Granted Patent B2

US 12,218,838 · App. 18/432,786 · Granted Feb 4, 2025

Inventor: Yongho Seok (San Jose, CA)

Assignee: Atlas Global Technologies LLC

H04L45/74H04L1/16H04L1/1685H04W88/08

Abstract

Claims (38)

1. A network device to function as an Access Point (AP) in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), the AP configured to acknowledge a data frame transmitted by a station (STA) in an uplink multi-user physical layer protocol data unit (UL MU PPDU), comprising:

one or more memories; and

a physical layer (PHY) processor and a media access controller (MAC) processor, each coupled to the one or more memories, configured to:

receive the UL MU PPDU;

decode an acknowledge (ACK) policy field within a data field of the UL MU PPDU; and

determine whether an acknowledgement (ACK) policy indicated in the data field signals an implicit block acknowledgement (BlockAck) request;

responsive to a determination that the ACK policy indication signals an implicit acknowledgement policy, the AP is configured to:

transmit an ACK or BlockAck frame to the STA in either a single user (SU) or a multi user (MU) manner; and wherein the implicit acknowledgement policy is signaled by a ‘0’ in bit 6 of a Quality of Service (QOS) control field and a ‘0’ in bit 5 of the QoS control field.

2. The network device of claim 1 , wherein one or more BlockAck frames are represented in the UL MU PPDU.

3. The network device of claim 2 , wherein the one or more BlockAck frames are non-multi user (non-MU).

4. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the PHY processor and the MAC processor transmits the BlockAck frame to the STA, wherein the BlockAck frame elicits an immediate acknowledgement.

5. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the PHY processor comprises a transmitter signal processing unit and a receiver signal processing unit.

6. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the MAC processor comprises an MU ACK module.

7. The network device of claim 1 , wherein a baseband processor comprises the PHY and MAC processors.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a network device functioning as an access point (AP) in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), an uplink multi-user physical layer protocol data unit (UL MU PPDU), the AP acknowledging a data frame transmitted by a station (STA) of the WLAN;

decoding, by the AP, an acknowledge (ACK) policy field within a data field of the UL MU PPDU; and

determining, by the AP, whether an acknowledgement (ACK) policy indicated in the data field signals an implicit block acknowledgement (BlockAck) request;

responsive to the AP determining that the ACK policy indication signals an implicit acknowledgement policy:

transmitting, by the AP, an ACK or BlockAck frame to the STA in either a single user (SU) or a multi user (MU) manner; and wherein the implicit acknowledgement policy is signaled by a ‘0’ in bit 6 of a Quality of Service (QOS) control field and a ‘0’ in bit 5 of the QoS control field.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein one or more BlockAck frames are represented in the UL MU PPDU.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more BlockAck frames are non-multi user (MU).

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the PHY processor and the MAC processor transmits the BlockAck frame to the STA, wherein the BlockAck frame elicits an immediate acknowledgement.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the PHY processor comprises a transmitter signal processing unit and a receiver signal processing unit.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the MAC processor comprises an MU ACK module.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein a baseband processor comprises the PHY and MAC processors.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of an access point (AP) in a wireless local area network (WLAN), cause the AP to perform:

receiving, by the AP, an uplink multi-user physical layer protocol data unit (UL MU PPDU), the AP acknowledging a data frame transmitted by a station (STA) of the WLAN;

decoding, by the AP, an acknowledge (ACK) policy field within a data field of the UL MU PPDU; and

determining, by the AP, whether an acknowledgement (ACK) policy indicated in the data field signals an implicit block acknowledgement (BlockAck) request;

responsive to the AP determining that the ACK policy indication signals an implicit acknowledgement policy:

transmitting, by the AP, an ACK or BlockAck frame to the STA in either a single user (SU) or a multi user (MU) manner; and wherein the implicit acknowledgement policy is signaled by a ‘0’ in bit 6 of a Quality of Service (QOS) control field and a ‘0’ in bit 5 of the QoS control field.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein one or more BlockAck frames are represented in the UL MU PPDU.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the one or more BlockAck frames are non-multi user (MU).

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the PHY processor and the MAC processor transmits the BlockAck frame to the STA, wherein the BlockAck frame elicits an immediate acknowledgement.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the PHY processor comprises a transmitter signal processing unit and a receiver signal processing unit.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the MAC processor comprises an MU ACK module.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein a baseband processor comprises the PHY and MAC processors.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (11)

References Cited (57)