Method and apparatus for exchanging frames using secondary channels

A device comprising:

• a controller configured to:
• announce multiple subchannels of a basic service set (BSS) operating channel, wherein each of the multiple subchannels includes a single backoff channel and at least one another channel;
• negotiate a secondary parking subchannel among the multiple subchannels of the BSS operating channel in a link between the device and another device;
• and
• exchange frames between the device and the another device using the secondary parking subchannel, including switching to the secondary parking subchannel from a different subchannel of the BSS operating channel to exchange the frames using the secondary parking subchannel;
• wherein the controller is configured to negotiate the secondary parking subchannel among the multiple subchannels of the BSS operating channel in the link between the device and the another device using a beacon transmitted through a duplicate Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit (PPDU), and
• wherein at least one of the first and second multi-link devices can perform simultaneous backoff operations in more than one of the multiple subchannels.

A device comprising:

• a controller configured to:
• announce multiple subchannels of a basic service set (BSS) operating channel, wherein each of the multiple subchannels includes a single backoff channel and at least one another channel;
• negotiate a secondary parking subchannel among the multiple subchannels of the BSS operating channel in a link between the device and another device;
• and
• exchange frames between the device and the another device using the secondary parking subchannel, including switching to the secondary parking subchannel from a different subchannel of the BSS operating channel to exchange the frames using the secondary parking subchannel;
• wherein the controller is configured to manage medium synchronization in a subchannel of the BSS operating channel after the medium synchronization is lost at the end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP) period that does not cover the subchannel from the beginning to the end of the TXOP period.

A device comprising:

• a controller configured to:
• announce multiple subchannels of a basic service set (BSS) operating channel, wherein each of the multiple subchannels includes a single backoff channel and at least one another channel;
• negotiate a secondary parking subchannel among the multiple subchannels of the BSS operating channel in a link between the device and another device;
• and
• exchange frames between the device and the another device using the secondary parking subchannel, including switching to the secondary parking subchannel from a different subchannel of the BSS operating channel to exchange the frames using the secondary parking subchannel;
• wherein the controller is configured to, when backoff counters in the multiple subchannels become zero at the same time, using a backoff counter with the highest priority access category (AC) to initiate a transmission opportunity (TXOP) period.