IP Library › Granted Patent US 12690027

Granted Patent B2

US 12690027 · App. 18/181,844 · Granted Jul 21, 2026

Compact multi-user MIMO scheduling method

Inventors: Jerome Henry (Pittsboro, NC); Pascal Thubert (Roquefort les Pins, FR); Juan Carlos Zuniga (Montreal, CA)

Assignee: CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.

H04W72/1263 H04L1/08 H04W28/0278 H04B7/0452

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12690027
App. No.: 18/181,844
Filed: Mar 10, 2023
Granted: Jul 21, 2026
Kind: B2
Examiner: CHOWDHURY, HARUN UR R
Art Unit: 2473
USPC: 370/329

External Links

USPTO Patent Center↗ Full Patent PDF↗

Abstract

A method comprises: at an access point configured to communicate wirelessly with wireless stations: transmitting, to the wireless stations, a first multi-user trigger frame that identifies the wireless stations and allocates, to the wireless stations, resource units in which the wireless stations are to transmit data; and responsive to transmitting the first multi-user trigger frame, receiving, from the wireless stations, an uplink multi-user data frame that includes uplink data segments concurrently transmitted in the resource units by at least some of the wireless stations.

Claims (58)

1 . A method comprising:

at an access point configured to communicate wirelessly with wireless stations:

prior to transmitting a first multi-user trigger frame, skipping transmitting to the wireless stations, a separate buffer status report poll (BSRP) frame;

transmitting, to the wireless stations, the first multi-user trigger frame that identifies the wireless stations and allocates, to the wireless stations, resource units in which the wireless stations are to transmit data, wherein the first multi-user trigger frame is encoded with a buffer status report poll (BSRP) targeting the wireless stations;

responsive to transmitting the first multi-user trigger frame, receiving, from each of some of the wireless stations, an uplink multi-user data frame that includes uplink data segments concurrently transmitted in the resource units;

responsive to transmitting the BSRP, receiving, from the wireless stations, buffer status reports (BSRs) that indicate whether the wireless stations have data to send;

based on the first multi-user trigger frame and the BSRs, determining a responsive wireless station from which expected data segments were received and with more data segments to send, and a non-responsive wireless station from which an expected data segment was not received; and

transmitting a second multi-user trigger frame including a new data segment indicator targeting the responsive wireless station to solicit a new data segment, and a retry indicator targeting the non-responsive wireless station to solicit a retransmission of a prior data segment.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, at the access point:

prior to transmitting the first multi-user trigger frame, skipping exchanging, with the wireless stations, separate overhead frames including a clear-to-send frame and a request-to-send frame.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, at the access point, after wherein:

the retry indicator is selectively associated with a wireless station identifier for the non-responsive wireless station.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the second multi-user trigger frame is configured to allocate a larger resource unit to the non-responsive wireless station than was previously allocated in the first multi-user trigger frame.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

transmitting the first multi-user trigger frame includes transmitting the first multi-user trigger frame to include a no-acknowledgement indicator configured to cause the wireless stations to suppress transmitting acknowledgments.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the first multi-user trigger frame includes a header that has a trigger targeting the wireless stations, and wherein the header indicates respective resource unit allocations to the wireless stations.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein:

receiving, from the wireless stations, the buffer status reports includes receiving the buffer status reports in a data frame header of the uplink multi-user data frame.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, at the access point:

transmitting a downlink multi-user data frame having a data frame header and downlink data segments targeting the wireless stations, wherein the data frame header includes a trigger configured to cause the wireless stations to transmit data to the access point.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the access point and the wireless stations each operate in accordance with one or more IEEE 802.11 standards directed to multi-user transmission.

10 . An apparatus comprising:

a network processing unit to communicate over one or more networks; and

a processor coupled to the network processing unit and configured to perform:

prior to transmitting a first multi-user trigger frame, skipping transmitting to wireless stations, a separate buffer status report poll (BSRP) frame;

responsive to transmitting the first multi-user trigger frame, receiving, from the wireless stations, an uplink multi-user data frame that includes uplink data segments concurrently transmitted in the resource units; and

responsive to transmitting the BSRP, receiving, from the wireless stations, buffer status reports (BSRs) that indicate whether the wireless stations have data to send;

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform:

prior to transmitting the first multi-user trigger frame, skipping exchanging, with the wireless stations, separate overhead frames including a clear-to-send frame and a request-to-send frame.

12 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein:

the retry indicator is selectively associated with a wireless station identifier for the non-responsive wireless station.

13 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein:

the second multi-user trigger frame allocates a larger resource unit to the non-responsive wireless station than was previously allocated in the first multi-user trigger frame.

14 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein:

the processor is configured to perform transmitting the first multi-user trigger frame by transmitting the first multi-user trigger frame to include a no-acknowledgement indicator configured to cause the wireless stations to suppress transmitting acknowledgments.

15 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein:

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein:

the buffer status reports are included in a data frame header of the uplink multi-user data frame.

17 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform:

18 . A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor of an access point configured to communicate wirelessly with wireless stations, cause the processor to perform:

prior to transmitting a first multi-user trigger frame, skipping transmitting to the wireless stations, a separate buffer status report poll (BSRP) frame;

responsive to transmitting the BSRP, receiving, from the wireless stations, buffer status reports (BSRs) that indicate whether the wireless stations have data to send;

19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , further comprising instructions to cause the processor to perform:

prior to transmitting the first multi-user trigger frame, skipping exchanging, with the wireless stations, separate overhead frames including a clear-to-send frame and a request-to-send frame.

20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein:

the retry indicator is selectively associated with a wireless station identifier for the non-responsive wireless station.