WO2020229721A1

WO2020229721A1 - Method and arrangement for simultaneous wireless transmission with different modulation and coding schemes

Info

Publication number: WO2020229721A1
Application number: PCT/FI2019/050365
Authority: WO
Inventors: Olli Alanen; Mika Kasslin; Veli-Matti KOLMONEN; Janne Marin; Enrico-Henrik Rantala
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2019-05-10
Filing date: 2019-05-10
Publication date: 2020-11-19

Abstract

According to an example aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method, comprising:receiving, by the apparatus, a transmission from a wireless device, determining a first modulation and coding scheme of a first part of the transmission at least partly on the basis of a field in a header of the transmission, and determining a second modulation and coding scheme of a second part of the transmission on the basis of a mapping table between the first modulation and coding scheme and the second modulation and coding scheme, wherein the first part of the transmission and the second part of the transmission are received at least partly simultaneously.

Description

METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR SIMULTANEOUS WIRELESS TRANSMISSION WITH DIFFERENT MODULATION AND CODING SCHEMES

FIELD

[0001] Various example embodiments relate to wireless communications, and in particular to arranging at least partially simultaneous wireless transmissions of wireless devices.

BACKGROUND

[0002] In many wireless networks wireless access is based on shared access to a wireless medium. Wireless devices may tune on the same channel and try to transmit data. To avoid collisions, several techniques exist, such as the carrier sense multiple access (CSMA). If the medium is busy, then a device needs to wait for the medium to become idle and available.

[0003] Simultaneous transmissions are enabled in many radio access technologies, for example in wireless local area networks with multiuser (MU) techniques like MU- MIMO and orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA). These techniques are designed, however, for use between connected devices which may run protocols, with which e.g. an access node obtains channel state information for a wireless device which it intends to serve using the MU techniques. There is a continuing demand to further develop technologies for special purposes, such as for vehicular communication, in which connection setup is not required for data transmission.

SUMMARY

[0004] Some aspects of the invention are defined by the features of the independent claims. Some specific embodiments are defined in the dependent claims. [0005] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method, which may be performed by wireless communication device or apparatus, comprising: receiving, by the apparatus, a transmission from a wireless device, determining a first modulation and coding scheme of a first part of the transmission at least partly on the basis of a field in a header of the transmission, and determining a second modulation and coding scheme of a second part of the transmission on the basis of a mapping table between the first modulation and coding scheme and the second modulation and coding scheme, wherein the first part of the transmission and the second part of the transmission are received at least partly simultaneously.

[0006] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method, which may be performed by wireless communication device or apparatus, comprising: generating a first part for a transmission by applying a first modulation and coding scheme to a first data set, generating a second part for the transmission by applying a second modulation and coding scheme to a second data set, and transmitting the transmission comprising the first part and the second part from a wireless device, wherein a field in a header of the transmission is indicative of the first modulation and coding scheme, the second modulation and coding scheme is associated with the first modulation and coding scheme by a mapping table, and the first part of the transmission and the second part of the transmission are transmitted at least partly simultaneously.

[0007] There are also provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to carry out features in accordance with the first and/or second aspect or an embodiment thereof. According to still further aspects, there are provided a computer program and a computer-readable medium configured to carry out features in accordance with the first and/or second aspect or an embodiment thereof. According to an aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for causing the apparatus to carry out the method or an embodiment of any one of the method claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] FIGURE 1 illustrates and example wireless communication system;

[0009] FIGURES 2 and 3 illustrate methods in accordance with at least some embodiments; [0010] FIGURE 4 illustrates example protocol architecture and communication in accordance with at least some embodiments;

[0011] FIGURE 5 illustrates an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing protocol data unit format; [0012] FIGURE 6 illustrates an example mapping table in accordance with at least some embodiments;

[0013] FIGURE 7 illustrates signalling for establishing wireless local area network association; and

[0014] FIGURE 8 illustrates an example apparatus capable of supporting at least some embodiments.

EMBODIMENTS

[0015] With reference to an example system of Figure 1, the system comprises two or more wireless communications devices 10, 12 and may comprise one or more access nodes 20, which may be connected to a further network 30. A wireless device (e.g. the device 12) may be configured to transmit data to another wireless device 10 without requiring a connection setup between the devices, in some embodiments by broadcast, multicast or groupcast type of messages. The wireless devices 10, 12 may be user devices or machine-to -machine (M2M) type of devices. In some embodiments, at least some of the wireless devices 10, 12 are comprised by a vehicle and configured to perform vehicle-to- cvcrything (V2X) communication. V2X communication generally comprises transmission of information from a vehicle to an entity that may be affected by the vehicle. V2X communication may comprise or be applied for further specific types of communication, such as vehicle-to -vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to -network (V2N), and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication.

[0016] The wireless devices 10, 12 may comprise a transceiver configured for wireless local area network (WLAN) based communication, in some embodiments IEEE 802.11 based communication. The wireless devices 10, 12 may be configured to operate as a WLAN station (STA) and the access node 20 may be a WLAN access point (AP). In some embodiments, the wireless devices and the access node are part of a cellular network and/or short range radio network.

[0017] By applying signalling as illustrated in Figure 7, a STA may associate to an AP so that they can exchange data frames. Authentication, integrity and security services may also bind to the association. In case of IEEE 802.11 -based wireless local area networks (WLANs), the STA may be associated with a basic service set (BSS) which is a basic building block of IEEE 802.11-based WLANs. An infrastructure BSS includes a single AP together with all STAs associated with the AP.

[0018] In WLANs the medium access control (MAC) layer communicates with the physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) sublayer via primitives (a set of“instructive commands” or“fundamental instructions”) through a service access point (SAP). When the MAC layer instructs it to do so, the PLCP prepares MAC protocol data units (MPDUs) for transmission. The PLCP minimizes the dependence of the MAC layer on the physical medium dependent (PMD) sublayer by mapping MPDUs into a frame format suitable for transmission by the PMD. The PLCP also delivers incoming frames from the wireless medium to the MAC layer. The PLCP appends a physical layer (PHY) specific preamble and header fields to the MPDU that contain information needed by the physical layer transmitters and receivers. This composite frame (the MPDU with an additional PLCP preamble and header) is referred to as a PLCP protocol data unit (PPDU).

[0019] IEEE 802.1 lp defines enhancements for 802.11 based systems to support intelligent transportation systems (ITS) applications. The IEEE 802.1 lp defines a method to exchange data through direct link(s) without the need to establish a basic service set (BSS), thus without the need to wait on the association and authentication procedures to complete prior to exchanging data. IEEE 802. l ip-enabled stations use the wildcard BSS identifier (BSSID) in the header of the frames they exchange, and may start sending and receiving data frames as soon as they arrive on the communication channel. The wireless devices 10, 12 may be configured to exchange basic safety messages (BSM) to indicate location (e.g. GPS coordinates), speed and direction by applying 802. l ip. Thus, vehicles may indicate where they are and where are they going.

[0020] IEEE 802.1 lbd task group has been formed to develop a new amendment to 802.11 specification targeted for V2X communication, based on the 802. l ip. IEEE 802.1 lbd based networks may also be referred to as next generation vehicular (NGV) networks. 802.1 lbd is expected to provide higher data rates, improved link reliability and longer range. New modulation schemes may help to meet the throughput goal. 802.1 lbd is to be backward compatible with 802. l ip. Wireless devices supporting only 802. l ip thus need to be able to decode 802.1 lp transmissions from 802.1 lbd devices, and vice versa.

[0021] There is now provided an improved solution facilitating to improve data transmission efficiency for wireless communication for transmitting data sets from a wireless device by applying two or more modulation and coding schemes (MCS). By applying the presently disclosed features, two (or more) layers of information may be transmitted at least partially simultaneously by applying hierarchical modulation. For example, one layer with a first MCS may be for 802.1 lp capable devices and another layer with a second MCS for 802.1 lbd capable devices. Hierarchical modulation may be defined as a technique for multiplexing and modulating multiple data streams into one symbol stream. It may be also be referred to as layered modulation as the data streams are mapped to symbols on layer-by-layer basis before transmitting them simultaneously in synchronous manner.

[0022] Figure 2 illustrates a method for receiving transmission from a wireless device, in some embodiments a transmission to an 802.1 lbd capable device from an 802.1 lbd capable device. The method may be performed by a wireless communications device or an apparatus controlling wireless transmission of a wireless device, such as the wireless device 10, the access node 20, or a controller thereof.

[0023] The method comprises receiving 210 a transmission from a wireless device of a wireless spectrum. The transmission comprises a first part and a second part, which are received at least partly simultaneously.

[0024] A first MCS of the first part of the transmission is determined 220 at least partly on the basis of a field in a header of the transmission. Thus, the apparatus performing the method may, on the basis of an indication in the header, detect which MCS is to be used for demodulating and decoding the first part of the transmission.

[0025] A second MCS of the second part of the transmission is determined 230 on the basis of a mapping table between the first MCS and the second MCS. The mapping table refers generally to mapping information stored in or otherwise available for the apparatus performing the method, on the basis of which the second MCS may be identified (from a set of MCS schemes) based on the first MCS.

[0026] The wireless device 10 may then control demodulation and decoding of the respective parts of the transmission to be performed by the determined MCSs. For example, the device may comprise a controller configured to control a demodulator unit and a decoder unit of the receiver to process the first part and the second part in accordance with the determined respective MCS.

[0027] The first part may be considered as a base layer and the second part as an additional layer of at least partly simultaneous communication applying the different MCSs. The wireless device 10 may be configured to provide a first data set obtained after demodulating and decoding the first part of the transmission on the basis of the first MCS as a base layer information to an upper protocol layer. Similarly, a second data set obtained after demodulating and decoding the second part on the basis of the second MCS may be provided as additional layer information to the upper protocol layer. The base layer information and the additional layer information may be intended for the same or different higher-level protocol entity, such as an application instance.

[0028] Figure 3 illustrates a method for arranging transmission from a wireless device, in some embodiments a transmission from an 802.11bd capable device. The method may be performed by a wireless device or an apparatus controlling wireless transmission of a wireless device, such as the wireless device 12 or a controller thereof.

[0029] Block 310 comprises generating a first part for a transmission by applying a first MCS to a first data set. A second part is generated 320 for the transmission by applying a second MCS to a second data set. The transmission comprising the first part and the second part is transmitted 330 from a wireless device to a wireless medium, e.g. from the wireless device 12 as a broadcast for all devices able to receive the transmission, such as the device 10 implementing the method of Figure 2. The first part of the transmission and the second part of the transmission are transmitted at least partly simultaneously. A field in a header of the transmission is indicative of the first MCS, and the MCS is associated with the first MCS by a mapping table. Thus, the second MCS to be applied in block 320 may be selected on the basis of the mapping table and identification of the first MCS. In some instances, the mapping table may be applied to identify the first MCS to be applied when the second MCS applied for the second part is known. The apparatus performing the method of Figure 3 may enter or further continue to block 320 in response to detecting that at least two data sets need to be transmitted at different layers of modulation. These data sets may be from the same or different higher-level protocol entity, such as a V2X application instance, which may indicate the first MCS and/or the second MCS to the lower layer, which then are used in block 310 and 320.

[0030] The transmission may be or comprise a physical layer protocol data unit and the field may be a physical layer header, such as a PLCP header. In some embodiments, the header of the transmission further comprises a field indicating whether the transmission comprises the second part of the transmission. The wireless device performing the method of Figure 3 may include the indication in the header, in some embodiments in a PLCP header. The indication on whether the transmission comprises the second part may be included in the same field or a different as the indication on the first MCS. The wireless device performing the method of Figure 2 may be configured to detect the indication in the field of the received transmission, and enter block 230 in response to detecting the indication.

[0031] A wireless device not supporting application of the multiple, at least partly simultaneous MCSs, and layers for the transmission, detects the first MCS in the received transmission. Such legacy device may thus consider the transmission as 802.1 lp transmission and apply the first MCS to demodulate and decode the first part, without detecting or reacting to the second part (and the indication thereof).

[0032] The wireless device configured to perform the method of Figure 2 and/or 3 may be a WLAN STA. In some embodiments, the transmission is orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) physical layer protocol data unit, such as a PLCP PDU for 802.11bd based transmission. Further example embodiments are illustrated below for an 802.11 based system with references to these entities.

[0033] In some embodiments, the first information set and the first part of the transmission comprises 802. l ip based messages as the base layer information, and the second information set and the second part of the transmission comprises 802.11bd based messages as the additional layer information.

[0034] The first part and the second part may be intended to be received by at least partially different device sets. For example, basic messages, such as basic safety messages (BSM), which all vehicles within range, including e.g. vehicles supporting only 802. l ip, need to be able to receive, are sent by an 802. l ip MCS on the basic layer. If there is additional information augmenting the basic message, but which is not crucial, it may be carried on the additional layer, which may apply an 802.1 lbd MCS. In another example, the additional layer may be used to transmit some other message than the BSM messages. This additional layer is not backward compatible and it should not be used for critical BSM messages.

[0035] The additional layer facilitated by the second part of the transmission may have multiple usages. For example, the additional layer may be used to exchange extra information on a car or truck platoon. In such use case the cars may be rather close to each other and also share the speed and direction. Signal quality may thus be good as e.g. the doppler shift should not be an issue. This may be advantageous since the additional layer reception may require better signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) than the base layer due to higher MCS and potentially lower transmission power.

[0036] Figure 4 illustrates an example of protocol stacks and communication from a vehicle A to a vehicle B and a vehicle C. In this example, the vehicles comprise an application for ITS V2X communication, such as a safety and traffic efficiency application. At least two different V2X messages for a broadcast transmission to locally available vehicles, in the present example a first BSM message (BSM-1) and a second BSM message (BSM-2) are provided to a lower protocol layer by GeoNetworking/basic transport protocol (BTP) layer(s) in the transmitting vehicle A.

[0037] An intermediate interface is arranged between the (ETSI) Geonetworking/BTP and IEEE 802.11 based layers. The intermediate interface may be provided by the logical link control (LLC) protocol layer as in the present example, or by another layer. The interface may provide the BSM messages between these layers.

[0038] The intermediate interface may be configured to detect that the BSM messages need to be transmitted at different layers (e.g. due to different type of the MCS messages) and indicate to the lower layer to use the different layers for the transmission. The interface may be configured to control the MCS for each packet to lower protocol layer, in the present example MCS-1 for BSM-1 and MCS-2 for BSM-2. In an embodiment, the MCS-1 is selected on upper layer, such as the Geonetworking level, and indicated to the intermediate interface, which then determines the MCS-2 on the basis of the mapping table. The 802.1 lbd protocol stack is configured to prepare the PHY layer PLCP PPDU, and the PHY layer is configured to apply MCS-1 for the BSM-1 and MCS-2 for BSM-2 for the hierarchical transmission.

[0039] A 802.1 lbd capable vehicle B is able to receive both layers, and provide the resulting BSM-1 and BSM-2 to BTP/Geonetworking layer(s). A legacy vehicle C comprises 802. l ip PHY and MAC layers, receives only the base layer, and provides the resulting BSM-1 for upper layers.

[0040] Figure 5 illustrates an OFDM PPDU for at least 802. l ip based communication. The RATE field 500 in the PHY header field indicates data transmission rate and MCS for the base layer information, i.e. the first MCS of the first part of the transmission. For example,“0101” may indicate quadrature phase-shift keying QPSK½ modulation and 6 Mb/s rate for 10 MHz channel spacing.

[0041] In some embodiments, the reserved field or bit 502 is applied for indicating that the transmission comprises the second part of the transmission, and thus the additional layer. For example, value zero of the reserved field may be defined to indicate that there is only a single layer of information in the PPDU and it is 802.1 lp compatible. The value one may be defined to indicate that there is the additional layer that may be received with 802.1 lbd compatible devices. When the reserved bit is set, the MCS of the additional layer may be determined on the basis of the value of the RATE field 500 (indicating the MCS of the base layer) and the mapping table, however the modulation is having a higher order than on the base layer.

[0042] In some other or further embodiments, the reserved bit is not applied for the indication, is not set and/or available. The wireless device performing the method of Figure 2 may be configured to check whether the transmission comprises the additional layer, by first determining the MCS of the additional layer on the basis of the RATE field and/or the mapping table, and then demodulating the potential additional layer of the transmission. The device may then determine based on the result of the demodulation whether the additional layer is present or not.

[0043] Figure 6 illustrates an example of a mapping table between base layer MCS and additional layer MCS, associated with RATE field value. Modulations applied in the OFDM PHY and the 802. l ip may include BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM, and 64-QAM. As illustrated, an MCS may be applied both for base layer and additional layer. There may be modulations only available at base layer or additional layer, e.g. 256QAM is only applied for the additional layer modulations used only in very high throughput (VHT) PPDUs.

[0044] Figure 7 illustrates signalling between an IEEE 802.11 based STA and an AP. On the basis of information in a beacon frame 700, the STA may discover the AP and send a probe request frame 710, which is responded by the AP by a probe response frame 720. In response to successful authentication 730, the STA may generate an association request 740 comprising the NAID.

[0045] It will be appreciated that above only some example embodiments and fields were illustrated, and depending on the applied PDU structure, some other existing or new field(s) may be applied. Some embodiments were above illustrated in connection with a system for vehicular communication and IEEE 802.1 lp and bd. However, at least some of the above illustrated features may be applied in other types of systems in which broadcast, multicast or groupcast (type of) transmissions are applied. The new information, on the basis of the presently disclosed features, may be included in an existing frame type and/or field, or a new frame type and/or field may be defined.

[0046] In some embodiments, at least some of the above-illustrated features are applied for transmitting and receiving the beacon frame 700 illustrated in Figure 7. The beacon frame may thus comprise information at two or more parts or layers, transferred at least partly by different MCSs. For example, information required for network/AP discovery may be carried in the basic layer which could be decoded by all the devices within range, while an additional layer would be used to carry additional information not required for the discovery. For example, information on 802.11 revisions may be provided in additional layer(s).

[0047] In some embodiments, the wireless device is an Extremely High Throughput

(EHT) device. EHT is currently discussed in an IEEE 802.11 task group be (802.1 lbe) to initiate discussions on new 802.11 features for bands between 1 and 7.125 GHz. The EHT’s primary objective is to increase peak throughput and cell efficiency as well as to reduce latency to support high throughput and low latency applications, such as video- over- WLAN, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Such EHT devices may apply more spatial streams, increased bandwidth, and multiband switching, aggregation and operation. The EHT/802.1 lbe may be a new feature that may be advertised in a beacon frame. There may be no gain on providing this information on the base layer as none of the base receivers (pre-802.11be) have any use for the information. However, the 802.1 lbe receivers may be capable of receiving the additional layer and get this new information. This way the size of the beacon would not be increased, which is preferable in overhead point-of-view.

[0048] While some embodiments have been described in the context of IEEE 802.11 based systems, it should be appreciated that these or other embodiments of the invention may be applicable in connection with other technologies configured to operate on licensed or non-licensed band, such as with wireless devices operating according to other versions of the IEEE 802.11, as well as cellular technologies and short range radio technologies.

[0049] An electronic device comprising electronic circuitries may be an apparatus for realizing at least some embodiments of the present invention. The apparatus may be or may be comprised in a computer, a laptop, a tablet computer, a cellular phone, a vehicle communications unit, a machine to machine (M2M) device (e.g. an IoT sensor device), a wearable device, a base station, access point device, or any other appropriately configured apparatus provided with wireless communication capability. In another embodiment, the apparatus carrying out the above-described functionalities is comprised in such a device, e.g. the apparatus may comprise a circuitry, such as a chip, a chipset, a microcontroller, or a combination of such circuitries in any one of the above-described devices.

[0050] As used in this application, the term“circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software

(including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and (c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation. This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a wireless device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0051] FIGURE 8 illustrates an example apparatus capable of supporting at least some embodiments of the present invention. Illustrated is a device 800, which may comprise a wireless communications device arranged to operate as the device 10, 12 or the access node 20, for example. The device may include one or more controllers configured to carry out operations in accordance with at least some of the embodiments illustrated above, such as some or more of the features illustrated above in connection with Figures 2 to 7. The device may be configured to operate as the apparatus configured to carry out the method of Figure 2 and/or 3, for example.

[0052] Comprised in the device 800 is a processor 802, which may comprise, for example, a single- or multi-core processor wherein a single-core processor comprises one processing core and a multi-core processor comprises more than one processing core. The processor 802 may comprise more than one processor. The processor may comprise at least one application- specific integrated circuit, ASIC. The processor may comprise at least one field-programmable gate array, FPGA. The processor may be means for performing method steps in the device. The processor may be configured, at least in part by computer instructions, to perform actions.

[0053] The device 800 may comprise memory 804. The memory may comprise random-access memory and/or permanent memory. The memory may comprise at least one RAM chip. The memory may comprise solid-state, magnetic, optical and/or holographic memory, for example. The memory may be at least in part accessible to the processor 802. The memory may be at least in part comprised in the processor 802. The memory may be at least in part external to the device 800 but accessible to the device. The memory 804 may be means for storing information. For example, control parameters affecting operations related to determining the MCS for received transmission parts and/or generating the hierarchical transmission by the wireless device may be stored in one or more portions of the memory and used to control operation of the apparatus. Further, the memory may comprise device-specific cryptographic information, such as secret and public key of the device 800.

[0054] The memory may comprise computer instructions that the processor is configured to execute. When computer instructions configured to cause the processor to perform certain actions are stored in the memory, and the device in overall is configured to run under the direction of the processor using computer instructions from the memory, the processor and/or its at least one processing core may be considered to be configured to perform said certain actions, such as control at least some of the features illustrated in connection with Figures 2 and/or 3.

[0055] The device 800 may comprise a transmitter 806. The device may comprise a receiver 808. The transmitter and the receiver may be configured to transmit and receive, respectively, information in accordance with at least one wired or wireless, cellular or non- cellular standard. The transmitter may comprise more than one transmitter. The receiver may comprise more than one receiver. The transmitter and the receiver may comprise radio interface components providing the apparatus with radio communication capability within one or more wireless networks. The radio interface components may comprise components such as an amplifier, filter, frequency- converter, (de)modulator, and encoder/decoder circuitries and one or more antennas.

[0056] The transmitter and/or receiver may be configured to operate in accordance with global system for mobile communication, GSM, wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA, long term evolution, LTE, 5G or other cellular communications systems, WLAN, and/or Ethernet standards, for example. The device 800 may comprise a near-field communication, NFC, transceiver 810. The NFC transceiver may support at least one NFC technology, such as NFC, Bluetooth, Wibree or similar technologies. [0057] The device 800 may comprise user interface, UI, 812. The UI may comprise at least one of a display, a keyboard, a touchscreen, a speaker and a microphone. A user may be able to operate the device via the UI, for example to view traffic information, to browse the Internet, to manage digital files stored in the memory 804 or on a cloud accessible via the transmitter 806 and the receiver 808.

[0058] The device 800 may comprise or be arranged to accept a user identity module or other type of identification and/or memory module 814. The user identity module may comprise, for example, a subscriber identity module, SIM, and/or a personal identification IC card installable in the device 800. The user identity module 814 may comprise information identifying a subscription of a user of device 800. The user identity module 814 may comprise cryptographic information usable to verify the identity of a user of device 800 and/or to facilitate encryption and decryption of communication effected via the device 800.

[0059] The processor 802 may be furnished with a transmitter arranged to output information from the processor, via electrical leads internal to the device 800, to other devices comprised in the device. Such a transmitter may comprise a serial bus transmitter arranged to, for example, output information via at least one electrical lead to memory 804 for storage therein. Alternatively to a serial bus, the transmitter may comprise a parallel bus transmitter. Likewise the processor may comprise a receiver arranged to receive information in the processor, via electrical leads internal to the device 800, from other devices comprised in the device 800. Such a receiver may comprise a serial bus receiver arranged to, for example, receive information via at least one electrical lead from the receiver 808 for processing in the processor. Alternatively to a serial bus, the receiver may comprise a parallel bus receiver.

[0060] The device 800 may comprise further devices not illustrated in Figure 8. For example, the device may comprise at least one digital camera. Some devices may comprise a back-facing camera and a front-facing camera. The device may comprise a fingerprint sensor arranged to authenticate, at least in part, a user of the device. In some embodiments, the device lacks at least one device described above. For example, some devices may lack the NFC transceiver 810 and/or the user identity module 814. [0061] The processor 802, the memory 804, the transmitter 806, the receiver 808, the NFC transceiver 810, the UI 812 and/or the user identity module 814 may be interconnected by electrical leads internal to the device 800 in a multitude of different ways. For example, each of the aforementioned devices may be separately connected to a master bus internal to the device, to allow for the devices to exchange information. However, as the skilled person will appreciate, this is only one example and depending on the embodiment various ways of interconnecting at least two of the aforementioned devices may be selected without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0062] It is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention disclosed are not limited to the particular structures, process steps, or materials disclosed herein, but are extended to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the relevant arts. It should also be understood that terminology employed herein is used for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting.

[0063] Reference throughout this specification to one embodiment or an embodiment means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases“in one embodiment” or“in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Where reference is made to a numerical value using a term such as, for example, about or substantially, the exact numerical value is also disclosed.

[0064] As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositional elements, and/or functional features may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as a de facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on their presentation in a common group without indications to the contrary. In addition, various embodiments and example of the present invention may be referred to herein along with alternatives for the various components thereof.

[0065] Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the preceding description, numerous specific details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

[0066] It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications in form, usage and details of implementation can be made without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention. Accordingly, embodiments are not limited to the examples described above but may vary within the scope of the claims. [0067] The verbs“to comprise” and“to include” are used in this document as open limitations that neither exclude nor require the existence of also un-recited features. The features recited in depending claims are mutually freely combinable unless otherwise explicitly stated. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the use of "a" or "an", that is, a singular form, throughout this document does not exclude a plurality.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An apparatus comprising at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least for:

- receiving a transmission from a wireless device,

- determining a first modulation and coding scheme of a first part of the

transmission at least partly on the basis of a field in a header of the

transmission, and

- determining a second modulation and coding scheme of a second part of the transmission on the basis of a mapping table between the first modulation and coding scheme and the second modulation and coding scheme,

wherein the first part of the transmission and the second part of the transmission are received, by the apparatus, at least partly simultaneously.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code is configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to provide a first data set obtained after demodulating and decoding the first part of the transmission on the basis of the first modulation and coding scheme as a base layer information to an upper protocol layer and provide a second data set obtained after demodulating and decoding the second part of the transmission on the basis of the second modulation and coding scheme as additional layer information to the upper protocol layer.

3. An apparatus comprising at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least for:

- generating a first part for a transmission by applying a first modulation and coding scheme to a first data set,

- generating a second part for the transmission by applying a second modulation and coding scheme to a second data set, and - transmitting the transmission comprising the first part and the second part from a wireless device, wherein a field in a header of the transmission is indicative of the first modulation and coding scheme, the second modulation and coding scheme is associated with the first modulation and coding scheme by a mapping table, and the first part of the transmission and the second part of the transmission are transmitted at least partly simultaneously.

4. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the transmission is a physical layer protocol data unit.

5. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the transmission is an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing physical layer protocol data unit.

6. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the field is in a physical layer

header.

7. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the field is a rate field.

8. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the transmission comprises a basic safety message for vehicular communication.

9. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the transmission comprises a beacon frame.

10. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the header of the transmission further comprises a field indicating whether the transmission comprises the second part of the transmission.

11. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the first part and the second part are intended to be received by different device sets.

12. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the wireless device is a station of a wireless local area network.

13. A wireless communications device, comprising at least one transmitter, at least one receiver, and the apparatus of any preceding claim.

14. A method comprising:

- receiving, by the apparatus, a transmission from a wireless device,

- determining a first modulation and coding scheme of a first part of the

transmission at least partly on the basis of a field in a header of the

transmission, and

wherein the first part of the transmission and the second part of the transmission are received at least partly simultaneously.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a first data set obtained after demodulating and decoding the first part of the transmission on the basis of the first modulation and coding scheme is provided as a base layer information to an upper protocol layer and a second data set obtained after demodulating and decoding the second part of the transmission on the basis of the second modulation and coding scheme is provided as additional layer information to the upper protocol layer.

16. A method, comprising:

- generating a second part for the transmission by applying a second modulation and coding scheme to a second data set, and

- transmitting the transmission comprising the first part and the second part from a wireless device, wherein a field in a header of the transmission is indicative of the first modulation and coding scheme, the second modulation and coding scheme is associated with the first modulation and coding scheme by a mapping table, and the first part of the transmission and the second part of the transmission are transmitted at least partly simultaneously.

17. The method of any preceding claim 14 to 16, wherein the transmission is a physical layer protocol data unit.

18. The method of any preceding claim 14 to 17, wherein the transmission is an

orthogonal frequency division multiplexing physical layer protocol data unit.

19. The method of any preceding claim 14 to 18, wherein the field is in a physical layer header.

20. The method of any preceding claim 14 to 19, wherein the field is a rate field.

21. The method of any preceding claim 14 to 20, wherein the transmission comprises a basic safety message for vehicular communication.

22. The method of any preceding claim 14 to 21, wherein the transmission comprises a beacon frame.

23. The method of any preceding claim 14 to 22, wherein the header of the transmission further comprises a field indicating whether the transmission comprises the second part of the transmission.

24. The method of any preceding claim 14 to 23, wherein the first part and the second part are intended to be received by different device sets.

25. The method of any preceding claim 14 to 24, wherein the wireless device is a station of a wireless local area network.

26. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a set of computer readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause an apparatus to perform the method of any preceding claim 14 to 25.

27. A computer program comprising code for, when executed in a data processing apparatus, to cause a method in accordance with at least one of claims 14 to 25 to be performed.

28. An apparatus, comprising means for performing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 25.