Qualcomm Incorporated

Nathaniel David Houghton

Xiaolong Huang

Ahmed Ragab Elsherif

Qinghai Gao

Naveen Gangadharan

Srinivas Katar

Ehab Tahir

Vincent Knowles Jones, Iv

Sandip HomChaudhuri

Guido Robert Frederiks

Nicholas Kucharewski

Simon Jan Brand

Aravind Seetharaman

Ruiqing Ye

This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for adjusting a packet duration for triggered uplink (UL) transmissions to an access point (AP) from one or more stations (STAs). In one aspect, the AP may estimate an amount of data that a STA has queued for UL transmission and select the packet duration based on the estimated amount of queued UL data. The AP may transmit a trigger frame that solicits UL data from the STA and indicates the selected packet duration. In response, the AP may receive an UL packet from the STA and determine an amount of UL data queued in the STA based on the UL packet. In some implementations, the AP may selectively adjust the packet duration for UL transmissions based on the UL packet, the determined amount of UL data queued in the STA, or both.

Selective adjustment of packet durations

Systems and methods for selectively enabling multi-user (MU) communications are disclosed. In some implementations, an access point (AP) obtains packets associated with a traffic flow, and obtains at least one of service-level agreement (SLA) parameters associated with the traffic flow, attributes of the traffic flow, or network parameters associated with a basic service set (BSS) that includes the AP. The AP provides an indication of whether the traffic flow is suitable for transmission as a single-user (SU) multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) (SU-MIMO) communication, as an MU-MIMO communication, as an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication, or as a partial bandwidth (BW) MU-MIMO communication to a WLAN subsystem of the AP, the indication being based on one or more of the SLA parameters, the traffic flow attributes, or the network parameters. The AP initiates transmission of the one or more packets based on the indication.

Managed MU-MIMO enablement for real-world applications

This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for wireless communication. In some implementations, a wireless communication device obtains one or more indications that a wireless station (STA) will enter a power-save mode, selects, for each respective STA of a plurality of STAs, a duration associated with the respective STA entering the power-save mode, and adjusts one or more parameters of a multi-user channel access mechanism for transmitting uplink data associated with the selected duration. In some other implementations, a wireless communication device outputs one or more indications that the device will enter a power-save mode, outputs or obtains data at each of a plurality of first instances, enters the power-save mode at each of a plurality of second instances, and obtains a beacon indicating one or more parameters to be used for a multi-user channel access mechanism for transmitting uplink data.

Dynamic parameters for multi-user channel access

The disclosure provides techniques for sounding sequence protection in multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) communications for wireless local area networks (WLANs). An access point (AP) may select a station (STA) from multiple STAs in a MU-MIMO group. The AP may then transmit a request-to-send (RTS) frame, where the RTS is addressed to the selected STA. The AP may receive a clear-to-send (CTS) frame from the selected station and may perform, in response to receiving the CTS frame, a sounding sequence with the MU-MIMO group. After completion of the sounding sequence, the AP may transmit MU-MIMO data communications to at least one of the STAs in the MU-MIMO group.

Techniques for MU-MIMO sounding sequence protection

Methods, systems, and apparatuses are described for wireless communications. More particularly, an access point (AP) identifies a plurality of multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) groups associated with a wireless station (STA). The AP determines a communication metric associated with each of the plurality of MU-MIMO groups. The communication metric provides an indication of the compatibility of the STAs in the MU-MIMO group. The AP prioritizes at least one of the plurality of MU-MIMO groups based at least in part on the communication metric associated with the prioritized MU-MIMO group. The AP creates a preferred group list and/or a blacklisted group list and included the prioritized MU-MIMO group in the appropriate group list.

Smart grouping for multi-user multiple-input/multiple-output stations

Various aspects are provided for managing a sounding interval of a wireless communications device, which may include setting a timing of one or more channel sounding operations performed by the communications device. For instance, a method is provided for channel sounding management. This example method may include obtaining information regarding a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) or a throughput degradation gradient associated with one or more transmissions. In addition, the example method may include determining a timing of one or more sounding operations based on the information regarding the MCS or the throughput degradation gradient. Additionally, apparatuses and computer-readable media are provided for channel sounding management in a communications device, which are configured to perform, or store computer-executable code to perform, the disclosed example methods.

Techniques for managing sounding intervals of a wireless communications device

Wireless node selects modulation coding schemes (MCS) and number of spatial streams for transmitting data to devices via a MU-MIMO transmission based on the total number of spatial streams. In one implementation, a wireless node selects first MCS, first number of spatial stream(s) for a first device, and total number of spatial streams to be used in the MU-MIMO transmission so as to maximize the data rate to the first device, then selects a second MCS and a second number of spatial stream(s) for a second device based on the selected total number of spatial streams. In another implementation, the wireless node toggles the first selection of the MCS and spatial stream(s) between the first and second devices for fairness purposes. In another implementation, a wireless selects the MCS and the spatial streams for the receiving nodes so as to maximize the aggregate data rate for the MU-MIMO transmission.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Nathaniel David Houghton