Apparatuses, methods, and computer-readable medium for communication in a wireless local area network

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing system of a station (STA), cause the processing system to:

• receive a signal comprising an uplink (UL) transmission request (ULTR) configured to cause one or more STAs to transmit a signal that is configured to protect a downlink (DL) multi-user transmission to a plurality of STAs, wherein the ULTR comprises an indicator identifying a scrambling seed and information for identifying the plurality of STAs;
• in response to the received signal, transmit the signal configured to protect the DL multi-user transmission to the plurality of STAs, wherein a scrambling seed associated with the transmitted signal configured to protect the DL multi-user transmission is the same as a scrambling seed associated with the received signal configured to cause the one or more STAs to transmit the signal configured to protect the DL multi-user transmission, wherein a time synchronization of the one or more transmissions by the one or more STAs is based on an end time of the received signal configured to cause the one or more STAs to transmit the signal configured to protect the DL multi-user transmission;
• receive a DL multi-user transmission comprising a data packet intended for the plurality of STAs and comprising a plurality of space-time streams;
• use a field included in the received data packet to determine a total number of space-time streams included in the data packet and further use the same field to select a subset of values from a set of values, the selected subset of values indicating a number of space-time streams intended for each of at least some of the plurality of STAs;
• determine a value of a user position assigned to the STA and select which of the plurality of STSs in the data packet is/are intended for the STA by considering a number of STSs allocated to any other STAs assigned a user position value lower than the user position value assigned to the STA;
• and
• process the one or more STSs in the data packet that is/are intended for the STA.

An access point (AP) for wireless communication, the AP comprising:

• a transceiver configured to:
• transmit a signal comprising an uplink (UL) transmission request (ULTR) configured to cause one or more stations (STAs) to transmit a signal that is configured to protect a downlink (DL) multi-user transmission to a plurality of STAs, wherein the ULTR comprises an indicator identifying a scrambling seed and information for identifying the plurality of STAs, and
• in response to the transmitted signal, receive the signal configured to protect the DL multi-user transmission to the plurality of STAs, wherein a scrambling seed associated with the signal configured to protect the DL multi-user transmission is the same as a scrambling seed associated with the signal configured to cause the one or more STAs to transmit the signal configured to protect the DL multi-user transmission, wherein a time synchronization of the one or more transmissions by the one or more STAs is based on an end time of the signal configured to cause the one or more STAs to transmit the signal configured to protect the DL multi-user transmission;
• and
• one or more processors configured to:
• determine to transmit a DL multi-user transmission comprising a data packet intended for the plurality of STAs and comprising a plurality of space-time streams, wherein a field included in the data packet is used to determine a total number of space-time streams included in the data packet and the same field is further used to select a subset of values from a set of values, the selected subset of values indicating a number of space-time streams intended for each of at least some of the plurality of STAs, a selection of which of the plurality of STSs in the data packet is/are intended for a STA including a consideration of a number of STSs allocated to any other STAs assigned a user position value lower than the user position value assigned to the STA,
• wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the DL multi-user transmission.