# US 2023/0053972 A1 · Non-simultaneous transmit-receive (nstr) soft access point (ap) multi-link device (mld)

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- Number: US 2023/0053972 A1
- Document ID: US20230053972A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 17/409,370
- Filed: 2021-08-23
- Published: 2023-02-23
- Earliest claimed: 2021-08-23
- Assignees: QUALCOMM Incorporated
- Applicants: QUALCOMM Incorporated
- Inventors: Abhishek Pramod PATIL; George CHERIAN; Alfred ASTERJADHI; Sai Yiu Duncan HO; Yanjun SUN; Gaurang NAIK; Tushnim BHATTACHARYYA; Vikram PHOGAT
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20230053972A1

## CPC

- H04W 74/0816: with collision avoidance
- H04W 36/06: Reselecting a communication resource in the serving access point
- H04W 76/15: Setup of multiple wireless link connections
- H04W 76/28: Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
- 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 wireless station (STA) operating as a non-simultaneous transmit-receive (NSTR) soft access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) associated with a primary link and a non-primary link determines that the non-primary link is unavailable, and transmits, on only the primary link, a frame carrying an indication of the unavailability of the non-primary link. The NSTR softAP MLD may set a Do Not Transmit (DNT) bit to a value of 1 and may operate as a single-link device on the primary link based on the unavailability of the non-primary link. In some instances, the NSTR softAP MLD determines that the non-primary link is available while operating as the single-link device on the primary link, resets the DNT bit based on the availability of the non-primary link, and transmits the reset DNT bit in another frame on only the primary link.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for wireless communication by a wireless station (STA), comprising:
operating as a non-simultaneous transmit-receive (NSTR) soft access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) associated with a primary link and a non-primary link; and
transmitting, on the primary link, one or more frames carrying an indication of an unavailability of the non-primary link, the indication comprising a Do Not Transmit (DNT) bit carried in a Per-STA Profile Subelement or a Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) Element of the one or more frames transmitted on the primary link.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more frames comprise one or more beacon frames, one or more probe response frames, one or more association response frames, one or more reassociation response frames, or one or more action frames transmitted only on the primary link by the NSTR softAP MLD.

### Claim 3

(canceled)

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
setting a Critical Update Field (CUF) carried in the one or more frames to a value of 1 based on the DNT bit indicating the unavailability of the non-primary link.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
operating as a single-link device on the primary link based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, further comprising:
determining that the non-primary link is available after transmitting the indication;
transmitting, on the primary link, an indication of the availability of the non-primary link; and
operating as a multi-link device on the primary link and the non-primary link based on the determined availability of the non-primary link.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, further comprising:
resetting the DNT bit associated with the non-primary link based on the availability of the non-primary link; and
transmitting the reset DNT bit in another one or more frames on the primary link.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein determining the unavailability of the non-primary link includes disabling the non-primary link or placing the non-primary link into a power save state.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein disabling the non-primary link includes removing the non-primary link from a multi-link context associated with the NSTR softAP MLD.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, further comprising:
determining that the non-primary link is available after removing the non-primary link from the multi-link context; and
adding the non-primary link to the multi-link context based on the determined availability of the non-primary link.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein disabling the non-primary link includes re-mapping traffic identifiers (TIDs) from the non-primary link to the primary link.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, further comprising:
determining that the non-primary link is available after disabling the non-primary link; and
re-mapping the TIDs from the primary link to the non-primary link based on the determined availability of the non-primary link.

### Claim 13 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein disabling the non-primary link includes entering the NSTR softAP MLD into a sleep state or doze state on the non-primary link.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving a ready-to-send (RTS) frame from a STA MLD on the primary link;
transmitting a clear-to-send (CTS) frame to the STA MLD on the primary link and the non-primary link in response to receiving the RTS frame; and
receiving one or more physical-layer protocol data units (PPDUs) from the STA MLD on the primary link and the non-primary link.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
switching the primary link from a first channel to a second channel concurrently with switching the non-primary link from the second channel to the first channel.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein the first channel is in one of a 5 GHz frequency spectrum or a 6 GHz frequency spectrum, and the second channel is in the other of the 5 GHz frequency spectrum or the 6 GHz frequency spectrum.

### Claim 17

A wireless communication device comprising:
at least one modem;
at least one processor communicatively coupled with the at least one modem; and
at least one memory communicatively coupled with the at least one processor and storing processor-readable code that, when executed by the at least one processor in conjunction with the at least one modem, is configured to:
operate as a non-simultaneous transmit-receive (NSTR) soft access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) associated with a primary link and a non-primary link; and
transmit, on the primary link, one or more frames carrying an indication of an unavailability of the non-primary link, the indication comprising a Do Not Transmit (DNT) bit carried in a Per-STA Profile Subelement or a Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) Element of the one or more frames transmitted on the primary link.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The wireless communication device of claim 17, wherein the one or more frames comprise one or more beacon frames, probe response frames, association response frames, reassociation response frames, or action frames transmitted only on the primary link by the NSTR softAP MLD.

### Claim 19

(canceled)

### Claim 20 (depends on 17)

The wireless communication device of claim 17, wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:
set a Critical Update Field (CUF) carried in the one or more frames to a value of 1 based on the DNT bit indicating the unavailability of the non-primary link.

### Claim 21 (depends on 17)

The wireless communication device of claim 17, wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:
operate as a single-link device on the primary link based on the unavailability of the non-primary link.

### Claim 22 (depends on 21)

The wireless communication device of claim 21, wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:
determine that the non-primary link is available after transmitting the indication;
transmit, on the primary link, an indication of the availability of the non-primary link; and
operate as a multi-link device on the primary link and the non-primary link based on the determined availability of the non-primary link.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

The wireless communication device of claim 22, wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:
reset the DNT bit associated with the non-primary link based on the determined availability of the non-primary link; and
transmit the reset DNT bit in another one or more frames on the primary link.

### Claim 24 (depends on 17)

The wireless communication device of claim 17, wherein determining the unavailability of the non-primary link includes disabling the non-primary link or placing the non-primary link into a power save state.

### Claim 25 (depends on 24)

The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein disabling the non-primary link includes removing the non-primary link from a multi-link context associated with the NSTR softAP MLD.

### Claim 26 (depends on 25)

The wireless communication device of claim 25, wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:
determine that the non-primary link is available after removing the non-primary link from the multi-link context; and
add the non-primary link to the multi-link context based on the determined availability of the non-primary link.

### Claim 27 (depends on 24)

The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein disabling the non-primary link includes entering the NSTR softAP MLD into a sleep state or doze state on the non-primary link.

### Claim 28 (depends on 17)

The wireless communication device of claim 17, wherein execution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:
receive a ready-to-send (RTS) frame from a STA MLD on the primary link;
transmit a clear-to-send (CTS) frame to the STA MLD on the primary link and the non-primary link in response to receiving the RTS frame; and
receive one or more physical-layer protocol data units (PPDUs) from the STA MLD on the primary link and the non-primary link.

### Claim at position 29

29-30. (canceled)

### Claim 31 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the first profile comprises a protocol capability of the primary link, an operation parameter of the primary link, a discovery information of the primary link, the MLD of the NSTR AP MLD, or any combination thereof, and wherein the second profile comprises an operation parameter of the non-primary link, a discovery information of the non-primary link, or any combination thereof.

### Claim 32 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the unavailability of the non-primary link is based at least in part on the primary link comprising a 5 GHz frequency spectrum and the non-primary link comprising a 6 GHz frequency spectrum.