US 2020/0007283 A1 · JOINT NULLING AND JOINT BEAMFORMING FOR DOWNLINK TRANSMISSIONS BY MULTIPLE ACCESS POINTS (AP)

Abstract

Embodiments of an access point (AP), station (STA) and method of communication are generally described herein. An AP may be configurable to operate as a master AP of a multi-AP group comprising the master AP and one or more satellite APs. The master AP may select, from the multi-AP group, a set of APs that is to communicate with a STA in accordance with joint processing. The master AP may allocate one or more spatial streams to each of the APs of the set of APs for a joint transmission of a null data packet (NDP) to the STA for channel sounding. The master AP may transmit an NDP announcement (NDPA) that indicates that the APs of the set of APs are to perform the joint transmission of the NDP.

Claims22

Dependent claims

An apparatus of an access point (AP), the AP configurable to operate as a master AP of a multi-AP group, the multi-AP group comprising the master AP and one or more satellite APs, the apparatus comprising:

memory;
and processing circuitry, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to, when the AP operates as the master AP:
select, from the multi-AP group, a set of APs that is to communicate with a station (STA) in accordance with joint processing, wherein the set of APs includes the master AP and one or more of the satellite APs of the multi-AP group;
allocate one or more spatial streams to each of the APs of the set of APs for a joint transmission of a null data packet (NDP) to the STA for channel sounding;
encode, for transmission, an NDP announcement (NDPA) that indicates that the APs of the set of APs are to perform the joint transmission of the NDP;
encode the NDP for transmission in the one or more spatial streams allocated to the master AP;
and
decode beam-forming feedback related to reception of the NDP at the STA.

5 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution of operations by processing circuitry of an access point (AP), the operations to configure the processing circuitry to:

encode, for transmission, a Trigger Frame (TF) that indicates that a station (STA) is to transmit an uplink Null Data Packet (NDP);
determine a first channel estimate based on the uplink NDP, the first channel estimate for a first channel between the AP and the STA;
decode, from another AP, first control signaling that indicates a second channel estimate based on the uplink NDP, wherein the second channel estimate is for a second channel between the other AP and the STA;
determine, based on the first and second channel estimates, first and second resources for joint downlink transmissions by the AP and the other AP,
wherein the first resources are to be used for a first downlink transmission by the AP to the STA, wherein the second resources are to be used for a second downlink transmission by the other AP to the STA;
encode, for transmission to the other AP, second control signaling that indicates the second resources;
and
encode a downlink data packet for the first downlink transmission to the STA.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Joint nulling and joint beamforming for downlink transmissions by multiple access points (ap)

Life of this patent

Joint nulling and joint beamforming for downlink transmissions by multiple access points (ap)

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims22