Patent Application
20240298372
A wireless local area network (WLAN) may be formed by one or more wireless access points (APs) that provide a shared wireless communication medium for use by multiple client devices also referred to as wireless stations (STAs). The basic building block of a WLAN conforming to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards and amendments is a Basic Service Set (BSS), which is managed by an AP. Each BSS is identified by a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) that is advertised by the AP. An AP periodically broadcasts beacon frames to enable any STAs within wireless range of the AP to establish or maintain a communication link with the WLAN.
Details of one or more aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. However, the accompanying drawings illustrate only some typical aspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. Other features, aspects, and advantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings and the claims.
Details of one or more aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. However, the accompanying drawings illustrate only some typical aspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. Other features, aspects, and advantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings and the claims.
The following description is directed to some particular examples for the purposes of describing innovative aspects of this disclosure. However, a person having ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein may be applied in a multitude of different ways. Some or all of the described examples may be implemented in any device, system or network that is capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals according to one or more of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards and amendments.
According to at least one example, a method includes: establishing an initial traffic flow from a network to a station; splitting an existing upper medium access controller (UMAC), through which the initial traffic flow traverses, into an upper UMAC and one or more lower UMAC(s); establishing a connection through the upper UMAC and the one or more lower UMAC to the station.
An access point that includes a memory configured to store data, such as virtual content data, one or more images, etc. and one or more processors (e.g., implemented in circuitry) coupled to the memory and configured to execute instructions of the above described method. The present disclosure also includes a system having a storage (implemented in circuitry) configured to store instructions and a processor. The processor configured to execute the instructions and cause the processor to: establish an initial traffic flow from a network to a station; split an existing UMAC, through which the initial traffic flow traverses, into an upper UMAC and one or more lower UMAC(s); establish a connection through the upper UMAC and the one or more lower UMAC(s) to the station.
Additionally, a computer readable medium includes instructions using a computer system. The computer system includes a memory (e.g., implemented in circuitry) and a processor (or multiple processors) coupled to the memory. The processor (or processors) is configured to execute the computer readable medium and cause the processor to: establish an initial traffic flow from a network to a station; split an existing UMAC, through which the initial traffic flow traverses, into an upper UMAC and one or more lower UMAC(s); establish a connection through the upper UMAC and the one or more lower UMAC(s) to the station.
Each of the STA actors 104 also may be referred to as a mobile station (MS), a mobile device, a mobile handset, a wireless handset, an access terminal (AT), a user equipment (UE), a subscriber station (SS), client, or a subscriber unit, among other examples. The STA actors 104 may represent various devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistant (PDAs), other handheld devices, netbooks, notebook computers, tablet computers, laptops, display devices (for example, TVs, computer monitors, navigation systems, among others), music or other audio or stereo devices, remote control devices (“remotes”), printers, kitchen or other household appliances, key fobs (for example, for passive keyless entry and start (PKES) systems), among other examples. In other examples, the STA actors 104 can be referred to as clients and/or client devices.
A single AP actor 102 and an associated set of STA actors 104 may be referred to as a basic service set (BSS), which is managed by the respective AP 102.
To establish a communication link 106 with an AP 102, each of the STA actors 104 is configured to perform passive or active scanning operations (“scans”) on frequency channels in one or more frequency bands (for example, the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz or 60 GHz bands). To perform passive scanning, a STA actor 104 listens for beacons, which are transmitted by respective AP 102 at or near a periodic time referred to as the target beacon transmission time (TBTT) (measured in time units (TUs) where one TU may be equal to 1024 microseconds ( μs)). To perform active scanning, a STA actor 104 generates and sequentially transmits probe requests on each channel to be scanned and listens for probe responses from AP 102. Each STA actor 104 may be configured to identify or select an AP and thence an AP 102 with which to associate based on the scanning information obtained through the passive or active scans, and to perform authentication and association operations to establish a communication link 106 with the selected AP 102. The AP 102 assigns an association identifier (AID) to the STA actor 104 at the culmination of the association operations, which the AP 102 uses to improve the efficiency of certain signalling to the STA actor 104.
The present disclosure modified the WLAN radio and baseband protocols for the PHY and medium access controller (MAC) layers. The AP 102 and STA actors 104 transmit and receive wireless communications (hereinafter also referred to as “Wi-Fi communications”) to and from one another in the form of PHY protocol data units (PPDUs). The AP 102 and STA actors 104 also may be configured to communicate over other frequency bands such as shared licensed frequency bands, where multiple operators may have a license to operate in the same or overlapping frequency band or bands.
Each PPDU is a composite structure that includes a PHY preamble and a payload in the form of one or more PHY service data unit (PSDU). The information provided in the preamble may be used by a receiving device to decode the subsequent data in an intended PSDU. In instances in which PPDUs are transmitted over a bonded channel, selected preamble fields may be duplicated and transmitted in each of the multiple component channels.
As illustrated by the line 203, STA actor 204 can move from point O to point P to point Q. When a STA actor 204 is moving around on a given floor, different AP actors 202A, 202B, 202C, 202D, 202N can be considered to be nearest to the STA actor 204. Nearest as used in relation to the AP actors 202A, 202B, 202C, 202D, 202N and STA actor 204 can include being physically nearest (for example, a Euclidean distance on the floor) and/or pathloss-nearest (for example, having the lowest wireless attenuation (pathloss) between AP actor, among all the AP actors, and STA actor). Additionally, the pathloss-nearest approach can be used to reduce the likelihood of connection between an AP actor on a floor above or below the STA actor 204. The location of the AP actor on the floor above or below might be closer in a Euclidean sense, but also not be a desirable AP for the connection of the device or station due to the floor location and/or possible signal interruption. The location of the AP actor on the floor above or below might be closer in a straight line and/or Euclidean sense, but also not be a desirable AP for the connection of the device or station due to the floor location and/or possible signal interruption. Additionally, the coverage of one or more AP actors can at least partially overlap with the coverage of one or more other AP actors. The present disclosure provides for selecting the AP actor and/or providing a communication pathway from one or more STA actors through one or more AP actors.
Referring to
Affiliated AP 274 may communicate with affiliated STA 280 via link 286. Affiliated AP 276 may communicate with affiliated STA 282 via link 288. Affiliated AP 278 may communicate with affiliated STA 284 via link 290.
AP MLD 270 is shown in
It should be understood that although the example shows three logical entities within the AP MLD and the three logical entities within the non-AP MLD, this is merely for illustration purposes and that other numbers of logical entities within each of the AP MLD and non-AP MLD may be envisioned. The example Wi-Fi systems and MLO described above with reference to
As presented herein the UMAC 310 may be split into an upper UMAC 312 and one or more lower UMACs 314. The upper UMAC 312 can be located on a single AP or other network device and the one or more lower UMACs 314 can be collocated or otherwise within a corresponding LMAC 380. The lower UMAC 314 can contain substantially any function not associated with the upper UMAC 312. The upper UMAC 314 must contains the AMSDU aggregation and deaggregation functions 326, the sequence number (SN) assignment 332, packet number (PN) assignment 338, replay detection per PN 330, and BA buffering and reordering per SN 336. The upper UMAC can optionally include the RX/TX MSDU rate limiting 324 function, the PS defer queuing 328, the duplicate detection per SN 336, BA scoreboarding 340. The one or more lower UMACs 314 may each include any of the remaining functions of the UMAC 310. Thus, the one or more lower UMACs can include functions for include a MPDU decryption 344 and a MPDU encryption 342. Additionally, the one or more lower UMACs may each include a TID-to-Link mapping function 346 and a link merging 348, each of which may communicate with a respective LMAC 380 and thence PHY 370.
As illustrated, the one or more lower UMACs 314 communicates with a plurality of LMACs 380, which in turn communicate with corresponding PHYs 370. Each of the LMACs 380 may include a MPDU Header and cyclic redundant check (CRC) creation function 350. Furthermore, the LMACs 380 include an aggregate MPDU (A-MPDU) aggregation function 352. The path through which the data traverses on the way to the PHY 370 includes arriving from the TID-to-Link mapping function 346 of the one or more lower UMACs 314 and being received by the MPDU header and CRC creation function 350 and the A-MPDU aggregation function 352. Data that is received may likewise by received by the PHY 370 and then proceed through the LMAC 380. The received data from the PHY 370 of one of a number n links pass through the LMAC 380 by going through an A-MPDU aggregation function 360 and then a MPDU header and CRC validation function 358. The data proceeds to go through address 1 address filtering 356 before being passed through the Block Ack scoreboarding 354, which moves the data to the link merging 348 of the one or more lower UMACs 314.
Additionally, in at least one example, as the STA actor enters or is about to enter a roam point (RP), the upper UMAC remains in operation at an initial AP actor or a network element such as a wireless LAN controller, while the one or more lower UMACs can be added to provide the desired coverage. The one or more lower UMACs can be associated with different AP actors. Data can flow from the one or more lower UMACs of the more proximal AP actor(s) to the upper UMAC of the initial AP. Likewise data can flow from the upper UMAC of the initial AP actor to the one or more lower UMACs of the subsequent AP actor(s). The communication can be to all connected lower UMACs of each of the AP actors at substantially the same time, thereby multiple substantially simultaneous connectivity is provided. After a period of time, the initial one or more of the lower UMACs can stop communicating with the STA actor provided that a plurality of lower UMACs if continued communication is desired. Furthermore, after a period of time, the additional one or more lower UMACs, not heretofore described, can start communicating with the STA actor. Additionally, after a period of time, the initial upper UMAC in the initial device can be transitioned to an upper UMAC in a more proximal or less loaded subsequent device as well. In one or more examples, the upper UMAC can be located on a separate AP actor from the one or more lower UMACs. Additionally, the upper UMAC can be located on a separate network device that is not an AP actor. In at least one example, the upper UMAC can reside in a non-wireless device separate from each of the one or more lower UMACs.
In at least one example, the LMAC 380 and lower UMAC 314 can be collocated. In other examples, the functions of the LMAC 380 and lower UMAC 314 can be combined. Thus, there can be multiple lower UMACs 314. Additionally, as mentioned above, the lower UMAC 314 can have some of the functions that were described in regards to the UMAC 310 and upper UMAC 312 as well. Specifically those functions can include one or more of RX/TX SMDU rate limiting 324, PS defer queuing 328, duplicate detection per SN 336, BA buffering scoreboarding 340.
The process of creating a split architecture from a single UMAC to one upper UMAC and at least one lower UMAC is further described in relation to
According to some examples, the method 400 includes establishing an upper UMAC and a plurality of lower UMACs at block 402. For example, the AP actor can include at least one of the plurality of lower UMACs. The upper UMAC can be located on a non-wireless device within the network. While a plurality of lower UMACs are described in relation to
According to some examples, the method 400 includes discovering the upper UMAC by each of the plurality of lower UMACs at block 404. For example, the AP 102 illustrated in
According to some examples, the method 400 includes connecting a STA actor to each of the plurality of lower UMACs at block 406. For example, each of the STAs of
According to some examples, the method 400 includes connecting each of the plurality of lower UMACs to the upper UMAC at block 408.
Additionally, the method 400 includes establishing a connection through the upper UMAC and each of plurality of lower UMACs to a STA actor so that communication can flow from a network to the STA actor at block 410. Additionally, the data flow can be in the reverse direction. The present disclosure has an advantage in that a plurality of lower UMACs can be connected to the STA actor at the same time providing redundancy and preventing data interruption. The data can flow to and from the network through the upper UMAC.
The method 415 connects the one or more collocated lower UMACs of the AP actor to an upper UMAC at block 424.
The method 415 determines if the STA actor is moving towards an AP actor at block 426. If the method 415 determines that the STA actor is moving towards the AP actor, the method 415 adds additional lower UMACs, each of which is associated with an AP actor at block 432. The method 415 can connect one or more lower UMACs of additional one or more AP actors to the upper UMAC at block 438. The method 415 can repeat these processes to again determine if the STA actor is moving towards one or more AP actors.
If the method 415 determines that the STA actor is not moving towards one or more AP actors, the method 415 can determine if the STA actor is moving away from one or more AP actors at block 428. If the method 415 determines that the STA actor is moving away from the AP actor at block 428, the method 415 can make a determination if the STA actor is far from the upper UMAC or that the upper UMAC is overloaded. If the determination is that the STA actor is not far from the upper UMAC and that the upper UMAC is not overloaded at block 430, the method can proceed back to the determination process of block 426.
If a determination is made that either the STA actor is far from the upper UMAC or the upper UMAC is overloaded at block 430, then the method 415 can move the upper UMAC connection to one of an additional AP actor/actors or another network entity at block 436. The method 415 can then proceed to block 426.
If the method 415 determines that the STA actor is moving away from the one or more AP actors, the method 415 can remove lower UMACs associated with one or more of the AP actors that the STA actor is moving away from at block 434. Once the lower UMACs are removed from communication with the STA actor, the method can also disconnect the respective lower UMACs from the upper UMAC at block 440. The method 415 can proceed to determine if no lower UMACs remain connected to the STA actor at block 442. If no lower UMACs remain, then the method can proceed to repeat the process starting with determining if the STA actor is moving towards an AP actor at block 426.
Once the connection is made by a plurality of lower UMACs either on the AP actor or the additional AP actors a synchronized state between all of the connected lower UMACs is instituted. The state of the lower UMAC that may be synchronized includes transmit (TX) queue, TX BA queue, TX scoreboard, TX BA scoreboard, receive (RX) BA scoreboard, RX scoreboard, and/or RX reorder buffer as described below.
In at least one example, the TX and/or TX BA queue cannot be directly synchronized. The upper UMAC delivers each MPDU to each lower UMAC that is serving the STA actor and the lower UMAC adds the MPDU received from the upper UMAC to its TX and/or TX BA queue. The lower UMAC can retire an MPDU's state in the TX and/or TX BA queue after one or more of: MSDU expiry limit (which can be for each MSDU in the MPDU or the latest expiry time among all the MSDUs) is reached, a BA directly from STA actor indicating success, a BA (or similar, such as an indication of which MPDUs were received successfully including as a MPDU bitmap plus a Starting Sequence Number (SSN) from a peer lower UMAC, and/or a BA directly from the STA actor indicating that the STA achieved success. A peer lower UMAC refers to a lower UMAC in another AP actor that is also substantially simultaneously connected to the STA actor.
Synchronization of the TX and/or TX BA scoreboard can include options that allow for one or more of: minimizing TX and/or TX BA queue size by retiring successfully sent MPDUs quickly and/or minimizing duplicate transmissions from peer lower UMACs to the STA actor. For example, each lower UMAC can forward at a trigger its current SSN and MPDU bitmap to peer lower UMACs. The trigger can be event based, in response to a predetermined number of events, at fixed intervals, at adjustable intervals, and/or otherwise user configurable. In another example, the STA actor sends a BA that reflect MPDUs delivered by substantially all AP actors. In another example, the STA actor BA is operable to reflect MPDUs delivered by any and all AP actors. One of the AP actors sends a BA Request (BAR) at the start of the TX operation (TXOP) to determine what MPDUs are outstanding and the STA actor reports all that it has received. Additionally, the upper UMAC can be collocated with one lower UMAC, and thereby connected with lowest latency such that it can assume it is the first to attempt sending an MPDU to the STA actor and thereby omit sending the BAR+BA at the TXOP start; yet meanwhile the other lower UMACs can begin their TXOPs with a leading BAR+BA. In yet another example, the network collocates the upper UMAC with the AP actors, and distributes the upper UMACs for the STA actors across the AP actors to prevent a concentration of STA actors being provided with network connectivity at any one upper UMAC.
The RX BA scoreboard at each lower UMAC can be left in an unsynchronized state between the plurality of lower UMACs. For example, one of the lower UMACs can send a BA bitmap according to information known at the AP actor of the lower UMAC and the STA actor merges BA bitmaps received from each AP actor. The STA actor can try and retry an uplink (UL) MPDU at one or more of the AP actors until one of: the UL MPDU is successful and/or the expiry limit of all MSDUs in the MPDU is reached so that the entire MPDU is expired.
The upper UMAC can be described as an initial or current UMAC. The initial or current UMAC can be located on an initial/current AP or an initial/current network entity, which can be a wireless or non-wireless network entity. The additional lower UMACs can be synchronized and in communication with the STA actor including one or more features described herein.
Additionally, the method may also include synchronizing data of the plurality of lower UMACs over a wired connection. In other examples, the synchronization of data may be made over a wireless connection. The implementation of a wireless connection allows for communication to take place to establish a connection between the lower UMACs even if the wired connection does not permit the connection. The implementation of a wired connection allows for communication to take place to establish a connection between the lower UMACs even if the wireless connection does not permit the connection or if it would be an inefficient use of the wireless resources to select wireless communication. The wired connection may permit the selection of the N lower UMAC(s) that is/are most proximal to the station. The upper UMAC may also be established based upon proximity to the one the N lower UMAC(s) and thence the station.
Furthermore, the method may include reviewing the TX and/or RX scoreboards within the upper UMAC to determine the state of the synchronization of data. Additionally, the method may include reviewing the TX and/or RX BA scoreboards within the upper UMAC to determine the state of the synchronization of data. The ultimate BA scoreboards are logically part of the upper UMAC as illustrated in
In at least one example, the one or more lower UMAC(s) can be configured such that there is a first lower UMAC and others of the one or more lower UMAC(s) are duplicates of the first lower UMAC. Additionally, the splitting of the UMAC also creates a duplication of the LMAC and PHY for each of the lower UMAC(s) that are created. The removal and/or detachment of the lower UMAC(s) is performed for non-final lower UMAC(s) that is/are communicatively coupled to the STA actor. The removal and/or detachment of the lower UMAC(s) proceeds after a final synchronization of each of the lower UMAC(s) (to be removed and/or detached) with the other lower UMACs and/or the upper UMAC. The process can include one or more of stopping synchronization with other lower UMACs, pushing final counters to the upper UMAC, and deleting everything on the lower UMAC (to be removed and/or detached). In at least one or more examples additional lower UMACs can be added before and/or after removal of the lower UMAC(s) that has been/will be removed and/or detached. The reattachment or addition of a lower UMAC provides for sending and receiving of MPDUs to/from a different lower UMAC and its lower MAC(s) and PHY(s) to the STA actor, while maintaining state and continued synchronization between the plurality of lower UMACs and the upper UMAC.
According to some examples, the method may also include selecting one of the plurality of upper UMACs based on which is nearest (physical and/or pathloss) to the STA actor. Additionally, the method can include distributing traffic from each of the plurality of lower UMACs across one or more additional upper UMACs. In one example, the distribution can include establishing a connection between one or more AP actors to minimize latency between AP actors when transferring transmit BAs.
In at least one examples, the method may include synchronizing a plurality of TX BA Scoreboards and related state at lower UMACs through a race between a lower UMAC to a lower UMAC communication path or a BAR and BA exchange with the STA. The race between the lower UMAC communication path and the BAR and BA exchange allows for the first communication path to provide data that assists with the establishment of the second one, thereby increasing the synchronization of the plurality of lower UMACs.
Additionally, a plurality of additional upper UMACs may be provided within the present disclosure. The method distributes a plurality of STAs across the additional upper UMACs and the proximal upper UAMC to provide for a distribution of the plurality of STAs.
The method can also include a flow control operation. The flow control operation prevents the upper UMAC from loading the plurality of lower UMACs with MPDUs that are not able to be delivered (for example, the STA actor is sleeping, dozing, or disconnected) on all of the links with the lower UMAC. In one example, each of the plurality of lower UMACs can send back the TX BA scoreboard for each TID on a predetermined basis (by time, or by event such as every M MPDUs received from the upper UMAC) to the upper UMAC. If the count of undelivered MPDUs is high or low in the TX BA scoreboard, the data can be turned off or on from the upper UMAC, respectively. Other measurements can be implemented such as reporting the number of outstanding MPDUs or a simple indication such as “resume sending/stop sending”.
In some embodiments computing system 500 is a distributed system in which the functions described in this disclosure may be distributed within a datacenter, multiple datacenters, a peer network, etc. In some embodiments, one or more of the described system components represents many such components each performing some or all of the function for which the component is described. In some embodiments, the components may be physical or virtual devices.
Example system 500 includes at least one processing unit (CPU or processor) 510 and connection 505 that couples various system components including system memory 515, such as read only memory (ROM) 520 and random access memory (RAM) 525 to processor 510. Computing system 500 may include a cache of high-speed memory 512 connected directly with, in close proximity to, or integrated as part of processor 510.
Processor 510 may include any general purpose processor and a hardware service or software service, such as services 532, 534, and 536 stored in storage device 530, configured to control processor 510 as well as a special-purpose processor where software instructions are incorporated into the actual processor design. Processor 510 may essentially be a completely self-contained computing system, containing multiple cores or processors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processor may be symmetric or asymmetric.
To enable user interaction, computing system 500 includes an input device 545, which may represent any number of input mechanisms, such as a microphone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphical input, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech, etc. Computing system 500 may also include output device 535, which may be one or more of a number of output mechanisms known to those of skill in the art. In some instances, multimodal systems may enable a user to provide multiple types of input/output to communicate with computing system 500. Computing system 500 may include communications interface 540, which may generally govern and manage the user input and system output. There is no restriction on operating on any particular hardware arrangement and therefore the basic features here may easily be substituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed.
Storage device 530 may be a non-volatile memory device and may be a hard disk or other types of computer readable media which may store data that are accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, solid state memory devices, digital versatile disks, cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read only memory (ROM), and/or some combination of these devices.
The storage device 530 may include software services, servers, services, etc., that when the code that defines such software is executed by the processor 510, it causes the system to perform a function. In some embodiments, a hardware service that performs a particular function may include the software component stored in a computer-readable medium in connection with the necessary hardware components, such as processor 510, connection 505, output device 535, etc., to carry out the function.
For clarity of explanation, in some instances the present technology may be presented as including individual functional blocks including functional blocks comprising devices, device components, steps or routines in a method embodied in software, or combinations of hardware and software.
Any of the steps, operations, functions, or processes described herein may be performed or implemented by a combination of hardware and software services or services, alone or in combination with other devices. In some embodiments, a service may be software that resides in memory of a STA device and/or one or more servers of a content management system and perform one or more functions when a processor executes the software associated with the service. In some embodiments, a service is a program, or a collection of programs that carry out a specific function. In some embodiments, a service may be considered a server. The memory may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium.
In some embodiments the computer-readable storage devices, mediums, and memories may include a cable or wireless signal containing a bit stream and the like. However, when mentioned, non-transitory computer-readable storage media expressly exclude media such as energy, carrier signals, electromagnetic waves, and signals per se.
Methods according to the above-described examples may be implemented using computer-executable instructions that are stored or otherwise available from computer readable media. Such instructions may comprise, for example, instructions and data which cause or otherwise configure a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. Portions of computer resources used may be accessible over a network. The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries, intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, firmware, or source code. Examples of computer-readable media that may be used to store instructions, information used, and/or information created during methods according to described examples include magnetic or optical disks, solid state memory devices, flash memory, USB devices provided with non-volatile memory, networked storage devices, and so on.
Devices implementing methods according to these disclosures may comprise hardware, firmware and/or software, and may take any of a variety of form factors. Typical examples of such form factors include servers, laptops, smart phones, small form factor personal computers, personal digital assistants, and so on. Functionality described herein also may be embodied in peripherals or add-in cards. Such functionality may also be implemented on a circuit board among different chips or different processes executing in a single device, by way of further example.
The instructions, media for conveying such instructions, computing resources for executing them, and other structures for supporting such computing resources are means for providing the functions described in these disclosures.
Although a variety of examples and other information was used to explain aspects within the scope of the appended claims, no limitation of the claims should be implied based on particular features or arrangements in such examples, as one of ordinary skill would be able to use these examples to derive a wide variety of implementations. Further and although some subject matter may have been described in language specific to examples of structural features and/or method steps, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to these described features or acts. For example, such functionality may be distributed differently or performed in components other than those identified herein. Rather, the described features and steps are disclosed as examples of components of systems and methods within the scope of the appended claims.
Aspect 1. A method of providing enhanced diversity and reliability for a continued wireless connection, the method comprising: establishing an upper upper medium access controller (UMAC) and a plurality of lower UMACs; discovering the upper UMAC by each of the plurality of lower UMACs; connecting a station (STA) actor to each of the plurality of lower UMACs; connecting each of the plurality of lower UMACs to the upper UMAC; and establishing a connection through the upper UMAC and each of the plurality of lower UMACs to the STA actor.
Aspect 2. The method of Aspect 1, wherein the connection through the upper UMAC and each of the plurality of lower UMACs occurs at one or more overlapping times.
Aspect 3. The method of Aspect 2, further comprising selecting the plurality of lower UMACs based on physical and/or pathloss proximity to the station.
Aspect 4. The method of any one of Aspects 2-3, further comprising removing the connection to an existing upper UMAC and replacing the upper UMAC connection by a connection to another upper UMAC.
Aspect 5. The method of any one of Aspects 2-4, further comprising synchronizing data of the plurality of lower UMACs over a wired connection.
Aspect 6. The method of Aspect 5, further comprising reviewing block acknowledgement scoreboards to determine a state of the synchronization of data.
Aspect 7. The method of any one of Aspects 1-6, further comprising synchronizing the plurality of lower UMACs through a race between a lower UMAC to lower UMAC communication path or a block ack request and block ack exchange with the station.
Aspect 8. The method of any one of Aspects 1-7, wherein each of the plurality of lower UMACs can add medium access controller (MAC) Protocol Data Units (MPDUs) received from the upper UMAC to a transmit queue.
Aspect 9. The method of any one of Aspects 1-8, wherein each of the plurality of lower UMACs can retire a medium access controller (MAC) Protocol Data Units (MPDUs) state in a transmit queue after one or more of: a) MAC Service Data Unit expiry limit is reached; b) block acknowledgement directly from client indicating success; c) starting sequence number (SSN) and MPDU bitmap via a peer lower UMAC that indicates success; and/or d) block acknowledgement from client indicating a peer lower UMAC achieved success.
Aspect 10. The method of any one of Aspects 1-9, wherein each of the plurality of lower UMACs at a trigger forward a current starting sequence number (SSN) and MPDU bitmap to peer lower UMACs.
Aspect 11. The method of any one of Aspects 1-10, wherein STA actor sends a block acknowledgement that reflects medium access controller (MAC) Protocol Data Units (MPDUs) delivered by substantially all AP actors.
Aspect 12. The method of Aspect 11, further comprising sending uplink traffic received from the STA actor at the lower UMACs to the upper UMAC.
Aspect 13. The method of Aspect 12, further comprising establishing a connection between one or more lower UMACs to minimize latency between APs when transferring transmit block acknowledgements.
Aspect 14. The method of any one of Aspects 1-13, further comprising distributing state from each of the plurality lower UMACs to one or more additional lower UMACs through the upper UMAC.
Aspect 15. The method of any one of Aspects 1-14, wherein each of the plurality of lower UMACs send a transmit block acknowledgment scoreboard at a trigger to the upper UMAC, whereby the upper UMAC transmits the block acknowledgement scoreboard to others of the plurality of lower UMACs.
Aspect 16. The method of any one of Aspects 1-15, wherein each of the plurality of lower UMACs send a transmit block acknowledgement to all others of the plurality of lower UMACs for merging and determining what the STA actor has received.
Aspect 17. The method of any one of Aspects 1-16, further comprising receiving a retry uplink medium access controller (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (MPDU) from the STA at one or more lower UMACs multi-link devices until the uplink MPDU is successful or a MPDU expiry limit is reached.
Aspect 18. The method of any one of Aspects 1-17, further comprising a plurality of additional upper UMACs and distributing a plurality of stations across the additional upper UMACs and proximal upper UMAC to provide for a distribution of the plurality of stations.
Aspect 19. The method of any one of Aspects 1-18, further comprising receiving at a reorder buffer on the upper UMAC one or more uplinks from the plurality of lower UMACs and transmitting the uplinks from the reorder buffer.
Aspect 20. The method of any one of Aspects 1-19, wherein the upper UMAC is located on an AP actor and the plurality of lower UMACs are located a plurality of AP actors.
Aspect 21. The method of Aspect 19, wherein the AP actor with the upper UMAC includes a lower UMAC.
Aspect 22. The method of Aspect 20, wherein the plurality of AP actors with the lower UMACs do not include the AP actor with the upper UMAC.
Aspect 23. A system comprising: a storage configured to store instructions;
Aspect 24. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, the instructions, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to: execute instructions according to Aspects 1 to 21.
This application claims benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/487,778, filed Mar. 1, 2023, entitled “ASPECTS OF DISTRIBUTED MLO AND JOINT TRANSMISSION”, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63487778 | Mar 2023 | US |
