TONE BLOCK AND SPATIAL STREAM ALLOCATION

• US 20160285600A1
• Filed: 06/03/2016
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Marvell World Trade Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: SUN, Yakun, ZHANG, Hongyuan, CHU, Liwen, WANG, Lei, LOU, Hui-Ling, JIANG, Jinjing
• Granted Patent: US 10,164,695 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0452 Multi-user MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0456 Selection of precoding matrices or codebooks, e.g. using matrices antenna weighting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0039 Frequency-contiguous, i.e. with no allocation of frequencies for one user or terminal between the frequencies allocated to another
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0091 Signaling for the administration of the divided path

Abstract

A method is described. A block allocation that indicates a plurality of contiguous tone blocks of a wireless local area network communication channel is selected for a multi-user, multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) data unit. A contiguous tone block corresponds to a respective device set having at least one communication device. Respective spatial stream allocations are selected, for at least some of the blocks, that indicate a number of spatial streams for the corresponding block of the data unit. The number of streams of a block is equal to a number of communication devices of the device set that corresponds to the block. A first field is encoded and transmitted to indicate the selected block allocation and the selected spatial stream allocations. A second field is encoded and transmitted to indicate a respective device identifier for each communication device of the respective device sets.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

selecting a block allocation that indicates a plurality of contiguous tone blocks of a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication channel for a multi-user, multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) data unit, wherein each of the plurality of contiguous tone blocks corresponds to a respective device set having at least one communication device;

selecting, for at least some of the plurality of contiguous tone blocks, respective spatial stream allocations that indicate a number of spatial streams for the corresponding contiguous tone block of the MU-MIMO OFDMA data unit, wherein the number of spatial streams of a contiguous tone block is equal to a number of communication devices of the device set that corresponds to the contiguous tone block;

encoding a first field to indicate the selected block allocation and the selected spatial stream allocations;

encoding one or more second fields to indicate a respective device identifier for each communication device of the respective device sets; and

transmitting the first field and the one or more second fields to the communication devices of the respective device sets.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first field includes a plurality of subfields having respective indices to a plurality of hierarchical codebooks that indicate predetermined block allocations and predetermined spatial stream allocations; and

the selected block allocation and the selected spatial stream allocations are selected from the plurality of hierarchical codebooks.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the plurality of subfields includes a first subfield and one or more second subfields;

the plurality of hierarchical codebooks includes i) a block allocation codebook that indicates the predetermined block allocations, ii) a multi-user codebook that indicates the predetermined spatial stream allocations, and iii) an index codebook that indicates which of the plurality of hierarchical codebooks are indexed by the one or more second subfields; and

the first subfield has an index to the index codebook.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of hierarchical codebooks include a wide codebook that indicates the predetermined block allocations for a WLAN communication channel that is larger than a smallest channel bandwidth of a legacy WLAN communication protocol.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first field includes i) a first subfield that indicates the selected block allocation and the number of the plurality of contiguous blocks, and ii) a second subfield that indicates the selected spatial stream allocations.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the respective spatial stream allocations comprises selecting the at least some of the plurality of contiguous tone blocks from the plurality of contiguous tone blocks having at least a threshold number of contiguous tones.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a total number of communication devices of the respective device sets is larger than i) the number of the plurality of contiguous blocks, and ii) a maximum of the number of spatial streams for the at least some of the plurality of contiguous tone blocks.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

generating the MU-MIMO OFDMA data unit based on the selected block allocation and the selected spatial stream allocations; and

transmitting the MU-MIMO OFDMA data unit to the communication devices of the respective device sets.

9. A first communication device, comprising:

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

select a block allocation that indicates a plurality of contiguous tone blocks of a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication channel for a multi-user, multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) data unit, wherein each of the plurality of contiguous tone blocks corresponds to a respective device set having at least one second communication device;

select, for at least some of the plurality of contiguous tone blocks, respective spatial stream allocations that indicate a number of spatial streams for the corresponding contiguous tone block of the MU-MIMO OFDMA data unit, wherein the number of spatial streams of a contiguous tone block is equal to a number of communication devices of the device set that corresponds to the contiguous tone block;

encode a first field to indicate the selected block allocation and the selected spatial stream allocations;

encode one or more second fields to indicate a respective device identifier for each communication device of the respective device sets; and

transmit the first field and the one or more second fields to the communication devices of the respective device sets.

10. The first communication device of claim 9, wherein:

the first field includes a plurality of subfields having respective indices to a plurality of hierarchical codebooks;

the plurality of hierarchical codebooks indicate predetermined block allocations and predetermined spatial stream allocations; and

the selected block allocation and the selected spatial stream allocations are selected from the plurality of hierarchical codebooks.

11. The first communication device of claim 10, wherein:

the plurality of subfields includes a first subfield and one or more second subfields;

the plurality of hierarchical codebooks includes i) a block allocation codebook that indicates the predetermined block allocations, ii) a multi-user codebook that indicates the predetermined spatial stream allocations, and iii) an index codebook that indicates which of the plurality of hierarchical codebooks are indexed by the one or more second subfields; and

the first subfield has an index to the index codebook.

12. The first communication device of claim 11, wherein the plurality of hierarchical codebooks include a wide codebook that indicates the predetermined block allocations for a WLAN communication channel that is larger than a smallest channel bandwidth of a legacy WLAN communication protocol.

13. The first communication device of claim 9, wherein the first field includes i) a first subfield that indicates the selected block allocation and the number of the plurality of contiguous blocks, and ii) a second subfield that indicates the selected spatial stream allocations.

14. The first communication device of claim 9, wherein the one or more integrated circuits are configured to select the at least some of the plurality of contiguous tone blocks from the plurality of contiguous tone blocks having at least a threshold number of contiguous tones.

15. The first communication device of claim 9, wherein a total number of communication devices of the respective device sets is larger than i) the number of the plurality of contiguous blocks, and ii) a maximum of the number of spatial streams for the at least some of the plurality of contiguous tone blocks.

16. The first communication device of claim 9, wherein the one or more integrated circuits are configured to:

generate the MU-MIMO OFDMA data unit based on the selected block allocation and the selected spatial stream allocations; and

transmit the MU-MIMO OFDMA data unit to the communication devices of the respective device sets.

17. A method, comprising:

receiving an orthogonal frequency division multiple orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) data unit via a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication channel;

decoding a non-legacy signal field of the OFDM data unit to determine i) a block allocation that indicates a plurality of contiguous tone blocks of the WLAN communication channel, and ii) respective spatial stream allocations that indicate a number of spatial streams for at least some of the plurality of contiguous tone blocks, wherein each of the plurality of contiguous tone blocks corresponds to a respective device set having at least one communication device, and the number of spatial streams of a contiguous tone block is equal to a number of communication devices of the device set that corresponds to the contiguous tone block;

determining an assigned contiguous tone block and spatial stream based on the block allocation and the spatial stream allocations; and

decoding a data portion of a multi-user, multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) data unit using the assigned contiguous tone block and spatial stream.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

decoding the non-legacy signal field of the OFDM data unit comprises decoding a first field of the non-legacy signal field that includes a plurality of subfields having respective indices to a plurality of hierarchical codebooks;

the plurality of hierarchical codebooks indicate predetermined block allocations and predetermined spatial stream allocations; and

the block allocation and the spatial stream allocations are selected from the plurality of hierarchical codebooks.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the plurality of subfields includes a first subfield and one or more second subfields;

the plurality of hierarchical codebooks includes i) a block allocation codebook that indicates the predetermined block allocations, ii) a multi-user codebook that indicates the predetermined spatial stream allocations, and iii) an index codebook that indicates which of the plurality of hierarchical codebooks are indexed by the one or more second subfields; and

the first subfield has an index to the index codebook.

20. A first communication device, comprising:

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

receive an orthogonal frequency division multiple orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) data unit via a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication channel;

decode a non-legacy signal field of the OFDM data unit to determine i) a block allocation that indicates a plurality of contiguous tone blocks of the WLAN communication channel, and ii) respective spatial stream allocations that indicate a number of spatial streams for at least some of the plurality of contiguous tone blocks, wherein each of the plurality of contiguous tone blocks corresponds to a respective device set having at least one communication device, and the number of spatial streams of a contiguous tone block is equal to a number of communication devices of the device set that corresponds to the contiguous tone block;

determine an assigned contiguous tone block and spatial stream based on the block allocation and the spatial stream allocations; and

decode a data portion of a multi-user, multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) data unit using the assigned contiguous tone block and spatial stream.

21. The first communication device of claim 20, wherein the one or more integrated circuits are configured to decode the non-legacy signal field of the OFDM data unit comprises decoding a first field of the non-legacy signal field that includes a plurality of subfields having respective indices to a plurality of hierarchical codebooks;

the plurality of hierarchical codebooks indicate predetermined block allocations and predetermined spatial stream allocations; and

the block allocation and the spatial stream allocations are selected from the plurality of hierarchical codebooks.

22. The first communication device of claim 21, wherein:

the plurality of subfields includes a first subfield and one or more second subfields;

the plurality of hierarchical codebooks includes i) a block allocation codebook that indicates the predetermined block allocations, ii) a multi-user codebook that indicates the predetermined spatial stream allocations, and iii) an index codebook that indicates which of the plurality of hierarchical codebooks are indexed by the one or more second subfields; and

the first subfield has an index to the index codebook.