US 12,451,995 B2
Multi-link operation with localized performance of B-ACK functions
Malcolm Muir Smith, Richardson, TX (US); Brian D. Hart, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Pooya Monajemi, Irvine, CA (US); Santosh Babaji Kulkarni, San Jose, CA (US); and Vishal Satyendra Desai, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to Cisco Technology, Inc.
Filed by Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Mar. 11, 2025, as Appl. No. 19/076,115.
Application 18/058,604 is a division of application No. 17/144,931, filed on Jan. 8, 2021, granted, now 11,553,390, issued on Jan. 10, 2023.
Application 19/076,115 is a continuation of application No. 18/058,604, filed on Nov. 23, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2025/0211368 A1, Jun. 26, 2025
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04L 1/1607 (2023.01); H04W 8/12 (2009.01); H04W 36/22 (2009.01)
CPC H04L 1/1621 (2013.01) [H04W 8/12 (2013.01); H04W 36/22 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus comprising:
an Upper Service Access Point (U-SAP) that a client device is logically associated with to connect to a network;
a first Access Point (AP) that the client device is physically connected to on a first link, the first AP including a first Lower Service Access Point (L-SAP); and
a second AP that the client device is physically connected to on a second link, the second AP including a second L-SAP;
wherein the U-SAP is operable to:
establish a Traffic Identifier (TID)-to-link map that assigns a first subset of a plurality of TIDs to the first link and a second subset of the plurality of TIDs to the second link; and
use the TID-to-link map to direct data received at the U-SAP over one of the first link and the second link for transmission to the client device; and
wherein, based on whether the data transmission is over the first link or the second link, the first L-SAP or the second L-SAP is respectively operable to locally perform Block Acknowledgment (B-ACK) functions.