US 11,716,760 B2
Channel access of a simultaneous-transmit-receive (STR) multi-link-device (MLD) with a non-STR MLD
Liangxiao Xin, San Jose, CA (US); and Mohamed Abouelseoud, Burlingame, CA (US)
Assigned to SONY GROUP CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP); and SONY CORPORATION OF AMERICA, New York, NY (US)
Filed by SONY GROUP CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP); and SONY CORPORATION OF AMERICA, New York, NY (US)
Filed on Mar. 17, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/204,366.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/047,212, filed on Jul. 1, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0007417 A1, Jan. 6, 2022
Int. Cl. H04W 74/08 (2009.01); H04W 76/14 (2018.01)
CPC H04W 74/0816 (2013.01) [H04W 74/085 (2013.01); H04W 76/14 (2018.02)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for wireless communication in a network, comprising:
(a) a wireless communication circuit configured as a first multi-link device (MLD) configured for wirelessly communicating at least one physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) with at least one other station in a network in which carrier-sense multiple-access collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) as well as multi-link operations (MLO) are applied;
(b) a processor coupled to said wireless communication circuit of said MLD configured for operating on a wireless network;
(c) a non-transitory memory storing instructions executable by the processor; and
(d) wherein said instructions, when executed by the processor, perform obtaining a transmit opportunity (TXOP) for transmitting to a second MLD, by performing steps comprising:
setting a random number of backoff slots, as a random backoff, for channel contention on each link;
(ii) counting down the random backoff on each link independently;
(iii) gaining channel access and obtaining a transmit opportunity (TXOP) on a link when the backoff of that link counts down to zero; and
(iv) reserving the TXOP duration on a link whose end time cannot occur later than the latest existing TXOPs of the first MLD; and
(v) wherein said first MLD reserving the TXOP duration on a link performs forcing the TXOP interval to end earlier than in existing TXOPs owned by said first MLD.