TRIGGER FRAME FORMAT FOR ORTHOGONAL FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS (OFDMA) COMMUNICATION

• US 20160165589A1
• Filed: 12/07/2015
• Published: 06/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell World Trade Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell World Trade Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Chu, Liwen, Sun, Yakun, Zhang, Hongyuan, Wang, Lei, Jiang, Jinjing, Lou, Hui-Ling
• Granted Patent: US 10,334,571 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2602 Signal structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2603 Signal structure ensuring backward compatibility with legacy system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services

Abstract

One or more trigger frames are generated at a first communication device to trigger an uplink orthogonal frequency multiple access (OFDMA) transmission by multiple second communication devices. Each of the one or more trigger frames (i) includes an indication of a trigger type and (ii) is formatted according to the indicated trigger type. The first communication device transmits the one or more trigger frames to the multiple second communication devices. The first device then receives the triggered uplink OFDMA transmission that includes respective transmissions from the multiple second communication devices.

Claims

1. A method for communicating in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

generating, at a first communication device, one or more trigger frames to trigger an uplink orthogonal frequency multiple access (OFDMA) transmission by multiple second communication devices, wherein each of the one or more trigger frames (i) includes an indication of a trigger type and (ii) is formatted according to the indicated trigger type;

transmitting, with the first communication device, the one or more trigger frames to the multiple second communication devices; and

receiving, at the first communication device, the triggered uplink OFDMA transmission, wherein the triggered uplink OFDMA transmission includes respective transmissions from the multiple second communication devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

generating the one or more trigger frames comprises generating a broadcast trigger frame that includes information to indicate respective transmission parameters for the multiple second communication devices, and

transmitting the one or more trigger frames comprises transmitting the broadcast trigger frame to the multiple second communication devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

generating the one or more trigger frames comprises generating multiple unicast trigger frames, wherein each unicast trigger frame includes information to indicate transmission parameters for a particular one of the multiple second communication devices, and

transmitting the one or more trigger frames comprises transmitting respective ones of the unicast trigger frames to respective second communication device in respective frequency portions of a downlink OFDMA transmission to the multiple second communication devices, the respective frequency portions corresponding with respective second communication devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

generating the one or more trigger frames comprises generating (i) a broadcast trigger frame that includes information to indicate respective transmission parameters for a first subset of the multiple second communication devices and (ii) one or more unicast trigger frames, wherein each of the one or more unicast trigger frame includes information to indicate transmission parameters for a particular second communication device in a second subset of the multiple second communication devices, and

transmitting the one or more trigger frames comprises

transmitting, in a first frequency portion of a downlink OFDMA transmission to the multiple communication devices, the broadcast trigger frame to the first subset of the multiple second communication devices, and

transmitting, in respective second frequency portions of the downlink OFDMA transmission, respective ones of the one or more unicast trigger frames to respective ones of the communication devices in the second subset of the multiple communication devices, the respective frequency portions corresponding with respective ones of the communication devices in the second subset of the multiple second communication devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the trigger type indicates one of (i) basic trigger type, (ii) contention trigger type, (iii) beamforming trigger type, and (iv) multi-user block acknowledgement request (MU-BAR) trigger type.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

respective frequency portions of the uplink OFDMA transmission correspond with respective second communication devices;

generating the one or more trigger frames comprises including, in each of the one or more trigger frames, indications of respective frequency portions corresponding with the respective second communication devices.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the one or more trigger frames includes (i) a common information field that includes information to indicate common transmission parameters for the multiple second communication devices and (ii) one or more per-device information fields that include information to indicate respective transmission parameters for respective ones of the multiple second communication devices.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more per-device information fields include respective resource unit allocation indications that indicate the respective frequency portions corresponding with the respective second communication devices.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a particular resource unit allocation indication, of the respective resource allocation indications, includes (i) a first portion that indicates a channel that includes at least an initial portion of a resource unit allocated to the corresponding second communication device and (ii) a second portion that indicates (a) a location, within the channel, of a beginning of the resource unit and (b) a width of the resource unit.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein a particular resource unit allocation indication, of the respective resource allocation indications, includes a value that maps to a particular resource unit from a set of allowed resource units.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a network interface device having one or more integrated circuits configured to

generate one or more trigger frames to trigger an uplink orthogonal frequency multiple access (OFDMA) transmission by multiple communication devices, wherein each of the one or more trigger frames (i) includes an indication of a trigger type and (ii) is formatted according to the indicated trigger type;

transmit the one or more trigger frames to the multiple communication devices; and

receive the triggered uplink OFDMA transmission, wherein the triggered uplink OFDMA transmission includes respective transmissions from the multiple communication devices.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the one or more integrated circuits are configured to:

generate a broadcast trigger frame that includes information to indicate respective transmission parameters for the multiple communication devices, and

transmit the broadcast trigger frame to the multiple communication devices.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the one or more integrated circuits are configured to:

generate multiple unicast trigger frames, wherein each unicast trigger frame includes information to indicate transmission parameters for a particular one of the multiple communication devices, and

transmit respective ones of the unicast trigger frames to respective ones of the multiple communication devices in respective frequency portions of a downlink OFDMA transmission to the multiple communication devices, the respective frequency portions corresponding with respective communication devices.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the one or more integrated circuits are configured to:

generate (i) a broadcast trigger frame that includes information to indicate respective transmission parameters for a first subset of the multiple communication devices and (ii) one or more unicast trigger frames, wherein each of the one or more unicast trigger frame includes information to indicate transmission parameters for a particular one of the multiple communication devices in a second subset of the multiple communication devices,

transmit, in a first frequency portion of a downlink OFDMA transmission to the multiple communication devices, the broadcast trigger frame to the first subset of the multiple communication devices, and

transmit, in respective second frequency portions of the downlink OFDMA transmission, respective ones of the one or more unicast trigger frames to respective ones of the communication devices in the second subset of the multiple communication devices, the respective frequency portions corresponding with respective ones of the communication devices in the second subset of the multiple communication devices.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the indication of the trigger type indicates one of (i) basic trigger type, (ii) contention trigger type, (iii) beamforming trigger type, and (iv) multi-user block acknowledgement request (MU-BAR) trigger type.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

respective frequency portions of the uplink OFDMA transmission correspond with respective ones of the multiple communication devices;

generating the one or more trigger frames comprises including, in each of the one or more trigger frames, indications of respective frequency portions corresponding with the respective ones of the multiple communication devices.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein each of the one or more trigger frames includes (i) a common information field that includes information to indicate common transmission parameters for the multiple communication devices and (ii) one or more per-device information fields that include information to indicate respective transmission parameters for respective ones of the multiple communication devices.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more per-device information fields include respective resource unit allocation indications that indicate the respective frequency portions corresponding with the respective ones of the multiple communication devices.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein a particular resource unit allocation indication, of the respective resource allocation indications, includes (i) a first portion that indicates a channel that includes at least an initial portion of a resource unit allocated to the corresponding one of the multiple communication device and (ii) a second portion that indicates (a) a location, within the channel, of a beginning of the resource unit and (b) a width of the resource unit.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein a particular resource unit allocation indication, of the respective resource allocation indications, includes a value that maps to a particular resource unit from a set of allowed resource units.

21-58. -58. (canceled)