OFDMA Indication and Communication in WLANs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016205686-A1
Application number	US-201614989924-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 7, 2016
Priority date	Jan 9, 2015
Publication date	Jul 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

This disclosure relates to orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication in wireless local area networks (WLANs). According to some embodiments, an indication may be transmitted to receiving devices that a first frame is an OFDMA frame. Channel information indicating allocation of bandwidth portions of the first frame to respective receiving devices may also be transmitted to the receiving devices. The first frame may be transmitted to the receiving devices, including transmitting data to each respective receiving device on the bandwidth portion(s) allocated to the respective receiving device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A wireless device, comprising:
an antenna; a radio operably coupled to the antenna; and a processing element operably coupled to the radio; wherein the antenna, radio, and processing element are configured to:
transmit first information to a plurality of receiving devices over a wireless local area network (WLAN) indicating that a first frame comprises an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame;
transmit channel information corresponding to the first frame to each respective receiving device of the plurality of receiving devices, wherein the channel information associated with each respective receiving device indicates a bandwidth allocation to the respective receiving device for the first frame; and
transmit the first frame, comprising transmitting data to each of the plurality of receiving devices according to the indicated bandwidth allocations.

2 . The wireless device of claim 1 ,wherein the first information is included in preamble information included in the first frame or in a trigger frame transmitted prior to the first frame.

3 . The wireless device of claim 1 ,
wherein the first frame comprises a transmission across a plurality of fixed bandwidth channels, wherein the channel information indicates an intended recipient for each of the plurality of fixed bandwidth channels.

4 . The wireless device of claim 3 ,
wherein the channel information further comprises modulation and coding information for each of the plurality of fixed bandwidth channels.

5 . The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the antenna, radio, and processing element are further configured to:
include padding in data transmitted to at least one of the plurality of receiving devices as part of the first frame to generate a packet equal in length to that of a packet transmitted to at least one other of the plurality of devices as part of the first frame.

6 . A method for performing orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication in a wireless local area network (WLAN), comprising:
at a transmitting device:
transmitting first information to a plurality of destination devices over the WLAN indicating that a current frame is an OFDMA frame;
transmitting second information to the plurality of destination devices, wherein the second information comprises channel allocation information indicating a destination device for each of a plurality of channels of the current frame; and
transmitting the current frame, comprising transmitting data to the plurality of destination devices according to the channel allocation information included in the second information.

7 . The method of claim 6 ,
wherein one or more of the first information or the second information is included in the current frame.

8 . The method of claim 6 ,
wherein one or more of the first information or the second information is included in a frame transmitted prior to the current frame.

9 . The method of claim 6 ,
wherein the second information further comprises modulation and coding information indicating a modulation and coding scheme for each of the plurality of channels of the current frame.

10 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the channel allocation information indicating the destination device for each of the plurality of channels of the current frame comprises a partial association ID (PAID) for each of the plurality of channels.

11 . The method of claim 6 ,
wherein signals transmitted on each of the plurality of channels of the current frame terminate in a time synchronized manner.

12 . The method of claim 6 ,
wherein a guard band is used between each adjacent pair of channels of the plurality of channels of the current frame.

13 . The method of claim 6 ,
wherein at least a first channel and a second channel of the plurality of channels of the current frame are associated with the same destination device.

14 . An apparatus, comprising a processing element configured to cause a wireless device to:
transmit an indication over a wireless local area network (WLAN) that a first frame is an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame, wherein the first frame comprises a plurality of packets; transmit over the WLAN, for each of the plurality of packets, an indication of a corresponding destination device; and transmit the first frame over the WLAN.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 ,
wherein the first frame is transmitted over a total bandwidth comprising a plurality of OFDMA channels, wherein each packet of the plurality of packets of the first frame is transmitted on a different OFDMA channel of the plurality of OFDMA channels.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 ,
wherein each indication of a destination device comprises an indication of a destination device on the OFDMA channel on which a packet is transmitted.

17 . The apparatus of claim 15 ,
wherein a first portion of a PHY preamble of the first frame is identical across a total bandwidth of the first frame, wherein a second portion of the PHY preamble of the first frame is different for at least two OFDMA channels corresponding to the first frame.

18 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processing element is further configured to cause the wireless device to:
transmit at least one of a coding indication, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) indication, or a beamforming indication for each of the plurality of packets, wherein at least a subset of the plurality of packets are transmitted using at least one of a different coding type, a different MCS, or a different beamforming type.

19 . The apparatus of claim 14 ,
wherein the indication that the first frame comprises an OFDMA frame is included in an L-SIG field of a PHY preamble of the first frame.

20 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processing element is further configured to cause the wireless device to:
transmit an indication of a total bandwidth of the first frame.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Kim Joonsuk
• Li Guoqing
• Wong Chiu Ngok E

Classifications

• H04L5/0023

  Time-frequency-space · CPC title

• H04L27/2675

  Pilot or known symbols · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04L1/1854

  Scheduling and prioritising arrangements · CPC title

• H04L27/2657

  Carrier synchronisation · CPC title