Method and apparatus for performing forward error correction in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed communication network
First Claim
1. A method for a transmitting network device to encode data for transmission on a network link to a receiving network device, comprising:
- obtaining a media access control (MAC) frame scheduled for a physical layer (PHY) payload transmission and having a MAC frame length, wherein the PHY payload comprises a number of symbols;
obtaining a default forward error correction (FEC) coding scheme for the network link, the default FEC coding scheme having a default parity length;
calculating a payload capacity value for the PHY payload using characteristics of the default coding scheme;
if the payload capacity value is at least as great as the default parity length, determining a new FEC coding scheme that maintains the number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols and is configured such that a symbol pad length for the PHY payload using the new FEC coding scheme is less than a default symbol pad length for the PHY payload using the default FEC coding scheme; and
encoding the MAC frame using the new FEC coding scheme.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
According to some embodiments of the disclosed method and apparatus, systems and methods are provided that utilize extra payload capacity present in a symbol pad of a PHY payload to decrease the coding rate of an FEC coding scheme without increasing the symbol rate or decreasing the PHY rate of a corresponding data transmission. If a symbol pad length that would result from encoding a MAC frame using a default coding scheme would be at least as great as a parity length of the default coding scheme, and a new coding scheme maintaining the same parity length but having a reduced information bit length may be determined and used to encode the MAC frame. Owing the reduced information bit length, the new coding scheme has a reduced coding rate, but maintains the same number of OFDM symbols as the default coding scheme.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method for a transmitting network device to encode data for transmission on a network link to a receiving network device, comprising:
-
obtaining a media access control (MAC) frame scheduled for a physical layer (PHY) payload transmission and having a MAC frame length, wherein the PHY payload comprises a number of symbols; obtaining a default forward error correction (FEC) coding scheme for the network link, the default FEC coding scheme having a default parity length; calculating a payload capacity value for the PHY payload using characteristics of the default coding scheme; if the payload capacity value is at least as great as the default parity length, determining a new FEC coding scheme that maintains the number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols and is configured such that a symbol pad length for the PHY payload using the new FEC coding scheme is less than a default symbol pad length for the PHY payload using the default FEC coding scheme; and encoding the MAC frame using the new FEC coding scheme. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
6. A method for a receiving network device to decode data transmitted on a network link from a transmitted network device, comprising:
-
obtaining an encoded media access control (MAC) frame modulated onto a physical layer (PHY) payload comprising a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols; obtaining a default forward error correction (FEC) coding scheme for the network link, the default FEC coding scheme having a default parity length; calculating a payload capacity value for the PHY payload using characteristics of the default coding scheme; if the payload capacity value is at least as great as the default parity length, determining a new FEC coding scheme that maintains the number of OFDM symbols and is configured such that a symbol pad length for the PHY payload using the new FEC coding scheme is less than a default symbol pad length for the PHY payload using the default FEC coding scheme; and decoding the encoded MAC frame using the new FEC coding scheme. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A network device comprising a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, the computer readable medium having a computer executable code embodied therein for enabling the network device to encode data for transmission on a network link to a receiving network device, the encoding comprising:
-
obtaining a media access control (MAC) frame scheduled for in a physical layer (PHY) payload transmission and having a MAC frame length, wherein the PHY payload comprises a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols; obtaining a default forward error correction (FEC) coding scheme for the network link, the default FEC coding scheme having a default parity length; calculating a payload capacity value for the PHY payload using characteristics of the default coding scheme; if the payload capacity value is at least as great as the default parity length, determining a new FEC coding scheme that maintains the number of OFDM symbols and is configured such that a symbol pad length for the PHY payload using the new FEC coding scheme is less than a default symbol pad length for the PHY payload using the default FEC coding scheme; and encoding the MAC frame using the new FEC coding scheme. - View Dependent Claims (12)
-
-
16. A network device comprising a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, the computer readable medium having a computer executable code embodied therein for enabling the network device to decode data transmitted on a network link from a transmitted network device, the decoding comprising:
-
obtaining an encoded media access control (MAC) frame modulated onto a physical layer (PHY) payload comprising a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols; obtaining a default forward error correction (FEC) coding scheme for the network link, the default FEC coding scheme having a default parity length; calculating a payload capacity value for the PHY payload using characteristics of the default coding scheme; if the payload capacity value is at least as great as the default parity length, determining a new FEC coding scheme that maintains the number of OFDM symbols and is configured such that a symbol pad length for the PHY payload using the new FEC coding scheme is less than a default symbol pad length for the PHY payload using the default FEC coding scheme; and decoding the encoded MAC frame using the new FEC coding scheme. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification