, 2021
Publication date	Jul 22, 2025
Grant date	Jul 22, 2025

Abstract

A station (STA) receives an indication from a first access point (AP) on one of a plurality of links that is not a non-primary link among the plurality of links comprising at least a primary link and the non-primary link. Based on the indication, the STA determines that: (i) the first AP is affiliated with a non-simultaneous-transmit-and-receive (NSTR) AP multi-link device (MLD), and (ii) a second AP, as a neighbor AP of the first AP, is affiliated with the NSTR AP MLD and is operating on the non-primary link.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a station (STA) affiliated with a non-access point (non-AP) multi-link device (MLD), an indication from a first AP on one of a plurality of links that is not a non-primary link among the plurality of links comprising at least a primary link and the non-primary link; and
determining, by the non-AP MLD, based on the indication that:
the first AP is affiliated with a non-simultaneous-transmit-and-receive (NSTR) AP MLD, and
a second AP is affiliated with the NSTR AP MLD and is operating on the non-primary link,

wherein the receiving of the indication comprises receiving the indication in a beacon frame or a probe response frame,
wherein the determining that the second AP is affiliated with the NSTR AP MLD and is operating on the non-primary link comprises determining based on an indicator contained in a Neighbor Information field corresponding to the second AP in a Reduced Neighbor Report element in the beacon frame or the probe response frame, and
wherein the indicator comprises a specific combined value of a Target Beacon Transmission Time (TBTT) Information Field Type subfield and a TBTT Information Field Length subfield.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining that the first AP is affiliated with the NSTR AP MLD comprises determining based on an indication in a common information field of the MLD contained in a Multi-Link element in the beacon frame or the probe response frame.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting, by the STA, a request to the first AP on the one of the plurality of links that is not the non-primary link; and
receiving, by the STA, from the first AP a complete or partial set of capabilities, parameters and operation elements of the second AP responsive to the transmitting of the request.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the STA, from the first AP a basic service set (BSS) parameter critical update of the second AP indicating an occurrence of a critical update to BSS parameters of the second AP; and
maintaining, by the STA, a record of a value of a most recently received BSS Parameters Change Count subfield regarding the second AP affiliated with the NSTR AP MLD with which the STA is associated with the first AP thereof responsive to receiving the BSS parameter critical update.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the receiving of the BSS parameter critical update of the second AP comprises receiving the BSS parameter critical update responsive to transmitting a multi-link (ML) probe request to the first AP.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
refraining, by the STA, from sending any Probe Request to the second AP to obtain an updated basic service set (BSS) parameter critical update of the second AP responsive to determining that the second AP is affiliated with the NSTR AP MLD and is operating on the non-primary link.

7. A method, comprising:
generating, by a first access point (AP), a beacon frame or a probe response frame containing an indication; and
transmitting, by the first AP, the beacon frame or the probe response frame to a station (STA) affiliated with a non-AP multi-link device (MLD) on one of a plurality of links that is not a non-primary link among the plurality of links comprising at least a primary link and the non-primary link,
wherein, based on the indication contained in the beacon frame or the probe response frame, the STA determines that:
the first AP is affiliated with a non-simultaneous-transmit-and-receive (NSTR) AP MLD, and
a second AP is affiliated with the NSTR AP MLD and is operating on the non-primary link,

wherein the indication comprises an indicator contained in a Neighbor Information field corresponding to the second AP in a Reduced Neighbor Report element in the beacon frame or the probe response frame, and
wherein the indicator comprises a specific combined value of a Target Beacon Transmission Time (TBTT) Information Field Type subfield and a TBTT Information Field Length subfield.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the indication comprises common information of the MLD contained in a Basic Variant Multi-Link element in the beacon frame or the probe response frame indicating that the first AP is affiliated with the NSTR AP MLD.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the indication comprises an indicator contained in a Reduced Neighbor Report element in the beacon frame or the probe response frame indicating that the second AP is affiliated with the NSTR AP MLD and is operating on the non-primary link.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving, by the first AP, a request from the STA on the one of the plurality of links that is not the non-primary link; and
transmitting, by the first AP, to the STA a complete or partial set of capabilities, parameters and operation elements of the second AP responsive to the receiving of the request.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
determining, by the first AP, an occurrence of a critical update to a STA profile of the second AP; and
transmitting, by the first AP, to the STA a basic service set (BSS) parameter critical update indicating the occurrence of the critical update to a STA profile of the second AP.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the transmitting of the BSS parameter critical update comprises transmitting the BSS parameter critical update in a BSS Parameters Change Count subfield in a Neighbor AP Information field of a Reduced Neighbor Report element regarding the second AP.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the transmitting of the BSS parameter critical update comprises transmitting the BSS parameter critical update responsive to receiving a multi-link (ML) probe request from the STA.

14. An apparatus, comprising:
a transceiver configured to communicate wirelessly; and
a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform operations comprising:
in an event that the apparatus is implemented as a station (STA) affiliated with a non-access point (non-AP) multi-link device (MLD):
receiving, via the transceiver, an indication from a first AP on one of a plurality of links that is not a non-primary link among the plurality of links comprising at least a primary link and the non-primary link; and
determining based on the indication that:
the first AP is affiliated with a non-simultaneous-transmit-and-receive (NSTR) AP MLD, and
a second AP is affiliated with the NSTR AP MLD and is operating on the non-primary link, or

in an event that the apparatus is implemented in the first AP:
generating a beacon frame or a probe response frame containing the indication; and
transmitting, via the transceiver, the beacon frame or the probe response frame to another STA on one of the plurality of links that is not the non-primary link,

wherein the receiving of the indication comprises receiving the indication in a beacon frame or a probe response frame,
wherein the determining that the second AP is affiliated with the NSTR AP MLD and is operating on the non-primary link comprises determining based on an indicator contained in a Neighbor Information field corresponding to the second AP in a Reduced Neighbor Report element in the beacon frame or the probe response frame, and
wherein the indicator comprises a specific combined value of a Target Beacon Transmission Time (TBTT) Information Field Type subfield and a TBTT Information Field Length subfield.

Assignees

• Mediatek Singapore Pte Ltd

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W72/0446

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

• H04W8/005 Primary

  Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals · CPC title

• H04W48/12

  using downlink control channel · CPC title

• H04W48/16

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title