Orthogonal frequency division multiple access for wireless local area network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10009894-B2
Application number	US-201514955017-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2015
Priority date	Nov 27, 2013
Publication date	Jun 26, 2018
Grant date	Jun 26, 2018

Abstract

A plurality of different OFDM tone blocks for a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication channel are assigned to a plurality of devices. An OFDMA data unit is generated, the OFDMA unit including a preamble portion and a data portion, the preamble portion having at least i) a first legacy portion that corresponds to at least a first OFDM tone block, ii) a second legacy portion that corresponds to a second OFDM tone block, iii) a first non-legacy portion that corresponds to the first OFDM tone block, iv) a second non-legacy portion that corresponds to the second OFDM tone block, and v) a third non-legacy portion that corresponds to a third OFDM tone block. The first OFDM tone block and the second OFDM tone block are separated in frequency by at least the third OFDM tone block.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
assigning a plurality of different orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) tone blocks for a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication channel to a plurality of devices including a first device and second device, wherein the plurality of different OFDM tone blocks includes at least a first OFDM tone block and a second OFDM tone block assigned to the first device and a third OFDM tone block assigned to the second device, wherein the first OFDM tone block and the second OFDM tone block are separated in frequency by at least the third OFDM tone block; and
generating an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) data unit for the WLAN communication channel, the OFDMA data unit including a preamble portion and a data portion, the preamble portion having at least i) a first legacy portion that corresponds to at least the first OFDM tone block, ii) a second legacy portion that corresponds to the second OFDM tone block, iii) a first non-legacy portion that corresponds to the first OFDM tone block, iv) a second non-legacy portion that corresponds to the second OFDM tone block, and v) a third non-legacy portion that corresponds to the third OFDM tone block, wherein
the first legacy portion is modulated on at least the first OFDM tone block,
the first non-legacy portion is modulated on the first OFDM tone block,
the second legacy portion is modulated on at least the second OFDM tone block,
the second non-legacy portion is modulated on the second OFDM tone block, and
the third non-legacy portion is modulated on the third OFDM tone block.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first OFDM tone block and the third OFDM tone block together span a bandwidth equal to a smallest channel bandwidth of a legacy WLAN communication protocol.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first legacy portion is modulated on a legacy tone block corresponding to a smallest channel bandwidth of a legacy WLAN communication protocol, wherein the legacy tone block i) overlaps in frequency with the first OFDM tone block and ii) has a bandwidth larger than a bandwidth of the first OFDM tone block.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the legacy tone block includes the first OFDM tone block assigned to the first device and the third OFDM tone block assigned to the second device, wherein the first legacy portion is modulated on at least the first OFDM tone block and the third OFDM tone block.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the data portion comprises a first OFDM data unit, for the first device, modulated on the first OFDM tone block and a second OFDM data unit, for the second device, modulated on the third OFDM tone block;
wherein at least one of the first OFDM data unit and the second OFDM data unit includes padding such that a total length of the first non-legacy portion and the first OFDM data unit is equal to a total length of the third non-legacy portion and the second OFDM data unit.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data portion comprises a first OFDM data unit, for the first device, modulated on the first OFDM tone block and a second OFDM data unit, for the first device, modulated on the second OFDM tone block;
wherein the first legacy portion and the second legacy portion comprise legacy signal fields that indicate a same total duration for i) the first non-legacy portion and the first OFDM data unit and ii) the second non-legacy portion and the second OFDM data unit.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first OFDM tone block and the second OFDM tone block use a same modulation and coding scheme.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first OFDM tone block uses a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) different from the second OFDM tone block.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first OFDM tone block and the second OFDM tone block use a same number of space-time streams.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first OFDM tone block and the second OFDM tone block use different numbers of space-time streams.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the OFDMA data unit for the WLAN communication channel comprises:
encoding first data for the first OFDM tone block separately from second data for the second OFDM tone block.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the OFDMA data unit for the WLAN communication channel comprises:
encoding and interleaving first data for the first OFDM tone block together with second data for the second OFDM tone block.

13. An apparatus, comprising:
a network interface device having one or more integrated circuits configured to:
assign a plurality of different orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) tone blocks for a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication channel to a plurality of devices including a first device and second device, wherein the plurality of different OFDM tone blocks includes at least a first OFDM tone block and a second OFDM tone block assigned to the first device and a third OFDM tone block assigned to the second device, wherein the first OFDM tone block and the second OFDM tone block are separated in frequency by at least the third OFDM tone block, and
generate an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) data unit for the WLAN communication channel, the OFDMA data unit including a preamble portion and a data portion, the preamble portion having at least i) a first legacy portion that corresponds to at least the first OFDM tone block, ii) a second legacy portion that corresponds to the second OFDM tone block, iii) a first non-legacy portion that corresponds to the first OFDM tone block, iv) a second non-legacy portion that corresponds to the second OFDM tone block, and v) a third non-legacy portion that corresponds to the third OFDM tone block, wherein
the first legacy portion is modulated on at least the first OFDM tone block,
the first non-legacy portion is modulated on the first OFDM tone block,
the second legacy portion is modulated on at least the second OFDM tone block,
the second non-legacy portion is modulated on the second OFDM tone block, and
the third non-legacy portion is modulated on the third OFDM tone block.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the first OFDM tone block and the third OFDM tone block together span a bandwidth equal to a smallest channel bandwidth of a legacy WLAN communication protocol.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the first legacy portion is modulated on a legacy tone block corresponding to a smallest channel bandwidth of a legacy WLAN communication protocol, wherein the legacy tone block i) overlaps in frequency with the first OFDM tone block and ii) has a bandwidth larger than a bandwidth of the first OFDM tone block.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the legacy tone block includes the first OFDM tone block assigned to the first device and the third OFDM tone block assigned to the second device, wherein the first legacy portion is modulated on at least the first OFDM tone block and the third OFDM tone block.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein:
the data portion comprises a first OFDM data unit, for the first device, modulated on the first OFDM tone block and a second OFDM data unit, for the second device, modulated on the third OFDM tone block; and
at least one of the first OFDM data unit and the second OFDM data unit includes padding such that a total length of the first non-legacy portion and the first OFDM data unit is equal to a total length of the third non-legacy portion and the second OFDM data unit.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein t

Assignees

• Marvell World Trade Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang Hongyuan
• Sun Yakun
• Lou Hui-Ling
• Chu Liwen

Classifications

• H04L27/2627

  Modulators · CPC title

• H04L5/0041

  Frequency-non-contiguous · CPC title

• H04L5/006

  Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling · CPC title

• H04L5/0007

  the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A) or DMT · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title