Wireless network scheduling data frames including physical layer configuration
First Claim
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1. A method of implementing communication frames in a wireless network having a plurality of wireless devices, some of said devices have different physical layer configurations than other of said devices, comprising:
- (a) forming a polling frame including at least one bit in which physical layer configuration information is encoded, said configuration information being capable of specifying whether a single input single output (SISO) antenna configuration is to be used or a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna configuration is to be used;
(b) transmitting said polling frame to a receiving device for decoding by said receiving device; and
(c) configuring a physical layer of said receiving device in accordance with the physical layer configuration information contained in the polling frame;
wherein said polling frame also causes the receiving device to determine whether it has information to return.
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Abstract
A wireless network is disclosed in which individual wireless stations can be configured to implement any of a plurality of physical configurations including antenna configurations. Such antenna configurations may include, without limitation, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) and single input single output (SISO). Different types of MIMO configurations can also be implemented such as open loop MIMO and closed loop MIMO.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method of implementing communication frames in a wireless network having a plurality of wireless devices, some of said devices have different physical layer configurations than other of said devices, comprising:
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(a) forming a polling frame including at least one bit in which physical layer configuration information is encoded, said configuration information being capable of specifying whether a single input single output (SISO) antenna configuration is to be used or a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna configuration is to be used; (b) transmitting said polling frame to a receiving device for decoding by said receiving device; and (c) configuring a physical layer of said receiving device in accordance with the physical layer configuration information contained in the polling frame;
wherein said polling frame also causes the receiving device to determine whether it has information to return. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of implementing communication frames in a wireless network having a plurality of wireless devices, some of said devices have different physical layer configurations than other of said devices, comprising:
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(a) forming a non-polling frame including at least one bit in which physical layer configuration information is encoded, said configuration information specifies whether a single input single output (SISO) antenna configuration is to be used or a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna configuration is to be used; (b) transmitting said non-polling frame to a receiving device for decoding by said receiving device; and (c) configuring a physical layer of said receiving device in accordance with the physical layer configuration information contained in the non-polling frame. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of coordinating the behavior of a plurality of wireless devices in a wireless network, comprising:
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(a) forming a frame to a wireless receiving device to specify the antenna configuration that the receiving device is to use for a subsequent communication; (b) sending said frame to said receiving device; (c) receiving said frame by said receiving device;
(d) decoding said frame; and(e) configuring said receiving device to comport with the antenna configuration specified by said frame. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. An access point usable to communicate across a wireless network, comprising:
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a host device; a medium access control (MAC) sublayer coupled to said host device; and a physical layer coupled to said MAC sublayer;
wherein said MAC sublayer forms frames to send to wireless receiving stations in said network, said frames specifying the antenna configuration that the receiving stations are to use for a subsequent communication. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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Specification