Methods and apparatus for multiple user uplink

• US 9,800,501 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2014
• Issued: 10/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Merlin, Simone, Barriac, Gwendolyn Denise, Sampath, Hemanth, Vermani, Sameer
• Primary Examiner(s): CHOUDHRY, SAMINA F
• Application Number:
  US14/469,175
• Publication Number:
  US 20150063191A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,155 Days
• Field of Search: 370312
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0452 Multi-user MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2621 using frequency division multiple access [FDMA] H04B7/2615 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0008 by supplementing frame payload, e.g. with padding bits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0031 Multiple signaling transmission H04L1/1664, F15 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1607 Details of the supervisory signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1621 Group acknowledgement, i.e. the acknowledgement message defining a range of identifiers, e.g. of sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1858 Transmission or retransmission of more than one copy of acknowledgement message
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0093 Point-to-multipoint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/72 using reservation actions during connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0005 Time-frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/003 Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 : Transmission or handling of upstream communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 : Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 : Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/146 : Uplink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/50 : at the moment of starting communication in a multiple access environment
• 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 72/12 : Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 : for groups of terminals or users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 : in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 : in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/002 : Transmission of channel access control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 : in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/008 : with additional processing of random access related information at receiving side
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/04 : Scheduled access hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 : Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 : with collision avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/085 : collision avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 : Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for multiple user uplink are provided. In one aspect, a method for wireless communication is provided. The method includes transmitting a clear to transmit (CTX) message to two or more stations, the CTX indicating an uplink transmission opportunity, the CTX message further comprising a request that the two or more stations concurrently transmit uplink data at a specific time. The method further includes receiving a plurality of uplink data from at least two stations at the specific time.

Claims

1. An apparatus for wireless communication comprising:

a transmitter configured to transmit a trigger frame to two or more stations, the trigger frame indicating an uplink transmission opportunity, the trigger frame further comprising a request for the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at a specific time, wherein the trigger frame comprises a duration field that indicates only a duration of a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) for a plurality of uplink data transmissions that the two or more stations are allowed to send; and

a receiver configured to receive the plurality of uplink data transmissions at the specific time from at least two stations of the two or more stations.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the uplink transmission opportunity has a common duration for each of the plurality of uplink data transmissions.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the specific time is a short interframe space (SIFS) or a point interframe space (PIFS) time after the end of the transmission of the message.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a plurality of clear to send (CTS) messages with having a common scrambling sequence at a time after the end of the transmission of the trigger frame and before the receiving of the plurality of uplink data.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises one or more station (STA) information fields for a particular station.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more station (STA) information fields comprise an indication of allowed transmission modes.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the indication of allowed transmission modes comprises one or more of a short/long guard interval (GI) or cyclic prefix mode, a binary convolutional code (BCC)/low density parity check (LDPC) mode, and a space-time block coding (STBC) mode.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more station (STA) information fields comprise a tone allocation field indicating the tone and/or frequencies for transmission of uplink data using a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) system and/or an orthogonal FDMA system.

9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more station (STA) information fields comprise a transmission start time field indicating a start time for transmission of uplink data.

10. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more station (STA) information fields comprise one or more of an address identifier field, a number and index of spatial streams, a time adjustment field, a power adjustment field, an allowed traffic identifier field, and a modulation and coding scheme field.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises a group identifier (GID) field indicating the two or more stations as a group of stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at the specific time.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises a receiver address (RA) field indicating a unicast or multicast address which identifies the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at the specific time.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises a field indicating data rate information for the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at the specific time.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises one or more of a frame control field, a transmitter address field, and a basic service set identifier (BSSID) field.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises a management frame or a control frame.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a request for transmission of uplink data from the two or more stations.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the request to transmit uplink data comprises a request to send (RTS) message, a request to transmit (RTX) message, a power save (PS) poll message, or a quality of service (QoS) null message.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit a second trigger frame in response to the request for transmission of uplink data, the second trigger frame indicating the request for transmission of uplink data has been received.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit the trigger frame aggregated with a second message.

20. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

transmitting a trigger frame to two or more stations, the trigger frame indicating an uplink transmission opportunity, the trigger frame further comprising a request for the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at a specific time, wherein the trigger frame comprises a duration field that indicates only a duration of a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) for a plurality of uplink data transmissions that the two or more stations are allowed to send; and

receiving the plurality of uplink data transmissions at the specific time from at least two stations of the two or more stations.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the trigger frame comprises a receiver address (RA) field indicating a unicast or multicast address which identifies the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at the specific time, wherein the trigger frame-further comprises one or more station (STA) information fields.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more station (STA) information fields comprise one or more of an address identifier field, a number of spatial streams field, a time adjustment field, a power adjustment field, an allowed traffic identifier field, and a modulation and coding scheme field.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising transmitting the trigger frame aggregated with a second message.

24. An apparatus for wireless communication comprising:

means for transmitting a trigger frame to two or more stations, the trigger frame indicating an uplink transmission opportunity, the trigger frame further comprising a request for the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at a specific time, wherein the trigger frame comprises one or more station (STA) information fields for a particular station of the two or more stations, and wherein the trigger frame comprises a duration field that indicates only a duration of a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) for a plurality of uplink data transmissions that the two or more stations are allowed to send; and

means for receiving the plurality of uplink data transmissions at the specific time from at least two stations of the two or more stations.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the trigger frame further comprises a receiver address (RA) field indicating a unicast or multicast address which identifies the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at the specific time.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the trigger frame comprises one or more station (STA) information fields comprising one or more of an address identifier field, a number of spatial streams field, a time adjustment field, a power adjustment field, an allowed traffic identifier field, a modulation and coding scheme field, an indication of allowed transmission modes, and a tone allocation field.

27. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed cause a processor to perform a method of:

transmitting a trigger frame to two or more stations, the trigger frame indicating an uplink transmission opportunity, the trigger frame further comprising a request for the two or more stations to concurrently transmit uplink data at a specific time, wherein the trigger frame comprises a duration field that indicates only a duration of a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) for a plurality of uplink data transmissions that the two or more stations are allowed to send; and

receiving the plurality of uplink data transmissions at the specific time from at least two stations of the two or more stations.

28. The medium of claim 27, wherein the method further comprises receiving a plurality of clear to send (CTS) messages with having a common scrambling sequence at a time after the end of the transmission of the trigger frame and before the receiving of the plurality of uplink data.

29. The medium of claim 27, transmitting the trigger frame comprises transmitting the trigger frame in response to a request for transmission of uplink data.