Methods and apparatus for supporting prioritized transmission opportunity (TXOP) sharing

1. A method of operating an access point, the method comprising:

transmitting, from the access point, a first management frame including shared transmission opportunity prioritization information providing information prioritizing stations with respect to one or more shared station transmission opportunities which occur following transmission of said first management frame;

receiving a trigger frame;

determining the type of trigger frame that was received from frame type information included in the trigger frame, said step of determining the type of trigger frame including determining that the trigger frame is a shared transmission type trigger frame;

determining that a BSS color indicated in the received trigger frame does not match a BSS color of the access point;

checking to determine if a flag in the trigger frame indicates that a guest station using a trigger based frame corresponding to the trigger frame is permitted to have a different BSS color than the host station which transmitted the received trigger frame;

discarding said received trigger frame when a flag in the trigger frame indicates that a guest station using the trigger based frame corresponding to the trigger frame is not permitted to have a different BSS color than the host station which transmitted the received trigger frame;

receiving, on one or more shared transmission resource units of a first station transmission opportunity, a signal from a first guest station; and

processing the signal received on one or more shared resource units of the transmission opportunity corresponding to the received trigger frame when the flag in the trigger frame indicates that a guest station using the trigger based frame corresponding to the trigger frame is permitted to have a different BSS color than the host station which transmitted the received trigger frame.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving on unshared transmission resources of the first station transmission opportunity a first trigger based frame transmitted by a first station which is a host station with respect to the first station transmission opportunity.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the first management frame includes transmitting, as part of said first management frame, rule information indicating a rule to be complied with when using guest transmission opportunities that become available during the first transmission opportunity.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the first management frame includes transmitting, as part of said first management frame, prioritization information for a second transmission opportunity, the second transmission opportunity prioritization information further including second guest station prioritization information, the second guest station prioritization information setting priorities with regard to one or more stations with regard to guest transmission opportunities that become available in the second transmission opportunity.

5. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein said trigger frame is received from said first station, acting as a first host station, the method further comprising:

determining from first guest transmission opportunity information included in the trigger frame at least one guest transmission opportunity that is authorized by the first host station that is available as a shared transmission opportunity.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flag in the trigger frame indicates that a guest station using a trigger based frame corresponding to the trigger frame is permitted to have a different BSS color than the host station which transmitted the received trigger frame.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

processing signals received on a shared resource unit to determine if a destination media access control (MAC) address corresponding to the shared resource unit is the same as a MAC address of the access point.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

transmitting an acknowledgement frame in response to determining that the destination MAC address corresponding to the shared resource unit is the same as the MAC address of the access point.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the signal received on shared resource units of the transmission opportunity corresponding to the received trigger frame includes:

checking to determine if the signal on the shared resource units of the transmission opportunity communicates a destination media access control (MAC) address matching a MAC address of the access point.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

processing MAC physical data units (PDUs) communicated by the signal transmitted using the shared resource units of the transmission opportunity when the shared resource units are determined to communicate a destination MAC address matching a MAC address of the access point.

11. An access point, comprising:

a wireless receiver;

a wireless transmitter; and

a processor configured to operate the access point to:

transmit, from the access point, a first management frame including shared transmission opportunity prioritization information providing information prioritizing stations with respect to one or more shared station transmission opportunities which occur following transmission of said first management frame;

receive a trigger frame;

determine the type of trigger frame that was received from frame type information included in the trigger frame, said step of determining the type of trigger frame including determining that the trigger frame is a shared transmission type trigger frame;

determine that a BSS color indicated in the received trigger frame does not match a BSS color of the access point;

check to determine if a flag in the trigger frame indicates that a guest station using a trigger based frame corresponding to the trigger frame is permitted to have a different BSS color than the host station which transmitted the received trigger frame;

discard said received trigger frame when a flag in the trigger frame indicates that a guest station using the trigger based frame corresponding to the trigger frame is not permitted to have a different BSS color than the host station which transmitted the received trigger frame;

receive, on one or more shared transmission resource units of a first station transmission opportunity, a signal from a first guest station; and

process the signal received on one or more shared resource units of the transmission opportunity corresponding to the received trigger frame when the flag in the trigger frame indicates that a guest station using the trigger based frame corresponding to the trigger frame is permitted to have a different BSS color than the host station which transmitted the received trigger frame.

12. The access point of claim 11 , wherein said processor is further configured to operate the access point to:

receive on unshared transmission resources of the first station transmission opportunity a first trigger based frame transmitted by a first station which is a host station with respect to the first station transmission opportunity.

13. The access point of claim 11 , wherein said processor is configured to operate the access point to transmit rule information indicating a rule to be complied with when using guest transmission opportunities that become available during the first transmission opportunity, as part of being configured to operate the access point to transmit the first management frame.

14. The access point of claim 11 , wherein said processor is configured to operate the access point to transmit prioritization information for a second transmission opportunity, as part of being configured to operate the access point to transmit the first management frame, the second transmission opportunity prioritization information further including second guest station prioritization information, the second guest station prioritization information setting priorities with regard to one or more stations with regard to guest transmission opportunities that become available in the second transmission opportunity.

15. The access point of claim 11 ,

wherein said trigger frame is received from said first station, acting as a first host station; and

wherein said processor is further configured to operate the access point to:

determine from first guest transmission opportunity information included in the trigger frame at least one guest transmission opportunity that is authorized by the first host station that is available as a shared transmission opportunity.

16. The access point of claim 11 , wherein the flag in the trigger frame indicates that a guest station using a trigger based frame corresponding to the trigger frame is permitted to have a different BSS color than the host station which transmitted the received trigger frame.

17. The access point of claim 16 , wherein said processor is further configured to operate the access point to:

process signals received on a shared resource unit to determine if a destination media access control (MAC) address corresponding to the shared resource unit is the same as a MAC address of the access point.

18. The access point of claim 16 , wherein said processor is further configured to operate the access point to:

transmit an acknowledgement frame in response to determining that the destination media access control (MAC) address corresponding to the shared resource unit is the same as the MAC address of the access point.

19. The access point of claim 18 , wherein said processor is configured to operate the access point to:

check to determine if the signal on the shared resource units of the transmission opportunity communicates a destination MAC address matching a MAC address of the access point, as part of being configured to operate the access point to process the signal received on one or more shared resource units of the transmission opportunity corresponding to the received trigger frame.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer executable instructions which when executed by a processor of an access point control the access point to perform the steps of:

transmitting, from the access point, a first management frame including shared transmission opportunity prioritization information providing information prioritizing stations with respect to one or more shared station transmission opportunities which occur following transmission of said first management frame;

receiving a trigger frame;

determining the type of trigger frame that was received from frame type information included in the trigger frame, said step of determining the type of trigger frame including determining that the trigger frame is a shared transmission type trigger frame;

determining that a BSS color indicated in the received trigger frame does not match a BSS color of the access point;

checking to determine if a flag in the trigger frame indicates that a guest station using a trigger based frame corresponding to the trigger frame is permitted to have a different BSS color than the host station which transmitted the received trigger frame;

discarding said received trigger frame when a flag in the trigger frame indicates that a guest station using the trigger based frame corresponding to the trigger frame is not permitted to have a different BSS color than the host station which transmitted the received trigger frame;

receiving, on one or more shared transmission resource units of a first station transmission opportunity, a signal from a first guest station; and

processing the signal received on one or more shared resource units of the transmission opportunity corresponding to the received trigger frame when the flag in the trigger frame indicates that a guest station using the trigger based frame corresponding to the trigger frame is permitted to have a different BSS color than the host station which transmitted the received trigger frame.