Methods and apparatus for protection of multi-user (MU) transmissions

1. A station (STA) comprising:

a transceiver; and

a processor,

wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to detect a trigger frame for bandwidth reporting from an access point (AP),

wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to transmit a bandwidth report in response to the trigger frame, wherein the bandwidth report indicates whether particular 20 MHz sub-channels of a wider channel supported by the AP are available at the STA, and

wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to detect data in a resource unit (RU) of a downlink (DL) MU physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) on one of the 20 MHz sub-channels, wherein the one of the 20 MHz sub-channels is based on the transmitted bandwidth report.

2. The STA of claim 1 , wherein the trigger frame includes a common information field, and the common information field includes a trigger type subfield that indicates that the trigger is for bandwidth reporting.

3. The STA of claim 1 , wherein the trigger frame is a trigger for an uplink (UL) multi-user (MU) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU).

4. The STA of claim 3 , wherein the trigger frame includes a plurality of user information fields, each of the user information fields including an association identifier (AID) sub-field that includes an AID of an individual STA addressed by the trigger frame and a resource unit (RU) allocation for the STA identified by the AID sub-field to send the bandwidth report in the UL MU PPDU.

5. The STA of claim 4 , wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to transmit the bandwidth report in response to the trigger frame based on the trigger frame including a user information field including the AID of the STA.

6. The STA of claim 4 , wherein the trigger frame further comprises an assignment of sub-channels and spatial streams for each STA identified by an AID in the trigger frame.

7. A method, implemented in a station (STA), the method comprising:

detecting a trigger frame for bandwidth reporting from an access point (AP);

transmitting a bandwidth report in response to the trigger frame, wherein the bandwidth report indicates whether particular 20 MHz sub-channels of a wider channel supported by the AP are available at the STA; and

detecting data in a resource unit (RU) of a downlink (DL) MU physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) on one of the 20 MHz sub-channels, wherein the one of the 20 MHz sub-channels is based on the transmitted bandwidth report.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the trigger frame includes a common information field, and the common information field includes a trigger type subfield that indicates that the trigger is for bandwidth reporting.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the trigger frame includes a common information field, and the common information field includes a trigger type subfield that indicates that the trigger is for bandwidth reporting.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the trigger frame includes a plurality of user information fields, each of the user information fields including an association identifier (AID) sub-field that includes an AID of an individual STA addressed by the trigger frame and a resource unit (RU) allocation for the STA identified by the AID sub-field to send the bandwidth report in the UL MU PPDU.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the transmitting the bandwidth report further comprises transmitting the bandwidth report in response to the trigger frame based on the trigger frame including a user information field including the AID of the STA.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the trigger frame further comprises an assignment of sub-channels and spatial streams for each STA identified by an AID in the trigger frame.

13. An access point (AP) comprising:

a transceiver; and

a processor,

wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to transmit a trigger frame for bandwidth reporting,

wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to receive at least one bandwidth report in response to the trigger frame, wherein the bandwidth report indicates whether particular 20 MHz sub-channels of a wider channel supported by the AP are available at one or more STAs, and

wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to transmit data in a resource unit (RU) of a downlink (DL) MU physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) on one or more of the 20 MHz sub-channels, wherein the one or more of the 20 MHz sub-channels is based on the received at least one bandwidth report.

14. The AP of claim 13 , wherein the trigger frame includes a common information field, and the common information field includes a trigger type subfield that indicates that the trigger is for bandwidth reporting.

15. The AP of claim 13 , wherein the trigger frame is a trigger for an uplink (UL) multi-user (MU) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU).

16. The AP of claim 15 , wherein the trigger frame includes a plurality of user information fields, each of the user information fields including an association identifier (AID) sub-field that includes an AID of an individual STA addressed by the trigger frame and a resource unit (RU) allocation for the STA identified by the AID sub-field to send the bandwidth report in the UL MU PPDU.

17. The AP of claim 16 , wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to receive a UL MU PPDU including a plurality of bandwidth reports from a plurality of STAs, each of the STAs being triggered based on the trigger frame including a plurality of user information fields, each including the AID of one of the plurality of STAs.

18. The AP of claim 16 , wherein each of the received bandwidth reports are received in the UL MU PPDU in RUs allocated for each of the plurality of STAs in the trigger frame.

19. The AP of claim 16 , wherein the trigger frame further comprises an assignment of sub-channels and spatial streams for each STA identified by an AID in the trigger frame.