WO2025247499A1

WO2025247499A1 - Dynamic triggered txop sharing

Info

Publication number: WO2025247499A1
Application number: PCT/EP2024/065018
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dor Chay; Ebrahem QASSEM; Arik Klein; Michael Montemurro
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2024-05-31
Filing date: 2024-05-31
Publication date: 2025-12-04
Anticipated expiration: 2026-11-30

Abstract

An access point, AP, in a wireless network, the network comprising one or more APs and one or more non-AP stations, STAs, the AP being configured to: receive a request for Triggered TXOP sharing from a non-AP STA; initiate a transmission of a Triggered TXOP Sharing frame for the non-AP STA, according to the request from the non-AP STA.

Description

DYNAMIC TRIGGERED TXOP SHARING

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to methods and systems in the field of WLAN Transmit Opportunity, TXOP, sharing.

BACKGROUND

802.11 WLAN non-AP STAs andAPs use CSMA/CA mechanism in order to access the wireless medium for the transmission of frames. This means that any node that participates in the network needs to wait certain time before it checks if the medium is clear or busy, this time is called backoff time.

Every time the station attempts to perform a transmission, a backoff time is randomly selected and it needs to wait this time before starting the transmission. WLANAPs serve multiple STAs so they have a smaller interval of values to choose the backoff time, which leads to have more opportunities to access the channel compared to the non-AP STAs.

There are some cases where the non-AP STA has accumulated data or other traffic to be transmitted and needs to get medium access however, using CSMA/CA mechanism only as described above will cause some delay.

This is the reason that Triggered TXOP Sharing was introduced.

Triggered TXOP Sharing feature was first introduced in 802.1 Ibe specification, and it allows an AP to allocate a portion of the time within an obtained TXOP to a single associated non-AP STA to initiate a transmission of non-TB PPDUs.

There are two modes supported in 802.1 Ibe:

Model : enable STA to transmit non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP only to the associated AP

Mode2: enable STA to transmit non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP either to the associated AP or to another STA, e.g. P2P device communication.

However, the present implementations of Triggered TXOP sharing suffer from a number of difficulties or disadvantages. For explanatory purposes, two of these disadvantages are discussed in the following. Disadvantage # 1 :

The non-AP STA indicates its Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode support during (Re-)Association procedure in EHT MAC Capabilities Information field as defined in 802.1 Ibe amendment draft to the 802.11-2020 specification.

The allocation of the TXOP, or any portion of thereof, by the EHT AP for a specific non-AP EHT STA is based only on the support of any mode of Triggered TXOP Sharing, regardless of the actual traffic need of the non-AP EHT STA for such an allocation. The current Triggered TXOP Sharing does not account for the actual need of the non-AP STAs for such an allocation.

The currently underlying assumption, that supporting this feature also means that one actually need this feature, appears to be incorrect.

This leads to an inefficient allocation of Triggered TXOP Sharing periods by the EHT AP, i.e. for non-AP STAs that do not really need it at that time.

This also leads to inefficient, i.e. aggregated, frame exchange used to signal that allocation during the TXOP, which shortens the time, allocated for real data frame exchange for the non-AP STA that do really need this allocation.

Disadvantage #2:

So far, Triggered TXOP Sharing mode can be configured only during association, i.e. by the setting of EHT MAC Capability Information field.

Thus, in case a STA needs to change any parameters that corresponds the Triggered TXOP Sharing Configuration - ReAssociation is the only option.

In this case, Re-Association might cause noticeable performance degradation and degraded user experience, especially in low latency traffic use cases.

For example: let us take a look at the setup as shown in FIG. 1, where a non-AP EHT STA 1000 includes a BSS STA module 1000.1 and a P2P GO module 1000.2. The non-AP STA 1000 establishes a BSS connection with an EHT AP 1001, using its BSS STA module 1000.1, and it also establishes a P2P connection using its P2P GO module 1000.2 with another STA, i.e. a P2P client 1003.

FIG. 2 illustrates a corresponding flow relating to the setup shown in FIG. 1. In FIG 2, the non-AP EHT STA 1000 initiates two connections: a BSS connection with EHT AP 1001 indicating the support in Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode 1, i.e. no P2P frame exchange is allowed, and P2P connection with another device, i.e. P2P client 1003.

At this point of time, for the setup of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, any traffic accumulated for the P2P client 1003 will require the non- AP EHT STA 1000 to obtain a TXOP before it can be transmitted. This can cause significant delay compared to the traffic accumulated for transmission to the EHT AP 1001, where the portions of TXOP allocated by the EHT AP 1001 for the non-AP EHT STA 1000, due to Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode 1, can also be used for transmission and it is not solely dependent on the TXOP obtained by the non-AP STA 1000.

Another option for the non-AP EHT STA 1000 to overcome the problem mentioned above may be to reconfigure the connection (in order to change the Triggered TXOP Sharing mode to Mode 2) with the AP and perform Re-Association operation. However, this may take a lot of time and causes significant delay in the transmission of the traffic in the connection with the EHT AP

SUMMARY

The present disclosure attempts to mitigate this situation. The present disclosure reduces these delays to the minimum by introducing new methods and techniques to be used in the Triggered TXOP Sharing method.

The present disclosure is defined by the scope of the independent claims. The dependent claims provide advantageous embodiments of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure further provides a first aspect of an access point, AP, in a wireless network. According to the first aspect, it is provided

The present disclosure further provides a first aspect of an access point, AP, in a wireless network. According to the first aspect, it is provided: an access point, AP, in a wireless network, the network comprising one or more APs and one or more non-AP stations, STAs, the AP being configured to: receive a request for Triggered TXOP sharing from a non-AP STA; initiate one or more transmissions of a Triggered TXOP Sharing frame for the non-AP STA in one or more TXOPs it obtains, according to the request from the non-AP STA.

Thus, it is provided the ability to request for an allocation of Triggered TXOP Sharing on demand in real time. So far, the current solution of Triggered TXOP Sharing causes the TXOP to be shared once the feature is enabled by the AP and the STA regardless to the STA’s actual traffic needs and this may cause an inefficient network usage. According to the present disclosure, in order to ask for Triggered TXOP sharing from the AP, there is no need to perform a full cycle of Re-Association.

According to an implementation of the first aspect, the request for Triggered TXOP sharing may comprise a dedicated frame for controlling the operation of Triggered TXOP sharing, the dedicated frame comprising the request for Triggered TXOP sharing.

According to an implementation of the first aspect, the dedicated frame may be a Protected Action frame.

According to an implementation of the first aspect, the dedicated frame may comprise a control field for controlling the operation of the Triggered TXOP sharing.

According to an implementation of the first aspect, the request for Triggered TXOP sharing may be included in a control field, the control field being an Aggregated Control, A-Control, field.

According to an implementation of the first aspect, the A-Control field may be designated as “Triggered TXOP Sharing control” or the A-Control field may be allocated within a reserved subfield of an existing A-Control field, named “CAS Control” field.

According to an implementation of the first aspect, the control field for controlling Triggered TXOP sharing may comprise at least one of: a subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested; a subfield indicating a mode of Triggered TXOP sharing; a subfield defining the operation type of the dedicated frame; and a subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing mode re-configuration is requested.

According to an implementation of the first aspect, the subfield defining the operation type of the dedicated frame may comprise: a subfield indicating an operation of TXOP allocation; a subfield indicating an operation of mode reconfiguration; and a reserved subfield. According to an implementation of the first aspect, in the subfield indicating whether triggered TXOP re-configuration is requested: a value of 0 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing Mode Re-configuration is not requested; a value of 1 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing Mode Re-configuration is requested.

According to an implementation of the first aspect, in the subfield indicating whether triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested: a value of 0 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is not requested; a value of 1 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested.

According to an implementation of the first aspect, in the subfield indicating the mode of Triggered TXOP sharing: a value of 0 may indicate a first mode, wherein in the first mode a non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-triggered based, non-TB, Physical Layer Protocol Data Units, PPDUs, within the allocated TXOP portion only to the associated AP; a value of 1 may indicate a second mode, wherein in the second mode the non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP portion either to the associated AP or to yet another non-AP STA; a value of 2 may indicate a third mode, wherein in the third mode the non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP portion only to yet another non-AP STA.

According to an implementation of the first aspect, the AP may be further configured to: allocate a time period for Triggered TXOP sharing in case the non-AP STA is a Ultra-High Reliability, UHR, non-AP STA only if the following conditions are met: the UHR non-AP STA supports one or more of specific modes Mode 1, Mode 2, and Mode 3, as indicated in Association Request or re-association Request frames; the AP has successfully acknowledged a Triggered TXOP Sharing operation Action frame, Triggered TXOP Sharing operation Action frame indicating: Operation type being “TXOP Allocation requested” and the value of Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation is equal to 1 ; or the AP has successfully acknowledged data or management frame including an A-control field, the A-control field indicating: Operation type being TXOP Allocation requested and the value of Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation is equal to 1.

According to an implementation of the first aspect, the AP may be further configured to define a default mode for a Triggered TXOP sharing allocation in one of the following methods:

Method 1 : Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation being enabled by default for all associated non-AP STAs that support either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing;

Method 2: Triggered TXOP sharing allocation being disabled by default for all associated non-AP STAs that support either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing; or

Method 3: a new field is added in an existing field, the existing field being the Ultra-High Reliability Media Access Control, UHR MAC, capabilities field, wherein the new field configures the default Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation as either enabled or disabled for the associated non-AP STA that supports either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing.

The present disclosure further provides a second aspect of a method for triggered transmission opportunity, TXOP, sharing, the method comprising: receiving, by an AP, a request for Triggered TXOP sharing from a non-AP STA; initiating, by the AP, one or more transmissions of a Triggered TXOP Sharing frame for the non-AP STA in one or more TXOPs it obtains, according to the request from the non-AP STA.

The present disclosure further provides a third aspect of a non access point station, non-AP STA, in a wireless network, the network comprising one or more access points, APs, and one or more non-AP stations, the non-AP STA being configured to: send a request to the AP for allocating a Triggered TXOP sharing; receive one or more individually addressed Triggered TXOP Sharing frames from the AP.

According to an implementation of the third aspect, the request for Triggered TXOP sharing may comprise a dedicated frame for controlling the operation of Triggered TXOP sharing, the dedicated frame comprising the request for Triggered TXOP sharing.

According to an implementation of the third aspect, the dedicated frame may be a Protected Action frame.

According to an implementation of the third aspect, the dedicated frame may comprise a control field for controlling the operation of the Triggered TXOP sharing.

According to an implementation of the third aspect, the request for Triggered TXOP sharing may be included in a control field, the control field being an Aggregated Control, A-Control, field.

According to an implementation of the third aspect, the A-Control field may be designated as “Triggered TXOP Sharing control” or the A-Control field may be allocated within a reserved subfield of an existing A-Control field, named “CAS Control” field.

According to an implementation of the third aspect, the control field for controlling Triggered TXOP sharing may comprise at least one of: a subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested; a subfield indicating a mode of Triggered TXOP sharing; a subfield defining the operation type of the dedicated frame; and a subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing mode re-configuration is requested.

According to an implementation of the third aspect, the subfield defining the operation type of the dedicated frame may comprise: a subfield indicating TXOP allocation; a subfield indicating mode reconfiguration; and a reserved subfield. According to an implementation of the third aspect, wherein in the subfield indicating whether triggered TXOP re-configuration is requested: a value of 0 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing Mode Re-configuration is not requested; a value of 1 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing Mode Re-configuration is requested.

According to an implementation of the third aspect, wherein in the subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested: a value of 0 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is not requested; a value of 1 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested.

According to an implementation of the third aspect, wherein in the subfield indicating the mode of Triggered TXOP sharing: a value of 0 may indicate a first mode, wherein in the first mode a non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-triggered based, non-TB, Physical Layer Protocol Data Units, PPDUs, within the allocated TXOP portion only to the associated AP; a value of 1 may indicate a second mode, wherein in the second mode the non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP portion either to the associated AP or to yet another non-AP STA; a value of 2 may indicate a third mode, wherein in the third mode the non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP portion only to yet another non-AP STA.

According to an implementation of the third aspect, the non-AP STA may be further configured to define a default mode for a Triggered TXOP sharing allocation in one of the following methods:

Method 1 : Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation is enabled by default for all associated non-AP STAs that support either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing;

Method 2: Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is disabled by default for all associated non-AP STAs that support either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing; or

The present disclosure further provides a fourth aspect of a method for triggered transmission opportunity, TXOP, sharing, the method comprising: sending, by a non-AP STA, a request for allocating a Triggered TXOP sharing to an AP: receiving, by the non-AP STA, one or more individually addressed Triggered TXOP Sharing frames from the AP.

The present disclosure further provides a fifth aspect of a method computer program product comprising program code for performing the method according to any one of the second or fourth aspect when executed on a computer or a processor.

The present disclosure further provides a sixth aspect of a non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying a program code which, when executed by a computer device, causes the computer device to perform the method of any one of the second or fourth aspect.

According to an implementation of the first to sixth aspect, the yet another non-AP STA may be a peer to peer, P2P, device.

The present disclosure further provides a seventh aspect of a method for triggered transmission opportunity, TXOP, sharing, the method comprising: receiving, by an AP, a request for Triggered TXOP sharing from a non-AP STA; initiating, by the AP, one or more transmissions of a Triggered TXOP Sharing frame for the non-AP STA in one or more TXOPs it obtains, according to the request from the non-AP STA.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, the request for Triggered TXOP sharing may comprise a dedicated frame for controlling the operation of Triggered TXOP sharing, the dedicated frame comprising the request for Triggered TXOP sharing.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, the dedicated frame may be a Protected Action frame.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, the dedicated frame may comprise a control field for controlling the operation of the Triggered TXOP sharing.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, the request for Triggered TXOP sharing may be included in a control field, the control field being an Aggregated Control, A-Control, field. According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, the A-Control field may be designated as “Triggered TXOP Sharing control” or the A-Control field may be allocated within a reserved subfield of an existing A-Control field, named “CAS Control” field.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, the control field for controlling Triggered TXOP sharing may comprise: a subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested; a subfield indicating a mode of Triggered TXOP sharing.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, the control field for controlling Triggered TXOP sharing may further comprise: a subfield defining an operation type of the dedicated frame.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, the subfield defining the operation type of the dedicated frame may comprise: a subfield indicating an operation of TXOP allocation; a subfield indicating an operation of mode reconfiguration; and a reserved subfield.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, the control field for controlling Triggered TXOP sharing may further comprise: a subfield indicating whether triggered TXOP re-configuration is requested.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, in the subfield indicating whether triggered TXOP reconfiguration is requested: a value of 0 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing Mode is not requested; a value of 1 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing Mode is requested.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, in the subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested: a value of 0 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is not requested; a value of 1 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, in the subfield indicating the mode of Triggered TXOP sharing: a value of 0 may indicate a first mode, wherein in the first mode a non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-triggered based, non-TB, Physical Layer Protocol Data Units, PPDUs, within the allocated TXOP portion only to the associated AP; a value of 1 may indicate a second mode, wherein in the second mode the non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP portion either to the associated AP or to yet another non-AP STA; a value of 2 may indicate a third mode, wherein in the third mode the non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP portion only to yet another non-AP STA. According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, the yet another non-AP STA may be a peer to peer, P2P, device.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, the method may further comprise: allocating, by the AP, a time period for Triggered TXOP sharing in case the non-AP STA is a Ultra-High Reliability, UHR, non-AP STA only if the following conditions are met: the UHR non-AP STA supports one or more of specific modes Mode 1, Mode 2, and Mode 3, as indicated in Association Request or Re-association Request frames; the AP has successfully acknowledged a Triggered TXOP Sharing operation Action frame, Triggered TXOP Sharing operation Action frame indicating: Operation type being “TXOP Allocation requested” and the value of Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation is equal to 1; or the AP has successfully acknowledged data or management frame including an A-control field, the A-control field indicating: Operation type being “TXOP Allocation requested” and the value of Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation is equal to 1.

According to an implementation of the method of the seventh aspect, define a default mode for a Triggered TXOP sharing allocation at least in one of the following methods: Method 1- Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation being enabled by default for all associated non-AP STAs that support either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing;

Method 2 - Triggered TXOP sharing allocation being disabled by default for all associated non-AP STAs that support either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing.

Method 3 - adding a new field in an existing field, the existing field being the Ultra-High Reliability Media Access Control, UHR MAC, capabilities field, wherein the new field configures the default Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation as either enabled or disabled for the associated non-AP STA that supports either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing.

The present disclosure further provides an eighth aspect of a method for triggered transmission opportunity, TXOP, sharing, the method comprising: sending, by a non-AP STA, a request for allocating a Triggered TXOP sharing to an AP; receiving, by the non-AP STA, one or more individually addressed Triggered TXOP Sharing frames from the AP

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, the request for Triggered TXOP sharing may comprise a dedicated frame for controlling the operation of Triggered TXOP sharing, the dedicated frame comprising the request for Triggered TXOP sharing.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, the dedicated frame may be a Protected Action frame. According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, the dedicated frame may comprise a control field for controlling the operation of the Triggered TXOP sharing.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, the request for Triggered TXOP sharing may be included in a control field, the control field being an Aggregated Control, A-Control, field.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, the A-Control field may be designated as “Triggered TXOP Sharing control” or the A-Control field may be allocated within a reserved subfield of an existing A-Control field, named “CAS Control” field.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, the control field for controlling Triggered TXOP sharing may comprise: a subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested; a subfield indicating a mode of Triggered TXOP sharing.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, the control field for controlling Triggered TXOP sharing may further comprise: a subfield defining the operation type of the dedicated frame.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, the subfield defining the operation type of the dedicated frame may comprise: a subfield indicating the operation of TXOP allocation; a subfield indicating the operation of mode reconfiguration; and a reserved subfield.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, the control field for controlling Triggered TXOP sharing may further comprise: a subfield indicating whether triggered TXOP re-configuration is requested.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, in the subfield indicating whether triggered TXOP reconfiguration is requested: a value of 0 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing Mode Re-configuration is not requested; a value of 1 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing Mode Re-configuration is requested.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, in the subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested: a value of 0 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is not requested; a value of 1 may indicate that Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, in the subfield indicating the mode of Triggered TXOP sharing: a value of 0 may indicate a first mode, wherein in the first mode a non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-triggered based, non-TB, Physical Layer Protocol Data Units, PPDUs, within the allocated TXOP portion only to the associated AP; a value of 1 may indicate a second mode, wherein in the second mode the non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP portion either to the associated AP or to yet another non-AP STA; a value of 2 may indicate a third mode, wherein in the third mode the non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP portion only to yet another non-AP STA.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, the yet another non-AP STA is a peer to peer, P2P, device.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, enabling or disabling a Triggered TXOP sharing allocation default mode may comprise: Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation being enabled by default for all associated non-AP STAs that support either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, enabling or disabling a Triggered TXOP sharing allocation default mode may comprise: Triggered TXOP sharing allocation being disabled by default for all associated non-AP STAs that support either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing.

According to an implementation of the method of the eighth aspect, enabling or disabling a Triggered TXOP sharing allocation default mode may comprise: adding a new field in an existing field, the existing field being the Ultra-High Reliability Media Access Control, UHR MAC, capabilities field, wherein the new field configures the default Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation as either enabled or disabled for the associated non-AP STA that supports either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, embodiments of the present disclosure are described in more detail with reference to the attached figures and drawings, in which

FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a non-AP EHT STA which has 2 connections: one is with, an AP (in BSS) and the other with a P2P client

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow of a conventional TXOP sharing as defined in 802.1 Ibe amendment specification;

FIG. 3 illustrates a suggested Triggered TXOP sharing solution according to an embodiment, according to a first option; FIG. 4 illustrates a suggested Triggered TXOP sharing solution according to an embodiment, according to a second option

FIG. 5 illustrates a Control field format of a dedicated frame for Triggered TXOP Sharing according to the first option of the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates a further option for Control field format of a dedicated frame for the Triggered TXOP Sharing;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a new A-Control value for requesting a Triggered TXOP Sharing Control;

FIG. 8 illustrates a CAS Control” A-control field;

FIG. 9 illustrates a Triggered TXOP Sharing Control has added into a reserved subfield of FIG. 8.

DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure discloses the ability to request for an allocation of Triggered TXOP Sharing on demand in real time. This is in contrast to the existing solutions of Triggered TXOP Sharing that cause the TXOP to be shared once the feature is declared to be supported by the AP and the STA regardless to the STA’s actual traffic needs and this may cause an inefficient network usage for this feature.

According to the present disclosure, in order to ask for Triggered TXOP sharing from the AP, there is no need to perform a full cycle of Re-Association.

The present disclosure discloses the following options.

Option 1 : FIG. 3 illustrates a first embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 shows a non-AP STA 10, an AP 12 and a P2P client 14. In FIG. 3, the non-AP STA 10 starts by disabling Triggered TXOP sharing operation. This means that the AP 12 will not allocate any portion of TXOP for that non-AP STA 10.

Once the non-AP STA 10 realizes that there is a need to ask an allocation for Triggered TXOP sharing from the AP 12, it sends an action frame, 100, that it transmits to the AP 12 as explained above, and asks to allocate TXOP.

Once received correctly, and onwards, the AP 12 should allocate for this non-AP STA portions of one or more TXOPs it obtains, where allocation will be based on its capability, according to the current rules. Option 2: FIG 4 illustrates a further option using the same participants, i.e. a non-AP STA 10, an AP 12 and a P2P client 14:

The non-AP STA 10 starts by disabling Triggered TXOP sharing operation, i.e. the AP 12 will not allocate any portion of TXOP for that non-AP STA 12.

Once the non-AP STA 10 realizes that there is a need to ask an allocation for Triggered TXOP sharing from the AP 12, it set a corresponding indication in an A-Control field, 101, included in the frame header of a data/management frame that it transmits to the AP 12, and asks to enable Triggered TXOP Sharing feature.

Once received correctly, and onwards, the AP 12 should allocate for this non-AP STA portions of one or more TXOPs it obtains, where allocation will be based on its capability, according to the current rules.

With regard to the first option, cf. FIG. 3, the present disclosure provides the following further embodiment. For this further embodiment, we add a new dedicated management frame of Protected Action subtype (also referred as: Protected Action frame) to control the Triggered TXOP Sharing operation and configuration during an ongoing connection. o A Proposed Name for this dedicated Protected Action frame is: Triggered TXOP Sharing Operation Action frame.

Again, within this further embodiment, two further options for the format of the new Action Frame body.

Option # 1 :

Introducing a new control field, Triggered TXOP Sharing Control field. The format of this field is further illustrated in FIG. 5..

The Triggered TXOP Sharing Control field 20 includes, cf. FIG. 5:

An operation Type Bitmap subfield 22. The operation Type Bitmap subfield 22 will define the usage of the Action frame, for instance: o B0 - TXOP Allocation o Bl - Mode Reconfiguration o B2 - Reserved subfield (for future usage)

A subfield 24 indicating a request for Triggered TXOP Sharing Allocation: Here the values of subfield 24 have the following meaning: o 0 - Triggered TXOP Sharing Allocation is not requested. o 1 - Triggered TXOP Sharing Allocation is requested.

A subfield 26 indicating the setting of Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode, using the following exemplary values: o Value 0 - Model: enables STA to transmit non- TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP only to the associated AP o Value 1 - Mode 2: enables STA to transmit non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP either to the associated AP or to another STA, e.g. to a P2P peer device. o Value 2 - Mode 3: enable STA to transmit non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP to another STA only, e.g. to a P2P peer device.

Further, a reserved subfield 28 is shown.

Within the present embodiment, a second option is providing for the format of a Triggered TXOP Sharing Control field 30:

This is further illustrated in FIG. 6. The Triggered TXOP Sharing Control field 30 includes the following subfields: a subfield 32 for Triggered TXOP Sharing Allocation. Here the values of this subfield indicate the following: o 0 - Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation is not requested o 1 - Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation is requested a subfield 34 for Triggered TXOP Sharing Re-Configuration. Here, the values of this subfield indicate the following. o 0 - Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode is not requested, i.e. ignore the “Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode” subfield; o 1 - Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode is requested, according to the “Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode” subfield. a subfield 36 indicating Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode. Here the meaning of the values is the same as for the first option.

Further, a reserved subfield 38 is shown.

With regard to the second option, first option, cf. FIG. 4, the present disclosure provides the following further embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 7.

Using the A-Control field, cf. step 101 in FIG. 4, in order to configure Triggered TXOP Sharing.

Again, there are two options:

Option# 1 : Adding a new A-Control value to control the Triggered TXOP sharing configuration.

We are describing two options:

This is described in FIG. 7, showing a table 40 of an example of a new A-Control value for Triggered TXOP Sharing Control.

Here, for the format of Triggered TXOP Sharing Control field it is referred to the details given for the previous embodiment. Thus, we are using the same format (i.e. same fields and proposed values) for both A-Control field and Triggered TXOP Sharing Control field, i.e. in Embodiment # 1.

Option#2:

Use the reserved field in “CAS Control” A-control field for that purpose o Modify the A-Control name to “CAS and Triggered TXOP Sharing Control” o The B3-B7 are used only by UHR STAs, and are considered as reserved for non-UHR STAs (i.e. the field is ignored by the receiver of the non-UHR STA).

This is illustrated in FIG. 8. FIG. 8 illustrates four subfields included in the CAS Control A-control field 40. These are an AC constraint subfield 42, a RDG/More PPDU subfield 44, a PSRT PPDU subfield 46 and a reserved subfield 48.

After adding the Triggered TXOP Sharing Configuration 50 into the reserved bit, the format of the CAS and Triggered TXOP Sharing Control field will look like illustrated in FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 thus relates to FIG. 8 but Triggered TXOP Sharing Control 50 has been added into subfield 48.

Triggered TXOP Sharing Control 50 includes the following subfields: subfield 52 Triggered TXOP Sharing Allocation, subfield 54 Triggered TXOP Sharing Re-Configuration, subfield 56 Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode, and subfield 58 representing a reserved subfield.

According to a further embodiment of the present disclosure, applicable to both the first option as well as the second option of the first embodiment, cf. FIGs 3 and 4,

The AP will allocate a Triggered TXOP Sharing period for a UHR non-AP STA, only if all the following conditions are met: o The UHR non-AP STA supports Mode 1 or Mode 2 or Mode 3, as indicated in EHT MAC Capabilities field carried in Association Request or Re-Association Request frames o TheAP has successfully acknowledged a Triggered TXOP Sharing operation Action frame which indicates:

Operation type=TXOP Allocation requested and Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation equals to 1 OR o TheAP has successfully acknowledged data or management frame containing A-control field, i.e. Triggered

TXOP Sharing Control or CAS and Triggered TXOP Sharing control, which indicates: Operation type=TXOP Allocation requested and Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation equals to 1.

According to a further embodiment, applicable to both the first option and the second option of the first embodiment, cf. FIGs 3 and 4.

In the proposed solution, once “Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode” is set as part of the association, it means that the STA supports the configured mode. However, it does not automatically mean that the STA needs or requires Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation.

We suggest three options for Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation default mode in case where the STA sets Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode: o Option 1 : Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation is enabled by default for all non-AP STA that support either mode 1 or mode 2 or mode 3. o Option 2: Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is disabled by default for all non-AP STA that support either Mode 1 or mode 2 or mode 3 o Option 3: Add a new field in UHR MAC capabilities field that configures the default Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation per each non-AP STA

■ Possible values: 0 - disabled, 1- enabled

SUMMARY

Summarizing, the present disclosure provides: a more efficient technique for modifying the Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation modes on real time. This enhances efficient usage of the medium/power/time and other resources. Further, the present disclosure discloses introducing more wide range possibilities for Triggered TXOP Sharing modes. This improves efficient usage of the medium/power/time and other resources ABBREVIATIONS

AP Access Point

A-Control Aggregated Control

BSS Basic Service Set CSMA/CA Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance

EHT Enhanced High Throughput

MAC Media Access Control

MED Multi-Link Device

P2P Peer To Peer PPDU Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit

STA Station

TB Triggered Based

TXOP Transmit Opportunity

UHR Ultra-High Reliability WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

Claims

1. An access point, AP, in a wireless network, the network comprising one or more APs and one or more non-AP stations, STAs, the AP being configured to: receive a request for Triggered TXOP sharing from a non-AP STA: initiate one or more transmissions of a Triggered TXOP Sharing frame for the non-AP STA in one or more TXOPs it obtains, according to the request from the non-AP STA.

2. The AP according to claim 1 , wherein the request for Triggered TXOP sharing comprises a dedicated frame for controlling the operation of Triggered TXOP sharing, the dedicated frame comprising the request for Triggered TXOP sharing.

3. The AP according to claim 2, wherein the dedicated frame is a Protected Action frame.

4. The AP according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the dedicated frame comprises a control field for controlling the operation of the Triggered TXOP sharing.

5. The AP according to claim 4, wherein the request for Triggered TXOP sharing is included in a control field, the control field being an Aggregated Control, A-Control, field.

6. The AP according to claim 5, wherein the A-Control field is designated as “Triggered TXOP Sharing control” or wherein the A-Control field is allocated within a reserved subfield of an existing A-Control field, named “CAS Control” field.

7. The AP according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the control field for controlling Triggered TXOP sharing comprises at least one of: a subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested; a subfield indicating a mode of Triggered TXOP sharing; a subfield defining the operation type of the dedicated frame; and a subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing mode re-configuration is requested.

8. The AP according to claim 7, wherein the subfield defining the operation type of the dedicated frame comprises: a subfield indicating an operation of TXOP allocation; a subfield indicating an operation of mode reconfiguration; and a reserved subfield.

9. The AP according to claim 7, wherein in the subfield indicating whether triggered TXOP re-configuration is requested: a value of 0 indicates that Triggered TXOP sharing Mode Re-configuration is not requested; a value of 1 indicates that Triggered TXOP sharing Mode Re-configuration is requested.

10. The AP according to at least one of claims 7 to 9, wherein in the subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested: a value of 0 indicates that Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is not requested; a value of 1 indicates that Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested.

11. The AP according to at least one of claims 7 to 10, wherein in the subfield indicating the mode of Triggered TXOP sharing: a value of 0 indicates a first mode, wherein in the first mode a non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-triggered based, non-TB, Physical Layer Protocol Data Units, PPDUs, within the allocated TXOP portion only to the associated AP; a value of 1 indicates a second mode, wherein in the second mode the non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP portion either to the associated AP or to yet another non-AP STA; a value of 2 indicates a third mode, wherein in the third mode the non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP portion only to yet another non-AP STA.

12. The AP according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 11 , further wherein the AP is further configured to : allocate a time period for Triggered TXOP sharing in case the non-AP STA is a Ultra-High Reliability, UHR, non-AP STA only if the following conditions are met: the UHR non-AP STA supports one or more of specific modes Mode 1, Mode 2, and Mode 3, as indicated in Association Request or Re-association Request frames; the AP has successfully acknowledged a Triggered TXOP Sharing operation Action frame, Triggered TXOP Sharing operation Action frame indicating:

Operation type being “TXOP Allocation requested” and the value of Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation is equal to 1 ; or the AP has successfully acknowledged data or management frame including anA-control field, the A-control field indicating: Operation type being TXOP Allocation requested and the value of Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation is equal to 1.

13. TheAP according to any one claims 7 to 12, wherein the AP is further configured to define a default mode for a Triggered TXOP sharing allocation according to one of the following methods, at least:

Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation being enabled by default for all associated non-AP STAs that support either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing; or

Triggered TXOP sharing allocation being disabled by default for all associated non-AP STAs that support either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing; or a new field is added in an existing field, the existing field being the Ultra-High Reliability Media Access Control, UHR MAC, capabilities field, wherein the new field configures the default Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation as either enabled or disabled for the associated non-AP STA that supports either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing.

14. A method for triggered transmission opportunity, TXOP, sharing, the method comprising: receiving, by an AP, a request for Triggered TXOP sharing from a non-AP STA; initiating, by the AP, one or more transmissions of a Triggered TXOP Sharing frame for the non-AP STA in one or more TXOPs it obtains, according to the request from the non-AP STA.

15. A non-access point station, non-AP STA, in a wireless network, the network comprising one or more access points, APs, and one or more non-AP stations, the non-AP STA being configured to: send a request to the AP for allocating a Triggered TXOP sharing; receive one or more individually addressed Triggered TXOP Sharing frames from the AP.

16. The non-AP STA according to claim 15, wherein the request for Triggered TXOP sharing comprises a dedicated frame for controlling the operation of Triggered TXOP sharing, the dedicated frame comprising the request for Triggered TXOP sharing.

17. The non-AP STA according to claim 16, wherein the dedicated frame is a Protected Action frame.

18. The non-AP STA according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the dedicated frame comprises a control field for controlling the operation of the Triggered TXOP sharing.

19. The non-AP STA according to claim 15, wherein the request for Triggered TXOP sharing is included in a control field, the control field being an Aggregated Control, A-Control, field.

20. The non-AP STA according to claim 19, wherein the A-Control field is designated as “Triggered TXOP Sharing control” or wherein the A-Control field is allocated within a reserved subfield of an existing A-Control field, named “CAS Control” field.

21. The non-AP STA according to any one of claims 18 to 20, wherein the control field for controlling Triggered TXOP sharing comprises at least one of: a subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested; a subfield indicating a mode of Triggered TXOP sharing; a subfield defining the operation type of the dedicated frame; and a subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing mode re-configuration is requested.

22. The non-AP STA according to claim 21 , wherein the subfield defining the operation type of the dedicated frame comprises: a subfield indicating TXOP allocation; a subfield indicating mode reconfiguration; and a reserved subfield.

23. The non-AP STA according to claim 21, wherein in the subfield indicating whether triggered TXOP re-configuration is requested: a value of 0 indicates that Triggered TXOP sharing Mode Re-configuration is not requested; a value of 1 indicates that Triggered TXOP sharing Mode Re-configuration is requested.

24. The non-AP STA according to at least one of claims 21 to 23 , wherein in the subfield indicating whether Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested: a value of 0 indicates that Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is not requested; a value of 1 indicates that Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is requested.

25. The non-AP STA according to at least one of claims 21 to 24, wherein in the subfield indicating the mode of Triggered

TXOP sharing: a value of 0 indicates a first mode, wherein in the first mode a non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-triggered based, non-TB, Physical Layer Protocol Data Units, PPDUs, within the allocated TXOP portion only to the associated AP: a value of 1 indicates a second mode, wherein in the second mode the non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP portion either to the associated AP or to yet another non-AP STA; a value of 2 indicates a third mode, wherein in the third mode the non-AP STA is allowed to transmit a non-TB PPDUs within the allocated TXOP portion only to yet another non-AP STA.

26. The non-AP STA according to any one claims 16 to 21, wherein the non-AP STA is further configured to define a default mode for a Triggered TXOP sharing allocation in one of the following methods:

Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation is enabled by default for all associated non-AP STAs that support either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing; or

Triggered TXOP sharing allocation is disabled by default for all associated non-AP STAs that support either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing; or a new field is added in an existing field, the existing field being the Ultra-High Reliability Media Access Control, UHR MAC, capabilities field, wherein the new field configures the default Triggered TXOP Sharing allocation as either enabled or disabled for the associated non-AP STA that supports either the first mode or the second mode or the third mode of Triggered TXOP sharing.

27. A method for triggered transmission opportunity, TXOP, sharing, the method comprising: sending, by a non-AP STA, a request for allocating a Triggered TXOP sharing to an AP; receiving, by the non-AP STA, one or more individually addressed Triggered TXOP Sharing frames from the AP.

28. A computer program product comprising program code for performing the method according to any one of the preceding claims 14 or 27 when executed on a computer or a processor.

29. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying a program code which, when executed by a computer device, causes the computer device to perform the method of any one of claims 14 or 27.