WO2015127777A1

WO2015127777A1 - Access point assisted spatial reuse

Info

Publication number: WO2015127777A1
Application number: PCT/CN2014/086532
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rongzhen Yang; Po-Kai Huang; Hujun Yin; Robert J. Stacey; Yongsen MA; Peng MENG
Original assignee: Intel IP Corporation
Priority date: 2014-02-25
Filing date: 2014-09-15
Publication date: 2015-09-03
Also published as: CN105917730B; CN105917730A

Abstract

A wireless device, acting as an AP or GO, collects information comprising transmission opportunity (TxOP) status and interference threshold from stations communicating with the AP/GO. When the collected information is changed from previous collected information, the AP/GO broadcasts the collected information in a broadcast frame (e.g., beacon frame) to stations communicating with the wireless device. The beacon frame may include interference thresholds for each side of a link. The stations may then adjust their transmit power to remain within their associated interference threshold.

Description

ACCESS POINT ASSISTED SPATIAL REUSE

PRIORITY CLAIMS

This application claims the benefit of priority to:

U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 61/944, 194, filed February 25, 2014,

U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 61/986, 256, filed April 30, 2014,

U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 61/986, 250, filed, April 30, 2014,

U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 62/024, 813, filed July 15, 2014,

U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 61/990, 414, filed May 08, 2014,

U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 62/024, 801, filed July 15, 2014, and

U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 62/026, 277, filed July 18, 2014, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments pertain to wireless networks. Some embodiments relate to wireless local area networks (WLANs) , Wi-Fi networks and networks operating in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards, such as the IEEE 802.11ac standard or the IEEE 802.11ax SIG (named DensiFi) . Some embodiments relate to high-efficiency wireless or high-efficiency WLAN (HEW) communications. Some embodiments relate to Wi-Fi channel spatial reuse.

BACKGROUND

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 is a set of standards for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) communications. These standards provide the basis for wireless network equipment approved and licensed as Wi-Fi equipment.

Wi-Fi networks typically use access points (AP) to wirelessly communicate with either mobile Wi-Fi-enabled devices (e. g. , smart phones, computers, tablet computers) . The APs may be connected to a wired network giving the AP access to a network such as the Internet. The Wi-Fi-enabled device may then access the Internet through communication over a wireless channel with the AP.

Due to an increasing number of mobile users attempting to access the Internet, the quantity of Wi-Fi-enabled devices is increasing. APs and wireless channels may get overwhelmed by too many Wi-Fi enabled devices.

Thus there are general needs for increased efficiency in Wi-Fi channel usage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of WiFi network according to various embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of WiFi AP/group owner signaling and sharing process according to various embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method for AP assisted spatial reuse according to various embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a table showing a beacon broadcast information format according to various embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a signaling diagram during transmit opportunity (TxOP) sharing according to various embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a diagram of one candidate slave pair for decision making according to various embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a wireless communication device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

Embodiments pertain to wireless communications. Some embodiments relate to high-efficiency wireless communications including high- efficiency Wi-Fi/WLAN and high-efficiency wireless (HEW) communications. Some embodiments relate to wireless communications in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards including the High Efficiency WLAN Study Group (HEW SG) that is now IEEE 802.11ax Task Group.

In accordance with some IEEE 802.11ax (High-Efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) ) embodiments, an access point may operate as a master station which may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium (e. g. , during a contention period) to receive exclusive control of the medium for an HEW control period (i.e. , a TxOP) . The TxOP period is a time period during which stations have contention-free access to the channel during which the stations may send as many frames as possible. The master station may transmit an HEW master-sync transmission at the beginning of the HEW control period. During the HEW control period, HEW stations may communicate with the master station in accordance with a non-contention based multiple access technique. This is unlike conventional Wi-Fi communications in which devices communicate in accordance with a contention-based communication technique, rather than a multiple access technique. During the HEW control period, the master station may communicate with HEW stations using one or more HEW frames. During the HEW control period, legacy stations refrain from communicating. In some embodiments, the master-sync transmission may be referred to as an HEW control and schedule transmission.

In some embodiments, the multiple-access technique used during the HEW control period may be a scheduled orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technique, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, the multiple access technique may be a time-division multiple access (TDMA) technique or a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) technique. In some embodiments, the multiple access technique may be a space-division multiple access (SDMA) technique.

The master station may also communicate with legacy stations in accordance with legacy IEEE 802.11 communication techniques. In some embodiments, the master station may also be configurable to communicate with HEW stations outside the HEW control period in accordance with legacy IEEE 802.11 communication techniques, although this is not a requirement.

In some embodiments, the links of an HEW frame may be configurable to have the same bandwidth and the bandwidth may be one of 20MHz, 40MHz, or 80MHz contiguous bandwidths or an 80+80MHz (160MHz) non-contiguous bandwidth. In some embodiments, a 320MHz contiguous bandwidth may be used. In some embodiments, bandwidths of 5MHz and/or 10MHz may also be used. In these embodiments, each link of an HEW frame may be configured for transmitting or receiving a number of spatial streams.

Increasing numbers of mobile users are attempting to access the Internet over wireless channels through APs. Similarly, the wireless channels between group owners (GO) and stations in a WiFi direct communication are also becoming increasingly crowded. Thus, the wireless channels may get overwhelmed by too many WiFi enabled devices. The subsequently described embodiments use broadcast messages (e. g. , beacon messages) from the AP and/or GO for spatial reuse and power control.

Wireless devices are subsequently referred to as stations, APs, GOs, and/or apparatuses. A wireless device may encompass any communication device having at least one radio and at least one antenna for communicating over a wireless channel.

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of a WiFi network according to various embodiments. The network may include a plurality of stations such as STAx 101-107 that are non-AP stations as well as an AP 100. In an embodiment, the AP 100 may be coupled to the Internet through a landline or a wireless channel.

Two pairs of

stations

101, 102 and 105, 106 may communicate via a WiFi Direct protocol (i. e. , device-to-device, D2D) . In such an embodiment, one station of each

pair

101, 102 and 105, 106 may be a GO in order to control access to the channel between the devices in each respective group. These stations may be referred to as D2D_STA_GO (P) and D2D_STA_GO (M) for the GO stations and D2D_STA_non-GO (Q) and D2D_STA_non-GO (N) for the non-GO stations.

While FIG. 1 shows pairs of

stations

101, 102 and 105, 106 communicating using WiFi Direct, one skilled in the art would know that multiple stations may communicate using WiFi Direct. For example, WiFi Direct may include one station-to-one station or one station-to-multiple station communication in which one of the stations is a GO. The GO station may have the same role as the AP within the WiFi Direct group.

Another station 107 is shown communicating with the AP 100. This station is within communication range 120 of the AP but is not considered part of a transmit/receive pair, as described subsequently.

The AP of FIG. 1 may transmit a beacon frame to all stations 101-107 within an AP beacon coverage area 120. As is known in the art, the beacon frame is a management frame in IEEE 802.11. The beacon frame may contain information about the network and may be transmitted periodically by the AP to announce the presence of a wireless local area network (WLAN) .

According to IEEE 802.11, the beacon may comprise a media access control (MAC) header, a frame body, and a frame check sequence (FCS) . Additional fields may include a timestamp, a beacon interval, and capability information. According to the following described embodiments, a broadcast frame (e. g. , the beacon frame) broadcasts additional information for spatial reuse and power control. Spatial reuse is one technique to increase the efficiency of the WiFi network.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of a WiFi AP/GO signaling and sharing process according to various embodiments. FIG. 2 shows three transmit/receive (TX/RX) pairs 100, 104 (or 103) ； 105, 106； and 101, 102. For example, the first TX/RX pair may be the AP 100 (TX1) and a station 104 (RX1) communicating with the AP 100. The first TX/RX pair may also be a GO station and another station in its respective group. The first TX/RX pair 230 may be considered the master pair while the other TX/RX pairs 231, 232 may be considered slave pairs.

The AP 100 or GO (e. g. , TX1) broadcasts a beacon frame 200. Referring to FIG. 1, the beacon may be received by master pair candidates STA_AP (x) 104 and STA_AP (y) 103 that have related interference thresholds T (x) and T (y) , respectively. If the GO is broadcasting the beacon frame 200, the master pair candidates and interference threshold may be the same as in the AP broadcast embodiment. The first pair (e. g. , master pair) may be considered the pair that is attempting spatial reuse.

The master pair 230 may then transmit

frames

210, 220 between AP/GO and a station of the pair during a network allocation vector (NAV) time (e. g. , TxOP sharing) . As is known in the art, the NAV may represent the time that the sending station intends to hold the medium busy.

In implementing spatial reuse with transmit power control (TPC) , the AP/GO information (e. g. , data transmitted by the AP/GO) may be the master pair candidates information and their respective interference thresholds. There may be multiple embodiments for broadcasting the AP/GO information. For example, in a full resolution embodiment, the AP/GO information may include master pair candidates information (STA address or ID of stations communicating with the AP/GO) and their associated interference thresholds. In a group resolution embodiment, the AP/GO information may include the master pair candidates that are grouped for some features, such as modulation and coding scheme (MCS) levels, and group associated interference thresholds. Another embodiment may broadcast only one interference threshold. Such an embodiment may be suitable for D2D communication. The transmitter may then adjust its transmit power to remain within its associated interference threshold. The interference thresholds are broadcast only for the master pair but not for the slave pairs. The slave pairs may check the interference threshold of the master pair in order to ensure that their transmission will not introduce more interference to the master pair than the broadcast interference threshold allows.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an embodiment of a method for AP/GO assisted spatial reuse. Each AP/GO that shares its own transmit opportunity (TxOP) with other transmission pairs, the AP/GO may broadcast its sharing information as shown in FIG. 3 and described subsequently. The sharing information may be broadcast periodically. The period may be measured in seconds or milliseconds as determined by system configurations or implementations.

In block 301, the AP/GO may collect enough station information from other stations communicating with the AP/GO in order to implement the decision making in block 303. The collected station information may be different depending on the embodiment due to different algorithms/schemes applied during the TxOP sharing spatial reuse phase.

For example, in one embodiment, the station information collected by the AP/GO from each of its connected stations may include whether the station is enabled to share its transmission as owner of the TxOP (e. g. , transmission opportunity status) . If the station is so enabled, the station information may also include a value of allowed interference threshold.

In block 303, the AP/GO may use the collected information to make a decision as to whether the sharing status, interference threshold, and/or power control information has changed as compared to the last broadcast information. For example, when two stations of the master pair are moved closer together, their interference threshold may be changed (e. g. , increased) from a previous interference threshold. If the answer is no, the method goes back to block 301 to continue another loop of information collection. If the answer is yes, the method goes to block 305 to broadcast the information collected in block 301 in a beacon frame.

In block 305, the AP/GO may broadcast the collected information to neighbor stations (e. g. , IEEE 802.11ax supported devices) that also support TxOP sharing as described subsequently. The collected information may be broadcast to the network in the beacon frame. Thus, the stations communicating with the AP/GO (e. g. , wireless device) may then communicate during the NAV time.

As in the above-described embodiment, the collected information may be broadcast by the beacon frame in multiple ways. In the full resolution embodiment, the master pair candidates information (STA address or ID connected to this AP) and related interference thresholds may be broadcast. In the group resolution embodiment, the master pair candidates may be grouped for some features, such as MCS levels, and group related interference thresholds may be broadcast. In the other embodiment, only one interference threshold may be broadcast: This embodiment may be suitable for D2D connections.

The transmission power of the stations may be adjusted based on the interference threshold broadcast for the master pair. For example, full transmission power of a station may result in a worse-case interference level for the channel from the station. If that interference level results in an interference level higher than the broadcast threshold, the station may adjust its transmission power in order to reduce the interference and meet the threshold.

FIG. 4 illustrates a table showing a beacon broadcast information format according to various embodiments. The illustrated embodiment relates to the full resolution embodiment discussed previously. The information contained in the table of FIG. 4 is for purposes of illustration only as other embodiments may contain additional or less information in a different format (e. g. , valid range, bit length) . Other embodiments may such information that is useful for that particular embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows the different types of information 401 that may be broadcast in the beacon frame. This information may include the number of candidate stations for TxOP sharing (NumCandidates) , the MAC address of the first station candidate for TxOP sharing (STA_1_MAC_Address) , the interference threshold of the AP/GO side of the communication when the first station shares its TxOP (IT_AP_1) , and the interference threshold of the station side of the communication when the first station shares its TxOP (IT_STA_1) .

The table shows that these elements may start at the first station candidate and go up to the N^th (e. g. , latest) station candidate. This is illustrated by the table elements of the MAC address of the latest station candidate for TxOP sharing (STA_N_MAC_Address) , the interference threshold of the AP/GO side of communication when the latest station shares its TxOP (IT_AP_N) , and the interference threshold of the station side of communication when the latest station shares its TxOP (IT_STA_N) . In the above elements, “N” is the value of NumCandidates if it is non-zero.

Another column 403 of the table shows the valid range of each element of the beacon broadcast information. For example, the NumCandidates may have a valid range of 0-255. There is no applicable (N/A) range for the STA_1_MAC_Address since it can be any legal MAC address that is available. Both the IT_AP_1 through IT_AP_N and the IT_STA_1 through IT_STA_N elements may have valid values in the range of -128 to 127 dBm.

In an embodiment, the information in the table of FIG. 4 may be included in the current beacon message from the AP/GO as new fields. In another embodiment, the information in the table may be broadcast in a new beacon frame from the AP/GO with a longer period.

FIG. 5 illustrates a signaling diagram during TxOP sharing according to various embodiments. The signaling diagram shows signaling 501 between a HEW resource sharing master pair P₀ between a first transmitter (TX0) and a first receiver (RX0) . The diagram further shows the signaling 508 between HEW resource sharing slave pairs P₁-P_N having N transmitters (TX1-TXN) and N receivers (RX1-RXN) .

The master pair signaling 501 includes transmission of a request to send (RTS) frame 502 by TX1 to RX1 and a responding transmission of a clear to send (CTS) frame 503 by RX1 to TX1 after a contention period 504. These

frames

502, 503 may be transmitted at full transmission power. Subsequent transmission of Aggregated MAC Protocol Data Unit (A-MPDU) frame may be transmitted using power controlled applied transmission. The transmission of these

frames

502, 503, 505 may be during the TxOP sharing.

As is known in the art, A-MPDU provide a plurality of frames per single access to the medium by combining the plurality of frames together into one larger frame. The received A-MPDU frame may be split into individual packets at the hardware level. According to the IEEE 802.11 standard, A-MPDUs can be up to 64 Kbytes in size. When an A-MPDU is captured, it is passed to the application level as a number of disaggregated packets that look like other packets.

The legacy NAV RTS and

CTS times

530, 531 are shown. These are the times during which legacy (e. g. , pre-IEEE 802.11ax, pre-HEW) transmitter and receivers intend to hold the medium busy. Thus, there may be no interference between legacy devices and HEW devices. The HEW open-to-sharing vector (OSV) 532 occurs during this time as well.

The HEW resource sharing slave pairs signaling 508 shows the RTS/CTS and A-MPDU signaling between the TXN/RXN pairs. These frames are also transmitted during using transmission power control.

The master pair, which may be defined as the current TxOP owner, may be reserved by the RTS/CTS frames. This is the typical method as defined in current WiFi specifications. One of the two devices of the master pair is an AP or a GO.

The slave pairs, that have received the broadcast message of sharing from the AP/GO of the current master pair, check conditions for spatial reuse and apply the power control. The checking of the spatial reuse and application of power control may be accomplished as described subsequently with reference to the diagram of FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 illustrates a diagram of one candidate slave pair for decision making according to various embodiments. This diagram shows the HEW master pair 601 that includes the TX 610 and the RX 611. For purposes of brevity, FIG. 6 shows only one potential HEW slave pair 603 that includes the TX 613 and the RX 614. This figure illustrates the propagation loss between any two of the

WiFi devices

610, 611, 613, 614.

For example, the propagation loss between the TX 610 and RX 611 master pair may be represented by

The propagation loss between the master pair TX 610 and the potential slave pair RX 614 may be represented by

The propagation loss between the master pair TX 610 and the potential slave pair TX 613 may be represented by

The propagation loss between the potential slave pair TX 613 and the potential slave pair RX 614 may be represented by

The propagation loss between the potential slave pair TX 613 and the master pair RX 611 may be represented by

The propagation loss between the master pair RX 611 and the potential slave pair RX 614 may be represented by

The use of these values is illustrated subsequently in determining the allowed transmission power.

As a first step in determining maximum allowed transmission power, the maximum allowed transmission power is the TX/RX sides of the slave candidate pairs may be defined as:

where

represents the maximum allowed transmission power on the TX side of the slave candidate pair (expressed in dBm) ,

represents the maximum allowed transmission power on the RX side of the slave candidate pair (expressed in dBm) ,

represents the maximum allowed interference threshold on the TX side of the master pair (expressed in dBm) , and

represents the maximum allowed transmission power on the RX side of the master pair (expressed in dBm) . Both the

and the

interference threshold values are received from the beacon broadcast message information as discussed previously with reference to flowchart of FIG. 3.

As a second step in determining maximum allowed transmission power, the signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is estimated in order to check the potential link efficiency. This may be accomplished by the following equations:

where

represents an estimated received SINR in the slave pair transmitter side,

represents an estimated received SINR in the slave pair receiver side,

represents a power level of non-slave interference plus noise at the slave transmitter in dB scale, and

represents a power level of non-slave interference plus noise at the slave transmitter in dB scale.

If the estimated SINR meets the pre-defined rate threshold for the link, the potential slave pair may try to reuse the TxOP by reduced power as

and

As a third step in determining maximum allowed transmission power, the slave candidate pair may try to reuse the TxOP that is owned by the master pair in order to perform spatial reuse. The slave candidate pair may also check the following conditions before formal data transmission: transmission is not in an NAV stage (excluding NAV setting just from master pair’s CTS/RTS) and the CCA limitation may be met (excluding signal power level from master pair) .

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a wireless communication device 700 (e. g. , Wi-Fi device) within which a set or sequence of instructions may be executed to cause the device to perform any one of the methodologies discussed herein. In alternative embodiments, the device operates as a standalone device or may be connected (e. g. , networked) to other devices. In a networked deployment, the device may operate in the capacity of either a server or a client device in server-client network environments, or it may act as a peer device in peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environments. The device may be a mobile communication device (e. g. , cellular telephone) , an AP, a GO, a computer, a personal computer (PC) , a tablet PC, a hybrid tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , or any device capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that device. Further, while only a single device is illustrated, the term “device” shall also be taken to include any collection of devices that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Similarly, the term “processor-based system” shall be taken to include any set of one or more devices that are controlled by or operated by a processor (e. g. , a computer) to individually or jointly execute instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

Example wireless station 700 includes at least one processor 702 (e. g. , a central processing unit (CPU) , a graphics processing unit (GPU) or both, processor cores, compute nodes, etc. ) , a main memory 704 and a static memory 706, which communicate with each other via a link 708 (e. g. , bus) . The wireless station 700 may further include a display unit 710 and an alphanumeric input device 712 (e. g. , keyboard, keypad) . In one embodiment, the display unit 710 and input device 712 are incorporated into a touch screen display. The wireless station 700 may additionally include a storage device 716 (e. g. , a drive unit) , a signal generation device 718 (e. g. , a speaker) , a network interface device 720, and one or more sensors (not shown) . Not all of these components are utilized in all devices. For example, an AP may not include a display 710 or an input device 712.

The storage device 716 includes a computer-readable medium 722 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures and instructions 724 (e. g. , software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 724 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 704, static memory 706, and/or within the processor 702 during execution thereof by the wireless station 700, with the main memory 704, static memory 706, and the processor 702 also constituting computer-readable media. Embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, or software. Embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a device (e. g. , a computer) .

While the computer-readable medium 722 is illustrated in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term “computer-readable medium” may include a single medium or multiple media (e. g. , a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more instructions 724. The term “computer-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any tangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the device and that cause the device to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present disclosure or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures utilized by or associated with such instructions. The term “computer-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of computer-readable media include non-volatile memory, including but not limited to, by way of example, semiconductor memory devices (e. g. , electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM) , electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) ) and flash memory devices； magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks； magneto-optical disks； and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 724 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 726 using a transmission medium via the network interface device 720 utilizing any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols (e. g. , HTTP) . Examples of communication networks include a local area network (LAN) , a wide area network (WAN) , a wireless local area network (WLAN) , the Internet, mobile telephone networks, plain old telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless data networks (e. g. , WiFi (IEEE 802.11) , 3GPP, 4G LTE/LTE-A or WiMAX networks) . The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the device, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of such software. The network interface device may include one or more antennas for communicating with the wireless network.

Embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, or software. Embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a device (e. g. , a computer) . For example, a computer-readable storage device may include read-only memory (ROM) , random-access memory (RAM) , magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices and media. In some embodiments, a system may include one or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device.

Additional Notes and Examples: [THIS WILL BE FILLED OUT AFTER THE CLAIMS HAVE BEEN APPROVED]

Example 1 is a

In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 can optionally include

Example 1 is a wireless device comprising: a processor and circuitry configured to collect information comprising transmission opportunity (TxOP) status and interference threshold from stations communicating with the wireless device and, when the collected information is different from a previous collected information, the processor and circuitry are configured to control broadcast of the collected information in a broadcast frame to stations communicating with the wireless device.

In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 can optionally include wherein the processor and circuitry are further configured to control broadcast of the collected information by transmitting a beacon frame that includes a beacon frame including a number of candidate stations for TxOP sharing, a media access control address of a candidate station, an interference threshold of an AP or GO side of a link, and an interference threshold of a station side of the link.

In Example 3, the subject matter of Examples 1-2 can optionally include wherein the processor and circuitry are further configured to determine when the collected information is different from the previous collected information by determining when sharing status, interference threshold, and/or power control information has changed from a previous sharing status, interference threshold, and/or power control information.

In Example 4, the subject matter of Examples 1-3 can optionally include wherein the processor and circuitry are further configured to determine when the collected information is different from the previous collected information by determining when an interference threshold has changed from a previous interference threshold.

In Example 5, the subject matter of Examples 1-4 can optionally include wherein the wireless device is an access point in a WiFi network using IEEE 802.11ax protocols.

In Example 6, the subject matter of Examples 1-5 can optionally include wherein the wireless device is a group owner in a group of wireless devices communicating using WiFi Direct protocols.

In Example 7, the subject matter of Examples 1-6 can optionally include wherein the processor and circuitry are further configured to broadcast the information periodically.

In Example 8, the subject matter of Examples 1-7 can optionally include wherein the wireless device is one of an access point (AP) or group owner (GO) and the processor and circuitry are further configured to collect the information from each station connected to the AP or GO.

In Example 9, the subject matter of Examples 1-8 can optionally include wherein the wireless device is part of a high efficiency wireless (HEW) resource sharing master pair with another station.

In Example 10, the subject matter of Examples 1-9 can optionally include wherein the stations communicating with the wireless device that are not part of the master pair are HEW resource sharing slave pairs.

In Example 11, the subject matter of Examples 1-10 can optionally include wherein the wireless device includes a memory and at least one radio.

In Example 12, the subject matter of Examples 1-11 can optionally include wherein the broadcast frame further comprises AP/GO information that includes master pair candidate information and their associated interference thresholds.

In Example 13, the subject matter of Examples 1-12 can optionally include wherein the broadcast frame further comprises AP/GO information that includes master pair candidates that are grouped for modulation and coding scheme (MCS) levels and group associated interference thresholds.

In Example 14, the subject matter of Examples 1-13 can optionally include wherein the wireless device is a GO and the broadcast frame further comprises only one interference threshold for WiFi Direct communication.

Example 15 is a wireless device comprising: a processor and circuitry configured to collect information comprising transmission opportunity (TxOP) status and interference threshold from wireless stations communicating with an access point (AP) or group owner (GO) over a wireless link and, when the collected information is different from a previous collected information, broadcast the collected information in a broadcast frame to the wireless stations communicating with the AP or GO over the link.

In Example 16, the subject matter of Example 15 can optionally include wherein the processor and circuitry are further configured to determine allowed transmission power over transmit (TX) and receive (RX) sides of the link by a slave candidate pair of wireless devices, wherein the allowed transmission power is:

wherein

represents the allowed transmission power on the TX side of the slave candidate pair,

represents the allowed transmission power on the RX side of the slave candidate pair,

represents the allowed interference threshold on the TX side of a master pair, and

represents the allowed transmission power on the RX side of the master pair.

Example 17 is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by processing circuitry in access point (AP) assisted or group owner (GO) spatial reuse, the operations to perform the spatial reuse and transmit power control, the operations to configure the processing circuitry to: collect information comprising transmission opportunity (TxOP) status and interference threshold from wireless stations communicating with the AP or GO over a wireless link； and when the collected information is different from a previous collected information, broadcast the collected information in a broadcast frame to the wireless stations communicating with the AP or GO over the link.

In Example 18, the subject matter of Example 17 can optionally include wherein the operations further determine allowed transmission power over transmit (TX) and receive (RX) sides of the link by a slave candidate pair of wireless devices, wherein the allowed transmission power is:

wherein

represents the allowed transmission power on the RX side of the master pair.

In Example 19, the subject matter of Examples 17-18 can optionally include wherein the operations further receive the

and the

interference threshold values from the broadcast frame.

In Example 20, the subject matter of Examples 17-19 can optionally include wherein the operations further determine estimated signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) by:

where

represents an estimated received SINR in the slave pair TX side,

represents an estimated received SINR in the slave pair RX side,

represents a power level of non-slave interference plus noise at a slave transmitter, and

represents a power level of a non-slave interference plus noise at the slave transmitter.

Example 21 is a method for access point (AP) assisted spatial reuse, the method comprising: collecting information comprising transmission opportunity (TxOP) status and interference threshold from a plurality of wireless stations communicating with the AP or a group owner (GO) ； and broadcasting the collected information in a broadcast frame to the plurality of wireless stations communicating with the AP or GO, wherein broadcast frame includes associated allowed interference thresholds for each wireless station.

In Example 22, the subject matter of Example 21 can optionally include wherein the plurality of wireless stations comprise a master pair of wireless stations, wherein the master pair includes the AP or GO.

In Example 23, the subject matter of Examples 21-22 can optionally include wherein the master pair is an owner of the current transmit opportunity (TxOP) , the method further comprising the master pair reserving the TxOP by a request to send/clear to send (RTS/CTS) frame exchange such that the master pair transmits frames between the AP or GO and a station of the master pair during the TxOP.

In Example 24, the subject matter of Examples 21-23 can optionally include wherein the plurality of wireless devices comprise a slave pair of wireless devices, the method further comprising: the slave pair receiving the broadcast frame from the AP or GO of the master pair； checking conditions for spatial reuse； and applying power control in response to interference thresholds in the broadcast frame.

The Abstract is provided to allow the reader to ascertain the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to limit or interpret the scope or meaning of the claims. The following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.

Claims

A wireless device comprising: a processor and circuitry configured to collect information comprising transmission opportunity (TxOP) status and interference threshold from stations communicating with the wireless device and, when the collected information is different from a previous collected information, the processor and circuitry are configured to control broadcast of the collected information in a broadcast frame to stations communicating with the wireless device.
The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the processor and circuitry are further configured to control broadcast of the collected information by transmitting a beacon frame that includes a beacon frame including a number of candidate stations for TxOP sharing, a media access control address of a candidate station, an interference threshold of an AP or GO side of a link, and an interference threshold of a station side of the link.
The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the processor and circuitry are further configured to determine when the collected information is different from the previous collected information by determining when sharing status, interference threshold, and/or power control information has changed from a previous sharing status, interference threshold, and/or power control information.
The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the processor and circuitry are further configured to determine when the collected information is different from the previous collected information by determining when an interference threshold has changed from a previous interference threshold.
The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is an access point in a WiFi network using IEEE 802.11ax protocols.
The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is a group owner in a group of wireless devices communicating using WiFi Direct protocols.
The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the processor and circuitry are further configured to broadcast the information periodically.
The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is one of an access point (AP) or group owner (GO) and the processor and circuitry are further configured to collect the information from each station connected to the AP or GO.
The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is part of a high efficiency wireless (HEW) resource sharing master pair with another station.
The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the stations communicating with the wireless device that are not part of the master pair are HEW resource sharing slave pairs.
The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device includes a memory and at least one radio.
The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the broadcast frame further comprises AP/GO information that includes master pair candidate information and their associated interference thresholds.
The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the broadcast frame further comprises AP/GO information that includes master pair candidates that are grouped for modulation and coding scheme (MCS) levels and group associated interference thresholds.
The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is a GO and the broadcast frame further comprises only one interference threshold for WiFi Direct communication.
A wireless device comprising: a processor and circuitry configured to collect information comprising transmission opportunity (TxOP) status and interference threshold from wireless stations communicating with an access point (AP) or group owner (GO) over a wireless link and, when the collected information is different from a previous collected information, broadcast the collected information in a broadcast frame to the wireless stations communicating with the AP or GO over the link.
The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the processor and circuitry are further configured to determine allowed transmission power over transmit (TX) and receive (RX) sides of the link by a slave candidate pair of wireless devices, wherein the allowed transmission power is:

wherein
represents the allowed transmission power on the TX side of the slave candidate pair,
represents the allowed transmission power on the RX side of the slave candidate pair,
represents the allowed interference threshold on the TX side of a master pair, and
represents the allowed transmission power on the RX side of the master pair.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by processing circuitry in access point (AP) assisted or group owner (GO) spatial reuse, the operations to perform the spatial reuse and transmit power control, the operations to configure the processing circuitry to:

collect information comprising transmission opportunity (TxOP) status and interference threshold from wireless stations communicating with the AP or GO over a wireless link； and

when the collected information is different from a previous collected information, broadcast the collected information in a broadcast frame to the wireless stations communicating with the AP or GO over the link.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further determine allowed transmission power over transmit (TX) and receive (RX) sides of the link by a slave candidate pair of wireless devices, wherein the allowed transmission power is:

wherein
represents the allowed transmission power on the TX side of the slave candidate pair,
represents the allowed transmission power on the RX side of the slave candidate pair,
represents the allowed interference threshold on the TX side of a master pair, and
represents the allowed transmission power on the RX side of the master pair.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further receive the
and the
interference threshold values from the broadcast frame.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further determine estimated signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) by:

where
represents an estimated received SINR in the slave pair TX side,
represents an estimated received SINR in the slave pair RX side,
represents a power level of non-slave interference plus noise at a slave transmitter, and
represents a power level of a non-slave interference plus noise at the slave transmitter.
A method for access point (AP) assisted spatial reuse, the method comprising:

collecting information comprising transmission opportunity (TxOP) status and interference threshold from a plurality of wireless stations communicating with the AP or a group owner (GO) ； and

broadcasting the collected information in a broadcast frame to the plurality of wireless stations communicating with the AP or GO, wherein broadcast frame includes associated allowed interference thresholds for each wireless station.
The method of claim 21, wherein the plurality of wireless stations comprise a master pair of wireless stations, wherein the master pair includes the AP or GO.
The method of claim 22, wherein the master pair is an owner of the current transmit opportunity (TxOP) , the method further comprising the master pair reserving the TxOP by a request to send/clear to send (RTS/CTS) frame exchange such that the master pair transmits frames between the AP or GO and a station of the master pair during the TxOP.
The method of claim 23, wherein the plurality of wireless devices comprise a slave pair of wireless devices, the method further comprising: the slave pair receiving the broadcast frame from the AP or GO of themaster pair；

checking conditions for spatial reuse； and

applying power control in response to interference thresholds in the broadcast frame.