Non-simultaneous transmit-receive (NSTR) soft access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD)

1. A method for wireless communication by a wireless station (STA), comprising:

operating as a non-simultaneous transmit-receive (NSTR) soft access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) including a first AP associated with a primary link and including a second AP associated with a non-primary link;

and

transmitting, on only the primary link, one or more frames carrying an indication of an unavailability of the non-primary link, the indication comprising a Do Not Transmit (DNT) bit carried in a Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) Element of the one or more frames transmitted on the primary link.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more frames comprise one or more beacon frames, one or more probe response frames, or more action frames.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more frames include a Capability Information field carrying a Critical Update Flag (CUF), the CUF set to a value of 1 based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

operating as a single-link device on the primary link based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

determining that the non-primary link is available while operating as the single-link device on the primary link;

resetting the DNT bit to a value of 0 based on the availability of the non-primary link; and

transmitting the reset DNT bit in another one or more frames on only the primary link, the other one or more frames including a Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) element carrying the reset DNT bit having the value of 0.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining that the non-primary link is available after transmitting the indication;

transmitting, on only the primary link, an indication of the availability of the non-primary link; and

operating as a multi-link device on the primary link and the non-primary link based on the availability of the non-primary link.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising disabling the non-primary link based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein disabling the non-primary link includes removing the non-primary link from a multi-link context associated with the NSTR softAP MLD.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

determining that the non-primary link is available after removing the non-primary link from the multi-link context; and

adding the non-primary link to the multi-link context based on the availability of the non-primary link.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein disabling the non-primary link includes re-mapping traffic identifiers (TIDs) from the non-primary link to the primary link.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

determining that the non-primary link is available after disabling the non-primary link; and

re-mapping the TIDs from the primary link to the non-primary link based on the availability of the non-primary link.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a ready-to-send (RTS) frame from a STA MLD on the primary link;

transmitting a clear-to-send (CTS) frame to the STA MLD on the primary link and the non-primary link based on receiving the RTS frame; and

receiving one or more uplink (UL) physical-layer protocol data units (PPDUs) from the STA MLD on the primary link and the non-primary link.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

switching the primary link from a first channel to a second channel concurrently with switching the non-primary link from the second channel to the first channel.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first channel is in one of a 5 GHz frequency band or a 6 GHz frequency band, and the second channel is in the other of the 5 GHz frequency band or the 6 GHz frequency band.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication of the unavailability of the non-primary link is based at least in part on the primary link comprising a 5 GHz frequency spectrum and the non-primary link comprising a 6 GHz frequency spectrum.

16. A wireless communication device comprising:

at least one modem;

at least one processor communicatively coupled with the at least one modem; and

at least one memory communicatively coupled with the at least one processor and storing processor-readable code that, when executed by the at least one processor in conjunction with the at least one modem, is configured to:

operate as a non-simultaneous transmit-receive (NSTR) soft access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) including a first AP associated with a primary link and including a second AP associated with a non-primary link; and

transmit, on only the primary link, one or more frames carrying an indication of an unavailability of the non-primary link, the indication comprising a Do Not Transmit (DNT) bit carried in a Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) Element of the one or more frames transmitted on the primary link.

17. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein the one or more frames comprise one or more beacon frames, one or more probe response frames, or more action frames.

18. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein the one or more frames include a Capability Information field carrying a Critical Update Flag (CUF), the CUF set to a value of 1 based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

19. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:

operate as a single-link device on the primary link based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

20. The wireless communication device of claim 19 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:

determine that the non-primary link is available while operating as the single-link device on the primary link;

reset the DNT bit to a value of 0 based on the availability of the non-primary link; and

transmit the reset DNT bit in another one or more frames on only the primary link, the other one or more frames including a Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) element carrying the reset DNT bit having the value of 0.

21. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:

determine that the non-primary link is available after transmitting the indication;

transmit, on only the primary link, an indication of the availability of the non-primary link; and

operate as a multi-link device on the primary link and the non-primary link based on the availability of the non-primary link.

22. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to disable the non-primary link based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

23. The wireless communication device of claim 22 , wherein disabling the non-primary link includes removing the non-primary link from a multi-link context associated with the NSTR softAP MLD.

24. The wireless communication device of claim 23 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:

determine that the non-primary link is available after removing the non-primary link from the multi-link context; and

add the non-primary link to the multi-link context based on the availability of the non-primary link.

25. The wireless communication device of claim 22 , wherein disabling the non-primary link includes re-mapping traffic identifiers (TIDs) from the non-primary link to the primary link.

26. The wireless communication device of claim 25 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:

determine that the non-primary link is available after disabling the non-primary link; and

re-map the TIDs from the primary link to the non-primary link based on the availability of the non-primary link.

27. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:

receive a ready-to-send (RTS) frame from a STA MLD on the primary link;

transmit a clear-to-send (CTS) frame to the STA MLD on the primary link and the non-primary link based on receiving the RTS frame; and

receive one or more uplink (UL) physical-layer protocol data units (PPDUs) from the STA MLD on the primary link and the non-primary link.

28. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:

switch the primary link from a first channel to a second channel concurrently with switching the non-primary link from the second channel to the first channel.

29. The wireless communication device of claim 28 , wherein the first channel is in one of a 5 GHz frequency band or a 6 GHz frequency band, and the second channel is in the other of the 5 GHz frequency band or the 6 GHz frequency band.