IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,634,034
Granted Patent B2
US 12,634,034 · App. 18/072,922 · Granted May 19, 2026

Dynamic puncturing with dynamic signaling

Inventor: Laurent Cariou (Milizac, FR)
Assignee: Intel Corporation
H04L1/0013H04W72/0457H04W72/20
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,634,034
App. No.
18/072,922
Granted
May 19, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for dynamic puncturing with dynamic signaling are disclosed. Apparatuses of a non-access point (AP) station (STA) or of an AP are disclosed, where the apparatuses comprise processing circuitry configured to: decode a first physical (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) in accordance with a first channel width and first inactive subchannels, and encode a second PPDU, in response to the first PPDU, with a second channel width that is the same as or narrower than the first channel width and in accordance with second inactive subchannels, the second inactive subchannels being the same as or indicating a wider set of punctured subchannels than the first inactive subchannels. The processing circuitry is further configured to configure the non-AP STA to transmit the second PPDU in accordance with the second channel width and the second inactive subchannels.

Claims (39)

1 . An apparatus for a non-access point (AP) station (STA) (non-AP STA), the apparatus comprising memory; and processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to:

decode a first portion of a first physical (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) in accordance with a first channel width, the first portion comprising a PHY portion, the PHY portion comprising an indication of first punctured subchannels;

receive a second portion of the first PPDU in accordance with the first punctured subchannels;

encode a second PPDU, in response to the first PPDU, with a second channel width that is a same as or narrower than the first channel width and in accordance with an indication of second punctured subchannels, the second punctured subchannels being the same as or indicating a wider set of punctured subchannels than the first punctured subchannels, a PHY portion of the second PPDU comprising the indication of second punctured subchannels; and

configure the non-AP STA to transmit the second PPDU in accordance with the second channel width and the second punctured subchannels.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second channel width is a same channel width as the first channel width.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second PPDU comprises a control frame and the first PPDU is a non-high throughput (non-HT) or non-HT duplicate PPDU with a non-bandwidth signaling transmitter address (TA).

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the non-AP STA is an extremely-high throughput (EHT) STA, the second PPDU is a control frame other than a clear-to-send (CTS) control frame, the first PPDU is a non-high throughput (non-HT) or non-HT duplicate frame having a bandwidth signaling transmitter address (TA), and the second channel width is equal to the first channel width.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein wider inactive subchannels indicate additional subchannels are punctured.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first PPDU is received from an AP and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

determine a subchannel within the second channel width is busy; and

set a bit corresponding to the channel of the second punctured subchannels to indicate the subchannel is unavailable.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the first PPDU further comprises an indication of the first subchannel is busy in an extremely-high throughput (EHT) operation element.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

refrain from indicating additional subchannels are inactive subchannels in the second punctured subchannels.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first punctured subchannels indicate 20 MHz or 40 MHz subchannels per bit.

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein one bit of the second punctured subchannels and the first punctured subchannels corresponds to a subchannel of first channel width and indicates whether the subchannel is punctured.

11 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the non-AP STA is configured to operate in accordance with an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE) 802.11 communication protocol.

12 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising transceiver circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry, the transceiver circuitry coupled to two or more patch antennas for receiving signaling in accordance with a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technique.

13 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of an apparatus for an apparatus for a non-access point (AP) station (STA) (non-AP STA), the instructions to configure the one or more processors to:

decode a first portion of a first physical (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) in accordance with a first channel width, the first portion comprising a PHY portion, the PHY portion comprising an indication of first punctured subchannels;

receive a second portion of the first PPDU in accordance with the first punctured subchannels;

encode a second PPDU, in response to the first PPDU, with a second channel width that is a same as or narrower than the first channel width and in accordance with an indication of second punctured subchannels, the second punctured subchannels being the same as or indicating a wider set of punctured subchannels than the first punctured subchannels, a PHY portion of the second PPDU comprising the indication of second punctured subchannels; and

configure the non-AP STA to transmit the second PPDU in accordance with the second channel width and the second punctured subchannels.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the second channel width is a same channel width as the first channel width.

15 . An apparatus for an access point (AP), the apparatus comprising memory; and processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to:

encode a beacon frame for transmission that comprises a punctured subchannel bitmap field in an extremely high-throughput (EHT) operation element;

encode a physical (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) in accordance with punctured subchannels, the punctured subchannels indicated by the punctured subchannel bitmap field, a PHY portion of the PPDU comprising an indication of the punctured subchannel bitfield; and

configure the AP to transmit the PPDU in accordance with the punctured subchannels.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the AP is an extremely-high throughput (EHT) AP.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the PPDU comprises a multi-user request to send (MU-RTS) trigger frame, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

refrain from puncturing other subchannels not indicated in the punctured subchannel bitmap field, wherein an EHT base line features implemented only flag is equal to true.

18 . The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the PPDU comprises a multi-user request to send (MU-RTS) trigger frame, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

puncture one other subchannel not indicated in the punctured subchannel bitmap field, wherein an EHT base line features implemented only flag is equal to false; and

refrain from indicating the one other subchannel not indicated in the punctured subchannel bitmap field in a user information field of the MU-RT trigger frame.

19 . The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the PPDU is a first PPDU, the inactive channels are first inactive channels, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

encode a second PPDU for transmission, in accordance with second punctured channels, the second punctured subchannels being a same as or indicating a wider set of punctured subchannels than the first punctured subchannels.

20 . The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the PPDU is an extremely-high throughput (EHT) PPDU, indicates a transmission opportunity (TXOP) in a high-efficiency (HE) signal (SIG) A (HE-SIG-A) field, the first EHT PPDU is a first EHT PPDU transmitted in the TXOP, and the first EHT PPDU was transmitted with a first channel bandwidth (CH_Bandwidth), and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

encode for transmission a second PPDU in accordance with a second CH_Bandwidth, wherein the first CH_Bandwidth is greater than or equal to the second CH_Bandwidth.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 6, 2022
From: CARIOU, LAURENT
To: INTEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 061990/0518 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63350199 · Jun 8, 2022
Related Publication 20230094028A1 · Mar 30, 2023
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