Method and AP for selective subchannel transmission operation in wireless local area networks

A method for selective subchannel transmission (SST) operation in a wireless local area network (WLAN), the method comprising:

• setting, by a station (STA), a target wake time (TWT) element of a TWT request to indicate a suggested subchannel proposed by the STA as a temporary channel during a TWT service period (SP), wherein whether the suggested subchannel is in a first channel or a second channel depends on a channel puncturing pattern of a basic service set (BSS) with which the STA is associated;
• sending, by the STA, the TWT request to an access point (AP) to establish an individual TWT agreement between the AP and the STA;
• receiving, by the STA, a TWT response from the AP to establish the individual TWT agreement between the AP and the STA, wherein the TWT response comprises a TWT element which is set to indicate a selected subchannel provided to the STA as the temporary channel during the TWT SP, wherein whether the selected subchannel is in the first channel or the second channel depends on a channel puncturing pattern of the BSS with which the STA is associated, wherein the channel puncturing pattern is a puncturing pattern of a 320 MHz BSS, the first channel is a primary 160 MHz channel of the 320 MHz BSS, the second channel is a secondary 160 MHz channel of the 320 MHz BSS, and the channel puncturing pattern satisfies that the 320 MHz BSS comprises at least one of a punctured 40 MHz channel or a punctured 80 MHz channel,
• wherein whether the selected subchannel is in the first channel or the second channel depends on the channel puncturing pattern of the BSS with which the STA is associated comprises:
• if the STA is a 160 MHz operating STA, the selected subchannel is in a channel not including a punctured channel or in a channel including the punctured 40 MHz channel;
• and
• operating, by the STA, at the provided selected subchannel as the temporary channel during the TWT SP.

An access point (AP) for resource unit (RU) allocation in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the AP comprises a memory to store instructions for performing a method for selective subchannel transmission (SST) operation in the WLAN, and a processor communicably coupled with the memory, the processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to perform the method for SST operation in the WLAN, and the method comprises:

• receiving a target wake time (TWT) request from a station (STA) to establish an individual TWT agreement between the AP and the STA, wherein the TWT request comprises a TWT element which is set to indicate a suggested subchannel proposed by the STA as a temporary channel during a TWT service period (SP), wherein whether the suggested subchannel is in a first channel or a second channel depends on a channel puncturing pattern of a basic service set (BSS) with which the STA is associated;
• setting a TWT element of a TWT response to indicate a selected subchannel provided to the STA as the temporary channel during the TWT SP, wherein whether the selected subchannel is in the first channel or the second channel depends on the channel puncturing pattern of the BSS with which the STA is associated, wherein the channel puncturing pattern is a puncturing pattern of a 320 MHz BSS, the first channel is a primary 160 MHz channel of the 320 MHz BSS, the second channel is a secondary 160 MHz channel of the 320 MHz BSS, and the channel puncturing pattern satisfies that the 320 MHz BSS comprises at least one of a punctured 40 MHz channel or a punctured 80 MHz channel,
• wherein whether the selected subchannel is in the first channel or the second channel depends on the channel puncturing pattern of the BSS with which the STA is associated comprises:
• if the STA is a 160 MHz operating STA, the selected subchannel is in a channel not including a punctured channel or in a channel including the punctured 40 MHz channel;
• and
• sending the TWT response to the STA to establish the individual TWT agreement between the AP and the STA.