Block acknowledgment operation

An apparatus, comprising:

• a wireless network interface device associated with a first communication device, wherein the wireless network interface device includes one or more integrated circuit (IC) devices, and wherein the one or more IC devices are configured to:
• control the wireless network interface device to transmit first bitmap length capability information for the first communication device regarding block acknowledgment procedures,
• receive second bitmap length capability information for a second communication device regarding block acknowledgment procedures,
• generate a first communication frame corresponding to a request to participate in a block acknowledgment procedure, wherein the first communication frame includes:
• a first field indicating a number of buffers requested to be allocated at the second communication device for buffering data units transmitted by the first communication device;
• wherein the one or more IC devices are further configured to:
• control the wireless network interface device to transmit the first communication frame to the second communication device,
• receive a second communication frame corresponding to a response to the first communication frame, wherein the second communication frame includes:
• a second field indicating a number of buffers allocated at the second communication device for buffering the data units transmitted by the first communication device;
• and
• wherein the one or more IC devices are further configured to:
• perform the block acknowledgment procedure, including setting a block acknowledgment transmission window size for the block acknowledgment procedure based on i) the second bitmap length capability information for the second communication device, ii) a value of the second field, and iii) a determination of whether a block acknowledgement frame used in the block acknowledgment procedure is a compressed block acknowledgement (C-BA) frame or a multi-station (multi-STA) block acknowledgement frame.

A method, comprising:

• transmitting, by a first communication device, first bitmap length capability information for the first communication device regarding block acknowledgment procedures;
• receiving, at the first communication device, second bitmap length capability information for a second communication device regarding block acknowledgment procedures;
• receiving, at the first communication device, a first communication frame corresponding to a request for participating in the block acknowledgment procedure, wherein the first communication frame includes:
• a first field indicating a number of buffers requested to be allocated at the first communication device for buffering data units transmitted by the second communication device;
• generating, at the first communication device, a second communication frame corresponding to a response to the first communication frame, wherein the second communication frame includes:
• a second field indicating a number of buffers allocated at the first communication device for buffering the data units transmitted by the second communication device;
• transmitting, by the first communication device, the second communication frame to the second communication device in response to receiving the first communication frame;
• and
• performing, at the first communication device, the block acknowledgment procedure, including selecting a bitmap length for a block acknowledgment frame based on i) the second bitmap length capability information for the second communication device, ii) a value of the second field that indicates the number of buffers allocated at the first communication device, and iii) a determination of whether the block acknowledgement frame is a compressed block acknowledgement (C-BA) frame or a multi-station (multi-STA) block acknowledgement frame.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a wireless network interface device associated with a first communication device, wherein the wireless network interface device includes one or more integrated circuit (IC) devices, and wherein the one or more IC devices are configured to:
• control the wireless network interface device to transmit first bitmap length capability information for the first communication device regarding block acknowledgment procedures,
• receive second bitmap length capability information for a second communication device regarding block acknowledgment procedures,
• receive a first communication frame corresponding to a request for participating in a block acknowledgment procedure, wherein the first communication frame includes:
• a first field indicating a number of buffers requested to be allocated at the first communication device for buffering data units transmitted by the second communication device;
• wherein the one or more IC devices are further configured to:
• generate a second communication frame corresponding to a response to the first communication frame, wherein the second communication frame includes:
• a second field indicating a number of buffers allocated at the first communication device for buffering the data units transmitted by the second communication device;
• and
• wherein the one or more IC devices are further configured to:
• control the wireless network interface device to transmit the second communication frame to the second communication device in response to the first communication frame, and
• perform the block acknowledgment procedure, including selecting a bitmap length for a block acknowledgment frame based on i) the second bitmap length capability information for the second communication device, ii) a value of the second field, and iii) a determination of whether the block acknowledgement frame is a compressed block acknowledgement (C-BA) frame or a multi-station (multi-STA) block acknowledgement frame.