TRANSMISSION RULES WITHIN A TXOP FOR WIDER BANDWIDTH OPERATION

• US 20120177017A1
• Filed: 03/04/2011
• Published: 07/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Gong, Michelle X., Stacey, Robert J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,820,304 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/20 Negotiating bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 with collision avoidance

Abstract

A method of communicating in a wireless network comprises controlling a bandwidth or a transmission mask of a PPDU transmitted by a transmitting STA to a receiving STA within a TXOP based on bandwidth information in at least one preceding frame within the TXOP. The method and associated devices allow a control of TXOP bandwidth or transmission mask where devices capable of both dynamic and static bandwidth operation may be present within the network. The preceding frame may include a non-HT frame of a non-HT duplicate frame exchange, such as a non-HT duplicate RTS/CTS exchange or a BAR/BA exchange, where the bandwidth or the transmission mask would be controlled by being limited to be less than or equal to a bandwidth of the non-HT frame. The preceding frame may include a preceding PPDU, where the bandwidth or the transmission mask would be limited to be less than or equal to a bandwidth of the preceding PPDU.

Claims

1. A transmitting station (STA) for communicating in a wireless network, the transmitting STA comprising a processor, a memory, and a radio, wherein the transmitting STA is further adapted to control, within a TXOP allocated thereto, a bandwidth of a PPDU transmitted thereby to a receiving STA based on bandwidth information in at least one preceding frame within the TXOP.

2. The transmitting STA of claim 1, wherein:

the preceding frame is a non-HT frame of a non-HT duplicate frame exchange within the TXOP between the transmitting STA and the receiving STA;

the bandwidth information includes a bandwidth of the non-HT frame; and

the transmitting STA is adapted to control the bandwidth of the PPDU by limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be narrower than or equal to a bandwidth of the non-HT frame.

3. The transmitting STA of claim 2, wherein:

the non-HT duplicate frame exchange is a non-HT duplicate RTS/CTS exchange including a non-HT duplicate RTS frame transmitted by the transmitting STA and a non-HT CTS frame transmitted by the receiving STA;

the bandwidth information includes a bandwidth of the non-HT CTS frame;

the transmitting STA is adapted to control the bandwidth of the PPDU by limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be narrower than or equal to the bandwidth of the non-HT CTS frame.

4. The transmitting STA of claim 3, wherein the non-HT duplicate RTS frame includes a dynamic bandwidth operation mode field indicating whether the transmitting STA is operating in a dynamic bandwidth operation mode, and a bandwidth indication field indicating a bandwidth of the non-HT duplicate RTS frame.

5. The transmitting STA of claim 3, wherein the non-HT CTS frame includes a bandwidth indication field indicating the bandwidth information.

6. The transmitting STA of claim 2, wherein:

the PPDU is a first PPDU to a first receiving STA;

the non-HT duplicate frame exchange is a first non-HT duplicate frame exchange; and

the transmitting STA is adapted to transmit a second PPDU within the TXOP to a second receiving STA by initiating a second non-HT duplicate frame exchange within the TXOP with the second receiving STA;

wherein the transmitting STA is adapted to initiate the second non-HT duplicate frame exchange a PIFS period of time after a preceding response frame from the first receiving STA to the transmitting STA.

7. The transmitting STA of claim 2, wherein:

the non-HT duplicate frame exchange is a BAR/BA exchange;

the bandwidth information includes a bandwidth of the BAR/BA exchange;

the transmitting STA is adapted to control the bandwidth of the PPDU by limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be less than or equal to the bandwidth of the BAR/BA exchange.

8. The transmitting STA of claim 1, wherein

the preceding frame is a VHT BAR or BA frame of a VHT BAR/BA frame exchange within the TXOP between the transmitting STA and the receiving STA;

the bandwidth information includes a bandwidth of the VHT BAR/BA frame exchange; and

the transmitting STA is adapted to control the bandwidth of the PPDU by limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be narrower than or equal to a bandwidth of the VHT BAR/BA frame exchange.

9. The transmitting STA of claim 1, wherein:

the preceding frame is a preceding PPDU;

the transmitting STA is adapted to control the bandwidth of the PPDU by limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be less than or equal to a bandwidth of the preceding PPDU.

38. The transmitting STA of claim 1, wherein:

the preceding frame is a non-HT frame of a non-HT duplicate frame exchange within the TXOP between the transmitting STA and the receiving STA;

the bandwidth information includes a bandwidth of the non-HT frame; and

the transmitting STA is adapted to control the bandwidth of the PPDU by limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be narrower than or equal to a bandwidth of the non-HT frame.

10. A receiving station (STA) for communicating in a wireless network, the receiving STA comprising a processor, a memory, and a radio, wherein the receiving STA is configured to:

determine, before receiving a non-HT duplicate RTS frame from a transmitting STA, which subchannel of a channel is idle;

receive the non-HT duplicate RTS frame;

if the non-HT duplicate RTS frame is in a dynamic bandwidth operation mode, transmit a non-HT CTS frame to the transmitting STA on any subchannels determined to be idle;

if the non-HT duplicate RTS frame is in a static bandwidth operation mode, transmit a non-HT CTS frame only if all secondary subchannels within the bandwidth of the RTS frame are determined to be idle.

11. The receiving STA of claim 10, wherein the receiving STA is configured to determine which subchannels of the channel are idle by performing physical carrier sensing.

12. The receiving STA of claim 10, wherein the non-HT CTS frame includes a bandwidth indication field indicating the bandwidth information.

13. A method of communicating in a wireless network, comprising controlling a bandwidth of a PPDU transmitted by a transmitting station (STA) to a receiving STA within a TXOP based on bandwidth information in at least one preceding frame within the TXOP.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the preceding frame is a non-HT frame of a non-HT duplicate frame exchange within the TXOP;

the bandwidth information includes a bandwidth the non-HT frame; and

controlling includes limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be narrower than or equal to a bandwidth of the non-HT frame.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the non-HT duplicate frame exchange is a non-HT duplicate RTS/CTS exchange including a non-HT duplicate RTS frame transmitted by a transmitting STA and a non-HT CTS frame transmitted by a receiving STA;

the bandwidth information includes a bandwidth of the non-HT CTS frame;

controlling includes limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be narrower than or equal to one of the bandwidth of the non-HT CTS frame.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the non-HT duplicate RTS frame includes a dynamic bandwidth operation mode field indicating whether the transmitting STA is operating in a dynamic bandwidth operation mode, and a bandwidth indication field indicating a bandwidth of the non-HT duplicate RTS frame.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the non-HT CTS frame includes a bandwidth indication field indicating the bandwidth information.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the PPDU is a first PPDU from a transmitting STA to a first receiving STA;

the non-HT duplicate frame exchange is a first non-HT duplicate frame exchange;

the method further includes transmitting a second PPDU within the TXOP from the transmitting STA to a second receiving STA by initiating a second non-HT duplicate frame exchange within the TXOP with the second receiving STA a PIFS period of time after a preceding response frame from the first receiving STA to the transmitting STA.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the non-HT duplicate frame exchange is a BAR/BA exchange including a non-HT duplicate BAR frame;

the bandwidth information includes a bandwidth of the BAR/BA exchange;

controlling includes limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be less than or equal to the bandwidth of the BAR/BA exchange

20. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the preceding frame is a VHT BAR or BA frame of a VHT BAR/BA frame exchange within the TXOP between the transmitting STA and the receiving STA;

the bandwidth information includes a bandwidth of the VHT BAR/BA frame exchange; and

the transmitting STA is adapted to control the bandwidth of the PPDU by limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be narrower than or equal to a bandwidth of the VHT BAR/BA frame exchange.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the preceding frame is a preceding PPDU;

controlling includes limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be less than or equal to a bandwidth of the preceding PPDU.

22. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining, before receiving a non-HT duplicate RTS frame from a transmitting STA, which subchannel of a channel is idle;

if the non-HT duplicate RTS frame is in a dynamic bandwidth operation mode, transmitting a non-HT CTS frame to the transmitting STA on any subchannels determined to be idle;

if the non-HT duplicate RTS frame is in a static bandwidth operation mode, transmitting a non-HT duplicate CTS frame only if all secondary subchannels within the bandwidth of the RTS frame are determined to be idle.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein determining includes performing physical carrier sensing.

24. An article comprising a tangible computer-readable medium that contains instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising controlling a bandwidth of a PPDU transmitted by a transmitting station (STA) to a receiving STA within a TXOP based on bandwidth information in at least one preceding frame within the TXOP.

25. The article of claim 24, wherein:

the preceding frame is a non-HT frame of a non-HT duplicate frame exchange within the TXOP;

the bandwidth information includes a bandwidth the non-HT frame; and

controlling includes limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be narrower than or equal to a bandwidth of the non-HT frame.

26. The article of claim 25, wherein:

the non-HT duplicate frame exchange is a non-HT duplicate RTS/CTS exchange including a non-HT duplicate RTS frame transmitted by a transmitting STA and a non-HT CTS frame transmitted by a receiving STA;

the bandwidth information includes a bandwidth of the non-HT CTS frame;

controlling includes limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be narrower than or equal to one of the bandwidth of the non-HT CTS frame.

27. The article of claim 26, wherein the non-HT duplicate RTS frame includes a dynamic bandwidth operation mode field indicating whether the transmitting STA is operating in a dynamic bandwidth operation mode, and a bandwidth indication field indicating a bandwidth of the non-HT duplicate RTS frame.

28. The article of claim 26, wherein the non-HT CTS frame includes a bandwidth indication field indicating the bandwidth information.

29. The article of claim 25, wherein:

the PPDU is a first PPDU from a transmitting STA to a first receiving STA;

the non-HT duplicate frame exchange is a first non-HT duplicate frame exchange;

the method further includes transmitting a second PPDU within the TXOP from the transmitting STA to a second receiving STA by initiating a second non-HT duplicate frame exchange within the TXOP with the second receiving STA a PIFS period of time after a preceding response frame from the first receiving STA to the transmitting STA.

30. The article of claim 25, wherein:

the non-HT duplicate frame exchange is a BAR/BA exchange including a non-HT duplicate BAR frame;

the bandwidth information includes a bandwidth of the BAR/BA exchange;

controlling includes limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be less than or equal to the bandwidth of the BAR/BA exchange.

31. The article of claim 24, wherein:

the preceding frame is a preceding PPDU;

controlling includes limiting the bandwidth of the PPDU to be less than or equal to a bandwidth of the preceding PPDU.

32. The article of claim 25, further comprising:

determining, before receiving a non-HT duplicate RTS frame from a transmitting STA, which subchannel of a channel is idle;

if the non-HT duplicate RTS frame is in a dynamic bandwidth operation mode, transmitting a non-HT duplicate CTS frame to the transmitting STA on any subchannels determined to be idle;

if the non-HT duplicate RTS frame is in a static bandwidth operation mode, transmitting a non-HT duplicate CTS frame only if all secondary subchannels within the bandwidth of the RTS frame are determined to be idle.

33. The article of claim 32, wherein determining includes performing physical carrier sensing.

34. A method of communicating in a wireless network, comprising sending a non-HT duplicate BAR frame.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising sending a non-HT duplicate BA frame in response to the non-HT duplicate BAR frame thereby resulting in a non-HT duplicate BAR/BA exchange.

36. The method of claim 34, further comprising controlling a bandwidth of a PPDU transmitted within a TXOP based on bandwidth information in the non-HT duplicate BAR/BA exchange.

37. A transmitting station (STA) for communicating in a wireless network, the transmitting STA comprising a processor, a memory, and a radio, wherein the transmitting STA is further adapted to control, within a TXOP allocated thereto, a transmission mask of a PPDU transmitted thereby to a receiving STA based on bandwidth information in at least one preceding frame within the TXOP.