RELAY OPERATIONS FOR WIRELESS NETWORKS

1 . A method performed by a non-relay station (STA) implemented by a wireless device to communicate with an access point (AP) via a relay STA, the method comprising:

wirelessly transmitting an association request frame for associating with the AP, wherein the relay STA relays the association request frame from the non-relay STA to the AP;

wirelessly receiving an association response frame that was relayed by the relay STA from the AP to the non-relay STA;

wirelessly transmitting a data frame that includes data intended for the AP, wherein the relay STA relays the data from the non-relay STA to the AP; and

wirelessly receiving an acknowledgement (ACK) frame, wherein the ACK frame is transmitted by the relay STA but a source address of the ACK frame is an address of the AP.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the relay STA relays the association request frame from the non-relay STA to the AP responsive to detecting that the non-relay STA transmitted a plurality of association request frames for associating with the AP to the AP without the AP transmitting a corresponding association response frame to the non-relay STA.

3 . A method performed by a relay station (STA) implemented by a wireless device to act as a relay between a non-relay STA and an access point (AP), the method comprising:

wirelessly receiving an association request frame for associating with the AP from the non-relay STA;

relaying the association request frame from the non-relay STA to the AP;

wirelessly receiving an association response frame from the AP;

relaying the association response frame from the AP to the non-relay STA;

wirelessly receiving a data frame from the non-relay STA, wherein the data frame includes data originated by the non-relay STA that is intended for the AP;

wirelessly transmitting an acknowledgement (ACK) frame to the non-relay STA, wherein a source address of the ACK frame is an address of the AP; and

relaying the data originated by the non-relay STA from the non-relay STA to the AP.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the data originated by the non-relay STA is relayed by transmitting a multi-user (MU) frame that includes the data originated by the non-relay STA and data originated by the relay STA that is intended for the AP.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the data originated by the non-relay STA and the data originated by the relay STA are multiplexed in the MU frame in a frequency domain.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the MU frame includes padding to align an end of a portion that includes the data originated by the non-relay STA with an end of a portion that includes the data originated by the relay STA.

7 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the MU frame is transmitted using an interframe space (IFS) interval that is shorter compared to a distributed coordination function IFS (DIFS) interval.

8 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

wirelessly receiving a MU ACK frame from the AP that acknowledges that the AP received the data originated by the non-relay STA and the data originated by the relay STA.

9 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the association request frame is relayed from the non-relay STA to the AP responsive to detecting that the non-relay STA transmitted a plurality of association request frames for associating with the AP to the AP without the AP transmitting a corresponding association response frame to the non-relay STA.

10 . A method performed by an access point (AP) implemented by a wireless device to communicate with a non-relay station (STA) via a relay STA, the method comprising:

wirelessly receiving an association request frame that was relayed by the relay STA from the non-relay STA to the AP;

responsive to receiving the association request frame, wirelessly transmitting an association response frame, wherein the relay STA relays the association response frame from the AP to the non-relay STA; and

wirelessly receiving data that was relayed by the relay STA from the non-relay STA to the AP.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the relayed data is received as part of a multi-user (MU) frame that also includes data originated by the relay STA that is intended for the AP.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

responsive to receiving the MU frame, wirelessly transmitting a MU acknowledgement (ACK) frame to the relay STA that acknowledges that the AP received the relayed data and the data originated by the relay STA.

13 . A method performed by a non-relay station (STA) implemented by a wireless device to communicate with an access point (AP) via a relay STA, the method comprising:

wirelessly transmitting an association request frame for associating with the AP, wherein the relay STA relays the association request frame from the non-relay STA to the AP;

wirelessly receiving an association response frame that was relayed by the relay STA from the AP to the non-relay STA;

wirelessly transmitting a data frame that includes data intended for the AP, wherein the relay STA relays the data from the non-relay STA to the AP;

wirelessly receiving a first acknowledgement (ACK) frame from the relay STA that acknowledges that the relay STA received the data; and

wirelessly receiving a second ACK frame that acknowledges that the AP received the data.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

wirelessly transmitting a relay request frame;

wirelessly receiving one or more relay response frames from one or more potential relay STAs including the relay STA; and

selecting the relay STA from among the one or more potential relay STAs to act as a relay between the non-relay STA and the AP.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

wirelessly transmitting a relay confirmation frame to the relay STA to confirm that the relay STA has been selected to act as the relay between the non-relay STA and the AP.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the relay request frame is transmitted responsive to transmitting a plurality of association request frames for associating with the AP to the AP without receiving a corresponding association response frame from the AP.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the relay request frame is transmitted in a broadcast or multicast manner.

18 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the relay STA transmits the second ACK frame to the non-relay STA responsive to receiving a third acknowledgement (ACK) frame from the AP that acknowledges that the AP received the data.

19 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the AP transmits the second ACK frame to the non-relay STA, wherein the second ACK frame is a multi-user (MU) ACK frame that also acknowledges data originated by the relay STA that was transmitted by the relay STA to the AP.

20 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the first ACK frame includes an indication that the second ACK frame will be delayed.

21 . A method performed by a relay station (STA) implemented by a wireless device to act as a relay between a non-relay STA and an access point (AP), the method comprising:

wirelessly receiving an association request frame for associating with the AP from the non-relay STA;

relaying the association request frame from the non-relay STA to the AP;

wirelessly receiving an association response frame from the AP;

relaying the association response frame from the AP to the non-relay STA;

wirelessly receiving a data frame from the non-relay STA, wherein the data frame includes data originated by the non-relay STA that is intended for the AP;

wirelessly transmitting a first acknowledgement (ACK) frame to the non-relay STA that acknowledges that the relay STA received the data;

relaying the data originated by the non-relay STA from the non-relay STA to the AP; and

wirelessly transmitting a second ACK frame to the non-relay STA that acknowledges that the AP received the data.

22 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

wirelessly receiving a relay request frame from the non-relay STA; and

responsive to receiving the relay request frame, wirelessly transmitting a relay response frame to the non-relay STA.

23 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

wirelessly receiving a relay confirmation frame from the non-relay STA that confirms that the relay STA has been selected to act as the relay between the non-relay STA and the AP.

24 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the data originated by the non-relay STA is relayed by transmitting a multi-user (MU) frame that includes the data originated by the non-relay STA and data originated by the relay STA that is intended for the AP.

25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the data originated by the non-relay STA and the data originated by the relay STA are multiplexed in the MU frame in a frequency domain.

26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the MU frame includes padding to align an end of a portion that includes the data originated by the non-relay STA with an end of a portion that includes the data originated by the relay STA.

27 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the MU frame is transmitted using an interframe space (IFS) interval that is shorter compared to a distributed coordination function IFS (DIFS) interval.

28 . The method of claim 24 , further comprising:

wirelessly receiving a MU ACK frame from the AP that acknowledges that the AP received the data originated by the non-relay STA and the data originated by the relay STA, wherein the second ACK frame is transmitted to the non-relay STA responsive to receiving the MU ACK frame from the AP.

29 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the first ACK frame includes an indication that the second ACK frame will be delayed.