Packet extension for extremely high throughput (EHT) trigger frame

1. An apparatus of a station (STA) configured for operation in a wireless local area network (WLAN) in accordance with a WLAN standard, the apparatus comprising memory; and

processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to:

encode a capabilities element for transmission to an access point (AP), the capabilities element including a media access control (MAC) capabilities information field indicating a trigger frame MAC padding duration;

decode an extremely high throughput (EHT) protocol data unit (PPDU) received in response to the capabilities element, the EHT PPDU including an EHT trigger frame (EHT-TF) in a data portion of the EHT PPDU, a packet extension (PE) field, and a dummy orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol extending the PE field, the dummy OFDM symbol disposed after a last symbol of the data portion and before the PE field of the EHT PPDU;

perform physical layer (PHY) and MAC processing of the EHT PPDU based on a duration of the dummy OFDM symbol; and

detect a presence of the dummy OFDM symbol based on a predetermined combination of subfields of a universal signal (U-SIG) field within the EHT PPDU,

wherein the predetermined combination of subfields is not specified in the WLAN standard and includes at least one of:

a combination of EHT-SIG modulation and coding scheme (MCS) subfield and Number of EHT-SIG Symbols subfield; and

a combination of uplink (UL)/downlink (DL) subfield and PPDU Type and Compression Mode subfield.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a duration of the PHY and MAC processing is smaller than or equal to a duration of the dummy OFDM symbol and a duration of the PE field of the EHT PPDU.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein a duration of the dummy OFDM symbol is equal to a duration of an OFDM symbol of the data portion of the EHT PPDU.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein a duration of the dummy OFDM symbol is based on the trigger frame MAC padding duration.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the duration of the dummy OFDM symbol and the duration of the trigger frame MAC padding duration is 16 us.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

mixer circuitry to downconvert RF signals to baseband signals; and

synthesizer circuitry, the synthesizer circuitry comprising one of a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, the synthesizer circuitry configured to generate an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to decode the baseband signals, the baseband signals including the EHT PPDU.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

mixer circuitry to downconvert RF signals to baseband signals; and

synthesizer circuitry, the synthesizer circuitry comprising a delta-sigma synthesizer, the synthesizer circuitry configured to generate an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to decode the baseband signals, the baseband signals including the EHT PPDU.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of an apparatus of a station (STA) configured for operation in a wireless local area network (WLAN) in accordance with a WLAN standard, the instructions to configure the one or more processors to:

encode a capabilities element for transmission to an access point (AP), the capabilities element including a media access control (MAC) capabilities information field indicating a trigger frame MAC padding duration;

decode an extremely high throughput (EHT) protocol data unit (PPDU) received in response to the capabilities element, the EHT PPDU including an EHT trigger frame (EHT-TF) in a data portion of the EHT PPDU, a packet extension (PE) field, and a dummy orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol extending the PE field, the dummy OFDM symbol disposed after a last symbol of the data portion and before the PE field of the EHT PPDU;

perform physical layer (PHY) and MAC processing of the EHT PPDU based on a duration of the dummy OFDM symbol; and

detect a presence of the dummy OFDM symbol based on a predetermined combination of subfields of a universal signal (U-SIG) field within the EHT PPDU,

wherein the predetermined combination of subfields is not specified in the WLAN standard and includes at least one of:

a combination of EHT-SIG modulation and coding scheme (MCS) subfield and Number of EHT-SIG Symbols subfield; and

a combination of uplink (UL)/downlink (DL) subfield and PPDU Type and Compression Mode subfield.

9. An apparatus of an access point (AP) configured for operation in a wireless local area network (WLAN) in accordance with a WLAN standard, the apparatus comprising memory; and processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to:

decode a capabilities element received from a station (STA), the capabilities element including a media access control (MAC) capabilities information field indicating a trigger frame MAC padding duration requested by the STA;

encode an extremely high throughput (EHT) protocol data unit (PPDU) for transmission to the STA in response to the capabilities element, the EHT PPDU including an EHT trigger frame (EHT-TF) in a data portion of the EHT PPDU, a packet extension (PE) field, and a dummy orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol extending the PE field, the dummy OFDM symbol disposed after a last symbol of the data portion and before the PE field of the EHT PPDU;

decode uplink (UL) data received from the STA in response to the EHT-TF; and

encode an indicator based on a predetermined combination of subfields of a universal signal (U-SIG) field within the EHT PPDU, the indicator to indicate a presence of the dummy OFDM symbol in the EHT PPDU,

wherein the predetermined combination of subfields is not specified in the WLAN standard and includes at least one of:

a combination of EHT-SIG modulation and coding scheme (MCS) subfield and Number of EHT-SIG Symbols subfield; and

a combination of uplink (UL)/downlink (DL) subfield and PPDU Type and Compression Mode subfield.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

determine to include the dummy OFDM symbol in the EHT PPDU based on the trigger frame MAC padding duration requested by the STA.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein a duration of the dummy OFDM symbol is based on the trigger frame MAC padding duration.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein a duration of the dummy OFDM symbol is equal to a duration of an OFDM symbol of the data portion of the EHT PPDU.