US 12,075,471 B2
Coordinated WiFi stations with shared TXOP among DL and UL over time domain
Qing Xia, San Jose, CA (US); Mohamed Abouelseoud, San Francisco, CA (US); and Liangxiao Xin, San Jose, 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 Aug. 1, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/390,979.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/119,761, filed on Dec. 1, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0174732 A1, Jun. 2, 2022
Int. Cl. H04W 74/0808 (2024.01); H04W 16/14 (2009.01); H04W 84/12 (2009.01)
CPC H04W 74/0808 (2013.01) [H04W 16/14 (2013.01); H04W 84/12 (2013.01)] 34 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for wireless communication in a network, the apparatus comprising:
(a) a wireless communication circuit, as a wireless station (STA), configured for wirelessly communicating over at least one channel with other wireless stations (STAs) on a local area network (WLAN);
(b) a processor coupled to said wireless communication circuit within a station configured for operating on the WLAN as a station configured to support communicating using a shared Transmit Opportunity (TXOP) protocol;
(c) a non-transitory memory storing instructions executable by the processor for the STA in the same Basic Service Set (BSS); and
(d) wherein said instructions, when executed by the processor, perform steps comprising:
(i) gaining access to the channel and communicating that an upcoming TXOP is available to be shared by broadcasting a message from the STA as TXOP holder, which may be an AP STA or a non-AP STA, to other STAs in the BSS, or by communicating to the AP indicating that the STA as TXOP holder is willing to share the TXOP with other STAs, with a STA operating as an AP further broadcasting this message on behalf of the STA as TXOP holder;
(ii) sharing a TXOP, by said STA operating as a non-AP STA or an AP STA, with other stations on the network in the same BSS;
(iii) wherein said sharing of the TXOP is performed for both Up Link (UL) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) transmissions and Down Link (DL) PPDU transmissions in the time domain;
(iv) sending messages from the TXOP holder, or through the AP when the AP is not the TXOP holder, to STAs that will share the TXOP with the STA informing them of the duration and time of channel access for the upcoming TXOP which is being shared; and
(v) wherein said UL transmissions in the time domain comprise a dynamic scenario for scheduling TXOP sharing which is UL initiated, and utilizes AP coordination, comprising:
(A) receiving a message indicating share offer/request information from non-AP STAs on the network;
(B) exchanging obtained share offer/request information with other non-AP STAs on the network;
(C) sending a response after receiving a frame indicating a non-AP STA has obtained the TXOP and started the shared TXOP;
(D) sending inquiry messages to identify the non-AP STAs request to join an upcoming shared TXOP on behave of the TXOP holder;
(E) collecting the requests to join upcoming shared TXOP from non-AP STAs on behalf of the TXOP holder;
(F) sending the collected share request information to a STA operating at the TXOP holder;
(G) receiving a frame from the TXOP holder indicating the allocated time and durations for STAs that request to join an upcoming shared TXOP;
(H) sharing a portion of the obtained TXOP time on behalf of the TXOP holder STA with other non-AP STAs, by transmitting frame indicating the allocated start time and duration for each or all of the shared non-AP STAs;
(I) receiving allocated start time and duration for TXOP sharing from the TXOP holder if the STA operating as the AP STA has requested participation in the shared TXOP for DL transmission; and
(J) transmitting a downlink (DL) PPDU to destination STAs on the network within the allocated shared TXOP duration assigned by the TXOP holder STA.