Multi-link discovery signaling in extremely high throughput (EHT) systems

1. An apparatus of a multi-fink access point (AP) device comprising multiple APs, the multi-link AP device configured for multi-link communication on a plurality of channels,

wherein the APs of the multi-link AP device share a common medium access control (MAC) service access point (SAP) address to a logical link control (LLC) entity of the multi-link AP device,

wherein for each channel of the plurality of channels, at least one of the APs of the multi-link AP device is configured for communication on the channel,

wherein the multi-link AP device comprises: memory; and processing circuitry, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

encode a frame for transmission by one of the APs of the multi-link AP device, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to encode the frame to include signaling to enable multi-link discovery of the APs of the multi-link AP device,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to encode the signaling to include:

a reduced neighbor report (RNR) element that identifies the APs of the multi-link AP device, and

a multiple AP element configurable to include:

common information for the APs of the multi-link AP device, and

per-AP sub-elements that include per-AP information related to the APs of the multi-link AP device.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the per-AP information is related to policies of the APs of the multi-link AP device, wherein the policies are related to one or more of:

initiation of a multi-link association with the multi-link AP by a multi-link station (STA) device that discovers the multi-link AP device,

exchange of management frames and power save negotiation frames between the multi-link STA device and the multi-link AP device, and

interfaces for data exchange between the multi-link STA device and the multi-link AP device.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the per-AP information is related to policies of the APs of the multi-link AP device, the policies related to one or more of:

reception of traffic indication map (TIM) information or target wake time (TWIT) information by a multi-link station (STA) device that discovers the multi-link AP device, and

reception of broadcast traffic or multi-cast traffic by the multi-link STA device.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the per-AP information is related to policies of the APs of the multi-link AP device, and

the policies are related to whether a transition of one or more traffic IDs (TIDs) between channels is decided by the multi-link AP device or is negotiated between the multi-link AP device and a multi-link station (STA) device that discovers the multi-link AP device.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , the processing circuitry further configured to:

encode the RNR element to indicate whether the APs are part of the mu AP device.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , the processing circuitry further configured to:

encode each of the per-AP sub-elements to indicate whether inheritance of information in the per-AP sub-elements is to be used in the multi-link discovery.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , the processing circuitry further configured to:

encode the per-AP sub-elements to include one or more enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) parameters.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , the processing circuitry further configured to:

encode the common information to include a medium access control (MAC) service access point (SAP) address of the multi-link AP device.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , the processing circuitry further configured to:

encode the common information to include information related to shared buffer capabilities of the APs of the multi-link AP device.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , the processing circuitry further configured to:

encode the RNR element to include:

for each of the channels of the plurality of channels: a neighbor AP information field that includes an operating class of the channel and a channel number, and

for each of the neighbor AP information fields, for each of the APs operating on the channel corresponding to the neighbor AP information field: a target beacon transmission time (TBTT) information field that includes a TBTT offset of the AP.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , the processing circuitry further configured to:

encode each of the TBTT information fields to indicate:

whether the AP corresponding to the TBTT information field is part of the multi-link AP device, and

a corresponding AP ID.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:

the channels are included in a first frequency band in a 2.4 giga-Hertz (GHz) range, in a second frequency band in a 5 GHz range, or in a third frequency band in a 6 GHz range, and

at least two of the channels are in different frequency bands.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:

the processing circuitry includes a baseband processor to encode the frame,

the apparatus further comprises a transceiver to transmit the frame, and

the memory is configured to store at least a portion of the frame.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution of operations by processing circuitry of a multi-link station (STA) device comprising multiple STAs, the multi-link STA device configured for multi-link communication on a plurality of channels,

wherein the STAs of the multi-link STA device share a common medium access control (MAC) service access point (SAP) address to a logical link control (LLC) entity of the multi-link STA device,

wherein for each channel of the plurality of channels, at least one of the STAs of the multi-link STA device is configured for communication on the channel,

wherein the operations configure the processing circuitry to:

decode a frame from an access point (AP) of a multi-link AP device comprising multiple APs, wherein the frame includes signaling for multi-link discovery of the APs of the multi-link AP device, wherein the signaling includes:

a reduced neighbor report (RNR) element that identifies the APs of the multi-link AP device, and

a multiple AP element configurable to include:

common information for the APs of the multi-link AP device, and

per-AP sub-elements that include information related to policies of the APs of the multi-link AP device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , wherein the operations further configure the processing circuitry to:

if a corresponding per-AP sub-element for one of the APs of the multi-link AP device does not include one or more operating parameters, determine values for the one or more operating parameters based on an inheritance of previous values of the one or more operating parameters.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , wherein the operations further configure the processing circuitry to:

determine one or more operating parameters of one of the APs of the multi-link AP device based on an inheritance indicator included in the per-AP sub-element corresponding to the AP,

wherein the operations further configure the processing circuitry to:

if the inheritance indicator indicates that an inheritance is to be used, determine values of the one or more operating parameters based on previous values of the one or more operating parameters; and

if the inheritance indicator indicates that the inheritance is not to be used, determine values of the one or more operating parameters based on values included in the per-AP sub-element.

18. A method, comprising:

encoding a frame for transmission, wherein the frame is encoded to include signaling to enable multi-link discovery of multiple access points (APs) of a multi-link AP device operating in a plurality of channels, wherein the APs of the multi-link AP device share a common medium access control (MAC) service access point (SAP) address to a logical link control (LLC) entity of the multi-link AP device, wherein the signaling is encoded to include:

a reduced neighbor report (RNR) element that identifies the APs of the multi-link AP device, and

a multiple AP element configurable to include:

common information for the APs of the multi-link AP device, and

per-AP sub-elements that include per-AP information related to the APs of the multi-link AP device.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame.