Packet based link aggregation architectures

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. Wireless devices may support parallel communications over multiple wireless links, which may benefit a wireless system in terms of throughput and latency (among other benefits). However, such systems may experience increased system complexity, which may in some cases mitigate some of the benefits provided by the parallel communication links. The described techniques provide for aggregation architectures that address various such complexities. For example, devices communicating in accordance with the described techniques may format data to be transmitted into a set of data units that are allocated to a communication link based on various factors described herein. Correspondingly, a device that receives the data packets may reorder the packets in accordance with the described techniques.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:
 a processor;   memory in electronic communication with the processor; and   instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to:
 establish a multi-link session between the apparatus and a second wireless device, the multi-link session comprising a plurality of wireless links for communications in parallel between the apparatus and the second wireless device; 
 format data to be transmitted to the second wireless device into a plurality of data units; 
 transmit a first set of data units of the plurality of data units to the second wireless device over a first wireless link of the plurality of wireless links; and 
 transmit a second set of data units of the plurality of data units to the second wireless device over a second wireless link of the plurality of wireless links. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
 allocate the first set of data units to a first transmit queue for the first wireless link; and   allocate the second set of data units to a second transmit queue for the second wireless link.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
 assign a respective sequence number of a set of sequence numbers to each of the plurality of data units, the set of sequence numbers indicating an order of the plurality of data units for the data.   
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
 assign a respective sequence number of a first set of sequence numbers to each of the first set of data units to be transmitted over the first wireless link; and   assign a respective sequence number of a second set of sequence numbers to each of the second set of data units to be transmitted over the second wireless link.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
 assign each of a third set of sequence numbers to one of the first set of data units or the second set of data units, wherein each of the first set of data units is assigned one of the first set of sequence numbers and one of the third set of sequence numbers, and wherein each of the second set of data units is assigned one of the second set of sequence numbers and one of the third set of sequence numbers.   
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
 allocate the plurality of data units to a common transmit queue for the first wireless link and the second wireless link.   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
 determine a value of a parameter that indicates availability of the first wireless link, or the second wireless link, or both, for transmissions to the second wireless device; and   allocate one or more of the plurality of data units in the common transmit queue to one of the first wireless link or the second wireless link based at least in part on the value of the parameter.   
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
 assign a transmitter address, or a receiver address, or a traffic identifier, or a combination thereof, to each of the plurality of wireless links; and   establish a block acknowledgement session between the apparatus and the second wireless device based at least in part on the assignment.   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to establish the multi-link session between the apparatus and the second wireless device by being executable by the processor to:
 assign a common value of an operational parameter to the first wireless link and the second wireless link, the operational parameter comprising a sequence number, or a frame number, or a packet number, or a fragment size, or a transmitter address, or a receiver address, or an encryption key, or a combination thereof.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to assign the common value of the operational parameter by being executable by the processor to:
 identify a first value of the operational parameter for the first wireless link;   identify a second value of the operational parameter value for the second wireless link; and   assign one of the first value or the second value of the operational parameter to be the common value according to a selection criterion for the operational parameter.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
 duplicate one or more data units of the plurality of data units prior to transmission, wherein at least one of the first set of data units transmitted over the first wireless link comprises the duplicated one or more data units, and wherein at least one of the second set of data units transmitted over the second wireless link comprises the duplicated one or more data units.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions to format the data to be transmitted to the second wireless device are further executable by the processor to:
 encode the data into a plurality of encoding symbols, the data recoverable at the second wireless device by decoding a subset of the plurality of encoding symbols; and   format the plurality of encoding symbols into the plurality of data units.   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to transmit the first set of data units by being executable by the processor to:
 identify a pseudo-random sequence known to both the apparatus and the second wireless device; and   transmit the first set of data units using a plurality of frequency resources of the multi-link session according to the identified pseudo-random sequence.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to establish the multi-link session between the apparatus and the second wireless device by being executable by the processor to:
 establish the first wireless link between a first lower media access control (MAC) layer of the apparatus and a first lower MAC layer of the second wireless device; and   establish the second wireless link between a second lower MAC layer of the apparatus and a second lower MAC layer of the second wireless device, wherein the first lower MAC layer and the second lower MAC layer of the apparatus are in communication with a common upper MAC layer of the apparatus.   
     
     
         15 . An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:
 a processor;   memory in electronic communication with the processor; and   instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to:
 establish a multi-link session between the apparatus and a second wireless device, the multi-link session comprising a plurality of wireless links for communications in parallel between the apparatus and the second wireless device; 
 receive a first set of data units from the second wireless device over a first wireless link of the plurality of wireless links; 
 receive a second set of data units from the second wireless device over a second wireless link of the plurality of wireless links; and 
 reorder the first set of data units and the second set of data units to generate a single data message for the second wireless device. 
   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
 aggregate the first set of data units into a first receive queue for the first wireless link; and   aggregate the second set of data units into a second receive queue for the second wireless link.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to reorder the first set of data units and the second set of data units to generate a single data message for the second wireless device by being executable by the processor to:
 identify, for each data unit of the first set of data units and the second set of data units, one of a set of sequence numbers common between the first set of data units and the second set of data units; and   reorder the first set of data units and the second set of data units based at least in part on the identified set of sequence numbers to generate the single data message.   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to reorder the first set of data units and the second set of data units to generate a single data message for the second wireless device by being executable by the processor to:
 identify, for each data unit of the first set of data units, one of a first set of sequence numbers for the first set of data units;   identify, for each data unit of the second set of data units, one of a second set of sequence numbers for the first set of data units; and   reorder the first set of data units and the second set of data units based at least in part on the identified first set of sequence numbers and the identified second set of sequence numbers to generate the single data message.   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
 replay checking the reordered first set of data units and the second set of data units; and   defragment the reordered first set of data units and the second set of data units.   
     
     
         20 . A method for wireless communication at a first wireless device, comprising:
 establishing a multi-link session between the first wireless device and a second wireless device, the multi-link session comprising a plurality of wireless links for communications in parallel between the first wireless device and the second wireless device;   formatting data to be transmitted to the second wireless device into a plurality of data units;   transmitting a first set of data units of the plurality of data units to the second wireless device over a first wireless link of the plurality of wireless links; and   transmitting a second set of data units of the plurality of data units to the second wireless device over a second wireless link of the plurality of wireless links.