TONE ALLOCATION FOR MULTIPLE ACCESS WIRELESS NETWORKS

• US 20150063255A1
• Filed: 08/25/2014
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Tandra, Rahul, Vermani, Sameer, Tian, Bin, Van Zelst, Albert
• Granted Patent: US 9,648,620 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 11/0023 Interference mitigation or co-ordination direct sequence spread spectrum [DSSS] systems H04B1/7097; frequency hopping H04B1/713; allocation criteria for ingress interference avoidance H04L5/0062; frequency allocation criteria for requirements on out-of-channel emissions H04L5/0066; arrangements for removing intersymbol interference or baseband equalisers H04L25/03006; peak power aspects in multicarrier modulation H04L27/2614; power management H04W52/00; traffic scheduling H04W72/54, H04W72/541
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 2011/0009 with FDM/FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2613 Structure of the reference signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA

Abstract

A method includes generating a data packet at an access point. The data packet is to be communicated using a waveform that includes a first set of tones that is allocated to a first destination device and a second set of tones that is allocated to a second destination device. The first set of tones is non-overlapping with respect to the second set of tones, and each tone of the first set of tones and each tone of the second set of tones is an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) tone. The method also includes transmitting the data packet to the first destination device via an institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless network and transmitting the data packet to the second destination device via the IEEE 802.11 wireless network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating a data packet at an access point, wherein the data packet is to be communicated using a waveform that includes a first set of tones that is allocated to a first destination device and a second set of tones that is allocated to a second destination device, wherein the first set of tones is non-overlapping with respect to the second set of tones, and wherein each tone of the first set of tones and each tone of the second set of tones is an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) tone;

transmitting the data packet from the access point to the first destination device via an institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless network; and

transmitting the data packet from the access point to the second destination device via the IEEE 802.11 wireless network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each tone of the first set of tones is in a first frequency sub-band and each tone of the second set of tones is in a second frequency sub-band.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a first tone of the first set of tones is in a first frequency sub-band, and wherein a second tone of the first set of tones is in a second frequency sub-band.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packet includes a legacy preamble and a high efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) preamble, wherein the legacy preamble comprises a legacy long training field (L-LTF), a legacy short training field (L-STF), and a legacy signal (L-SIG) field, and wherein the HEW preamble comprises a high efficiency Wi-Fi SIG (HEW-SIG) field.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the HEW-SIG field indicates that the first set of tones is allocated to the first destination device and that the second set of tones is allocated to the second destination device.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the HEW preamble further comprises a first HEW-STF field corresponding to the first destination device and a second HEW-STF field corresponding to the second destination device.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the HEW preamble further comprises a first HEW-LTF field corresponding to the first destination device and a second HEW-LTF field corresponding to the second destination device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of tones and the second set of tones are interleaved across a frequency band.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an uplink communication at the access point, wherein the uplink communication is communicated using a second waveform that includes the first set of tones allocated to the first destination device and the second set of tones allocated to the second destination device, wherein the first set of tones of the second waveform includes data transmitted by the first destination device, and wherein the second set of tones of the second waveform includes data transmitted by the second destination device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of tones includes a first pilot tone allocated to the first destination device but not to the second destination device, and wherein the second set of tones includes a second pilot tone allocated to the second destination device but not to the first destination device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one pilot tone is allocated to the first destination device and to the second destination device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of tones includes at least 12 data tones and at least 2 pilot tones allocated to the first destination device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of tones includes 36, 72, 120, 156, or 312 data tones allocated to the first destination device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the waveform further includes a third set of tones that is allocated to a third destination device, wherein the third set of tones is non-overlapping with respect to the first set of tones and the second set of tones.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the waveform further includes a fourth set of tones that is allocated to a fourth destination device, wherein the fourth set of tones is non-overlapping with respect to the first set of tones, the second set of tones, and the third set of tones.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

generating a data packet at an access point, wherein the data packet is to be communicated using a waveform that includes a first set of tones that is allocated to a first destination device and a second set of tones that is allocated to a second destination device, wherein the first set of tones is non-overlapping with respect to the second set of tones, and wherein each tone of the first set of tones and each tone of the second set of tones is an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) tone;

transmitting the data packet from the access point to the first destination device via an institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless network; and

transmitting the data packet from the access point to the second destination device via the IEEE 802.11 wireless network.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein a high efficiency Wi-Fi signal (HEW-SIG) field of a preamble of the data packet indicates that the first set of tones is allocated to the first destination device and that the second set of tones is allocated to the second destination device.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first destination device and the second destination device are each associated with a minimum processing bandwidth.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the minimum processing bandwidth is 5 megahertz (MHz).

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first set of tones includes 12 data tones allocated to the first destination device.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first set of tones includes 2 pilot tones allocated to the first destination device.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the memory further stores at least one tone allocation parameter used during generation of the data packet.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one tone allocation parameter indicates which data tones are to be allocated to the first destination device.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one tone allocation parameter indicates which pilot tones are to be allocated to the first destination device.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one tone allocation parameter indicates that a pilot tone is to be allocated to the first destination device and to the second destination device.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

generating a data packet at an access point, wherein the data packet is to be communicated using a waveform that includes a first set of tones that is allocated to a first destination device and a second set of tones that is allocated to a second destination device, wherein the first set of tones is non-overlapping with respect to the second set of tones, and wherein each tone of the first set of tones and each tone of the second set of tones is an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) tone;

transmitting the data packet from the access point to the first destination device via an institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless network; and

transmitting the data packet from the access point to the second destination device via the IEEE 802.11 wireless network.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the first set of tones includes at least 12 data tones and at least 2 pilot tones allocated to the first destination device.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the first set of tones includes 36, 72, 120, 156, or 312 data tones allocated to the first destination device.

29. An apparatus comprising:

means for generating a data packet at an access point, wherein the data packet is to be communicated using a waveform that includes a first set of tones that is allocated to a first destination device and a second set of tones that is allocated to a second destination device, wherein the first set of tones is non-overlapping with respect to the second set of tones, and wherein each tone of the first set of tones and each tone of the second set of tones is an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) tone; and

means for transmitting the data packet from the access point to the first destination device and to the second destination device via an institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless network.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the first set of tones includes 12 data tones allocated to the first destination device.