TWI573413B - Master station and method for hew communication using a transmission signaling structure for a hew signal field - Google Patents

Description

Used to transmit transmit messaging structures for high performance wireless local area network (HEW) signal fields HEW communication main station and method Priority claim

This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 14/458,000, filed on Aug. 12, 2014. Serial No. 61/906,059, filed on April 1, 2014, Serial No. 61/973,376, filed on April 1, 2014, Serial No. 61/976,951, filed on April 8, 2014, filed on April 30, 2014 Serial No. 61/986,256, Serial No. 61/986,250, filed on Apr. 30, 2014, Serial No. 61/991,730, filed on May 12, 2014, No. 62/013,869, Serial No. 62/024,813, filed on July 15, 2014, Serial No. 61/990,414, filed on May 08, 2014, Serial No. Serial No. 62/026,277, filed on Jul. 18, 2014, the entire contents of Text.

Field of invention

Embodiments relate to wireless networks. Some embodiments relate to wireless local area networks (WLANs), Wi-Fi networks, and networks operating in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 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.

Background of the invention

IEEE 802.11ax, known as High Efficiency WLAN (HEW), is a successor to the IEEE 802.11ac standard and is intended to improve the performance of wireless local area networks (WLANs). The goal of HEW is to provide up to four times or more throughput of the IEEE 802.11ac standard. HEWs are particularly suitable in high density hotspots and cellular offload scenarios where many devices competing for wireless media can have low to moderate data rate requirements. The Wi-Fi standard has evolved from IEEE 802.11b to IEEE 802.11g/a, evolved to IEEE 802.11n, evolved to IEEE 802.11ac, and is now evolving to IEEE 802.11ax. In each of these standards, there are mechanisms for providing coexistence with previous standards. For HEW, the same requirements exist for coexistence with these old standards. One of the problems with HEW is the efficient allocation and use of bandwidth.

Therefore, there is a general need for systems and methods that allow HEW devices to coexist with legacy devices. There is also a general need for systems and methods that allow HEW devices to coexist with legacy devices and to more efficiently allocate and use available bandwidth.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a communication station is specifically provided that is configured to operate as a high performance WLAN (HEW) primary station that includes a hardware processing circuit that is assembled Performing the following actions: generating a packet, the packet including a transmit messaging structure to group the scheduled HEW stations for communicating on channel resources according to an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technique, the channel resources including One or more OFDMA sub-channels within a 20 MHz channel, wherein each OFDMA sub-channel includes one or more minimum bandwidth units having a predetermined bandwidth.

100‧‧‧HEW Network

102‧‧‧Master Station (STA)/Access Point

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

106‧‧‧Old device/old station

200‧‧‧Transmission communication structure

202‧‧20MHz channel/old 20MHz channel/channel

211‧‧‧Knowledge VHT-SIG-A

212‧‧‧HEW Signal Field/HEW Signal Field (HEW-SIG-A)/HEW SIG

214‧‧‧ Field/HEW Short Training Field (HEW-STF)

216‧‧‧Field/data field

302‧‧‧OFDMA subchannel/10MHz subchannel/subchannel

312A~312F‧‧‧Subchannel configuration

500‧‧‧HEW device

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

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

506‧‧‧Other processing circuits

508‧‧‧ memory

600‧‧‧Program

602~606‧‧‧ operation

1 illustrates an HEW network in accordance with some embodiments; FIG. 2A illustrates an old packet structure; FIG. 2B illustrates an HEW packet structure in accordance with some embodiments; and FIG. 3 illustrates an OFDMA subchannel configuration for a 20 MHz channel in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 4 illustrates a simplified OFDMA subchannel configuration for a 20 MHz channel in accordance with some embodiments; FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of a HEW device in accordance with some embodiments; and FIG. 6 is for use by a host in accordance with some embodiments Station's HEW communication program.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiment

The following description and drawings fully illustrate specific embodiments to allow Those skilled in the art practice these 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 portions and features of other embodiments. The embodiments set forth in the scope of the patent application cover all available equivalents of the claims.

FIG. 1 illustrates a HEW network in accordance with some embodiments. The HEW network 100 can include a primary station (STA) 102, a plurality of HEW stations 104 (HEW devices), and a plurality of legacy devices 106 (legacy stations). The primary station 102 can be configured to communicate with the HEW station 104 and the legacy device 106 in accordance with one or more of the IEEE 802.11 standards. According to some HEW embodiments, the primary station 102 and the HEW station 104 can communicate in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ax standard. According to some HEW embodiments, the access point 102 can operate as a primary station that can be configured to contend for wireless media (e.g., during a contention period) to control the period for the HEW (i.e., the transmitter (TXOP)) Receive media exclusion controls. The primary station can transmit HEW primary synchronous transmissions at the beginning of the HEW control period. During the HEW control period, the scheduled HEW station 104 can communicate with the primary station in accordance with a non-contention based multiple access technique. This is different from conventional Wi-Fi communication in which the device communicates based on contention-based communication technologies rather than multiple access technologies. During the HEW control period, the primary station can communicate with the HEW station using one or more HEW frames. Old stations avoid communication during the HEW control cycle. In some embodiments, the primary synchronization transmission may be referred to as HEW control and scheduled transmission.

In some embodiments, the multiple access re-acquisition 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, multiple access techniques may It is a time division multiple access (TDMA) technology or a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) technology. In some embodiments, the multiple access technology may be a sub-space multiple access (SDMA) technique. The communication during the control period can be uplink communication or downlink 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 can also be configurable to communicate with the HEW station 104 outside of the HEW control period in accordance with the legacy IEEE 802.11 communication technology, although this is not a requirement.

In some embodiments, the data fields of the HEW frame can be grouped to have the same bandwidth, and the bandwidth can be one of a 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHz connected bandwidth or a 80+80 MHz (160 MHz) non-contiguous bandwidth. In some embodiments, a 320 MHz connected bandwidth can be used. In these embodiments, each data field of the HEW frame can be assembled for transmitting a number of spatial streams. In some embodiments, the data field of the HEW frame can be communicated within an OFDMA subchannel having one or more minimum bandwidth units. These embodiments are discussed in more detail below.

In some embodiments, the transmit messaging structure is configured to carry packet information (eg, HEW frame) to assemble devices (eg, HEW station 104) to demodulate a particular portion of the packet and/or to assemble the device for use with a particular OFDMA and MU-MIMO resources are transmitted or received. In some embodiments, the particular portion of the packet can include one or more of the minimum bandwidth units of one or more 20 MHz bandwidth structures (eg, channels). Each 20 MHz bandwidth structure may include several minimum bandwidth units to allow each 20 MHz segment to have a smaller granularity than 20 MHz. Some embodiments disclosed herein may provide The design is to assemble an OFDMA receiver in a next-generation Wi-Fi standard such as High Efficiency WLAN (HEW) (ie, the IEEE 802.11ax task group), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

Since one of the primary use cases of HEW is that many devices attempt to access dense deployment of media at moderate data rates, there is a need for techniques that allow for more simultaneous access devices. The current IEEE 802.11ac specification allows for up to 160 MHz bandwidth with eight simultaneous multiple input multiple output (MIMO) streams. The focus of the HEW is to use this wide bandwidth to provide access to many devices. Some embodiments disclosed herein define a transmit messaging structure that carries packet information to assemble an OFDMA receiver and/or to assemble an upcoming OFDMA transmission by a device at the receiving end.

Some embodiments disclosed herein define transmit transmit structures that are efficient, scalable, and decodable by devices operating in the 20 MHz mode, and other proposals in DensiFi or IEEE to date have not provided the transmit transmit structure. In accordance with some embodiments, the transmit structure is configured to carry packet information to assemble an OFDMA receiver such that the receiver can demodulate a particular portion of the packet (eg, a particular OFDMA resource and/or MU-MIMO stream), and / Or use a specific OFDMA and MU-MIMO resource transmission in combination with the receiver. The structure of the present invention can use a minimum of 20 MHz bandwidth, and the structure is modular and can be extended to a higher bandwidth, which is a multiple of 20 MHz (for example, the old Wi-Fi operating bandwidth is 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160MHz). Each 20 MHz structure can then be combined with one or more OFDMA subchannels of the smallest bandwidth unit. These embodiments allow the grouping of HEW stations 104 to be for OFDMA communication in the uplink direction and for the downlink direction OFDMA communication was assembled.

One of the goals of HEW is to adopt methods to improve the performance of Wi-Fi and, in particular, to improve the performance of dense deployment. Based on this goal of HEW, techniques for improving the performance of physical layer (PHY), such as OFDMA technology, are proposed. Embodiments disclosed herein provide a new packet structure that can be used to assemble an OFDMA receiver.

Fig. 2A illustrates an old packet structure. As can be seen in Figure 2A, in IEEE 802.11ac, VHT-SIG-A is replicated in each 20 MHz channel 202. In addition, the VHT-SIG-A transmission uses IEEE 802.11a compatible waveforms containing only 48 data subcarriers.

2B illustrates an HEW packet structure in accordance with some embodiments. Embodiments disclosed herein do not duplicate signal fields in each segment, and instead transmit separate signal fields (e.g., HEW signal field 212) that assemble receiver stations in each 20 MHz channel 202. Some embodiments may use fifty-two (52) data subcarriers (eg, instead of 48) to provide more subcarriers to carry messaging information. As shown in FIG. 2B, transmit messaging structure 200 can include individual HEW signal fields (HEW-SIG-A) 212 for each of a plurality of 20 MHz channels 202. Each HEW signal field 212 can be grouped with one or more of the scheduled HEW stations 104 for communicating on one or more OFDMA sub-channels in one of the 20 MHz channels 202 in accordance with OFDMA techniques. Each 20 MHz channel 202 can be configurable to include one or more fields 214, 216 following the HEW signal field 212. In some embodiments, the HEW Short Training Field (HEW-STF) 214 and the Data Field 216 may also be included in the transmit messaging structure 200. These embodiments are described in more detail below.

According to an embodiment, the primary station 102 can be assembled to generate a packet that includes a transmit messaging structure 200 to assemble the scheduled HEW station 104 for communicating over channel resources in accordance with OFDMA techniques. The channel resources may include one or more OFDMA subchannels within the old 20 MHz channel 202. Each OFDMA subchannel may include one or more minimum bandwidth units having a predetermined bandwidth.

As previously discussed, the HEW OFDMA structure can have a smaller granularity than 20 MHz. Thus, each HEW signal field 212 for a downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) OFDMA schedule can be combined with an OFDMA structure within each 20 MHz segment. These embodiments are discussed in more detail below.

FIG. 3 illustrates an OFDMA subchannel configuration for a 20 MHz channel in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 3 illustrates subchannel configurations 312A, 312B, 312C, 312D, 312E, and 312F.

4 illustrates a simplified OFDMA subchannel configuration for a 20 MHz channel in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 4 illustrates subchannel configurations 312A, 312E, and 312F.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, in accordance with some embodiments, a transmit messaging structure 20 (Fig. 2) can be configured to schedule a HEW station 104 (Fig. 1) for communicating over channel resources in accordance with OFDMA techniques, and the channel resources can include 20 MHz. One or more OFDMA sub-channels 302 within channel 202. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, each OFDMA subchannel 302 can include one or more minimum bandwidth units having a predetermined bandwidth. In such embodiments, the transmit messaging structure may include separate signal fields for each 20 MHz channel (eg, HEW signal field 212 (Fig. 2)) to group the HEW stations 104 for OFDMA communications (i.e., downlink communications or uplink communications) during the OFDMA control period.

In some embodiments, each minimum bandwidth unit can be, for example, 4.75 MHz, and each OFDMA sub-channel 302 can include up to four minimum bandwidth units, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, each 20 MHz channel 202 can include up to four OFDMA sub-channels 302, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In such embodiments, the size of the minimum bandwidth unit is fixed, and this condition allows the size of the OFDMA subchannel 302 to vary based on the number of minimum bandwidth units.

As mentioned above, individual HEW signal fields 212 (eg, HEW-SIG-A) for each of a plurality of 20 MHz channels may be provided, and each HEW signal field 212 may be configured to schedule HEWs One or more of the stations 104 are for communicating on one or more of the OFDMA sub-channels 302 in one of the 20 MHz channels 202 in accordance with OFDMA techniques. In such embodiments, the individual and possibly different HEW signal fields 212 on each 20 MHz channel 202 allow the OFDMA structures for each 20 MHz channel to be individually grouped (eg, a different number of subchannels 302, different Communication parameters such as MCS, etc.). These embodiments are discussed in more detail below. In some embodiments, the transmit messaging structure 200 can be prior, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, each HEW signal field 212 can be a 20 MHz transmission on one of the 20 MHz channels 202 associated with the 20 MHz channel, and each of the individual HEW signal fields 212 can be configured to be in the 20 MHz channel One of the 202 transmits in parallel on the associated 20 MHz channel. Therefore, no The same HEW signal field 212 can be transmitted in parallel on each 20 MHz channel.

In some embodiments, each HEW signal field 212 is configured to assemble a scheduled HEW station 104 for up to four up communications in the OFDMA subchannel 302 within each 20 MHz channel in the 20 MHz channel 202. In these exemplary embodiments, each 20 MHz channel 202 can be divided into up to four minimum bandwidth units, each associated with the OFDMA subchannel 302.

In some embodiments, each OFDMA subchannel 302 can include a minimum bandwidth unit between one and four of a predetermined bandwidth within each 20 MHz channel. In such embodiments, since the minimum bandwidth unit has a predetermined bandwidth, the number of minimum bandwidth units within the 20 MHz channel will also be fixed. However, the number of OFDMA sub-channels 302 within the 20 MHz channel 202 can vary, as each OFDMA sub-channel 302 can be configured to have a number of minimum bandwidth units (eg, between one and four).

In some embodiments, the predetermined bandwidth of the minimum bandwidth unit is 4.375 MHz. In some embodiments, the predetermined bandwidth is defined by a predetermined number of subcarriers and a predetermined subcarrier spacing. In some embodiments, the predetermined number of subcarriers is fourteen (14) and the predetermined subcarrier spacing is 312.5 KHz to provide a predetermined bandwidth of 4.375. In these embodiments, a 64 point FFT can be used.

In some other embodiments, a 256 point FFT can be used. In such other embodiments using a 256 point FFT, for example, the predetermined number of subcarriers of the minimum bandwidth unit may be 14x4 = 56, and the predetermined subcarrier spacing may be 312.5 / 4 = 78.125 kHz.

In other embodiments (not separately illustrated), each HEW signal bar Bit 212 may be arranged to schedule HEW station 104 (e.g., carry configuration for scheduling HEW station 104) for up to eight or more of OFDMA subchannels within each 20 MHz channel in 20 MHz channel 202 Multiple communication. In these other embodiments, for example, each 20 MHz channel 202 can be divided into up to eight or more minimum bandwidth units, and each minimum bandwidth unit can be less than 4.375 MHz.

In some embodiments, the HEW signal field 212 of each 20 MHz channel can be generated to include an indicator to indicate the subchannel configuration of the associated 20 MHz channel. The subchannel configuration can include at least a number of minimum bandwidth units. The sub-channel configuration may also include information (e.g., communication parameters) for communicating within the OFDMA sub-channel 302 during the OFDMA control period, including, for example, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) indicator and a minimum bandwidth unit. Length indicator. Thus, different communication parameters (e.g., MCS) are available for each 20 MHz channel 202, and in some embodiments, for each OFDMA sub-channel 302.

In some embodiments, an indicator in the HEW signal field 212 to indicate a subchannel configuration for each 20 MHz channel may indicate a plurality of subchannel configurations (eg, subchannel configurations 312A, 312B, 312C, 312D, 312E and One of 213F). In the example illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, subchannel configuration 312A can include four OFDMA subchannels 302, with each OFDMA subchannel 302 containing a single minimum bandwidth unit. The sub-channel configuration 312B/C/D may include three OFDMA sub-channels 302, where both of the OFDMA sub-channels 302 comprise a single minimum bandwidth unit and one of the OFDMA sub-channels 302 comprises two contiguous minimum bandwidth units. Subchannel configuration 312E can include two OFDMA sub- Channel 302, wherein each OFDMA subchannel 302 includes two contiguous minimum bandwidth units. Subchannel configuration 312F may include a single OFDMA subchannel 302 that includes four contiguous minimum bandwidth units.

For example, HEW signal field 212 may indicate the use of MCS #_1 in the 10 MHz sub-channel 302 of sub-channel configuration 312E. In some embodiments, the indicator may indicate a particular sub-channel configuration that may define the location and number of different sub-channels 302 within the channel 202 (ie, sub-channel configuration 312B, sub-channel configuration 312C, or sub-channel configuration) 312D). As illustrated in FIG. 3, for example, each 20 MHz channel 202 can be configured according to any of a plurality of subchannel configurations (eg, subchannel configuration 312A, subchannel configuration 312B, subchannel configuration 312C, sub Channel configuration 312D, subchannel configuration 312E or subchannel configuration 312F) are combined.

In some embodiments, up to 52 subcarriers of a 20 MHz channel (ie, instead of 48 of the conventional VHT-SIG-A 211 (FIG. 2A)) may be used during OFDMA control periods according to OFDMA techniques. Data communication. These embodiments are discussed in more detail below.

In some embodiments, each 20 MHz channel 202 can be configurable to include one or more fields 214, 216 following the HEW signal field 212. In some embodiments, one of the more fields 214, 216 can be a minimum bandwidth unit that can be combined to include a minimum of four 4.375 MHz, etc., with zero subcarriers other than the zero subcarrier at the DC. Inserted, and further assembled to include one or more additional/extra zero subcarriers around the DC and at the edge of the band to cover the 20 MHz bandwidth of each 20 MHz channel. For example, for data field 216, when the predetermined number of subcarriers of the minimum bandwidth unit is fourteen and When the predetermined subcarrier spacing is 312.5 kHz to supply a predetermined bandwidth of 4.375, the 56 subcarriers of the minimum bandwidth unit may include at least one pilot subcarrier, thereby allowing up to 52 total subcarriers for data, however, The scope is not limited in this respect. On the other hand, the HEW-SIG 212 will transmit, for example, using a full 20 MHz bandwidth using, for example, 52 data tones and 4 pilot tones.

In some embodiments, transmit messaging structure 200 can include a HEW Scheduling (SCH) field to indicate specific time and frequency resources for OFDMA subchannel 302 for each scheduled station 104 for use during an OFDMA control cycle Communication with the primary station 102 is in accordance with OFDMA techniques. In some embodiments, the HEW scheduling field may have an independent encoding (ie, may be an individual field) and may be after the HEW signal field 212, however this is not a requirement. In other embodiments, the HEW scheduling field can be part of the HEW signal field 212. In some embodiments, the schedule information may be part of the HEW signal field 212 rather than an individual HEW scheduled field, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, the schedule information can be embedded in the data field, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the primary station 102 can allocate bandwidth to the scheduled HEW station 104 based on a minimum bandwidth unit for communicating with the primary station 102 during an OFDMA control period during which the primary station 102 Has dedicated control of the wireless medium (ie, during the TXOP). In such embodiments, the minimum bandwidth unit can be configurable to time and frequency multiplex during data field 216 (FIG. 2), which can occur during the OFDMA control cycle. During the control period, the packet uses OFDMA according to the uplink. Spatial Multiple Access (SDMA) techniques are received from the scheduled HEW station 104, or transmitted to the scheduled HEW station 104 (i.e., during the data field 216 (Fig. 2) using OFDMA according to the downlink multiplex technique. Data or downlink data can be communicated with the scheduled HEW station).

In some embodiments, the data field 216 can be configured for both downlink transmissions and uplink transmissions. In such embodiments, the scheduling information in the HEW SIG 212 or SCH field may include downlink scheduling information and uplink scheduling information. In such embodiments, after the downlink transmission by the primary station 102 in the data field 216, the primary station 102 may self-schedule within the data field 216 after a particular inter-frame interval (eg, SIFS). The station receives the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the HEW signal field 212 may also include configuration parameters, such as an STBC (1 bit) indicator to indicate whether Space Time Block Coding (STBC) is used, to allow the receiver to determine the data reward. A group ID (6 bit) indicator loaded as a single user (SU) or multiple users (MU), indicating a number of spatiotemporal streams (for example, 3 bits) indicating the number of spatiotemporal streams , an LDPC additional symbol (eg, 1 bit) indicator for LDPC encoding, an MCS field containing the MCS index value for the payload, and a bundle to indicate when the beaming matrix is applied to the transmission ( For example, a 1 bit) indicator, a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) to allow detection errors in the HEW signal field 212. This is different from the conventional VHT-SIG-A 211 (Fig. 2A) which requires a bandwidth indicator. In such embodiments, the HEW signal field 212 will not require a bandwidth indicator because the HEW signal field 212 is not replicated on every 20 MHz channel as the VHT-SIG-A 211, however the scope of the embodiment is here square The face is not limited as the bandwidth indicator can be included to facilitate the implementation of the receiver.

In some embodiments, such configuration parameters are available for each of the different sub-channel configurations 312A through 312F. This may result in a longer HEW signal field 212 (eg, 6 OFDMA symbols or 8 OFDMA symbols) compared to VHT-SIG-A 211.

In some alternative embodiments, one or more of the same configuration parameters may be cross-routed with all configurations (ie, sub-channel configurations 312A through 312F) (eg, the same STBC or LDPC use) to reduce HEW The management burden of the signal field 212. For example, if the same STBC will be used for all sub-channel configurations, the STBC bit does not need to be configured for each sub-channel, but will be sent only once for all minimum bandwidth units (eg, in the primary sync transmission). This may allow the HEW signal field 212 to be shorter compared to the conventional VHT-SIG-A 211.

As discussed above, in some embodiments, one of the more fields of the HEW transmit messaging structure 200 can be configurable to include interleaving with zero subcarriers (ie, other than the zero subcarriers at the DC). A number of minimum bandwidth units, and may include one or more additional/extra zero subcarriers around the DC and at the edge of the band to cover the 20 MHz bandwidth of each 20 MHz channel. In some embodiments, the addition of zero subcarriers can alleviate the implementation requirements for synchronization, DC cancellation, power amplifiers, and filtering.

In some embodiments, the 20 MHz channel 202 can be configured to have two wider subchannels, and each subchannel includes a bandwidth of 2x 4.375 MHz minimum bandwidth unit. In these embodiments, at each 2x4.375MHz bandwidth The waveform transmitted in the middle can be different from the two transmitted waveforms transmitted in each single 4.375 MHz minimum bandwidth unit.

Some embodiments may simplify the design by allowing only a subset of the OFDMA configuration (eg, the subchannel configuration of Figure 4, rather than the subchannel configuration of Figure 3). This simplification reduces the information required to assemble the receiver and thereby reduces the burden of communication management and thus improves overall system performance.

Some embodiments may limit the number of scheduled HEW stations 104 assigned (e.g., assigned to four multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) users) in each minimum bandwidth unit. These embodiments may allow the number of spatial streams to be reduced to three streams per user. Limiting the number of MU-MIMO users to four can use only two information bits to be carried, and the number of spatial streams is limited to three using the other two information bits. These limitations may further reduce the communication management burden in the HEW signal field 212, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

Some embodiments disclosed herein modularize and extend the OFDMA structure. The basic structure can, for example, be combined with several combinations of four minimum bandwidth units or minimum bandwidth units (eg, 4.375 MHz and 2 x 4.375 MHz).

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

According to some HEW embodiments, the MAC 504 may be configured to contend for wireless media during a contention period to receive control of the media for the HEW control period and to group HEW frames. The PHY 502 can be configured to transmit a transmit messaging structure within the HEW frame as discussed above. PHY 502 can also be configured to communicate with HEW station 104 in accordance with OFDMA techniques. The MAC 504 can also be configured to transmit and receive 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 configured to transmit and receive signals including the transmission of the HEW frame. Memory 508 can store information for assembling processing circuitry 506 for performing operations for HEW communications and performing various operations described herein. In some embodiments, HEW device 500 can include one or more radios (eg, WLAN radio and cellular/LTE radio) for communicating with different types of networks.

In some embodiments, HEW device 500 can be configured to communicate via a multi-carrier communication channel using OFDM communication signals. In some embodiments, HEW device 500 can be configured to receive signals in accordance with a particular communication standard, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The standards include the IEEE 802.11-2012, 802.11n-2009 and/or 802.11ac-2013 standards, and/or the recommended specifications for WLAN include the proposed HEW standard, although the scope of the invention is not limited in this respect, as the invention may It is also suitable for transmitting and/or receiving according to other technologies and standards. In some other embodiments, HEW device 500 can be configured to receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques, such as spread spectrum modulation (eg, direct sequence code 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, The scope is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the HEW device 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 device 500 can include a keyboard, a display, a non-electric 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 device 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, days The lines can be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and different channel characteristics that can occur between each of the antennas and the antenna of the transmitting station.

Although the HEW device 500 is illustrated as having a number of individual functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be coupled by software components, such as processing elements, including digital signal processors (DSPs), and / or a combination of other hardware components. 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 embodiments, the functional elements of HEW device 500 may relate to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

In some embodiments, the hardware processing circuitry of the HEW device, when operating as HEW station 104, can be assembled to receive the HEW signal field (HEW-SIG-A) via one of a plurality of 20 MHz channels. The HEW signal field is grouped with HEW station 104 for communicating on one or more OFDMA sub-channels of one of the 20 MHz channels in a 20 MHz channel according to OFDMA techniques. The channel resources may include one or more OFDMA subchannels within a 20 MHz channel. The HEW station 104 can also be configured to communicate data with the primary station 102 on the indicated OFDMA subchannel based on configuration information received in the HEW signal field. Each OFDMA subchannel may include one or more minimum bandwidth units having a predetermined bandwidth. In such embodiments, the received HEW signal field may include an indicator to indicate the subchannel configuration of the associated 20 MHz channel. The subchannel configuration can include at least a number of minimum bandwidth units. The received HEW signal field may also be included for use in the OFDMA control period. Information about communication within the channel, including information on the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) indicator and the length indicator of the minimum bandwidth unit.

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 assembled by instructions stored on a computer readable storage device.

6 is a process for HEW communication by a primary station in accordance with some embodiments. The program 600 can be performed by an access point of the primary station 102 that operates as a primary station 102 for communicating with a plurality of HEW stations 104.

In operation 602, the primary station 102 can generate a packet that includes a transmit messaging structure to assemble the scheduled HEW station 104 for communicating over channel resources in accordance with OFDMA techniques. The channel resources may include one or more OFDMA subchannels within a 20 MHz channel, and each OFDMA subchannel may include one or more minimum bandwidth units having a predetermined bandwidth.

In operation 604, the transmit messaging structure can be assembled to include individual HEW signal fields (eg, HEW-SIG-A) for each of the plurality of 20 MHz channels, and each HEW signal field can be Configuring to schedule one or more of the HEW stations 104 for use in accordance with OFDMA techniques at 20 One of the MHz channels is associated with one of the 20 MHz channels or is communicated over multiple OFDMA subchannels. Each HEW signal field can be a 20 MHz transmission on one of the 20 MHz channels in an associated 20 MHz channel, and each of the individual HEW signal fields can be configured to be associated with one of the 20 MHz channels in the 20 MHz channel. Parallel transmission.

In operation 606, the HEW signal field for each 20 MHz channel can be assembled to include an indicator to indicate the subchannel configuration of the associated 20 MHz channel. The subchannel configuration can include at least a number of minimum bandwidth units. The HEW signal field for each 20 MHz channel can be configured to include information for communicating within the sub-channel during the OFDMA control period, the information including the MCS indicator and the length indicator of the minimum bandwidth unit.

After the HEW signal field is generated in operation 606, the primary station 102 transmits a packet including the HEW signal field 212 and any other fields (eg, field 214 (FIG. 2)) to the scheduling station 104 for use in Subsequent communications of downlink data and/or uplink data in data field 216 are as discussed above.

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 the abstract 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‧‧‧Transmission communication structure

202‧‧20MHz channel/old 20MHz channel/channel

212‧‧‧HEW Signal Field/HEW Signal Field (HEW-SIG-A)/HEW SIG

214‧‧‧ Field/HEW Short Training Field (HEW-STF)

216‧‧‧Field/data field

Claims (25)

A communication station configured to operate as a high performance (HE) primary station in a wireless local area network (WLAN), the communication station comprising: a transceiver circuitry; and processing circuitry for The transceiver circuitry is configured to perform the following actions: generating a packet, the packet including a transmit messaging structure to assemble a scheduled HE station for use in a channel resource according to an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technique Upcoming communication, the channel resources are included in one or more OEDMA resource units in a 20 MHz channel, wherein each of the scheduled HE stations is allocated one of the OFDMA resource units; the transmitting includes the transmitting communication structure The packet; wherein the one or more OFDMA resource units comprise a mixture of different OFDMA resource unit sizes for the 20 MHz bandwidth. The communication station of claim 1, wherein the transmit communication structure includes an individual HE signal field for each of the plurality of 20 MHz channels, each of the individual HE signal fields being used to assemble the One or more of the HE stations are scheduled for communication on the one or more OFDMA resource units of one of the 20 MHz channels in accordance with the OFDMA technique. The communication station of claim 2, wherein each of the individual HE signal fields is a 20 MHz transmission on one of the 20 MHz channels, and Each of the individual HE signal fields is transmitted in parallel on one of the 20 MHz channels. The communication station of claim 3, wherein each of the individual HE signal fields is configured to assemble the scheduled HE stations for use in each of the 20 MHz channels of the 20 MHz channels Up to four uplinks in one or more OFDMA resource units. The communication station of claim 4, wherein each of the one or more OFDMA resource units comprises the minimum bandwidth unit of the predetermined bandwidth between one and four within each 20 MHz channel. The communication station of claim 5, wherein the predetermined bandwidth is 4.375 MHz, wherein the predetermined number of subcarriers is fourteen and the predetermined subcarrier spacing is 312.5 kHz. The communication station of claim 5, wherein the predetermined bandwidth is defined by a predetermined number of subcarriers and a predetermined subcarrier spacing. The communication station of claim 4, wherein each of the individual HE signal fields for each 20 MHz channel is generated to include an indication to indicate a resource unit configuration of the associated 20 MHz channel The resource unit configuration includes a mixture of different OFDMA resource unit sizes for the 20 MHz bandwidth; and information for communicating within the one or more OFDMA resource units during an OFDMA control period, the information including A modulation and coding scheme (MCS) indicator and a length indicator for the resource unit. The communication station of claim 8 wherein the individual HE signal fields are The indicator in each of the indicators indicating the configuration of the resource unit indicates one of: one of the four OFDMA sub-channels, wherein each of the four OFDMA sub-channels comprises a single The minimum bandwidth unit; comprising one subchannel configuration of two OFDMA subchannels, wherein each of the two OFDMA subchannels comprises two adjacent minimum bandwidth units; and one of a single OFDMA subchannel Subchannel configuration, the single OFDMA subchannel containing four adjacent minimum bandwidth units. A communication station as claimed in claim 5, wherein up to fifty-two subcarriers of a 20 MHz channel are used for data communication according to the OFDMA technique during an OFDMA control period. The communication station of claim 10, wherein each 20 MHz channel is configurable to include one or more fields subsequent to the individual HE signal field, the one or more fields being configurable to include a minimum Four minimum bandwidth units of the predetermined bandwidth, which are interleaved with zero subcarriers except one of the zero subcarriers at DC, and further assembled to include one around DC and at the edge of the band or Multiple zero subcarriers to cover one 20MHz bandwidth of each 20MHz channel. The communication station of claim 4, wherein the transmit messaging structure is further configured to include an HE Scheduling (SCH) field to indicate the one or more OFDMAs for each of the scheduled HE stations Specific time and frequency resources of the resource unit for rooting during an OFDMA control cycle The OFDMA communication is with the primary station. A communication station as claimed in claim 5, wherein the primary station is configured to allocate a bandwidth to the scheduled HE stations based on the minimum bandwidth unit for communicating with the primary station during an OFDMA control period, The primary station has dedicated control of a wireless medium during the OFDMA control period, wherein the minimum bandwidth units are configurable to be time and frequency multiplexed during the OFDMA control period, and wherein during the OFDMA control period During the period, the packets are received from the scheduled HE stations using OFDMA according to an uplink sub-space multiple access (SDMA) technique, or are transmitted to the scheduled HE stations according to downlink multiplexing techniques using OFDMA. The communication station of claim 1, further comprising: one or more antennas; one or more radios coupled to the one or more antennas for communicating with the scheduled HE stations; and one or more Memory. A method for communication by a communication station configured to operate as a high performance (HE) primary station, the method comprising: generating a packet, the packet including a transmit messaging structure to assemble Arranging HE stations for communicating on channel resources according to an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technique, the channel resources being included in one or more OFDMA resource units in a 20 MHz channel, wherein the ones Or a plurality of OFDMA resource units include a mixture of different OFDMA resource unit sizes for this 20 MHz bandwidth. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating the transmit messaging structure to include an individual HE signal field (HE-SIG-A) for each of the plurality of 20 MHz channels, the individual HE signal fields Each of the bits is configured to assemble one or more of the scheduled HE stations for use in the one or more OFDMA resource elements of one of the 20 MHz channels in accordance with the OFDMA technique Communication, wherein each of the individual HE signal fields is a 20 MHz transmission on one of the 20 MHz channels, and wherein each of the individual HEW signal fields is configured to One of the 20 MHz channels is transmitted in parallel on the associated ones. The method of claim 16, wherein each of the individual HE signal fields is configured to assemble the scheduled HE stations for use in each of the 20 MHz channels of the 20 MHz channels Up to four uplinks in one or more OFDMA resource units. The method of claim 16, wherein each of the individual HE signal fields for each 20 MHz channel is generated to include an indicator to indicate resource element configuration of one of the associated 20 MHz channels ???the resource unit configuration includes a mixture of different OFDMA resource unit sizes for the 20 MHz bandwidth; and information for communicating in the one or more OFDMA resource units during an OFDMA control period, the information including A modulation and coding scheme (MCS) indicator and a length indicator for the resource elements. The method of claim 18, wherein each of the individual HE signal fields The indicator used to indicate the configuration of the resource unit indicates one of: one of the four OFDMA subchannels, the subchannel configuration, wherein each of the four OFDMA subchannels comprises a single one a minimum bandwidth unit; comprising one subchannel configuration of two OFDMA subchannels, wherein each of the two OFDMA subchannels comprises two adjacent minimum bandwidth units; and includes one of a single OFDMA subchannel Channel configuration, the single OFDMA subchannel containing four adjacent minimum bandwidth units. The method of claim 17, wherein the transmit messaging structure is further configured to include an HE Scheduling (SCH) field to indicate the one or more OFDMA resources for each of the scheduled HE stations A specific time and frequency resource of the unit for communicating with the primary station in accordance with the OFDMA technique during the OFDMA control period. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for execution by one or more processors for enabling high performance by a primary station in a wireless local area network (WLAN) (HE) operation of the communication, the operations for assembling the primary station to perform the following actions: generating a packet, the packet including a transmit messaging structure to assemble the scheduled HE station for use according to an orthogonal frequency division Multiple Access (OFDMA) technology communicates over channel resources, the channel resources being included in one or more OFDMA resource elements in a 20 MHz channel, wherein the one or more OFDMA resource elements are directed to the 20 MHz The bandwidth contains a mix of different OFDMA resource unit sizes. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the operations further assemble the primary station to generate the transmit messaging structure to include an individual HE signal field for each of the plurality of 20 MHz channels Bits (HE-SIG-A), each of the individual HE signal fields being used to assemble one or more of the scheduled HE stations for use in the 20 MHz channels in accordance with the OFDMA technique Communicating on the one or more OFDMA resource elements of one of the associated ones, wherein each of the individual HE signal fields is a 20 MHz transmission on one of the 20 MHz channels, and wherein Each of the individual HE signal fields is transmitted in parallel on one of the 20 MHz channels. A high performance (HE) station comprising: a memory; and processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry being configured to perform the following actions: receiving one from a plurality of 20 MHz channels One of the primary stations HE signal field (HE-SIG-A), which is used to assemble the HE station for use in the 20 MHz channel according to an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technique One of the channel resources associated with the 20 MHz channel, the channel resources being included in one or more OFDMA resource units in the associated 20 MHz channel in the 20 MHz channel; and based on the HE signal field Receiving configuration information and communicating with the primary station on the indicated OFDMA resource unit, wherein the one or more OFDMA resource units are directed to the 20 MHz The bandwidth contains a mix of different OFDMA resource unit sizes. The HE station of claim 23, which is configured to perform the following actions: receiving downlink data from the primary station on the indicated OFDMA resource unit; and based on the received in the HE signal field Configuring information to demodulate the received downlink data; assembling uplink data based on the configuration information received in the HE signal field; and passing the indicated OFDMA resource unit The uplink data is assembled to be transmitted to the primary station. The HE station of claim 23, wherein the HE signal field received comprises: an indicator to indicate a resource unit configuration of the associated 20 MHz channel, the resource unit configuration comprising different for the 20 MHz bandwidth a mix of OFDMA resource unit sizes; and information for communicating within the OFDMA resource units during an OFDMA control period, the information including a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) indicator and for the resource unit Length indicator.