Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus are disclosed for determining accurate ranging measurements between communication devices. Various embodiments are described for recording timestamps associated with when transmissions are sent and received between the communication devices. The communication devices are configured to determine a difference in their clock frequencies and to communicate this difference with one another. Furthermore, each of the communication devices is configured to compensate for these differences before or after the timestamps are exchanged and to send a compensation indicator of whether the compensation has been performed. If the compensation has not been performed, either of the communication devices can compensate for the clock frequency differences after receiving the timestamps based on the compensation indicator. By using compensated clock frequencies based on a single clock reference, highly accurate ranging measurements are obtained using round trip propagation time calculations.

Abstract: In some embodiments, one or more wireless stations operate according to Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN)—direct communication with neighboring wireless stations, e.g., direct communication between the wireless stations without utilizing an intermediate access point. Embodiments of the disclosure relate to triggering a NAN datapath using Bluetooth low energy (BLE) signaling. The NAN datapath embodiments described herein provide a mechanism through which devices can communicate to establish a Wi-Fi connection via non-Wi-Fi signaling and provide services. Aspects of the datapath development include Wi-Fi connection establishment and datapath initiation. The datapath model may be implemented for unicast and/or multicast communication between wireless stations, including mobile stations.

Abstract: An apparatus and methods are provided for initiating a network connection between a first device and a second device. While one or more high-power network interfaces of the first device are in a dormant state, the first device communicates with a second device via the first device's low-power network interface. The first device can determine, based on the communication, whether to establish a network connection with the second device via a high-power network interface of the first device. Next, if the first device is to establish the network connection with the second device via the high-power network interface, the device can wake the first high-power network interface and connect to the second device via the first high-power network interface.

Abstract: A dual-radio AP including both a high-power (e.g., Wi-Fi) radio and a low-power (e.g., BLE) radio may support an assisted wakeup service for a power-limited dual-radio mobile device (STA). The power-limited STA may register with the AP for the assisted wakeup service, and may then disable its Wi-Fi radio (or otherwise initiate a lower-power mode). The power-limited STA may receive a BLE communication indicating the AP has pending Wi-Fi transmissions or updates applicable to the power-limited STA. In response, the power-limited STA may turn on its Wi-Fi radio and receive the pending transmissions or updates from the AP. If an AP does not include a low-power radio, then a high-power/low-power dual-radio STA that is not power-limited may serve as an assisted wakeup service proxy. The proxy may scan and trace the Wi-Fi beacons from the AP, and generate the BLE communication to the power-limited STA on behalf of the AP.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments provide a system that provides wireless service groups. During operation, a wireless device's advertising mechanism advertises a service group over Wi-Fi, wherein the service group comprises at least the wireless device and wherein the service group's security requirements regulate multicast protection within the service group. In response to receiving a request from a second device to be admitted into the service group, the wireless device's security mechanism admits the second device into the service group and sends the service group's security requirements to the second device, thereby enabling the second device to initialize multicast protection in accordance with the service group's security requirements.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments provide a system that provides wireless service groups. During operation, a wireless device's advertising mechanism advertises a service group over Wi-Fi, wherein the service group comprises at least the wireless device and wherein the service group's security requirements regulate multicast protection within the service group. In response to receiving a request from a second device to be admitted into the service group, the wireless device's security mechanism admits the second device into the service group and sends the service group's security requirements to the second device, thereby enabling the second device to initialize multicast protection in accordance with the service group's security requirements.

Abstract: An access point establishes target wakeup times (TWTs) with one or more associated electronic devices in a WLAN. The access point transitions to a power-saving mode outside of the one or more TWTs. The access point maintains synchronization with the one or more electronic devices, during at least a first TWT in the one or more TWTs, by transmitting, to the one or more electronic devices, a TWT beacon that includes, or in conjunction with, synchronization information. Alternatively or additionally, during at least the first TWT, the access point transmits a multi-user trigger frame that includes the synchronization information to the one or more electronic devices. In response to the multi-user trigger frame, the access point receives data frames from the one or more electronic devices, transmits one or more acknowledgments, and transitions into the power-saving mode during a remainder of at least the first TWT.

Abstract: In some embodiments, one or more wireless stations operate to configure direct communication with neighboring mobile stations, e.g., direct communication between the wireless stations without utilizing an intermediate access point. Embodiments of the disclosure relate to accelerated service discovery between peer devices. In some embodiments, a wireless device may broadcast a probe beacon on one or more discovery channels. The wireless device may then scan the discovery channels for an extended period of time. The wireless device may receive a response from a peer device and transmit further service information to the peer device in an availability window indicated in the response.

Abstract: During operation, an interface circuit in an electronic device may receive, from a second electronic device (such as an access point in a WLAN), an uplink trigger frame that may specify an access category. In response to the uplink trigger frame, the electronic device may first include data associated with the specified access category in one or more frames, and then may transmit the one or more frames to the second electronic device. Moreover, when all the data associated with the specified access category has been transmitted or when there is no data associated with the specified access category, and when there is leftover time in an allocation associated with the uplink trigger frame, the interface circuit may transmit the one or more frames to the second electronic device with additional data associated with another access category that is different from the specified access category.

Abstract: A communication device generates a transmission signal for transmission via a wireless communication channel, wherein the transmission signal corresponds to a physical layer (PHY) data unit that conforms to a range extension mode of a first communication protocol. Generating the PHY data unit includes generating a preamble of a PHY data unit, wherein the preamble is generated to include: a legacy signal field that includes information indicating a duration of the PHY data unit, a duplicate of the legacy signal field, a plurality of subfields of a non-legacy signal field, and a plurality of additional subfields with the same data as the plurality of subfields of the non-legacy signal field. The plurality of subfields of the non-legacy signal field and the plurality of additional subfields are modulated to signal to a receiving device that the PHY data unit conforms to the range extension mode of a first communication protocol.

Abstract: An interface circuit in an electronic device may receive, from an access point associated with the electronic device, a frame with management information that enables the electronic device to use a spatial-reuse technique, where the electronic device, through the spatial-reuse technique, adjusts a transmit power and a channel-availability sensing threshold. Moreover, the management information may specify parameters for the spatial-reuse technique. Then, the electronic device may transmit, using the spatial-reuse technique, one or more frames to the access point based on the parameters. Furthermore, the electronic device may transmit, to the access point, feedback information that indicates communication performance during the communication between the electronic device and the access point. For example, the feedback information may include a retry rate and, more generally, communication-performance information. This feedback information may be used by the access point to modify the parameters.

Abstract: A communication device encodes a plurality of information bits to generate a plurality of encoded bits, and maps the plurality of encoded bits to a plurality of constellation symbols, including mapping each bit to multiple constellation symbols. The communication device generates a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols corresponding to a physical layer (PHY) data unit using the plurality of constellation symbols, wherein the OFDM symbols are generated such that: the OFDM symbols have a tone spacing that is ¼ of a tone spacing of a legacy wireless communication protocol, and the OFDM symbols span only a subband of a 20 MHz communication channel. The communication device generates a transmission signal using the plurality of OFDM symbols, the transmission signal spanning only the subband of the 20 MHz communication channel.

Abstract: An electronic device communicates frames with an access point (AP) by receiving, from the AP, a frame header that includes information specifying a first set of tones of an OFDMA communication, the first set of tones associated with first resource block subchannels having a first bandwidth used by the AP to transmit a frame payload. The electronic device obtains a second set of tones associated with second resource block subchannels having a second bandwidth that differs from the first bandwidth, and receives the frame payload using the OFDMA communication, the second resource block subchannels, and the second set of tones. Alternatively, an electronic device dynamically switches a channel-access mode when communicating a frame with the AP depending on whether the communication includes a primary 20 MHz channel. In a technique, an MU-PPDU is communicated using a frame via a non-primary 20 MHz channel without using the primary 20 MHz channel.

Abstract: A wireless local area network (WLAN) station (STA) reports, with a medium access control (MAC) frame, a buffer status of an urgent traffic identifier (TID) to a second STA. In some embodiments, the second STA is also an access point (AP). The delay in reporting is reduced by providing a buffer status report for the urgent TID in a data frame being transmitted to carry data for a current TID. The buffer status report, in some embodiments, provides the value of the urgent TID. In some embodiments, the buffer status report provides an indication of the amount of data in a buffer corresponding to the urgent TID. In some embodiments, the buffer status report is based on an aggregated measure of more than one buffer with data awaiting transmission. The transmission of the MAC frame, in some embodiments, is unsolicited.

Abstract: A method for generating a physical layer (PHY) data unit for transmission via a communication channel is described where the PHY data unit conforms to a first communication protocol. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols for a data field of the PHY data unit are generated according to a range extension coding scheme that corresponds to a range extension mode of the first communication protocol. A preamble of the PHY data unit is generated, the preamble having i) a first portion that indicates a duration of the PHY data unit and ii) a second portion that indicates whether at least some OFDM symbols of the data field are generated according to the range extension coding scheme.

Abstract: An access point selects a channel access policy for an electronic device in a wireless local area network (WLAN). During operation, an interface circuit of the access point receives a channel access preference from the electronic device. The channel access preference includes: a multi-user trigger-based channel access technique, a single-user contention-based channel access technique, or both. The interface circuit selects the channel access policy for the electronic device based, at least in part, on the received channel access preference. The channel access policy can also be selected based at least in part on a communication performance metric associated with communication in the WLAN. The interface circuit communicates the selected channel access policy to the electronic device, which subsequently accesses a communication channel and communicates packets with the access point in accordance with the channel access policy.

Abstract: In some embodiments, one or more wireless stations operate to configure direct communication with neighboring mobile stations, e.g., direct communication between the wireless stations without utilizing an intermediate access point. Embodiments of the disclosure relate to a mechanism for a device to perform multicast communications amongst a group of peer devices. Embodiments described herein provide mechanisms for initiation (or establishment) and scheduling of a multicast group as well as enrollment of a device into a multicast group, merging of multicast groups, and termination of multicast groups.

Abstract: In some embodiments, one or more wireless stations operate to configure direct communication with neighboring wireless stations, e.g., direct communication between the wireless stations without utilizing an intermediate access point. Embodiments of the disclosure relate to a mechanism for a device to transmit, via a BTLE (or Bluetooth) interface, a first message indicating an operation associated with a Wi-Fi service (e.g., a service available via a Wi-Fi interface and/or Wi-Fi related interface parameters) to a peer device. The first message may include a service hash that indicates the operation. The service hash may be included in a first data structure. The first data structure may indicate availability of the Wi-Fi service. The device may receive a second message from the peer device indicating that the neighboring wireless station intends to subscribe to or provide the Wi-Fi service, e.g., via Wi-Fi peer-to-peer communications.

Abstract: A first plurality of OFDM symbols for a first field of a preamble to be included in a data unit that conforms to a first communication protocol are generated, wherein each OFDM symbol of the first plurality of OFDM symbols corresponds to a first long training sequence that is obtained at least by multiplying a predetermined sequence with a second long training sequence defined by a second communication protocol. A first plurality of modified constellation symbols are generated, including multiplying the first plurality of constellation symbols by the predetermined sequence. A second plurality of OFDM symbols are generated to include the first plurality of modified constellation symbols. The preamble is generated to include the first plurality of OFDM symbols for the first field and the second plurality of OFDM symbols for the second field, and the data unit to include at least the preamble.

Abstract: Embodiments described herein relate to providing reduced power consumption in wireless communication systems, such as 802.11 WLAN systems. Timing information regarding power save opportunities (PSOPs) may be provided in communication frames, which may inform mobile devices of expected frame exchange periods during which they may transition to a Doze state. Additional PSOP information may be included in beacon frames, which may inform mobile devices of expected multicast periods during which they may transition to a Doze state. This may operate to provide improvements in terms of power consumption.