MULTI-USER PARALLEL CHANNEL ACCESS IN WLAN SYSTEMS

• US 20130229996A1
• Filed: 03/01/2013
• Published: 09/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Xiaofei, Lou, Hanqing, Ghosh, Monisha, Shah, Nirav B., Zhang, Guodong, Murias, Ronald G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,338,789 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0025 Transmission of mode-switching indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/007 Unequal error protection for format H04L1/0078; for codes per se H03M13/35
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1664 the supervisory signal being transmitted together with payload signals; piggybacking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1685 the supervisory signal being transmitted in response to a specific request, e.g. to a polling signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 for groups of terminals or users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/004 in the uplink, i.e. towards network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/04 Scheduled access hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/06 using polling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 with collision avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method and apparatus may provide multi-user parallel channel access (MU-PCA) and/or single-user parallel channel access (SU-PCA) using transmit and/or receive with symmetrical bandwidth, in the downlink (DL), uplink (UL), or combined DL and UL. SU-PCA and MU-PCA may support unequal modulation and coding schemes (MCS) and unequal transmit power. Medium access control (MAC) layer, Physical layer (PHY), and mixed and PHY layer methods and procedures may support UL, DL and combined UL and DL SU-PCA and MU-PCA using transmit and/or receive with symmetrical bandwidth. MU-PCA and/or SU-PCA may also be supported by MAC and PHY layer designs and procedures for downlink, uplink and combined uplink and downlink using transmit/receive with asymmetrical bandwidth.

Claims

1. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) comprising:

a receiver configured to receive, from an access point (AP), over a channel associated with the WTRU, a request-to-send (RTS) message indicating that the AP is ready to transmit a plurality of data messages to a plurality of WTRUs over a plurality of channels simultaneously;

a transmitter configured to transmit a first clear-to-send (CTS) message, to the AP, over the channel associated with the WTRU, indicating that the WTRU is ready to receive on the channel associated with the WTRU;

the receiver configured to receive a data message of the plurality of data messages, from the AP, over the channel associated with the WTRU; and

the transmitter configured to transmit an acknowledgement (ACK) message, to the AP, over the channel associated with the WTRU, wherein the ACK message includes a More Fragment bit, and wherein the More Fragment bit is set to ‘

1’

on a condition that the WTRU has uplink (UL) data to transmit to the AP.

2. The WTRU of claim 1 wherein:

on a condition that the More Fragment bit is set to 1 and the WTRU has uplink data to transmit to the AP;

the receiver is further configured to receive, from the AP, a second CTS message over the channel associated with the STA; and

the transmitter is further configured to transmit the uplink (UL) data, to the AP, over the channel associated with the STA.

3. The WTRU of claim 1, wherein the channel associated with the WTRU includes two or more channels.

4. The WTRU of claim 1, wherein:

the transmitter is configured to transmit the first CTS message simultaneously with CTS message transmissions by the plurality of WTRUs.

5. The WTRU of claim 1, wherein:

the transmitter is configured to transmit the ACK message simultaneously with ACK message transmissions by the plurality of WTRUs.

6. The WTRU of claim 1, wherein at least two channels in the plurality of channels have a different bandwidth.

7. The WTRU of claim 1, wherein the RTS message is a group RTS (G-RTS) message, the first CTS message is a group CTS (G-CTS) message, and the ACK message is a group ACK (G-ACK) message.

8. The WTRU of claim 1, wherein the WTRU is an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) station (STA).

9. A method for use in a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), the method comprising:

receiving, from an access point (AP), over a channel associated with the WTRU, a request-to-send (RTS) message indicating that the AP is ready to transmit a plurality of data messages to a plurality of WTRUs over a plurality of channels simultaneously;

transmitting a first clear-to-send (CTS) message, to the AP, over the channel associated with the WTRU, indicating that the WTRU is ready to receive on the channel associated with the WTRU;

receiving a data message of the plurality of data messages, from the AP, over the channel associated with the WTRU; and

transmitting an acknowledgement (ACK) message, to the AP, over the channel associated with the WTRU, wherein the ACK message includes a More Fragment bit, and wherein the More Fragment bit is set to ‘

1’

on a condition that the WTRU has uplink (UL) data to transmit to the AP.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

on a condition that the More Fragment bit is set to 1 and the WTRU has uplink data to transmit to the AP;

receiving, from the AP, a second CTS message over the channel associated with the STA; and

transmitting the uplink (UL) data, to the AP, over the channel associated with the STA.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the channel associated with the WTRU includes two or more channels.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the transmitting the first CTS message is simultaneous with CTS message transmissions by the plurality of WTRUs.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the transmitting the ACK message is simultaneous with ACK message transmissions by the plurality of WTRUs.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein at least two channels in the plurality of channels have a different bandwidth.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the RTS message is a group RTS (G-RTS) message, the first CTS message is a group CTS (G-CTS) message, and the ACK message is a group ACK (G-ACK) message.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the WTRU is an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) station (STA).

17. An access point (AP) comprising:

a transmitter configured to transmit, to a station (STA), over a channel associated with the STA, a request-to-send (RTS) message indicating that the AP is ready to transmit a plurality of data messages to a plurality of WTRUs over a plurality of channels simultaneously;

a receiver configured to receive a first clear-to-send (CTS) message, from the STA, over the channel associated with the STA, indicating that the STA is ready to receive on the channel associated with the STA;

the transmitter configured to transmit the plurality of data messages, to the STA, over the plurality of channels; and

the receiver configured to receive an acknowledgement (ACK) message, from the STA, over the channel associated with the STA, wherein the ACK message includes a More Fragment bit, and wherein the More Fragment bit is set to ‘

1’

on a condition that the STA has uplink (UL) data to transmit to the AP.

18. The AP of claim 17 further comprising:

on a condition that the More Fragment bit is set to 1 and the STA has uplink data to transmit to the AP;

the transmitter is further configured to transmit, to the STA, a second CTS message over the channel associated with the STA; and

the receiver is further configured to receive the uplink (UL) data, from the STA, over the channel associated with the STA.

19. A method for use in an access point (AP), the method comprising:

transmitting, to a station (STA), over a channel associated with the STA, a request-to-send (RTS) message indicating that the AP is ready to transmit a plurality of data messages to a plurality of WTRUs over a plurality of channels simultaneously;

receiving a first clear-to-send (CTS) message, from the STA, over the channel associated with the STA, indicating that the STA is ready to receive on the channel associated with the STA;

transmitting the plurality of data messages, to the STA, over the plurality of channels; and

receiving an acknowledgement (ACK) message, from the STA, over the channel associated with the STA, wherein the ACK message includes a More Fragment bit, and wherein the More Fragment bit is set to ‘

1’

on a condition that the STA has uplink (UL) data to transmit to the AP.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

on a condition that the More Fragment bit is set to 1 and the STA has uplink data to transmit to the AP;

transmitting, to the STA, a second CTS message over the channel associated with the STA; and

receiving the uplink (UL) data, from the STA, over the channel associated with the STA.