Phy data unit format for MIMO

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9480018-B2
Application number	US-93826010-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 2, 2010
Priority date	Nov 3, 2009
Publication date	Oct 25, 2016
Grant date	Oct 25, 2016

Abstract

A method in a communication device for processing a received data unit includes determining whether the communication device is an intended receiver based on the received data unit, determining whether the received data unit includes an exclusive use indication, where the exclusive use indication indicates that a plurality of data units are transmitted only to the at least one intended receiver during a time period, where each of the plurality of data units has at least a respective physical layer (PHY) preamble, and determining a time interval during which the communication device need not listen for incoming data units using (i) a result of determining whether the received data unit includes an exclusive use indication and (ii) a result of determining whether the communication device is an intended receiver.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for generating a data unit for transmission via a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) communication channel, the method comprising:
generating, at a communication device, a plurality of training sequences to be included in a preamble of the data unit;
when the data unit is to be transmitted in a single user mode in which the data unit is intended for a single receiver,
generating, at the communication device, a first field of the preamble to include an indicator that the data unit is being transmitted in the single user mode,
generating, at the communication device, a second field of the preamble to include bits of an identifier of the single receiver, and
generating, at the communication device, a third field of the preamble to include one or more bits set to a value that indicates a number of spatial or space time streams corresponding to the data unit;

when the data unit is being transmitted in a multi-user mode in which the data unit is intended for multiple receivers,
generating, at the communication device, the first field of the preamble to include an indicator that the data unit is being transmitted in the multi-user mode, and
generating, at the communication device, the second field of the preamble to include one or more indications of one or more numbers of spatial or space time streams, wherein the one or more indications of one or more numbers of spatial or space time streams correspond to transmission of the data unit to one or more receivers among the multiple receivers, and wherein bits used in the multi-user mode for the one or more indications of one or more numbers of spatial or space time streams correspond to at least some of bits used in the single user mode for the identifier of the single receiver, and
generating, at the communication device, the third field of the preamble to include the one or more bits set to a value that indicates a number of spatial or space time streams corresponding to a first receiver among the multiple receivers;

generating, at the communication device, the preamble; and
generating, at the communication device, the data unit to include the preamble.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more indications of one or more numbers of spatial or space time streams correspond to transmission of the data unit to one or more second receivers among the multiple receivers, wherein the one or more second receivers among the multiple receivers correspond to one or more receivers, among the multiple receivers, other than the first receiver among the multiple receivers.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the second field of the preamble to include bits of the identifier of the single receiver comprises generating the second field of the preamble to include only a subset of bits of the identifier of the single receiver.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the second field of the preamble to include bits of the identifier of the single receiver comprises generating the second field of the preamble to include bits of an association identifier (AID) of the single receiver.

5. An apparatus, comprising:
a physical layer (PHY) processing device having one or more integrated circuits configured to:
generate a plurality of training sequences to be included in a preamble of a data unit to be transmitted via a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) communication channel,
when the data unit is to be transmitted in a single user mode in which the data unit is intended for a single receiver,
generate a first field of the preamble to include an indicator that the data unit is being transmitted in the single user mode,
generate a second field of the preamble to include bits of an identifier of the single receiver, and
generate a third field of the preamble to include one or more bits set to a value that indicates a number of spatial or space time streams corresponding to the data unit;

when the data unit is being transmitted in a multi-user mode in which the data unit is intended for multiple receivers,
generate the first field of the preamble to include an indicator that the data unit is being transmitted in the multi-user mode,
generate the second field of the preamble to include one or more indications of one or more numbers of spatial or space time streams, wherein the one or more indications of one or more numbers of spatial or space time streams correspond to transmission of the data unit to one or more receivers among the multiple receivers, and wherein bits used in the multi-user mode for the one or more indications of one or more numbers of spatial or space time streams correspond to at least some of bits used in the single user mode for the identifier of the single receiver, and
generate the third field of the preamble to include the one or more bits set to a value that indicates a number of spatial or space time streams corresponding to a first receiver among the multiple receivers; and

wherein the one or more integrated circuits are further configured to:
generate the preamble, and
generate the data unit to include the preamble.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein:
the one or more indications of one or more numbers of spatial or space time streams correspond to transmission of the data unit to one or more second receivers among the multiple receivers, wherein the one or more second receivers among the multiple receivers correspond to one or more receiver, among the multiple receivers, other than the first receiver among the multiple receivers.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the one or more integrated circuits are configured to generate the second field of the preamble to include only a subset of bits of the identifier of the single receiver when the data unit is to be transmitted in the single user mode.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the one or more integrated circuits are configured to generate the second field of the preamble to include bits of an association identifier (AID) of the single receiver when the data unit is to be transmitted in the single user mode.

9. A method for processing a data unit received via a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) communication channel, the method comprising:
processing, at a communication device, a first field of a preamble of a data unit to determine whether the data unit was transmitted in i) a single user mode in which the data unit is intended for a single receiver or ii) a multi-user mode in which the data unit is intended for multiple receivers;
when it is determined that the data unit was transmitted in the single user mode,
processing, at the communication device, a second field of the preamble that includes bits of an identifier of the single intended receiver to determine whether the data unit is intended for the communication device,
processing, at the communication device, a third field of the preamble to determine a number of spatial or space time streams for the data unit, wherein the number of spatial or space time streams for the data unit is determined based on a value of one or more bits included in the third field of the preamble, and
in response to determining that the data unit is not intended for the communication device, stopping processing of the data unit; and

when it is determined that the data unit was transmitted in the multi-user mode,
processing, at the communication device, the first field of the preamble to determine whether the data unit is intended for the communication device, and
processing, at the communication device, the second field of the preamble to determine a set of training signals in the preamble corresponding to transmission of the data unit to the communication device, wherein the second field of t

Assignees

• Liu Yong
• Zhang Hongyuan
• Banerjea Raja
• Yu Mao
• Marvell World Trade Ltd

Inventors

• Liu Yong
• Zhang Hongyuan
• Banerjea Raja
• Yu Mao

Classifications

• Y02B60/50

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H04W74/0808

  using carrier sensing, e.g. carrier sense multiple access [CSMA] · CPC title

• H04W52/0229 Primary

  where the received signal is a wanted signal · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W52/0219

  where the power saving management affects multiple terminals · CPC title