PREAMBLE DESIGN ASPECTS FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORKS
Methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for resource allocation signaling in a high efficiency wireless local area network (WLAN) are disclosed. A transmitter may identify a first indicator identifying a number of multi-user multiple-input/multiple-output (MU-MIMO) stations associated with a first resource unit (RU) in a first content channel of a transmission frame. The transmitter may generate a first common portion of a WLAN signaling field in the first content channel. The first common portion may include the first indicator. The transmitter may identify a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame. The transmitter may generate a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel. The second common portion may include the second indicator. The transmitter may transmit the transmission frame including the WLAN signaling field.
The present application for patent claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/270,562 by Bharadwaj, et al., entitled “Preamble Design Aspects For High Efficiency Wireless Local Area Networks,” filed Dec. 21, 2015 and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/299,554 by Bharadwaj, et al., entitled “Preamble Design Aspects For High Efficiency Wireless Local Area Networks,” filed Feb. 24, 2016 and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/328,602 by Bharadwaj, et al., entitled “Preamble Design Aspects For High Efficiency Wireless Local Area Networks,” filed Apr. 27, 2016, and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/344,374 by Bharadwaj, et al., entitled “Preamble Design Aspects For High Efficiency Wireless Local Area Networks, filed Jun. 1, 2016 and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/365,329 by Bharadwaj, et al., entitled “Preamble Design Aspects For High Efficiency Wireless Local Area Networks filed Jul. 21, 2016 and assigned to the assignee hereof.
BACKGROUNDField of the Disclosure
The present disclosure, for example, relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to design aspects of high efficiency wireless local area networks (WLANs).
Description of Related Art
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). A wireless network, for example a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), such as a Wi-Fi network (IEEE 802.11) may include an access point (AP) that may communicate with one or more stations (STAs) or mobile devices. The AP may be coupled to a network, such as the Internet, and enable a mobile device to communicate via the network (and/or communicate with other devices coupled to the access point).
A first signaling field and/or a second signaling field of a preamble used for transmitting frames in high efficiency (HE) wireless local area networks (WLANs) can be modified to improve performance and efficiency of HE WLANs.
SUMMARYMethods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for supporting preamble design aspects of high efficiency WLANs are disclosed.
A method of wireless communication is described. The method may include identifying a first indicator identifying a number of multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) stations associated with a first resource unit (RU) in a first content channel of a transmission frame, generating a first common portion of a WLAN signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator, identifying a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame, generating a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator, and transmitting the transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field.
An apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include means for identifying a first indicator identifying a number of MU-MIMO stations associated with a first RU in a first content channel of a transmission frame, means for generating a first common portion of a WLAN signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator, means for identifying a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame, means for generating a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator, and means for transmitting the transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field.
Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include a processor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be operable to cause the processor to identify a first indicator identifying a number of MU-MIMO stations associated with a first RU in a first content channel of a transmission frame, generate a first common portion of a WLAN signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator, identify a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame, generate a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator, and transmit the transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field.
A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communication is described. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may include instructions operable to cause a processor to identify a first indicator identifying a number of MU-MIMO stations associated with a first RU in a first content channel of a transmission frame, generate a first common portion of a WLAN signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator, identify a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame, generate a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator, and transmit the transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field.
In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the first common portion comprises a first common block field and the second common portion comprises a second common block field of the WLAN signaling field.
In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the WLAN signaling field comprises a HE signaling B (HE-SIG-B) field.
A method of wireless communication is described. The method may include receiving, at a first station, a transmission frame that includes a WLAN signaling field decodable by a plurality of stations, identifying, in a station-specific portion of the WLAN signaling field, an order for a plurality of station-specific information blocks associated with the plurality of stations, and determining a number of spatial streams allocated to the first station based at least in part on the identified order for the plurality of station-specific information blocks.
An apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include means for receiving, at a first station, a transmission frame that includes a WLAN signaling field decodable by a plurality of stations, means for identifying, in a station-specific portion of the WLAN signaling field, an order for a plurality of station-specific information blocks associated with the plurality of stations, and means for determining a number of spatial streams allocated to the first station based at least in part on the identified order for the plurality of station-specific information blocks.
Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include a processor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be operable to cause the processor to receive, at a first station, a transmission frame that includes a WLAN signaling field decodable by a plurality of stations, identify, in a station-specific portion of the WLAN signaling field, an order for a plurality of station-specific information blocks associated with the plurality of stations, and determine a number of spatial streams allocated to the first station based at least in part on the identified order for the plurality of station-specific information blocks.
A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communication is described. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may include instructions operable to cause a processor to receive, at a first station, a transmission frame that includes a WLAN signaling field decodable by a plurality of stations, identify, in a station-specific portion of the WLAN signaling field, an order for a plurality of station-specific information blocks associated with the plurality of stations, and determine a number of spatial streams allocated to the first station based at least in part on the identified order for the plurality of station-specific information blocks.
Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for identifying, in the station-specific portion, an identifier associated with the first station, wherein the identified order may be based at least in part on the identifier associated with the first station.
Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for identifying, in a common portion of the WLAN signaling field, a number of stations associated with the plurality of stations. Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for identifying, in the station-specific portion of the WLAN signaling field of the transmission frame, a total number of spatial streams value associated with the plurality of stations, wherein the determined number of spatial streams allocated to the first station may be based at least in part on the total number of spatial stream value.
In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the common portion comprises a common block field of the WLAN signaling field.
Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for identifying, in a station-specific portion, a spatial configuration field indicating the number of spatial streams allocated to each station of at least a portion of the plurality of stations and a total number of spatial streams, wherein the determined number of spatial streams allocated to the first station may be based at least in part on the spatial configuration field.
In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the total number of spatial streams may be associated with a MU-MIMO allocation.
In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the WLAN signaling field comprises a HE-SIG-B field.
A method of wireless communication is described. The method may include receiving a transmission frame associated with a plurality of channels, the transmission frame including a WLAN signaling field, identifying a first number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a first channel of the plurality of channels, identifying a second number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a second channel of the plurality of channels, and determining whether a data portion of the transmission frame contains MU-MIMO content based at least in part on the identified first number of stations and the identified second number of stations.
An apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include means for receiving a transmission frame associated with a plurality of channels, the transmission frame including a WLAN signaling field, means for identifying a first number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a first channel of the plurality of channels, means for identifying a second number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a second channel of the plurality of channels, and means for determining whether a data portion of the transmission frame contains MU-MIMO content based at least in part on the identified first number of stations and the identified second number of stations.
Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include a processor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be operable to cause the processor to receive a transmission frame associated with a plurality of channels, the transmission frame including a WLAN signaling field, identify a first number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a first channel of the plurality of channels, identify a second number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a second channel of the plurality of channels, and determine whether a data portion of the transmission frame contains MU-MIMO content based at least in part on the identified first number of stations and the identified second number of stations.
A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communication is described. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may include instructions operable to cause a processor to receive a transmission frame associated with a plurality of channels, the transmission frame including a WLAN signaling field, identify a first number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a first channel of the plurality of channels, identify a second number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a second channel of the plurality of channels, and determine whether a data portion of the transmission frame contains MU-MIMO content based at least in part on the identified first number of stations and the identified second number of stations.
Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for determining that a combination of the first number of stations and the second number of stations may be greater than one. Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for determining that the data portion of the transmission frame contains MU-MIMO content.
Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for determining that a combination of the first number of stations and the second number of stations may be equal to one. Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for determining that the data portion of the transmission frame contains single user (SU) content.
In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the WLAN signaling field comprises a HE-SIG-B field.
A method of wireless communication is described. The method may include identifying a tone plan to be used for a transmission frame in a WLAN, allocating RUs for a plurality of users for the transmission frame, determining that a RU of the tone plan is unallocated, and generating, for the transmission frame, a station identification in a user specific portion of a WLAN signaling field that indicates that the RU is unallocated.
An apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include means for identifying a tone plan to be used for a transmission frame in a WLAN, means for allocating RUs for a plurality of users for the transmission frame, means for determining that a RU of the tone plan is unallocated, and means for generating, for the transmission frame, a station identification in a user specific portion of a WLAN signaling field that indicates that the RU is unallocated.
Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include a processor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be operable to cause the processor to identify a tone plan to be used for a transmission frame in a WLAN, allocate RUs for a plurality of users for the transmission frame, determine that a RU of the tone plan is unallocated, and generate, for the transmission frame, a station identification in a user specific portion of a WLAN signaling field that indicates that the RU is unallocated.
A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communication is described. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may include instructions operable to cause a processor to identify a tone plan to be used for a transmission frame in a WLAN, allocate RUs for a plurality of users for the transmission frame, determine that a RU of the tone plan is unallocated, and generate, for the transmission frame, a station identification in a user specific portion of a WLAN signaling field that indicates that the RU is unallocated.
Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for generating a predetermined bit sequence for the station identification that indicates that the RU may be unallocated.
In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the WLAN signaling field comprises a HE-SIG-B field.
A method of wireless communication is described. The method may include receiving a first content channel associated with a transmission frame, the first content channel including a wireless local area network (WLAN) signaling field and identifying, based on at least in part on an indication in the WLAN signaling field, a first number of users associated with the first content channel and a second number of users associated with a second content channel of the transmission frame.
An apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include means for receiving a first content channel associated with a transmission frame, the first content channel including a WLAN signaling field and means for identifying, based on at least in part on an indication in the WLAN signaling field, a first number of users associated with the first content channel and a second number of users associated with a second content channel of the transmission frame.
Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include a processor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be operable to cause the processor to receive a first content channel associated with a transmission frame, the first content channel including a WLAN signaling field and identify, based on at least in part on an indication in the WLAN signaling field, a first number of users associated with the first content channel and a second number of users associated with a second content channel of the transmission frame.
A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communication is described. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may include instructions operable to cause a processor to receive a first content channel associated with a transmission frame, the first content channel including a WLAN signaling field and identify, based on at least in part on an indication in the WLAN signaling field, a first number of users associated with the first content channel and a second number of users associated with a second content channel of the transmission frame.
Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for decoding a common block field of the WLAN signaling field for the first channel to identify the first number of users. Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for decoding the common block field of the WLAN signaling field for the second channel to identify the second number of users.
In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the common block field comprises RU allocation field.
In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the WLAN signaling field comprises a HE-SIG-B field.
A method of wireless communication is described. The method may include identifying a first indicator identifying a number of MU-MIMO stations associated with a first RU in a first content channel of a transmission frame, generating a first common portion of a WLAN signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator, identifying a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame, generating a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator, and transmitting the transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field.
An apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include means for identifying a first indicator identifying a number of MU-MIMO stations associated with a first RU in a first content channel of a transmission frame, means for generating a first common portion of a WLAN signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator, means for identifying a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame, means for generating a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator, and means for transmitting the transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field.
Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include a processor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be operable to cause the processor to identify a first indicator identifying a number of MU-MIMO stations associated with a first RU in a first content channel of a transmission frame, generate a first common portion of a WLAN signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator, identify a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame, generate a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator, and transmit the transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field.
A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communication is described. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may include instructions operable to cause a processor to identify a first indicator identifying a number of MU-MIMO stations associated with a first RU in a first content channel of a transmission frame, generate a first common portion of a WLAN signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator, identify a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame, generate a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator, and transmit the transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field.
In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the first common portion comprises a first common block field and the second common portion comprises a second common block field of the WLAN signaling field. In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the WLAN signaling field comprises a HE-SIG-B field.
Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for identifying a tone plan for the transmission frame. Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for allocating RUs for a plurality of users for the transmission frame. Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for determining that a RU of the tone plan may be unallocated. Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for generating, for the transmission frame, a station identification in a user specific portion of a WLAN signaling field that indicates that the RU may be unallocated.
Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for generating a predetermined bit sequence for the station identification that indicates that the RU may be unallocated.
Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for generating a first RU allocation field in the first common portion of the WLAN signaling field to convey the indication of the first indicator. Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for generating a second RU allocation field in the first common portion of the WLAN signaling field to convey the indication of the second indicator.
A method of wireless communication is described. The method may include receiving a transmission frame associated with a plurality of channels, the transmission frame including a wireless local area network (WLAN) signaling field, identifying a first number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a first channel of the plurality of channels, identifying a second number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a second channel of the plurality of channels, and determining whether a data portion of the transmission frame contains MU-MIMO content based at least in part on the identified first number of stations and the identified second number of stations.
Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may include a processor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be operable to cause the processor to receive a transmission frame associated with a plurality of channels, the transmission frame including a WLAN signaling field, identify a first number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a first channel of the plurality of channels, identify a second number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a second channel of the plurality of channels, and determine whether a data portion of the transmission frame contains MU-MIMO content based at least in part on the identified first number of stations and the identified second number of stations.
Some examples of the method and apparatus described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for determining that a combination of the first number of stations and the second number of stations may be greater than one. Some examples of the method and apparatus described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for determining that the data portion of the transmission frame contains MU-MIMO content.
Some examples of the method and apparatus described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for determining that a combination of the first number of stations and the second number of stations may be equal to one. Some examples of the method and apparatus described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for determining that the data portion of the transmission frame contains single user (SU) content.
In some examples of the method and apparatus described above, the WLAN signaling field comprises a HE-SIG-B field.
Some examples of the method and apparatus described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for receiving a first content channel associated with the transmission frame, the first content channel including the WLAN signaling field. Some examples of the method and apparatus described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for identifying, based on at least in part on an indication in the WLAN signaling field, a first number of users associated with the first content channel and a second number of users associated with a second content channel of the transmission frame.
Some examples of the method and apparatus described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for decoding a common block field of the WLAN signaling field for the first channel to identify the first number of users. Some examples of the method and apparatus described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for decoding the common block field of the WLAN signaling field for the second channel to identify the second number of users.
In some examples of the method and apparatus described above, the common block field comprises RU allocation field.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of examples according to the disclosure in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter. The conception and specific examples disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. Characteristics of the concepts disclosed herein, both their organization and method of operation, together with associated advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. Each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only, and not as a definition of the limits of the claims.
A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the following drawings. In the appended figures, similar components or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.
In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, a transmitter, for example an AP or station, identifies a resource unit (RU) configuration for a wireless local area network (WLAN) data field of a single user (SU) transmission frame that has a fixed bandwidth. The transmitter generates a RU indicator in a WLAN signaling field of a preamble of the SU transmission frame, the RU indicator identifying a RU size and a RU location within the WLAN data field. The transmitter then transmits the SU transmission frame.
In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, an AP identifies a first indicator identifying a number of multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) stations associated with a first RU in a first content channel of a transmission frame. The AP also generates a first common portion of a WLAN signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator. The AP identifies a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame. The AP generates a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator. The AP then transmits the transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field.
In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, a first station receives a transmission frame that includes a WLAN signaling field decodable by a plurality of stations. The first station identifies, in a station-specific portion of the WLAN signaling field, an order for a plurality of station-specific information blocks associated with the plurality of stations. The station then determines a number of spatial streams allocated to the first station based at least in part on the identified order for the plurality of station-specific information blocks.
In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, a transmitter, for example an AP or station, receives a transmission frame associated with a plurality of channels, the transmission frame including a WLAN signaling field. The transmitter identifies a first number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a first channel of the plurality of channels. The transmitter identifies a second number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a second channel of the plurality of channels. The transmitter then determines whether a data portion of the transmission frame contains MU-MIMO content based at least in part on the identified first number of stations and the identified second number of stations.
In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, a transmitter, for example an AP or station, generates an indication that a first channel of a plurality of channels associated with a transmission frame has been punctured, the transmission frame including a WLAN signaling field. The transmitter identifies information associated with the WLAN signaling field corresponding to the punctured first channel. The transmitter then transmits the indication that the first channel has been punctured and the information associated with the WLAN signaling field in a second channel of the plurality of channels.
These and other aspects of the disclosure are further illustrated by and described with reference to apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, and flowcharts.
The WLAN 100 includes an AP 105 and wireless stations (STAs) 110 labeled as STA_1 through STA_7. The STAs 110 can be mobile handsets, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), other handheld devices, netbooks, notebook computers, tablet computers, laptops, desktop computers, display devices (e.g., TVs, computer monitors, etc.), printers, etc. While only one AP 105 is illustrated, the WLAN 100 can have multiple APs 105. STAs 110, can also be referred to as a mobile stations (MS), mobile devices, access terminals (ATs), user equipment (UEs), subscriber stations (SSs), or subscriber units. The STAs 110 associate and communicate with the AP 105 via a communication link 115. Each AP 105 has a coverage area 125 such that STAs 110 within that area are within range of the AP 105. The STAs 110 are dispersed throughout the coverage area 125. Each STA 110 is stationary, mobile, or a combination thereof.
Although not shown in
While the STAs 110 are capable of communicating with each other through the AP 105 using communication links 115, STAs 110 can also communicate directly with each other via direct wireless communication links 120. Direct wireless communication links can occur between STAs 110 regardless of whether any of the STAs is connected to an AP 105. Examples of direct wireless communication links 120 include Wi-Fi Direct connections, connections established by using a Wi-Fi Tunneled Direct Link Setup (TDLS) link, and other peer-to-peer (P2P) group connections.
The STAs 110 and APs 105 shown in
Transmissions to/from STAs 110 and APs 105 oftentimes include control information within a header that is transmitted prior to data transmissions. The information provided in a header is used by a device to decode the subsequent data. High efficiency (HE) WLAN preambles can be used to schedule multiple devices, such as STAs 110, for single-user simultaneous transmission (e.g., single-user orthogonal frequency division multiple access (SU-OFDMA)) and/or MU-MIMO transmissions (e.g., multiple-input/multiple-output MU-MIMO). In one example a HE WLAN signaling field is used to signal a resource allocation pattern to multiple receiving STAs 110. The HE WLAN signaling field includes a common user field that is decodable by multiple STAs 110, the common user field including a resource allocation field. The resource allocation field indicates resource unit distributions to the multiple STAs 110 and indicates which resource units in a resource unit distribution correspond to MU-MIMO transmissions and which resource units correspond to OFDMA single-user transmissions. The HE WLAN signaling field also includes, subsequent to the common user field, dedicated user fields that are assigned to certain STAs 110. The order in which the dedicated user fields are generated corresponds to the allocated resource units (e.g., the first dedicated user field corresponds to the first allocated resource unit). The HE WLAN signaling field is transmitted with a WLAN preamble to the multiple STAs 110.
In this example, the WLAN PDU 200 includes a physical (PHY) layer header 205 and a data field 220 (e.g., a MAC PDU (MPDU) or physical layer service data unit (PSDU)). The PHY layer header 205 includes a legacy WLAN preamble 210 and a high efficiency WLAN preamble 215. The preambles and data field are transmitted in the following order: legacy WLAN preamble 210, high efficiency WLAN preamble 215, data field 220.
The WLAN PDU 200 is transmitted over a radio frequency spectrum band, which in some examples may include a plurality of sub-bands. In some examples, the radio frequency spectrum band may have a bandwidth of 80 MHz, and each of the sub-bands may have a bandwidth of 20 MHz. The legacy WLAN preamble 210 includes legacy short training field (STF) (L-STF) information, legacy long training field (LTF) (L-LTF) information, and legacy signaling (L-SIG) information. When the radio frequency spectrum band includes multiple sub-bands, the L-STF, L-LTF, and L-SIG information is duplicated and transmitted in each of the plurality of sub-bands. The legacy preamble is used for packet detection, automatic gain control, channel estimation, etc. The legacy preamble is also used to maintain compatibility with legacy devices.
The high efficiency WLAN preamble 215 includes any of: a repeated legacy WLAN field (e.g., an RL-SIG field), a first WLAN signaling field (e.g., a first HE WLAN signaling field such as HE-SIG-A), a second WLAN signaling field (e.g., a second HE WLAN signaling field such as HE-SIG-B), a WLAN STF (e.g., a HE WLAN STF), and at least one WLAN LTF (e.g., at least one HE WLAN LTF). The HE WLAN preamble 215 enables an AP to simultaneously transmit to multiple stations (e.g., MU-MIMO) and also enables an AP to allocate resources to multiple stations for uplink/downlink transmissions (e.g., SU-OFDMA). The HE WLAN preamble 215 uses a common signaling field and one or more dedicated (e.g., station-specific) signaling fields to schedule resources and to indicate the scheduling to other WLAN devices. A device uses the scheduling to determine which resource units associated with the frequency spectrum utilized by data field 220 have been allocated to the device for forthcoming communications.
The first WLAN signaling field 305 includes high efficiency WLAN signaling information usable by APs and stations other than a number of APs or stations identified to receive or transmit communications in the WLAN PDU 300. The first WLAN signaling field 305 also includes information usable by the identified number of APs or stations to decode the second WLAN signaling field 310. When the radio frequency spectrum band includes a plurality of sub-bands, the information (e.g., HE-SIG-A 330-a) included in the first WLAN signaling field 305 is duplicated and transmitted in each sub-band of the first WLAN signaling field 305, (e.g., HE-SIG-A 330-b to 330-d).
The second WLAN signaling field 310 includes high efficiency WLAN signaling information usable by a number of APs or stations identified to transmit or receive communications in the WLAN PDU 300. More specifically, the second WLAN signaling field 310 includes information usable by the number of APs or stations to transmit/encode or receive/decode data in the data field 220. The second WLAN signaling field 310 can be encoded separately from the first WLAN signaling field 305. The second WLAN signaling field 310 includes a common block field 340 that signals information to a group of devices, such as high efficiency STAs within range of an AP, and user blocks 345-a to 345-c that signal information specific to specific high efficiency STAs. The common block includes a resource allocation field 350 that signals to the high efficiency device how the data field 325 is partitioned amongst devices (e.g., partitions the data field into resource units), which of the resource units are associated with SU-OFDMA and which are associated with MU-MIMO. Furthermore, the order of the user blocks 345 provides a link between the device associated with the user block 345 and the resource unit that has been allocated to the device. As an example, the resource allocation field 350 partitions the data field into nine regions (e.g., 20 MHz data region is partitioned into nine sub-regions that each span 26 tones). The STA addressed in the first user block corresponds to the first 26 tones, the second STA addressed in the second user block corresponds to the next 26 tones, etc. The common block may also include other fields, such as a LTF.
A transmission sent in the HE extended range PPDU format may be sent in environments where using a longer range transmission is desirable, e.g. this format may be used for communication with internet of thing (IoT) devices, sensors, etc. A HE extended range PPDU may also have a simpler structure and be more robust as compared to one or more other HE PPDU formats that may be used for SU transmissions. For example, a HE extended range PPDU format may use a repeated HE-SIG-A field in its preamble to provide for more robust reception. A HE extended range PPDU may also be configured to allow for the signaling of smaller resource units.
In contrast to a generic SU HE PPDU that may select among several different bandwidths or have a varying bandwidth (as signaled in the HE preamble), a HE extended range PPDU for SU transmissions may use a fixed bandwidth, e.g. 20 MHz, that may be smaller than the bandwidth available for the generic SU HE PPDU, e.g. where the SU HE PPDU bandwidth is 40 MHz, 80 MHz, or 160 MHz. Using a smaller, fixed bandwidth may allow for transmissions to be sent with a higher power than if the same amount of power were spread across a larger bandwidth, e.g. 40 MHz, 80 MHz, or 160 MHz, increasing range and robustness for the transmissions. For example, the power for the preamble of the HE extended range PPDU may be increased or boosted 3 dB above the transmission power of a generic SU HE PPDU. In some case, just the power of the preamble may be boosted by the transmitter to increase the likelihood of successful reception and decoding. In other examples, the entire PPDU may be boosted, e.g. by 3 dB. In other examples, the HE extended range PPDU may also boost the power of the transmitted preamble when using a larger bandwidth, such as a 40 MHz, 80 MHz, or 160 MHz bandwidth.
Thus, to maintain simplicity and reduce overhead, the number of combinations of RU sizes and locations may be limited to a maximum of 4 possibilities (for a 2 bit allocation as described above in reference to
In some examples, the RU allocation field 415 may only be used in an example where the bandwidth of PPDU is indicated by the BW field 410 to be 20 MHz. The 2 bits of the BW field 410 may be used to indicate that the PPDU uses one of four different bandwidths. Where the BW field 410 indicates a bandwidth of 20 MHz (or another predetermined bandwidth according to other examples), the recipient of the PPDU may assume that the HE-SIG-A field 305-a contains the RU allocation field 415 following the BW field 410, and the RU allocation field 415 may be followed by an MCS field 420 and a Nsts field 425, as illustrated in
In some instances, the HE-SIG-A field 305-a where the BW field 410 indicates a higher bandwidth, e.g. 40 MHz, 80 MHz, or 160 MHz, the HE-SIG-A field for the SU HE extended range PPDU may have the same format as for a non-extended range format PPDU, e.g. the HE-SIG-A field for the SU HE PPDU. Maintaining a similar format for the HE-SIG-A field for certain bandwidths of the SU extended range HE PPDU as the SU HE PPDU may increase simplicity of implementation.
Where an RU allocation field 415 in the HE-SIG-A field 305-a (e.g. in the case where BW field 410 indicates a 20 MHz bandwidth), then additional bits in the HE-SIG-A field may be needed. For example, the size of the HE-SIG-A field 305-a may be constrained, such that introducing bits in an RU allocation field 415 may push the size of the field over that constraint. As described above, the size of the RU allocation field 415 may be 2 bits in some examples. In such case, the size of the MCS field may be limited to 2 bits, for example where the size of the MCS field 420 in the absence of an RU allocation field 415 would otherwise be 4 bits. Thus, the MCS values indicated by the MCS field 420 may be MCS0, MCS1, MCS2, and MCS3. In an example the four MCSs may correspond to a BPSK 1/2 MCS, a QPSK 1/2 MCS, a QPSK 3/4 MCS, and a 16-QAM 1/2 MCS, respectively.
As also described above, the size of the RU allocation field 415 may be 3 bits in some examples. In such case, the size of the MCS field may be limited to 1 bit. Thus, in one example, the MCS values indicated by the MCS field 420 may be MCS0 and MCS1. In an example the two MCSs may correspond to a BPSK 1/2 MCS and a QPSK 1/2 MCS, respectively. Thus, 1 bit may be used in the SIG-A field of the preamble to identify whether a first MCS or a second MCS is used to modulate and code the PPDU data; and 2 bits may be used in the SIG-A field of the preamble to identify whether a first, a second, a third, or a fourth MCS is used to modulate and code the PPDU data. In other examples, the MCS field may be omitted, such that MCS0 is used where the BW is indicated to be 20 MHz.
In other example, the number of spatial streams (Nsts) may also be limited so that the RU allocation field 415 may be used, or to provide further reserved bits to be used for other purposes. Thus, Nsts may be limited to two options, e.g. Nsts=0 or Nsts=1, and the SIG-A field may have a Nsts field 425 that may contain a single bit to indicate the number of spatial streams, Nsts. In other examples the Nsts field 425 may have 2 bits to indicate up to 4 spatial streams, or 3 bits to indicate up to 8 spatial streams. In other examples, the Nsts field 425 may be omitted, such that a single stream is used where the BW is indicated to be 20 MHz.
As described above, limiting the number of bits used for MCS field 420 and Nsts field 425 may also decrease the complexity that a receiver needs to handle and decoding, thus decreasing the power consumption at the receiver and decreasing the amount of testing that may need to be performed, even if the extra reserved bits created by limiting the size of such fields are not used for implementing other features.
For example, 8 MU-MIMO users may be allocated RUs in channel 405-a and channel 405-b. RUs may be allocated by the common portion 340-a of the HE-SIG-B field 310-a to 5 MU-MIMO users of the 8 MU-MIMO users. The dedicated portion 345-d of the HE-SIG-B field 310-a may then provide information, once decoded by a station that is one of the 5 MU-MIMO users, that identifies where data for that station is found in the data portion associated with the channel 405-a of the transmission frame. Similarly, RUs may be allocated by the common portion 340-b of the HE-SIG-B field 310-a to 5 MU-MIMO users of the 8 MU-MIMO users. The dedicated portion 345-e of the HE-SIG-B field 310-a may then provide information, once decoded by a station that is one of the 3 MU-MIMO users, that identifies where data for that station is found in the data portion associated with the channel 405-b of the transmission frame (e.g. PPDU).
To perform load balancing, a transmitter, e.g. an AP or station, may split up a number of MU-MIMO users in different ways. For WLAN PDU 500, 8 MU-MIMO users are split with 5 MU-MIMO users, which are allocated RUs of 484 tones associated with the first channel 405-a, and 3 MU-MIMO, which are allocated RUs of 484 tones associated with the second channel 405-b. In other examples, a user may be allocated RUs that are larger than the maximum RU size for a single channel. For example where the maximum RU size for a channel is 242 tones, an allocated RU for 1 or more MU-MIMO users may be 484 tones spanning two channels (e.g., two 20 MHz channels making a 40 MHz allocation). For these larger allocations, e.g. where the RU size is 484 tones or larger, a number of MU-MIMO users may be split between a first channel and a second channel, for example from 1 to 8 MU-MIMO users. However, for purposes of load balancing, where it may be desirable to balance RU allocations between a first channel and a second channel, it may assist load balancing to provide the ability to allocate zero or no MU-MIMO users to a channel. For example, where a first channel already has a number of blocks allocated to SU transmissions for a number of users, and a second channel has no such blocks allocated to SU transmissions, for purposes of load balancing, the transmitter may then allocate zero or no MU-MIMO blocks to the first channel, and each of the remaining MU-MIMO blocks for MU-MIMO users to the second channel.
RU allocation table 1200 includes a number of entries 1205, an RU size 1210, and a user indication 1215. A brief explanation 1220 is also included in RU allocation table 1200. In this example, the RU size 1210 is 484 tones, but additional RU sizes may also be accommodated, for example 996 tones. In addition, the RU allocation table may have additional entries that are not shown in the RU allocation table portion shown in
In the example illustrated in
In other examples, additional combinations may be added to the RU allocation table to provide further load balancing capabilities, e.g. entries 1230 for a “7+1” combination for the primary and secondary channels, or “2+4” for the primary and secondary channels, and so on. In other examples, each combination may be included in the RU allocation table. In addition, the RU allocation table may be needed for larger RU sizes, e.g. 996 tones, 996*2 tones, and so on.
In a transmission frame, e.g. a HE MU PPDU transmission frame using MU-MIMO RU allocations, the order of the dedicated portions 345 of a second WLAN signaling field 310 may be used to determine a number of spatial streams (Nsts) allocated to a particular user/station that has received the transmission frame. A station may receive a transmission frame that includes a second WLAN signaling field 310. The station may then decode the dedicated portions 345 of the second WLAN signaling field 310 and determine an order for the various stations or users in the MU-MIMO allocation along with the station that has received the transmission frame. The order may be predetermined for the station. For example, the station (when an AP is the transmitter) may determine that the order is based on the identity of the station according to the order that it appears in the dedicated portion 345 based on frequency, e.g. proceeding from the lowest subcarrier frequency to the highest subcarrier frequency (or vice-versa). In one example, the station may determine the order of stations appearing in the dedicated portion 345 without regard to whether a particular channel is dedicated as a primary channel (e.g. the primary 20 MHz channel) or a secondary channel (e.g. the secondary 20 MHz channel). In another example, the station may determine the order based on frequency, but first for the primary channel, followed by the secondary channel. For example, the station may proceed from the lowest subcarrier frequency to the highest subcarrier frequency (or vice-versa) for the primary channel, followed by the lowest subcarrier frequency to the highest subcarrier frequency (or vice-versa) for the secondary channel. Thus, the station may determine the order of stations having data communicated in the dedicated portion 345.
Having determined the order for each station in the dedicated portion, a user/station may determine its own index based on where the station appears in the order. That index may then be used in conjunction with spatial configuration lookup table 700 to determine the number of spatial streams for that station. For example, if Nuser=3, there are a total number of spatial streams equal to 8, and the station has determined that its index is equal to 2, then the number of spatial streams associated with the user/station is 3, corresponding to entry 705.
In some examples for supporting preamble design aspects for HE WLANs in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, a station may differentiate between SU and MU-MIMO allocations. Decoding and combining both SIG-B content channels may be used to distinguish between SU and MU-MIMO allocations. Due to load balancing as described above with reference to
In other examples for supporting preamble design aspects for HE WLANs in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, HE-SIG-B compressed mode 800 may be used. The compressed mode may be used for MU-MIMO utilizing a full bandwidth. In such case, no RU signal information is transmitted in a HE_SIG-B filed. Instead, user specific sub-fields are split between the two HE-SIG-B content channels, as illustrated in
In other examples for supporting preamble design aspects for HE WLANs in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, an HE-SIG-B design may use channel bonding. According to an example, SIG-B may not be transmitted in a channel that has been punctured, for example a 20 MHz channel. This may be regardless of whether the preamble in the transmission frame prior to the SIG-B field has been transmitted or not. The SIG-B transmission format may be determined for secondary 20 MHz channels that are not transmitted, or other such channels that are not transmitted. When a second 20 MHz channel is not transmitted, there may be multiple options to transmit such information.
In a first example, illustrated in
As described above, an indicator (e.g., a 1 bit indicator) in the SIG-A field may be used to indicate puncturing of a 20 MHz channel and the location of the SIG-B content channel (e.g., the HE-SIG-B content channel in a particular 20 MHz channel of the bandwidth for a PPDU). In some examples, the BW field of the SIG-A field may include the indication (e.g., the 1 bit indicator). In other examples, the BW field 410 described above with reference to
Table 1 below shows example values for a 3-bit BW field in a HE-SIG-A field of a HE MU PPDU. Where a BW field in a HE-SIG-A field has a value of 0 or 1, the BW field indicates a PPDU bandwidth of 20 MHz or 40 MHz, respectively. Where a BW field in a HE-SIG-A field has a value of 2, the BW field indicates that the bandwidth for the PPDU carrying the HE-SIG-A field has a bandwidth of 80 MHz, and that both a first (primary) 20 MHz HE-SIG-B content channel and a second (secondary) 20 MHz HE-SIG-B content channel are present in the primary 40 MHz. Where a BW field in a HE-SIG-A field has a value of 3, the BW field indicates that the bandwidth for the PPDU carrying the HE-SIG-A field has a bandwidth of 160 MHz or 80+80 MHz, and that both a first (primary) 20 MHz HE-SIG-B content channel and a second (secondary) 20 MHz HE-SIG-B content channel are in the primary 40 MHz, respectively. Where a BW field in a HE-SIG-A field has a value of 4, the BW field indicates that the bandwidth for the PPDU carrying the HE-SIG-A field has a bandwidth of 80 MHz, and that the secondary 20 MHz HE-SIG-B content channel is absent from the primary 40 MHz, and the counterpart secondary 20 MHz HE-SIG-B content channel is absent from the secondary 40 MHz. Where a BW field in a HE-SIG-A field has a value of 5, the BW field indicates that the bandwidth for the PPDU carrying the HE-SIG-A field has a bandwidth of 80 MHz, and that there is a secondary 20 MHz HE-SIG-B content channel absent from the primary 40 MHz, and the counterpart secondary 20 MHz HE-SIG-B content channel is present in the secondary 40 MHz. Where a BW field in a HE-SIG-A field has a value of 6, the BW field indicates that the bandwidth for the PPDU carrying the HE-SIG-A field has a bandwidth of 160 MHz or 80+80 MHz, and that the secondary 20 MHz HE-SIG-B content channel is absent from the primary 40 MHz, and the counterpart secondary 20 MHz HE-SIG-B content channel is absent from the secondary 40 MHz. Where a BW field in a HE-SIG-A field has a value of 7, the BW field indicates that the bandwidth for the PPDU carrying the HE-SIG-A field has a bandwidth of 160 MHz or 80+80 MHz, and that there is a secondary 20 MHz HE-SIG-B content channel absent from the primary 40 MHz, and the counterpart secondary 20 MHz HE-SIG-B content channel is present in the secondary 40 MHz.
In some examples, a 2-bit BW field in a SIG-A (e.g., HE-SIG-A) field may be used to indicate a fewer number of combinations of bandwidth and SIG-B (e.g., HE-SIG-B) content channel, or a 4-bit (or more) BW field in a HE-SIG-A field may be used to indicate a greater number of combinations. In other examples, the BW field may be used to indicate different combinations of bandwidth and SIG-B content channel locations.
In a second example, for example for an 80 MHz bandwidth as illustrated in
In other examples for supporting preamble design aspects for HE WLANs in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, an HE-SIG-B design may be different when other 20 MHz channels are punctured. In such case, a common portion of a SIG-B field may be affected since one or more 20 MHz channels are absent.
In a first example, RU allocation for the punctured 20 MHz channels are not transmitted. A size of the common portion of the SIG-B field may be modified depending on the number and location of the punctured channels. In addition, a common portion size may be different between the two SIG-B content channels. An explicit indication of punctured channels may be indicated in the SIG-A field.
In a second example, a special or dedicated RU allocation bit sequence may be used to indicate that a 20 MHz channel is punctured. The indication may be made by adding an additional entry in a RU allocation table. A size of the common portion may be unchanged for either content channel. According to this example an explicit indication of the punctured 20 MHz channel may not be needed, though the additional RU allocation bit sequence may result in additional overhead in the common portion of the SIG-B field.
In these examples, the SIG-B dedicated portion, as opposed to the common portion, may be relatively unaffected. SIG-B duplicated structure may be maintained, while the dedicated content for punctured channels are not transmitted.
In other examples, other 20 MHz channels are punctured. For example, a data portion for a user may be punctured in a secondary channel corresponding to the 4th 20 MHz. SIG-B information for a 1st user and 2nd user may be transmitted in a primary channel, and SIG-B information for a 3rd user and 4th user may be transmitted in the secondary channel. If the channel carrying data for the 4th user is punctured, for example the 4th 20 MHz as shown in
In a first example, the RU allocation for the punctured 20 MHz channel may be not transmitted. The size of the common portion, e.g. common portion 1105, may then be changed depending on the number and location of the punctured channels. The common portion size may also be different between the two SIG-B content channels. An explicit indication of which channels are punctured may then be communicated in the SIG-A field. In this example a number of channels that may be punctured may be limited by the number of bits allocated in the SIG-A field to communicate which, if any, of the channels are punctured to the receiving station. For example, 2 bits in the SIG-A field may allow for the indication of 4 possible combinations of punctured channels.
In a second example, an RU allocation bit sequence may be used to indicate that a 20 MHz channel is punctured. An additional entry in an RU allocation table, for example using an otherwise reserved entry in the RU allocation table, may be used to indicate that a RU is not allocated, e.g. because the 20 MHz channel is punctured. By inserting an additional entry in the RU allocation table, the size of the common portion may be unchanged in the content channel. Furthermore, an explicit indication of the punctured 20 MHz channel may not be needed. According to this second example, the dedicated portion may remain unchanged, while the SIG-B duplicated structure is maintained.
RU allocation signaling, e.g. using an RU allocation table, may be used to indicate the allocation plan for each 20 MHz channel of a bandwidth. The size of each allocation and a number of users in each resource unit (RU) may be indicated in the RU allocation table. There may not be adequate numbers of entries available in an RU allocation table to indicate center tones (e.g. the above-described center 26 tones), for example, because the size of the RU allocation table is limited to minimize an amount of overhead. Such overhead may include the number or size of dedicated portions or blocks to be sent in the HE-SIG-B field 310-b.
An RU allocation table may provide for the allocation plan for channels. Such allocation plans may not provide a provision to account for all the tones in a bandwidth. In some examples, a tone plan may not provide the ability to allocate a 26 tone resource unit that falls in the center of the tone plan. For example, with reference to
According to some examples, that a center 26 RU is not allocated may be indicated in a station ID of a user block in the HE-SIG-B field. A certain sequence for the station ID may be used to indicate that center 26 tone RUs are not allocated, e.g. a station ID indicating an RU is unallocated, for example a sequence of 0's or a sequence of 1's for the station ID used to indicate that a corresponding center 26 tone RU is not allocated to any station.
In some examples, sending a station ID indicating that an RU is unallocated may require additional overhead. In some examples or implementations, certain of the RUs are more likely to be unallocated than other RUs. For example, the center 26 tone RUs may be the most likely to be unallocated. In some examples, the station ID indicating that an RU is unallocated may be transmitted if there is room in a pad field 925, but otherwise are not transmitted.
Upon receipt of the HE-SIG-B field 310-d by a station, the station may decode the center 26 RU blocks 925 and determine that the corresponding center 26 RUs are not allocated. The station may also determine that it has reached the end of the HE-SIG-B field 310-d, and thereby determine that the remaining two center 26 RUs are also not allocated.
In accordance with preamble design aspects described above, the order of dedicated (user) content of the user specific subfield of the SIG-B field may be ordered according to a number of possible combinations. In one example, the content may be ordered in the user specific subfield the same as the order used in the common portion of the SIG-B field. In some examples, the content of both the common portion and the user specific subfield (e.g. the dedicated portion) may be ordered in ascending or descending frequency allocated to the user. In other examples, the primary channel may be ordered first, followed by ascending frequency. In still other examples, the primary channel may be ordered first, followed by descending frequency.
The center 26 tone RU content blocks of the HE-SIG-B field described above may indicate that the center 26 tone RUs are allocated. In other example fewer or none of the center 26 tone RUs may be allocated. In such example, the station ID (AID) described above with reference to
In some example, overhead may be further reduced by reordering the transmission order of the center 26 tone RU blocks. For example, if only the 7th 20 MHz at block 1080 of the secondary HE-SIG-B content channel will indicate that a center 26 tone RU is allocated, and the remaining 26 tone RUs will be unallocated, then the scheduling that is done by the transmitting AP may performed such that, if any of the center 26 tone RUs are to be allocated, that they are allocated starting from the 1st 20 MHz, not starting with or for only the 7th 20 MHz. Thus, the transmitting AP may transmit user specific content in the SIG-B field for the allocated center 26 tone RU first, then cease transmitting, and not transmit additional center 26 tone RUs. Similarly, the station may cease decoding the SIG-B once it encounters an AID value indicating that a center 26 tone RU is not allocated.
In other examples, the order of the center 26 tone RUs may be reordered according to a predetermined order that may be known to both a transmitting AP and a receiving station.
The HE-SIG-A field contents 2001-2003 provide improved PAPR performance for HE-SIG-A. In certain aspects, the HE-SIG-A field contents 2001-20003 moves the beam change, MCS, DCM, LTE+CP, and Nsts fields to HE-SIG-A1 and moves the Txop duration to HE-SIG-A2. For the BSS color description, “0” may indicate public action frames; “63” may indicate IBSS/MBSS/TDLS frames (e.g., when the AP does not provide a color); and “1:62” may indicate HE BSS color. For the Txop duration description, “127” may indicate that the Txop duration is not set. For the Doppler description, “1” may indicate that Doppler procedure is used, and “0” may indicate otherwise.
In certain aspects, the format field may differentiate between HE SU PPDU and HE Trigger-based PPDU. Having this field first (e.g., “B0”) may support early detection and therefore may be beneficial. Having the Beam Change field as second field may be useful to determine better channel estimation, e.g., the receiver becomes aware of spatial mapping of pre-HE STF and HE LTF very early in reception. The MCS field in the beginning helps to determine MCS of the incoming data payload, e.g., early detect of 1024 QAM MCS enables receiver to enable special power save mode of reception. The DCM field follows MCS immediately, which may impacts the code rate used to calculate data rate for the MCS field.
In some aspects, the BSS Color field supports identifying to which BSS the packet belongs. The Spatial Reuse field conveys knowledge in conjunction with BSS Color field to help determine if STA can do spatial reuse transmission. In HE SU PPDU and HE Extended Range SU PPDU, the HE LTFs may follow the HE_SIG-A2 format. Hence early knowledge of LTF+CP helps in HE_SIG-A1 to prepare receiver better for channel estimation.
In some aspects, the benefits of HE-SIG-A field contents 2001-2003 studied by the PAPR performance of HE-SIG-A for various PPDU formats considering meaningful worst cases. For worst cases (e.g., all 0's and all 1's in HE_SIG A) the sequence of the HE-SIG-A field contents 2001-2003 may support PAPR better than PAPR of MCS0 data.
In certain aspects, the HE-SIG-A field contents 2101-2103 moves the MCS, DCM, LTE+CP, and SIGB # of symbols fields to HE-SIG-A1 and moves the Txop duration to HE-SIG-A2. For the BSS color description, “0” may indicate public action frames; “63” may indicate IBSS/MBSS/TDLS frames (e.g., when the AP does not provide a Color); and “1:62” may indicate HE BSS color. For the Txop duration description, “127” may indicate that the Txop duration is not set. For the Doppler description, “1” may indicate that Doppler procedure is used, and “0” may indicate otherwise.
With reference to
In other examples, the reserved fields, for example bit B0 with reference to HE-SIG-A field contents 1401, 1501, and/or 1601, may be interpreted differently for a transmitter and a receiver. In one example, the reserved field may be set to “1” or “0” by the transmitter, and ignored by the receiver. In a second example, the reserved field may be set to “1” or “0” by the transmitter, and checked by the receiver for fidelity, such that the receiver may discard the associated PPDU if the field is set incorrectly. In a third example, the reserved field may be used to indicate a Wi-Fi version associated with the PPDU, such that the meaning of the HE-SIG-A bit fields may be different based on the indicated version of the field. For example, the reserved field, used as a version field, may be set to “0” to indicate IEEE 802.11ax is used, and may be set to “1” to indicate some future version of IEEE 802.11 is used.
In some examples, a bit associated with the “Format” field shown with reference to RE-SIG-A field contents 1401, 1601, 1701, 1901, 2001, 2101, and/or 2201 may be aligned to a B1 bit in a HE SU PPDU and HE trigger-based PPDU, and used to differentiate between a HE SU PPDU and HE trigger-based PPDU.
In some examples, the “BSS Color” field shown with reference to HE-SIG-A field contents 1401, 1601, 1701, 1901, 2001, 2101, and/or 2201 may contain six bits to identify a BSS. In some examples, the six bits of the BSS Color filed are each set to “1” to indicate no BSS color. Setting the “BSS Color” field to all “1” to indicate no BSS color rather than all “0” to indicate no BSS color can avoid providing a trail of “0” bits.
In other examples, combinations of bit fields for the one or more the HE-SIG-A field contents 1401-2202 may be disallowed. These disallowed combinations of bit fields may be used to indicate vendor-specific modes. For example, for a contention period (CP) of 0.4 μs that is indicated to a receiver, a DCM value set to “1” and MCS greater than 4 may be a disallowed combination (e.g., because in some circumstances DCM may be allowed to be applied only for HE-MCSs with indices of 0, 1, 3, or 4). This disallowed combination may still be indicated, but for the transmitter to indicate a vendor specific mode of operation to the receiver rather than for the receiver to operate in the otherwise disallowed combination.
In some examples, and with reference to
The processor 1305 is an intelligent hardware device, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 1305 processes information received through the transceiver(s) 1320 and information to be sent to the transceiver(s) 1320 for transmission through the antenna(s) 1325.
The memory 1310 stores computer-readable, computer-executable software (SW) code 1315 containing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor 1305 or another one of the components of the wireless device 1390 to perform various functions described herein.
The transceiver(s) 1320 communicate bi-directionally with other wireless devices, such as APs 105, STAs 110, or other devices. The transceiver(s) 1320 include a modem to modulate packets and frames and provide the modulated packets to the antenna(s) 1325 for transmission. The modem is additionally used to demodulate packets received from the antenna(s) 1325.
The resource unit signaling manager 1330, MU-MIMO load balancer 1335, spatial stream determiner 1340, content type determiner 1345, and punctured channel manager 1350 implement the features described with reference to
The resource unit signaling manager 1330 can identify a resource unit (RU) configuration for a WLAN data field of a SU transmission frame that has a fixed bandwidth. The resource unit signaling manager 1330 can then generate a RU indicator in a WLAN signaling field of a preamble of the SU transmission frame, where the RU indicator identifies a RU size and a RU location within the WLAN data field. The resource unit signaling manager 1330 can, in some examples together with transceivers 1320 and/or antenna(s) 1325, transmit the SU transmission frame.
The MU-MIMO load balancer 1335 can identify a first indicator identifying a number of MU-MIMO stations associated with a first RU in a first content channel of a transmission frame. The MU-MIMO load balancer 1335 can also identify a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame. The MU-MIMO load balancer 1335 may then generate a first common portion of a WLAN signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator, and generate a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator. The MU-MIMO load balancer 1335 can, in some examples together with transceivers 1320 and/or antenna(s) 1325, transmit the SU transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field.
The spatial stream determiner 1340 can receive a transmission frame that includes a WLAN signaling field decodable by a plurality of stations. In some examples the spatial stream determiner 1340 receives the transmission frame together with transceivers 1320 and/or antenna(s) 1325. The spatial stream determiner 1340 may identify, in a station-specific portion of the WLAN signaling field, an order for a plurality of station-specific information blocks associated with the plurality of stations. The spatial stream determiner 1340 may then determine a number of spatial streams allocated to the first station based at least in part on the identified order for the plurality of station-specific information blocks.
The content type determiner 1345 may receive a transmission frame associated with a plurality of channels, the transmission frame including a WLAN signaling field. In some examples the content type determiner 1345 receives the transmission frame together with transceivers 1320 and/or antenna(s) 1325. The content type determiner 1345 can identify a first number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a first channel of the plurality of channels, and identify a second number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a second channel of the plurality of channels. The content type determiner 1345 may then determine whether a data portion of the transmission frame contains MU-MIMO content based at least in part on the identified first number of stations and the identified second number of stations.
The punctured channel manager 1350 can generate an indication that a first channel of a plurality of channels associated with a transmission frame has been punctured, the transmission frame including a WLAN signaling field. The punctured channel manager 1350 can identify information associated with the WLAN signaling field corresponding to the punctured first channel, then transmit the indication that the first channel has been punctured and the information associated with the WLAN signaling field in a second channel of the plurality of channels. In some examples, the punctured channel manager 1350 operates together with transceivers 1320 and/or antenna(s) 1325 to transmit the indication and the information associated with the WLAN signaling field in the second channel.
Again,
In still other examples, the features of each component may also be implemented, in whole or in part, with instructions embodied in a memory, formatted to be executed by one or more general or application-specific processors. For example,
At block 2305 the wireless device 1310 may identify a first indicator identifying a number of MU-MIMO stations associated with a first RU in a first content channel of a transmission frame. The operations of block 2305 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2310 the wireless device 1390 may generate a first common portion of a WLAN signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator. The operations of block 2310 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2315 the wireless device 1390 may identify a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame. The operations of block 2315 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2320 the wireless device 1390 may generate a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator. The operations of block 2320 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2325 the AP 105 may transmit the transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field. The operations of block 2325 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2405 the wireless device 1390 may receive, at a first station, a transmission frame that includes a wireless local area network (WLAN) signaling field decodable by a plurality of stations. The operations of block 2405 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2410 the wireless device 1390 may identify, in a station-specific portion of the WLAN signaling field, an order for a plurality of station-specific information blocks associated with the plurality of stations. The operations of block 2410 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2415 the wireless device 1390 may determine a number of spatial streams allocated to the first station based at least in part on the identified order for the plurality of station-specific information blocks. The operations of block 2415 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2505 the wireless device 1390 may receive a transmission frame associated with a plurality of channels, the transmission frame including a wireless local area network (WLAN) signaling field. The operations of block 2505 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2510 the wireless device 1390 may identify a first number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a first channel of the plurality of channels. The operations of block 2510 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2515 the wireless device 1390 may identify a second number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a second channel of the plurality of channels. The operations of block 2515 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2520 the wireless device 1390 may determine whether a data portion of the transmission frame contains multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) content based at least in part on the identified first number of stations and the identified second number of stations. The operations of block 2520 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2605 the wireless device 1390 may identify a tone plan to be used for a transmission frame in a wireless local area network (WLAN). The operations of block 2605 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2610 the wireless device 1390 may allocate resource units (RUs) for a plurality of users for the transmission frame. The operations of block 2610 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2615 the wireless device 1390 may determine that a resource unit (RU) of the tone plan is unallocated. The operations of block 2615 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2620 the wireless device 1390 may generate, for the transmission frame, a station identification in a user specific portion of a WLAN signaling field that indicates that the RU is unallocated. The operations of block 2620 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2705 the wireless device 1390 may receive a first content channel associated with a transmission frame, the first content channel including a wireless local area network (WLAN) signaling field. The operations of block 2705 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2710 the wireless device 1390 may identify, based on at least in part on an indication in the WLAN signaling field, a first number of users associated with the first content channel and a second number of users associated with a second content channel of the transmission frame. The operations of block 2710 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2805 the wireless device 1390 may generate an indication that a first channel of a plurality of channels associated with a transmission frame has been punctured, the transmission frame including a wireless local area network (WLAN) signaling field. The operations of block 2805 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2810 the wireless device 1390 may identify information associated with the WLAN signaling field corresponding to the punctured first channel. The operations of block 2810 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2815 the wireless device 1390 may transmit the indication that the first channel has been punctured and the information associated with the WLAN signaling field in a second channel of the plurality of channels. The operations of block 2815 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2905 the wireless device 1390 may generate an indication that a first channel of a plurality of channels associated with a transmission frame has been punctured, the transmission frame including a first wireless local area network (WLAN) signaling field. The operations of block 2905 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2910 the wireless device 1390 may identify information associated with the first WLAN signaling field corresponding to the punctured first channel. The operations of block 2910 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2915 the wireless device 1390 may transmit the indication that the first channel has been punctured in a second WLAN signaling field of the transmission frame. The operations of block 2915 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 2920 the wireless device 1390 may transmit the information associated with the first WLAN signaling field in a second channel of the plurality of channels. The operations of block 2920 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 3005 the wireless device 1390 may identify a bandwidth associated with a transmission frame. The operations of block 3005 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 3010 the wireless device 1390 may identify a location for one or more content channels within the bandwidth. The operations of block 3010 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
At block 3015 the wireless device 1390 may transmit the transmission frame including a WLAN signaling field indicating both the bandwidth and the location for the one or more content channels within the bandwidth of the transmission frame. The operations of block 3015 may be performed according to the methods described with reference to
The detailed description set forth above in connection with the appended drawings describes examples and does not represent the only examples that may be implemented or that are within the scope of the claims. The terms “example” and “exemplary,” when used in this description, mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration,” and not “preferred” or “advantageous over other examples.” The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing an understanding of the described techniques. These techniques, however, may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and apparatuses are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the described examples.
Information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.
The various illustrative blocks and components described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are within the scope and spirit of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, functions described above can be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or combinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may also be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations. As used herein, including in the claims, the term “and/or,” when used in a list of two or more items, means that any one of the listed items can be employed by itself, or any combination of two or more of the listed items can be employed. For example, if a composition is described as containing components A, B, and/or C, the composition can contain A alone; B alone; C alone; A and B in combination; A and C in combination; B and C in combination; or A, B, and C in combination. Also, as used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items (for example, a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as “at least one of” or “one or more of”) indicates a disjunctive list such that, for example, a list of “at least one of A, B, or C” means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C).
Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of computer-readable media.
The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable a person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not to be limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
Claims
1. A method for wireless communication, comprising:
- identifying a first indicator identifying a number of multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) stations associated with a first resource unit (RU) in a first content channel of a transmission frame;
- generating a first common portion of a wireless local area network (WLAN) signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator;
- identifying a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame;
- generating a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator; and
- transmitting the transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein:
- the first common portion comprises a first common block field and the second common portion comprises a second common block field of the WLAN signaling field.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein:
- the WLAN signaling field comprises a high efficiency (HE) signaling B (HE-SIG-B) field.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- identifying a tone plan for the transmission frame;
- allocating RUs for a plurality of users for the transmission frame;
- determining that a RU of the tone plan is unallocated; and
- generating, for the transmission frame, a station identification in a user specific portion of the WLAN signaling field that indicates that the RU is unallocated.
5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:
- generating a predetermined bit sequence for the station identification that indicates that the RU is unallocated.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- generating a first RU allocation field in the first common portion of the WLAN signaling field to convey the indication of the first indicator; and
- generating a second RU allocation field in the first common portion of the WLAN signaling field to convey the indication of the second indicator.
7. A method for wireless communication, comprising:
- receiving a transmission frame associated with a plurality of channels, the transmission frame including a wireless local area network (WLAN) signaling field;
- identifying a first number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a first channel of the plurality of channels;
- identifying a second number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a second channel of the plurality of channels; and
- determining whether a data portion of the transmission frame contains multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) content based at least in part on the identified first number of stations and the identified second number of stations.
8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:
- determining that a combination of the first number of stations and the second number of stations is greater than one; and
- determining that the data portion of the transmission frame contains MU-MIMO content.
9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:
- determining that a combination of the first number of stations and the second number of stations is equal to one; and
- determining that the data portion of the transmission frame contains single user (SU) content.
10. The method of claim 7, wherein:
- the WLAN signaling field comprises a high efficiency (HE) signaling B (HE-SIG-B) field.
11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:
- receiving a first content channel associated with the transmission frame, the first content channel including the WLAN signaling field; and
- identifying, based on at least in part on an indication in the WLAN signaling field, a first number of users associated with the first content channel and a second number of users associated with a second content channel of the transmission frame.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:
- decoding a common block field of the WLAN signaling field for the first channel to identify the first number of users; and
- decoding the common block field of the WLAN signaling field for the second channel to identify the second number of users.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein:
- the common block field comprises resource unit (RU) allocation field.
14. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:
- a memory; and
- a processor coupled with the memory and configured to:
- identify a first indicator identifying a number of multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) stations associated with a first resource unit (RU) in a first content channel of a transmission frame;
- generate a first common portion of a wireless local area network (WLAN) signaling field in the first content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the first common portion includes the first indicator;
- identify a second indicator identifying an absence of MU-MIMO stations associated with a second RU in a second content channel of the transmission frame;
- generate a second common portion of the WLAN signaling field in the second content channel of the transmission frame, wherein the second common portion includes the second indicator; and
- transmit the transmission frame that includes the WLAN signaling field.
15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:
- the first common portion comprises a first common block field and the second common portion comprises a second common block field of the WLAN signaling field.
16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:
- the WLAN signaling field comprises a high efficiency (HE) signaling B (HE-SIG-B) field.
17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to:
- identify a tone plan for the transmission frame;
- allocate RUs for a plurality of users for the transmission frame;
- determine that a RU of the tone plan is unallocated; and
- generate, for the transmission frame, a station identification in a user specific portion of the WLAN signaling field that indicates that the RU is unallocated.
18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to:
- generate a predetermined bit sequence for the station identification that indicates that the RU is unallocated.
19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to:
- generate a first RU allocation field in the first common portion of the WLAN signaling field to convey the indication of the first indicator; and
- generate a second RU allocation field in the first common portion of the WLAN signaling field to convey the indication of the second indicator.
20. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:
- a memory; and
- a processor coupled with the memory and configured to:
- receive a transmission frame associated with a plurality of channels, the transmission frame including a wireless local area network (WLAN) signaling field;
- identify a first number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a first channel of the plurality of channels;
- identify a second number of stations associated with the WLAN signaling field for a second channel of the plurality of channels; and
- determine whether a data portion of the transmission frame contains multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) content based at least in part on the identified first number of stations and the identified second number of stations.
21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to:
- determine that a combination of the first number of stations and the second number of stations is greater than one; and
- determine that the data portion of the transmission frame contains MU-MIMO content.
22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to:
- determine that a combination of the first number of stations and the second number of stations is equal to one; and
- determine that the data portion of the transmission frame contains single user (SU) content.
23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein:
- the WLAN signaling field comprises a high efficiency (HE) signaling B (HE-SIG-B) field.
24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to:
- receive a first content channel associated with the transmission frame, the first content channel including the WLAN signaling field; and
- identify, based on at least in part on an indication in the WLAN signaling field, a first number of users associated with the first content channel and a second number of users associated with a second content channel of the transmission frame.
25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to:
- decode a common block field of the WLAN signaling field for the first channel to identify the first number of users; and
- decode the common block field of the WLAN signaling field for the second channel to identify the second number of users.
26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein:
- the common block field comprises resource unit (RU) allocation field.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 21, 2016
Publication Date: Jun 22, 2017
Inventors: Arjun Bharadwaj (Poway, CA), Bin Tian (San Diego, CA), Lochan Verma (San Diego, CA), Sameer Vermani (San Diego, CA)
Application Number: 15/387,279
