Multi-user aggregation methods and systems for data and control frames

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016302229-A1
Application number	US-201615093591-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 7, 2016
Priority date	Apr 7, 2015
Publication date	Oct 13, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

In an example of multi-user wireless communications, an access point may send a downlink frame, including a common information field and multiple per user information fields, to multiple stations. The common information field and the per user information fields are located in a payload section of the downlink frame. The common information field includes information common to all of the stations. Each per user information field may have information specific to its corresponding station. Some or all of the stations may generate and transmit their respective uplink frames based on the common information field and their respective per user information field(s) included in the downlink frame. The downlink frame may be a trigger frame such as a multi-user block acknowledgment request (MU BAR) frame. The uplink frames may be block acknowledgment or acknowledgment (BA or ACK) frames. Other methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A station for facilitating multi-user communication in a wireless network, the station comprising:
one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors configured to cause:
determining a common information field and a per user information field within a received downlink frame, wherein the common information field and the per user information field are located in a payload section of the received downlink frame, wherein the common information field includes information for all of a plurality of stations, and wherein the per user information field includes information specific to the station, wherein the downlink frame is for triggering a multi-user uplink transmission with the plurality of stations, and the downlink frame includes a trigger type sub-field;
generating a multi-user uplink frame based on the common information field and the per user information field; and
transmitting the multi-user uplink frame based on the downlink frame as part of the multi-user uplink transmission with the plurality of stations.

2 . The station of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause:
processing the received downlink frame; identifying one or more padding bits following the per user information field; and skipping the identified one or more padding bits from processing.

3 . The station of claim 1 , wherein the common information field includes the trigger type sub-field, which identifies a type of trigger frame associated with the received downlink frame.

4 . The station of claim 3 , wherein the trigger type sub-field indicates that the received downlink frame is a multi-user block acknowledgment request (MU BAR) frame.

5 . The station of claim 1 , wherein the common information field comprises a trigger-type dependent common information sub-field, which includes type-specific information based on a type of trigger frame associated with the received downlink frame.

6 . The station of claim 5 , wherein a trigger type sub-field is located before the trigger-type dependent common information sub-field.

7 . The station of claim 5 , wherein the trigger-type dependent common information sub-field includes an indication that the received downlink frame is associated with a group-cast with retry (GCR) service.

8 . The station of claim 7 , wherein the indication that the received downlink frame is associated with the GCR service is in the trigger-type dependent common information sub-field when the received downlink frame seeks acknowledgement of multicast data transmitted to the plurality of stations.

9 . The station of claim 1 , wherein the per user information field comprises a trigger-type dependent per user information sub-field, which includes type-specific information associated with the station based on a type of trigger frame identified in a trigger type sub-field of the common information field.

10 . The station of claim 9 , wherein the trigger-type dependent per user information sub-field includes block acknowledgment request (BAR) information when the received downlink frame seeks acknowledgment for unicast data transmitted to the station.

11 . The station of claim 9 , wherein the trigger-type dependent per user information sub-field includes a block acknowledgment request (BAR) control sub-field when the received downlink frame seeks acknowledgment for unicast data transmitted to the station.

12 . The station of claim 1 , wherein when the received downlink frame is a MU BAR frame having an identification that identifies the station, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause providing, for transmission, a block acknowledgment (BA) frame in an indicated resource unit.

13 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:
generating a downlink frame for a multi-user downlink transmission, the downlink frame comprising a common information field, a plurality of per user information fields and a trigger type sub-field, wherein the common information field and the plurality of per user information fields are located in a payload section of the downlink frame, wherein the common information field includes information for all of a plurality of stations, wherein one of the plurality of per user information fields includes information specific to one of the plurality of stations, wherein the downlink frame is for triggering a multi-user uplink transmission with the plurality of stations; and providing for transmission the downlink frame as part of the multi-user downlink transmission.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the downlink frame is a multi-user block acknowledgment request (MU BAR) frame.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the providing the downlink frame comprises providing a multi-user block acknowledgment request (MU BAR) frame for transmission to one or more of the plurality of stations associated with a group-cast with retry (GCR) group address.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise receiving a block acknowledgment (BA) frame after providing the MU BAR frame.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
providing for transmission a second downlink frame before the downlink frame is provided for transmission, wherein the downlink frame is a multi-user block acknowledgment request (MU BAR) frame; and receiving a BA frame after providing the MU BAR frame.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the MU BAR frame is destined to one or more of the plurality of stations associated with a group-cast with retry (GCR) group.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein generating the downlink frame comprises:
inserting one or more padding bits following one or more per user information fields of the plurality of per user information fields or following a last one of the plurality of per user information fields.

20 . A computer-implemented method of facilitating multi-user communication in a wireless network, the method comprising:
processing a received trigger frame, wherein a payload section of the received trigger frame comprises a common information field and a plurality of per user information fields, wherein the common information field includes information for all of a plurality of stations, wherein each of the plurality of per user information fields includes information specific to the associated one of the plurality of stations, wherein the received trigger frame is for triggering a multi-user uplink transmission with the plurality of stations, and the received trigger frame includes a trigger type sub-field; generating, in response to the received trigger frame, an uplink frame, the uplink frame being generated based on the common information field and one of the plurality of per user information fields; and providing for transmission the uplink frame based on the received trigger frame as part of the multi-user uplink transmission with the plurality of stations.

Assignees

• Newracom Inc

Inventors

• Hedayat Ahmad Reza

Classifications

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04L1/1685

  the supervisory signal being transmitted in response to a specific request, e.g. to a polling signal · CPC title

• H04L69/324 Primary

  in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC · CPC title

• H04L12/1868 Primary

  Measures taken after transmission, e.g. acknowledgments · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title