Privacy Enhanced BSS Discovery for Non-associated Stations

An apparatus, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• at least one processor in communication with the memory and configured to:
• receive, from a privacy enhanced (PE) access point, one or more discovery beacons advertising PE basic service sets (BSSs) hosted by the PE access point, wherein each beacon of the one or more discovery beacons includes a reduced neighbor report (RNR) field;
• transmit, to the PE access point, a request to setup pre-association security protection;
• upon setup of pre-association security protection, transmit, to the PE access point, a protected request frame;
• and
• receive, from the PE access point, a protected response that includes a PE access point parameter.

A non-transitory computer readable memory medium storing instructions executable by processing circuitry of a non-associated privacy enhanced (PE) wireless station to:

• receive, from a PE access point, one or more discovery beacons advertising PE basic service sets (BSSs) hosted by the PE access point;
• transmit, to the PE access point, a request to setup pre-association security protection;
• upon setup of pre-association security protection, transmit, to the PE access point, a protected request frame;
• and
• receive, from the PE access point, a protected response that includes a PE access point parameter.