US 11,777,656 B2
Group addressed frame delivery over multi-link systems
Qi Wang, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Yong Liu, Campbell, CA (US); Jarkko Lauri Sakari Kneckt, Los Gatos, CA (US); Jinjing Jiang, San Jose, CA (US); Yoel Boger, Shoham (IL); Guoquing Li, Cupertino, CA (US); Tianyu Wu, Fremont, CA (US); and Su Khiong Yong, Palo Alto, CA (US)
Assigned to Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on Dec. 7, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/544,781.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/122,389, filed on Dec. 7, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0182184 A1, Jun. 9, 2022
Int. Cl. H04L 1/1607 (2023.01); H04L 1/1867 (2023.01); H04W 76/15 (2018.01); H04W 72/12 (2023.01)
CPC H04L 1/1621 (2013.01) [H04L 1/1874 (2013.01); H04L 1/1887 (2013.01); H04L 1/1893 (2013.01); H04W 72/12 (2013.01); H04W 76/15 (2018.02)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
identifying, by an access point (AP) multilink device (MLD) in a wireless network, a first sequence number space (SNS) that is to be used by the AP MLD to transmit data to a non-AP MLD over a first communications link and a second communications link, wherein frames with identical data that are transmitted over the first and second communications links will have an identical first SN based on the first SNS;
identifying, by the AP MLD in the wireless network, the first SN based on the first SNS; and
transmitting, by the AP MLD in the wireless network, a frame that includes the data to the non-AP MLD based on the first SN;
identifying, by the AP MLD in the wireless network, a second SNS that is to be used by the AP MLD to transmit groupcast with retry block acknowledgment (GCR-BA) data over the first communications link and the second communications link, wherein identical frames unicast on the first and second communications links that include identical GCR-BA data have an identical second SN based on the second SNS;
identifying, by the AP MLD in the wireless network, the second SN based on the second SNS; and
transmitting, by the AP MLD in the wireless network, a frame that includes the GCR-BA data to the non-AP MLD based on the second SN.