Granted Patent B2

US 12,426,028 · App. 18/327,803 · Granted Sep 23, 2025

Inventor: Masatomo Ouchi (Tokyo, JP)

Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

H04W72/0453H04W72/51

Abstract

Claims (43)

1. An access point apparatus complying with an IEEE802.11 series standard, comprising:

at least one memory that stores a set of instructions; and

at least one processing circuit that executes the set of instructions to cause the access point apparatus to:

receive, from a station apparatus, a Medium Access Control (MAC) frame, wherein the MAC frame includes a first subfield and a second subfield, wherein the first subfield represents whether an Uplink Multi User (UL MU) communication function is supported or not, wherein the UL MU communication function is a function of transmitting data in response to a triggering frame, and wherein the second subfield is used to represent whether the UL MU communication function is enabled or disabled;

determine, by interpreting the the first subfield and the second subfield, that the UL MU communication function is enabled by the station apparatus in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is enabled; and

determine, by interpreting the first subfield and the second subfield, that the UL MU communication function is disabled by the station apparatus in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is suspended.

2. The access point apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the MAC frame further comprising a third subfield and a fourth subfield. wherein the third subfield indicates whether transmitting a Bandwidth Query Report (BQR) that represents a state of a communication resource usable by the station apparatus is supported by the station apparatus, and the fourth subfield indicates whether transmitting the BQR is enabled or disabled by the station apparatus,

wherein, in a case where the third subfield represents that the BQR is supported and the fourth subfield represents that the BQR is enabled, the access point apparatus transmits the trigger frame.

3. The access point apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the MAC frame includes a MAC header and a frame body, wherein the MAC header includes a HT control field that includes the second subfield.

4. The access point apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein when the access point apparatus performs coordination communication with another access point apparatus by coordinately using a predetermined frequency band, the access point apparatus decides the communication resource used to communicate with the station apparatus and the other access point apparatus based on the BQR acquired from the station apparatus and a BQR acquired from the other access point apparatus.

5. A control method of an access point apparatus complying with an IEEE802.11 series standard, comprising:

receiving from a station apparatus, a Medium Access Control (MAC) frame, wherein the MAC frame includes a first subfield and a second subfield, wherein the first subfield represents whether an Uplink Multi User (UL MU) communication function is supported or not, wherein the UL MU communication function is a function of transmitting data in response to a triggering frame, and wherein the second subfield is used to represent whether the UL MU communication function is enabled or disabled;

determining, by interpreting the first subfield and the second subfield, that the UL MU communication function is enabled by the station apparatusacquiring, from the station apparatus, a Bandwidth Query Report (BQR) representing a state of a communication resource usable by the station apparatus, by transmitting a BQR poll (BQRP) to the station apparatus in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is enabled in the station apparatus; and

determining, by interpreting the first field and the second field, that the UL MU communication function is suspended by the station apparatus in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is disabled.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to execute a control method of an access point apparatus complying with an IEEE802.11 series standard, the method comprising:

receiving from a station apparatus, a Medium Access Control (MAC) frame, wherein the MAC frame includes a first subfield and a second subfield, wherein the first subfield represents whether an Uplink Multi User (UL MU) communication function is supported or not, wherein the UL MU communication function is a function of transmitting data in response to a triggering frame, and wherein the second subfield is used to represent whether the UL MU communication function is enabled or disabled;

determining, by interpreting the first subfield and the second subfield, that the UL MU communication function is enabled by the station apparatus in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is enabled; and

determining, by interpreting the first subfield and the second subfield, that the UL MU communication function is suspended by the station apparatus in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is disabled.

7. A station apparatus complying with an IEEE802.11 series standard, comprising:

at least one memory that stores a set of instructions; and

at least one processing circuit that executes the set of instructions to cause the station apparatus to:

transmit, to an access point apparatus, a Medium Access Control (MAC) frame, wherein the MAC frame includes a first subfield and a second subfield, wherein the first subfield represents whether an Uplink Multi User (UL MU) communication function is supported or not, wherein the UL MU communication function is a function of transmitting data in response to a triggering frame and wherein the second subfield is used to represent whether the UL MU communication function is enabled or disabled;

wherein the MAC frame represents that the UL MU communication function is enabled by the station apparatus, in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is enabled; and

wherein the MAC frame represents that the UL MU communication function is disabled by the station apparatus, in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is suspended.

8. The station apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the computer-readable instruction causes, when executed by the one or more processors, the station apparatus to receive a trigger frame for requesting transmission of a Bandwidth Query Report (BQR),

wherein in a case where it is notified that the UL MU communication function is enabled, the station apparatus transmits the BQR to the access point apparatus in accordance with reception of the trigger frame.

9. A control method of a station apparatus complying with an IEEE802.11 series standard, comprising:

generating a Medium Access Control (MAC) frame;

transmitting, to an access point apparatus, the MAC frame, wherein the MAC frame includes a first subfield and a second subfield, wherein the first subfield represents whether an Uplink Multi User (UL MU) communication function is supported or not, wherein the UL MU communication function is a function of transmitting data in response to a triggering frame, and wherein the second subfield is used to represent whether the UL MU communication function is enabled or disabled;

wherein the MAC frame represents that the UL MU communication function is enabled by the station apparatus, in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is enabled; and

wherein the MAC frame represents that the UL MU communication function is suspended by the station apparatus, in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is disabled.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to execute a control method of a station apparatus complying with an IEEE802.11 series standard, the method comprising:

generating a Medium Access Control (MAC) frame;

transmitting, to an access point apparatus, the MAC frame, wherein the MAC frame includes a first subfield and a second subfield, wherein the first subfield represents whether an Uplink Multi User (UL MU) communication function is supported or not, wherein the UL MU communication function is a function of transmitting data in response to a triggering frame, and wherein the second subfield is used to represent whether the UL MU communication function is enabled or disabled;

wherein the MAC frame represents that the UL MU communication function is enabled by the station apparatus, in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is enabled; and

wherein the MAC frame represents that the UL MU communication function is suspended by the station apparatus, in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is suspended.

11. An access point apparatus complying with an IEEE802.11 series standard, comprising:

a wireless LAN controller including at least one circuit that is configured to receive, from a station apparatus, a Medium Access Control (MAC) frame, wherein the MAC frame includes a first subfield and a second subfield, wherein the first subfield represents whether an Uplink Multi User (UL MU) communication function is supported or not, wherein the UL MU communication function is a function of transmitting data in response to a triggering frame, and wherein the second subfield is used to represent whether the UL MU communication function is enabled or disabled; and

a controller including:

at least one memory that stores a set of instructions; and

at least one processing circuit that executes the set of instructions to cause the access point apparatus to:

determine, by interpreting the first subfield and the second subfield, that the UL MU communication function is enabled by the station apparatus in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is enabled; and

determine, by interpreting the first subfield and the second subfield, that the UL MU communication function is suspended by the station apparatus in a case where the first subfield represents that the UL MU communication function is supported by the station apparatus and the second subfield contains a value to represent that the UL MU communication function is disabled.

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (11)