Multi-antenna processing in multi-link wireless communication systems

An apparatus comprising:

• a first multi-link device (MLD) configured to transmit a first capability defining a first number of Spatial Streams (SS) supported by the first MLD for a single link exchange over one of a subset of links from a plurality of links, transmit a second capability defining a second number of SS supported by the first MLD for each link of a multi-link exchange, and configure at least one Radio Frequency (RF) chain of the first MLD to enable communication over the subset of links;
• and
• a second MLD configured to transceive with the first MLD over the subset of links;
• wherein the second MLD transmits beacon frames in a regular interval, the first capability is transmitted in response to the second MLD transmitting a beacon frame which indicates the single link exchange between the first MLD and the second MLD and the second capability is transmitted in response to the second MLD transmitting a beacon frame which indicates the multi-link exchange between the first MLD and the second MLD;
• and
• wherein the first MLD transmits data frames only over the first number of SS of a single link of the first MLD to the second MLD in response to the first capability being transmitted by the first MLD and the first MLD transmits data frames over the second number of SS of each link of a plurality of links of the first MLD to the second MLD in response to the second capability being transmitted by the first MLD.

A method for multi-antenna processing in multi-link wireless communication systems comprising:

• transmitting by a non-Access Point (AP) Multi-Link Device (MLD), a first capability defining a first number of Spatial Streams (SS) supported by the non-AP MLD for a single link exchange over one of a subset of links from a plurality of links between the non-AP MLD and an AP MLD;
• transmitting by the non-AP MLD, a second capability defining a second number of SS supported by the non-AP MLD for each link of a multi-link exchange;
• and
• configuring at least one Radio Frequency (RF) chain of the non-AP MLD to enable communication over the subset of links from the plurality of links;
• wherein the AP MLD transmits beacon frames in a regular interval, the first capability is transmitted in response to the AP MLD transmitting a beacon frame which indicates the single link exchange between the non-AP MLD and the AP MLD and the second capability is transmitted in response to the AP MLD transmitting a beacon frame which indicates the multi-link exchange between the non-AP MLD and the AP MLD;
• and
• wherein the non-AP MLD transmits data frames only over the first number of SS of a single link of the non-AP MLD to the AP MLD in response to the first capability being transmitted by the non-AP MLD and the non-AP MLD transmits data frames over the second number of SS of each link of a plurality of links of the non-AP MLD to the AP MLD in response to the second capability being transmitted by the non-AP MLD.