Acknowledgment and/or receiver recovery mechanisms for scheduled responses within multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications

• US 9,408,208 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2015
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Amini, Peiman, Fischer, Matthew James
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sharma, Gautam
• Application Number:
  US14/840,175
• Publication Number:
  US 20150373707A1
• Time in Patent Office: 337 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0452 Multi-user MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0625 Transmitter arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0631 Receiver arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/0002 analog front ends; means for connecting modulators, demodulators or transceivers to a transmission line duplex arrangements H04L5/143
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2601 Multicarrier modulation systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/06 using polling

Abstract

Acknowledgment and/or receiver recovery mechanisms for scheduled responses within multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications. Explicit scheduling information is provided from a first wireless communication device (e.g., an access point (AP), a transmitting wireless communication device) to a number of other wireless communication devices (e.g., wireless stations (STAs), receiving wireless communication devices) directing those other wireless communication devices a manner by which responses (e.g., acknowledgments (ACKs), block acknowledgments (BACKs), training feedback frames, etc.) are to be provided to the first wireless communication device there from. Such direction may include the order, timing, cluster assignment, etc. by which each respective wireless communication device is to provide its respective response to the first wireless communication device. In the event of the first wireless communication device failing to receive at least one response from at least one of the other wireless communication devices, various communication medium recovery mechanisms may be performed.

Claims

1. A wireless communication device comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory with instructions thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, are configured to;

transmit, via a plurality of sub-carriers, a first orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame to a first other wireless communication device and a second other wireless communication device, wherein the first OFDMA frame specifies a scheduled response time and a first cluster that includes a first subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers for use by the first other wireless communication device and a second cluster that includes a second subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers for use by the second other wireless communication device when the first other wireless communication device and the second other wireless communication device simultaneously transmit a second OFDMA frame to the wireless communication device during the scheduled response time; and

receive, during the scheduled response time, the second OFDMA frame from the first other wireless communication device and the second other wireless communication device, wherein the second OFDMA frame includes a first response to the first OFDMA frame from the first other wireless communication device that is transmitted within the first cluster that includes the first subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers specified in the first OFDMA frame and includes a second response to the first OFDMA frame from the second other wireless communication device that is simultaneously transmitted within the second cluster that includes the second subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers specified in the first OFDMA frame.

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

a wireless station (STA), wherein at least one of the first other wireless communication device or the second other wireless communication device includes at least one other STA.

3. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, are further configured to:

generate the first OFDMA frame to include scheduling information, wherein the scheduling information specifies a first scheduled response time during which the first other wireless communication device is permitted to transmit the first response to the first OFDMA frame to the wireless communication device via the first subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers and also during which the second other wireless communication device is to transmit the second response to the first OFDMA frame to the wireless communication device via the second subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers, and wherein the scheduling information also specifies a second scheduled response time during which a third other wireless communication device is permitted to transmit a third response to the first OFDMA frame to the wireless communication device via at least one subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers;

receive the second OFDMA frame from the first other wireless communication device and the second other wireless communication device via an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) transmission; and

receive, via the at least one subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers, a third OFDMA frame that includes the third response to the first OFDMA frame from the third other wireless communication device.

4. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, are further configured to:

transmit the first OFDMA frame based on multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) signaling; and

receive the second OFDMA frame based on MU-MIMO signaling.

5. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, are further configured to:

generate the first OFDMA frame to include cluster assignment for the plurality of sub-carriers, wherein the cluster assignment specifies a plurality of clusters, wherein the first cluster of the plurality of clusters includes a first at least one channel that is included within a first at least one band, and the second cluster of the plurality of clusters includes a second at least one channel that is included within a second at least one band; and

receive a third OFDMA frame from the first other wireless communication device and the second other wireless communication device, wherein the third OFDMA frame includes first data from the first other wireless communication device within the first cluster and second data from the second other wireless communication device within the second cluster.

6. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, are further configured to:

generate the first OFDMA frame to include cluster assignment for the plurality of sub-carriers, wherein the cluster assignment specifies a plurality of clusters, wherein the first cluster of the plurality of clusters includes a first at least one channel that is included within a first at least one band, and the second cluster of the plurality of clusters includes a second at least one channel that is included within a second at least one band; and

receive, in response to the first OFDMA frame, the first response to the first OFDMA frame from the first other wireless communication device within the first cluster and the second response to the first OFDMA frame from the second other wireless communication device within the second cluster.

7. The wireless communication device of claim 6, wherein at least one of the first response or the second response includes an acknowledgement (ACK), a block acknowledgement (BA), or a training feedback frame.

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

an access point (AP), wherein at least one of the first other wireless communication device or the second other wireless communication device includes a wireless station (STA).

9. A wireless communication device comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory with instructions thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, are configured to;

transmit, via a plurality of sub-carriers and based on multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) signaling, a first orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame to a plurality of other wireless communication devices, wherein the first OFDMA frame specifies a plurality of scheduled response times during which the plurality of other wireless communication devices are to transmit to the wireless communication device and pluralities of clusters that include pluralities of subsets of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers for use by other wireless communication devices for subsequent transmissions to the wireless communication device;

receive, during a first scheduled response time of the plurality of scheduled response times, a second OFDMA frame that includes a first response to the first OFDMA frame from a first other wireless communication device of the plurality of other wireless communication devices that is transmitted within a first cluster that includes a first subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers specified in the first OFDMA frame and includes a second response to the first OFDMA frame from a second other wireless communication device of the plurality of other wireless communication devices that is simultaneously transmitted within a second cluster that includes a second subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers specified in the first OFDMA frame; and

receive, during a second scheduled response time of the plurality of scheduled response times, at least one other OFDMA frame that includes at least one other response to the first OFDMA frame from at least one other wireless communication device of the plurality of other wireless communication device that is transmitted within at least one other cluster that includes at least one other subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers specified in the first OFDMA frame.

10. The wireless communication device of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, are further configured to:

receive, during a third scheduled response time of the plurality of scheduled response times specified in the first OFDMA frame, a third OFDMA frame that includes a third response to the first OFDMA frame from the first other wireless communication device of the plurality of other wireless communication devices that is transmitted within the first subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers and includes a fourth response to the first OFDMA frame from a third other wireless communication device of the plurality of other wireless communication devices that is transmitted within the second subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers.

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

the first response to the first OFDMA frame includes at least one of a first acknowledgement (ACK), a first block acknowledgement (BA), or a first training feedback frame; and

the second response to the first OFDMA frame includes at least one of a second ACK, a second BA, or a second training feedback frame.

12. The wireless communication device of claim 9 further comprising:

a first wireless station (STA), wherein the first other wireless communication device includes a second STA, and the second other wireless communication device includes a third STA.

13. The wireless communication device of claim 9 further comprising:

an access point (AP), wherein at least one of the first other wireless communication device or the second other wireless communication device includes a wireless station (STA).

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

transmitting, via a communication interface of the wireless communication device and via a plurality of sub-carriers, a first orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame to a first other wireless communication device and a second other wireless communication device, wherein the first OFDMA frame specifies a scheduled response time and a first cluster that includes a first subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers for use by the first other wireless communication device and a second cluster that includes a second subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers for use by the second other wireless communication device when the first other wireless communication device and the second other wireless communication device simultaneously transmit a second OFDMA frame to the wireless communication device during the scheduled response time; and

receiving, during the scheduled response time and via the communication interface of the wireless communication device, the second OFDMA frame from the first other wireless communication device and the second other wireless communication device, wherein the second OFDMA frame includes a first response to the first OFDMA from the first other wireless communication device that is transmitted within the first cluster that includes the first subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers specified in the first OFDMA frame and includes a second response to the first OFDMA from the second other wireless communication device that is simultaneously transmitted within the second cluster that includes the second subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers specified in the first OFDMA frame.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the wireless communication device includes a wireless station (STA), and at least one of the first other wireless communication device or the second other wireless communication device includes at least one other STA.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

generating the first OFDMA frame to include scheduling information, wherein the scheduling information specifies a first scheduled response time during which the first other wireless communication device is permitted to transmit the first response to the first OFDMA to the wireless communication device via the first subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers and also during which the second other wireless communication device is to transmit the second response to the first OFDMA to the wireless communication device via the second subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers, and wherein the scheduling information also specifies a second scheduled response time during which a third other wireless communication device is permitted to transmit a third response to the first OFDMA to the wireless communication device via at least one subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers;

receiving the second OFDMA frame from the first other wireless communication device and the second other wireless communication device via an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) transmission; and

receiving, via the at least one subset of sub-carriers of the plurality of sub-carriers, a third OFDMA frame that includes the third response to the first OFDMA from the third other wireless communication device.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

transmitting the first OFDMA frame based on multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) signaling; and

receiving the second OFDMA frame based on MU-MIMO signaling.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

generating the first OFDMA frame to include cluster assignment for the plurality of sub-carriers, wherein the cluster assignment specifies a plurality of clusters, wherein the first cluster of the plurality of clusters includes a first at least one channel that is included within a first at least one band, and the second cluster of the plurality of clusters includes a second at least one channel that is included within a second at least one band; and

receiving a third OFDMA frame from the first other wireless communication device and the second other wireless communication device, wherein the third OFDMA frame includes first data from the first other wireless communication device within the first cluster and second data from the second other wireless communication device within the second cluster.

19. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

generating the first OFDMA frame to include cluster assignment for the plurality of sub-carriers, wherein the cluster assignment specifies a plurality of clusters, wherein the first cluster of the plurality of clusters includes a first at least one channel that is included within a first at least one band, and the second cluster of the plurality of clusters includes a second at least one channel that is included within a second at least one band; and

receiving, in response to the first OFDMA frame, the first response to the first OFDMA from the first other wireless communication device within the first cluster and the second response to the first OFDMA from the second other wireless communication device within the second cluster, wherein at least one of the first response or the second response includes an acknowledgement (ACK), a block acknowledgement (BA), or a training feedback OFDMA frame.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the wireless communication device includes an access point (AP), and at least one of the first other wireless communication device or the second other wireless communication device includes a wireless station (STA).