Method, apparatus, and computer readable medium for signaling high efficiency packet formats using a legacy portion of the preamble in wireless local-area networks

• US 10,122,510 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2017
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel IP Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Azizi, Shahrnaz, Stacey, Robert J., Kenney, Thomas J., Perahia, Eldad
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Tri H
• Application Number:
  US15/603,791
• Publication Number:
  US 20170264413A1
• Time in Patent Office: 531 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/40 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/22 Demodulator circuits; Receiver circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2603 Signal structure ensuring backward compatibility with legacy system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2613 Structure of the reference signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/323 in the physical layer [OSI layer 1]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for signaling high-efficiency packet formats using a legacy portion of the preamble in wireless local-area networks are disclosed. A high-efficiency (HE) wireless local area network (HEW) device including circuitry is disclosed. The circuitry may be configured to generate a HE packet comprising a legacy signal field (L-SIG) followed by one or more HE signal fields, and configure the L-SIG to signal to a second HEW device either a first packet format of the HE packet or a second packet format of the HE packet, where a length of the L-SIG modulo 3 is used to signal the first packet format or the second packet format. The circuitry may be configured to generate a duplicated L-SIG field with a polarity difference to indicate a third packet configuration of the HE packet or a fourth packet configuration of the HE packet.

Claims

1. An apparatus of high-efficiency (HE) station (STA), the apparatus comprising:

memory; and

, processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to;

decode a preamble comprising a first portion, the first portion comprising a legacy signal field (L-SIG) and a repeated (R) L-SIG (RL-SIG), wherein the RL-SIG indicates that the preamble is part of a high-efficiency (HE) Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU)(HE-PPDU), and wherein the L-SIG comprises a length field; and

decode a second portion of the preamble in accordance with a first HE PPDU format if a value of the length field modulo three equals one, and process the second portion in accordance with a second HE PPDU format if the value of the length field modulo three equals two.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the preamble further comprises a legacy short-training field (L-STF) and a legacy long-training field (L-LTF).

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first HE PPDU format further comprises a HE-SIG-A field, the HE-SIG-A field comprising a format field that indicates whether the first HE PPDU format is a third HE PPDU format or a fourth HE PPDU format.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the third HE PPDU format and the fourth HE PPDU format both further comprise a HE short-training field (STF) immediately following the HE-SIG-A.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the third HE PPDU format is a single user (SU) HE PPDU format.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second portion further comprises a HE-SIG-A field that indicates whether the second HE PPDU format is either a fifth HE PPDU format or a sixth HE PPDU format.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the HE-SIG-A field indicates that the fifth HE PPDU format is a multi-user (MU) format with a HE-SIG-B field immediately following the HE-SIG-A field.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

decode the L-SIG and the RL-SIG in accordance with binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the L-SIG and the RL-SIG are each one symbol.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the value of the length field modulo three equal to zero indicates the preamble is part of a legacy PPDU.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the HE STA is configured to operate in accordance with Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ax, and the HE STA is an HE AP or an HE STA.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising transceiver circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising one or more antennas coupled to the transceiver circuitry.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors, the instructions to configure the one or more processors to cause an apparatus of a high-efficiency (HE) station (STA) to:

decode a preamble comprising a first portion, the first portion comprising a legacy signal field (L-SIG) and a repeated (R) L-SIG (RL-SIG), wherein the RL-SIG indicates that the preamble is part of a high-efficiency (HE) Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU)(HE-PPDU), and wherein the L-SIG comprises a length field; and

decode a second portion of the preamble in accordance with a first HE PPDU format if a value of the length field modulo three equals one, and process the second portion in accordance with a second HE PPDU format if the value of the length field modulo three equals two.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the preamble further comprises a legacy short-training field (L-STF) and a legacy long-training field (L-LTF).

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the first HE PPDU format further comprises a HE-SIG-A field, the HE-SIG-A field comprising a format field that indicates whether the first HE PPDU format is a third HE PPDU format or a fourth HE PPDU format.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the third HE PPDU format and the fourth HE PPDU format both further comprise a HE short-training field (STF) immediately following the HE-SIG-A.

18. A method performed by an apparatus of an high-efficiency (HE) station (STA), the method comprising:

decoding a high-efficiency (HE) Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU)(HE-PPDU) preamble comprising a first portion, the first portion comprising a legacy signal field (L-SIG) and a repeated (R) L-SIG (RL-SIG), and wherein the L-SIG comprises a length field; and

decoding a second portion of the preamble in accordance with a first HE PPDU format if a value of the length field modulo three equals one, and process the second portion in accordance with a second HE PPDU format if the value of the length field modulo three equals two.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the preamble further comprises a legacy short-training field (L-STF) and a legacy long-training field (L-LTF).

20. An apparatus of high-efficiency (HE) station (STA) com, the apparatus comprising:

memory; and

, processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to;

encode a preamble of a physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU), the preamble comprising a legacy portion comprising a legacy signal field (L-SIG) and a repeated (R) L-SIG (RL-SIG), wherein the RL-SIG indicates that the preamble is part of a high-efficiency (HE) Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU)(HE-PPDU), and wherein the L-SIG comprises a length field;

encode the value of the length field to be one modulo three if the subsequent portion is a first HE PPDU format, or encode the value of the length field to be two modulo three if the subsequent portion is a second HE PPDU format; and

configure the HE STA to wirelessly transmit the PPDU to an access point.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the first HE PPDU format further comprises a HE-SIG-A field comprising a format field that indicates whether the first HE PPDU format is a third HE PPDU format or a fourth HE PPDU format.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the third HE PPDU format and the fourth HE PPDU format both further comprise a HE short-training field (STF) immediately following the HE-SIG-A.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the third HE PPDU format and the fourth HE PPDU format both further comprise a HE short-training field (STF) immediately following the HE-SIG-A.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the third HE PPDU format is a single user (SU) HE PPDU format.

25. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising transceiver circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry;

and, one or more antennas coupled to the transceiver circuitry.