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Re: [STDS-802-11-TGM] Some discussion on Clause 9.2.2 Conventions



--- This message came from the IEEE 802.11 Task Group M Technical Reflector ---

> do something like:

 

9.2.2 Conventions

 

The conventions described in this subclause apply to the entirety of Clause 9.

 

Structures defined in the MAC sublayer are described as a sequence of components (e.g., fields, subfields, elements and subelements) in specific order. Each figure and table in Clause 9 (Frame formats) depicts the components as they appear in the MAC frame and in the order in which they are passed to the physical layer (PHY), from left to right and then from top to bottom.

 

I have received an alternative suggestion, which is the following:

 

Rename 9.1 to “General requirements and conventions”.

 

Delete the 9.2.2 heading.

 

Move the contents of 9.2.2 to the end of 9.1 and make the following changes:

 

The conventions described in this subclause apply to the entirety of Clause 9.

 

Structures defined in the MAC sublayer are described as a sequence of components (e.g., fields, subfields, elements and subelements) in specific order. Each figure and table in Clause 9 (Frame formats) depicts the components as they appear in the MAC frame and in the order in which they are passed to the physical layer (PHY), from left to right and then from top to bottom.

 

I don't particularly mind (I think de facto everyone already treats

9.2.2 as applying to the whole of 9).

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

 

--

Mark RISON, Standards Architect, WLAN   English/Esperanto/Français

Samsung Cambridge Solution Centre       Tel: +44 1223  434600

1 Cambridge Square, Cambridge CB4 0AE   Fax: +44 1223  434601

ROYAUME UNI                             WWW: http://www.samsung.com/uk

 

From: Mark RISON
Sent: Tuesday, 10 November 2026 09:38
To: Joseph Levy <Joseph.Levy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; STDS-802-11-TGM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Some discussion on Clause 9.2.2 Conventions

 

> Clause 9.2.2 is a clause in the 9.2 MAC frame formats clause and therefore is not in the "correct" location in Clause 9 to obviously apply to all of clause 9 and may be incorrectly assumed to only apply to 9.2 or missed (not notices) by a user looking for information in other clause 9 clauses (e.g., 9.3, 9.4, ...), how would they know to look in clause 9.2 for information that relates to e.g., clause 9.3.  So, I propose to move the conventions clause text to clause 9.1 which provides the general requirements for clause 9 and clearly applies to all of clause 9. 

 

If that's the argument, then lots of other things need to be moved

from 9.2.2 too, since they also apply to 9.3 onwards, e.g.:

 

  • Endianness: "In figures, all bits within fields are numbered, from 0 to k, where the length of the field is k + 1 bits. Bits within numeric fields that are longer than a single bit are depicted in increasing order of significance, i.e., with the lowest numbered bit having the least significance."
  • MAC addresses: "MAC addresses are assigned as ordered sequences of bits. The Individual/Group bit is always transferred first and is bit 0 of the MAC address. Bit 47 of the MAC address is always transferred last."
  • Reserved fields: "Reserved fields and subfields defined in this clause are set to 0 upon transmission and are ignored upon reception."

 

Furthermore, I don't think moving things from one subclause to another

makes it clear they have clause scope, just because the subclause

heading is "General requirements".

 

Frankly, I think it is clear that the intent is for 9.2.2 to apply to

the whole of Clause 9.  I agree this is not stated, so I think it would

be better to do something like:

 

9.2.2 Conventions

 

The conventions described in this subclause apply to the entirety of Clause 9.

 

Structures defined in the MAC sublayer are described as a sequence of components (e.g., fields, subfields, elements and subelements) in specific order. Each figure and table in Clause 9 (Frame formats) depicts the components as they appear in the MAC frame and in the order in which they are passed to the physical layer (PHY), from left to right and then from top to bottom.

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

 

--

Mark RISON, Standards Architect, WLAN   English/Esperanto/Français

Samsung Cambridge Solution Centre       Tel: +44 1223  434600

1 Cambridge Square, Cambridge CB4 0AE   Fax: +44 1223  434601

ROYAUME UNI                             WWW: http://www.samsung.com/uk

 

From: Joseph Levy <000019588066c6b7-dmarc-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, 10 November 2026 09:13
To: STDS-802-11-TGM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [STDS-802-11-TGM] Some discussion on Clause 9.2.2 Conventions

 

Caution: External Emails May Contain Spoofed Addresses, Malicious Links, or Attachments – Verify Before Engaging.

--- This message came from the IEEE 802.11 Task Group M Technical Reflector ---

Yesterday in the TGmf meeting there was some discussion around the MAC conventions for field contents. e.g. "Unless specified otherwise,  an integer in a field is an unsigned integer." 

 

Which is very helpful and allows the field descriptions in Clause 9 to simply say "integer" instead of "unsigned integer" throughout the clause.

 

But unfortunately, Clause 9.2.2 is a clause in the 9.2 MAC frame formats clause and therefore is not in the "correct" location in Clause 9 to obviously apply to all of clause 9 and may be incorrectly assumed to only apply to 9.2 or missed (not notices) by a user looking for information in other clause 9 clauses (e.g., 9.3, 9.4, ...), how would they know to look in clause 9.2 for information that relates to e.g., clause 9.3.  So, I propose to move the conventions clause text to clause 9.1 which provides the general requirements for clause 9 and clearly applies to all of clause 9. 

 

So, I am proposing the following change move the conventions that apply to all of Clause 9 to Clause 9.1 with the following edits (red underlined text are additions):

 

9.1 General requirements and conventions

 

The format of the MAC frames is specified in this clause. A STA shall properly construct a subset of the frames specified in this clause for transmission and decode a (potentially different) subset of the frames specified in this clause upon validation following reception. The particular subset of these frames that a STA constructs and decodes is determined by the functions supported by that particular STA. A STA shall validate every received frame using the frame check sequence (FCS) and interpret certain fields from the MAC headers of all frames.

 

In the frame format descriptions, a construction of the form “The <element> is present” is to be understood as meaning “Exactly one <element> is present”, unless stated otherwise. Similarly, a construction of the form “The <element> is optionally present” is to be understood as meaning “Exactly zero or one <element> is present”, unless stated otherwise.(#1403)

 

A STA shall transmit frames using only the frame formats described in Clause 9 (Frame formats).

 

(#11be)An EHT STA shall not include a status code in a Status Code field unless the corresponding condition

described in the meaning column of Table 9-96 (Status codes) is met.

 

<Text from clause 9.2.2 Conventions first 3 paragraphs is moved to clause 9.1, as these paragraphs apply to all of Clause 9>

Structures defined in the MAC sublayer are described as a sequence of components (e.g., fields, subfields, elements and subelements) in specific order. Each figure and table in Clause 9 (Frame formats) depicts the components as they appear in the MAC frame and in the order in which they are passed to the physical layer (PHY), from left to right and then from top to bottom.

 

(#1357)Unless specified otherwise, a field contains an integer. Unless specified otherwise, an integer in a field is an unsigned integer. (#1358)Unless specified otherwise, a field that contains a signed integer is encoded using 2s complement.

 

A field or subfield within the figure depiction of a frame format that includes a value (decimal, if numeric) within parentheses indicates that this field or subfield is set to the indicated value upon transmission.

 

And in clause 9.2.2, the above three paragraphs are deleted.

 

Regards,

Joseph

   


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