Multiple basic service set support

Abstract

An access point (AP) device determines a set of basic service set identifiers (BSSIDs). Each BSSID includes a same group of most significant bits (MSBs) and a different group of n least significant bits (LSBs). The AP device assigns respective BSSIDs from the set of BSSIDs to multiple virtual APs. and designates one of the assigned BSSIDs as a reference BSSID that corresponds to a transmitter address (TA) for frames intended for client stations associated with more than one virtual AP. The AP device generates and transmits a management frame that includes i) a header with a TA field set to one of the assigned BSSIDs, and ii) a frame body with a plurality of fields that includes a) a first field set to n, and b) a second field set to the n LSBs of the reference BSSID. The TA field, the first field, and the second field in the management frame indicate the reference BSSID to a client station that receives the management frame.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 - 26 . (canceled) 
     
     
         27 . A method, comprising:
 determining, at an access point (AP) device, a set of basic service set identifiers (BSSIDs), wherein each BSSID in the set includes a same group of most significant bits (MSBs);   assigning, at the AP device, respective BSSIDs from the set of BSSIDs to multiple virtual APs implemented by the AP device;   designating, at the AP device, one of the assigned BSSIDs as a reference BSSID, wherein the reference BS SID corresponds to a transmitter address (TA) for frames intended for client stations associated with more than one virtual AP implemented by the AP device;   generating, at the AP device, a management frame that includes i) a header with a TA field set to one of the assigned BSSIDs, and ii) a frame body with a plurality of fields that includes a) a first field set to n, and b) a second field set to then LSBs of the reference BS SID; and   transmitting, by the AP device, the management frame, wherein the TA field, the first field, and the second field, indicate the reference BS SID to a client station that receives the management frame   wherein each BS SID in the set of BSSIDs has a first same length;   transmitting, by the AP device, the multiple beacon frames.   
     
     
         28 . The method  claim 27 , further comprising:
 generating, at the AP device, multiple beacon frames respectively corresponding to the multiple virtual APs, wherein each beacon frame includes a header with a TA field set to the respective BSSID assigned to the respective virtual AP, wherein each beacon frame further includes respective network information regarding a respective basic service set corresponding to the respective virtual AP; and   transmitting, by the AP device, the multiple beacon frames.   
     
     
         29 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a network interface device associated with an access point (AP) device, wherein the network interface device includes one or more integrated circuit (IC) devices configured to:   determine a set of basic service set identifiers (BSSIDs), wherein each BS SID in the set includes a same group of most significant bits (MSBs), wherein each BSSID in the set includes a different group of n least significant bits (LSBs), and wherein n is a positive integer,   assign respective BSSIDs from the set of BSSIDs to multiple virtual APs implemented by the AP device,   designate one of the assigned BSSIDs as a reference BSSID, wherein the reference BSSID corresponds to a transmitter address (TA) for frames intended for client stations associated with more than one virtual AP implemented by the AP device,   generate a management frame that includes i) a header with a TA field set to one of the assigned BSSIDs, and ii) a frame body with a plurality of fields that includes a) a first field set ton, and b) a second field set to then LSBs of the reference BSSID, and   transmit the management frame, wherein the TA field, the first field, and the second field, indicate the reference BSSID to a client station that receives the management frame;   the one or more IC devices are configured to transmit each beacon frame within a respective physical layer (PHY) data unit having a respective PHY header.   determining that the frame body of the other frame includes data for client stations associated with more than one virtual AP implemented by the AP device is further based on determining that the RU allocation information indicates that the particular RU is associated with the station identifier value that is reserved for information corresponding to multiple client station associated with multiple virtual APs.   
     
     
         30 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a network interface device associated with a particular client station, wherein the network interface device includes one or more integrated circuit (IC) devices configured to:   receive a management frame from a physical access point (AP) device, wherein the management frame includes i) a header with a transmitter address (TA) field set to a particular basic service set identifier (BSSID) corresponding to a particular virtual AP among multiple virtual APs implemented by the physical AP device, and ii) a frame body with a plurality of fields that includes a) a first field set to a value n, and b) a second field set to the n LSBs of a reference BSSID, wherein the reference BSSID corresponds to a TA for frames intended for client stations associated with more than one virtual AP implemented by the AP device;   wherein the particular BS SID and the reference BS SID are from a set of BSSIDs, wherein each BSSID in the set includes a same group of most significant bits (MSBs), wherein each BSSID in the set includes a different group of n least significant bits (LSBs), wherein n is a positive integer, and wherein respective BSSIDs from the set of BSSIDs correspond to respective virtual APs among the multiple virtual APs implemented by the physical AP device;   wherein the one or more IC devices are further configured to:
 determine the reference BSSID using i) the TA field, ii) the first field, and iii) the second field, and 
   use the determined reference BSSID to identify frames transmitted by the physical AP device that are intended for client stations associated with more than one virtual AP implemented by the AP device;   the other frame is received within a particular resource unit (RU) within a multi-user (MU) physical layer (PHY) data unit.