SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR GENERATING AND DECODING SHORT CONTROL FRAMES IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20140301208A1
• Filed: 12/04/2013
• Published: 10/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Merlin, Simone, WENTINK, MAARTEN MENZO, ABRAHAM, SANTOSH PAUL, QUAN, ZHI, ASTERJADHI, ALFRED
• Granted Patent: US 9,781,627 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/236
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0025 Transmission of mode-switching indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0029 Reduction of the amount of signalling, e.g. retention of useful signalling or differential signalling power control H04W52/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0073 Special arrangements for feedback channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0079 Formats for control data H04L1/16 takes precedence; training sequences H04L25/00 and H04L27/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0273 adapting protocols for flow control or congestion control to wireless environment, e.g. adapting transmission control protocol [TCP] wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation, e.g. wireless application protocol H04W80/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/002 Transmission of channel access control information

Abstract

Systems, methods, and devices for communicating short control frames are described herein. In some aspects, a method of wireless communication includes generating a control frame comprising a contention free end (CF-end) frame, the CF-end frame comprising a physical layer preamble having a type field, the type field including an indicator indicating the CF-end frame is a null data packet (NDP). The method further includes transmitting the control frame.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

generating a control frame comprising a contention free end (CF-end) frame, the CF-end frame comprising a physical layer preamble having a type field, the type field including an indicator indicating the CF-end frame is a null data packet (NDP); and

transmitting the control frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the CF-end frame comprises a type field indicating an NDP type and a subtype field differentiating between a CF-end and a clear to send (CTS) subtype.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the CF-end frame includes a duration field.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the duration field is set to 0, or to a non-zero value of a network allocation vector (NAV) that was sent from a previously transmitted frame of a wireless device, to indicate the completion of a transmission opportunity.

5. A device for communicating in a wireless network, the device comprising:

a processor configured to generate a control frame comprising a CF-end, the CF-end frame comprising a physical layer preamble having a type field, the type field including an indicator indicating the CF-end frame is a null data packet (NDP); and

a transmitter configured to transmit the control frame.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the CF-end frame comprises a type field indicating an NDP type and a subtype field differentiating between a CF-end and CTS subtype.

7. The device of claim 5, wherein the CF-end frame includes a duration field.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the duration field is set to 0, or to a non-zero value of a network allocation vector (NAV) that was sent from a previously transmitted frame of a wireless device, to indicate the completion of a transmission opportunity.

9. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

generating a control frame comprising a null data packet acknowledgement (NDP ACK) frame or NDP modified ACK frame, the NDP ACK frame or NDP modified ACK frame comprising a duration indication field, wherein the duration indication field provides signaling information for the NDP ACK or the NDP modified ACK; and

transmitting the control frame.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the null data packet acknowledgement (NDP ACK) frame or NDP modified ACK frame further comprise a NDP frame type field, an identifier field, a duration field, and a field for storing additional data.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein providing signaling information comprises setting the duration indication field equal to 1 to indicate an idle period.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the NDP ACK further comprises a relayed frame field, wherein providing signaling information comprises setting the duration indication field equal to 1, setting the relayed frame field equal to 1, and setting the duration field to a non-zero value to indicate to an intended station (STA) not to transmit any data frames.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein generating a control frame comprises generating a 1 MHz NDP ACK frame or 1 MHz NDP modified ACK frame.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein generating a control frame comprises generating a NDP ACK frame that has a bandwidth greater than or equal to 2 MHz or a NDP modified ACK frame that has a bandwidth greater than or equal to 2 MHz.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the duration indication field indicates whether a network allocation vector (NAV) is present.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the duration field indicates non-NAV value.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the duration field indicates a sleep duration value.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the duration field includes an identification (ID) extension field.

19. A device for communicating in a wireless network, the device comprising:

a processor configured to generate a control frame comprising a null data packet acknowledgement (NDP ACK) frame or NDP modified ACK frame, the NDP ACK frame or NDP modified ACK frame comprising a duration indication field, wherein the duration indication field provides signaling information for the NDP ACK or the NDP modified ACK; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the control frame.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the null data packet acknowledgement (NDP ACK) frame or NDP modified ACK frame further comprise a NDP frame type field, an identifier field, a duration field, and a field for storing additional data.

21. The device of claim 19, wherein the signaling information comprises the duration indication field set to 1 to indicate an idle period.

22. The device of claim 19, wherein the NDP ACK frame further comprises a relayed frame field, wherein signaling information comprises the duration indication field is set to 1, the relayed frame field is set to 1, and the duration field is a non-zero value to indicate to an intended station (STA) not to transmit any data frames.

23. The device of claim 19, wherein the NDP ACK frame and NDP modified ACK frame comprise a 1 MHz bandwidth frame.

24. The device of claim 19, wherein the NDP ACK frame and NDP modified ACK frame comprise a bandwidth frame that is greater than or equal to 2 MHz.

25. The device of claim 19, wherein the duration indication field indicates whether a network allocation vector (NAV) is present.

26. The device of claim 25, wherein the duration field indicates non-NAV value.

27. The device of claim 26, wherein the duration field indicates a sleep duration value.

28. The device of claim 26, wherein the duration field includes an identification (ID) extension field.