Frame formatting for communications within single user, multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications

• US 9,178,968 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2013
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Porat, Ron
• Primary Examiner(s): LEVITAN, DMITRY
• Application Number:
  US13/861,792
• Publication Number:
  US 20130286938A1
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• Field of Search: 370/310, 370/328, 370/329, 370/431, 370/464, 370/465, 455/422, 455/450
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2613 Structure of the reference signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0005 Time-frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation

Abstract

Frame formatting for communications within single user, multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications. A signal is processed within a communication device using at least two respective downclocking ratios (e.g., a first downclocking ratio applied to a first portion of the signal such as a frame or packet extracted there from, a second downclocking ratio applied to a second portion of the signal). Alternatively, a signal is divided into more than two respective portions, and different respective downclocking ratios are applied to those different respective portions (e.g., a first downclocking ratio applied to a first portion of the signal, and so on up to an n-th downclocking ratio applied to an n-th portion of the signal). Some implementations apply a singular or common downclocking ratio to more than one portion of the signal (which may be contiguous/adjacent or non-contiguous/non-adjacent within the signal).

Claims

1. A wireless communication device comprising:

a communication interface; and

a processor, at least one of the processor or the communication interface configured to;

receive a first signal from another wireless communication device via a communication channel having a channel bandwidth;

process the first signal to extract a first packet therefrom, wherein the first packet includes a first at least one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol that has a first length;

downclock a first portion of the first packet, having a first fast Fourier transform (FFT) structure and also including a first signal field (SIG), using a first down clocking factor and downclock a second portion of the first packet, having a second FFT structure and also including at least one of a first long training field (LTF) or a first data portion, using a second down clocking factor to generate a first downclocked packet;

receive a second signal from the another wireless communication device via the communication channel having the channel bandwidth;

process the second signal to extract a second packet therefrom, wherein the second packet includes a second at least one OFDM symbol that has a second length; and

downclock a first portion of the second packet, having a third FFT structure and also including a second SIG, using a third down clocking factor and downclock a second portion of the second packet, having a fourth FFT structure and also including at least one of a second LTF or a second data portion, using a fourth down clocking factor to generate a second downclocked packet.

2. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the second down clocking factor being relatively higher or larger than the first down clocking factor.

3. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the first portion of the first packet including a first signal field (SIG A) and the second portion of the first packet including at least one long training field (LTF), a second first signal field (SIG B), and the first data portion.

4. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the first portion of the first packet having a 64 fast Fourier transform (FFT) structure; and

the second portion of the first packet having a 128 FFT structure.

5. The wireless communication device of claim 1 further comprising:

a wireless station (STA), wherein the another wireless communication device is an access point (AP).

6. A wireless communication device comprising:

a communication interface; and

a processor, at least one of the processor or the communication interface configured to;

receive a first signal from another wireless communication device via a communication channel having a channel bandwidth;

process the first signal to extract a first packet therefrom, wherein the first packet includes a first at least one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol that has a first length;

downclock a first portion of the first packet using a first down clocking factor and downclock a second portion of the first packet using a second down clocking factor to generate a first downclocked packet;

receive a second signal from the another wireless communication device via the communication channel having the channel bandwidth;

process the second signal to extract a second packet therefrom, wherein the second packet includes a second at least one OFDM symbol that has a second length; and

downclock a first portion of the second packet using a third down clocking factor and downclock a second portion of the second packet using a fourth down clocking factor to generate a second downclocked packet.

7. The wireless communication device of claim 6, wherein:

the first portion of the first packet including a signal field (SIG) and the second portion of the first packet including at least one of a long training field (LTF) or a data portion.

8. The wireless communication device of claim 6, wherein:

the first portion of the first packet including a signal field (SIG) and the second portion of the first packet including at least one of a long training field (LTF) or a data portion; and

the second down clocking factor being relatively higher or larger than the first down clocking factor.

9. The wireless communication device of claim 6, wherein:

the first portion of the first packet including a first signal field (SIG A) and the second portion of the first packet including at least one long training field (LTF), a second first signal field (SIG B), and a data portion.

10. The wireless communication device of claim 6, wherein:

the first portion of the first packet having a first fast Fourier transform (FFT) structure; and

the second portion of the first packet having a second FFT structure.

11. The wireless communication device of claim 6, wherein:

the first portion of the first packet having a 64 fast Fourier transform (FFT) structure; and

the second portion of the first packet having a 128 FFT structure.

12. The wireless communication device of claim 6, wherein:

a ratio of the first down clocking factor to the second down clocking factor being an exponent of 2.

13. The wireless communication device of claim 6 further comprising:

a wireless station (STA), wherein the another wireless communication device is an access point (AP).

14. A method for execution by a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

receiving, via a communication interface of the wireless communication device, a first signal from another wireless communication device via a communication channel having a channel bandwidth;

processing the first signal to extract a first packet therefrom, wherein the first packet includes a first at least one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol that has a first length;

downclocking a first portion of the first packet using a first down clocking factor and downclocking a second portion of the first packet using a second down clocking factor to generate a first downclocked packet;

receiving, via the communication interface of the wireless communication device, a second signal from the another wireless communication device via the communication channel having the channel bandwidth;

processing the second signal to extract a second packet therefrom, wherein the second packet includes a second at least one OFDM symbol that has a second length; and

downclocking a first portion of the second packet using a third down clocking factor and downclocking a second portion of the second packet using a fourth down clocking factor to generate a second downclocked packet.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the first portion of the first packet including a signal field (SIG) and the second portion of the first packet including at least one of a long training field (LTF) or a data portion.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the first portion of the first packet including a signal field (SIG) and the second portion of the first packet including at least one of a long training field (LTF) or a data portion; and

the second down clocking factor being relatively higher or larger than the first down clocking factor.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the first portion of the first packet including a first signal field (SIG A) and the second portion of the first packet including at least one long training field (LTF), a second first signal field (SIG B), and a data portion.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the first portion of the first packet having a first fast Fourier transform (FFT) structure; and

the second portion of the first packet having a second FFT structure.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the first portion of the first packet having a 64 fast Fourier transform (FFT) structure; and

the second portion of the first packet having a 128 FFT structure.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the wireless communication device being a wireless station (STA), and the another wireless communication device is an access point (AP).