WO2019045776A1

WO2019045776A1 - Triggered multi-user uplink buffer status

Info

Publication number: WO2019045776A1
Application number: PCT/US2018/023379
Authority: WO
Inventors: Laurent Cariou; Po-Kai Huang
Original assignee: Intel IP Corporation
Priority date: 2017-08-29
Filing date: 2018-03-20
Publication date: 2019-03-07

Abstract

Disclosed are aspects that send a null data packet (NDP) Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to solicit an uplink buffer status from a plurality of stations. The stations respond via a high-efficiency trigger-based NDP feedback PLCP protocol data unit (HE TB NDP feedback PPDU) indicating their respective buffer status. In some aspects, the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame may be transmitted during a broadcast target wake time service period.

Description

TRIGGERED MULTI-USER UPLINK BUFFER STATU*

CLAIM FOR PRIORITY

|00011 This application claims priority to U. S. Provisional Patent Application

No. 62/551 ,344, filed August 29, 2017, and entitled "POWER SAVE POLL (PS- POLL) TYPE FOR NULL DATA PACKET (NOP) FEEDBACK REPORT POLL." The content of this prior application is considered part of this application, and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] Embodiments pertain to wireless networks and wireless communications. Some embodiments relate to wireless local area networks (WLANs) and Wi-Fi networks including networks operating in accordance with the IEEE 802.1 1 family of standards. Some embodiments relate to IEEE

802.1 lax. Some embodiments relate to methods, computer-readable media, and apparatus for a power save poll (PS-POLL) type for null data packet (NDP) feedback report polls.

[0003] Efficient use of the resources of a wireless local-area network

(WLAN) is important to providing bandwidth and acceptable response times to the users of the WLAN. However, often there are many devices trying to share the same resources, and some devices may be limited by the communication protocol they use or by their hardware bandwidth. Moreover, wireless devices may need to operate both with newer protocols and with legacy device protocols.

BRI EF DESCRI PTION OF TH E

[0004] The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures o the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements. 100051 FIG. I is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some embodiments.

100061 FIG. 2 illustrates a front-end module circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0007] FIG. 3 illustrates a radio integrated circuit (IC) circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments.

100081 FIG. 4 illustrates a baseband processing circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0009] FIG 5 illustrates a WLAN in accordance with some

embodiments.

100101 FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g. , methodologies) discussed herein may perform.

[001 11 FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless device upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies or operations) discussed herein may perform.

[0012| FIG. 8 shows a message exchange between an access point and two illustrated stations.

[0013] FIG. 9 show s an example message exchange between an access point and two stations that are implementing at least some of the disclosed

[0014] FIG. 10 shows an example embodiment of a trigger frame format.

[0015] F IG. 1 1 shows one example format of a user info field.

[0016] FIG. 12 is an example of a response to a trigger frame.

[0017] FIG. 1 3 is a flowchart of a method of t riggering one or more stations to provide uplink buffer status.

[0018] FIG. 14 is a flowchart of an example method for receiv ing a trigger frame indicating a request for buffer status information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

[0020] The IEEE 802.1 lax protocol includes a process for lightweight sounding responses to be provided to an access point by stations in response to a request from the access point. The responses by the stations may be initiated by transmission of a trigger frame from the access point. The trigger frame may be of a type that indicates that the lightweight responses are requested. The access point may identify one or more stations that should respond in the trigger frame. In some aspects, the trigger frame may identify individual association identifiers for devices that are to respond to the trigger frame. In other embodiments, an association identifier range may be identified in the trigger frame, with devices having an association identifier (AID) in the range able to respond to the trigger frame.

[0021] The responses are lightweight in that they may communicate just a few bits of sounding information between a requestor device (e.g., AP) and a responder device (e.g., ST A). The lightweight responses are encoded within a PHY preamble, for example, within a long training field of the PHY preamble. The responses from multiple devices may be transmitted in an uplink multi-user mode, using orthogonal allocation. When the responses are transmitted, the AP may perform energy or sequence detection on each allocation indicated in the trigger frame to identify which dev ices addressed by the trigger frame sent the feedback (e.g., allocation ID) and what the feedback is (e.g., energy/sequence detection). An example application includes an access point querying, via a trigger frame to determine whichSTAs have data for transmission (e.g., resource request), to which the ST As prov ide a response indicating either "yes" or "no" via short feedback.

[0022] The disclosed embodiments prov ide for the use of the DP feedback report to obtain uplink buffer status information from a large number of dev ices in a lightweight manner, consuming less network capacity than the existing PS-POLL mechanism that is used to obtain uplink buffer status information. To facilitate obtaining this new type of feedback, the disclosed embodiments prov ide for the type of feedback requested by a trigger frame to be indicated in a feedback type field of the trigger message. This method of obtaining uplink buffer status information may be integrated into a variety of 802. 1 1 protocol exchanges, such as the power management protocol (both legacy and target wake time (TWT)), so that the uplink buffer status information obtained may be utilized by an access point, instead of the access point relying on only PS-POLL frames, as was the case with other methods.

100231 Responses sent in the PHY preamble may encode multiple values for feedback . To that end, the responses may include indications such as whether or not the responding station has uplink data queued for transmission.

Furthermore, if a station responds, it indicates to the triggering access point that the station is in an awake state. If no response is received, it is an indication that the station may be in a doze state, and thus likely is unavai lable to receive downlink data.

[0024] After the stations respond via the PHY preamble to the trigger frame, the AP may acknowledge the responses via either an acknowledgment or block acknowledgement message. Alternatively, if downlink data is queued by the A for a responding station, the AP may respond by transmitting a data or management frame to the responding STA.

[0025] By utilizing the trigger frame and lightweight responses described above to obtain uplink buffer status information for a plurality of associated stations, an AP may obtain this information more efficiently than via the existing PS-POLL mechanism defined by the IEEE standards. Incorporation of this technique into the IEEE standards may include changes to those portions of the standards relating to legacy power management protocols (PS-POLL, unscheduled automatic power save delivery (UAPSD), etc ) such that lightweight information provided in response to a trigger frame is equivalent to information obtained from a PS-POLL or UAPSD trigger frame. The access point and STA behaviors associated with reception/transmission of PS-POLL and UAPSD triggers may therefore also be applied to reception/transmission of an NDP feedback report response indicating uplink buffer status.

[0026] The target wake time (TWT) power sav e protocol of the IEEE protocol standards may al o be modified to ensure that a lightweight response received by an AP in response to the trigger frame functions as an indication that the responding station is awake. This complements existing indications that a station is awake, such as reception of a PS-POLL from a station or via a UAPSD trigger frame. In some aspects, an AP may request, via an NDP trigger frame, information on uplink buffer status from a plurality of stations. This may occur, for example, once in a beacon interval. After completion of the responses to the uplink buffer status request, the responding STAs may be awake during an announced individual target wake time service period (TWT SP), which may have been previously negotiated with the AP by each station. The AP may then transmit buffered units to the responding STAs during their respective TWT SPs. In some embodiments, the AP may transmit an NDP trigger frame requesting uplink buffer status information during a TWT SP.

[0027] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 100 in accordance with some embodiments. Radio architecture 100 may include radio front-end module (FEM) circuitry 104, radio IC circuitry 106, and baseband processing circuitry 108. Radio architecture 100 as shown includes both wireless local area network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality although embodiments are not so limited. In this di sclosure, "WLAN^" and "Wi- Fi^" are used interchangeably.

[0028] FEM circuitry 104 may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 104 A and a Bluetooth (BT ) FEM circuitry 104B . The WLAN FEM circuitry 1 04 A may include a receive signal path comprising circuitry confi ured to operate on WL AN RF signals received from one or more antennas 101, to amplify the received signals and to prov ide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WL AN radio IC circuitry 1 06 A for further processing. The BT FEM circuitry 1 04 B may include a receiv e signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals receiv ed from one or more antennas 101 , to amplify the receiv ed signals and to prov ide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuitry 106B for further processing. WLAN FEM circuitry 104 A may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify WLAN signals prov ided by the radio IC circuitry 106 A for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 101. In addition, BT FEM circuitry 104 B may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the BT radio IC circuitry 106B for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, although FEM circuitry 104 A and FEM circuitry 104B are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of an FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least some of the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

[0029] Radio IC circuitry 106 as shown may include WL A radio IC circuitry 106 A and BT radio IC circuitry 106B. The W L AN radio IC circuitry 106 A may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down- convert WL A RF signals received from the WL AN FEM circuitry 104 A and provide baseband signals to WL A baseband processing circuitry 108 A. BT radio IC circuitry 106B may in turn include a receive signal path hich may include circuitry to dow n-convert BT RF signals received from the BT FEM circuitry 104B and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 1 08 B. WLAN radio IC circuitry 106 A may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLA baseband signals provided by the WLA baseband processing circuitry 108 A and provide WLAN RF output signals to the WLAN FEM circuitry 104 A for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 101. BT radio IC circuitry 1 06 B may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry 108B and provide BT RF output signals to the BT FEM circuitry I 04B for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 101. In the embodiment of FIG. 1 , although radio IC circuitries 106 A and 106B are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include w ithin their scope the use of a radio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and/or a receiv e signal path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more radio IC circuitries where at least some of the radio IC circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

100301 Baseband processing circuity 108 may include a WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108 A and a BT baseband processing circuitry 108B. The WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108 A may include a memory, such as, for example, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108 A. Each of the WLA baseband processing circuitry 108 A and the BT baseband processing circuitry 1 08B may further include one or more processors and control logic to process the signals received from the

corresponding WLA or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 106, and to also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 106. Each of the baseband processing circuitries 108 A and 108B may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with application processor 1 1 1 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio IC circuitry 106. In some embodiments, such as the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , the wireless circuit card 102 may include separate baseband memory 109 for one or more of the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108 A and Bluetooth baseband processing circuity 108B, shown as baseband memories 109 A and 109 B respectively.

[0031] Referring still to FIG. 1, according to the shown embodiment,

WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 1 13 may include logic providing an interface between the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108 A and the BT baseband processing circuitry 1 08 B to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT

coexistence. In addition, a switch 103 may be provided between the WL AN FEM circuitry 104 A and the BT FEM circuitry 104B to allow switching between the WL AN and BT radios according to application needs. In addition, although the antennas 101 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLA

FEM circuitry 104 A and the BT FEM circuitry 104B, embodiments include within their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between the WL AN and BT FEMs, or the prov ision of more than one antenna connected to each of FEM circuitry 104 A or 104B.

100321 In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 104, the radio IC circuitry 106, and baseband processing circuitry 108 may be prov ided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 102. In some other embodiments, the one or more antennas 101, the FEM circuitry 104, and the radio IC circuitry 106 may be provided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 106 and the baseband processing circuitry 108 may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as IC 1 12, 100331 In some embodiments, the wireless radio card 102 may include a WI.AN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM ) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals over a multicarrier communication channel . The OFDM or OFDM A signals may comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

100341 In some of these multicarrier embodiments, radio architecture 100 may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station ( STA) such as a wireless access point ( AP), a base station, or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device. In some of these embodiments, radio architecture 100 may be configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with specific communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ( IEEE) standards including, IEEE 802 1 1 n-2009, IEEE 802. 1 1 -20 12, IEEE 802.1 1 -20 16, IEEE 802.1 1 ac, and/or IEEE 802.1 lax standards and/or proposed specifications for WLANs, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. Radio architecture 100 may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.

[0035] In some embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured for high-efficiency (HE) Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.1 lax standard. In these embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMA technique, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0036] In some other embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code div ision multiple J3.CCCSS ( FH-CDMA)), time-div ision multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

100371 In some embodiments, as further shown in FIG. 1 , the BT baseband processing circuitry 108B may be compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivity standard such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 4.0 or Bluetooth 5.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth Standard. In embodiments that include BT functionality as shown for example in FIG. 1, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to establish a BT synchronous connection-oriented (SCO) link and/or a BT low-energy (BT LE) link. In some of the embodiments that include functionality, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to establish an extended SCO (eSCO ) link for BT communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of the embodiments that include a BT functionality, the radio architecture may be configured to engage in BT Asynchronous Connection-Less (ACL) communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 1, the functions of a BT radio card and WLAN radio card may be combined on a single wireless radio card, such as single wireless radio card 102, although embodiments are not so limited, and include w ithin their scope discrete WLAN and BT radio cards.

[0038] In some embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 3GPP such as LTE, LTE- Advanced or 5G communications).

[0039] In some IEEE 802. 1 1 embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths including bandwidths having center frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of about I MHz, 2 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 16 MHz, 20 MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz (with contiguous bandwidths ) or 80+80MHz (160MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths). In some embodiments, a 320 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of the embodiments is not limited with respect to the above center frequencies, however.

100401 FIG. 2 illustrates FEM circuitry 200 in accordance with some embodiments. The FEM circuitry 200 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN and/or BT FEM circuitry 104 A/1 (MB (FIG. 1 ), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

100411 In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 200 may include a

TX/RX switch 202 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 200 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 206 to amplify received RF signals 203 and provide the amplified received RF signals 207 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuitry 106 (FIG. 1)). The transmit signal path of the circuitry 200 may includ e a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals 209 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 106), and one or more filters 212, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters (EPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 215 for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 101 (FIG. 1)).

[0042] In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the

FEM circuitry 200 may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum or the 5 GHz frequency spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may include a receive signal path duplexer 204 to separate the signals from each spectrum as well as provide a separate LNA 206 for each spectrum as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may also include a power amplifier 210 and a filter 2 12, such as a BPF, a LPF, or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum, and a transmit signal path duplexer 2 14 to prov ide the signals of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent

transmission by the one or more of the antennas 101 (FIG. 1). In some embodiments, BT communications may utilize the 2.4 GHZ signal paths and may utilize the same FEM circuitry 200 as the one used for WL AN

communications.

[0043] FIG. 3 illustrates radio IC circuitry 300 in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuitry 300 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WL AN or BT radio IC circuitry 106A/ 106B (FIG. 1), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. [0044] In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 300 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 300 may include at least mixer circuitry 302, such as, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry 306, and filter circuitry 308. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 300 may include at least filter circuitry 3 12 and mixer circuitry 3 14, such as, for example, up- conversion. mixer circuitry . Radio IC circuitry 300 may also include synthesizer circuitry 304 for synthesizing a frequency 305 for use by the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314. The mixer circuitry 302 and/or 3 14 may each, according to some embodiments, be configured to provide direct conversion functionality. The latter type of circuitry presents a much simpler architecture as compared with standard super-heterodyne mixer circuitries, and any flicker noise brought about by the same may be alleviated through, for example, the use of OFDM modulation.

[0045] FIG. 3 illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and may include, although not shown, embodiments where each of the depicted circuitries may include more than one component. For instance, mixer circuitry 302 and/or 314 may each include one or more mixers, and filter circuitries 308 and/or 3 1 2 may each include one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to application needs. For example, when mixer circuitries are of the direct-conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.

[0046] In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 302 may be configured to down-convert RF signals 207 received from the FEM circuitry 104 (FIG. 1 ) based on the synthesized frequency 305 provided by synthesizer circuitry 304. The amplifier circuitry 306 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals, and the filter circuitry 308 may include a LPF configured to remov e unwanted signals from the dow n-converted signals to generate output baseband signals 307. Output baseband signals 307 may be prov ided to the baseband processing circuitry 1 08 (FIG 1) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 307 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 302 may comprise passiv e mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. [0047] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 314 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals 311 based on the synthesized frequency- SOS provided by the synthesizer circuitry 304 to generate RF output signals 209 for the FEM circuitry 104. The baseband signals 311 may be provided by the baseband processing circuitry 108 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 312. The filter circuitry 3 12 may include a LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

100481 In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 02 and the mixer circuitry 314 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up-conversion respectively with the help of synthesizer circuitry 304. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may each include two or more mixers each configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may be arranged for direct down- conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may be configured for superheterodyne operation, although this is not a requirement.

[0049] Mixer circuitry 302 may comprise, according to one embodiment: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, RF input signal 207 from FIG. 3 may be down- converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor 108.

[0050] Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety- degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuitry, which may be configured to receive a LO frequency (fLo) from a local oscillator or a synthesizer, to drive an output frequency 305 of synthesizer circuitry 304 (FIG. 3). In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be the carrier frequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half of the carrier frequency, one-third of the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero and ninety-degree time-varying switching signals may be generated by the synthesizer circuitry 304, although the scope of the embodiments i s not limited in this respect. [0051] In some embodiments, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle

(the percentage of one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset (the difference between start points of the period). In some embodiments, the LO signals may have a 25% duty cycle and a 50% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at a 25%> duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction in power consumption.

100521 The RF signal 207 (FIG. 2 ) may comprise a balanced signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to a low-nose amplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 306 (FIG. 3) or to filter circuitry 308 (FIG. 3).

100531 In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 307 and the input baseband signals 3 1 1 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate

embodiments, the output baseband signals 307 and the input baseband signals 31 1 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 300 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to- analog converter (DAC) circuitry.

[0054] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for other spectrums not mentioned here, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0055] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 304 may be a tract ional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 304 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 304 may include digital synthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuitry is that, although it may still include some analog components, its footprint may be scaled down much more than the footprint of an analog synthesizer circuitry. In some embodiments, frequency input into synthesizer circuity 304 may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. A divider control input may further be provided by either the baseband processing circuitry 108 ( FIG 1) or the application processor 1 1 1 (FIG. 1) depending on the desired output frequency 305. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel center frequency as determined or indicated by the application processor 1 1 1 .

100561 In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 304 may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 305, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 305 may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 305 may be a 1.0 frequency (fLo).

[0057] FIG. 4 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processing circuitry 400 in accordance with some embodiments. The baseband processing circuitry 400 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 108 (FIG. 1), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. The baseband processing circuitry 400 may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 402 for processing receive baseband signals 309 provided by the radio IC circuitry 106 (FIG. 1) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 404 for generating transmit baseband signals 3 I 1 for the radio IC circuitry 106. The baseband processing circuitry 400 may also include control logic 406 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processing circuitry 400.

[0058] In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchanged between the baseband processing circuitry 400 and the radio IC circuitry 106), the baseband processing circuitry 400 may include ADC 4 10 to convert analog baseband signals receiv ed from the radio IC circuitry 106 to digital baseband signals for processing by the RX BBP 402. In these

embodiments, the baseband processing circuitry 400 may also include DAC 4 12 to conv ert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 404 to analog baseband signals.

[0059] In some embodiments that communicate OF DM signals or

OFDM A signals, such as through baseband processing circuitry 108 A, the transmit baseband processor 404 may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDM A signals as appropriate for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform ( IF FT). The receive baseband processor 402 may be configured to process received OFDM signals or OFDM A signals by performing an FI T . In some embodiments, the receive baseband processor 402 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDM A signal by performing an autocorrelation, to detect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and by performing a cross-correlation to detect a long preamble. The preambles may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.

100601 Referring back to F IG. 1 , in some embodiments, the antennas 101 may each comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, micro strip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result.

Antennas 101 may each include a set of phased-array antennas, although embodiments are not so limited.

[0061] Although the radio-architecture 100 is il lustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

100621 FIG. 5 illustrates a WLAN 500 in accordance with some embodiments. The WLAN 500 may comprise a basic service set (BSS) that may include a FIE access point (AP) 502, which may be an AP, a plurality of high- efficiency wireless (e.g., IEEE 802.1 l ax) (HE) stations (STAs) 504, and a plurality of legacy (e.g., IEEE 802. 1 1 n/ac) devices 506.

[0063] The HE AP 502 may be an AP using the IEEE 802, 11 to transmit and receive. The HE AP 502 may be a base station. The HE AP 502 may use other communications protocols as well as the IEEE 802. 1 1 protocol . The IEEE 802.11 protocol may be IEEE 802.1 lax. The IEEE 802.11 protocol may include using orthogonal frequency division multiple-access (OFDMA), time division multiple access (TDM A ), and/or code division multiple access (CDMA). The IEEE 802.11 protocol may include a multiple access technique. For example, the IEEE 802. 1 1 protocol may include space-division multiple access (SDMA) and/or multiple-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO). There may be more than one HE AP 502 that is part of an extended service set (ESS). A controller (not illustrated) may store information that is common to the more than one HE APs 502.

[0064] The legacy devices 506 may operate in accordance with one or more of IEEE 802.1 1 a/b/g/ ac/ad/af/ah/aj/ay, or another legacy wireless communication standard. The legacy devices 506 may be STAs or IEEE STAs. The HE STAs 504 may be wireless transmit and receive devices such as cellular telephone, portable electronic wireless communication devices, smart telephone, handheld wireless device, wireless glasses, wireless watch, wireless personal device, tablet, or another device that may be transmitting and receiving using the IEEE 802.11 protocol such as IEEE 802.1 lax or another wireless protocol. In some embodiments, the HE STAs 504 may be termed high-efficiency (HE) stations.

100651 The HE AP 502 may communicate with legacy devices 506 in accordance with legacy IEEE 802.1 1 communication techniques. In example embodiments, the HE AP 502 may also be configured to communicate with HE STAs 504 in accordance with legacy IEEE 802.11 communication techniques.

[0066] In some embodiments, a HE frame may be configurable to have the same bandwidth as a channel. The HE frame may be a Physical Layer Conv ergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU). In some

embodiments, there may be different types of PPDUs that may have different fields and different physical layers and/or different media access control (MAC) layers.

100671 The bandwidth of a channel may be 20MHz, 40MHz, or 80MHz;

160MHz, 320MHz contiguous bandwidths; or an 80+80MHz (160MHz) non- contiguous bandwidth. In some embodiments, the bandwidth of a channel may be 1 MHz, 1.25MHz, 2.03MHz, 2.5 MHz, 4.06 MHz, 5 Hz, and 10MHz, or a combination thereof, or another bandwidth that is less than or equal to the avai lable bandwidth may also be used. In some embodiments the bandwidth of the channels may be based on a number of active data subcarriers. In some embodiments the bandwidth of the channels is based on 26, 52, 106, 242, 484, 996, or 2x996 active data subcarriers or tones that are spaced by 20 MHz. In some embodiments the bandwidth of the channels is 256 tones spaced by 20 MHz. In some embodiments the channels are a multiple of 26 tones or a multiple of 20 MHz. In some embodiments a 20 MHz channel may comprise 242 active data subcarriers or tones, which may determine the size of a Fast Fourier

Transform (FFT). An allocation of a bandwidth or a number of tones or sub- carriers may be termed a resource unit (RU) allocation in accordance with some embodiments.

[0068] In some embodiments, the 26-suhcarrier RU and 52-subcarrier RU are used in the 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and 80+80 MHz OFDMA HE PPDU formats. In some embodiments, the 106-subcarrier RU is used in the 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and 80+80 MHz OFDMA and MU-MIMO HE PPDU formats. In some embodiments, the 242-subcarrier RU is used in the 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and 80+80 MHz OFDMA and MU- MIMO HE PPDU formats. In some embodiments, the 484-subcarrier RU is used in the 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and 80+80 MHz OFDMA and MU-MIMO HE PPDU formats. In some embodiments, the 996-subcarrier RU is used in the 160 MHz and 80+80 MHz OFDMA and MU-MIMO HE PPDU formats.

[0069] A HE frame may be configured for transmitting a number of spatial streams, which may be in accordance w ith MU-MIMO and may be in accordance with OFDMA. In other embodiments, the HE AP 502, HE STA 504, and/or legacy device 506 may also implement different technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA) 2000, CDMA 2000 I X, CDMA 2000 Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Long Term Evolution (LIE), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), IEEE 802.16 (e.g., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), BIueTooth®, or other technologies.

[0070] Some embodiments relate to HE communications. In accordance with some IEEE 802.1 1 embodiments, e.g., IEEE 802.1 lax embodiments, a HE AP 502 may operate as a master station, which may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium (e.g., during a contention period) to receive exclusive control of the medium for an HE control period. In some embodiments, the HE control period may be termed a transmission opportunity (TXOP). The HE AP 502 may transmit a HE master-sync transmission, which may be a trigger frame or HE control and schedul e transmission, at the beginning of the HE control period. The HE AP 502 may transmit a time duration of the TXOP and sub-channel information. During the HE control period, HE STAs 504 may communicate with the HE AP 502 in accordance with a non-contention-based multiple access technique such as OFDMA or MU-MIMO. This is unlike conventional WLAN communications in which devices communicate in accordance with a contention-based communication technique, rather than a multiple access technique. During the HE control period, the HE AP 502 may communicate with HE stations 504 using one or more HE frames. During the HE control period, the HE STAs 504 may operate on a sub-channel smaller than the operating range of the HE AP 502. During the HE control period, legacy stations refrain from communicating. The legacy stations may need to receive the communication from the HE AP 502 to defer from communicating.

[0071] In accordance with some embodiments, during the TXOP the HE

STAs 504 may contend for the wireless medium with the legacy devices 506 being excluded from contending for the wireless medium during the master-sync transmission. In some embodiments the trigger frame may indicate an uplink (UL) UL-MU-MIMO and/or UL OFDMA TXOP. In some embodiments, the trigger frame may include a DL UL-MU-MIMO and/or DL OFDMA with a schedule indicated in a preamble portion of trigger frame. [0072] In some embodiments, the multiple-access technique used during the HE TXOP may be a scheduled OFDM A technique, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, the multiple access technique may be a time-division multiple (TDM A) technique or a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) technique. In some embodiments, the multiple access technique may be a space-division multiple access ( SDMA) technique. In some embodiments, the multiple access technique may be a Code division multiple access (CDMA).

[0073] The HE AP 502 may also communicate with legacy devices 506 and/or HE stations 504 in accordance with legacy IEEE 802. 1 1 communication techniques. In some embodiments, the HE AP 502 may also be configurable to communicate with HE stations 504 outside the HE TXOP in accordance with legacy IEEE 802. 1 1 communication techniques, although this is not a requirement.

[0074] In some embodiments the HE station 504 may be a "group owner^" (GO) for peer-to-peer modes of operation. A wireless device may be a HE station or HE AP 502,

[0075] In some embodiments, the HE station 504 and/or HE AP 502 may be configured to operate in accordance with IEEE 802. 1 line. In example embodiments, the radio architecture of FIG. 1 is configured to implement the HE station 504 and/or the HE AP 502. In example embodiments, the front-end module circuitry of FIG. 2 is configured to implement the HE station 504 and/or the HE A 502. In example embodiments, the radio IC circuitry of FIG. 3 is configured to implement the HE station 504 and/or the HE AP 502. In example embodiments, the baseband processing circuitry of FIG. 4 is configured to implement the HE station 504 and/or the HE AP 502.

[0076] In example embodiments, the HE stations 504, HE AP 502, an apparatus of the HE stations 504, and/or an apparatus of the HE AP 502 may include one or more of the follow ing: the radio architecture of FIG. 1, the front- end module circuitry of FIG. 2, the radio IC circuitry of FIG. 3, and/or the baseband processing circuitry of FIG 4.

[0077] In example embodiments, the radio architecture of FIG. 1, the front-end module circuitry of FIG. 2, the radio IC circuitry of FIG. 3, and/or the baseband processing circuitry of FIG. 4 may be configured to perform the methods and operations/functions herein described in conjunction with FIGS. 1 - 14.

100781 In example embodiments, the HE station 504 and/or the HE AP 502 are configured to perform the methods and operations/functions described herein in conjunction with FIGS. 1-14. In example embodiments, an apparatus of the HE station 504 and/or an apparatus of the HE AP 502 are configured to perform the methods and functions described herein in conjunction with FIGS. 1 - 14. The term "Wi-Fi^" may refer to one or more of the IEEE 802. 1 1

communication standards. A and ST A may refer to HE access point 502 and/or HE station 504 as ell as legacy devices 506.

[0079] In some embodiments, a HE AP ST A may refer to a HE A 502 and a HE ST A 504 that is operating a HE AP 502. In some embodiments, when an HE ST A 504 is not operating as a HE AP 502, it may be referred to as a HE non-AP ST A or I I E non-AP. In some embodiments, HE ST A 504 may be referred to as either a HE AP STA or a HE non-AP.

[0080] FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine 600 upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g. , methodologies) discussed herein may perform. In alternative embodiments, the machine 600 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 600 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both in server-client network env ironments. In an example, the machine 600 may act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment. The machine 600 may be a I I E AP 502, HE station 504, personal computer ( PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box ( STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable communications device, a mobi le telephone, a smart phone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine^" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that indiv idually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), other computer cluster configurations.

[0081] Machine (e.g., computer system) 600 may include a hardware processor 602 (e.g., a central processing nit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 604 and a static memory 606, some or ail of hich may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 608.

100821 Specific examples of main memory 604 include Random Access

Memory (RAM), and semiconductor memory devices, which may include, in some embodiments, storage locations in semiconductors such as registers.

Specific examples of static memory 606 include non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e g.. Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; RAM; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

100831 The machine 600 may further include a display device 610, an input device 6 1 2 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI ) navigation device 6 14 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the display device 610, input device 6 1 2, and UI navigation device 6 14 may be a touch screen display. The machine 600 may additionally include a mass storage device (e g., drive unit ) 6 16, a signal generation device 6 1 8 (e.g., a speaker), a network interface device 620, and one or more sensors 621, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 600 may include an output controller 628, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared OR), near field communication (NFC), etc. ) connection to communicate or control one or more peripheral devices (e g., a printer, card reader, etc. ). In some embodiments the processor 602 and/or instructions 624 may comprise processing circuitry and/or transceiver circuitry. 100841 The storage device 6 16 may include a machine-readable medium

622 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 624 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions 624 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 604, within static memory 606, or within the hardware processor 602 during execution thereof by the machine 600. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 602, the main memory 604, the static memory 606, or the storage device 6 16 may constitute machine-readable media.

[0085] Specific examples of machine-readable media may include: nonvolatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., EPROM or EEPROM) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; RAM; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

[0086] While the machine-readable medium 622 is illustrated as a single medium, the term "machine-readable medium" may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 624.

[0087] An apparatus of the machine 600 may be one or more of a hardware processor 602 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 604 and a static memory 606, sensors 621, network interface device 620, antennas 660, a display device 610, an input device 612, a U I navigation device 6 14, a mass storage 6 16, instructions 624, a signal generation device 618, and an output controller 628. The apparatus may be configured to perform one or more of the methods and/or operations disclosed herein. The apparatus may be intended as a component of the machine 600 to perform one or more of the methods and/or operations disclosed herein, and/or to perform a portion of one or more of the methods and/or operat ions disclosed herein, in some embodiments, the apparatus may include a pin or other means to receive power. In some embodiments, the apparatus may include power conditioning hardware.

[0088] The term "machine readable medium^" may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 600 and that cause the machine 600 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non- limiting machine-readable medium examples may include solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of machine readable media may include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices ( e.g.. Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks;

magneto-optical disks; Random Access Memory ( RAM); and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. In some examples, machine-readable media may include non- transitory machine-readable media. In some examples, machine-readable media may include machine-readable media that is not a transitory propagating signal.

[0089] The instructions 624 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 626 using a transmission medium via the network interface device 620 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol ( IP), transmission control protocol ( T CP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc. ). Example communication networks may include a local area network ( LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks). Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless data networks (e.g.. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ( IEEE) 802.1 1 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802. 16 family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802. 1 5.4 family of standards, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) family of standards, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMT S ) family of standards, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others.

100901 In an example, the network interface device 620 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communications network 626. In an example, the network interface device 620 may include one or more antennas 660 to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output ( SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (M l MO), or multiple-input single-output (MI SO) techniques. In some examples, the network interface device 620 may wirelessly communicate using Multiple User MI MO techniques. The term "transmission medium^" shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 600, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium to faci litate communication of such software.

100911 Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangible entities (e.g., hardware ) capable of performing specified operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example, circuits may be arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to external entities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. In an example, the whole or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client, or server computer system) or one or more hardware processors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g., instructions, an application portion, or an application) as a module that operates to perform specified operations. In an example, the software may- reside on a machine-readable medium. In an example, the software, when executed by the underlying hardware of the module, C3.USCS the hardware to perform the specified operations.

100921 Accordingly, the term "module^" is understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specifically configured (e.g., hardw ired), or temporarily (e.g. , transitorily) configured (e.g. , programmed) to operate in a specified manner or to perform part or all of any operation described herein. Considering examples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of the modules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example, where the modules comprise a general-purpose hardware processor configured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may be configured as respective different modules at different times. Software may accordingly configure a hardware processor, for example, to constitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitute a different module at a different instance of time.

[0093] Some embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in software and/or firmware. This softw are and/or firmw are may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but not limited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readable medium may include any tangible non- transitory medium for storing information in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but not limited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM ); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory, etc.

100941 FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless dev ice

700 upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies or operations) discussed herein may perform. The wireless device 700 may be a HE dev ice. The wireless dev ice 700 may be a HE STA 504 and/or HE AP 502 (e.g., FIG. 5). A HE STA 504 and/or HE AP 502 may include some or all of the components shown in FIGS. 1 -7. The wireless dev ice 700 may be an example machine 600 as disclosed in conjunction with FIG. 6.

[0095] The wireless dev ice 700 may include processing circuitry 708.

The processing circuitry 708 may include a transceiver 702, physical layer circuitry (PHY circuitry) 704, and M AC layer circuitry ( MAC circuitry) 706, one or more of which may enable transmission and reception of signals to and from other wireless dev ices 700 (e.g., HE AP 502, HE STA 504, and/or legacy dev ices 506) using one or more antennas 7 12. As an example, the PHY circuitry 704 may perform various encoding and decoding functions that may include formation of baseband signals for transmission and decoding of receiv ed signals. As another example, the transceiver 702 may perform various transmission and reception functions such as conv ersion of signals between a baseband range and a Radio Frequency (RF) range.

100961 Accordingly, the PHY circuitry 704 and the transceiv er 702 may be separate components or may be part of a combined component, e.g., processing circuitry 708. In addition, some of the described functionality related to transmission and reception of signals may be performed by a combination that may include one, any, or all of the PHY circuitry 704, the transceiv er 702, MAC circuitry 706, memory 710, and other components or layers. The MAC circuitry 706 may control access to the wireless medium. The wireless device 700 may also include memory 7 10 arranged to perform the operations described herein, e.g., some of the operations described herein may be performed by instructions stored in the memory 710.

100971 The antennas 7 1 2 (some embodiments may include only one antenna) may comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas 7 12 may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result.

[0098] One or more of the memory 710, the transceiver 702, the PHY circuitry 704, the MAC circuitry 706, the antennas 712, and/or the processing circuitry 708 may be coupled with one another. Moreover, although memory 710, the transceiver 702, the PHY circuitry 704, the MAC circuitry 706, and the antennas 7 1 2 are il lustrated as separate components, one or more of memory 710, the transceiver 702, the PHY circuitry 704, the MAC circuitry 706, and the antennas 7 12 may be integrated in an electronic package or chip.

100991 In some embodiments, the wireless device 700 may be a mobile device as described in conjunction with FIG. 6. In some embodiments the ireless device 700 may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more wireless communication standards as described herein (e.g., as described in conjunction with FIGS 1 -6, IEEE 802.1 1). In some embodiments, the wireless dev ice 700 may include one or more of the components as described in conjunction w ith FIG. 6 (e.g., display dev ice 610, input device 6 12, etc. ).

Although the wireless dev ice 700 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configu red elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits ( ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

1001001 In some embodiments, an apparatus of or used by the wireless device 700 may include various components of the wireless device 700 as shown in FIG 7 and/or components from FIGS. 1-6. Accordingly, techniques and operations described herein that refer to the wireless device 700 may be applicable to an apparatus for a wireless device 700 (e.g., HE AP 502 and/or FIE STA 504), in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the wireless device 700 is configured to decode and/or encode signals, packets, and/or frames as described herein, e.g., PPDIJ s.

1001011 In some embodiments, the MAC circuitry 706 may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium during a contention period to receive control of the medi m for a HE TXOP and encode or decode an HE PPDIJ. In some embodiments, the MAC circuitry 706 may be arranged to contend for the wireless medium based on channel contention settings, a transmitting power level, and a clear channel assessment level (e.g., an energy detect level ).

1001021 The PHY circuitry 704 may be arranged to transmit signals in accordance with one or more communication standards described herein. For example, the PHY circuitry 704 may be configured to transmit a HE PPDIJ. The PHY circuitry 704 may include circuitry for modulation/demodulation, upconversion/'downconversion, fi ltering, amplification, etc. In some

embodiments, the processing circuitry 708 may include one or more processors. The processing circuitry 708 may be configured to perform functions based on instructions being stored in a RAM or ROM, or based on special purpose circuitry. The processing circuitry 708 may include a processor such as a general purpose processor or special purpose processor. The processing circuitry 708 may implement one or more functions associated with antennas 7 1 2, the transceiver 702, the PHY circuitry 704, the MAC circuitry 706, and/or the memory 710. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 708 may be configured to perform one or more of the fu n ct i o n s/operat ions and/or methods described herein.

[00103] In mm Wave technology, communication between a station (e.g., the HE stations 504 of FIG. 5 or wireless device 700) and an access point (e.g., the HE AP 502 of FIG. 5 or wireless device 700) may use associated effective wireless channels that are highly directionallv dependent. To accommodate the directionality, beamforming techniques may be utilized to radiate energy in a certain direction with certain beamwidth to communicate between two devices. The directed propagation concentrates transmitted energy toward a target device in order to compensate for significant energy loss in the channel between the two communicating devices. Using directed transmission may extend the range of the millimeter- wave communication versus utilizing the same transmitted energy in omni-directional propagation.

[00104] In some embodiments, 802.1 l ax defines a mechanism called an NDP feedback report. In some embodiments, this method allows the AP to trigger very short responses from a very large number of STAs. In some embodiments, the STAs respond to the trigger in II L MU mode, transmitting only the PHY preamble (no data payload) using orthogonal allocation that is designed in the high-efficiency long training field (HE-LTF) in the PHY

preamble. The AP can perform energy or sequence detection on each of these allocations to identify which ST A sent the feedback (e.g., allocation ID) and what the feedback is (e.g., energy/sequence detection). In some embodiments, an example of application is the AP asking in the trigger which STAs want to transmit (e.g., resource request); the STAs respond "yes" or "no" with the short feedback.

[00105] In some embodiments, a new trigger type is defined, which may be referred to as an NDP feedback report poll. The present disclosure also defines a procedure to trigger associated STAs to send feedback as part of a multi-user transmission. The STAs know that they are scheduled and derive their allocation parameters by reading the parameters in the trigger frame. In some aspects, the trigger frame indicates association identifiers for stations that are to respond to the trigger frame. The association identifiers for responding stations may be identified as a range of association identifiers. In some aspects, the trigger frame may include a starting association identifier for the range. The size of the range may be predefined, and calculated based at least in part on a bandwidth utilization of the responses. [00106] FIG. 8 shows a message exchange between an access point (AP) 810 and two illustrated stations (STAs) 820, 830. FIG. 8 shows the AP 810 first transmitting a trigger frame 802, The trigger frame 802 may identify a group of stations 812 that are to respond to the trigger frame 802. The STAs 820 and 830 may be included in the group of stations 812, Other stations, not illustrated in FIG. 8, may also be included in the group of stations 812. The stations identified by the trigger frame 802 may respond via a multi-user uplink message 803 to the AP 810. The multi-user uplink message 803 may include a high-efficiency (HE) trigger-based (TB) null data packet (NDP) feedback Physical Layer

Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) 850.

[00107] In some aspects, responses 804a and 804b are null data packet (NDP) feedback reports. In some aspects, the responses 804a-b may indicate a queued buffer status or feedback status of the responding stations. In other words, a station may store data to be sent to an access point via an uplink transmission. The data may be generated, for example, by a variety of network applications running on the station. The applications' generation of data for uplink and the station^' s avai lability to uplink data may not be aligned in time, and thus, the station may need to buffer data generated by the one or more network applications until a time when the station is able to transmit the data to an access point ( i.e. uplink the data to the access point). Whether the station has data buffered for uplinking to the access point may be considered an uplink buffer status. In some of the disclosed aspects, a trigger frame may request identified stations to indicate whether they have uplink data buffered for transmission to the access point. If a particular station does have uplink data buffered, the access point may provide the station with an opportunity to transmit the data to the access point.

[00108] In some aspects, the individual responses 804a and 804b may be encoded in a preamble of the multi-user uplink message 803. In some aspects, the multi-user uplink message 803 may not include a data portion, and may only include the preamble portion. F IG 8 shows that each of the two responses 804a and 804b includes four (4) long training fields 805 a-d and 805e-h, respectively. In some aspects, the responses from each of the STAs 820 and 830 may be encoded in different portions of the four long training fields 805a-d and 805e-h. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the STA 820 may respond via an allocation 840a in the four long training fields 805a-d, and the ST A 830 may respond in an allocation 840b of the four long training fields 805 e-h. Note that while FIG. 8 shows the four long training fields 805a-d and 805 e-h as different long training fields, they might be considered an integrated set of long training fields. For example, combined transmissions of the STAs 820 and 830, along with other stations in the group of stations 812, may collectively form a single set of four long training fields. For example, a portion of the long training field 805a, transmitted by the STA 820, combined with a different portion of the long training field 805 e, transmitted by the STA 830, may be transmitted

simultaneously and received by the AP 810 as a single long training field having energy at both allocations 840a and 840b. As other STAs may also participate in the simultaneous transmission of long training fields, energy may also be present at other allocations within the four long training fields, corresponding to the allocations of those other STAs. Other embodiments may utilize more or fewer long training fields than the four shown in FIG. 8.

1001091 In some aspects, the complete response from each STA 820, 830 may be encoded in the set of one or more long training fields included in the multi-user preamble ( i .e., the long training fields 805a-d and 805e-h). For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the STAs 820 and 830 transmit the responses 804a and 804b simultaneously as part of the multi-user uplink message 803 in response to the trigger frame 802. In some aspects, because the complete responses 804a and 804b are encoded in the set of long training fields (805a-d and 805 e-h) in the multi-user uplink message 803, a finite number of symbols are available for encoding the responses, and therefore a limit is present to how- many responses may physically be encoded in the single multi-user uplink message 803. While the multi-user message uplink 803 is shown including two responses from two stations STA 820 and STA 830, in various embodiments, the multi-user uplink message 803 may include any number of responses from any number of stations, and is not limited to two responses as i llustrated in FIG. 8.

[00110] FIG 9 shows an example message exchange 900 between an access point and two stations that are implementing at least some of the disclosed embodiments. FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of target wake time (TWT) operation. In FIG. 9, the /VP 810 performs TWT scheduling for the STAs 820 and 830.

[00111] FIG. 9 first illustrates the ST A 820 transmitting a TWT request message 902 to the AP 8 10, which responds to the ST A 820 with a TWT response message 904. The AP 810 broadcasts a beacon frame 906a. The beacon frame 906a may include a TWT information element indicating a timing for when the AP 8 0 will send a trigger frame, or a downlink buffered unit (BU) to the TWT scheduled STAs 820 and 830.

[00112] The ST A 820 and ST A 830 may exit a doze state so as to receive the beacon frame 906a and determine the broadcast T WT timing. During a trigger-enabled TWT service period ( SP) 907, the AP 8 10 sends a trigger frame 802. The trigger frame 802 may identify each of the ST As 820 and 830, for example, by including their association identifiers in the trigger frame 802. Alternatively, in some aspects, the trigger frame 802 may indicate a range of association identifiers for stations that are to respond to the trigger frame 802. In some aspects, the AP 8 10 may also set a type value in the trigger frame 802, indicating that the trigger frame 802 is triggering the stations identified by the trigger frame 802 to respond with buffer status information. The buffer status information may indicate whether the station has data buffered for uplink transmission to the AP 8 10. If data is buffered, the AP 8 10 may then prov ide for the particular ST A to participate in an uplink transmission.

[00113] The STAs 820 and 830 may communicate their respective buffer status in a preamble portion of a frame, such as a long training field 910a, 910b. While the long training fields 9 1 Oa and 910b are illustrated in FIG. 9 as two separate long training fields, in some aspects, the STAs 820 and 830 may transmit their respective responses to the trigger frame 802 during portions of a single long training field. The responses included in the long training fields 910a and 910b from the ST As 820 and 830 respectively also indicate to the AP 8 10 that the two STAs 820, 830 are awake and may receive downlink data. The AP 8 10 may acknowledge the responses included in the long training fields 9 1 Oa and 910b with a block acknowledgment 9 1 2. In some aspects, the block acknowledgment 9 1 2 may be condit ional on the type of trigger frame 802. For example, when the trigger frame 802 requests uplink buffer status information, the block acknowledgment 912 may be sent. When the trigger frame 802 requests sounding feedback, the block acknowledgment 912 may not be sent, nor expected by the STAs 820 and 830. The AP 810 may then transmit downlink data to one or more of the STAs 820 and 830 via a downlink message 914. The STAs 820 and 830, after receiving the downlink data, may acknowledge the downlink data via block acks 9 16a, 916b. Beacons 906b and 906c are illustrated to show the periodicity of the beacon interval.

100114] FIG. 10 shows an example embodiment of a trigger frame format.

In some aspects, the trigger frame 802 shown in FIG. 10 may be an NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame. The trigger frame 802 includes a frame control field 1002, a duration field 1004, a receiver address field 1006, a transmitter address field 1008, a common info field 1010, one or more user info fields I 0 12 i - 10 12„, a padding field 1016, and a frame check sequence (FCS) field 1018.

[00115] The frame control field 1002 may include a type field 1022 and a subtype field 1024. A first predetermined value in the type field 1 022 along with a second predetermined value in the subtype field 1024 may indicate that the frame 802 is a trigger frame. The common info field 1010 may include a trigger type field 1 032 and a bandwidth field 1034. The trigger type field 1032 may, in some aspects, be set to a predetermined value indicating that the trigger frame 802 is an NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame. Whi le FIG. 10 shows the trigger type field 1032 as included in the common info field 1010, in some aspects, the trigger type field 1032 may be included in one of the user info fields 10 121 - 10 12,, and may not be included in the common info field 1010 in these embodiments. In some aspects, the trigger frame 802 may include a single user info field 10 12.

[00116] FIG. 1 1 shows one example format of a user info field 1012,

Each user info field 1012_a-1012_n may include a starting association identifier (AID) field 1 1 02, a reserved field 1 104, a feedback type field 1 106, a reserved field 1 108, a target received signal strength indicator field 1 1 10, and a multiplexing flag field 1 1 12. The feedback type field 1 106 may indicate a type of feedback requested by the trigger frame 802. The feedback type field 1 106 may be set to one of the values shown in FIG. 1 1 in some aspects. A first value (e.g., 0) may indicate that the trigger frame 802 triggers a resource request. A second value (e.g., 1) may indicate that the trigger frame 802 triggers PS-POLL information. PS-POLL information may include buffer status information, such as whether a responding device has uplink data queued for transmission to an access point transmitting the trigger frame 802.

[00117] The starting AID field 1 102 may be used to identify an allocation of a device identified by the trigger frame 802. Allocations for response to the trigger frame 802 may be predetermined in a table that maps a resource unit tone index to a plurality of tones providing the allocation. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, a table 1120 may provide a mapping of tone indexes 1 122 to tone allocations 1124. In some aspects, the table 1120 may also indicate a space time stream number for each of the allocations.

[00118] A device responding to the trigger frame 802 may subtract the starting AID field 1 102 from its own association identifier to determine a tone index for its allocation. Tones to use when responding to the trigger frame 802 may then be determined from the tone index, for example, by relying on a mapping of tone indexes to tones allocated as shown in the example table 1120.

[00119] In some aspects, a tone index may be defined using Equation I below: index = ((device AID + 1 ) - starting AID) mod (Cnum tone indexes * 2^BW) (1 ) where:

de vice AID i s the association identifier of the device determining its tone allocation;

starting AID is the association identifier that is the first association identifier in a numerical range (e.g., device ID 1134/1184); and

Cnum tone indexes is the number of tone indexes that are allocated within a reference bandwidth. In the disclosed examples, the reference bandwidth may be 20 Mhz. Thus, Cnum tone indexes is eighteen in these examples.

BW is the value of a bandwidth field (e.g. 1034) in an eliciting trigger frame.

[00120] FIG 12 is an example of a response 1 150 to a trigger frame 802.

The response 1150 may include a physical layer header, such as at least a portion of a physical layer control protocol ( PLCP) header. The response 1 150 includes four long training fields 805a-d, as shown above with respect to FIG. 8. While response 1 150 is illustrated with four long training fields 805a-d, any number of long training fields may be included in the response I 1 50. The response 1 1 50 of FIG. 12 may be transmitted in response to a trigger frame 802 requesting uplink buffer status. As discussed above, stations may provide lightweight responses to a trigger frame 802 by communicating at least a few bits of information using an allocation provided in the trigger frame 802. The allocation may comprise a portion of one of the long training fields 8(⁾5a-d. Thus, for example, one station may respond using a portion of the long training field 805c, while another station may respond using an allocation within a portion of the long training field 8()5d. As shown in FIG. 12, a station (such as the ST A 820) may respond in an allocation using a portion of the long training field 805c, shown as a buffer status field 1 1 52a, while another station ( such as the ST A 830) may respond using an allocation of a portion of the long training field 805d, shown as a buffer status field 1 1 52b.

[00121] FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a method of triggering one or more stations to provide uplink buffer status. Stations may maintain buffers to store data to be uplinked to an access point until the station is provided with an opportunity to transmit the data to the access point. In some aspects, a station may indicate to an access point that it has data available to send, and in response, the access point may prov ide an opportunity for the station to transmit data to the access point. The method of FIG. 13 provides for reduced overhead associated w ith an access point obtaining uplink buffer status from a plurality of stations. By utilizing an NDP trigger frame and the lightweight responses associated with this communication, an access point may determine uplink buffer status for a plurality of stations while utilizing a smaller amount of netw ork capacity when compared to know n methods. In the discussion below, a device performing process 1300, described below with respect to FIG. 13, may be referred to as an "executing device.^" In some aspects, process 1300 may be performed by the application processor I 1 1 (FIG. 1) or the control logic 406 (FIG. 4). In some aspects, process 1300 may be performed by an access point.

[00122] In block 13 10, a null data packet (NDP) trigger frame is encoded.

For example, block 1310 may include encoding a frame (e.g., 802) by setting a type field (e.g., 1022) and a subtype field (e.g., 1024) to a combination of predetermined values that indicate that the frame (e.g., 802) is an NDP trigger frame. The trigger frame is encoded to indicate a request for an uplink buffer status. For example, in some aspects, the trigger frame may include a user info field (e.g., any of 1012i-1012_n). The user info field may include a feedback type field (e.g., 1 106). In some aspects, a request for an uplink buffer status may be indicated by setting the feedback type field to a predetermined value. For example, in some aspects, a value of one (1) may indicate the request for the uplink buffer status. In some aspects, the feedback type field may be four bits long.

[00123| Some aspects of block 1310 may include indicating or identifying a set of stations to which the trigger frame is addressed. For example, in some aspects, the trigger frame may identify association identifiers for stations that are to respond to the trigger frame. In some aspects, a first association identifier of the range is identified (e.g., via the starting AID field 1 102 in some aspects). In some aspects, the size of the range may be determined by Equation 2 below:

NSTA = ( 18 x 2^BW) * multiplexing flag (2) where:

BW is a value indicated in a bandwidth subfield of an NDP

Feedback Report Poll trigger frame (e.g., trigger frame 802, field 1034); and

Multiplexing flag is a value indicated by the multiplexing flag field (e.g., 1 1 12) in the trigger frame (e.g., 802).

(00124| In block 1 320, an access point is configured to transmit the trigger frame to one or more stations associated with the access point. In other words, the stations have prev iously performed an association procedure with the access point, such that the stations hav e each received, from the access point, an indiv idual association identifier. In some aspects, configuring the access point to transmit the trigger frame may include configuring a transceiv er or transmit hardw are, such as the baseband processing circuitry 108, to transmit the trigger frame. For example, in some aspects, the application processor 1 1 1 may provide, v ia an interface with the baseband processing circuitry 108, a pointer to a memory location storing the trigger frame to be transmitted. In other aspects, instead of a pointer, data values defining the trigger frame may be written to the baseband processing circuitry 108, for example, via a data bus linking the application processor 1 1 1 and the baseband processing circuitry 108.

[00125] Block 1320 may also include signaling the baseband processing circuitry 108 that the frame is available for transmission.

[00126 J In block 1330, one or more responses from the associated stations may be received and/or decoded. Decoding the responses may include parsing the responses to identify information encoded therein. In some aspects, the responses may conform w ith the response 1 1 50, discussed above with respect to FIG 12. For example, an individual response from a station may communicate at least the buffer status field 1 152a or 1 152b.

[00127] The responses may be decoded to determine whether a station sending a particular response has uplink data buffered. For example, in some aspects, if the buffer status field 1 1 52a or 1 1 52b has a first predetermined value, this may indicate that the station has uplink data buffered, while a second predetermined value may indicate that no data is buffered. In some aspects, if a response is receiv ed in block 1330 during a TWT SP, the response may be treated as an indication that the S I A is awake for the TWT SP. If the response is decoded outside of a TWT SP, the response may be treated as equiv alent to a power save poll (PS-POLL) transmission/reception by the access point.

[00128] In block 1 340, the AP is configured to communicate with each of the responding stations based on each station' s indiv idual buffer status. For example, in some aspects, if a responding station has data buffered, the AP may allocate an uplink transmission opportunity for the station. The transmission opportunity may be during part of a multi-user uplink, or a dedicated time period may be allocated for the station to transmit the uplink data. The AP may then receiv e and/or decode the uplink data from the stations as scheduled. This may include, for example, forwarding the data, based on addresses specified in the data, to destination nodes via a back haul network, in some aspects.

[00129] In some aspects, process 1300 also includes encoding an acknowledgment for each of the decoded responses, and configuring the access point to transmit the acknowledgements to the respectiv e stations. In some aspects, individual acknowledgment messages may be sent to one or more of the stations. In some aspects, a block acknowledgment acknowledging responses from multiple stations may be transmitted.

[00130] FIG. 14 is a flowchart of an example method for receiving a trigger frame indicating a request for buffer status information. As described above, the disclosed embodiments may provide for an enhanced trigger message that may request uplink buffer status information from a large number of stations. The number of stations may be increased relative to other techniques because the stations are able to respond to the trigger message using a lightweight response. In these aspects, the stations respond to the request for uplink buffer status information by embedding a small number of bits of information in an al location provided in a long training field of a PLCP preamble. This results in reduced use of network capacity when compared to other techniques, which may require a complete media access control header (MAC header) to be sent by each station when communicating uplink buffer status.

[00131] In some aspects, process 1400 discussed below with respect to FIG. 14 may be performed by the application processor 1 1 I or the control logic 406. In the discussion of process 1400 below, a device performing process 1400 may be referred to as an "executing device.^" In some aspects, process 1400 may be performed by a station.

[00132] In block 1410, a null data packet (NDP) trigger frame may be decoded to identify a request for an uplink buffer status. Block 1410 may include decoding a frame to first identify it as an NDP trigger frame. In some aspects, a predetermined combination of values in a type field (e.g., field 1022) and subtype field (e.g., field 1024) may identify the frame as an NDP trigger frame 802. Block 1410 may include decoding a trigger type field 1032 to determine whether the trigger frame is an NDP trigger frame. For example, if the trigger type field 10 2 is set to a particular predetermined value, then the decoding may determine that the frame is an NDP trigger frame. The trigger type may be decoded from a common info field (e.g., 1010) of the trigger frame, or in other embodiments the trigger type may be decoded from a user info field (e g., any of

1012_a-1012n). [00133] The request for buffer status may be identified, in some aspects, by decoding a user info field (e.g., any of fields 1012_;,- 10 ! 2„). For example, a feedback type field (e.g., field 1 106) having a certain predetermined value may identify the trigger frame as requesting buffer status. For example, as shown in FIG. 11 , a value of one (1) in some aspects may identify that the trigger frame requests buffer status. In some aspects, block 1410 may decode the NDP trigger frame and determine that the trigger frame is a resource request (e.g., indicated by a value of zero (0) as shown in FIG 1 1).

[00134] In block 1420, a response to the request for buffer status is encoded. The response may be encoded in a long training field included in the response. A position within the long training field (i.e., frequency or spatial position) may be determined by further decoding the trigger frame to determine an allocation for the station's response. The response is encoded to indicate whether the ST A has uplink data buffered for transmission.

[00135] In block 1430, the station is configured to transmit the response.

In some aspects, the response is transmitted to the access point. For example, the response may include a destination address field identifying the access point. In some aspects, the NDP trigger frame is further decoded to determine an allocation for the response, and then block 1430 configures the ST A to encode the response in a portion of the long training field in accordance with the allocation. In some aspects, configuring the station to transmit a response may include having the application processor 1 1 1 or the control logic 406 provide the response for transmission to transmit hardware, such as the baseband processing circuitry 108 or the transmit baseband processor 404 respectively.

[00136] Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangible entities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example, circuits may be arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to external entities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. In an example, the whole or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client, or server computer system) or one or more hardware processors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g., instructions, an application portion, or an application) as a module that operates to perform speci ied operations. In an example, the software may reside on a machine-readable medium. In an example, the software, when executed by the underlying hardware of the module, causes the hardware to perform the specified operations.

[00137] Accordingly, the term "module^" is understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specifically configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., transitorily) configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or to perform part or all of any operation described herein. Considering examples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of the modules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example, where the modules comprise a general-purpose hardware processor configured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may be configured as respective different modules at different times. Software may accordingly configure a hardware processor, for example, to constitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitute a different module at a different instance of time.

1001381 Example 1 is an apparatus of a high-efficiency (HE) access point

(AP), the apparatus comprising: memory, and processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to: encode a null data packet ( NDP) Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to request an uplink buffer status from a plurality of non-AP HE stations (HE STAs) identi ied in the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame by a range of association identifiers (AIDs), the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame further encoded to indicate an allocation for each of the plurality of non-AP HE-STAs, the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame further encoded to include a feedback type subfield of a user info field set to a value indicating PS-POLL to indicate the request for the uplink buffer status; decode NDP feedback reports from at least some of the plurality of non- AP HE-STAs according to the allocations, the NDP feedback reports comprising HE trigger-based (TB) null data packet (NDP) feedback PPDUs, each of the HE TB DP feedback PPDUs decoded to determine, for a respective non-AP HE- STA, whether a feedback status included in the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU has a first predetermined value indicating that the non-AP HE-STA is in an awake state and does not have traffic to send in uplink or has a second predetermined value indicating that the non-AP HE-STA has traffic to send in uplink; and generate signaling to configure the HE AP to provide each of the non-AP HE- ST As hav ing a feedback status indicating that the non-AP HE-S TA has traffic to send with an uplink transmission opportunity.

[00139] In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 optionally includes the processing circuitry further configured to configure the HE AP to transmit the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to the plurality of non-AP HE-STAs.

[00140| In Example 3, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples I - 2 optionally includes the processing circuitry further configured to determine that non-AP HE-STAs that do not respond to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame are not active on the network, and to refrain from communication with non-AP HE-STAs that are not active.

[00141] In Example 4, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-3 optionally includes the processing circuitry further configured to assign a starting space time stream number and a resource unit tone set index to each of the non-AP HE-S TAs in the range of association identifiers, and to encode the

NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to indicate the assignments.

[00142] In Example 5, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-4 optionally includes the processing circuitry further configured to: encode an acknowledgment for each of the decoded NDP feedback reports; and configure the HE AP to transmit the acknowledgments.

[00143] In Example 6, the subject matter of Example 5 optionally includes the processing circuitry further configured to encode the

acknowledgment as a multi-station block acknowledgment, acknowledgement, data, or management frame, wherein the HE AP is configured to transmit the ack no wl edgem en t a short inter-frame space ( SIFS) time after reception of the NDP feedback reports.

[00144| In Example 7, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples I -6 optional ly includes the processing circuitry further configured to encode the user info field to identify a first association identifier of the range of association identifiers. [00145] In Example 8, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples

1 -7 optionally includes wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to treat reception of an NDP feedback report in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame from a non-AP HE- ST A as reception of a power save poll from the non-AP HE-STA.

[00146] In Example 9, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples

1-8 optionally includes wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to receive the NDP feedback reports during an announced target wake time service period (TWT SP), and wherein providing an uplink transmission opportunity to a target wake time requesting non-AP HE-STA comprises scheduling a trigger frame for transmission to the target wake time requesting non-AP HE-STA.

[00147] In Example 10, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 1-9 optionally includes wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to transmit the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame during a broadcast target wake time service period (TWT SP).

[00148| In Example 1 1, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 1-10 optionally includes transceiver circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry.

[00149] In Example 12, the subject matter of Example 1 1 optionally includes one or more antennas coupled to the transceiver circuitry.

[00150] Example 13 is a method for a high-efficiency ( HE) access point

(AP), the method comprising: encoding a null data packet ( NDP) Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to request an uplink buffer status from a plurality of non-AP HE stations (HE ST As) identified in the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame by a range of association identifiers (AIDs), the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame further encoded to indicate an allocation for each of the plurality of non-AP HE-STAs, the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame further encoded to include a feedback type subfield of a user info field set to a value indicating power save poll (PS-POLL) to indicate the request for the uplink buffer status; decoding NDP feedback reports from at least some of the plurality of non-AP HE-STAs according to the allocations, the NDP feedback reports comprising HE trigger-based (TB) null data packet (NDP) feedback PPDUs, each of the HE TB NDP feedback PPDUs decoded to determine, for a respective non-AP HE-STA, whether a feedback status included in the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU has a first predetermined value indicating that the non-AP HE-STA is in an awake state and does not have traffic to send in uplink or has a second predetermined value indicating that the non-AP HE-STA has traffic to send in uplink; and generating signaling to configure the HE AP to provide each of the non-AP HE-STAs having a feedback status indicating that the non-AP HE-STA has traffic to send with an uplink transmission opportunity.

[00151] In Example 14, the subject matter of Example 13 optionally includes configuring the HE AP to transmit the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to the plurality of non- AP HE-S I As.

[00152] In Example 15, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 13-14 optionally includes determining that non-AP HE-STAs that do not respond to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame are not active on the network, and refraining from communication with non-AP HE-STAs that are not active.

[00153] In Example 16, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 13- 1 5 optionally includes assigning a starting space time stream number and a resource unit tone set index to each of the non-AP HE-STAs in the range of association identifiers, and encoding the DP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to indicate the assignments.

[00154] In Example 17, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 13- 16 optionally includes: encoding an acknowledgment for each of the decoded NDP feedback reports; and configuring the HE AP to transmit the acknowledgments.

[00155] In Example 18, the subject matter of Example I 7 optionally includes encoding the acknowledgment as a multi-station block

acknowledgment, acknowledgement, data, or management frame, wherein the HE AP is configured to transmit the acknowledgement SIFS time after reception of the NDP feedback reports.

1001561 In Example 19, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 13- 1 8 optionally includes encoding the user info field to identify a first association identifier of the range of association identifiers. [00157] In Example 20, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 13-19 optionally includes treating reception of an NDP feedback report in response to the NDP Feedback Report Pol 1 trigger frame from a non- AP HE-STA as reception of a power save poll from the non-AP HE-STA.

[00158] In Example 21 , the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 13-20 optionally includes receiving the NDP feedback reports during an announced target wake time service period (TWT SP), wherein providing an uplink transmission opportunity to a target wake time requesting non-AP FIESTA comprises scheduling a trigger frame for transmission to the target wake time requesting non-AP HE-STA.

[00159] In Example 22, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 13-21 optionally includes configuring the HE AP to transmit the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame during a broadcast target wake time service period (TWT SP).

[00160] Example 23 is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed by one or more hardware processors of a high-efficiency (HE) access point (AP) configure the one or more hardware processors to perform operations comprising: encoding a null data packet (NDP) Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to request an uplink buffer status from a plurality of non-AP HE stations (HE STAs) identified in the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame by a range of association identifiers ( AIDs), the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame further encoded to indicate an allocation for each of the plurality of non-AP HE-STAs, the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame further encoded to include a feedback type subfield of a user info field set to a value indicating power save poll (PS-POLL) to indicate the request for the uplink buffer status; decoding NDP feedback reports from at least some of the plurality of non-AP FIE-STAs according to the allocations, the NDP feedback reports comprising HE trigger-based ( I B) null data packet (NDP) feedback PPDUs, each of the HE TB NDP feedback PPDUs decoded to determine, for a respective non-AP HE-STA, whether a feedback status included in the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU has a first predetermined value indicating that the non-AP HE-STA is in an awake state and does not have traffic to send in uplink or has a second predetermined value indicating that the non-AP HE-STA has traffic to send in uplink; and generating signaling to configure the HE AP to provide each of the non-AP HE-STAs having a feedback status indicating that the non-AP HE-STA has traffic to send with an uplink transmission opportunity.

[00161] In Example 24, the subject matter of Example 23 optionally includes the operations further comprising configuring the HE AP to transmit the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to the plurality of non-AP HE-STAs. 1001621 In Example 25, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 23-24 optionally includes the operations further comprising determining that non-AP HE-STAs that do not respond to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame are not active on the network, and refraining from communication with non-AP HE-STAs that are not active.

1001631 In Example 26, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 23-25 optionally includes the operations further comprising assigning a starting space time stream number and a resource unit tone set index to each of the non-AP HE-STAs in the range of association identifiers, and encoding the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to indicate the assignments.

1001641 In Example 27, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 23-26 optionally includes the operations further comprising: encoding an acknowledgment for each of the decoded NDP feedback reports; and configuring the HE AP to transmit the acknowledgments.

1001651 In Example 28, the subject matter of Example 27 optionally includes the operations further comprising encoding the acknow ledgment as a multi-station block acknowledgment, acknowledgement, data, or management frame, wherein the HE AP is configured to transmit the acknowledgement SIFS time after reception of the NDP feedback reports.

[00166] In Example 29, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 23 -28 optionally includes the operations further comprising encoding the user info field to identify a first association identifier of the range of association identifiers.

[001671 In Example 30, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 23-29 optionally includes the operations further comprising treating reception of an NDP feedback report in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame from a non-AP HE-STA as reception of a power save poll from the non-AP HE-STA.

1001681 In Example 31, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 23-30 optionally includes the operations further comprising receiving the NDP feedback reports during an announced target wake time service period (TWT SP), wherein providing an uplink transmission opportunity to a target wake time requesting non-AP HE-S T A comprises scheduling a trigger frame for transmission to the target wake time requesting non-AP HE-STA.

[00169] In Example 32, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 23-31 optionally includes the operations further comprising configuring the HE AP to transmit the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame during a broadcast target wake time service period (TWT SP).

[00170] Example 3 is an apparatus of a high-efficiency ( HE) access point

(AP), the apparatus comprising: means for encoding a null data packet ( NDP) Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to request an uplink buffer status from a plurality of non-AP HE stations (HE STAs) identified in the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame by a range of association identifiers ( AlDs), the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame further encoded to indicate an allocation for each of the plurality of non-AP HE-STAs, the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame further encoded to include a feedback type subfield of a user info field set to a value indicating power save poll (PS-POLL) to indicate the request for the uplink buffer status; means for decoding NDP feedback reports from at least some of the plurality of non- AP HE-ST As according to the allocations, the NDP feedback reports comprising HE trigger-based (TB) null data packet ( NDP) feedback PPDUs, each of the HE TB NDP feedback PPDUs decoded to determine, for a respective non-AP HE-STA, whether a feedback status included in the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU has a first predetermined value indicating that the non-AP HE-ST A is in an awake state and does not have traffic to send in uplink or has a second predetermined value indicating that the non-AP HE-STA has traffic to send in uplink; and means for generating signaling to configure the HE AP to provide each of the non-AP HE-STAs having a feedback status indicating that the non-AP HE-STA has traffic to send with an uplink

transmission opportunity. [00171] In Example 34, the subject matter of Example 33 optionally includes means for configuring the HE AP to transmit the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to the plurality of non- AP HE-STAs.

[00172] In Example 35, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 33-34 optionally includes means for determining that non-AP HE- STAs that do not respond to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame are not active on the network, and refraining from communication with non-AP HE- STAs that are not active.

[00173] In Example 36, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 33-35 optionally includes means for assigning a starting space time stream number and a resource unit tone set index to each of the non-AP HE- STAs in the range of association identifiers, and encoding the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to indicate the assignments.

[00174] In Example 37, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 33-36 optionally includes: means for encoding an acknowledgment for each of the decoded NDP feedback reports; and means for configuring the HE AP to transmit the acknowledgments.

[00175] In Example 38, the subject matter of Example 37 optionally includes means for encoding the acknowledgment as a multi-station block acknowledgment, acknowledgement, data, or management frame, wherein the HE AP is configured to transmit the acknowledgement SIFS time after reception of the NDP feedback reports.

[00176] In Example 39, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 33-38 optionally includes means for encoding the user info field to identify a first association identifier of the range of association identifiers.

[00177] In Example 40, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 33-39 optionally includes means for treating reception of an NDP feedback report in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame from a non-AP HE- ST A as reception of a power save poll from the non-AP HE-STA. 1001 781 In Example 4 1 , the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 3 -40 optionally includes means for receiving the NDP feedback reports during an announced target wake time service period (TWT SP), wherein providing an uplink transmission opportunity to a target wake time requesting non-AP HE-STA comprises scheduling a trigger frame for transmission to the target wake time requesting non-AP HE-STA.

100179] In Example 42, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 33-41 optionally includes means for configuring the HE AP to transmit the DP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame during a broadcast target wake time service period (TWT SP).

1001801 Example 43 is an apparatus of a high-efficiency (HE) station

(HE-STA) comprising: memory; and processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to: decode a null data packet (NDP) Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to identify a request for an uplink buffer status based on a feedback type subfield of a user info field of the NDP

Feedback Report Poll trigger frame having a value indicating power save poll ( PS-POLL ); encode a HE trigger-based ( TB) NDP feedback Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit ( HE TB NDP feedback PPDU) in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to include a feedback status having a first predetermined value indicating that the HE-STA is in an awake state and does not have traffic to send in uplink or to include a feedback status having a second predetermined value indicating that the HE- STA is in the awake state and has traffic to send in uplink; and configure the HE-STA to transmit the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU.

[001811 In Example 44, the subject matter of Example 43 optionally includes the processing circuitry further configured to decode the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to determine an allocation for the HE T B NDP

Feedback PPDU, and configure the HE-STA to encode the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU for transmission in accordance with the allocation.

[00182] In Example 45, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 43 -44 optionally includes the processing circuitry further configured to decode the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to determine a space time stream number and a resource unit tone set index, and to configure the HE-STA to encode the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU for transmission using the space time stream number and resource units identified by the resource unit tone set index.

[00183| In Example 46, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 43 -45 optionally includes wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to receive a second trigger frame addressed to the HE- ST A during a trigger enabled target wake time serv ice period (TWT SP), and to inhibit inclusion of a power save poll (PS-POLL) frame and an automatic power save deliv ery ( APSD) trigger frame in a second HE TB NDP feedback PPDU transmitted in response to the second trigger frame based on transmission of the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame.

1001841 In Example 47, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 43-46 optionally includes transceiv er circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry.

[00185] In Example 48, the subject matter of Example 47 optionally includes one or more antennas coupled to the transceiv er circuitry.

[00186] Example 49 is a method for a high-efficiency (HE) station ( HE-

STA), the method comprising: decoding a null data packet (NDP) Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to identify a request for an uplink buffer status based on a feedback type subfield of a user info field of the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame hav ing a value indicating power save poll (PS-POLL); encoding a HE trigger-based (TB) NDP feedback Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit ( HE TB NDP feedback PPDU) in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to include a feedback status hav ing a first predetermined value indicating that the HE-STA is in an awake state and does not hav e traffic to send in uplink or to include a feedback status having a second predetermined value indicating that the HE-ST A is in the awake state and has traffic to send in uplink; and configuring the HE-STA to transmit the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU.

[00187] In Example 50, the subject matter of Example 49 optionally includes decoding the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to determine an allocation for the HE TB NDP Feedback PPDU, and configuring the HE-STA to encode the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU for transmission in accordance with the allocation.

[00188| In Example 5 1 , the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 49-50 optionally includes decoding the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to determine a space time stream number and a resource unit tone set index, and configuring the HE- ST A to encode the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU for transmission using the space time stream number and resource units identified by the resource unit tone set index.

[00189] In Example 52, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 49-51 optionally includes receiving a second trigger frame addressed to the HE-STA during a trigger enabled target wake time service period (TWT SP), and inhibiting inclusion of a power save poll (PS-POLL) frame and an automatic power save delivery (APSD) trigger frame in a second HE TB NDP feedback PPDU transmitted in response to the second trigger frame based on transmission of the HE T B NDP feedback PPDU in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame.

[00190] Example 53 is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed cause one or more hardware processors of a high-efficiency (HE) station (HE-STA) to perform operations comprising: decoding a null data packet (NDP) Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to identify a request for an uplink buffer status based on a feedback type subfield of a user info field of the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame having a value indicating power save poll (PS-POLL); encoding a HE trigger- based (TB) NDP feedback Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (HE TB NDP feedback PPDU) in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to include a feedback status having a first predetermined value indicating that the HE-STA is in an awake state and does not have traffic to send in uplink or to include a feedback status having a second predetermined value indicating that the HE-STA is in the awake state and has traffic to send in uplink; and configuring the HE-STA to transmit the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU.

[00191] In Example 54, the subject matter of Example 53 optionally includes the operations further comprising decoding the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to determine an allocation for the HE TB NDP Feedback PPDU, and configuring the HE-STA to encode the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU for transmission in accordance with the allocation.

[00192] In Example 55, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 53 - 54 optionally includes the operations further comprising decoding the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to determine a space time stream number and a resource unit tone set index, and configuring the FIE-STA to encode the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU for transmission using the space time stream number and resource units identified by the resource unit tone set index.

[00193] In Example 56, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 53-55 optionally includes the operations further comprising receiving a second trigger frame addressed to the HE-STA during a trigger enabled target wake time service period (TWT SP), and inhibiting inclusion of a power save poll (PS-POLL) frame and an automatic power save delivery ( APSD) trigger frame in a second HE TB NDP feedback PPDU transmitted in response to the second trigger frame based on transmission of the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame.

[00194] Example 57 is an apparatus of a high-efficiency ( HE) station

(HE-STA) comprising: means for decoding a null data packet ( NDP) Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to identify a request for an uplink buffer status based on a feedback type subfield of a user info field of the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame having a value indicating power save poll (PS-POLL); means for encoding a HE trigger-based (TB) NDP feedback Physical Layer Convergence Protocol ( PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (HE T B NDP feedback PPDU ) in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to include a feedback status having a first predetermined value indicating that the FI E-ST A is in an awake state and does not have traffic to send in uplink or to include a feedback status having a second predetermined value indicating that the FIE-ST A is in the awake state and has traffic to send in uplink; and means for configuring the HE-ST A to transmit the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU.

[00195] In Example 58, the subject matter of Example 57 optionally includes means for decoding the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to determine an allocation for the FIE T B NDP Feedback P DU, and means for configuring the FIE-STA to encode the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU' for transmission in accordance with the allocation.

[00196] In Example 59, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 57-58 optionally includes means for decoding the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to determine a space time stream number and a resource unit tone set index, and means for configuring the HE-S I A to encode the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU for transmission using the space time stream number and resource units identified by the resource unit tone set index.

[00197] In Example 60, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 57-59 optionally includes means for receiving a second trigger frame addressed to the HE-STA during a trigger enabled target wake time service period (TWT SP), and means for inhibiting inclusion of a power save poll ( PS- POLL) frame and an automatic power save deliv ery (APSD) trigger frame in a second HE TB NDP feedback PPDU transmitted in response to the second trigger frame based on transmission of the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame.

1001981 Various embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in software and/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but not limited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readable medium may include any tangible non- transitory medium for storing information in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but not limited to read only memory (ROM ), random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory; etc.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus of a high-efficiency (HE ) access point ( I ), tiie apparatus comprising: memory; and processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to:

encode a null data packet (NDP) Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to request an uplink buffer status from a plurality of non-AP HE stations ( H STAs) identified in the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame by a range of association identifiers ( Al Ds), the DP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame further encoded to indicate an allocation for each of the plurality of non-AP HE- STAs, the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame further encoded to include a feedback type subfield of a user info field set to a value indicating power save poll (PS-POLL) to indicate the request for the uplink buffer status,

decode NDP feedback reports from at least some of the plurality of non- AP HE-STAs according to the allocations, the NDP feedback reports comprising HE trigger-based (TB) null data packet ( NDP) feedback Physical Layer

Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Units (HE TB NDP feedback PPDLJs), each of the HE TB NDP feedback PPDLJs decoded to determine, for a respective non-AP HE-STA, whether a feedback status included in the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU has a first predetermined value indicating that the non-AP HE-STA is in an awake state and does not have traffic to send in uplink or has a second predetermined value indicating that the non-AP HE-STA. has traffic to send in uplink; and

generate signaling to configure the HE AP to provide each of the non- AP HE-STAs having a feedback status indicating that the non-AP HE-STA has traffic to send with an uplink transmission opportunity.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the processing circuitry further configured to configure the HE AP to transmit the N DP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to the plurality of non-AP HE-STAs.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, the processing circuitry further configured to determine that non-AP HE-STAs that do not respond to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame are not active, and to refrain from

communication with non-AP HE-STAs that are not active.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, the processing circuitry further configured to assign a starting space time stream number and a resource unit tone set index to each of the non-AP HE-ST As in the range of association identifiers, and to encode the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to indicate the assignments.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, the processing circuit ry further configured to:

encode an acknowledgment for each of the decoded NDP feedback reports; and

configure the HE AP to transmit the acknowledgments.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, the processing circuitry further configured to encode the acknowledgment as a multi-station block

acknowledgment, acknowledgement, data, or management frame, wherein the HE AP is configured to transmit the acknowledgement a short inter-frame space ( SIFS) time after reception of the NDP feedback reports.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, the processing circuitry further configured to encode the user info field to identify a first association identifier of the range of association identifiers.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to treat reception of an NDP feedback report in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame from a non-AP HE- S T A as reception of a power save poll from the non-AP HE-STA.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to receive the NDP feedback reports during an announced target wake time service period (TWT SP), and wherein providing the uplink transmission opportunity to non-AP HE-STA comprises scheduling a trigger frame for transmission to the target wake time requesting non-AP HE-STA.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to transmit the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame during a broadcast target wake time service period (TWT SP).

1 1. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising transceiver circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 1, further comprising one or more antennas coupled to the transceiver circuitry.

13. An apparatus of a high-efficiency (HE) station (HE-STA) comprising: memory; and processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to:

decode a null data packet (NDP) Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to identify a request for an uplink buffer status based on a feedback type subfield of a user info field of the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame having a value of one (1) indicating power save poll (PS-POLL);

encode a HE trigger-based (TB) NDP feedback Physical Layer

Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (HE TB NDP feedback PPDU) in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to include a feedback status value of zero (0) to indicate that the HE-STA is in an awake state and does not have traffic to send in uplink or to include a feedback status value of one (1) to indicate that the HE-STA is in the awake state and has traffic to send in uplink; and

configure the HE-STA to transmit the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, the processing circuitry further configured to decode the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to determine an allocation for the HE T B NDP feedback PPDU, and configure the HE-STA to encode the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU for transmission in accordance with the allocation.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, the processing circuitry further configured to decode the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to determine a space time stream number and a resource unit tone set index, and to configure the HE-STA to encode the HE TB N DP feedback PPDU for transmission using the space time stream number and resource units identified by the resource unit tone set index.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to receive a second trigger frame addressed to the HE-STA during a trigger enabled target wake time service period (TWT SP), and to inhibit inclusion of a power save poll (PS-POLL) frame and an automatic power save delivery (APSD) trigger frame in a second HE TB NDP feedback PPDU transmitted in response to the second trigger frame based on transmission of the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU in response to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame.

1 7. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising transceiver circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry.

1 8. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising one or more antennas coupled to the transceiver circuitry.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed by one or more hardware processors of a high- efficiency (HE) access point (AP) configure the one or more hardware processors to perform operations comprising:

encoding a null data packet (NDP) Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to request an uplink buffer status from a plurality of non-AP HE stations (HE STAs) identified in the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame by a range of association identifiers (AIDs), the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame further encoded to indicate an allocation for each of the plurality of non-AP HE- STAs, the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame further encoded to include a feedback type subfie!d of a user info field set to a value indicating power save poll (PS-POLL) to indicate the request for the uplink buffer status;

decoding NDP feedback reports from at least some of the plurality of non-AP HE-STAs according to the allocations, the NDP feedback reports comprising HE trigger-based (TB) null data packet ( NDP) feedback Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Units (HE TB NDP feedback PPDUs), each of the HE T B NDP feedback PPDUs decoded to determine, for a respective non-AP HE-STA, whether a feedback status included in the HE TB NDP feedback PPDU has a first predetermined value indicating that the non-AP HE-STA is in an awake state and does not have traffic to send in uplink or has a second predetermined value indicating that the non-AP H E-ST A has traffic to send in uplink; and

generating signaling to configure the HE AP to provide each of the non- AP HE-STAs having a feedback status indicating that the non-AP HE-STA has traffic to send with an uplink transmission opportunity.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, the operations further comprising configuring the HE AP to transmit the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to the plurality of non-AP HE-STAs.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, the operations further comprising determining that non-AP HE-STAs that do not respond to the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame are not active, and refraining from communication with non-AP HE-STAs that are not active.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, the operations further comprising assigning a starting space time stream number and a resource unit tone set index to each of the non-AP HE-STAs in the range of association identifiers, and encoding the NDP Feedback Report Poll trigger frame to indicate the assignments.