Sounding and tone block allocation for orthogonal frequency multiple access (OFDMA) in wireless local area networks
First Claim
1. A method for simultaneously communicating with multiple communication devices in a communication network, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a first communication device, sounding feedback packets from a plurality of second communication devices, wherein each sounding feedback packet includes (i) beamforming feedback to be used by the first communication device for beamforming to the corresponding second communication device and (ii) one or more quality indicators corresponding to one or more sub-channel blocks of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication channel associated with the corresponding second communication device;
selecting, at the first communication device based on the one or more quality indicators received from each of at least some of the second communication devices, a group of second communication devices for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication, wherein the group includes two or more second communication devices of the plurality of second communication devices; and
transmitting, from the first communication device to the group of second communication devices, at least one OFDMA data unit that includes respective OFDM data units directed to the two or more second communication devices of the group, wherein the respective OFDM data units are transmitted in respective sub-channel blocks allocated to the two or more second communication devices of the group.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A first communication device obtains, for each second communication device of a plurality of second communication devices, one or more quality indicators corresponding to one or more sub-channel blocks of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication channel associated with the second communication device. The first communication device selects, based on the quality indicators obtained for each of at least some of the second communication devices, a group of second communication devices for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication. The first communication device transmits, to the group of second communication devices, at least one OFDMA data unit that includes respective OFDM data units directed to the two or more second communication devices of the group. The respective OFDM data units are transmitted in respective sub-channel blocks allocated to the two or more second communication devices of the group.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method for simultaneously communicating with multiple communication devices in a communication network, the method comprising:
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receiving, at a first communication device, sounding feedback packets from a plurality of second communication devices, wherein each sounding feedback packet includes (i) beamforming feedback to be used by the first communication device for beamforming to the corresponding second communication device and (ii) one or more quality indicators corresponding to one or more sub-channel blocks of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication channel associated with the corresponding second communication device; selecting, at the first communication device based on the one or more quality indicators received from each of at least some of the second communication devices, a group of second communication devices for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication, wherein the group includes two or more second communication devices of the plurality of second communication devices; and transmitting, from the first communication device to the group of second communication devices, at least one OFDMA data unit that includes respective OFDM data units directed to the two or more second communication devices of the group, wherein the respective OFDM data units are transmitted in respective sub-channel blocks allocated to the two or more second communication devices of the group. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An apparatus for use in a communication system, the apparatus comprising:
a network interface comprising one or more integrated circuits configured to receive sounding feedback packets from a plurality of communication devices, wherein each sounding feedback packet includes (i) beamforming feedback to be used for beamforming to the corresponding communication device and (ii) one or more quality indicators corresponding to one or more sub-channel blocks of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication channel associated with the corresponding communication device; select, based on the one or more quality indicators received from each of at least some communication devices of the plurality of communication devices, a group of communication devices for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication, wherein the group includes two or more communication devices of the plurality of communication devices; and transmit, to the group of communication devices, at least one OFDMA data unit that includes respective OFDM data units directed to the two or more communication devices of the group, wherein the respective OFDM data units are transmitted in respective sub-channel blocks allocated to the two or more communication devices of the group. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
Specification