Nominal packet padding value indication method, determining method, and communication apparatus

An apparatus, comprising:

• a memory storing program instructions;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the memory, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, enable the at least one processor to:
• generate and send a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), wherein the PPDU includes a physical layer packet extension thresholds present subfield and a physical layer packet extension thresholds field, a value of the physical layer packet extension thresholds present subfield is 1, the physical layer packet extension thresholds field includes a resource unit (RU) index bitmask subfield, a number of spatial streams (NSS) subfield, and a physical layer packet extension thresholds information field, wherein the physical layer packet extension thresholds information field includes a plurality of packet extension threshold subfield sets, each packet extension threshold subfield set is usable to indicate a modulation threshold corresponding to an NSS of n and an RU or a multiple resource unit (MRU) with an index b, and the modulation threshold is usable to determine a nominal packet padding value to be used, wherein
• a value range of n is a subset of [1, . . . , N], N is an integer greater than 1, a value range of b is a subset of [0, . . . , M], M is an integer greater than 0, and a value of a bit in the RU index bitmask subfield corresponding to an RU or MRU with an index y is 0, the value range of b does not include y;
• and
• the value of the bit in the RU index bitmask subfield corresponding to the RU or MRU with the index y is 0 is usable to indicate that the nominal packet padding value corresponding to the NSS of n and the RU or MRU with the index y is 0 microseconds, wherein the value of any bit in the RU index bitmask subfield corresponding to the RU or MRU with the index less than y is not 1.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, the computer program comprises program instructions, and when the program instructions are executed by a computer, the computer is enabled to perform:

• generating a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), wherein the PPDU includes a physical layer packet extension thresholds present subfield and a physical layer packet extension thresholds field, a value of the physical layer packet extension thresholds present subfield is 1, the physical layer packet extension thresholds field includes a resource unit (RU) index bitmask subfield, a number of spatial streams (NSS) subfield, and a physical layer packet extension thresholds information field, wherein the physical layer packet extension thresholds information field includes a plurality of packet extension threshold subfield sets, each packet extension threshold subfield set is usable to indicate a modulation threshold corresponding to an NSS of n and an RU or a multiple resource unit (MRU) with an index b, and the modulation threshold is usable to determine a nominal packet padding value to be used, wherein
• a value range of n is a subset of [1, . . . , N], N is an integer greater than 1, a value range of b is a subset of [0, . . . , M], M is an integer greater than 0, and a value of a bit in the RU index bitmask subfield corresponding to an RU or MRU with an index y is 0, the value range of b does not include y;
• and
• the value of the bit in the RU index bitmask subfield corresponding to the RU or MRU with the index y is 0 is usable to indicate that the nominal packet padding value corresponding to the NSS of n and the RU or MRU with the index y is 0 microseconds, wherein the value of any bit in the RU index bitmask subfield corresponding to the RU or MRU with the index less than y is not 1;
• and
• sending the PPDU.