Apparatus, system and method of sounding feedback sequence of explicit beamforming training

• US 10,256,881 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2015
• Issued: 04/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Gong, Michelle X., Stacey, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Phuc
• Application Number:
  US14/920,054
• Publication Number:
  US 20160043793A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,265 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0421 utilizing implicit feedback, e.g. steered pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0626 Channel coefficients, e.g. channel state information [CSI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 with collision avoidance

Abstract

Some demonstrative embodiments include devices, systems and/or methods of simultaneously communicating with a group of wireless communication devices. For example, a device may include a wireless communication unit to communicate with at least one group of a plurality of wireless communication devices over a wireless communication medium, wherein the wireless communication unit is to reserve the wireless communication medium for a time period, during which the wireless communication unit is to simultaneously transmit two or more different wireless communication transmissions to two or more wireless communication devices of the group, respectively. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a wireless communication unit comprising;

a transmitter;

a receiver; and

logic configured to cause the wireless communication unit to;

transmit a frame configured to initiate a sounding feedback sequence of explicit beamforming training with a plurality of wireless communication stations, the frame comprising a sequence of a plurality of Association Identifiers (AIDs) corresponding to said plurality of wireless communication stations;

during a first time period, process reception of a first beamforming feedback frame from a station corresponding to a first AID, which is first in order of said sequence of the plurality of AIDs;

during one or more second non-overlapping time periods, which are subsequent to said first time period, process reception of one or more second beamforming feedback frames from one or more other stations corresponding to one or more second AIDs in the sequence of the plurality of AIDs; and

transmit a Multi-Input-Multi-Output (MIMO) transmission comprising two or more simultaneous transmissions to two or more respective stations of the plurality of wireless communication stations based on two or more of the first beamforming feedback frame or the one or more second beamforming feedback frames;

transmit a block acknowledgement request to the two or more stations; and

receive a simultaneous uplink transmission including two or more simultaneous block acknowledgements from the two or more stations, respectively.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic is configured to cause the wireless communication unit to process reception of the first beamforming feedback frame from the station corresponding to the first AID prior to receiving frames from any other stations of said plurality of wireless communication stations.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic is configured to cause the wireless communication unit to transmit a sounding frame, and wherein the first beamforming feedback frame and the one or more second beamforming feedback frames are based on said sounding frame.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic is configured to cause the wireless communication unit to determine one or more transmit beamforming schemes for transmitting to one or more of said plurality of wireless communication stations based on one or more of the first beamforming feedback frame or the one or more second beamforming feedback frames.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic is configured to cause the wireless communication unit to process communication of first and second transmissions, which are separated by a short-inter-frame-space (SIFS) period, with the plurality of wireless communication stations.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising one or more antennas, a memory, and a processor.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a wireless communication unit comprising;

a transmitter;

a receiver; and

logic configured to cause the wireless communication unit to;

process a received initiation frame configured to initiate a sounding feedback sequence of explicit beamforming training by a plurality of wireless communication stations, the initiation frame comprising a sequence of a plurality of Association Identifiers (AIDs) corresponding to said plurality of wireless communication stations;

transmit a beamforming feedback frame during a first time period, if an AID corresponding to said wireless communication unit is a first AID, which is first in order in said sequence of the plurality of AIDs, or during a second time period, subsequent to said first time period, if the AID corresponding to said wireless communication unit is a second AID, which is after the first AID in said sequence of the plurality of AIDs;

receive a transmission for the wireless communication unit as part of a Multi-Input-Multi-Output (MIMO) transmission comprising two or more simultaneous transmissions to two or more respective stations of the plurality of wireless communication stations;

receive a block acknowledgement request, the block acknowledgement request to request the two or more stations to acknowledge the MIMO transmission; and

transmit a block acknowledgement as part of a simultaneous uplink transmission from the two or more stations.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the logic is configured to cause the wireless communication unit to process reception of a sounding frame, and to generate said beamforming feedback frame based on said sounding frame.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the transmission for the wireless communication unit comprises a beamformed transmission, which is based on said beamforming feedback frame.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 comprising one or more antennas, a memory, and a processor.

11. A product comprising one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one computer processor, enable the at least one computer processor to cause a wireless communication device to:

transmit a frame configured to initiate a sounding feedback sequence of explicit beamforming training with a plurality of wireless communication stations, the frame comprising a sequence of a plurality of Association Identifiers (AIDs) corresponding to said plurality of wireless communication stations;

during a first time period, process reception of a first beamforming feedback frame from a station corresponding to a first AID, which is first in order of said sequence of the plurality of AIDs;

during one or more second non-overlapping time periods, which are subsequent to said first time period, process reception of one or more second beamforming feedback frames from one or more other stations corresponding to one or more second AIDs in the sequence of the plurality of AIDs;

transmit a Multi-Input-Multi-Output (MIMO) transmission comprising two or more simultaneous transmissions to two or more respective stations of the plurality of wireless communication stations based on two or more of the first beamforming feedback frame or the one or more second beamforming feedback frames;

transmit a block acknowledgement request to the two or more stations; and

receive a simultaneous uplink transmission including two or more simultaneous block acknowledgements from the two or more stations, respectively.

12. The product of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the wireless communication device to process reception of the first beamforming feedback frame from the station corresponding to the first AID prior to receiving frames from any other stations of said plurality of wireless communication stations.

13. The product of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the wireless communication device to transmit a sounding frame, and wherein the first beamforming feedback frame and the one or more second beamforming feedback frames are based on said sounding frame.

14. The product of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the wireless communication device to determine one or more transmit beamforming schemes for transmitting to one or more of said plurality of wireless communication stations based on one or more of the first beamforming feedback frame or the one or more second beamforming feedback frames.

15. The product of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the wireless communication device to process communication of first and second transmissions, which are separated by a short-inter-frame-space (SIFS) period, with the plurality of wireless communication stations.

16. A product comprising one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one computer processor, enable the at least one computer processor to cause a wireless communication device to:

process a received initiation frame configured to initiate a sounding feedback sequence of explicit beamforming training by a plurality of wireless communication stations, the initiation frame comprising a sequence of a plurality of Association Identifiers (AIDs) corresponding to said plurality of wireless communication stations;

transmit a beamforming feedback frame during a first time period, if an AID corresponding to said wireless communication device is a first AID, which is first in order in said sequence of the plurality of AIDs, or during a second time period, subsequent to said first time period, if the AID corresponding to said wireless communication device is a second AID, which is after the first AID in said sequence of the plurality of AIDs;

receive a transmission for the wireless communication device as part of a Multi-Input-Multi-Output (MIMO) transmission comprising two or more simultaneous transmissions to two or more respective stations of the plurality of wireless communication stations;

receive a block acknowledgement request, the block acknowledgement request to request the two or more stations to acknowledge the MIMO transmission; and

transmit a block acknowledgement as part of a simultaneous uplink transmission from the two or more stations.

17. The product of claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the wireless communication device to process reception of a sounding frame, and generating said beamforming feedback frame based on said sounding frame.

18. The product of claim 16, wherein the transmission for the wireless communication device comprises a beamformed transmission, which is based on said beamforming feedback frame.