Method and apparatus for communications

A method performed by a multi-link communications system for wireless communications within a bandwidth that includes first and second frequency blocks, wherein the multi-link communications system includes a first access point configured to operate in the first frequency block and a second access point configured to operate in the second frequency block, and wherein each of the first and second frequency blocks includes first, second, third, and fourth channels, the method comprising:

• encoding, for the first access point and for the second access point, first bits in a first preamble portion of a packet, wherein the first bits are defined on a per-channel basis and the first bits are repeated across the first, second, third, and fourth channels of each of the first and second frequency blocks of the bandwidth;
• encoding, for the first access point and for the second access point, second bits in a second preamble portion of the packet, wherein the second preamble portion of the packet is a Universal Signal (U-SIG) portion of the packet, and the second bits are defined on the per-channel basis and the second bits are repeated across the first, second, third, and fourth channels of at least one of the first and second frequency blocks of the bandwidth;
• encoding, for the first access point, third bits in a third preamble portion of the packet, wherein the third preamble portion is an Extremely High Throughput Signal (EHT-SIG) portion of the packet, the third preamble portion for the first access point includes a common information field, a user specific information field, and a padding field, the third bits are defined on a two-channel basis, the third bits include resource allocation (RA) bits from the first frequency block, and the third bits are repeated in the common information field and in the user specific information field across the first, second, third, and fourth channels of the first frequency block of the bandwidth;
• encoding, for the second access point, fourth bits in the third preamble portion of the packet, wherein the third preamble portion for the second access point includes the common information field and the user specific information field, but does not include the padding field, wherein the fourth bits are defined on the two-channel basis, the fourth bits include RA bits from the second frequency block, the fourth bits are repeated in the common information field and in the user specific information field across the first, second, third, and fourth channels of the second frequency block of the bandwidth, and the fourth bits are different from the third bits in the common information field and in the user specific information field;
• and
• transmitting the packet in the first and second frequency blocks.