Methods and apparatus for operation in 6 GHz and coexistence with incumbents
An access point (AP) communicates to one or more stations (STAs) information indicating a set of channels and/or resource units (RUs), corresponding to a wideband basis service set (BSS) for an authorized unlicensed radio local area network (RLAN) using 6 GHz spectrum, which are subject to a lower power spectral density (PSD) level than other portions of the BSS frequency range or are not to be used for transmission. In some, but not necessarily all, embodiments, the AP and the STAs do not encode data on the identified channels or RUs, but do encode data on other channels and/or other RUs, which are not subject to the lower PDS constraint.
1 . A method of operating an access point (AP), comprising:
generating, when at least one channel is to be power spectral density (PSD) limited, a set of transmit power information for a set of channels used by said access point, said set of channels including multiple channels, at least one channel of said multiple channels being subject to PSD reduction, said set of transmit power information including multiple PSD indicator values, each PSD indicator value in said multiple PSD indicator values corresponding to a channel in said set of channels, each PSD indicator value in said multiple PSD indicator values indicating whether PSD reduction is to be applied to the corresponding channel; and
transmitting the set of transmit power information.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said set of transmit power information is in the form of a channel map, said channel map including one PSD indicator bit per channel, a value of the PSD indicator bit corresponding to a channel being said PSD indicator value corresponding to the channel, the value of the PSD indicator bit corresponding to the channel indicating whether or not the corresponding channel is subject to a PSD constraint.
3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
transmitting information indicating the amount of PSD reduction to be applied to channels which are subject to a PSD constraint.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the access point is a WiFi Access Point supporting unlicensed operation in 6 GHz spectrum.
5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the access point is a new radio unlicensed (NRU) gNB base station supporting unlicensed operation in 6 GHz spectrum.
6 . The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the set of transmit power information further includes:
including in said set of transmit power information a PSD reduction element field value indicating an amount of PSD reduction to be applied to a channel in said set of channels; and
wherein transmitting the set of transmit power information includes transmitting said PSD reduction element field value.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein generating the first set of transmit power information includes generating a quiet channel information element including information indicating a list of resource units (RUs) that are subject to no transmission or are subject to lower PSD transmission than other RUs.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein generating the quiet channel information element includes generating a length field indicating how many quiet RUs are listed and a list of indices indicating the quiet RUs.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein transmitting the set of transmit power information includes transmitting said quiet channel information element.
10 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving, in a first frequency range, a frame from one or more stations;
identifying: i) one or more channels or ii) one or more RUs on which no data was to be transmitted; and
decoding the received frame assuming that no data was transmitted on the RUs or channels on which no data was to be transmitted.
11 . A method of operating an access point (AP), comprising:
generating, when at least one channel is to be power spectral density (PSD) limited, a set of transmit power information for a set of channels used by said access point, said set of channels including multiple channels, at least one channel of said multiple channels being subject to PSD reduction, said set of transmit power information indicating for each channel in said set of channels whether PSD reduction is to be applied; and
transmitting the first set of transmit power information, said transmitting the first set of transmit power information including transmitting the first set of transmit power information in one or more of: i) a unicast probe response to a station (STA) or ii) a unicast association response to a STA.
12 . An access point, comprising:
a first receiver;
a wireless transmitter; and
a processor configured to control the access point to:
generate, when at least one channel is to be power spectral density (PSD) limited, a set of transmit power information for a set of channels used by said access point, said set of channels including multiple channels, at least one channel of said multiple channels being subject to PSD reduction, said set of transmit power information including multiple PSD indicator values, each PSD indicator value in said multiple PSD indictor values corresponding to a channel in said set of channels, each PSD indicator value in said multiple PSD indicator values indicating whether PSD reduction is to be applied to the corresponding channel; and
transmit the set of transmit power information.
13 . The access point of claim 12 , wherein said set of transmit power information is in the form of a channel map, said channel map including one PSD indicator bit per channel, a value of the PSD indicator bit corresponding to a channel being said PSD indicator value corresponding to the channel, the value of the PSD indicator bit value corresponding to the channel indicating whether or not the corresponding channel is subject to a PSD constraint.
14 . The access point of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to control the access point to:
transmit information indicating the amount of PSD reduction to be applied to channels which are subject to a PSD constraint.
15 . The access point of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to control the access point to:
receive, in a first frequency range, a frame from one or more stations;
identify: i) one or more channels or ii) one or more RUs on which no data was to be transmitted; and
decode the received frame assuming that no data was transmitted on the RUs or channels on which no data was to be transmitted.
16 . The access point of claim 13 , wherein the access point is a WiFi Access Point supporting unlicensed operation in 6 GHz spectrum.
17 . The access point of claim 12 , wherein said processor is configured to control the access point to:
include in said set of transmit power information a PSD reduction element field value indicating an amount of PSD reduction to be applied to a channel in said set of channels, as part of being configured to generate the set of transmit power information.
18 . The access point of claim 17 , wherein the processor is configured to control the access point to:
generate a quiet channel information element including information indicating a list of resource units (RUs) that are subject to no transmission or are subject to lower PSD transmission than other RUs as part of generating the set of transmit power information.
19 . The access point of claim 18 , wherein the processor is configured to control the access point to:
generate a length field indicating how many quiet RUs are listed and a list of indices indicating the quiet RUs as part of generating the quiet channel information element.
20 . An access point, comprising:
a first receiver;
a wireless transmitter; and
a processor configured to control the access point to:
generate, when at least one channel is to be power spectral density (PSD) limited, a set of transmit power information for a set of channels used by said access point, said set of channels including multiple channels, at least one of said multiple channels being subject to PSD reduction, said set of transmit power information indicating for each channel in said set of channels whether PSD reduction is to be applied; and
transmit the set of transmit power information; and
wherein the processor is further configured to control the access point to transmit the set of transmit power information in one or more of: i) a unicast probe response to a station (STA) or ii) a unicast association response to a STA, as part of being configured to control the access point to transmit the first set of transmit power information.