Enhanced beamforming training in a wireless local area networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10439694-B2
Application number	US-201815870060-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 12, 2018
Priority date	Sep 11, 2015
Publication date	Oct 8, 2019
Grant date	Oct 8, 2019

Abstract

Apparatus, computer readable media, and methods for enhanced beamforming training in a wireless local area network are disclosed. An apparatus of a access point or station is disclosed. The apparatus including processing circuitry where the processing circuitry is configured to encode an EBRP packet comprising a first portion comprising an indication of a first number of transmit antenna training settings (N-TX), and an indication of a second number of receive training subfields per N-TX settings (N-RX), and a second portion comprising a third number of training subfields. The third number may be less than or equal to N-TX times N-RX. The processing circuitry may be configured to cause the first portion of the EBRP packet to be transmitted and cause the second portion to be transmitted, where two or more of the third number of training subfields are to be transmitted simultaneously using different antennas and orthogonal sequences.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus of an enhanced directional multi-gigabit (EDMG) station (STA), the apparatus comprising:
memory; and
physical layer (PHY) circuitry coupled to the memory,
wherein the EDMG STA is configured to operate as an initiator and to participate in training with a plurality of responder stations,
wherein the PHY circuitry is configured to transmit and receive EDMG physical layer (PHY) protocol data units (PPDUs),
wherein as part of the training, the PHY circuitry is configured to:
encode an EDMG beam refining protocol (BRP) packet as a physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) to generate an EDMG PPDU, the EDMG PPDU packet generated by the processing circuitry to include:
a legacy short training field (L-STF);
a legacy channel training field (L-CEF);
a legacy header (L-Header) field;
an EDMG-Header-A field; and
a training (TRN) field including a plurality of TRN units,
wherein the EDMG-Header-A field comprises a transmit number that corresponds to a number of TRN-Units present in the TRN field of the EDGM PPDU,
wherein the TRN-units comprise training sequences for transmission to the responder stations for antenna training,
wherein the PHY circuitry is further configured to cause the EDMG STA to transmit the EDGM PPDU including the TRN field,
wherein transmission of the TRN field comprises transmission of a number of orthogonal waveforms, the number of orthogonal waveforms corresponding to a number of transmit chains used in transmission of the EDMG PPDU, and
wherein the PHY circuitry is configured to transmit the orthogonal waveforms simultaneously to train multiple antennas.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the PHY circuitry is further configured to encode the EDMG PPDU to include a plurality of association identifiers (AIDs), wherein the AIDs are addressed to the responder stations to request feedback.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the PHY circuitry is further configured to decode feedback from at least some of the responder stations.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the PHY circuitry is further configured to:
encode a sequence of enhanced beam refinement protocol (EBRP) frames based on the feedback from the responder stations; and
cause the EDMG STA to transmit the sequence of EBRP feedback frames to the responder stations.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the PHY circuitry is further configured to:
encode a poll frame for transmission to each responder station of the plurality of responder stations corresponding to the AIDs; and
decode the feedback from at least some of the responder stations in response to the poll frame.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the EDMG STA is configured to operate as
an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE) 802.11ay access point, or an IEEE 802.11ay station.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the PHY circuitry comprises: transceiver circuitry; wherein the EDMG STA further comprises a plurality of antennas coupled to the transceiver circuitry, and wherein the memory is configured for storing the EDMG PPDU.

8. A method for operating an enhanced directional multi-gigabit (EDMG) station (STA) configured as an initiator and to participate in training with a plurality of responder stations, the EDMG STA capable of transmitting and receiving EDMG physical layer (PHY) protocol data units (PPDUs), the method performed by PHY circuitry and memory, the method comprising:
encoding an EDMG beam refining protocol (BRP) packet as a physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) PPDU to generate an EDMG PPDU, the EDMG PPDU generated to include:
a legacy short training field (L-STF);
a legacy channel training field (L-CEF);
a legacy header (L-Header) field;
an EDMG-Header-A field; and
a training (TRN) field including a plurality of TRN units,
wherein the EDMG-Header-A field comprises a transmit number that corresponds to a number of TRN-Units present in the TRN field of the EDGM PPDU,
wherein the TRN-units comprise training sequences for transmission to the responder stations for antenna training; and
transmitting the EDGM PPDU including the TRN field,
wherein transmission of the TRN field comprises transmission of a number of orthogonal waveforms, the number of orthogonal waveforms corresponding to a number of transmit chains used in transmission of the EDMG PPDU, and
wherein the orthogonal waveforms are transmitted simultaneously to train multiple antennas.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
encoding the EDMG PPDU to include a plurality of association identifiers (AIDs), wherein the AIDs are addressed to the responder stations to request feedback.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
decoding the feedback from at least some of the responder stations.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
encoding a sequence of enhanced beam refinement protocol (EBRP) frames based on the feedback from the responder stations; and
causing the EDMG STA to transmit the sequence of EBRP feedback frames to the responder stations.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
encoding a poll frame for transmission to each responder station of the plurality of responder stations corresponding to the AIDs;
and
decoding the feedback from at least some of the responder stations in response to the poll frame.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the EDMG STA is configured to operate as
an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE) 802.11ay access point, or an IEEE 802.11ay station.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein transmitting the EDMG PPDU comprises
transmitting the EDMG PPDU via transceiver circuitry and a plurality of antennas coupled to the transceiver circuitry.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of an apparatus of an enhanced directional multi-gigabit (EDMG) station (STA), the instructions to configure the EDMG STA to operate as an initiator and to participate in training with a plurality of responder stations, the EDMG STA capable of transmitting and receiving EDMG physical layer (PHY) protocol data units (PPDUs),
wherein the instructions to configure the one or more processors to:
encode an EDMG beam refining protocol (BRP) packet as a physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) to generate an EDMG PPDU, the EDMG PPDU packet generated by the processing circuitry to include:
a legacy short training field (L-STF);
a legacy channel training field (L-CEF);
a legacy header (L-Header) field;
an EDMG-Header-A field; and
a training (TRN) field including a plurality of TRN units,
wherein the EDMG-Header-A field comprises a transmit number that corresponds to a number of TRN-Units present in the TRN field of the EDGM PPDU,
wherein the TRN-units comprise training sequences for transmission to the responder stations for antenna training,
wherein the instructions further configure the one or more processors to cause the EDMG station to transmit the EDMG PPDU including the TRN field,
wherein transmission of the TRN field comprises transmission of a number of orthogonal waveforms, the number of orthogonal waveforms corresponding to a number of transmit chains used in transmission of the EDMG PPDU, and
wherein the orthogonal waveforms are transmitted simultaneously to train multiple antennas.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further configure the one or more processors to:
encode the EDMG PPDU to include a

Assignees

• Intel Ip Corp

Inventors

• Kasher Assaf
• Cordeiro Carlos
• Maltsev Alexander Alexandrovich
• Lomayev Artyom

Classifications

• H04B7/0639

  Using selective indices, e.g. of a codebook, e.g. pre-distortion matrix index [PMI] or for beam selection · CPC title

• H04B7/0617 Primary

  for beam forming · CPC title

• H04L69/22

  Parsing or analysis of headers · CPC title

• H04B7/0413

  MIMO systems · CPC title

• H04B7/0695

  using beam selection · CPC title