# US 2021/0345320 A1 · Apparatuses and methods for acquiring and reporting resource needs of shared access points (aps) for multi-ap coordination

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- Number: US 2021/0345320 A1
- Document ID: US20210345320A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 17/236,076
- Filed: 2021-04-21
- Published: 2021-11-04
- Earliest claimed: 2020-05-04
- Assignees: Mediatek Inc.
- Applicants: Mediatek Inc.
- Inventors: Ying-You LIN; Ping-Chen LIN
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210345320A1

## CPC

- H04W 72/27: between access points
- H04W 74/06: using polling
- H04W 72/0446: Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
- H04W 72/0453: Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
- H04W 72/543: based on requested quality, e.g. QoS
- H04W 74/002: {Transmission of channel access control information}
- H04W 84/12: WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)

## Abstract

A method for acquiring and reporting resource needs of shared Access Points (APs) for multi-AP coordination is provided. A sharing AP transmits a control frame for Multi-AP coordination to a shared AP. The sharing AP receives a report on resource needs from the shared AP in response to the transmission of the control frame. The sharing AP allocates time-frequency resources of a Transmit Opportunity (TXOP) to the shared AP based on the report on resource needs.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method, comprising:
transmitting a control frame for Multi-Access Point (AP) coordination to a shared AP by a sharing AP;
receiving a report on resource needs from the shared AP by the sharing AP in response to the transmission of the control frame; and
allocating time-frequency resources of a Transmit Opportunity (TXOP) to the shared AP by the sharing AP based on the report on resource needs.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control frame is a poll frame for requesting the report on resource needs of the shared AP, or is a trigger frame comprising an indicator for requesting the report on resource needs of the shared AP.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control frame and the report on resource needs are transmitted and received, respectively, within or out of the TXOP.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control frame is a trigger frame for triggering the shared AP to participate in a coordinated AP transmission.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the report on resource needs is received in a Trigger-Based Physical layer Protocol Data Unit (TB PPDU) responsive to the trigger frame.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the report on resource needs is received in a Quality of Service (QoS) control field or an A-control subfield of a QoS Null frame or a QoS Data frame in the TB PPDU.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the report on resource needs comprises any combination of the following:
an amount of data to be transmitted;
a preferred bitrate;
a preferred bandwidth;
a preferred frequency;
a Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Multimedia (WMM) Access Category (AC) of the data to be transmitted; and
an upper bound for transmission latency.

### Claim 8

A method, comprising:
receiving a control frame for Multi-Access Point (AP) coordination from a sharing AP by a shared AP;
transmitting a report on resource needs to the sharing AP by the shared AP in response to receiving the control frame; and
receiving allocation of time-frequency resources of a Transmit Opportunity (TXOP) from the sharing AP by the shared AP in response to the transmission of the report on resource needs.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the control frame is a poll frame for requesting the report on resource needs of the shared AP, or is a trigger frame comprising an indicator for requesting the report on resource needs of the shared AP.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the control frame and the report on resource needs are received and transmitted, respectively, within or out of the TXOP.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the control frame is a trigger frame for triggering the shared AP to participate in a coordinated AP transmission.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the report on resource needs is transmitted in a Trigger-Based Physical layer Protocol Data Unit (TB PPDU) responsive to the trigger frame.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the report on resource needs is transmitted in a Quality of Service (QoS) control field or an A-control subfield of a QoS Null frame or a QoS Data frame in the TB PPDU.

### Claim 14 (depends on 8)

The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the report on resource needs comprises any combination of the following:
an amount of data to be transmitted;
a preferred bitrate;
a preferred bandwidth;
a preferred frequency;
a Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Multimedia (WMM) Access Category (AC) of the data to be transmitted; and
an upper bound for transmission latency.

### Claim 15

A sharing Access Point (AP), comprising:
a wireless transceiver, configured to perform wireless transmission and reception to and from a shared AP; and
a controller, configured to transmit a control frame for Multi-AP coordination to a shared AP via the wireless transceiver, receive a report on resource needs from the shared AP via the wireless transceiver in response to the transmission of the control frame, and allocate time-frequency resources of a Transmit Opportunity (TXOP) to the shared AP via the wireless transceiver based on the report on resource needs.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The sharing AP as claimed in claim 15, wherein the control frame is a poll frame for requesting the report on resource needs of the shared AP, or is a trigger frame comprising an indicator for requesting the report on resource needs of the shared AP, or is a trigger frame for triggering the shared AP to participate in a coordinated AP transmission.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The sharing AP as claimed in claim 16, wherein the control frame and the report on resource needs are transmitted and received, respectively, within or out of the TXOP.

### Claim 18 (depends on 16)

The sharing AP as claimed in claim 16, wherein the report on resource needs is received in a Trigger-Based Physical layer Protocol Data Unit (TB PPDU) responsive to the trigger frame.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The sharing AP claimed in claim 18, wherein the report on resource needs is received in a Quality of Service (QoS) control field or an A-control subfield of a QoS Null frame or a QoS Data frame in the TB PPDU.

### Claim 20 (depends on 15)

The sharing AP as claimed in claim 15, wherein the report on resource needs comprises any combination of the following:
an amount of data to be transmitted;
a preferred bitrate;
a preferred bandwidth;
a preferred frequency;
a Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Multimedia (WMM) Access Category (AC) of the data to be transmitted; and
an upper bound for transmission latency.