Power saving mechanism for MU-MIMO transmissions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9794879-B1
Application number	US-201615390376-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 23, 2016
Priority date	Dec 23, 2016
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

Techniques for power saving by remote wireless mobile devices are provided, in particular by stations (STAs) during downlink (DL) multiple-user multiple-input and multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmissions in an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ay network when reverse direction (RD) transmissions are either enabled and not enabled. Various embodiments enable each STA in a group of STAs to determine an order in which the STAs are requested to send a block acknowledgement (BACK) and which STAs will be granted an RD transmission. Further, a duration of each RD transmission is provided to each STA. Based on the provided information, each STA can determine times to enter a power saving mode. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a memory; and
baseband circuitry coupled to the memory, the baseband circuitry to:
process a listing of association identifiers (AIDs), each AID corresponding to a one of a plurality of stations (STAs) comprised in a multiple-user multiple-input and multiple-output (MU-MIMO) STA group, to determine an order of the plurality of STAs;
process a block acknowledgement (BACK) field to determine the STAs instructed to send a BACK based on the determined order of the plurality of STAs;
process a reverse direction (RD) field to determine the STAs instructed to send an RD transmission;
determine a duration of the RD transmission of each STA; and
determine a time to operate in a power saving mode based on the determined order of the STAs instructed to send a BACK, the determined STAs instructed to send the RD transmission, and the determined duration of the RD transmissions.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , the listing of AIDs to include a sequential listing of the AIDs.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , the BACK field to include a sequence of bits, each bit to correspond to one of the AIDs in the listing of AIDs.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , the sequence of bits to include 8 bits.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 , a first bit value to indicate an instruction to send the BACK and a second bit value to indicate an instruction to not send the BACK.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , the RD field to include a sequence of bits, each bit to correspond to one of the AIDs in the listing of AIDs.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , the sequence of bits to include 8 bits.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , a first bit value to indicate an instruction to send the RD transmission and a second bit value to indicate an instruction to not send the RD transmission.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , an enhanced multi-gigabit (EDMG) Header A to include the listing of AIDs and at least one of the BACK field and the RD field.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , the EDMG Header A to include the duration of the RD transmission of each STA.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , an EDMG Header B to include at least one of the BACK field and the RD field.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , the EDMG Header B to include the duration of the RD transmission of each STA.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , the determined time to operate in the power saving mode based on operating in the power saving mode during the RD transmissions of the STAs.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , the determined time to operate in the power saving mode based on not operating in the power saving mode during the RD transmissions of the STAs.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , the determined time to operate in the power saving mode based on operating in the power saving mode during a portion of the RD transmission of the STAs.

16. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a set of instructions that, in response to being executed at a wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to:
process a listing of association identifiers (AIDs), each AID corresponding to a one of a plurality of stations (STAs) comprised in a multiple-user multiple-input and multiple-output (MU-MIMO) STA group, to determine an order of the plurality of STAs;
process a block acknowledgement (BACK) field to determine the STAs instructed to send a BACK based on the determined order of the plurality of STAs;
process a reverse direction (RD) field to determine the STAs instructed to send an RD transmission;
determine a duration of the RD transmission of each STA; and
determine a time to operate in a power saving mode based on the determined order of the STAs instructed to send a BACK, the determined STAs instructed to send the RD transmission, and the determined duration of the RD transmissions.

17. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , the BACK field to include a sequence of bits, each bit to correspond to one of the AIDs in the listing of AIDs.

18. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , a first bit value to indicate an instruction to send the BACK and a second bit value to indicate an instruction to not send the BACK.

19. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , the RD field to include a sequence of bits, each bit to correspond to one of the AIDs in the listing of AIDs.

20. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , a first bit value to indicate an instruction to send the RD transmission and a second bit value to indicate an instruction to not send the RD transmission.

Assignees

• Intel Ip Corp

Inventors

• Yang Ou
• Cordeiro Carlos
• Cariou Laurent
• Ghosh Chittabrata
• Trainin Solomon

Classifications

• H04W52/0219

  where the power saving management affects multiple terminals · CPC title

• H04W52/0216 Primary

  using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame · CPC title

• H04B7/0452

  Multi-user MIMO systems · CPC title

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title