TW201541889A - Master station and method for HEW communication with signal field configuration for HEW OFDMA MU-MIMO wideband channel operation - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments of master station and method for high-efficiency WLAN (HEW) communication are generally described herein. In some embodiments, the master station is configured for HEW communication in accordance with an IEEE 802.11ax technique. The master station may transmit an indication to one or more of a plurality of HEW stations to indicate which one of a plurality of 20 MHz channels to monitor for a HEW signal field. The master station may configure the HEW signal field to indicate which of a plurality of subchannels of the indicated 20 MHz channel is allocated to the HEW stations for communication. The master station may transmit the configured HEW signal field in the indicated one of the 20 MHz channels and may communicate with the HEW stations on the indicated subchannels in accordance with an orthogonal-frequency divisional multiple access (OFDMA) technique.

Description

HEW configured for signal bar operation for high performance wireless domain (HEW) orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) wideband channel operation Main station and method of communication Priority claim

The present application claims the following priority rights in the U.S. Provisional Patent Application: Serial No. 61/906,059, filed on Nov. 19, 2013, Serial No. 61/973,376, filed on Apr. 1, 2014, 2014. Serial No. 61/976,951, filed on the 8th of March, Serial No. 61/986,256, filed on April 30, 2014, Serial No. 61/986,250, April 30, 2014, May 12, 2014 Serial No. 61/991,730, filed on June 18, 2014, Serial No. 62/013,869, filed on June 18, 2014, Serial No. 62/024,813, No. 62, 2014, May 08, 2014 Application Serial No. 61/990,414, Serial No. 62/024,801, filed on July 15, 2014, and Serial No. 62/026,277, filed on Jul. 18, 2014, the U.S. Provisional Patent Applications Each of them is by reference Into this article.

Field of invention

Embodiments relate to wireless networks. Some embodiments relate to wireless domain (WLAN) and Wi-Fi networks including networks operating in accordance with IEEE 802.11 family standards such as the IEEE 802.11ac standard or the IEEE 802.11ax SIG (referred to as DensiFi). Some embodiments relate to high performance wireless communication or high performance WLAN (HEW) communication. Some embodiments relate to multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), PHY preamble, and signal bar (SIG).

Background of the invention

Wireless communication has been evolving toward increasing data rates (e.g., from IEEE 802.11a/g to IEEE 802.11n, to IEEE 802.11ac). In the case of high-density deployment, the overall system performance can become more important than the high data rate. For example, in high-density hotspots and cellular offload scenarios, many devices competing for wireless media can have low to moderate data rate requirements (relative to the extremely high data rate of IEEE 802.11ac). Conventional frameworks including very high throughput (VHT) communications and legacy IEEE 802.11 communications are less suitable for such high-density deployments. A recently formed research group for Wi-Fi evolution, known as the IEEE 802.11 High Efficiency WLAN (HEW) Research Group (SG) (ie, IEEE 802.11ax), is addressing these high-density deployment scenarios. One problem is that the signal fields used by convention are not suitable for efficient HEW OFDMA MU-MIMO broadband channel operation.

Therefore, there is a general need for an apparatus and method for improving overall system performance in a wireless network, particularly for high density deployment scenarios. There is also a general need for devices and methods suitable for HEW communication. There is also a general need for devices and methods suitable for HEW communication that can coexist with legacy devices. There is also a general need for HEW OFDMA MU-MIMO wideband channel operation.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a primary station is specifically provided for high performance WLAN (HEW) communication, the primary station including a physical layer and a medium access control layer circuit, the physical layer and the media storage The control layer circuit is configured to: transmit an indication to one or more of the plurality of HEW stations to indicate which of the plurality of 20 MHz channels to monitor for a HEW signal field; to assemble the HEW signal field to Instructing which one of the plurality of subchannels of the indicated 20 MHz channel is allocated to the HEW stations for communication; transmitting the grouped HEW signal field in the indicated 20 MHz channel in the 20 MHz channels; And communicating with the HEW stations on the indicated subchannels according to an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technique.

100‧‧‧HEW Network

102‧‧‧Master Station (STA)

104‧‧‧HEW station/scheduled HEW station/station/scheduled station

106‧‧‧Old station

200‧‧‧STA OFDMA Packet IE/OFDMA Packet IE

202‧‧‧IE header column

204‧‧‧Variable length AID list bar

206‧‧‧AID list subfield

208‧‧‧Number of AIDs

210‧‧‧AID

300‧‧‧STA OFDMA pre-configured frame/OFDMA pre-configured frame

302‧‧‧MAC header

304‧‧‧ channel monitor bit map

306‧‧‧ bits

402‧‧‧20MHz channel

402A‧‧‧ channel / first 20MHz channel

402B, 402C‧‧‧ channel

402D‧‧‧ channel / fourth 20MHz channel

404‧‧‧HEW signal bar/signal bar

404A‧‧‧HEW SIG

404B‧‧‧HEW Signal Bar/HEW SIG

404D‧‧‧HEW signal bar

406‧‧‧OFDMA subchannel/subchannel

406A~406D‧‧‧Subchannel

408‧‧‧HEW control cycle/control cycle

500‧‧‧HEW Station

502‧‧‧Physical Layer (PHY) Circuit/PHY

504‧‧‧Media Access Control Layer Circuit (MAC)

506‧‧‧Other processing circuits

508‧‧‧ memory

600‧‧‧Program

602~608‧‧‧ operation

1 illustrates a HEW network in accordance with some embodiments; FIG. 2 illustrates a STA OFDMA packet information element (IE) in accordance with some embodiments; FIG. 3 illustrates a STA OFDMA preconfigured frame in accordance with some embodiments; 4 illustrates an example of a signal field transmission and an indicated OFDMA subchannel in accordance with some embodiments; FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of an HEW station in accordance with some embodiments; and FIG. 6 is a procedure for HEW communication in accordance with some embodiments. .

Detailed description of the preferred embodiment

The following description and the drawings are merely illustrative of the specific embodiments Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in or substituted for those parts and features of other implementations. The embodiments set forth in the scope of the patent application cover all available equivalents of the claims.

FIG. 1 illustrates a high performance Wi-Fi (HEW) network in accordance with some embodiments. The HEW network 100 may include a primary station (STA) 102, a plurality of HEW stations 104 (HEW devices), and a plurality of legacy stations 106 (legacy devices). The primary station 102 can be arranged to communicate with the HEW station 104 and the legacy station 106 in accordance with one or more of the IEEE 802.11 standards. According to some HEW embodiments, an access point may operate as primary station 102 and may be arranged to contend for wireless media (eg, during a contention period) to receive for a HEW control period (ie, a transmitter conference (TXOP)) The mutual exclusion control of the media. The primary station 102 can transmit primary or control transmissions, for example, at the beginning of the HEW control period, to in particular indicate which HEW stations 104 are scheduled for communication during the HEW control period. During the HEW control period, the scheduled HEW station 104 can communicate with the primary station 102 in accordance with a non-contention based multiple access technique. This is different from the device based on competition-based communication technology rather than non-competitive Conventional Wi-Fi communication for multiple access technology communication. During the HEW control period, the primary station 102 can communicate with the HEW station 104 using one or more HEW frames. The legacy station 106 can avoid communication during the HEW control cycle. In some embodiments, primary synchronous transmissions may be referred to as control and scheduled transmissions.

In some embodiments, the multiple access technique used during the HEW control period may be an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) technique, however this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, the multiple access technology may be a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technique or a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) technique. In some embodiments, the multiple access technology may be a sub-space multiple access (SDMA) technology including multi-user (MU) multiple input multiple output (MIMO) (MU-MIMO) technology. These multiple access techniques used during the HEW control period can be combined for uplink or downlink data communication.

The primary station 102 can also communicate with the legacy station 106 in accordance with the legacy IEEE 802.11 communication technology. In some embodiments, the primary station 102 may also be configurable to communicate with the HEW station 104 outside of the HEW control period in accordance with legacy IEEE 802.11 communication techniques, although this is not a requirement.

In some embodiments, the HEW communication during the control period can be a bandwidth that can be combined to have one of 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHz connected bandwidth or 80+80 MHz (160 MHz) non-contiguous bandwidth. In some embodiments, a 320 MHz channel width can be used. In some embodiments, a subchannel bandwidth of less than 20 MHz can also be used. In such embodiments, each channel or subchannel of the HEW communication can be configured to transmit a number of spatial streams.

According to some embodiments, the primary station 102 can be assembled to send an indication One or more of the plurality of HEW stations 104 are directed to indicate which of the 20 MHz channels of the plurality of 20 MHz channels is monitored for the HEW signal field. The primary station 102 can group the HEW signal fields to indicate which of the plurality of sub-channels of the indicated 20 MHz channel is assigned to the scheduled HEW station 104 for communication during the HEW control period. The primary station 102 can transmit the assembled HEW signal field in the indicated 20 MHz channel in the 20 MHz channel and can communicate with the scheduled HEW station 104 on the indicated subchannel during a control period according to multiple access techniques such as OFDMA technology. . The HEW signal bar can include control information and more.

In such embodiments, the indication of which of the 20 MHz channels to monitor the 20 MHz channel for the HEW signal field may be the STA OFDMA Packet Information Element (IE). In some embodiments, the indication can be a STA OFDMA pre-configured frame. In some embodiments, the HEW signal field may be transmitted during a HEW control period (eg, HEW operation period), which may be a TXOP obtained by the primary station 102 during which the primary station 102 has a channel Mutually exclusive control is used to communicate with the scheduled HEW station 104 in accordance with the scheduled OFDMA technique. The HEW station 104 can monitor the transmission of the primary station 102 during the HEW control period for the HEW signal field. The embodiments disclosed herein provide a mechanism for assembling each HEW station 104 for operation within a 20 MHz channel such that the HEW station 104 can properly decode the HEW signal field assigned to the station.

2 illustrates a STA OFDMA Packet Information Element (IE) in accordance with some embodiments. The STA OFDMA packet IE 200 may be configurable to include an associated identifier for each of the 20 MHz channels of the plurality of 20 MHz channels (AID) list (ie, grouping). Each AID may correspond to one of the scheduled HEW stations 104.

In such embodiments, primary station 102 (FIG. 1) may transmit STA OFDMA packet IE 200 to one or more of HEW stations 104 to indicate which of the 20 MHz channels is to be monitored for the HEW signal field. The primary station 102 can assemble a HEW signal field to indicate which of the plurality of sub-channels of the indicated 20 MHz channel is assigned to the scheduled HEW station 104 for communication during the control period.

In some MU-MIMO embodiments, the AID list for a particular 20 MHz channel may include the MU-MIMO packets of station 104. In such embodiments, the scheduled HEW station 104 identified by the AID for a particular 20 MHz channel of the HEW station may be a MU-MIMO packet and may be configured to be based on MU-MIMO technology during the OFDMA control period. Communicate on one or more assigned subchannels. In such MU-MIMO embodiments, multiple data streams can be simultaneously communicated via channels or sub-channels, and each scheduled station 104 can receive one or more of such separate streams. In some embodiments, single user (SU) MIMO (SU-MIMO) technology may be used in which a single scheduled HEW station 104 may communicate one or more data streams via a channel or subchannel.

In some embodiments, the STA OFDMA Packet IE 200 includes an IE header bar 202 followed by a variable length AID list bar 204. The variable length AID list bar 204 can be an AID list sub-field 206 that can be configured to include for each of the 20 MHz channels. Each AID list subfield 206 may include a list of AIDs for associated 20 MHz channels.

In some embodiments, the IE header bar 202 includes a A component identifier (ID) field of the information element of the IE 200 is grouped for STA OFDMA and a length column indicating the length of the STA OFDMA packet IE 200. In these embodiments, the component ID column can be an octet, the length column can be an octet, and the variable length AID list bar 204 (ie, the information bar) can be a variable number of eight. Bytes, however the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, each AID list subfield 206 indicates the number 208 of AIDs in the list, which is followed by the actual AID 210 in the list.

In some embodiments, the STA OFDMA Packet IE 200 may transmit one of a broadcast frame, a multicast frame, or a beacon, and include a 20 MHz transmission in one of the 20 MHz channels. In some embodiments, the multicast frame can be sent to the selected station instead of being sent to all stations as in the case of a broadcast frame or beacon. The multicast frame may, for example, be sent to the HEW station 104 identified by the AID in the STA OFDMA Packet IE 200, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, OFDMA packet IE 200 may be transmitted according to legacy (ie, contention based) communication techniques.

In such embodiments, HEW station 104 can be configured to monitor one or more of the 20 MHz channels to identify and receive STA OFDMA packet IE 200. In some embodiments, the HEW station 104 can be configured to monitor two or more of the 20 MHz channels (eg, each 20 MHz channel of the 40 MHz bandwidth) to identify and receive the STA OFDMA Packet IE 200. In some embodiments, the HEW station 104 can be configured to monitor full channel bandwidth (eg, each 20 MHz channel of 80 MHz or 160 MHz bandwidth) to identify and receive the STA OFDMA packet IE 200, although the scope of the embodiments is in this regard Unlimited. In some embodiments, the STA OFDMA packet IE 200 can be at 20 MHz. Only one of the channels (e.g., the primary channel) transmits, however this is not a requirement since the STA OFDMA packet IE 200 can transmit on more than one 20 MHz channel.

FIG. 3 illustrates a STA OFDMA pre-configured frame in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the indication transmitted to indicate which of the 20 MHz channels of the plurality of 20 MHz channels for the HEW signal field is the STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300. The STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 can be configured for unicast transmission (i.e., transmitted to a particular HEW station 104) and can include a channel monitoring bit map 304 indicating one of a plurality of 20 MHz channels.

In some embodiments, the channel monitoring bit map 304 can be configured to indicate to one of the scheduled HEW stations 104 which of the 20 MHz channels to monitor for the subsequent HEW signal field. In some embodiments, the STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 can be a Media Access Control (MAC) management frame. In some of these embodiments, the OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 can be transmitted on subchannels being monitored by a particular HEW station 104, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. These embodiments are discussed in more detail below.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 3, channel monitoring bit map 304 is shown having four bits, a first bit representing a first 20 MHz channel, a second bit representing a second 20 MHz channel, and a third bit representing a The third 20 MHz channel and the fourth bit represent the fourth 20 MHz channel. In embodiments that utilize an additional 20 MHz channel, a larger bit map can be used.

4 illustrates an example of a signal bar transmission and an indicated OFDMA subchannel in accordance with some embodiments. In such embodiments, the primary station 102 (FIG. 1) may transmit the STA OFDMA packet IE 200 (FIG. 2) to one of the plurality of HEW stations 104. Or more to indicate which of the 20 MHz channels 402 are to be monitored for the HEW signal field 404. The primary station 102 can group the HEW signal field 404 to indicate which of the plurality of OFDMA sub-channels 406 of the indicated 20 MHz channel 402 is assigned to the scheduled HEW station 104 for communication during the HEW control period 408. The primary station 102 can also transmit the assembled HEW signal field 404 in the indicated 20 MHz channel in the 20 MHz channel 402 and communicate with the scheduled HEW station 104 on the indicated sub-channel 406 in accordance with OFDMA techniques during the control period 408. The HEW signal field 404 can be transmitted during the HEW control period 408. The control period 408 (e.g., HEW operation period) may be a TXOP obtained by the primary station 102 during which the primary station 102 has mutual exclusion control of the channels for communicating with the HEW station in accordance with the scheduled OFDMA technique. The HEW station 104 can monitor the transmission of the primary station 102 during the HEW control period 408 for the HEW signal field 404.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, STA 1 and STA 2 (ie, HEW station 104) may receive a STA OFDMA packet IE 200 (FIG. 2) indicating that STA 1 and STA 2 are the same MU-MIMO packet. Partially, and STA 1 and STA 2 will monitor channel 402A for HEW SIG 404A. The HEW SIG 404A may indicate that STA 2 will communicate on sub-channel 406A and STA 1 will communicate on sub-channel 406B. The HEW SIG 404A can also include other control messages.

Although FIG. 4 illustrates subchannel 406 having a 10 MHz bandwidth, subchannels 406 of other bandwidths may also be used. In addition, although FIG. 4 illustrates MU-MIMO packets of only two stations (ie, STA 1 and STA 2) that are communicated after each HEW signal field 404, the scope of the embodiment is not limited in this respect because MU - MIMO packets may be assembled to be in sub-channel 406 Many stations on one or more of the communications.

In some embodiments, the channel monitoring bit map 304 of the STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 can indicate to the HEW station 104 to switch to another channel 402D (ie, instructing STA 1 to switch from channel 402A to channel 402D), The OFDMA configuration information is received from the HEW signal field 404D that is subsequently transmitted on the other channel (i.e., channel 402D). In such embodiments, when the STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 is transmitted to a particular HEW station 104 (ie, unicast), the HEW station 104 may be required to switch to another channel 402. In such embodiments, the STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 may be transmitted on sub-channel 406B after transmission of a previous HEW signal field 404 (eg, HEW signal field 404B), which may have been directed to the HEW station 104 (e.g., STA 1) indicates to communicate on the particular sub-channel 406B.

For example, STA 1 and STA 2 may receive STA OFDMA Packet IE 200, which indicates to STA 1 and STA 2 to monitor channel 402A for HEW SIG 404A. As illustrated in FIG. 4, HEW SIG 404A may indicate that STA 2 will communicate on sub-channel 406A and STA 1 will communicate on sub-channel 406B. STA 1 and STA 2 may continue to monitor channel 402A to receive HEW SIG 404B. The HEW SIG 404B may indicate that STA 2 will communicate on sub-channel 406A and STA 1 will communicate on sub-channel 406B. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, STA 1 may receive STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 on sub-channel 406B and may be directed to switch to channel 402D to receive HEW signal field 404D, which may be Configuration information is provided for receiving data on a sub-channel such as sub-channel 406C as shown.

In the example illustrated in Figure 4, STA 3 and STA 1 will monitor Channel 402D receives HEW signal field 404D. STA 3 and STA 1 may now be part of the same MU-MIMO packet. HEW signal field 404D may indicate to STA 1 to communicate on sub-channel 406C and may indicate to STA 3 to communicate on sub-channel 406D. In this example, STA 3 may have received STA OFDMA Packet IE 200, which indicates to STA 3 to monitor channel 402D for HEW SIG 404D. In this example, STA 1 may have received STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 on sub-channel 406B to switch to channel 402D to receive HEW signal field 404D.

In some embodiments, the channel monitoring bit map 304 (FIG. 3) can include bits 306 for each of the 20 MHz channels 402. The primary station 102 can be configured to set one or more of the bits 306 to indicate which of the 20 MHz channels of the 20 MHz channel 402 the indicated HEW station 104 will monitor for the HEW signal field 404.

In some embodiments, the STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 can be included on the sub-channel (ie, sub-channel 406B) indicated in the (ie, previous) HEW signal field 404 (ie, HEW SIG 404B). Launch. In some embodiments, OFDMA sub-channel 406 has a predetermined bandwidth of one or more of 1 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, and 10 MHz. In some embodiments, subchannel 406 can have a predetermined bandwidth of 4.375 MHz or a multiple of the predetermined bandwidth.

During the HEW control period 408, the primary station 102 is configured to receive uplink OFDMA transmissions (e.g., data) from the scheduled HEW station 104 in accordance with uplink multiplexing techniques (e.g., SDMA) on the indicated sub-channels 406. . During control cycle 408, primary station 102 may also be assembled to indicate Downlink transmissions (e.g., data) are transmitted to the scheduled HEW station 104 in sub-channel 406 in accordance with downlink multiplex techniques.

In some embodiments, the HEW station 104 can be assembled with the autonomous station 102 receiving a STA OFDMA packet IE 200 that indicates which of the 20 MHz channels 402 is monitored for the HEW signal field 404. The HEW station 104 can monitor the indicated 20 MHz channel 402 for the HEW signal field 404 and can determine from the HEW signal field 404 which one of the plurality of sub-channels 406 of the indicated 20 MHz channel 402 is allocated for communication during the control period 408 . The HEW station 104 can communicate with the primary station 102 over the indicated one or more sub-channels 406 in accordance with OFDMA techniques during the control period 408.

In some embodiments, HEW station 104 can be further configured to receive STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 on the indicated sub-channel during control period 408. The HEW station 104 can continue to monitor or switch to the channel 402 indicated by the channel monitoring bit map 304 for determining OFDMA configuration information from the HEW signal field that will subsequently be transmitted on that channel.

In some embodiments, the first step can include transmitting the STA OFDMA packet IE 200 in a broadcast frame, such as a beacon frame or a multicast frame. The STA OFDMA Packet IE 200 may be formatted as illustrated in Figure 2, however the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. Such embodiments may be similar to the grouping of downlink MU-MIMO packets that the device will monitor for packets that may or may not contain data assigned to the devices. In accordance with such embodiments, HEW station 104 can be grouped into different 20 MHz channels (i.e., frequency bands), and individual HEW stations 104 can be grouped into more than one of the 20 MHz channels. OFDMA launch It may not necessarily carry information for all devices that are assembled on a particular 20 MHz channel.

In some of these embodiments, when the STA OFDMA Packet IE 200 is carried with a beacon, the HEW station 104 may only need to be aware of the received beacon in order to know that the HEW station requires a particular 20 MHz channel for the signal bar 404 to monitor. Such embodiments may, for example, help reduce power consumption.

In a second step, a MAC management frame, such as STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 (FIG. 3), may be transmitted. As mentioned above, the STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 can be a unicast frame and can require an acknowledgment (ACK) from the HEW station 104, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, the channel monitoring bit map 304 can be used to indicate to the HEW station 104 which 20 MHz channel contains the OFDMA configuration information that the HEW station 104 needs to monitor. For example, if the HEW station 104 needs to monitor the SIG column sent in this 20 MHz, the bit can be set to 1, and otherwise set to zero. For a 40 MHz channel, the first two bits can be used and the last two bits are reserved because there are only two 20 MHz channels that need to be identified.

As illustrated in Figure 4, STA 1 initially listens to HEW SIG 404A on the first 20 MHz channel 402A and may be configured to decode the subchannel (i.e., OFDMA subchannel 406B) assigned to the STA 1 STA 1 packet. STA 1 may receive STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 on sub-channel 406B after HEW SIG 404B. The STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 may indicate that STA 1 should switch to the fourth 20 MHz channel 402D for decoding the HEW SIG 404D. STA 1 may then switch to receive fourth 40 MHz channel 402D to receive HEW SIG 404D, and as indicated by HEW SIG 404D The STA 1 packet is decoded on one of the subchannels (ie, the OFDMA subchannel 406D).

In some embodiments, HEW station 104 can monitor HEW signal field 404 for information regarding a particular subchannel and space allocation for transmission. The HEW station 104 can also decode the data based on the schedule information contained in the HEW signal field 404 of the designated 20 MHz channel 402. If the HEW station 104 receives a STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 indicating the need to switch or monitor an additional 20 MHz channel, the HEW station 104 can switch to the designated 20 MHz channel 402 for decoding the HEW signal field 404.

Figure 5 is a functional block diagram of an HEW station in accordance with some embodiments. The HEW station 500 can be an HEW compliant device that can be arranged to communicate with one or more other HEW stations, such as the HEW station 104 (FIG. 1) or the primary station 102 (FIG. 1), and to communicate with legacy devices. . HEW station 500 can be adapted to operate as primary station 102 (FIG. 1) or HEW station 104 (FIG. 1). According to an embodiment, HEW station 500 may include, in particular, physical layer (PHY) circuitry 502 and medium access control layer circuitry (MAC) 504. PHY 502 and MAC 504 may be HEW compliant layers and may also conform to one or more legacy IEEE 802.11 standards. The PHY 502 can be arranged to transmit and receive HEW frames, and can also include other processing circuits 506 and memory 508 that are configured to perform the various operations described herein.

According to some embodiments, the MAC 504 may be arranged to contend for wireless media during a contention period to receive control of media for a TXOP such as the HEW control period 408 and to group HEW frames. The PHY 502 can be arranged to transmit an HEW frame comprising the HEW signal field 404, as discussed above. PHY 502 can also be arranged to transmit and receive data from the HEW station. The MAC 504 can also be arranged to perform transmission and reception operations by the PHY 502. PHY 502 may include circuitry for modulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering, amplification, and the like. In some embodiments, processing circuit 506 can include one or more processors. In some embodiments, two or more antennas can be coupled to a physical layer circuit that is arranged for transmitting and receiving signals including the transmission of the HEW frame. The physical layer circuitry may include one or more radios for communicating in accordance with cellular (e.g., LTE) and WLAN (e.g., IEEE 802.11) technologies. Memory 508 can store information for assembly processing circuitry 506 for performing operations for assembling and transmitting HEW frames and for performing various operations described herein.

In some embodiments, HEW station 500 can be configured to communicate via a multi-carrier communication channel using OFDM communication signals. In some embodiments, HEW station 500 can be configured to receive signals in accordance with a particular communication standard, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards including IEEE 802.11-2012, 802.11n-2009, and/or 802.11. The ac-2013 standard, and/or the proposed specification for WLAN includes the proposed HEW standard, however the scope of the invention is not limited in this respect, as the invention may also be adapted to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other technologies and standards. . In some other embodiments, HEW station 500 can be configured to receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques, such as spread spectrum modulation (eg, direct sequence division) Multiple access (DS-CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA), time division division (TDM) modulation and/or frequency division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, however, Fan Domains are not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the HEW station 500 can be part of a portable wireless communication device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capabilities, a network A tablet (web tablet), a wireless or smart phone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (eg, a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.) or Other devices that receive and/or transmit information wirelessly. In some embodiments, HEW station 500 can include one or more of a keyboard, a display, a non-electrical memory cartridge, a plurality of antennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, a speaker, and other mobile device components. The display can be an LCD screen that includes a touch screen.

The antenna of the HEW station 500 may include one or more directional antennas or omnidirectional antennas including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, or transmissions suitable for RF signals. Other types of antennas. In some multiple input multiple output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and different channel characteristics that may occur between each of the antennas and the antenna of the transmitting station.

Although HEW station 500 is illustrated as having a number of separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be assembled by software components (such as processing elements, including digital signal processors (DSPs)) and/or A combination of other hardware components is implemented. For example, some components may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), and for performing at least the description herein. A combination of various hardware and logic circuits of functionality. In some In an embodiment, the functional elements of HEW station 500 may relate to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

Embodiments can be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Embodiments can also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer readable storage device, which can be read by at least one processor and executed to perform the operations described herein. The computer readable storage device can include any non-transitory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (eg, a computer). For example, computer readable storage devices may include read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, and other storage devices and media. Some embodiments may include one or more processors and may be stored in a set of instructions stored on a computer readable storage device.

6 is a program for HEW communication in accordance with some embodiments. The program 600 can be performed by the primary station 102 that is configured for HEW communication in accordance with IEEE 802.11ax technology. In operation 602, the primary station 102 can transmit an indication to one or more of the plurality of HEW stations 104 to indicate which of the plurality of 20 MHz channels 402 is monitored for the HEW signal field 404.

In operation 604, the primary station 102 can group the HEW signal field 404 to indicate which of the plurality of sub-channels 406 of the indicated 20 MHz channel 402 is assigned to the scheduled HEW station 104 for use in the HEW control period 408. Communication during the period.

In operation 606, the primary station 102 can transmit the transmitted HEW signal field 404 in the indicated 20 MHz channel in the 20 MHz channel.

In operation 608, the primary station 102 can be on the indicated sub-channel 406 according to orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) techniques during the control period 408. Communicate with the scheduled HEW station 104. In some embodiments, MU-MIMO OFDMA techniques can be used to communicate with the scheduled station 104 on the indicated sub-channel 406. In some embodiments, subchannel 406 can be an OFDMA subchannel.

In such embodiments, the indication transmitted in operation 602 may be the STA OFDMA Packet IE 200. In some embodiments, the indication may be a STA OFDMA pre-configured frame 300 transmitted to the HEW station 104 within the OFDMA sub-channel.

The Abstract is provided to comply with 37C.F.R Section 1.72(b), which will allow the reader to determine the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. The abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to limit or explain the scope or meaning of the scope of the patent application. The scope of the following patent application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety in its entirety in its entirety in its entirety herein

200‧‧‧STA OFDMA Packet IE/OFDMA Packet IE

202‧‧‧IE header column

204‧‧‧Variable length AID list bar

206‧‧‧AID list subfield

208‧‧‧Number of AIDs

210‧‧‧AID

Claims (23)

A primary station configured for high performance WLAN (HEW) communication, the primary station comprising a physical layer and a medium access control layer circuit, the physical layer and the medium access control layer circuit being assembled to: Instructing to transmit to one or more of the plurality of HEW stations to indicate which of the plurality of 20 MHz channels to monitor for a HEW signal field; assembling the HEW signal field to indicate the plurality of sub-channels of the indicated 20 MHz channel Which of the subchannels is allocated to the HEW stations for communication; the combined HEW signal field is transmitted in the indicated 20 MHz channel in the 20 MHz channels; and according to an orthogonal frequency division multiple access ( OFDMA) technology communicates with the HEW stations on the indicated subchannels. The primary station of claim 1, wherein the indication is a STA OFDMA packet information element (IE), the STA OFDMA packet information element can be configured to include an association for each of the plurality of 20 MHz channels A list of identifiers (AIDs), each AID corresponding to one of the HEW stations. The primary station of claim 2, wherein the list of AIDs for a particular 20 MHz channel comprises one of a plurality of user (MU) multiple input multiple output (MIMO) (MU-MIMO) packets of the HEW stations, and wherein the primary Stations are combined to use a MU-MIMO OFDMA technique The devices communicate with the HEW stations on the indicated subchannels. The master station of claim 3, wherein the STA OFDMA packet IE includes an information element (IE) header field, and the information element (IE) header field is followed by a variable length AID list column, the variable length AID list The columns may be configured to include an AID list subfield for each of the 20 MHz channels, wherein each AID list subfield includes the list of AIDs for one of the 20 MHz channels associated with the 20 MHz channel. . The primary station of claim 4, wherein the IE header field includes a component identifier (ID) field for identifying an information element as the STA OFDMA packet IE and a length indicating a length of the STA OFDMA packet IE Length bar. As in the primary station of claim 4, wherein each AID list subfield indicates the number of one of the AIDs in the list, the number is followed by the AIDs in the list. The primary station of claim 2, wherein the STA OFDMA packet IE is transmitted by one of a broadcast frame, a multicast frame, or a beacon, and is included in one of the 20 MHz channels. One launch. A primary station of claim 1, wherein the indication transmitted to indicate which of the plurality of 20 MHz channels to monitor the 20 MHz channel for the HEW signal field is a STA OFDMA pre-configured for unicast transmission A frame and a channel monitoring bit map indicating one of a plurality of the 20 MHz channels. The primary station of claim 8, wherein the channel monitoring bit map is indicated to a HEW station to switch to another 20 MHz channel for use in determining a HEW signal field to be subsequently transmitted on the other 20 MHz channel. OFDMA configuration information. The primary station of claim 9, wherein the channel monitoring bit map includes one of a bit for each of the 20 MHz channels, wherein the primary station is configured to set one or more of the bits, Instructing the indicated HEW station to monitor which of the 20 MHz channels of the 20 MHz channel for the HEW signal field, wherein the STA OFDMA preconfigured frame includes a transmission within one of the subchannels, and Wherein the subchannels comprise OFDMA subchannels. The primary station of claim 10, wherein the physical layer and the medium access control layer circuit comprise one or more processors, memory, and one or more radios. The primary station of claim 1, wherein the sub-channels have a predetermined bandwidth of one or more of 1 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, and 10 MHz, wherein during a HEW control period, the primary station is configured to: Receiving, on the indicated subchannel, uplink OFDMA transmissions from the HEW stations according to an uplink multiplexing technique, and/or transmitting downlinks according to downlink multiplexing techniques on the indicated subchannels Launched to these HEW stations. A method performed by a primary station that is configured for high performance WLAN (HEW) communication, the method comprising: transmitting an indication to one or more of a plurality of HEW stations to indicate for a HEW The signal bar monitors which of the 20 MHz channels of the 20 MHz channel; the HEW signal field is grouped to indicate the indicated 20 MHz channel Which of the plurality of subchannels is allocated to the HEW stations for communication; transmitting the combined HEW signal field in the indicated 20 MHz channel in the 20 MHz channels; and according to an orthogonal frequency division Multiple Access (OFDMA) technology communicates with the HEW stations on the indicated subchannels. The method of claim 13, wherein the indication is a STA OFDMA packet information element (IE), the STA OFDMA packet information element can be configured to include an associated identification for each of the plurality of 20 MHz channels A list of AIDs, each AID corresponding to one of the HEW stations, wherein the AID list for a particular 20 MHz channel includes one of the stations (MU) Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) (MU-MIMO) A packet, and wherein the method further comprises communicating with the HEW stations on the indicated subchannels using a MU-MIMO OFDMA technique. The method of claim 14, wherein the indication of transmitting, to indicate which of the plurality of 20 MHz channels to monitor a 20 MHz channel for a HEW signal field is a STA OFDMA preconfigured message that is assembled for unicast transmission. A box and includes a channel monitoring bit map indicating one of a plurality of the 20 MHz channels. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for execution by one or more processors of a primary station for operation of high performance WLAN (HEW) communication, the operations being used to assemble the One or more processors for: Transmitting an indication to one or more of the plurality of HEW stations to indicate which of the plurality of 20 MHz channels to monitor for a HEW signal field; assembling the HEW signal field to indicate the number of the indicated 20 MHz channels Which of the sub-channels is allocated to the HEW stations for communication; transmitting the combined HEW signal field in the indicated 20 MHz channel in the 20 MHz channels; and multiplexing according to an orthogonal frequency division An (OFDMA) technique communicates with the HEW stations on the indicated subchannels. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the indication is a STA OFDMA packet information element (IE), the STA OFDMA packet information element being configurable to include for each of the plurality of 20 MHz channels A list of associated identifiers (AIDs) of the 20 MHz channel, each AID corresponding to one of the HEW stations, wherein the list of AIDs for a particular 20 MHz channel includes one of the stations with multiple users (MU) multiple input multiple outputs (MIMO) (MU-MIMO) packets, and wherein the operations further comprise communicating with the HEW stations on the indicated subchannels using a MU-MIMO OFDMA technique. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the indication transmitted to indicate which of the plurality of 20 MHz channels to monitor a 20 MHz channel for a HEW signal field is assembled for unicast transmission A STA OFDMA preconfigured frame and includes a channel monitor bit map indicating one of a plurality of the 20 MHz channels. A high performance WLAN (HEW) station includes a physical layer and a medium access control layer circuit, the physical layer and the medium access control layer circuit being configured to: receive a STA OFDMA packet information element (IE) from a primary station The STA OFDMA packet information element indicates which of the plurality of 20 MHz channels is to be monitored for a HEW signal field; the indicated 20 MHz channel is monitored for the HEW signal field; and the indicated 20 MHz channel is determined from the HEW signal field. Which of the plurality of sub-channels is used for communication; based on the configuration information received in the HEW signal field, one or more sub-channels indicated by an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technique Communicate with the main station. The HEW station of claim 19, wherein the STA OFDMA packet ID includes an associated identifier (AID) list for each of the plurality of 20 MHz channels, each AID corresponding to one of the plurality of HEW stations The AID list for a particular 20 MHz channel includes one of a multi-user (MU) multiple input multiple output (MIMO) (MU-MIMO) packet, and wherein the HEW station is configured to be based on a MU-MIMO The OFDMA technique communicates with the primary station on the indicated subchannel. As the HEW station of claim 20, which is further configured to be at the indicated Receiving a STA OFDMA pre-configured frame on the channel, the STA OFDMA pre-configured frame includes a channel monitoring bit map indicating one of the plurality of 20 MHz channels, the channel monitoring bit map An indication is directed to the HEW station to switch to another channel for determining OFDMA configuration information from a HEW signal field that will subsequently be transmitted on the other channel. The HEW station of claim 21, which comprises one or more radios and memories. The HEW station of claim 22, further comprising one or more antennas coupled to the one or more radios.