US 11,743,945 B1
Methods and devices for communicating in a wireless network with multiple virtual access points
Liwen Chu, San Ramon, CA (US); Lei Wang, San Diego, CA (US); Hongyuan Zhang, Fremont, CA (US); Jinjing Jiang, San Jose, CA (US); and Hui-Ling Lou, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Assigned to Marvell Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore (SG)
Filed by Marvell Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore (SG)
Filed on Jul. 5, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/857,816.
Application 17/857,816 is a continuation of application No. 16/813,611, filed on Mar. 9, 2020, granted, now 11,382,132.
Application 16/813,611 is a continuation of application No. 14/963,045, filed on Dec. 8, 2015, granted, now 10,588,165, issued on Mar. 10, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/089,026, filed on Dec. 8, 2014.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04W 74/08 (2009.01); H04L 5/00 (2006.01); H04W 74/00 (2009.01); H04B 17/318 (2015.01); H04W 76/11 (2018.01); H04B 7/0452 (2017.01); H04W 4/06 (2009.01); H04W 72/21 (2023.01); H04W 84/12 (2009.01)
CPC H04W 74/0816 (2013.01) [H04B 7/0452 (2013.01); H04B 17/318 (2015.01); H04L 5/0007 (2013.01); H04W 4/06 (2013.01); H04W 72/21 (2023.01); H04W 74/004 (2013.01); H04W 76/11 (2018.02); H04W 84/12 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operation in a wireless communication network in which one physical access point (AP) implements a plurality of virtual APs corresponding to a plurality of respective basic service sets (BSSs), comprising:
receiving, at a first client station, a management frame from the physical AP, the management frame including an indication of a plurality of respective BSS identifiers (BSSIDs) of the plurality of BSSs that correspond to the plurality of virtual APs;
receiving, at the first client station, an indication from the physical AP of a single BSS color identifier (ID) that corresponds to all of the virtual APs in the plurality of virtual APs;
associating, by the client station, with a first virtual AP among the plurality of virtual APs; and
transmitting, by the first client station, a first signal as part of an uplink (UL) multi-user transmission to the physical AP, the first signal having i) a first physical layer (PHY) preamble with a field set to the single BSS color ID, and ii) a PHY payload with data intended for the first virtual AP, wherein the first signal is transmitted while one or more second client stations transmit one or more second signals with data intended for one or more second virtual APs among the plurality of virtual APs as part of the UL multi-user transmission to the physical AP.