WO2024255986A1

WO2024255986A1 - Flexible multiple access point (ap) coordination and restricted ap coordination

Info

Publication number: WO2024255986A1
Application number: PCT/EP2023/065647
Authority: WO
Inventors: Leif Wilhelmsson; Abhishek AMBEDE; Rocco Di Taranto; Sebastian Max; Charlie PETTERSSON; Dennis SUNDMAN
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Current assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Priority date: 2023-06-12
Filing date: 2023-06-12
Publication date: 2024-12-19
Anticipated expiration: 2025-12-12

Abstract

A method, system and apparatus are disclosed. A first access point (AP) station (STA) is provided which is configured to select a first coordinating STA to coordinate a first multi-access point (MAP) configuration of a first plurality of AP STAs including at least the first AP STA and a second AP STA, where the selecting is based on a suitability of the first coordinating STA for coordinating the first MAP configuration. The first AP STA is further configured to transmit a first coordination grant to the first coordinating STA to perform at least one MAP coordination operation according to the first MAP configuration.

Description

FLEXIBLE MULTIPLE ACCESS POINT (AP) COORDINATION AND RESTRICTED AP COORDINATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and in particular, to flexible multiple access point (multi-AP) coordination and restricted AP coordination.

BACKGROUND

Wi-Fi, also known as Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), is a technology that currently mainly operates in the 2.4 GHz, or the 5 GHz band, or the 6 GHz band. There are specifications regulating an access points' or wireless terminals' physical (PHY) layer, medium access layer (MAC) layer and other aspects in order to secure compatibility and inter-operability between different WLAN entities, e.g., between an access point and mobile terminals, both of which may be referred to as stations (STAs) herein. Wi-Fi is generally operated in license-exempt bands, and as such, communication over Wi-Fi may be subject to interference sources from any number of known and unknown devices. Wi-Fi is commonly used as wireless extensions to fixed broadband access, e.g., in domestic environments and hotspots, like airports, train stations and restaurants.

There is an increased interest in using unlicensed bands, like the 2.4 GHz ISM band, the 5 GHz band, the 6 GHz band, and the 60GHz band using more advanced channel access technologies. Historically, Wi-Fi has been the dominant standard in unlicensed bands when it comes to applications requiring support for high data rates. Due to the large available bandwidth and the limited adoption of competing technologies in the unlicensed band, Wi-Fi, which is based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, has adopted a very simple distributed channel access mechanism based on the so-called distributed coordination function (DCF).

Distributed channel access means that a device, in IEEE 802.11 terminology known as a Station (STA), tries to access the channel when it has something to send. In some systems, there may effectively be no difference in channel access procedures whether the STA is an access point (AP), also referred to as an AP STA, or a non-AP (i.e., a non-AP STA). DCF may work well as long as the network load is not too high. When the network load is high, and in particular when the number of STAs trying to access the channel is large, channel access based on DCF may not work well. One reason for this is that there may be a high probability of collision on the channel, leading to poor channel usage.

To improve the efficiency of channel usage in Wi-Fi, and in particular allow for better support of a large number of devices, a more centralized channel access may be considered. For example, in some systems, rather than letting any STA (e.g., an AP STA or a non-AP STA) access the channel whenever it has data to send, the channel access may be controlled at least in part by the AP STA. This approach has been introduced in IEEE 802.1 lax, which e.g., supports orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) in both downlink (DL) and uplink (UL). Also, multi-user transmission in the form of multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) may be supported for both the DL and the UL. By supporting MU transmission, and letting the AP STA control the channel access, more efficient channel usage may be achieved, and one can reduce collisions caused by contention within a cell. A cell, in IEEE 802.11 terminology, may also be referred to as basic service set (BSS).

Another notable feature of Wi-Fi is the so-called transmission opportunity (TXOP). Since contention for the channel for every single transmission causes a lot of overhead, the notion of a TXOP has been introduced. A device, e.g., the AP STA, may, once it has gained access to the channel, reserve the channel for a specific time during which a number of transmissions can take place without the need of contending for the channel at each time. The use of TXOP may improve the efficiency and may enable devices not associated to the AP STA to enter a low power mode, and in this way, save power. In some systems, for example, the maximum duration of a TXOP may be on the order of 5 ms.

To improve the performance even further, a system may be configured to coordinate the channel usage between cells, i.e., perform an AP coordination. For example, a number of AP STAs may be configured to share a TXOP. For example, suppose there are two or more AP STAs within range using the same channel. With no coordination, each of them would contend for the channel, and the AP STA that wins the contention may then be configured to reserve the channel using the TXOP concept, whereas the other AP STAs would have to defer from channel access and wait for the TXOP to end. Then, a new contention begins, and channel access may or may not be gained for a specific AP STA, implying that channel access may become unpredictable, such that support for demanding QoS applications may be challenging.

Coordinated OFDMA (C-OFDMA) In C-OFDMA, two or more APs may be configured to contend for the channel, and the “winning” AP may obtain a TXOP, e.g., for a 40 MHz channel. However, instead of starting data transmission to the associated STAs (e.g., non-AP STAs), the AP STA may be configured to exchange information with the other AP STAs in its vicinity, and possibly share the reserved TXOP resources. As a trivial example, suppose there are two AP STAs, API and AP2, cooperating and both contending for a 40 MHz channel. If API wins the contention, it may be configured to assign the lower 20 MHz for itself and the upper 20 MHz for AP2, whereas if AP2 wins the contention, it may be configured to assign the upper 20 MHz for itself and to assign the lower 20 MHz for API. In this particularly simple example, an alternative simpler solution is to split the 40 MHz channel statically into two 20 MHz channels, so that each AP contends for a disjoint 20 MHz channel and there is no need resource sharing.

An advantage of cooperation by means of C-OFDMA as in the previous example is that it may result in more predictable channel access, e.g., because cooperating APs (here, API and AP2) may allocate each other resources in all TXOP reserved by one of them.

Coordinated TDMA (C-TDMA)

Alternatively, instead of basing the coordination on OFDMA, it may be based on Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), for example. In Coordinated TDMA (C- TDMA), the sharing of the TXOP is instead performed in time so that the involved STAs each obtain and/or utilize a part of the TXOP duration for their respective transmission. C-TDMA may provide similar gains when it comes to predictability and to reduction of the time to get channel access as compared to C-OFDMA.

Gain Analysis of Coordinated AP Time/Frequency Sharing in Transmit Opportunity in IEEE 802, 1 Ibe TG

Work has been done in IEEE 802.1 Ibe TG (task group) to investigate actual reduction in channel access time when using C-OFDMA and C-TDMA. For example, a number of AP STAs may be configured to agree to coordinate the channel access as follows:

All of the AP STAs taking part in the coordination may contend for the channel in a similar way as would have been the case without any coordination taking place.

However, unlike the case without coordination, where the AP STA winning the contention would transmit using all available channel resources, the winning AP STA shares the channel resources with the other AP STAs taking part in the coordination.

In some systems, the AP STA winning the contention may be referred to as the “sharing AP,” as this is the AP STA that shares the resources, whereas the other AP STAs may be referred to as “shared APs.”

In some existing systems, sharing may be performed either in time or in frequency. Sharing in time may correspond to sharing based on TDMA, whereas sharing in frequency may correspond to sharing based on (O)FDMA. For some existing coordination techniques, all AP STAs taking part in the coordination may need to be within range on all other AP STAs. This may be required since the protocol may assume that the sharing AP STA, i.e., the AP STA that wins the channel contention, is able to invite all the other AP STAs to become shared AP STAs.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example deployment. The circles around the three APs indicate their coverage areas. AP STA 2a (labeled “API”) is located in the coverage area of API (labeled “BSS1”) and in the coverage area 4b of AP2 (labeled “BSS2”), AP STA 2b (labeled “AP2”) is located in the coverage area 4a of API (BSS1), in the coverage area 4b of AP2 (BSS2), and in the coverage area 4c of AP 3(BSS3), and AP STA 2c (AP3) is located in the coverage areas 4b, 4c of AP2 and AP3.

Referring to the example of FIG. 1, AP2 may be in range of both API and AP3 but API and AP3 are not within range of one another. Consequently, AP coordination according to some existing systems (discussed in TGbe) with all three AP STAs in FIG. 1 may not be feasible. AP coordination may still be performed, but may be limited to API and AP2 or AP2 and AP3.

Radio Measurements in IEEE 802, 11 WLANs

The ability to request and report radio measurements has been supported in the IEEE 802.11 standard since early amendments, for example, as described in Section 11.10, Radio measurement procedures, in the IEEE 802.11-2020 standard. The usage of the radio measurement framework is to aid an 802.11 WLAN’s operation and management by measuring quantities and operating conditions from the perspective of a measuring STA, such as received signal strengths, channel load, noise and interference power levels, statistics of communication, etc. A better understanding of the operating conditions of the STAs may allow for load balancing, changing the channel to a less interfered one, adjusting the link adaption, etc. In IEEE 802.11, a STA can request another STA to perform radio measurements through standardized measurement requesting and reporting procedures. In some systems, a measurement request can be sent from an AP STA to a non-AP STA, a non-AP STA to an AP STA, or a non-AP STA to another non-AP STA. A STA might refuse a measurement request. Some examples of standardized radio measurement reports are explained below:

Beacon report - indicating, for example, the signal strength of a Beacon, Measurement Pilot, or Probe Response frame for all observed BSSs matching the BSSID and SSID in the Beacon request;

Channel Load Report - indicating, for example the load on a channel, which is a measure of the percentage of time the measuring STA sensed the medium was busy as indicated by either the virtual carrier sense mechanism or the physical carrier sense mechanism over the requested channel width (together referred to as the CS, channel sensing, mechanism);

Noise Histogram Report - indicating, for example, the measured noise and interference powers signaled as a histogram;

STA statistics report - the STA statistics, such as number of MSDUs received during a requested time instance; and

Neighbor report - a neighbor report may be sent by an AP STA and it may contain information on neighboring AP STAs that are members of ESSs (Extended Service Set) requested in the neighbor report request. A neighbor report might not be exhaustive, for example, by choice, or due to the fact that there might be neighbor AP STAs not known to the AP STA.

Multi-AP Coordination

During IEEE 802.11 task group (TG) “be”, multi-access point (MAP) coordination was one of the candidate features for the amendment. However, over the lifetime of the TG, the feature was down-prioritized and eventually dropped. Now, it is again being discussed as a potential candidate for the Ultra High Reliability (UHR) study group (SG), which in late 2023 will become an IEEE 802.11 amendment task group (TG).

MAP coordination may assume that system performance can be improved if the AP STAs within a limited area coordinate their transmissions instead of working independently. Existing work from various companies has considered variants of the same coordination feature. So far, proposals have considered the coordination of the AP STAs for the duration of a single transmit window, which may be either a full PPDU (PLCP protocol data unit, loosely a single packet transmission) or a single TXOP.

In some systems for MAP coordination, the medium access starts according to the baseline standard by one AP STA (termed as “sharing AP”) first winning the contention and reserving a transmit opportunity (TXOP). Then the sharing AP invites one or more AP STAs, termed as “shared APs”, to share the same TXOP also for their transmissions. The sharing AP is also responsible to coordinate the negotiation of the detailed parameters of the MAP scheme, for example, a permitted transmit power in the case of coordinated spatial reuse. Typically, it may propose a set of parameters, which may be further negotiated by the shared APs.

Within a single reserved TXOP, the sharing AP may sacrifice some of its resources (time and/or frequency), and thus may reduce the maximum achievable throughput. However, in the long run (i.e., across multiple TXOP reserved by different AP STAs), all AP STAs may benefit from more frequent channel access.

Restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT)

Target Wake Time (TWT) is a feature introduced in the IEEE 802.1 lax (Wi-Fi 6) standard amendment that allows devices to conserve power by sleeping for extended periods of time. For example, when a STA (e.g., non-AP STA) needs to transmit or receive data, it wakes up and requests a time slot from the AP STA. The AP STA may then schedule the STA’ s traffic for a specific time in the future.

In 802.11 be, a feature for providing increased predictability in latency sensitive applications is the restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT). During an r-TWT, only a subset of active non-AP STAs within a BSS, for example, those with latency critical traffic, are allowed to attempt their transmissions. In some systems, r-TWT may be considered a specific type of TWT for latency-sensitive traffic, for example.

MAP coordination in some systems may work under the assumption that all the AP STAs that are involved in the coordination are in range of each other, contending for the channel on equal grounds. One AP STA may gain access to the channel and then share parts of the channel resources with the other AP STAs involved in the coordination. A goal for such systems is to achieve less delay and less variations in the delay for channel access such that an application with high requirements on delay and jitter may be better supported. An objective of such systems is to share the resources, but not to spatially reuse them, so the overall data rate that could be supported may not be increased. In fact, it may even be slightly reduced, because of the overhead involved in the coordination itself.

Existing systems, therefore, lack support for flexible multi-AP coordination and restricted AP coordination in a wireless communication system.

SUMMARY

In some deployments where AP coordination may be a potential approach, some of the AP STAs may not be in range of all other AP STAs intended to be part of the coordination. In this case, the originally proposed protocol may not be applicable. To address this, various configurations may be used for relaying information between AP STAs not within range to still enable AP coordination. Relaying information may be a complex task, and since a goal of AP coordination is to introduce a streamlined means to improve performance, relaying may be considered a poor approach for AP coordination in some systems or use cases. Consequently, existing systems have generally been limited to AP coordination where all AP STAs are within range of one another.

An alternative approach may include only allowing AP STAs to participate in the coordination if they all can “hear” each other (i.e., a first AP STA or non-AP STA is close enough in terms of signal range to detect a second AP STA or non-AP STA, such as detecting reference signaling, beacon signaling, etc. emitted by the second AP STA/non-AP STA, and/or being in the same coverage area as the second AP STA/non- AP STA), which may lead to significant unfairness or inefficiencies in coordinating an allocation of resources. Consider, for example, the architecture of FIG. 1. Since the AP STAs 2a, 2b, and 2c cannot all hear each other (e.g., a first AP STA, API, in this example is only able to “hear” other AP STAs, AP2, as API is in the coverage area of AP2 only, and not in the coverage area of AP3), multi-AP coordination may in some cases not be usable, according to some existing solutions. Furthermore, assuming full buffer traffic at the three APs , AP STA 2a and AP STA 2c may completely prevent AP STA 2b from gaining channel access (whenever API or AP3 is transmitting, AP2 sees always a busy channel, while API and AP3 are out-of-range and don’t hear each other transmissions). According to some existing solutions, MAP coordination may be used only between AP 2a and AP 2b, which may exclude BSS 4c, (or between AP2 and AP3, excluding API) but may not obtain the full benefit of multi-AP coordination across all the three APs in Fig.1 Coordination Types

A variety of techniques may be used for multi-AP coordination. For example: Coordinated spatial reuse (CSR), which coordinates transmit power between different devices such that the spatial reuse may be optimized.

Coordinated beamforming (CBF), where each device may place nulls in certain direction(s) to eliminate interference at non-intended receivers.

C-OFDMA/C-TDMA, where resources may be split up rather than reused across devices, such that a lower channel access delay may be achieved at a small cost of overhead.

Synchronized UL/DL transmissions across devices, which may be advantageous in cases where it is easier to predict downlink interference rather than uplink interference due to the mobility of STAs, for example.

Different multi-links and/or channel assignments, as a way for STAs to agree about sharing/not sharing resources.

Cooperative OFDMA, where multiple AP STAs may transmit to the same STAs, but on different resource units (RUs), which may be advantageous, e.g., for improving reliability.

Joint Transmissions, which may enable multiple AP STAs to jointly transmit to the same STAs, e.g., to increase system capacity.

Coordinated r-TWT, where one AP STA may share its r-TWT schedule with another AP STA such that the other AP STA may try to reduce its interference for the low latency critical data delivered within those service periods (SPs).

There may be inflexibility issues with some existing MAP coordination schemes, for example:

1. When two or more AP STAs have largely overlapping service areas but are not in communication range with each other, there may be no means, or very limited means, to enable any flavor of MAP coordination among these two or more AP STAs.

2. Furthermore, even when all AP STAs are within communication range, it may be the case that one or more AP STAs may be prohibited from performing effective MAP coordination, e.g., because of outdated or limited information. These problems may lead to poor performance of, for example: r-TWT/coordinated r-TWT operations across neighboring BSSs; Selection of operating channels (ideally should be non-overlapping channels across BSSs);

TXOP sharing (C-TDMA, C-OFDMA, CSR, CBF, JT); and

Selection of the AP STA that is given the task to contend for TXOP reservation for a set of coordinated AP STAs.

State-of-the-art methods and discussions provide/discuss no flexibility in selecting a “orchestrating” AP, or in general an “orchestrating” device that would orchestrate the actual one or more MAP coordination instances. Namely once the sharing AP has reserved a TXOP, it is always the sharing AP that orchestrates the operations in the coordination set. However, there are situations where this is a fundamental limitation.

In the case of TXOP reservation and sharing between coordinating AP STAs, for example, the sharing AP may be a) Any of the coordinating AP STAs in the coordination set, or, b) a specific AP STA that was given the task to contend for the channel.

Because in the state-of-the-art methods the sharing AP is always the orchestrating device, the two following problems may arise.

In case a), the sharing AP may not be the best entity to coordinate operations, and may assign the coordination task to another AP STA or non-AP STA that has the best information or operating conditions to perform this task. In case b), when a peer- to-peer (P2P) link is part of the coordination (especially if this P2P link is latency sensitive), the sharing AP may not be the best entity to coordinate operation either.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, configurations and methods are provided for addressing, for example, problems in cases a) and b) in the above description, which may, e.g., include:

1. A signaling scheme between a first AP STA and another AP STA or a non-AP STA.

2. Rules associated with this signaling scheme.

For example, in some embodiments, when a third AP STA or non-AP STA is favorably positioned in the network, the proposed framework allows an AP STA to give the task of multi-AP coordination to that third STA. The tasked STA may then enable a better implementation of the MAP coordination schemes, e.g., as compared to some existing systems where the tasked STA is always the sharing AP. For example, some embodiments of the present disclosure may include one or more of the following:

Example 1. A system may be provided for configuring a first AP STA to request a third STA (e.g., either an AP STA or non-AP STA) to facilitate MAP coordination with a second AP STA. This may be achieved, e.g., through the following steps: a) Identification/determination that the third STA is better suited to facilitate the MAP coordination, as compared to the first STA. b) Requesting the third STA to facilitate MAP coordination rules on behalf of the first STA, e.g., through a coordination grant.

Example 2. The system of Example 1, where the first STA and the second STA are not in range but have largely overlapping service areas.

Example 3. The system of Example 1, where the first STA and the third STA are in range and have largely overlapping service areas.

Example 4. The system of any one of Examples 1 and 3, where the second STA and the third STA are the same STA (e.g., an AP STA).

Example 5. The system of any one of Examples 1-4, where a response to the coordination grant is sent by the second STA.

Example 6. The system of any one of Examples 1-5, where the coordination grant may span larger interval of times, for example, in seconds or in number of reserved TXOPs.

Example 7. The system of Example 6, where the coordination grant includes the task for the third STA to contend for channel access on behalf of the first STA, i.e., a TXOP reservation.

Example 8. The system of any one of Examples 1-7, where facilitating includes relaying of information.

Example 9. The system of any one of Examples 1-8, where facilitating includes setting up the MAP coordination agreement.

Example 10. The system of Example 9, where the coordination grant may include, but is not limited to, restrictions on: a. MAP coordination scheme type; b. TX/RX parameters; c. Participating STAs; d. Application types; and/or e. Minimum number of resources for the first STA.

Example 11. The system of any one of Examples 9 and 10, where the third STA is a P2P STA to the first STA.

Example 12. The system of any one of Examples 1-11, where the coordination grant may be accepted, negotiated, or declined by the third STA, e.g., through a coordination grant response.

Example 13. The system of any one of Examples 1-12, where the first STA may be configured to request other devices provide feedback, e.g., to perform an identification/determination that a third STA is better suited to facilitate the MAP coordination (e.g., as compared to the first STA and/or other STAs).

Example 14. The system of any one of Examples 1-13, where the coordination grant may be used to supersede a previous grant (e.g., a previous coordination grant).

Example 15. The system of any one of Examples 1-14, where the grant may be a field, element or a separate frame, for example.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure may enable multi-AP coordination between AP STAs, where these AP STAs may not be able to coordinate at all, or not be able to coordinate efficiently, according to some existing systems.

For example, embodiments of the present disclosure may enable two or more out of range AP STAs to coordinate through a third device (e.g., an AP STA or non-AP STA) that is in (each of) their ranges.

Furthermore, embodiments of the present disclosure may provide configurations for selecting an AP STA or non-AP STA to reserve a TXOP to be shared among a group of AP STAs. This may avoid unnecessary contention for channel reservation, in some cases.

Furthermore, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, when a TXOP is obtained, its holder may still assign the task of coordinating TXOP resources to another device. This may, for example, be caused by such device being in a better position to perform the coordination (e.g., based on being in range of more AP STAs to coordinate) and/or because the TXOP holder is missing crucial and/or up-to-date information (if, for example, it has been off for a period due to lack of traffic or power saving), where such information may be needed for effective coordination.

Furthermore, embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a non-AP STA that has set up a P2P link to be assigned the task of allocating sufficient resources and/or protection to the P2P link. This may increase the reliability and reduce latency on the P2P transmissions, as compared to some existing systems.

Furthermore, embodiments of the present disclosure may enable devices with different implementation levels to consistently benefit from the strongest implementation, as, for example, devices with less capabilities may entitle/designate devices with better capabilities to perform more complex tasks related to MAP coordination.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure may provide configurations which enable AP coordination using streamlined, efficient techniques which may be applied even when not all AP STAs are within range of all other AP STAs in the coordinating set. This may be achieved, e.g., by relaxing the requirement that at least one of the AP STAs involved in the coordination is within range of all other AP STAs involved in the coordination. To achieve this relaxation without the need to use relaying, for example, in some embodiments, only an AP STA that is within range of all other AP STAs may be allowed/configured to contend for the channel. This restriction may ensure that the AP STA that will share the resources is within range of all other AP STAs, and thus the protocol used for AP coordination according to some embodiments may achieve similar performance as when all AP STAs are within range.

Some embodiments may provide configurations for determining which one of the AP STAs involved in the multi-AP coordination are within range of one another and, when it is determined that an STA AP is not in range of all other AP STAs, but part of the multi-AP coordination group, excluding this AP STA from contending for the channel.

In some embodiments, an AP STA that is within range of all other AP STAs may or may not contend for the channel, depending on various additional conditions. That is, even if an AP STA is within range of all other AP STAs, it may still be determined that this AP STA should not contend for the channel. For example, in some embodiments, if two AP STAs are within range of all other AP STAs and thus potentially could contend for the channel, but where it is configured such that only one of the AP STAs may contend, e.g., to avoid a situation where both AP STAs would obtain the channel at the same time and therefore cause a collision.

In some embodiments, when AP STAs not within range of one another are part of the coordination set, these AP STAs may potentially also exploit spatial reuse and be allocated to the same channel resources. Embodiments of the present disclosure may advantageously extend AP coordination, which in existing systems has generally been limited to cases where all involved AP STAs were within range of one another, to situations where one or more of the AP STAs taking part in the AP coordination are not within range of one or more other AP STAs. As a consequence, AP coordination according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be employed in more situations and, in addition, the AP coordination may increase the total data throughput, e.g., by explicitly considering that some AP STAs may be sufficiently far from one another to allow for spatial reuse.

Some embodiments advantageously provide methods, systems, and apparatuses for flexible multi-AP coordination and restricted AP coordination.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a first AP STA for supporting configurations for MAP coordination is provided. The first AP STA is configured to select a first coordinating STA to coordinate a first multi-access point (MAP) configuration of a first plurality of AP STAs including at least the first AP STA and a second AP STA, the selecting being based on a suitability of the first coordinating STA for coordinating the first MAP configuration. The first AP STA is configured to transmit a first coordination grant to the first coordinating STA to perform at least one MAP coordination operation according to the first MAP configuration.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the AP STA is further configured to prior to causing transmission of the first coordination grant to the first coordinating STA, perform a transmit opportunity (TXOP) reservation procedure for reserving at least a first TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the AP STA is further configured to cause transmission of a first indication to at least one other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, the first indication indicating at least one of an identification of the first coordinating STA, and a first neighborhood report indicating which AP STAs are within range of the first AP STA.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the AP STA is further configured to select the first coordinating STA from the first plurality of AP STAs based on one of at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA is in range of every other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA is in range of at least a threshold number of other AP STAs of the first plurality of AP STAs, and the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA is in range of more AP STAs of the first plurality of AP STAs as compared to each other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the AP STA is further configured to identify a first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs from the first plurality of AP STAs based on at least one neighborhood report, and select the first coordinating STA from the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs based on at least one of hardware capability information associated with the first coordinating STA indicating that the first coordinating STA has more capable hardware as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, channel quality information associated with the first coordinating STA indicating that the first coordinating STA is experiencing better channel conditions compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, traffic information associated with the first coordinating STA indicating that the first coordinating STA is experiencing a heavier traffic load compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, a preconfigured preference to select the first coordinating STA over the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, a preconfigured restriction to not select at least one other candidate coordinating STA of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, and a timedependent preference to select the first coordinating STA over the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the AP STA is further configured to cause transmission, to at least one other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, of an indication requesting that the first coordinating STA be selected as the coordinating STA for the first MAP configuration.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the AP STA is further configured to receive, from at least one other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, an indication requesting that the first coordinating STA be selected as the coordinating STA for the first MAP configuration, and cause transmission, to at least one other AP STA of the first plurality if AP STAs, of an indication approving the request that the first coordinating STA be selected as the coordinating STA for the first MAP configuration. According to some embodiments of this aspect, the AP STA is further configured to receive, from the first coordinating STA, a resource configuration for the first MAP configuration, the resource configuration configuring a first set of resources for the first AP STA and a second set of resources for the second AP STA, the second set of resources at least partially overlapping the first set of resources when the first AP STA is not in range of the second AP STA.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordinating STA corresponds to one of the first AP STA and the second AP STA.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordinating STA is a non-AP STA, the first coordinating STA being selected based on the first coordinating STA being in range of the first AP STA and the second AP STA, the first AP STA and the second AP STA not being in range of one another.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first cooperation grant indicates a request for the first coordinating STA to negotiate a restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) schedule between the first AP STA and the second AP STA.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the AP STA is further configured to receive, from the first coordinating STA, responsive to the transmission of the first cooperation grant, a proposed r-TWT schedule, and transmit, responsive to the receiving of the proposed r-TWT schedule, one of an indication that the first AP STA agrees with the proposed r-TWT schedule, and a request to modify the proposed r- TWT schedule.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the AP STA is further configured to receive a response indication from the first coordinating STA responsive to the transmission of the first coordination grant, the response indication indicating at least one of an acceptance of the first coordination grant, a declination of the first coordination grant, and a request to modify at least one parameter of the first coordination grant.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the AP STA is further configured to responsive to the response indication indicating the declination of the first coordination grant, select a second coordinating STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, and cause transmission, to the second coordinating STA, of a second coordination grant, the second coordination grant enabling the second coordinating STA to perform at least one MAP operation according to one of the first MAP configuration, and a second MAP configuration which is different from the first MAP configuration.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the response indication indicates a request to modify at least one parameter of at least one of the first MAP configuration, and responsive to the response indication indicating the request to modify the at least one parameter, the AP STA is further configured to cause transmission, to the first coordinating STA, of a second coordination grant for the second MAP configuration, the second coordination grant modifying the at least one parameter.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordination grant indicates at least one of an identity of the first AP STA, an identity of the second AP STA, at least one identity of at least one additional AP STA that may participate in the first MAP configuration, a duration of a validity period of the first coordination grant at least one reserved TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration, and at least one MAP scheme including a Coordinated Beamforming (CBF) scheme, a Joint Transmission (JT) scheme, a Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (C-OFDMA) scheme, a Coordinated Time-Division Multiple Access (C- TDMA) scheme, a TXOP reservation scheme, or a coordinated restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) scheme.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordination grant enables the first coordinating STA to perform at least one MAP operation, the at least one MAP operation corresponding to at least one of relaying at least one of control information and data between at least two AP STAs of the first plurality of AP STAs, scheduling transmission resources for use by at least one AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, setting up a MAP coordination agreement between at least two AP STAs of the first plurality of AP STAs, and contending for channel access on behalf of at least one AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordination grant restricts the first coordinating STA in facilitating coordination of the first MAP configuration according to at least one of a restricted MAP coordination scheme type, a restricted transmission (TX) parameter, a restricted reception (RX) parameter, a restricted AP STA which is restricted from participating in the first MAP configuration, a restricted application type, and a required minimum number of resources for at least one AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs. According to some embodiments of this aspect, the AP STA is further configured to cause transmission of at least one polling request to at least one AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, each of the at least one polling request requesting, for a corresponding AP STA, at least one of an identification of a preferred coordinating STA, traffic information associated with the corresponding AP STA, an identification of STAs within range of the corresponding AP STA, a neighborhood report of the corresponding AP STA, and interference information measured by the corresponding AP STA, receive at least one polling response to the at least one polling request, and determine the suitability of the first coordinating STA for coordinating the first MAP configuration based on the at least one polling response.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the AP STA is further configured to identify the first plurality of AP STAs associated with the first MAP configuration, when there is not at least one AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs which is in range of all of the other candidate STAs, remove at least one AP STA from the first plurality of AP STAs to form a second plurality of AP STAs, and select the first coordinating STA from the second plurality of AP STAs, the first coordinating STA being in range of all of the AP STAs of the second plurality of AP STAs, the first MAP configuration being associated with the second plurality of AP STAs instead of the first plurality of AP STAs.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented in a first AP STA for supporting configurations for MAP coordination is provided. The method includes selecting a first coordinating STA to coordinate a first multi-access point (MAP) configuration of a first plurality of AP STAs including at least the first AP STA and a second AP STA, the selecting being based on a suitability of the first coordinating STA for coordinating the first MAP configuration. The method includes transmitting a first coordination grant to the first coordinating STA to perform at least one MAP coordination operation according to the first MAP configuration.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes, prior to transmission of the first coordination grant to the first coordinating STA, performing a transmit opportunity (TXOP) reservation procedure for reserving at least a first TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes transmitting a first indication to at least one other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, the first indication indicating at least one of an identification of the first coordinating STA, and a first neighborhood report indicating which AP STAs are within range of the first AP STA.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes selecting the first coordinating STA from the first plurality of AP STAs based on one of at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA is in range of every other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA is in range of at least a threshold number of other AP STAs of the first plurality of AP STAs, and the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA is in range of more AP STAs of the first plurality of AP STAs as compared to each other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes identifying a first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs from the first plurality of AP STAs based on at least one neighborhood report, and selecting the first coordinating STA from the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs based on at least one of hardware capability information associated with the first coordinating STA indicating that the first coordinating STA has more capable hardware as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, channel quality information associated with the first coordinating STA indicating that the first coordinating STA is experiencing better channel conditions compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, traffic information associated with the first coordinating STA indicating that the first coordinating STA is experiencing a heavier traffic load compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, a preconfigured preference to select the first coordinating STA over the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, a preconfigured restriction to not select at least one other candidate coordinating STA of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, and a time-dependent preference to select the first coordinating STA over the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes transmitting, to at least one other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, an indication requesting that the first coordinating STA be selected as the coordinating STA for the first MAP configuration. According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes receiving, from at least one other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, an indication requesting that the first coordinating STA be selected as the coordinating STA for the first MAP configuration, and transmitting, to at least one other AP STA of the first plurality if AP STAs, an indication approving the request that the first coordinating STA be selected as the coordinating STA for the first MAP configuration.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes receiving, from the first coordinating STA, a resource configuration for the first MAP configuration, the resource configuration configuring a first set of resources for the first AP STA and a second set of resources for the second AP STA, the second set of resources at least partially overlapping the first set of resources when the first AP STA is not in range of the second AP STA.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes receiving, from the first coordinating STA, responsive to the transmission of the first cooperation grant, a proposed r-TWT schedule, and transmitting, responsive to the receiving of the proposed r-TWT schedule, one of an indication that the first AP STA agrees with the proposed r-TWT schedule, and a request to modify the proposed r- TWT schedule.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes receiving a response indication from the first coordinating STA responsive to the transmission of the first coordination grant, the response indication indicating at least one of an acceptance of the first coordination grant, a declination of the first coordination grant, and a request to modify at least one parameter of the first coordination grant. According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes, responsive to the response indication indicating the declination of the first coordination grant, selecting a second coordinating STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, and transmitting, to the second coordinating STA, a second coordination grant, the second coordination grant enabling the second coordinating STA to perform at least one MAP operation according to one of the first MAP configuration, and a second MAP configuration which is different from the first MAP configuration.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the response indication indicates a request to modify at least one parameter of at least one of the first MAP configuration, and responsive to the response indication indicating the request to modify the at least one parameter, the method further includes transmitting, to the first coordinating STA, a second coordination grant for the second MAP configuration, the second coordination grant modifying the at least one parameter.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordination grant restricts the first coordinating STA in facilitating coordination of the first MAP configuration according to at least one of a restricted MAP coordination scheme type, a restricted transmission (TX) parameter, a restricted reception (RX) parameter, a restricted AP STA which is restricted from participating in the first MAP configuration, a restricted application type, and a required minimum number of resources for at least one AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes transmitting at least one polling request to at least one AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, each of the at least one polling request requesting, for a corresponding AP STA, at least one of an identification of a preferred coordinating STA, traffic information associated with the corresponding AP STA, an identification of STAs within range of the corresponding AP STA, a neighborhood report of the corresponding AP STA, and interference information measured by the corresponding AP STA, receive at least one polling response to the at least one polling request, and determine the suitability of the first coordinating STA for coordinating the first MAP configuration based on the at least one polling response.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes identifying the first plurality of AP STAs associated with the first MAP configuration, when there is not at least one AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs which is in range of all of the other candidate STAs, removing at least one AP STA from the first plurality of AP STAs to form a second plurality of AP STAs, and selecting the first coordinating STA from the second plurality of AP STAs, the first coordinating STA being in range of all of the AP STAs of the second plurality of AP STAs, the first MAP configuration being associated with the second plurality of AP STAs instead of the first plurality of AP STAs.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a first STA (e.g., an AP STA or a non-AP STA ) is provided for supporting configurations for MAP coordination. The first STA is configured to receive a first coordination grant to coordinate a first multi-access point (MAP) configuration between a first plurality of AP STAs including at least a first access point (AP) STA and a second AP STA, the first coordination grant being received from the first AP STA, the receiving of the first coordination being based on a suitability of the first coordinating STA for coordinating the first MAP configuration. The first STA is configured to perform at least one MAP operation based on the first MAP configuration.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the suitability of the first coordinating STA is determined based on one of at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA is in range of every other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA is in range of at least a threshold number of other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, and the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA is in range of more AP STAs of the first plurality of AP STAs as compared to each other AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the suitability of the first coordinating STA is determined based on one of hardware capability information associated with the first coordinating STA indicating that the first coordinating STA has more capable hardware as compared to other candidate coordinating STAs of a first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, channel quality information associated with the first coordinating STA indicating that the first coordinating STA is experiencing better channel conditions as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, traffic information associated with the first coordinating STA indicating that the first coordinating STA is experiencing a heavier traffic load as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, a preconfigured preference to select the first coordinating STA over the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, a preconfigured restriction to not select at least one other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs, and a time-dependent preference to select the first coordinating STA over the other candidate coordinating STAs of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordinating STA is further configured to cause transmission, to the first AP STA, of a resource configuration for the first MAP configuration, the resource configuration configuring a first set of resources for the first AP STA and a second set of resources for the second AP STA, the second set of resources at least partially overlapping the first set of resources when the first AP STA is not in range of the second AP STA.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordinating STA is a non-AP STA. According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first cooperation grant indicates a request for the first coordinating STA to negotiate a restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) schedule between the first AP STA and the second AP STA.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordinating STA is further configured to cause transmission, to the first AP STA, responsive to the receiving of the first cooperation grant, a proposed r-TWT schedule, and receive, responsive to the transmission of the proposed r-TWT schedule, of one of an indication that the first AP STA agrees with the proposed r-TWT schedule, and a request to modify the proposed r-TWT schedule.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordinating STA is further configured to cause transmission of a response indication to the first AP STA responsive to the receiving of the first coordination grant, the response indication indicating at least one of an acceptance of the first coordination grant, a declination of the first coordination grant, and a request to modify at least one parameter of the first coordination grant.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the response indication indicates a request to modify at least one parameter of at least one of the first coordination grant and the first MAP configuration, and responsive to the response indication indicating the request to modify the at least one parameter, the AP STA is further configured to receive, from the first AP STA, a second coordination grant for a second MAP configuration, the second coordination grant modifying the at least one parameter.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordination grant indicates at least one of an identity of the first AP STA, an identity of the second AP STA, at least one identity of at least one additional AP STA that may participate in the first MAP configuration, a duration of a validity period of the first coordination grant at least one reserved TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration, and at least one MAP scheme including a Coordinated Beamforming (CBF) scheme, a Joint Transmission (JT) scheme, a Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (C-OFDMA) scheme, a Coordinated Time-Division Multiple Access (C- TDMA) scheme, a TXOP reservation scheme, and a coordinated restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) scheme.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordination grant enables the first coordinating STA to perform at least one MAP operation, the at least one MAP operation corresponding to at least one of relaying at least one of control information and data between at least two AP STAs of the first plurality of AP STAs, scheduling transmission resources for use by at least one AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs setting up a MAP coordination agreement between at least two AP STAs of the first plurality of AP STAs, and contending for channel access on behalf of at least one AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs, the at least one AP STA being associated with at least one TXOP.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordination grant restricts the first coordinating STA in facilitating coordination of the first MAP configuration according to at least one of a restricted MAP coordination scheme type, a restricted TX parameter, a restricted RX parameter, a restricted AP STA which is restricted from participating in the first MAP configuration, a restricted application type, or a required minimum number of resources for at least one AP STA of the first plurality of AP STAs.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented in a first STA (e.g., an AP STA or a non-AP STA ) is provided for supporting configurations for MAP coordination. The method includes receiving a first coordination grant to coordinate a first multi-access point (MAP) configuration between a first plurality of AP STAs including at least a first access point (AP) STA and a second AP STA, the first coordination grant being received from the first AP STA, the receiving of the first coordination being based on a suitability of the first coordinating STA for coordinating the first MAP configuration. The method includes performing at least one MAP operation based on the first MAP configuration.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes transmitting, to the first AP STA, a resource configuration for the first MAP configuration, the resource configuration configuring a first set of resources for the first AP STA and a second set of resources for the second AP STA, the second set of resources at least partially overlapping the first set of resources when the first AP STA is not in range of the second AP STA.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the first coordinating STA is a non-AP STA.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes transmitting, to the first AP STA, responsive to the receiving of the first cooperation grant, a proposed r-TWT schedule, and receiving, responsive to the transmission of the proposed r-TWT schedule, of one of an indication that the first AP STA agrees with the proposed r-TWT schedule, and a request to modify the proposed r-TWT schedule.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the method further includes transmitting a response indication to the first AP STA responsive to the receiving of the first coordination grant, the response indication indicating at least one of an acceptance of the first coordination grant, a declination of the first coordination grant, and a request to modify at least one parameter of the first coordination grant.

According to some embodiments of this aspect, the response indication indicates a request to modify at least one parameter of at least one of the first coordination grant and the first MAP configuration, and responsive to the response indication indicating the request to modify the at least one parameter, the method further includes receiving, from the first AP STA, a second coordination grant for a second MAP configuration, the second coordination grant modifying the at least one parameter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present embodiments, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a schematic diagram of an example network architecture;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an example network architecture illustrating a communication system according to the principles in the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an AP communicating with a non-AP STA over an at least partially wireless connection according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an example network architecture illustrating a communication system connected via an intermediate network to a host computer according to the principles in the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via an access point with a non-AP STA over an at least partially wireless connection according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating example methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, an access point and a non-AP STA for executing a client application at a non-AP STA according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating example methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, an access point and a non-AP STA for receiving user data at a non-AP STA according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating example methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, an access point and a non-AP STA for receiving user data from the non-AP STA at a host computer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating example methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, an access point and a non-AP STA for receiving user data at a host computer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example process in a non-AP STA for supporting configurations for MAP coordination, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example process in a STA (e.g., a coordinating STA, such as a non-AP STA or AP STA) for supporting configurations for MAP coordination, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of an example network architecture according to the principles in the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of an example network architecture illustrating a communication system according to the principles in the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of an example network architecture illustrating a communication system according to the principles in the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a timing diagram illustrating an example configuration according to the principles in the present disclosure; and

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of an example network architecture illustrating an example communication system according to the principles in the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before describing in detail exemplary embodiments, it is noted that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of apparatus components and processing steps related to flexible multi-AP coordination and restricted AP coordination. Accordingly, components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description.

As used herein, relational terms, such as “first” and “second,” “top” and “bottom,” and the like, may be used solely to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element without necessarily requiring or implying any physical or logical relationship or order between such entities or elements. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the concepts described herein. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

In embodiments described herein, the joining term, “in communication with” and the like, may be used to indicate electrical or data communication, which may be accomplished by physical contact, induction, electromagnetic radiation, radio signaling, infrared signaling or optical signaling, for example. One having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that multiple components may interoperate and modifications and variations are possible of achieving the electrical and data communication.

In some embodiments described herein, the term “coupled,” “connected,” and the like, may be used herein to indicate a connection, although not necessarily directly, and may include wired and/or wireless connections.

In some embodiments, the term “access point” or “AP” is used interchangeably and may comprise, or be, a network node. The AP may include any of base station (BS), radio base station, base transceiver station (BTS), base station controller (BSC), radio network controller (RNC), g Node B (gNB), evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB), Node B, multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, multi-cell/multicast coordination entity (MCE), relay node, integrated access and backhaul (IAB), donor node controlling relay, radio access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH), a core network node (e.g., mobile management entity (MME), self-organizing network (SON) node, a coordinating node, positioning node, MDT node, etc.), an external node (e.g., 3rd party node, a node external to the current network), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), a spectrum access system (SAS) node, an element management system (EMS), etc. The AP may also comprise test equipment. The AP may comprise a radio router, a radio transceiver, Wi-Fi access point, wireless local area network (WLAN) access point, a network controller, etc.

In some embodiments, the non-limiting term “device” is used to describe a wireless device (WD) and/or user equipment (UE) that may be used to implement some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the device may be and/or comprise an access point (AP) station (STA). In some embodiments, the device may be and/or comprise a non-access point station (non-AP STA). In some embodiments, the device may be any type of device capable of communicating with a network node, such as an AP, over radio signals. The device may be any radio communication device, target device, a portable device, device-to-device (D2D) device, machine type device or device capable of machine to machine communication (M2M), low-cost and/or low-complexity device, a sensor equipped with a device, a computer, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, or a Narrowband loT (NB-IOT) device, Reduced Capability (RedCap) device, etc.

A device may be considered a network node and may include physical components, such as processors, allocated processing elements, or other computing hardware, computer memory, communication interfaces, and other supporting computing hardware. The network node may use dedicated physical components, or the node may be allocated use of the physical components of another device, such as a computing device or resources of a datacenter, in which case the network node is said to be virtualized. A network node may be associated with multiple physical components that may be located either in one location, or may be distributed across multiple locations.

Even though the descriptions herein may be explained in the context of one of a Downlink (DL) and an Uplink (UL) communication, it should be understood that the basic principles disclosed may also be applicable to the other of the one of the DL and the UL communication. In some embodiments in this disclosure, the principles may be considered applicable to a transmitter (e.g., a first STA) and a receiver (e.g., a second STA). For DL communication, a first STA may be the transmitter and the receiver is the second STA. For the UL communication, the transmitter may be the first STA and the receiver is the second STA. In some embodiments, the first STA may be an AP or non-AP STA, and the second STA may be an AP or a non-AP STA.

Note also that some embodiments of the present disclosure may be supported by an Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard. IEEE 802.11 denotes a set of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) air interface standards developed by the IEEE 802.11 committee for short-range communications (e.g., tens of meters to a few hundred meters). Some embodiments may also be supported by standard documents disclosed in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications. That is, some embodiments of the description can be supported by the above documents (e.g., standard documents). In addition, all the terms disclosed in the present document may be described by the above standard documents.

Note that although terminology from one particular wireless system, such as, for example, IEEE 802.11, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Long Term Evolution (LTE), 5th Generation (5G) and/or New Radio (NR), may be used in this disclosure, this should not be seen as limiting the scope of the disclosure to only the aforementioned system. Other wireless systems, including without limitation Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), may also benefit from exploiting the ideas covered within this disclosure.

Note further, that functions described herein as being performed by one or more of a first STA, second STA, transmitting STA, receiving STA, AP, non-AP STA, wireless device, network node, etc., may be distributed over a plurality of STAs, APs, non-AP STAs, wireless devices, network nodes, etc. In other words, it is contemplated that the functions of the devices described herein are not limited to performance by a single physical device and, in fact, can be distributed among several physical devices.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Some embodiments provide configurations for supporting flexible multi-AP coordination and restricted AP coordination.

Referring again to the drawing figures, in which like elements are referred to by like reference numerals, there is shown in FIG. 2 a schematic diagram of the communication system 10, according to one embodiment, constructed in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure. The communication system 10 in FIG. 2 is a non-limiting example and other embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by one or more other systems and/or networks. Referring to FIG. 2, system 10 may comprise a wireless local area network (WLAN). The devices in the system 10 may communicate over one or more spectrums, such as, for example, an unlicensed spectrum, which may include frequency bands typically used by Wi-Fi technology. One or more of the devices may be further configured to communicate over other frequency bands, such as shared licensed frequency bands, etc. The system 10 may include one or more service areas 12a, 12b, etc. (collectively referred to herein as “service area 12”), which may be defined by corresponding access points (APs) 14a, 14b, etc. (collectively referred to herein as “AP STA 14”). A service area 12 may also correspond to and/or be associated with a coverage area, a cell, and/or a basic service set (BSS).

The AP STA 14 may or may not be connectable to another network, such as a core network over a wired or wireless connection. The system 10 includes a plurality of non-AP devices, such as, for example, non-AP STAs 16a, 16b, 16c (collectively referred to as non-AP STAs 16). Each of the non-AP STAs 16 may be located in one or more service areas 12 and may be configured to wirelessly connect to one or more AP STA 14. Note that although two AP STAs 14a and 14b and two non-AP STAs 16a and 16b are shown for convenience, the communication system may include many more non-AP STAs 16 and AP STAs 14. Each AP STA 14 may connect to/serve/configure/schedule/etc. one or more non-AP STAs 16.

It should be understood that the system 10 may include additional nodes and/or devices not shown in FIG. 2. In addition, the system 10 may include many more connections and/or interfaces than those shown in FIG. 2. Thus, the elements shown in FIG. 2 are presented for ease of understanding.

Also, it is contemplated that a non-AP STA 16 can be in communication and/or configured to separately communicate with more than one AP STA 14 and/or more than one type of AP STA 14. Furthermore, an AP STA 14 may be in communication and/or configured to separately communicate with other AP STAs 14, as described herein, which may be via wired and/or wireless communication channels.

A non-AP STA 16 is configured to include a non-AP STA Coordination Unit 17, which is configured to perform one or more non-AP STA 16 functions described herein, such as coordinating a MAP configuration with one or more AP STAs 14 and/or non-AP STAs 16. An AP STA 14 is configured to include an AP STA Coordination Unit 18, which is configured to perform one or more AP STA 14 functions described herein, such as coordinating a MAP configuration with one or more AP STAs 14 and/or non-AP STAs 16. Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the AP STA 14 and non-AP STA 16 discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 3.

An AP STA 14 or a non-AP STA 16 may be generally referred to as a STA 19. For example, a first STA 19a may be an AP STA 14, and a second STA 19b may be a non-AP STA 16. System 10 may include one or more additional STAs 19n (which include AP STAs 14 and/or non-AP STAs 16), which may be in communication with STA 19a and/or STA 19b.

The AP STA 14 includes hardware 20 including a communication interface 22, processing circuitry 24, a processor 26, and memory 28. The communication interface 22 may be configured to communicate with any of the nodes/devices in the system 10 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, such as with one or more other AP STAs 14 and/or one or more non-AP STAs 16. In some embodiments, the communication interface 22 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers, and/or may be considered a radio interface. In some embodiments, the communication interface 22 may also include a wired interface.

The processing circuitry 24 may include one or more processors 26 and memory, e.g., memory 28. In addition to a processor 26 and memory 28, the processing circuitry 24 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 26 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 28, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

The AP STA 14 may further include software 30 stored internally in, for example, memory 28, or stored in external memory (e.g., database) accessible by the AP STA 14 via an external connection. The software 30 may be executable by the processing circuitry 24. The processing circuitry 24 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., AP STA 14. The memory 28 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 30 may include instructions stored in memory 28 that, when executed by the processor 26 and/or AP STA Coordination Unit 18 causes the processing circuitry 24 and/or configures the AP STA 14 to perform the processes described herein with respect to the AP STA 14 (e.g., processes described with reference to FIG. 10, FIG. 11, and/or any of the other figures herein).

Referring still to FIG. 3, the non-AP STA 16 includes hardware 32, which may include a communication interface 34, processing circuitry 36, a processor 38, and memory 40. The communication interface 34 may be configured to communicate with one or more AP STA 14 and/or other STA 19n, such as via wireless connection 35, and/or with other elements in the system 10, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the communication interface 34 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers, and/or may be considered a radio interface. In some embodiments, the communication interface 34 may also include a wired interface. In some embodiments, AP STA 14 may be configured to communicate with another AP STA 14, non-AP STA 16, and/or STA 19n via wireless connection 35 and/or via a wired connection (not shown).

The processing circuitry 36 may include one or more processors 38 and memory, such as, the memory 40. Furthermore, in addition to a traditional processor and memory, the processing circuitry 36 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 38 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 40, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Thus, the non-AP STA 16 may further include software 42 stored internally in, for example, memory 40, or stored in external memory (e.g., database) accessible by the non-AP STA 16 via an external connection. The software 42 may be executable by the processing circuitry 36. The processing circuitry 36 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by the non-AP STA 16. The memory 40 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software may include instructions stored in memory 40 that, when executed by the processor 38 and/or non-AP STA Coordination Unit 17, causes the processing circuitry 36 and/or configures the non-AP STA 16 to perform the processes described herein with respect to the non-AP STA 16 (e.g., processes described with reference to FIG. 10, FIG. 11, and/or any of the other figures herein).

In FIG. 3, the connection between the STAs 19 (i.e., AP STA 14, the non-AP STA 16, and STA 19n) is shown without explicit reference to any intermediary devices or connections. However, it should be understood that intermediary devices and/or connections may exist between these devices, although not explicitly shown.

Although FIG. 3 shows non-AP STA Coordination Unit 17 and AP STA Coordination Unit 18, as being within a processor, it is contemplated that this element may be implemented such that a portion of the element is stored in a corresponding memory within the processing circuitry. In other words, the element may be implemented in hardware or in a combination of hardware and software within the processing circuitry.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 10, according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. In the example of FIG. 4, the access point 14 and non-AP STAs 16 may be similar to those of the example of FIG. 2, described herein. Additionally, in the example of FIG. 4, one or more AP STAs 14 and/or non-AP STAs 16 may form and/or be part of a service set network 44 (e.g., a basic service set, or any other network, set, and/or grouping of AP STAs 14 and non- AP STAs 16). The communication system 10 and/or service set network 44 may itself be connected to a host computer 46, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. The host computer 46 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The connections 48, 50 between the communication system 10 and/or the service set network 44 and the host computer 46 may extend directly from the service set network 44 to the host computer 46 or may extend via an optional intermediate network 52. The intermediate network 52 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network. The intermediate network 52, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet. In some embodiments, the intermediate network 52 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system of FIG. 4 as a whole enables connectivity between one of the connected non-AP STAs 16 and the host computer 46. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection. The host computer 46 and the connected non AP-STAs 16 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via the OTT connection, using the service set network 44, any intermediate network 52 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection may be transparent in the sense that at least some of the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, an AP STA 14 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from a host computer 46 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected non-AP STA 16. Similarly, the AP STA 14 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the non-AP STA 16 towards the host computer 46.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the non-AP STA 16, AP STA 14, and host computer 46 discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 5. In the example of FIG. 5, the AP STA 14 and the non-AP STA 16 may have similar features and components as the AP STA 14 and non-AP STA 16 depicted in FIG. 3. Additionally, the host computer 46 comprises hardware (HW) 53 including a communication interface 54 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 10. The host computer 46 further comprises processing circuitry 56, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. The processing circuitry 56 may include a processor 58 and memory 60. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor, such as a central processing unit, and memory, the processing circuitry 56 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 58 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) memory 60, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Processing circuitry 56 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by host computer 46. Processor 58 corresponds to one or more processors 58 for performing host computer 46 functions described herein. The host computer 46 includes memory 60 that is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 62 and/or the host application 64 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 58 and/or processing circuitry 56, causes the processor 58 and/or processing circuitry 56 to perform the processes described herein with respect to host computer 46. The instructions may be software associated with the host computer 46.

The software 62 of host computer 46 may be executable by the processing circuitry 56. The software 62 includes a host application 64. The host application 64 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as a non-AP STA 16 connecting via an OTT connection 66 terminating at the non-AP STA 16 and the host computer 46. In providing the service to the remote user, the host application 64 may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 66. The “user data” may be data and information described herein as implementing the described functionality. In one embodiment, the host computer 46 may be configured for providing control and functionality to a service provider and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The processing circuitry 56 of the host computer 46 may enable the host computer 46 to observe, monitor, control, transmit to and/or receive from the AP STA 14 and/or the non-AP STA 16. The processing circuitry 56 of the host computer 46 may include a Cloud Configuration unit 68 configured to enable the service provider to observe/monitor/control/transmit to/receive from/configure/etc. the AP STA 14 and/or the non-AP STA 16, for example, for supporting MAP coordination.

The communication interface 22 of AP STA 14 may be configured to facilitate a connection 66 to the host computer 46. The connection 66 may be direct or it may pass through a service set network 44 of the communication system 10 and/or through one or more intermediate networks 52 outside the communication system 10. The communication interface 34 of non-AP STA 16 may be configured to facilitate a connection 66 to the host computer 46. The connection 66 may be direct or it may pass through a service set network 44 of the communication system 10 and/or through one or more intermediate networks 52 outside the communication system 10.

The software 42 of non-AP STA 16 may include a client application 70. The client application 70 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the non-AP STA 16, with the support of the host computer 46. In the host computer 46, an executing host application 64 may communicate with the executing client application 70 via the OTT connection 66 terminating at the non-AP STA 16 and the host computer 46. In providing the service to the user, the client application 70 may receive request data from the host application 64 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 66 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 70 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

In some embodiments, the inner workings of the AP STA 14, non-AP STA 16, and host computer 46 may be as shown in FIG. 4 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of FIG. 5.

In FIG. 5, the OTT connection 66 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host computer 46 and the non-AP STA 16 via the AP STA 14, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from the non-AP STA 16 or from the service provider operating the host computer 46, or both. While the OTT connection 66 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).

The wireless connection 35 between the non-AP STA 16 and the AP STA 14 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the non-AP STA 16 using the OTT connection 66, in which the wireless connection 35 may form the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of some of these embodiments may improve the data rate, latency, and/or power consumption and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, better responsiveness, extended battery lifetime, etc.

In some embodiments, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 66 between the host computer 46 and non-AP STA 16, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 66 may be implemented in the software 62 of the host computer 46 or in the software 42 of the non-AP STA 16, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection 66 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software 62, 42 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 66 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the AP STA 14, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the AP STA 14. Some such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary wireless device signaling facilitating the host computer’s 46 measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. In some embodiments, the measurements may be implemented in that the software 62, 42 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 66 while it monitors propagation times, errors, etc.

Thus, in some embodiments, the host computer 46 includes processing circuitry 56 configured to provide user data and a communication interface 54 that is configured to forward the user data to a wireless network and/or cellular network for transmission to the non-AP STA 16. In some embodiments, the wireless network and/or cellular network also includes the AP STA 14 with a communication interface 22. In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is configured to, and/or the AP STA 14 processing circuitry 24 is configured to perform the functions and/or methods described herein for preparing/initiating/maintaining/supporting/ending a transmission to the non-AP STA 16, and/or preparing/terminating/maintaining/supporting/ending in receipt of a transmission from the non-AP STA 16.

In some embodiments, the host computer 46 includes processing circuitry 56 and a communication interface 54 that is configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a non-AP STA 16 to an AP STA 14. In some embodiments, the non-AP STA 16 is configured to, and/or comprises a communication interface 34 and/or processing circuitry 36 configured to perform the functions and/or methods described herein for preparing/initiating/maintaining/supporting/ending a transmission to the AP STA 14, and/or preparing/terminating/maintaining/supporting/ending in receipt of a transmission from the AP STA 14.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIGS. 4 and 5, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 46, an AP STA 14 and a non-AP STA 16, which may be those described with reference to FIG. 5. In a first step of the method, the host computer 46 provides user data (Block SI 00). In an optional substep of the first step, the host computer 46 provides the user data by executing a host application, such as, for example, the host application 64 (Block SI 02). In a second step, the host computer 46 initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the non-AP STA 16 (Block SI 04). In an optional third step, the AP STA 14 transmits to the non-AP STA 16 the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer 46 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure (Block SI 06). In an optional fourth step, the non-AP STA 16 executes a client application, such as, for example, the client application 70, associated with the host application 64 executed by the host computer 46 (Block SI 08).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIG. 5, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 46, an AP STA 14 and a non-AP STA 16, which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In a first step of the method, the host computer 46 provides user data (Block SI 10). In an optional substep (not shown) the host computer 46 provides the user data by executing a host application, such as, for example, the host application 64. In a second step, the host computer 46 initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the non-AP STA 16 (Block SI 12). The transmission may pass via the AP STA 14, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional third step, the non-AP STA 16 receives the user data carried in the transmission (Block SI 14).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIG. 5, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 46, an AP STA 14 and a non-AP STA 16, which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In an optional first step of the method, the non-AP STA 16 receives input data provided by the host computer 46 (Block SI 16). In an optional substep of the first step, the non-AP STA 16 executes the client application 70, which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer 46 (Block SI 18). Additionally or alternatively, in an optional second step, the non-AP STA 16 provides user data (Block S120). In an optional substep of the second step, the non-AP STA 16 provides the user data by executing a client application, such as, for example, client application 70 (Block S122). In providing the user data, the executed client application 70 may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the non-AP STA 16 may initiate, in an optional third substep, transmission of the user data to the host computer 46 (Block S124). In a fourth step of the method, the host computer 46 receives the user data transmitted from the non-AP STA 16, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure (Block S126).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIG. 5, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 46, an AP STA 14 and a non-AP STA 16, which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In an optional first step of the method, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the AP STA 14 receives user data from the non-AP STA 16 (Block S128). In an optional second step, the AP STA 14 initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer 46 (Block S130). In a third step, the host computer 46 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the AP STA 14 (Block S132).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example process in a first AP STA 14 for supporting configurations for MAP coordination. One or more Blocks and/or functions and/or methods performed by the first AP STA 14 may be performed by one or more elements of the first AP STA 14 such as by AP STA Coordination Unit 18 in processing circuitry 24, memory 28, processor 26, communication interface 22, etc. according to the example process/method. The first AP STA 14 is configured to select (Block SI 34) a first coordinating STA 19 to coordinate a first multi-access point (MAP) configuration of a first plurality of AP STAs 14 including at least the first AP STA 14 and a second AP STA 14, the selecting being based on a suitability of the first coordinating STA 19 for coordinating the first MAP configuration. The first AP STA 14 is configured to transmit (Block S136) a first coordination grant to the first coordinating STA 19 to perform at least one MAP coordination operation according to the first MAP configuration.

In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is further configured to prior to causing transmission of the first coordination grant to the first coordinating STA 19, perform a transmit opportunity (TXOP) reservation procedure for reserving at least a first TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration.

In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is further configured to cause transmission of a first indication to at least one other AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, the first indication indicating at least one of an identification of the first coordinating STA 19, and a first neighborhood report indicating which AP STAs 14 are within range of the first AP STA 14.

In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is further configured to select the first coordinating STA 19 from the first plurality of AP STAs 14 based on one of at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA 19 is in range of every other AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA 19 is in range of at least a threshold number of other AP STAs 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, and the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA 19 is in range of more AP STAs 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14 as compared to each other AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14.

In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is further configured to identify a first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19 from the first plurality of AP STAs 14 based on at least one neighborhood report, and select the first coordinating STA 19 from the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19 based on at least one of hardware capability information associated with the first coordinating STA 19 indicating that the first coordinating STA 19 has more capable hardware as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs 19 of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19, channel quality information associated with the first coordinating STA indicating that the first coordinating STA 19 is experiencing better channel conditions compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs 19 of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19, traffic information associated with the first coordinating STA 19 indicating that the first coordinating STA 19 is experiencing a heavier traffic load compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs 19 of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19, a preconfigured preference to select the first coordinating STA 19 over the other candidate coordinating STAs 19 of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19, a preconfigured restriction to not select at least one other candidate coordinating STA 19 of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19, and a time-dependent preference to select the first coordinating STA 19 over the other candidate coordinating STAs 19 of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19.

In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is further configured to cause transmission, to at least one other AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, of an indication requesting that the first coordinating STA 19 be selected as the coordinating STA 19 for the first MAP configuration.

In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is further configured to receive, from at least one other AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, an indication requesting that the first coordinating STA 19 be selected as the coordinating STA 19 for the first MAP configuration, and cause transmission, to at least one other AP STA 14 of the first plurality if AP STAs 14, of an indication approving the request that the first coordinating STA 19 be selected as the coordinating STA 19 for the first MAP configuration.

In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is further configured to receive, from the first coordinating STA 19, a resource configuration for the first MAP configuration, the resource configuration configuring a first set of resources for the first AP STA 14 and a second set of resources for the second AP STA 14, the second set of resources at least partially overlapping the first set of resources when the first AP STA 14 is not in range of the second AP STA 14.

In some embodiments, the first coordinating STA 19 corresponds to one of the first AP STA 14 and the second AP STA 14.

In some embodiments, the first coordinating STA 19 is a non-AP STA 16, the first coordinating STA 19 being selected based on the first coordinating STA 19 being in range of the first AP STA 14 and the second AP STA 14, the first AP STA 14 and the second AP STA 14 not being in range of one another.

In some embodiments, the first cooperation grant indicates a request for the first coordinating STA 19 to negotiate a restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) schedule between the first AP STA 14 and the second AP STA 14. In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is further configured to receive, from the first coordinating STA 19, responsive to the transmission of the first cooperation grant, a proposed r-TWT schedule, cause transmission, responsive to the receiving of the proposed r-TWT schedule, of one of an indication that the first AP STA 14 agrees with the proposed r-TWT schedule, and a request to modify the proposed r-TWT schedule.

In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is further configured to receive a response indication from the first coordinating STA 19 responsive to the transmission of the first coordination grant, the response indication indicating at least one of an acceptance of the first coordination grant, a declination of the first coordination grant, and a request to modify at least one parameter of the first coordination grant.

In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is further configured to responsive to the response indication indicating the declination of the first coordination grant, select a second coordinating STA 19 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, and cause transmission, to the second coordinating STA 19, of a second coordination grant, the second coordination grant enabling the second coordinating STA 19 to perform at least one MAP operation according to one of the first MAP configuration, and a second MAP configuration which is different from the first MAP configuration.

In some embodiments, the response indication indicates a request to modify at least one parameter of at least one of the first MAP configuration, and responsive to the response indication indicating the request to modify the at least one parameter, the AP STA 16 is further configured to cause transmission, to the first coordinating STA 19, of a second coordination grant for the second MAP configuration, the second coordination grant modifying the at least one parameter.

In some embodiments, the first coordination grant indicates at least one of an identity of the first AP STA 14, an identity of the second AP STA 14, at least one identity of at least one additional AP STA 14 that may participate in the first MAP configuration, a duration of a validity period of the first coordination grant at least one reserved TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration, and at least one MAP scheme including a Coordinated Beamforming (CBF) scheme, a Joint Transmission (JT) scheme, a Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (C- OFDMA) scheme, a Coordinated Time-Division Multiple Access (C-TDMA) scheme, a TXOP reservation scheme, or a coordinated restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) scheme. In some embodiments, the first coordination grant enables the first coordinating STA 19 to perform at least one MAP operation, the at least one MAP operation corresponding to at least one of relaying at least one of control information and data between at least two AP STAs 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, scheduling transmission resources for use by at least one AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, setting up a MAP coordination agreement between at least two AP STAs 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, and contending for channel access on behalf of at least one AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14.

In some embodiments, the first coordination grant restricts the first coordinating STA 19 in facilitating coordination of the first MAP configuration according to at least one of a restricted MAP coordination scheme type, a restricted transmission (TX) parameter, a restricted reception (RX) parameter, a restricted AP STA 14 which is restricted from participating in the first MAP configuration, a restricted application type, and a required minimum number of resources for at least one AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14.

In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is further configured to cause transmission of at least one polling request to at least one AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, each of the at least one polling request requesting, for a corresponding AP STA 14, at least one of an identification of a preferred coordinating STA 19, traffic information associated with the corresponding AP STA 14, an identification of STAs 19 within range of the corresponding AP STA 14, a neighborhood report of the corresponding AP STA 14, and interference information measured by the corresponding AP STA 14, receive at least one polling response to the at least one polling request, and determine the suitability of the first coordinating STA 19 for coordinating the first MAP configuration based on the at least one polling response.

In some embodiments, the AP STA 14 is further configured to identify the first plurality of AP STAs 14 associated with the first MAP configuration, when there is not at least one AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14 which is in range of all of the other candidate STAs 19, remove at least one AP STA 14 from the first plurality of AP STAs 14 to form a second plurality of AP STAs 14, and select the first coordinating STA 19 from the second plurality of AP STAs 14, the first coordinating STA 19 being in range of all of the AP STAs 14 of the second plurality of AP STAs 14, the first MAP configuration being associated with the second plurality of AP STAs 14 instead of the first plurality of AP STAs 14.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example process in a first STA 19 (e.g., an AP STA 14 or a non-AP STA 16) for supporting configurations for MAP coordination. In the case where the STA 19 is an AP STA 14, one or more Blocks and/or functions and/or methods performed by the first AP STA 14 may be performed by one or more elements of the first AP STA 14 such as by AP STA Coordination Unit 18 in processing circuitry 24, memory 28, processor 26, communication interface 22, etc. according to the example process/method. In the case where the STA 19 is a non-AP STA 16, one or more Blocks and/or functions and/or methods performed by the first non-AP STA 16 may be performed by one or more elements of the first non-AP STA 16 such as by AP STA Coordination Unit 17 in processing circuitry 36, memory 40, processor 38, communication interface 34, etc. according to the example process/method. The first STA 19 is configured to receive (Block S138) a first coordination grant to coordinate a first multi-access point (MAP) configuration between a first plurality of AP STAs 14 including at least a first access point (AP) STA 14 and a second AP STA 14, the first coordination grant being received from the first AP STA 14, the receiving of the first coordination being based on a suitability of the first coordinating STA 19 for coordinating the first MAP configuration. The first STA 19 is configured to perform (Block SI 40) at least one MAP operation based on the first MAP configuration.

In some embodiments, the suitability of the first coordinating STA 19 is determined based on one of at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA 19 is in range of every other AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA 19 is in range of at least a threshold number of other AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, and the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA 19 is in range of more AP STAs 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14 as compared to each other AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14.

In some embodiments, the suitability of the first coordinating STA 19 is determined based on one of hardware capability information associated with the first coordinating STA 19 indicating that the first coordinating STA 19 has more capable hardware as compared to other candidate coordinating STAs 19 of a first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19, channel quality information associated with the first coordinating STA 19 indicating that the first coordinating STA 19 is experiencing better channel conditions as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs 19 of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19, traffic information associated with the first coordinating STA 19 indicating that the first coordinating STA 19 is experiencing a heavier traffic load as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs 19 of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19, a preconfigured preference to select the first coordinating STA 19 over the other candidate coordinating STAs 19 of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19, a preconfigured restriction to not select at least one other candidate coordinating STAs 19 of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19, and a time-dependent preference to select the first coordinating STA 19 over the other candidate coordinating STAs 19 of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs 19.

In some embodiments, the first coordinating STA 19 is further configured to cause transmission, to the first AP STA 14, of a resource configuration for the first MAP configuration, the resource configuration configuring a first set of resources for the first AP STA 14 and a second set of resources for the second AP STA 14, the second set of resources at least partially overlapping the first set of resources when the first AP STA 14 is not in range of the second AP STA 14.

In some embodiments, the first coordinating STA 19 is a non-AP STA 16.

In some embodiments, the first cooperation grant indicates a request for the first coordinating STA 19 to negotiate a restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) schedule between the first AP STA 14 and the second AP STA 14.

In some embodiments, the first coordinating STA 19 is further configured to cause transmission, to the first AP STA 14, responsive to the receiving of the first cooperation grant, a proposed r-TWT schedule, receive, responsive to the transmission of the proposed r-TWT schedule, of one of an indication that the first AP STA 14 agrees with the proposed r-TWT schedule, and a request to modify the proposed r- TWT schedule.

In some embodiments, the first coordinating STA 19 is further configured to cause transmission of a response indication to the first AP STA 14 responsive to the receiving of the first coordination grant, the response indication indicating at least one of an acceptance of the first coordination grant, a declination of the first coordination grant, and a request to modify at least one parameter of the first coordination grant. In some embodiments, the response indication indicates a request to modify at least one parameter of at least one of the first coordination grant and the first MAP configuration, and responsive to the response indication indicating the request to modify the at least one parameter, the processing circuitry (24) being further configured to receive, from the first AP STA 14, a second coordination grant for a second MAP configuration, the second coordination grant modifying the at least one parameter.

In some embodiments, the first coordination grant indicates at least one of an identity of the first AP STA 14, an identity of the second AP STA 14, at least one identity of at least one additional AP STA 14 that may participate in the first MAP configuration, a duration of a validity period of the first coordination grant at least one reserved TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration, and at least one MAP scheme including a Coordinated Beamforming (CBF) scheme, a Joint Transmission (JT) scheme, a Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (C- OFDMA) scheme, a Coordinated Time-Division Multiple Access (C-TDMA) scheme, a TXOP reservation scheme, and a coordinated restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) scheme.

In some embodiments, the first coordination grant enables the first coordinating STA 19 to perform at least one MAP operation, the at least one MAP operation corresponding to at least one of relaying at least one of control information and data between at least two AP STAs 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, scheduling transmission resources for use by at least one AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14 setting up a MAP coordination agreement between at least two AP STAs 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, and contending for channel access on behalf of at least one AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14, the at least one AP STA 14 being associated with at least one TXOP.

In some embodiments, the first coordination grant restricts the first coordinating STA 19 in facilitating coordination of the first MAP configuration according to at least one of a restricted MAP coordination scheme type, a restricted TX parameter, a restricted RX parameter, a restricted AP STA 14 which is restricted from participating in the first MAP configuration, a restricted application type, or a required minimum number of resources for at least one AP STA 14 of the first plurality of AP STAs 14.

Having described the general process flow of arrangements of the disclosure and having provided examples of hardware and software arrangements for implementing the processes and functions of the disclosure, the sections below provide details and examples of arrangements for flexible MAP coordination and restricted AP coordination.

FIG. 12, FIG. 13, and FIG. 14 are schematic diagrams illustrating three different example network configurations according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, a coordinated r-TWT operation may be applied as a MAP coordination scheme to the different configurations of FIG. 12, FIG. 13, and FIG. 14, as described below.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example where two AP STAs 14a and 14b have partially overlapping service areas 12a and 12b, respectively, with an overlap region where service areas 12a and 12b overlap. In some embodiments, service areas 12a and 12b may largely overlap, e.g., the area overlap region may correspond to at least X% of the area of either of service areas 12a and 12b, where X may be, for example, 25%, 50%, etc., depending on the configuration.

In the example of FIG. 12, the two AP STAs 14a and 14b are not in communication range of one another, e.g., neither AP STA 14a nor 14b is in the overlap region of service areas 12a and 12b. If each AP STA 14a and 14b were to set up independent r-TWT schemes (e.g., without using coordination, according to some existing solutions), STA 19a may suffer from degradation in performance, even with a dedicated service period (SP) in its BSS (AP STA 14a BSS), for example, because concurrent transmissions may occur in AP STA 14b BSS at the same time. Furthermore, there may be no configurability to enable coordinated r-TWT (or any type of MAP coordination, for that matter), among these two or more AP STAs 14 because they are out of range of one another, where existing solutions are used.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example including three AP STAs 14a, 14b, and 14c, with corresponding service areas 12a, 12b, and 12c, respectively, which may partially overlap one another. In this example, AP STA 14a and 14b are not in range of one another, while AP STA 14c may be in range of both AP STA 14a and 14b. In this example, r-TWT operation (and other MAP coordination schemes) may be enabled, if the coordination operations are managed by AP STA 14c, for example, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example including three AP STAs 14a, 14b, and 14c, with corresponding service areas 12a, 12b, and 12c, respectively, which at least partially overlap one another. In this example, all three AP STAs 14a, 14b, and 14c, are in range of one another (e.g., each of the three AP STAs 14 is in all three service areas 12). Embodiments of the present disclosure may be beneficial for such scenarios where, for example, it may be advantageous to configure a single AP STA 14 to manage the coordination. For example, AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b may have power saving features and may be in a sleep state. When they wake up, their information related to the communication medium may be out of date, and thus AP STA 14c, which is not in a sleep state, and which may have up to date information, may be a preferred for performing the coordination. As another example, to reduce collisions, a single AP STA 14 may be designated to be in charge of channel access, in some embodiments.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide advantages over existing systems in each of the above-described scenarios with respect to FIG. 12, FIG. 13, and FIG. 14. For example, in some embodiments, configurations may be provided for enabling coordination between AP STAs 14 which are not in range of one another, such as in the examples of FIG. 12 and FIG. 13. Embodiments described herein may also enable improved efficiency in coordination between in-range AP STAs 14, such as in the example of FIG. 14.

For example, in some embodiments, the following steps may be performed, e.g., by a first STA 19, such as a first AP STA 14:

1. Identification and/or determination that another STA 19 (e.g., an AP STA 14 or non-AP STA 16) is better suited to facilitate MAP coordination than a first STA 19 (e.g., an AP STA 14).

2. Communicate a request to the other STA 19 (e.g., an AP STA 14 or non-AP STA 16) to facilitate MAP coordination rules/procedures on behalf of the first STA 19 (e.g., an AP STA 14).

3. Communicate a response to the previous request, optionally including the resulting outcome of the facilitation of the MAP coordination.

In the second step above (i.e., the request from a first STA 19 to the second STA 19 to negotiate MAP coordination rules), this request may be sent through a message that may be referred to as a “coordination grant”, in some embodiments. For example, a coordination grant (or equivalent messaging/indication/signaling) may include the following information:

• Identification (ID) of the first STA 19;

• ID of the other STA 19;

• Duration of the grant validity period(s): o A duration of the coordination period; and/or o A persistency of this agreement (number of TXOPs, seconds, etc.);

• MAP schemes considered/implemented/rejected/etc., for example: CBF, JT, C- OFDMA, C-TDMA, TXOP reservation, Coordinated r-TWT, etc.

• ID of devices (e.g., STAs 19) that may participate in the coordination (e.g., AP STAs 14 and/or non-AP STAs 16) o In some embodiments, some devices’ participation may be mandatory, while others’ may be optional (e.g., a MAP scheme may not be implemented unless a “mandatory” device agrees to participate)

• Any limitations the sharing AP STA 14 configures, e.g., as described above;

• Tx parameters or timing parameter bounds, which may be specific to a certain coordination scheme, for example.

Some embodiments may provide configurations for STAs 19 to communicate and/or configure: a) which STAs 19 should coordinate (i.e., participate in, direct, facilitate, etc., a MAP scheme); b) which MAP coordination scheme should be used; c) what STAs 19 should contend for channel access; d) which STAs 19 should orchestrate a coordination within a coordination period.

Moreover, the STAs 19 involved in the coordination and in the coordination setup may be AP STAs 14 and/or non-AP STAs 16, as shown in the examples of FIG. 12, FIG. 13, and FIG. 14.

In a first example embodiment, in accordance with the example of FIG. 12, AP STAs 14 may be configured to introduce r-TWT schedules. Here, STA 19a (e.g., a non- AP STA 16) in FIG. 12 may be better suited to negotiate with AP STA 14b regarding the coordinated r-TWT schedule, for example, or some other coordination scheme, as compared to AP STA 14a. AP STA 14a may determine that STA 19a is better suited (for example, through the request of and/or analysis of a neighbor report), and accordingly assigns the task (through the cooperation grant) to STA 19a to negotiate the r-TWT schedule based on the requirements of AP STA 14a, for example. Once agreed, STA 19a may be configured to report back to AP STA 14a with information/feedback regarding the r-TWT schedule, to which AP STA 14a agrees, requests modification, and/or declines.

In another example embodiment, using r-TWT cooperation as an example with respect to the scenario of FIG. 13, AP STA 14a is configured to request AP STA 14c to negotiate r-TWT coordination with AP STA 14b through the coordination grant. If AP STA 14b has also requested AP STA 14c to negotiate r-TWT coordination (or some other coordination scheme) through a coordination grant on its behalf, AP STA 14c may have full knowledge to satisfy all AP STA 14 needs, and it effectively may act as a controller node or coordinating STA 19. At any point, AP STA 14a or AP STA 14b may be configured to revoke the coordination grant from AP STA 14c, or simply ignore the recommended schedule or coordination configuration, for example, based on one or more conditions, preconfigured preferences, etc.

In another example embodiment, where TXOP sharing may be deployed (for example, through C-TDMA), AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b in the example of FIG. 14 may request a third device (for example, AP STA 14c in FIG. 14, or another STA 19 not shown but in range of both AP STAs) to serve as the contender for channel reservation. This may be advantageous because the resources may be shared between all the devices involved while avoiding unnecessary contention. In this case, either or both of AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b may be configured to send a coordination grant to AP STA 14c.

In another example embodiment, such as in the scenario of FIG. 13, AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b may be out of range with each other (which they may determine, e.g., by receiving/analyzing neighbor report(s) or other signaling/messages/etc.), and TXOP sharing may be deployed. AP STA 14c may be in range of all AP STAs 14 in the coordinating set, for example. Thus, AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b may be configured to send a coordination grant to AP STA 14c, e.g., requesting it to reserve TXOP and share the TXOP with the other AP STAs 14.

In another example embodiment, among all STAs 19 (e.g., all STAs 19 which are being considered for a coordination set), the STA 19 requested to reserve the channel may be the STA 19 which is determined (e.g., by a first AP STA 14a) to be within range of the most number of devices (as compared to the other STAs 19).

In another example embodiment, once a STA 19 has reserved a TXOP, it may be configured to task/assign/designate/etc. another STA 19 (e.g., a coordinating STA 19) to set up coordinated transmissions within the TXOP, e.g., through a coordination grant or equivalent signaling. Such coordinating STA 19 may, for example, be another AP STA 14 which has the most up-to-date information on the network conditions, as compared to the other STAs 19. The determination of which STA 19 to serve as the coordinating STA 19 may be made by one or more STAs 19 (e.g., AP STAs 14, non- AP STAs 16, etc.), and/or may be made by host computer 24 or another device in communication with the one or more STAs 19.

In another embodiment, once a STA 19 has reserved a TXOP, it may be configured to task another STA 19 (e.g., a coordinating STA 19) to set up the coordinated transmissions within the TXOP. A coordinating STA 19 may, for example, be another AP STA 14 that is range of the most other AP STAs 14 in the coordination set. Alternatively, the coordinating STA 19 may be the AP STA 14 with the most suitable hardware for performing this task. Alternatively, the coordinating STA 19 may be the AP STA 14 with the strictest requirement, e.g., in terms of critical traffic, as being the coordinating STA 19 may enable the STA 19 to allocate to itself as much resources as is needed. The determination of which STA 19 to serve as the coordinating STA 19 may be made by one or more STAs 19 (e.g., AP STAs 14 and/or AP STA Coordination Unit 18, non-AP STAs 16 and/or non-AP STA Coordination Unit 17, etc.), and/or may be made by host computer 24 or another device in communication with the one or more STAs 19.

In one embodiment, once a STA 19 has reserved a TXOP, it may task a further STA 19 (e.g., a coordinating STA 19) to set up/configure the coordinated transmissions within the TXOP. A coordinating STA 19 may be a non-AP STA 16 that has configured/set up a P2P link, which may be used for critical traffic, for example. Such non-AP STA 16 may be configured to ensure that enough resources are allocated to its transmissions, e.g., so that low latency and high reliability may be achieved on the P2P link, as needed.

Furthermore, a STA 19 that has been given a coordination grant (e.g., a coordinating STA 19) may be configured to optionally negotiate the grant, or decline the grant, if it determines that the grant is not suitable to set up the coordination.

The coordination grant may also be used to revoke the right to negotiate multi-AP coordination. This may, for example, be beneficial if the traffic conditions change at the first AP STA 14, or if it receives feedback from another AP STA 14 (or non-AP STA 16) that some other coordination scheme/configuration/etc. may be better.

Frame Exchange Example

An example frame exchange sequence for the scenario depicted in FIG. 12 is illustrated in the timing diagram of FIG. 15. Here, a first AP STA 14a and second AP STA 14b are two out-of-range AP STAs 14 that may be configured to coordinate with each other, and a third STA 19 may be either be an AP STA 14 or non-AP STA 16 that is configured to facilitate the coordination (e.g., as a coordinating STA 19).

In the depicted example of FIG. 15, the first AP STA 14a is configured to perform an identification/determination that the third STA 19 is better suited to facilitate the coordination (e.g., as compared to either of the first AP STA 14a and/or the second AP STA 14b), such as after receiving a neighbor report (Step S142), on the basis that this STA 19 is in-range of the second AP STA 14b, whereas the first AP STA 14a is not. Thus, after some time, the first AP STA 14a may be configured to send (transmit, communicate, etc.) a coordination grant to the third STA 19 (i.e., the coordinating STA 19) (Step S144). This coordination grant may include, for example, specific coordination parameters that the third STA 19 may be configured to facilitate/implement, and/or it may enable the third STA 19 to make one or more determinations itself as to which parameters to implement (e.g., based on information/conditions/measurements/etc. which are available to the third STA 19 but not to the first AP STA 14a or second AP STA 14b). The third STA 19 (coordinating STA 19) may, for example, perform these steps while initiating a MAP Setup (Step S146), or signaling may be explicitly exchanged before starting the coordination between the AP STAs 14a and 14b. First AP STA 14a and/or second AP STA 14b may be configured to transmit data (Step S148), such as to one or more non-AP STAs 16, in accordance with the MAP configuration.

Example Embodiment 1 (Measuring phase)

According to Example Embodiment 1, AP coordination may be performed with a set of AP STAs 14 using a protocol where, in the initial phase, it is determined which AP STAs 14 are within range of all other AP STAs 14 that also want to participate in the AP coordination. In some embodiments, based on this knowledge, only AP STAs 14 that are within range of all other AP STAs 14 may contend for channel access to ensure that the protocol for inviting shared AP STAs 14 works in a similar way as if all participating AP STAs 14 were in range of one another.

Furthermore, such measurements may have to be updated over time, e.g., to account for changes in the topology and/or the set of AP STAs 14, for example, if an AP STA 14 is switched off.

Some embodiments may include an initial phase wherein one or more coordinating AP sets are formed. This phase may, for example, be applicable for a variety of multi -AP coordination schemes, e.g., C-OFDMA, C-TDMA, etc. If a strict restriction requiring all coordinating AP STAs 14 to be in range of each other is to be imposed, as has been proposed in various multi-AP related standardization contributions, one consequent requirement in the initial phase includes forming one or more coordinating AP sets wherein all AP STAs 14 are in range of each other. By contrast, for at least some embodiments described herein, the requirement may be removed or relaxed such that at least one (rather than all) AP STAs 14 needs to be in range of all AP STAs 14 in the coordinating set.

Embodiment 2 (Selection of sub-set of contending APs)

According to this embodiment, which of the AP STAs 14 (or more generally, which STAs 19) to be involved in an AP coordination may be selected (e.g., by a first AP STA 14, and/or by one or more other STAs 19). This selection may be determined based on one or more of a variety of metrics or parameters, for example, a metric/parameter corresponding to whether an AP STA 14 is in range of all other AP STAs 14 intended to be part of the AP coordination. For example, in some embodiments, only an AP STA 14 that is within range of all other AP STAs 14 in the AP coordination set may contend for the channel. As a consequence of this requirement, if the set of AP STAs 14 is such that no AP STA 14 is found/determined to be in range of all other APs, the coordination set may be reduced, i.e., one or more of the APs must be removed from the set, e.g., by a first AP STA 14.

In some embodiments, even if an AP STA 14 is within range of all other AP STAs 14, the AP STA 14 may still not be configured for contending for the channel. One scenario where this may occur is when it is found that more than one AP STAs 14 may fulfill a requirement, e.g., a requirement of being in range of all other AP STAs 14, and it is decided (e.g., by a first AP STA 14) to limit the number of contending AP STAs 14 in order to reduce or eliminate the risk of a collision, i.e., when more than one AP STA 14 may find the channel to be idle and initiate a transmission at the same time, causing collisions.

In some embodiments, one or more radio measurement procedures, such as those procedures described in the IEEE 802.11 standard, may be implemented or adapted, for example, to provide a frame exchange protocol. An example frame exchange protocol according to some embodiments, which may be used for the scenario shown in FIG. 13, is described as follows:

Step-1 : AP STA 14c is configured to determine that it is in range of AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b (for e.g., by detecting their beacons). To initiate multi-AP coordination, AP STA 14c is configured to send a first message to AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b, either separately or together (e.g., using OFDMA), which may include, for example, one or more of o Measurement requests for AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b to share neighborhood reports, for example:

■ Neighborhood report requests sent from a non-AP STA 16 to its associated AP STA 14 are described in the Wi-Fi standard;

Measurement requests sent from one AP STA 14 to another AP STA 14 are generally not described in the Wi-Fi standard. Embodiments of the present disclosure may therefore provide configurations for measurement requesting and reporting between AP STAs 14, including neighborhood reports, which may not be supported in some existing systems;

■ Performing radio measurement procedures involving multiple AP STAs 14 in an OFDMA fashion, as described herein, may improve the efficiency of measurement requesting and reporting, as compared to some existing systems which lack such procedures; and/or

■ Optionally, AP STA 14c may itself include a neighbor report in this first message, e.g., to notify AP STA 14a and/or AP STA 14b that it can hear them both; o A proposal/request to form a coordinating AP set involving AP STA 14a, AP STA 14c, AP STA 14b; and/or o A proposal/request for AP STA 14c to be the AP STA 14 that contends for the channel whenever multi-AP coordinated transmissions are to be performed, since it is range of all AP STAs 14 in the proposed coordinating AP set.

• Step-2: AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b, upon receiving the first message from AP STA 14c, may be configured to respond with a second message (separately or together), which may include, for example, one or more of: o Neighbor reports, e.g., providing neighborhood information that may assist AP STA 14c in determining that AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b cannot hear each other, and that both can hear AP STA 14c; o An indication from AP STA 14a and/or AP STA 14b indicating approval to be a part of the coordinating set as proposed by AP STA 14c; and/or o An indication from AP STA 14a and/or AP STA 14b indicating approval for AP STA 14c to be the AP STA 14 that contends for the channel whenever multi-AP coordinated transmissions are to be performed (i.e., the coordinating AP STA 14 or, more generally, coordinating STA 19).

In some embodiments described herein, there may be variations to the abovedescribed steps for a frame exchange protocol. For example, in some embodiments, AP STA 14a or AP STA 14b may be configured to initiate a coordination attempt involving, e.g., two AP STAs 14 (AP STA 14a and AP STA 14c, or AP STA 14b and AP STA 14c), e.g., by sending a similar first message to AP STA 14c as described above. Then, upon receiving a corresponding response from AP STA 14c, both of them may be configured to determine that AP STA 14c may serve as an AP STA 14 that facilitates multi-AP coordination, e.g., involving an additional third AP STA 14. Such a situation may then require a third step, e.g., wherein the initiating AP STA 14a or AP STA 14b may be configured to acknowledge that AP STA 14c may serve as the AP STA 14 that always contends for the channel and also that the coordinating set may involve all three AP STAs 14.

Additionally, in some embodiments, two AP STAs 14 in a proposed coordinating set may be in range of all AP STAs 14 in the set. As discussed with respect to Example Embodiment 2 above, it may be advantageous in some cases to configure the system so as to limit the number of AP STAs 14, e.g., selecting only one, that should always (preferentially) contend for the channel whenever multi-AP coordinated transmissions are to be performed. One or more AP STAs 14 may be configured to identify/determine the most suitable AP STA 14 that has the highest probability of winning the contention and reserving the channel for the full desired bandwidth, for example. This limiting and selection process may be performed by an AP STA 14 based on one or more of the following:

In some embodiments, an AP STA 14 may be configured to gather and/or share information from suitable measurement reports, e.g., channel load reports, which may help to identify the most suitable AP STA 14 as the AP STA 14 that most frequently observes the channel as being available, for example.

Among two candidate AP STAs 14, for example, the AP STA 14 that is more frequently involved in DL/ UL communication may be configured to be selected, e.g., since it may naturally attempt to contend more times than the other. Otherwise, if an AP STA 14 is the AP STA 14 always contending for the channel, and it has no data to transmit or receive during a certain coordination instance, it may be configured to give away the entire TXOP to other AP STAs 14.

Embodiment 3 (Selection of overlapping resources for AP STAs 14 not in range)

According to an embodiment, the AP coordination may be implemented in scenarios where some of the participating AP STAs 14 are not within range of one another, for example, by assigning overlapping resources to these AP STAs 14.

As an example, in FIG. 13, where AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b are not in range of one another, AP STA 14c may be configured to obtain channel access and invite AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b to obtain some channel resources. For example, if the channel bandwidth is 80 MHz and the coordination is based on sharing the channel in frequency, then AP STA 14c may be configured to share the four 20 MHz subchannels among the three AP STAs 14. If all AP STAs 14 would be in range and therefore interfere with one another, each of the four 20 MHz sub-channels may be allocated to only one AP STA 14, for example. However, since AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b are determined in this example to not be in range of one another, the same resources may be allocated to these to AP STAs 14, e.g., without causing interference or collision. As an example, sub-channel 1 and sub-channel 2 may be allocated to AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b, whereas subchannel 3 and sub-channel 4 may be allocated to AP STA 14c. This may correspond to FDMA based sharing. Analogously, TDMA based sharing may also be performed by the sharing AP STA 14c, whereby AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b may be allocated the same time resources. As a consequence of this ability to spatially reuse channel resources, the overall performance may be enhanced compared to a scenario when all AP STAs 14 are within range of one another.

FIG. 16 is schematic diagram illustrating another example scenario according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 16 is similar to FIG. 13, with the addition of a first STA 19a located in service area 12a (and not in service areas 12b or 12c), and a second STA 19b located in the overlap region between service areas 12a, 12b, and 12c. Note that service area 12a may correspond to “BSS1”, service area 12b may correspond to “BSS2”, and service area 12b may correspond to “BSS3”, in this example.

In the example of FIG. 16, although AP STA 14a (labeled “API”) and AP STA 14c (labeled “AP2”) are not within range of one another, spatial multiplexing as described above may not function properly in some cases. Referring to FIG. 16, STA 19a (labeled “STA11”) and STA 19b (labeled “STA12”) are both associated with AP STA 14a (e.g., both are located in service area 12a corresponding to BSS1). In case AP STA 14a is transmitting to STA 19a, spatial reuse with AP STA 14b (labeled “AP3”) may be feasible as STA 19a is sufficiently far away from AP STA 14b not to be interfered. For the same reason, a transmission from STA 19a may be expected to not cause any noticeable interference to transmission in service area 12b (BSS3). For example, a transmission from STA 19a may take place regardless of what direction the data is sent, as there may be a corresponding transmission carrying the ACK. On the other hand, if AP STA 14a is transmitting to STA 19b, this transmission may prevent spatial reuse from being applied for AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b, e.g., because the transmission to STA 19b may be expected to be severely interfered by a transmission from AP STA 14b. Analogously, a transmission from STA 19b may be expected to interfere with a reception at AP STA 14b.

Thus, in some embodiments, the use of spatial reuse in AP coordination may be conditioned on a parameter or condition indicating whether transmission within the BSSs (service areas 12) may be spatially multiplexed, such that no (or minimal) detrimental interference may be caused. Selecting non-overlapping resources even for non-in-range AP STAs 14 as described with respect to the previous embodiments still provides higher throughput as compared to existing systems.

Embodiment 4 (Combination of coordination schemes)

In some embodiments,, the coordination of the AP STAs 14 may be based on more than one coordination scheme. The involved AP STAs 14 may be configured with a coordination scheme to use in an initial phase. A coordination scheme may also be determined for each new time frame the sharing (coordinating) AP STA 14 is announcing that it has resources to share with the other AP STAs 14. In another embodiment, the AP STAs 14 may be configured to agree on which coordination method(s) to use in the next TXOP(s). An advantage of this approach, as compared to deciding on a coordination scheme after the TXOP is obtained, is that the involved AP STAs 14 may be configured to decide to only participate in some of the possible coordination methods. In this way, the set of AP STAs 14 involved in the coordination in a specific TXOP may be determined beforehand. In addition, this scheme may enable AP STAs 14 that have decided not to participate to enter a lower power mode for a longer time, for example. In some embodiments for coordination of schemes, spatial reuse is an example of a technique for sharing resources.

As another example, some of the involved AP STAs 14 may have time sensitive applications, and therefore may be configured to prefer/request to have access to one 20 MHz channel for a longer time than to an 80 MHz channel for a comparably shorter time. Other AP STAs 14 may have applications that require large average throughput, but the data is not sensitive and/or is bursty in nature. For these AP STAs 14, it may be preferable to configure the coordination scheme such that they may obtain access to a comparably wide channel at times, and then occasionally these AP STAs 14 do not need any channel access. For such AP STAs 14, it may be preferable to base the coordination on TDMA, for example.

As yet another example, coordination schemes may be supported where, e.g., two of the AP STAs 14 may be configured to use joint transmission (JT) to transmit to the same STA 19. For example, if the sharing AP STA 14 wins a contention and obtains access to a 160 MHz channel, it may then use 80 MHz for JT with another AP STA 14, e.g., to serve some STAs 19 for a larger download. 20 MHz may be used by two other AP STAs 14 that are not in range with one another. 40 MHz may be shared using OFDMA between two other AP STAs 14 and finally two AP STAs 14 may share the last 20 MHz using TDMA. Assuming the JT may have a duration longer than a single TXOP, the 80 MHz may be set up for JT in a semi-persistent way, for example. Because joint transmissions may include two (or more) AP STAs 14 transmitting to the same STA(s) 19, it may be required that the STA(s) 19 receiving the joint transmission be in range of all AP STAs 14 involved in the joint transmission. Such information may be collected by the sharing AP STA 14, e.g., by relying on the measurement procedures described earlier. In some embodiments, enabling joint transmission may require that one of the AP STAs 14 (e.g., a Master AP STA 14 or coordinating AP STA 14) be in range with all other participating AP STAs 14.

Embodiment 5 (Time-varying sets)

In some embodiments, the AP STAs 14 may be configured to handle different types of traffic with different requirements. Hence, the AP STAs 14 may be configured to agree on different alternating phases, and the set of coordinating AP STAs 14 and the AP STA(s) 14 that contend for the channel may change, depending on the current phase. As an example, consider a network with 4 AP STAs 14a, 14b, 14c, and 14d. Only the first AP STA 14a and the second AP STA 14b are within range of all other AP STAs 14, whereas the third AP STA 14c and the fourth AP STA 14d are not within range. Hence, after the measurement phase, it may be determined (e.g., by an AP STA 14 or another STA 19, such as a coordinating STA 19) that either AP STA 14a and/or AP STA 14b shall be configured to contend for the channel. Due to high-priority latency-sensitive traffic requirements of users at the first AP STA 14a in this example, the first AP STA 14a may be selected to control the channel access in a periodic manner, contending (as the sole AP STA 14) for the channel, and may be configured to assign frequency resources to itself, the third AP STA 14c and the fourth AP STA 14d. During the remaining time, AP STA 14b may be configured to contend for the channel, and assign frequency resources for lower-priority traffic.

In some embodiments, the contending AP STA 14 may be selected based on the amount of traffic it must support. Specifically, continuing the example above with the 4 AP STAs 14a-14d, where only AP STA 14a and AP STA 14b are within range of all other AP STAs 14, if AP STA 14b has no or very little data to be sent or received, it may be agreed that AP STA 14a should contend for the channel. Then, if at a later moment in time the situation is reversed so that AP STA 14b has a high volume of data for transmission whereas AP STA 14a has little or no data for transmission, the two AP STAs 14 may be configured to agree to change configurations, e.g., so that AP STA 14b is configured for performing the contention for the channel.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the concepts described herein may be embodied as a method, data processing system, computer program product and/or computer storage media storing an executable computer program. Accordingly, the concepts described herein may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects all generally referred to herein as a “circuit” or “module.” Any process, step, action and/or functionality described herein may be performed by, and/or associated to, a corresponding module, which may be implemented in software and/or firmware and/or hardware. Furthermore, the disclosure may take the form of a computer program product on a tangible computer usable storage medium having computer program code embodied in the medium that can be executed by a computer. Any suitable tangible computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD- ROMs, electronic storage devices, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices. Some embodiments are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, systems and computer program products. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer (to thereby create a special purpose computer), special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable memory or storage medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

It is to be understood that the functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the operational illustrations. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. Although some of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths to show a primary direction of communication, it is to be understood that communication may occur in the opposite direction to the depicted arrows.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the concepts described herein may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Python, Java® or C++. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the disclosure may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

Many different embodiments have been disclosed herein, in connection with the above description and the drawings. It will be understood that it would be unduly repetitious and obfuscating to literally describe and illustrate every combination and subcombination of these embodiments. Accordingly, all embodiments can be combined in any way and/or combination, and the present specification, including the drawings, shall be construed to constitute a complete written description of all combinations and subcombinations of the embodiments described herein, and of the manner and process of making and using them, and shall support claims to any such combination or subcombination.

Abbreviations that may be used in the preceding description include:

ACK Acknowledgement

AP Access Point

CBF Coordinated Beamforming

C-OFDMA Coordinated OFDMA

CSMA/CA Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance

CSR Coordinated Spatial Reuse

C-TDMA Coordinated TDMA

DL Downlink

LBT Listen Before Talk

MAC Medium Access Control

MAP Multi-AP

OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

P2P Peer to peer

PHY Physical Layer

ST A Station

TDMA Time Division Multiple Access TXOP Transmit Opportunity

UL Uplink

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein are not limited to what has been particularly shown and described herein above. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale. A variety of modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings without departing from the scope of the following claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A first access point (AP) station (STA) (14) comprising processing circuitry (24) configured to: select a first coordinating STA (19) to coordinate a first multi-access point (MAP) configuration of a first plurality of AP STAs (14) including at least the first AP STA (14) and a second AP STA (14), the selecting being based on a suitability of the first coordinating STA (19) for coordinating the first MAP configuration; and cause transmission of a first coordination grant to the first coordinating STA (19) to perform at least one MAP coordination operation according to the first MAP configuration.

2. The first AP STA (14) of Claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: prior to causing transmission of the first coordination grant to the first coordinating STA (19), perform a transmit opportunity (TXOP) reservation procedure for reserving at least a first TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration.

3. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1 and 2, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: cause transmission of a first indication to at least one other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14), the first indication indicating at least one of: an identification of the first coordinating STA (19); and a first neighborhood report indicating which AP STAs (14) are within range of the first AP STA (14).

4. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-3, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: select the first coordinating STA (19) from the first plurality of AP STAs (14) based on one of: at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating

STA (19) is in range of every other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is in range of at least a threshold number of other AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); and the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is in range of more AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14) as compared to each other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14).

5. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-4, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: identify a first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19) from the first plurality of AP STAs (14) based on at least one neighborhood report; and select the first coordinating STA (19) from the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19) based on at least one of hardware and software capability information associated with the first coordinating STA (19) indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) has more capable hardware and software as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); channel quality information associated with the first coordinating STA indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is experiencing better channel conditions compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); traffic information associated with the first coordinating STA (19) indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is experiencing a heavier traffic load compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); a preconfigured preference to select the first coordinating STA (19) over the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); a preconfigured restriction to not select at least one other candidate coordinating STA (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); and a time-dependent preference to select the first coordinating STA (19) over the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19).

6. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-5, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: cause transmission, to at least one other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14), of an indication requesting that the first coordinating STA (19) be selected as the coordinating STA (19) for the first MAP configuration.

7. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-6, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: receive, from at least one other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14), an indication requesting that the first coordinating STA (19) be selected as the coordinating STA (19) for the first MAP configuration; and cause transmission, to at least one other AP STA (14) of the first plurality if AP STAs (14), of an indication approving the request that the first coordinating STA (19) be selected as the coordinating STA (19) for the first MAP configuration.

8. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-7, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: receive, from the first coordinating STA (19), a resource configuration for the first MAP configuration, the resource configuration configuring a first set of resources for the first AP STA (14) and a second set of resources for the second AP STA (14), the second set of resources at least partially overlapping the first set of resources when the first AP STA (14) is not in range of the second AP STA (14).

9. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-8, wherein the first coordinating STA (19) corresponds to one of the first AP STA (14) and the second AP STA (14).

10. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-9, wherein the first coordinating STA (19) is a non-AP STA (16), the first coordinating STA (19) being selected based on the first coordinating STA (19) being in range of the first AP STA (14) and the second AP STA (14), the first AP STA (14) and the second AP STA (14) not being in range of one another.

11. The first AP STA (14) of Claim 10, wherein the first cooperation grant indicates a request for the first coordinating STA (19) to negotiate a restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) schedule between the first AP STA (14) and the second AP STA (14).

12. The first AP STA (14) of Claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: receive, from the first coordinating STA (19), responsive to the transmission of the first cooperation grant, a proposed r-TWT schedule; and cause transmission, responsive to the receiving of the proposed r-TWT schedule, of one of an indication that the first AP STA (14) agrees with the proposed r-TWT schedule; and a request to modify the proposed r-TWT schedule.

13. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-12, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: receive a response indication from the first coordinating STA (19) responsive to the transmission of the first coordination grant, the response indication indicating at least one of: an acceptance of the first coordination grant; a declination of the first coordination grant; and a request to modify at least one parameter of the first coordination grant.

14. The first AP STA (14) of Claim 13, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: responsive to the response indication indicating the declination of the first coordination grant, select a second coordinating STA (19) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); and cause transmission, to the second coordinating STA (19), of a second coordination grant, the second coordination grant enabling the second coordinating STA (19) to perform at least one MAP operation according to one of: the first MAP configuration; and a second MAP configuration which is different from the first MAP configuration.

15. The first AP STA (14) of Claim 14, wherein the response indication indicates a request to modify at least one parameter of at least one of the first MAP configuration; and responsive to the response indication indicating the request to modify the at least one parameter, the processing circuitry (24) being further configured to cause transmission, to the first coordinating STA (19), of a second coordination grant for the second MAP configuration, the second coordination grant modifying the at least one parameter.

16. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-15, wherein the first coordination grant indicates at least one of an identity of the first AP STA (14); an identity of the second AP STA (14); at least one identity of at least one additional AP STA (14) that may participate in the first MAP configuration; a duration of a validity period of the first coordination grant at least one reserved TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration; and at least one MAP scheme including: a Coordinated Beamforming (CBF) scheme; a Joint Transmission (JT) scheme; a Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (C- OFDMA) scheme; a Coordinated Time-Division Multiple Access (C-TDMA) scheme; a TXOP reservation scheme; or a coordinated restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) scheme.

17. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-16, wherein the first coordination grant enables the first coordinating STA (19) to perform at least one MAP operation, the at least one MAP operation corresponding to at least one of relaying at least one of control information and data between at least two AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); scheduling transmission resources for use by at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); setting up a MAP coordination agreement between at least two AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); and contending for channel access on behalf of at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14).

18. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-17, wherein the first coordination grant restricts the first coordinating STA (19) in facilitating coordination of the first MAP configuration according to at least one of: a restricted MAP coordination scheme type; a restricted transmission (TX) parameter; a restricted reception (RX) parameter; a restricted AP STA (14) which is restricted from participating in the first MAP configuration; a restricted application type; and a required minimum number of resources for at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14).

19. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-18, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: cause transmission of at least one polling request to at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14), each of the at least one polling request requesting, for a corresponding AP STA (14), at least one of: an identification of a preferred coordinating STA (19); traffic information associated with the corresponding AP STA (14); an identification of STAs (19) within range of the corresponding AP STA (14); a neighborhood report of the corresponding AP STA (14); and interference information measured by the corresponding AP STA (14); receive at least one polling response to the at least one polling request; and determine the suitability of the first coordinating STA (19) for coordinating the first MAP configuration based on the at least one polling response.

20. The first AP STA (14) of any one of Claims 1-19, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: identify the first plurality of AP STAs (14) associated with the first MAP configuration; when there is not at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14) which is in range of all of the other candidate STAs (19), remove at least one AP STA (14) from the first plurality of AP STAs (14) to form a second plurality of AP STAs (14); and select the first coordinating STA (19) from the second plurality of AP STAs (14), the first coordinating STA (19) being in range of all of the AP STAs (14) of the second plurality of AP STAs (14), the first MAP configuration being associated with the second plurality of AP STAs (14) instead of the first plurality of AP STAs (14).

21. A method implemented in a first access point (AP) station (STA) (14), the method comprising: selecting (Block S134) a first coordinating STA (19) to coordinate a first multiaccess point (MAP) configuration of a first plurality of AP STAs (14) including at least the first AP STA (14) and a second AP STA (14), the selecting being based on a suitability of the first coordinating STA (19) for coordinating the first MAP configuration; and transmitting (Block SI 36) a first coordination grant to the first coordinating STA (19) to perform at least one MAP coordination operation according to the first MAP configuration.

22. The method of Claim 21, wherein the method further comprises: prior to causing transmission of the first coordination grant to the first coordinating STA (19), performing a transmit opportunity (TXOP) reservation procedure for reserving at least a first TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration.

23. The method of any one of Claims 21 and 22, wherein the method further comprises: transmitting a first indication to at least one other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14), the first indication indicating at least one of: an identification of the first coordinating STA (19); and a first neighborhood report indicating which AP STAs (14) are within range of the first AP STA (14).

24. The method of any one of Claims 21-23, wherein the method further comprises: selecting the first coordinating STA (19) from the first plurality of AP STAs (14) based on one of at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is in range of every other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is in range of at least a threshold number of other AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); and the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is in range of more AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14) as compared to each other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14).

25. The method of any one of Claims 21-24, wherein the method further comprises: identifying a first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19) from the first plurality of AP STAs (14) based on at least one neighborhood report; and selecting the first coordinating STA (19) from the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19) based on at least one of: hardware capability information associated with the first coordinating STA (19) indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) has more capable hardware as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); channel quality information associated with the first coordinating STA indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is experiencing better channel conditions compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); traffic information associated with the first coordinating STA (19) indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is experiencing a heavier traffic load compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); a preconfigured preference to select the first coordinating STA (19) over the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); a preconfigured restriction to not select at least one other candidate coordinating STA (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); and a time-dependent preference to select the first coordinating STA (19) over the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19).

26. The method of any one of Claims 21-25, wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, to at least one other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14), an indication requesting that the first coordinating STA (19) be selected as the coordinating STA (19) for the first MAP configuration.

27. The method of any one of Claims 21-26, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, from at least one other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14), an indication requesting that the first coordinating STA (19) be selected as the coordinating STA (19) for the first MAP configuration; and transmitting, to at least one other AP STA (14) of the first plurality if AP STAs (14), an indication approving the request that the first coordinating STA (19) be selected as the coordinating STA (19) for the first MAP configuration.

28. The method of any one of Claims 21-27, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, from the first coordinating STA (19), a resource configuration for the first MAP configuration, the resource configuration configuring a first set of resources for the first AP STA (14) and a second set of resources for the second AP STA (14), the second set of resources at least partially overlapping the first set of resources when the first AP STA (14) is not in range of the second AP STA (14).

29. The method of any one of Claims 21-28, wherein the first coordinating STA (19) corresponds to one of the first AP STA (14) and the second AP STA (14).

30. The method of any one of Claims 21-29, wherein the first coordinating STA (19) is a non-AP STA (16), the first coordinating STA (19) being selected based on the first coordinating STA (19) being in range of the first AP STA (14) and the second AP STA (14), the first AP STA (14) and the second AP STA (14) not being in range of one another.

31. The method of Claim 30, wherein the first cooperation grant indicates a request for the first coordinating STA (19) to negotiate a restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) schedule between the first AP STA (14) and the second AP STA (14).

32. The method of Claim 31, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, from the first coordinating STA (19), responsive to the transmission of the first cooperation grant, a proposed r-TWT schedule; and transmitting, responsive to the receiving of the proposed r-TWT schedule, one of: an indication that the first AP STA (14) agrees with the proposed r-TWT schedule; and a request to modify the proposed r-TWT schedule.

33. The method of any one of Claims 21-32, wherein the method further comprises: receiving a response indication from the first coordinating STA (19) responsive to the transmission of the first coordination grant, the response indication indicating at least one of: an acceptance of the first coordination grant; a declination of the first coordination grant; and a request to modify at least one parameter of the first coordination grant.

34. The method of Claim 33, wherein the method further comprises: responsive to the response indication indicating the declination of the first coordination grant, selecting a second coordinating STA (19) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); and transmitting, to the second coordinating STA (19), a second coordination grant, the second coordination grant enabling the second coordinating STA (19) to perform at least one MAP operation according to one of: the first MAP configuration; and a second MAP configuration which is different from the first MAP configuration.

35. The method of Claim 34, wherein the response indication indicates a request to modify at least one parameter of at least one of the first MAP configuration; and responsive to the response indication indicating the request to modify the at least one parameter, the method further comprising transmitting, to the first coordinating STA (19), of a second coordination grant for the second MAP configuration, the second coordination grant modifying the at least one parameter.

36. The method of any one of Claims 21-35, wherein the first coordination grant indicates at least one of: an identity of the first AP STA (14); an identity of the second AP STA (14); at least one identity of at least one additional AP STA (14) that may participate in the first MAP configuration; a duration of a validity period of the first coordination grant at least one reserved TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration; and at least one MAP scheme including: a Coordinated Beamforming (CBF) scheme; a Joint Transmission (JT) scheme; a Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (C- OFDMA) scheme; a Coordinated Time-Division Multiple Access (C-TDMA) scheme; a TXOP reservation scheme; or a coordinated restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) scheme.

37. The method of any one of Claims 21-36, wherein the first coordination grant enables the first coordinating STA (19) to perform at least one MAP operation, the at least one MAP operation corresponding to at least one of: relaying at least one of control information and data between at least two AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); scheduling transmission resources for use by at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); setting up a MAP coordination agreement between at least two AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); and contending for channel access on behalf of at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14).

38. The method of any one of Claims 21-37, wherein the first coordination grant restricts the first coordinating STA (19) in facilitating coordination of the first MAP configuration according to at least one of: a restricted MAP coordination scheme type; a restricted transmission (TX) parameter; a restricted reception (RX) parameter; a restricted AP STA (14) which is restricted from participating in the first MAP configuration; a restricted application type; and a required minimum number of resources for at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14).

39. The method of any one of Claims 21-38, wherein the method further comprises: transmitting at least one polling request to at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14), each of the at least one polling request requesting, for a corresponding AP STA (14), at least one of: an identification of a preferred coordinating STA (19); traffic information associated with the corresponding AP STA (14); an identification of STAs (19) within range of the corresponding AP

STA (14); a neighborhood report of the corresponding AP STA (14); and interference information measured by the corresponding AP STA (14); receiving at least one polling response to the at least one polling request; and determining the suitability of the first coordinating STA (19) for coordinating the first MAP configuration based on the at least one polling response.

40. The method of any one of Claims 21-39, wherein the method further comprises: identifying the first plurality of AP STAs (14) associated with the first MAP configuration; when there is not at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14) which is in range of all of the other candidate STAs (19), removing at least one AP STA (14) from the first plurality of AP STAs (14) to form a second plurality of AP STAs (14); and selecting the first coordinating STA (19) from the second plurality of AP STAs (14), the first coordinating STA (19) being in range of all of the AP STAs (14) of the second plurality of AP STAs (14), the first MAP configuration being associated with the second plurality of AP STAs (14) instead of the first plurality of AP STAs (14).

41. A first coordinating station (STA) (19) comprising processing circuitry (24) configured to: receive a first coordination grant to coordinate a first multi-access point (MAP) configuration between a first plurality of access point (AP) STAs (14) including at least a first AP STA (14) and a second AP STA (14), the first coordination grant being received from the first AP STA (14), the receiving of the first coordination being based on a suitability of the first coordinating STA (19) for coordinating the first MAP configuration; and perform at least one MAP operation based on the first MAP configuration.

42. The first coordinating STA (19) of Claim 41, wherein the suitability of the first coordinating STA (19) is determined based on one of: at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is in range of every other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is in range of at least a threshold number of other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); and the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is in range of more AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14) as compared to each other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14).

43. The first coordinating STA (19) of any one of Claims 41 and 42, wherein the suitability of the first coordinating STA (19) is determined based on one of hardware capability information associated with the first coordinating STA (19) indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) has more capable hardware as compared to other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of a first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); channel quality information associated with the first coordinating STA (19) indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is experiencing better channel conditions as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); traffic information associated with the first coordinating STA (19) indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is experiencing a heavier traffic load as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); a preconfigured preference to select the first coordinating STA (19) over the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); a preconfigured restriction to not select at least one other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); and a time-dependent preference to select the first coordinating STA (19) over the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19).

44. The first coordinating STA (19) of any one of Claims 41-43, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: cause transmission, to the first AP STA (14), of a resource configuration for the first MAP configuration, the resource configuration configuring a first set of resources for the first AP STA (14) and a second set of resources for the second AP STA (14), the second set of resources at least partially overlapping the first set of resources when the first AP STA (14) is not in range of the second AP STA (14).

45. The first coordinating STA (19) of any one of Claims 41-44, wherein the first coordinating STA (19) corresponds to one of the first AP STA (14) and the second AP STA (14).

46. The first coordinating STA (19) of any one of Claims 41-45, wherein the first coordinating STA (19) is a non-AP STA (16).

47. The first coordinating STA (19) of Claim 46, wherein the first cooperation grant indicates a request for the first coordinating STA (19) to negotiate a restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) schedule between the first AP STA (14) and the second AP STA (14).

48. The first coordinating STA (19) of Claim 47, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: cause transmission, to the first AP STA (14), responsive to the receiving of the first cooperation grant, a proposed r-TWT schedule; and receive, responsive to the transmission of the proposed r-TWT schedule, of one of: an indication that the first AP STA (14) agrees with the proposed r-TWT schedule; and a request to modify the proposed r-TWT schedule.

49. The first coordinating STA (19) of any one of Claims 41-48, wherein the processing circuitry (24) is further configured to: cause transmission of a response indication to the first AP STA (14) responsive to the receiving of the first coordination grant, the response indication indicating at least one of: an acceptance of the first coordination grant; a declination of the first coordination grant; and a request to modify at least one parameter of the first coordination grant.

50. The first coordinating STA (19) of Claim 49, wherein the response indication indicates a request to modify at least one parameter of at least one of the first coordination grant and the first MAP configuration; and responsive to the response indication indicating the request to modify the at least one parameter, the processing circuitry (24) being further configured to receive, from the first AP STA (14), a second coordination grant for a second MAP configuration, the second coordination grant modifying the at least one parameter.

51. The first coordinating STA (19) of any one of Claims 41-50, wherein the first coordination grant indicates at least one of an identity of the first AP STA (14); an identity of the second AP STA (14); at least one identity of at least one additional AP STA (14) that may participate in the first MAP configuration; a duration of a validity period of the first coordination grant; at least one reserved TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration; and at least one MAP scheme including: a Coordinated Beamforming (CBF) scheme; a Joint Transmission (JT) scheme; a Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (C- OFDMA) scheme; a Coordinated Time-Division Multiple Access (C-TDMA) scheme; a TXOP reservation scheme; and a coordinated restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) scheme.

52. The first coordinating STA (19) of any one of Claims 41-51, wherein the first coordination grant enables the first coordinating STA (19) to perform at least one MAP operation, the at least one MAP operation corresponding to at least one of relaying at least one of control information and data between at least two AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); scheduling transmission resources for use by at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); setting up a MAP coordination agreement between at least two AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); and contending for channel access on behalf of at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14), the at least one AP STA (14) being associated with at least one TXOP

53. The first coordinating STA (19) of any one of Claims 41-52, wherein the first coordination grant restricts the first coordinating STA (19) in facilitating coordination of the first MAP configuration according to at least one of: a restricted MAP coordination scheme type; a restricted TX parameter; a restricted RX parameter; a restricted AP STA (14) which is restricted from participating in the first MAP configuration; a restricted application type; or a required minimum number of resources for at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14).

54. A method implemented in a first coordinating station (STA) (19), the method comprising: receiving (Block S138) a first coordination grant to coordinate a first multiaccess point (MAP) configuration between a first plurality of AP STAs (14) including at least a first access point (AP) STA (14) and a second AP STA (14), the first coordination grant being received from the first AP STA (14), the receiving of the first coordination being based on a suitability of the first coordinating STA (19) for coordinating the first MAP configuration; and performing (Block S140) at least one MAP operation based on the first MAP configuration.

55. The method of Claim 54, wherein the suitability of the first coordinating STA (19) is determined based on one of: at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is in range of every other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is in range of at least a threshold number of other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); and the at least one neighborhood report indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is in range of more AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14) as compared to each other AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14).

56. The method of any one of Claims 54 and 55, wherein the suitability of the first coordinating STA (19) is determined based on one of hardware capability information associated with the first coordinating STA (19) indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) has more capable hardware as compared to other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of a first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); channel quality information associated with the first coordinating STA (19) indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is experiencing better channel conditions as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); traffic information associated with the first coordinating STA (19) indicating that the first coordinating STA (19) is experiencing a heavier traffic load as compared to the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); a preconfigured preference to select the first coordinating STA (19) over the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); a preconfigured restriction to not select at least one other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19); and a time-dependent preference to select the first coordinating STA (19) over the other candidate coordinating STAs (19) of the first plurality of candidate coordinating STAs (19).

57. The method of any one of Claims 54-56, wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, to the first AP STA (14), a resource configuration for the first MAP configuration, the resource configuration configuring a first set of resources for the first AP STA (14) and a second set of resources for the second AP STA (14), the second set of resources at least partially overlapping the first set of resources when the first AP STA (14) is not in range of the second AP STA (14).

58. The method of any one of Claims 54-57, wherein the first coordinating STA (19) corresponds to one of the first AP STA (14) and the second AP STA (14).

59. The method of any one of Claims 54-58, wherein the first coordinating STA (19) is a non-AP STA (16).

60. The method of Claim 59, wherein the first cooperation grant indicates a request for the first coordinating STA (19) to negotiate a restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) schedule between the first AP STA (14) and the second AP STA (14).

61. The method of Claim 60, wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, to the first AP STA (14), responsive to the receiving of the first cooperation grant, a proposed r-TWT schedule; and receiving, responsive to the transmission of the proposed r-TWT schedule, of one of: an indication that the first AP STA (14) agrees with the proposed r-TWT schedule; and a request to modify the proposed r-TWT schedule.

62. The method of any one of Claims 54-61, wherein the method further comprises: transmitting a response indication to the first AP STA (14) responsive to the receiving of the first coordination grant, the response indication indicating at least one of: an acceptance of the first coordination grant; a declination of the first coordination grant; and a request to modify at least one parameter of the first coordination grant.

63. The method of Claim 62, wherein the response indication indicates a request to modify at least one parameter of at least one of the first coordination grant and the first MAP configuration; and responsive to the response indication indicating the request to modify the at least one parameter, the method further comprises receiving, from the first AP STA (14), a second coordination grant for a second MAP configuration, the second coordination grant modifying the at least one parameter.

64. The method of any one of Claims 54-63, wherein the first coordination grant indicates at least one of: an identity of the first AP STA (14); an identity of the second AP STA (14); at least one identity of at least one additional AP STA (14) that may participate in the first MAP configuration; a duration of a validity period of the first coordination grant; at least one reserved TXOP associated with the first MAP configuration; and at least one MAP scheme including: a Coordinated Beamforming (CBF) scheme; a Joint Transmission (JT) scheme; a Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (C- OFDMA) scheme; a Coordinated Time-Division Multiple Access (C-TDMA) scheme; a TXOP reservation scheme; and a coordinated restricted Target Wake Time (r-TWT) scheme.

65. The method of any one of Claims 54-63, wherein the first coordination grant enables the first coordinating STA (19) to perform at least one MAP operation, the at least one MAP operation corresponding to at least one of: relaying at least one of control information and data between at least two AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); scheduling transmission resources for use by at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14) setting up a MAP coordination agreement between at least two AP STAs (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14); and contending for channel access on behalf of at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14), the at least one AP STA (14) being associated with at least one TXOP 66. The method of any one of Claims 54-65, wherein the first coordination grant restricts the first coordinating STA (19) in facilitating coordination of the first MAP configuration according to at least one of: a restricted MAP coordination scheme type; a restricted TX parameter; a restricted RX parameter; a restricted AP STA (14) which is restricted from participating in the first MAP configuration; a restricted application type; or a required minimum number of resources for at least one AP STA (14) of the first plurality of AP STAs (14).