Methods and apparatus for multiple user uplink

• US 10,218,621 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2017
• Issued: 02/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Merlin, Simone, Barriac, Gwendolyn Denise, Sampath, Hemanth, Vermani, Sameer
• Primary Examiner(s): Choudhry, Samina F
• Application Number:
  US15/791,327
• Publication Number:
  US 20180048574A1
• Time in Patent Office: 491 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0452 Multi-user MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2621 using frequency division multiple access [FDMA] H04B7/2615 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0008 by supplementing frame payload, e.g. with padding bits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0031 Multiple signaling transmission H04L1/1664, F15 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1607 Details of the supervisory signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1621 Group acknowledgement, i.e. the acknowledgement message defining a range of identifiers, e.g. of sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1858 Transmission or retransmission of more than one copy of acknowledgement message
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0093 Point-to-multipoint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/72 using reservation actions during connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0005 Time-frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/003 Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 : Transmission or handling of upstream communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 : Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 : Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/146 : Uplink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/50 : at the moment of starting communication in a multiple access environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 : Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 : Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 : Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 : for groups of terminals or users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 : in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 : in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/002 : Transmission of channel access control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 : in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/008 : with additional processing of random access related information at receiving side
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/04 : Scheduled access hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 : Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 : with collision avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/085 : collision avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 : Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for multiple user uplink are provided. In one aspect, a method for wireless communication is provided. The method includes receiving a trigger frame from an access point, the trigger frame being transmitted to two or more stations and indicating an uplink transmission opportunity. The trigger frame further includes a request for the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at a specific time. The method includes transmitting uplink data at the specific time to the access point concurrently with another of the two or more stations transmitting uplink data to the access point.

Claims

1. An apparatus for wireless communication comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a trigger frame from an access point, the trigger frame being transmitted to two or more stations and indicating an uplink transmission opportunity, the trigger frame comprising a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) duration field and a request for the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at a specific time, wherein the PPDU duration field indicates only a duration of the PPDU; and

a transmitter configured to transmit uplink data at the specific time to the access point concurrently with another of the two or more stations transmitting uplink data to the access point.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the uplink transmission opportunity has a common duration for each transmission of the uplink data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the specific time is communicated based on a short interframe space (SIFS) or a point interframe space (PIFS) time after the end of the reception of the trigger frame.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit a clear to send (CTS) message having a scrambling sequence at a time after receiving the trigger frame and before the transmitting of the uplink data, the scrambling sequence being the same as a scrambling sequence of a clear to send (CTS) message transmitted by the another of the two or more stations.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises one or more station (STA) information fields for a particular station.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more station (STA) information fields comprise an indication of allowed transmission modes.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the indication of allowed transmission modes comprises one or more of a short/long guard interval (GI) or cyclic prefix mode, a binary convolutional code (BCC)/low density parity check (LDPC) mode, and a space-time block coding (STBC) mode.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more station (STA) information fields comprise a tone allocation field indicating the tone and/or frequencies for transmission of uplink data using a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) system and/or an orthogonal FDMA system.

9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more station (STA) information fields comprise a transmission start time field indicating a start time for transmission of uplink data.

10. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more station (STA) information fields comprise one or more of an address identifier field, a number and index of spatial streams, a time adjustment field, a power adjustment field, an allowed traffic identifier field, and a modulation and coding scheme field.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises a group identifier (GID) field indicating the two or more stations as a group of stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at the specific time.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises a receiver address (RA) field indicating a unicast or multicast address which identifies the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at the specific time.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises a field indicating data rate information for the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at the specific time.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises one or more of a frame control field, a transmitter address field, and a basic service set identifier (BSSID) field.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises a management frame or a control frame.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit a request for transmission of uplink data to the access point.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the request to transmit uplink data comprises a request to send (RTS) message, a request to transmit (RTX) message, a power save (PS) poll message, or a quality of service (QoS) null message.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a second trigger frame in response to the request for transmission of uplink data, the second trigger frame indicating the request for transmission of uplink data has been received.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive the trigger frame, the trigger frame being aggregated with a second message.

20. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

receiving a trigger frame from an access point, the trigger frame being transmitted to two or more stations and indicating an uplink transmission opportunity, the trigger frame comprising a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) duration field and a request for the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at a specific time, wherein the PPDU duration field indicates only a duration of the PPDU; and

transmitting uplink data at the specific time to the access point concurrently with another of the two or more stations transmitting uplink data to the access point.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the trigger frame comprises a receiver address (RA) field indicating a unicast or multicast address which identifies the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at the specific time, and wherein the trigger frame further comprises one or more station (STA) information fields.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more station (STA) information fields comprise one or more of an address identifier field, a number of spatial streams field, a time adjustment field, a power adjustment field, an allowed traffic identifier field, and a modulation and coding scheme field.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising receiving the trigger frame, the trigger frame being aggregated with a second message.

24. An apparatus for wireless communication comprising:

means for receiving a trigger frame from an access point, the trigger frame being transmitted to two or more stations and indicating an uplink transmission opportunity, the trigger frame comprising a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) duration field and a request for the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at a specific time, wherein the PPDU duration field indicates only a duration of the PPDU; and

means for transmitting uplink data at the specific time to the access point concurrently with another of the two or more stations transmitting uplink data to the access point.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the duration field indicates the duration of the uplink data and wherein the trigger frame further comprises a receiver address (RA) field indicating a unicast or multicast address which identifies the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at the specific time.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the trigger frame comprises one or more station (STA) information fields comprising one or more of an address identifier field, a number of spatial streams field, a time adjustment field, a power adjustment field, an allowed traffic identifier field, a modulation and coding scheme field, an indication of allowed transmission modes, and a tone allocation field.

27. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed cause a processor to perform a method of:

receiving a trigger frame from an access point, the trigger frame being transmitted to two or more stations and indicating an uplink transmission opportunity, the trigger frame comprising a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) duration field and a request for the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at a specific time, wherein the PPDU duration field indicates only a duration of the PPDU; and

transmitting uplink data at the specific time to the access point concurrently with another of the two or more stations transmitting uplink data to the access point.

28. The medium of claim 27, wherein the method further comprises transmitting a clear to send (CTS) messages having a scrambling sequence at a time after receiving the trigger frame and before the transmitting of the uplink data.

29. The medium of claim 27, wherein receiving the trigger frame comprises receiving the trigger frame in response to a request for transmission of uplink data.