Medium access control entities operating in respective non-contiguous bands and sharing transmission of control frames

A method of operating a network device, the method comprising:

• transmitting and receiving in a first frequency band via a first medium access control entity;
• transmitting and receiving in a second frequency band via a second medium access control entity, wherein the second frequency band is higher than and non-contiguous with the first frequency band;
• receiving a control frame at the first medium access control entity;
• operating the first medium access control entity as a pass-through for passing at least a portion of the control frame from the first medium access control entity to the second medium access control entity as opposed to forwarding the control frame to a physical layer entity or a processor of the network device;
• transmitting from the second medium access control entity the at least the portion of the control frame in the second frequency band;
• while operating the first medium access control entity as a pass-through, recognizing that a directional multi-gigabit frame has been received in the first frequency band for transmission in the second frequency band and switching the directional multi-gigabit frame from the first medium access control entity to the second medium access control entity, and the directional multi-gigabit frame is a frame to be transmitted over a directional link in the second frequency band;
• and
• transmitting the directional multi-gigabit frame from the second medium access control entity in the second frequency band over the directional link using beamforming and beam steering to direct a beam including the directional multi-gigabit frame.

A network device comprising:

• a first medium access control entity configured to transmit and receive in a first frequency band;
• a second medium access control entity configured to transmit and receive in a second frequency band, wherein the second frequency band is higher than and non-contiguous with the first frequency band,
• wherein
• the first medium access control entity is configured to receive a control frame, operate as a pass-through to pass at least a portion of the control frame from the first medium access control entity to the second medium access control entity as opposed to forwarding the control frame to a physical layer entity or a processor of the network device,
• the second medium access control entity is configured to transmit the at least the portion of the control frame in the second frequency band;
• and
• a controller configured to, based on information in the control frame received via the first medium access control entity on the first frequency band, control via the second medium access control entity a beamforming training process.