Addressing for a multi-user packet

• US 9,264,996 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2014
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kim, Joonsuk, Fischer, Matthew James
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore, Ian N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ganguly, Sumitra
• Application Number:
  US14/154,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20140126450A1
• Time in Patent Office: 763 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0053 specially adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/007 Unequal error protection for format H04L1/0078; for codes per se H03M13/35
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0071 Use of interleaving interleaving per se H03M13/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0088 in control part
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/02 Power saving arrangements in wired systems H04L12/12; signaling of mobile application services, e.g. low battery notifications H04W4/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0219 where the power saving management affects multiple terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0222 in packet switched networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0466 the resource being a scrambling code
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Preamble and header bit allocation for power savings within multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications. Within a multi-user packet, information (e.g., partial address information) related to a recipient group of wireless communication devices (e.g., as few as one wireless communication device or any subset of a number of wireless communication devices, sometimes including all of the wireless communication devices) is emplaced within a PHY (e.g., physical layer) header of such a multi-user packet to be communicated within a multi-user (MU) environment. Such recipient indicating information can be encoded with relatively higher robustness (e.g., lower coding rates, lower ordered modulation, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), etc.) that remaining portions of the multi-user packet. Various portions of the remainder of the multi-user packet may respectively correspond to different wireless communication devices (e.g., a first field for a first wireless communication device, a second field for a second wireless communication device, etc.).

Claims

1. A method for operating a first wireless communication device, the method comprising:

employing a wireless transceiver for sending a group definition to a second wireless communication device, the group definition including a group identifier and a plurality of associate identifiers corresponding to a plurality of devices of a group, wherein the second wireless communication device determines inclusion in the group by determining that an associate identifier corresponding to the second wireless communication device is included in the plurality of associate identifiers corresponding to the plurality of devices of the group, wherein a position of device specific data associated with the second wireless communication device is indicated, based on the plurality of associate identifiers included in the group definition; and

employing the wireless transceiver for sending a multi-user packet to the second wireless communication device at a time subsequent to sending the group definition, the multi-user packet including a PHY (physical layer) header having a group identification field (group ID field) that includes the group identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the multi-user packet being a multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) packet or an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) packet.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the group definition includes the plurality of associate identifiers in an order.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the position of the device specific data associated with the second wireless communication device is determined based on the order of the plurality of associate identifiers in the group definition.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the device specific data includes a training field.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the training field is a long training field.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the PHY header of the multi-user packet is encoded with at least one modulation coding parameter being relatively more robust than at least one additional modulation coding parameter by which a remainder of the multi-user packet is encoded.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the at least one modulation coding parameter including a first code rate;

the at least one additional modulation coding parameter including a second code rate; and

the first code rate being lower than the second code rate.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the at least one modulation coding parameter including a first modulation;

the at least one additional modulation coding parameter including a second modulation; and

the first modulation different from the second modulation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the PHY header of the multi-user packet is encoded with cyclic redundancy check (CRC).

11. An access point comprising:

a wireless receiver;

a wireless transmitter coupled to the wireless receiver and configured to send a group definition to a mobile communication device, the group definition including a group identifier and a plurality of associate identifiers corresponding to a plurality of devices of a group, wherein the mobile communication device determines inclusion in the group by determining that an associate identifier corresponding to the mobile communication device is included in the plurality of associate identifiers corresponding to the plurality of devices of the group, wherein a position of device specific data associated with the mobile communication device is indicated, based on the plurality of associate identifiers included in the group definition;

wherein the wireless transmitter is further configured to send a multi-user packet to the mobile communication device at a time subsequent to sending the group definition, the multi-user packet including a PHY (physical layer) header having a group identification field (group ID field) that includes the group identifier.

12. The access point of claim 11, wherein:

the multi-user packet being a multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) packet or an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) packet.

13. The access point of claim 11, wherein the group definition includes the plurality of associate identifiers in an order.

14. The access point of claim 13 wherein the position of the device specific data associated with the mobile communication device is determined based on the order of the plurality of associate identifiers in the group definition.

15. The access point of claim 11, wherein the device specific data includes a training field.

16. The access point of claim 15 wherein the training field is a long training field.

17. The access point of claim 11, wherein:

the PHY header of the multi-user packet is encoded with at least one modulation coding parameter being relatively more robust than at least one additional modulation coding parameter by which a remainder of the multi-user packet is encoded.

18. The access point of claim 17, wherein:

the at least one modulation coding parameter including a first code rate;

the at least one additional modulation coding parameter including a second code rate; and

the first code rate being lower than the second code rate.

19. The access point of claim 17, wherein:

the at least one modulation coding parameter including a first modulation;

the at least one additional modulation coding parameter including a second modulation; and

the first modulation different from the second modulation.

20. An access point comprising:

a wireless receiver;

a wireless transmitter coupled to the wireless receiver and configured to send a group definition to a mobile communication device, the group definition including a group identifier and a plurality of associate identifiers corresponding to a plurality of devices of a group in an order, wherein the mobile communication device determines inclusion in the group by determining that an associate identifier corresponding to the mobile communication device is included in the plurality of associate identifiers corresponding to the plurality of devices of the group, wherein a position of a training field associated with the mobile communication device is indicated, based on the order of the plurality of associate identifiers included in the group definition;

wherein the wireless transmitter is further configured to send a multi-user packet to the mobile communication device at a time subsequent to sending the group definition, the multi-user packet including a PHY (physical layer) header having a group identification field (group ID field) that includes the group identifier.