Physical layer preamble and signaling for wireless communication

Abstract

The present disclosure provides methods, devices, and systems for physical layer preamble and signaling for wireless communications. The signaling can be included in various portions of the physical layer preamble of a wireless transmission. In some implementations, in accordance with preamble signaling designs of the present disclosure, the physical layer preamble can be used to indicate puncturing of a sub-band or content channel that can carry further signaling. Physical layer preamble signaling can be parallelized for different sub-channels of a wireless channel that includes multiple sub-channels. Some implementations of the physical layer preamble can be used to multiplex different types of wireless local area network communications into different subsets of the multiple sub-channels of the wireless channel.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the patent application filed on August 9, 2020, with international application number PCT / US2020 / 045549, Chinese application number 202080055032.5, and entitled "Physical Layer Preamble and Signaling for Wireless Communication".

[0002] Cross-reference to related applications

[0003] This patent application claims U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 988,624, filed August 8, 2020; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 885,192, filed August 9, 2019; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 926,406, filed October 25, 2019; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 957,117, filed January 3, 2020; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 957,117, filed February 18, 2020. The prior art to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 978,297, filed March 3, 2020; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 984,777, filed April 1, 2020; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 003,812, filed April 21, 2020; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 013,530, filed April 21, 2020, all entitled “PHYSICALLAYER PREAMBLE AND SIGNALING FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION,” is assigned to the assignee of this application. The disclosures of these earlier applications are considered part of this patent application and are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0004] This disclosure generally relates to wireless communications, and more particularly to physical layer preambles and signaling for wireless transmission.

[0005] Related technical descriptions

[0006] A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) can be formed by one or more Access Points (APs) that provide a shared wireless communication medium for use by several client devices (also known as stations (STAs)). The basic building block of a WLAN conforming to the IEEE 802.11 family of standards is a Basic Service Set (BSS) managed by the AP. Each BSS is identified by a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) declared by the AP. The AP periodically broadcasts beacon frames to enable any STA within the AP's wireless range to establish or maintain a communication link with the WLAN. New WLAN communication protocols are being developed to achieve enhanced WLAN communication features. Because the new WLAN communication protocols implement enhanced features, new preamble designs are required to support signaling related to features and resource allocation.

[0007] Overview

[0008] The systems, methods, and apparatus disclosed herein each have several innovative aspects, and no single aspect is solely responsible for the desired properties disclosed herein.

[0009] One innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a method for wireless communication. The method includes receiving, via a wireless channel, a packet comprising a preamble portion and a data portion, the preamble portion including a Universal Signaling Field (U-SIG) followed by one or more version-specific signaling fields. The method may include determining that the U-SIG includes at least a version identifier, frequency occupancy information, and format information fields. The method may include determining the format of the packet based at least in part on the version identifier and format information fields. The method may include determining one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel, including the version-specific signaling fields, based on the frequency occupancy information. The method may include receiving at least a portion of the packet and decoding the version-specific signaling fields on the one or more sub-channels based on the determined format.

[0010] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented as an apparatus. This apparatus may include a processor configured to perform any of the methods described above.

[0011] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented as a computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform any of the methods described above.

[0012] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented as a system comprising means for implementing any of the methods described above. Brief description of the attached diagram

[0013] Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the following description. Other features, aspects, and advantages will become apparent from this description, the drawings, and the claims. It should be noted that the relative dimensions in the following drawings may not be drawn to scale.

[0014] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an example wireless communication network is shown.

[0015] Figure 2 An example Protocol Data Unit (PDU) is shown that can be used for communication between an Access Point (AP) and several Stations (STAs).

[0016] Figure 3A An example PDU that can be used for communication between an AP and several STAs is shown.

[0017] Figure 3B Another example PDU that can be used for communication between an AP and several STAs is shown.

[0018] Figure 4 Example PDUs including the Universal Signal Field (U-SIG) are shown according to some implementations.

[0019] Figure 5A An example of a bound wireless channel including multiple sub-channels is shown.

[0020] Figure 5B A conceptual diagram of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is shown.

[0021] Figure 5C This diagram illustrates the concept of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) for explaining the resource allocation of wireless channels.

[0022] Figure 6 An exemplary series of wireless frames using OFDMA is depicted.

[0023] Figure 7 An example of punctured transmission is described.

[0024] Figure 8 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device is shown.

[0025] Figure 9A A block diagram of an example AP is shown.

[0026] Figure 9B A block diagram of an example STA is shown.

[0027] Figure 10 An example Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) is shown according to some implementations that can be used for communication between an AP and several STAs.

[0028] Figure 11 Example options are shown based on the PPDU bandwidth (BW) and punctured channel information of some implementations.

[0029] Figure 12A An example table is shown, which has a 5- to 6-bit design for the punctured channel indication option to indicate non-OFDMA punctured channel mode.

[0030] Figure 12B An example table is shown, featuring a 5- to 6-bit design for the punctured channel indication option to indicate the punctured channel mode for both OFDMA and non-OFDMA.

[0031] Figure 13 An example frame structure with an EHT-SIG field following U-SIG is shown, according to some implementations.

[0032] Figure 14 An example frame structure based on some implementations is shown, in which different types of signal fields follow RL-SIG on different sub-channels.

[0033] Figure 15 The flowchart illustrates an example process for receiving wireless communication based on some implementations.

[0034] Figure 16 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device based on some implementations is shown.

[0035] Figure 17 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device based on some implementations is shown.

[0036] Similar reference numerals and naming conventions in the various figures indicate similar elements. Detailed description

[0037] The following description is directed to certain implementations in order to describe aspects of the innovation of this disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein can be applied in many different ways. The described implementations can be implemented according to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, the IEEE 802.15 standard, and as defined by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The described implementation can be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals according to one or more of the following standards, or those published by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP): Long Term Evolution (LTE), 3G, 4G, or 5G (New Radio (NR)). The described implementation can be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of transmitting and receiving RF signals according to one or more of the following technologies or techniques: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), Single User (SU) Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), and Multi User (MU) MIMO. The described implementation can also be implemented using other wireless communication protocols or RF signals suitable for use in one or more of Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWANs), or Internet of Things (IoT) networks.

[0038] Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Units (PPDUs) can span multiple subchannels and may include a preamble portion and a data portion. Signaling refers to control fields or information in the preamble portion that wireless communication devices can use to interpret another field or portion of the preamble portion or the data portion of the PPDU. A wireless channel can be formed by multiple subchannels. Portions of the wireless channel bandwidth can be divided or grouped to form different Resource Units (RUs). In particular, the preamble portion of the PPDU may include signaling indicating which RUs are allocated to different devices. Other types of signaling include indicators about which subchannels include further signaling or which subchannels can be punctured. Several PPDU formats (and related structures) exist defined for current wireless communication protocols. Due to the enhanced features implemented in new wireless communication protocols, new preamble designs are needed to support signaling related to features and resource allocation. Furthermore, defining new preamble signaling protocols that can support future wireless communication protocols is desirable.

[0039] Implementations generally involve signaling included in the physical layer preamble supporting new wireless communication protocols. Some implementations more specifically involve preamble design for PPDUs with bandwidths up to (and potentially greater than) 320 MHz. In some implementations, the preamble design is optimized to minimize the length of the preamble portion. Additionally or alternatively, some implementations more specifically involve preamble design accommodating different types of signal fields. Additionally or alternatively, some implementations more specifically involve preamble design accommodating signaling parallelization between different content channels, sub-channels, or subbands (which may include groups of sub-channels) within a wireless channel. A subband may refer to a portion of the total bandwidth of the wireless channel and may include the use of multiple contiguous or non-contiguous sub-channels.

[0040] According to various implementations of this disclosure, signaling may be included in various portions of the physical layer preamble of a radio packet (e.g., PPDU). In some implementations, the physical layer preamble may be used to indicate puncturing of sub-channels or content channels that may carry further signaling. Physical layer preamble signaling may be parallelized for different sub-channels of a radio channel comprising multiple sub-channels. Some implementations of the physical layer preamble may be used to multiplex different types of wireless LAN communications into different subsets of the sub-channels constituting that channel.

[0041] In some implementations, the Universal Signaling Field (U-SIG) may follow the legacy signaling field in the preamble portion of the PPDU. The U-SIG may include version-independent fields and version-dependent fields (i.e., fields that depend on the version of the wireless communication protocol used to format or otherwise generate the PPDU). The U-SIG may precede one or more other signaling fields specific to the wireless communication protocol version identified in the U-SIG. This disclosure includes several example version-independent and version-dependent fields that may be included in the U-SIG.

[0042] In some implementations, the information carried in the U-SIG may depend on the format of the PPDU being transmitted. For different PPDU formats, some or all of the format and content of the U-SIG may differ. The PPDU can be a triggered (TB) PPDU, a single-user (SU) PPDU, an extended-range (ER) SU PPDU, or a multi-user (MU) PPDU. In some implementations, a uniform format for the PPDU can support SU or MU communication. For example, in some implementations, one format of the U-SIG can be used for PPDUs serving a single user or multiple users. This disclosure includes several example formats of the U-SIG that can be used with various PPDU formats.

[0043] In some implementations, U-SIG can be used to indicate bandwidth, punctured channel, content channel structure, or any combination thereof. For example, U-SIG may include an indicator indicating the bandwidth structure of a PPDU. U-SIG may include punctured channel information associated with the punctured portion of the bandwidth. In some implementations, U-SIG may support the use of different content channel structures including further signaling following U-SIG.

[0044] In some implementations, the PPDU may include one or more version-specific signal fields following the U-SIG. Examples of version-specific fields include the Extremely High Throughput (EHT) signal field (EHT-SIG). As future versions of the WLAN protocol are developed, they may define different version-specific fields following the U-SIG. Therefore, the U-SIG described in this disclosure can support multiple generations of WLAN communication protocols, whether currently developed or in the future. In some preamble designs, the version-specific signal fields may differ on different sub-channels. For example, the EHT-SIG on one sub-channel may differ from the EHT-SIG on another sub-channel. Furthermore, the PPDU may have a first version-specific signal field (such as EHT-SIG) following the U-SIG for a first communication protocol on one sub-channel, and a second version-specific signal field following the U-SIG for a different generation of WLAN communication protocol on another sub-channel. For brevity, this disclosure describes EHT-SIG as an example of a version-specific signal field.

[0045] In some implementations, EHT-SIG may include overflow signaling information from U-SIG and additional signaling regarding the data portion of the PPDU. For example, EHT-SIG may include RU allocation information, spatial flow configuration information, and per-user signaling information, etc. This disclosure includes several preamble design options for EHT-SIG because EHT-SIG is related to U-SIG.

[0046] Specific implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to achieve one or more of the following potential advantages. In some implementations, the described techniques can provide a common signal field for new wireless communication protocols. This common signal field can have a format and structure that supports future wireless communication protocols, particularly those in the IEEE 802.11 family. By defining a common signal field, this disclosure enables wireless communication protocols to add new features and greater bandwidth support compared to older wireless communication protocols.

[0047] Figure 1A block diagram of an example wireless communication network 100 is shown. Depending on some aspects, the wireless communication network 100 may be an example of a wireless local area network (WLAN) (such as a Wi-Fi network) (and will be referred to WLAN 100 below). For example, WLAN 100 may be a network implementing at least one of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard families (such as standards defined by the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification or its amendments, including but not limited to 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba, and 802.11be). WLAN 100 may include numerous wireless communication devices, such as access points (APs) 102 and multiple stations (STAs) 104. Although only one AP 102 is shown, WLAN network 100 may also include multiple APs 102.

[0048] Each STA 104 may also be referred to as a mobile station (MS), mobile device, mobile handheld device, wireless handheld device, access terminal (AT), user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), or subscriber unit, and other possibilities. STA 104 may represent a variety of devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), other handheld devices, netbooks, netbook computers, tablet computers, laptop devices, display devices (e.g., TVs, computer monitors, navigation systems, etc.), music or other audio or stereo devices, remote control devices (“remote controllers”), printers, kitchen or other household appliances, key fobs (e.g., for passive keyless entry and start (PKES) systems), and other possibilities.

[0049] A single AP 102 and its associated STA set 104 may be referred to as a Basic Service Set (BSS), which is managed by the corresponding AP 102. Figure 1Example coverage area 106 of AP 102 is shown, which may represent the Basic Service Area (BSA) of WLAN 100. The BSA can be identified to users by a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and to other devices by a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID), which may be the Media Access Control (MAC) address of AP 102. AP 102 periodically broadcasts beacon frames (“beacons”) including the BSSID to enable any STA 104 within the wireless range of AP 102 to “associate” or reassociate with AP 102 to establish or maintain a corresponding communication link 108 with AP 102 (also referred to hereinafter as a “Wi-Fi link”). For example, the beacon may include an identifier of the primary channel used by the corresponding AP 102 and a timing synchronization function for establishing or maintaining timing synchronization with AP 102. AP 102 can provide access to external networks to each STA 104 in the WLAN via the corresponding communication link 108.

[0050] In order to establish a communication link 108 with AP 102, each STA 104 is configured to perform a passive or active scanning operation (“scan”) on a frequency channel in one or more frequency bands (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, or 60 GHz bands). To perform a passive scan, STA 104 listens for beacons transmitted by the corresponding AP 102 at periodic time intervals (referred to as Target Beacon Transmission Time (TBTT) (measured in units of time (TU), where one TU can be equal to 1024 microseconds (μs)). To perform an active scan, STA 104 generates probe requests and transmits these requests sequentially on each channel to be scanned, and listens for probe responses from AP 102. Each STA 104 can be configured to identify or select an AP 102 to associate with based on scan information obtained through passive or active scanning, and perform authentication and association operations to establish a communication link 108 with the selected AP 102. At the end of the association operation, AP 102 assigns an Association Identifier (AID) to STA 104, which AP 102 uses to track STA 104.

[0051] As wireless networks become increasingly prevalent, STA 104 has the opportunity to choose from one of many BSSs within its range or from multiple APs 102 that together form an Extended Service Set (ESS) (comprising multiple connected BSSs). The extended network station associated with WLAN 100 can be connected to a wired or wireless distribution system that allows multiple APs 102 to be connected in such an ESS. Thus, STA 104 can be covered by more than one AP 102 and can be associated with different APs 102 at different times for different transmissions. Furthermore, after being associated with an AP 102, STA 104 can be configured to periodically scan its surroundings to find a more suitable AP 102 to associate with. For example, a STA 104 moving relative to its associated AP 102 can perform a "roaming" scan to find another AP 102 with more suitable network characteristics, such as a larger Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) or reduced traffic load.

[0052] In some scenarios, STA 104 can form a network without AP 102 or any other equipment besides STA 104 itself. An example of such a network is an ad hoc network (or wireless ad hoc network). Ad hoc networks can also be referred to as mesh networks or peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. In some scenarios, ad hoc networks can be implemented within a larger wireless network (such as WLAN 100). In such implementations, while STA 104 can communicate with each other via communication link 108 through AP 102, STA 104 can also communicate directly with each other via direct wireless link 110. Furthermore, two STA 104 can communicate via direct communication link 110 regardless of whether the two STA 104 are associated with and served by the same AP 102. In such ad hoc systems, one or more STA 104 can assume the role played by AP 102 in the BSS. Such STA 104 can be referred to as the group leader (GO) and can coordinate transmissions within the ad hoc network. Examples of direct wireless links 110 include Wi-Fi Direct connections, connections established using Wi-Fi Tunneling Direct Link Establishment (TDLS) links, and other P2P group connections.

[0053] AP 102 and STA 104 function and communicate (via the corresponding communication link 108) according to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol family of standards, such as those defined by the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification or its revisions, including but not limited to 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba, and 802.11be. These standards define the WLAN radio and baseband protocols used for the PHY and Media Access Control (MAC) layers. AP 102 and STA 104 transmit and receive wireless communications (hereinafter also referred to as "Wi-Fi communication") to and from each other in the form of Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Units (PPDUs). AP 102 and STA 104 in WLAN 100 can transmit PPDUs on unlicensed spectrum, which can be a portion of a spectrum that includes bands traditionally used by Wi-Fi technologies, such as the 2.4 GHz band, 5 GHz band, 60 GHz band, 3.6 GHz band, and 900 MHz band. Some implementations of AP 102 and STA 104 described herein can also communicate in other bands, such as the 6 GHz band, that can support both licensed and unlicensed communication. AP 102 and STA 104 can also be configured to communicate on other bands, such as sharing licensed bands, where multiple operators may have licenses to operate in one or more of the same or overlapping bands.

[0054] Each frequency band may include multiple channels (which can be used as sub-channels of larger bandwidth channels, as described below). For example, PPDUs conforming to revisions of the IEEE 802.11n, 802.11ac, and 802.11ax standards can be transmitted in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, where each band is divided into multiple 20 MHz channels. Thus, these PPDUs are transmitted on physical channels with a minimum bandwidth of 20 MHz, but larger channels can be formed through channel bonding. For example, PPDUs can be transmitted on physical channels with bandwidths of 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, or 320 MHz by bonding multiple 20 MHz channels (which may be referred to as sub-channels) together.

[0055] Each PPDU is a composite structure comprising a PHY preamble and a payload in the form of a PLCP Service Data Unit (PSDU). The information provided in the preamble can be used by the receiving equipment to decode subsequent data in the PSDU. In instances where the PPDU is transmitted over a bonded channel, the preamble field may be copied and transmitted in each of the multiple component channels. The PHY preamble may comprise both a first part (or "legacy preamble") and a second part (or "non-legacy preamble"). The first part can be used for packet detection, automatic gain control, and channel estimation, among other purposes. The first part is also typically used to maintain compatibility with both legacy and non-legacy equipment. The format, encoding, and information provided in the second part of the preamble are based on the specific IEEE 802.11 protocol to be used for transmitting the payload.

[0056] Figure 2 An example Protocol Data Unit (PDU) 200 is shown that can be used for wireless communication between an AP and several STAs. For example, PDU 200 can be configured as a PPDU. As shown, PDU 200 includes a preamble 201 and a payload 204. For example, the preamble 201 may include a first portion 202, which itself includes an old-style short training field (L-STF) 206 consisting of two BPSK symbols, an old-style long training field (L-LTF) 208 consisting of two BPSK symbols, and an old-style signal field (L-SIG) 210 consisting of one BPSK symbol. The first portion 202 of the preamble 201 can be configured according to the IEEE 802.11a wireless communication protocol standard.

[0057] L-STF 206 generally enables receiver equipment to perform automatic gain control (AGC) and coarse timing and frequency estimation. L-LTF 208 generally enables receiver equipment to perform fine timing and frequency estimation, and also to perform initial estimation of the radio channel. L-SIG 210 generally enables receiver equipment to determine the duration of the PDU and use the determined duration to avoid transmission over the PDU. For example, L-STF 206, L-LTF 208, and L-SIG 210 can be modulated according to a binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation scheme. Figure 2An example L-SIG 210 from PDU 200 is shown. L-SIG 210 includes a data rate field 222, reserved bits 224, a length field 226, parity bits 228, and a tail field 230. The data rate field 222 indicates the data rate (note that the data rate indicated in the data rate field 212 may not be the actual data rate of the data carried in the payload 204). The length field 226 indicates the packet length, for example, in symbols or bytes. The parity bits 228 can be used to detect bit errors. The tail field 230 includes tail bits, which can be used by the receiving device to terminate the operation of a decoder (e.g., a Viterbi decoder). The receiving device can use the data rate and length indicated in the data rate field 222 and the length field 226 to determine the packet duration, for example, in microseconds (μs) or other time units.

[0058] Preamble 201 may also include a second part 203, which includes one or more non-legacy signal fields 212, for example, conforming to IEEE wireless communication protocols (such as IEEE 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be, or later wireless communication protocol standards). In some implementations, the second part 203 of preamble 201 may include a repetition of L-SIG (RL-SIG, not shown) before the non-legacy signal field 212. To accommodate later versions of IEEE wireless communication protocols, some of the L-SIG 210 fields (such as the data rate field 222 and the length field 226) have been redefined or overloaded with new definitions. For example, the data rate field 222 and the length field 226 may be filled with values ​​that identify the type that the non-legacy signal field 212 will conform to. However, such a solution may not be scalable, and the redefined or overloaded L-SIG fields may become saturated as more wireless communication protocols are developed. As further described in this disclosure, the non-legacy signal field 212 may include a general signal field (U-SIG, not shown) configured to indicate the type of PDU, the version of the wireless communication protocol associated with the PDU, the bandwidth, the puncturing, or any combination thereof.

[0059] Following the non-legacy signal field 212, the PDU 200 may include a payload 204. The payload 204 may be modulated according to a BPSK modulation scheme, a quadrature BPSK (Q-BPSK) modulation scheme, a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulation scheme, or another appropriate modulation scheme. The payload 204 may include a PSDU containing a data field 214, which may in turn carry higher-level data, such as Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Units (MPDUs) or Aggregated MPDUs (A-MPDUs).

[0060] Figure 3A Another example PDU 300 is shown that can be used for wireless communication between an AP and several STAs. PDU 300 includes a PHY preamble comprising a first portion 302 and a second portion 304. PDU 300 may further include a PHY payload 306 (e.g., in the form of a PSDU including a data field 322) after the preamble. The first portion 302 of the preamble includes L-STF 308, L-LTF 310, and L-SIG 312. According to the IEEE 802.11ac revision of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard, the second portion 304 of the preamble and the data field 322 may be formatted as a Very High Throughput (VHT) preamble and a frame, respectively. Part 304 includes a first VHT signal field (VHT-SIG-A) 314, a VHT short training field (VHT-STF) 316, several VHT long training fields (VHT-LTF) 318, and a second VHT signal field (VHT-SIG-B) 320 encoded separately from the VHT-SIG-A field 314. Similar to L-STF 308, L-LTF 310, and L-SIG 312, in instances involving the use of bonded channels, the information in VHT-SIG-A 314 can be copied and transmitted in each component 20MHz sub-channel.

[0061] VHT-STF 316 can be used to improve automatic gain control estimation in MIMO transmissions. VHT-LTF 318 can be used for MIMO channel estimation and pilot subcarrier tracking. A VHT-LTF 318 can be included for each spatial stream transmitting the preamble. VHT-SIG-A 314 indicates to VHT-compatible AP 102 and STA 104 that the PPDU is a VHT PPDU. VHT-SIG-A 314 includes signaling information and other information that can be used by STA 104 to decode VHT-SIG-B 320. VHT-SIG-A 314 can indicate the packet bandwidth (BW), the presence of space-time block coding (STBC), and the number N of space-time streams per user. STS(NSTS), group ID indicating the group and user location assigned to the STA, partial association identifier that can combine AID and BSSID, short guard interval (GI) indication, single-user / multi-user (SU / MU) coding indicating whether convolutional coding or LDPC coding is used, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), indication of whether beamforming matrix has been applied to the transmission, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), and tail. VHT-SIG-B 320 can be used for MU transmission and can contain the actual data rate and MPDU or A-MPDU length values ​​for each of multiple STAs 104, as well as signaling information (including, for example, MCS and beamforming information) that can be used by STA 104 to decode the received data in data field 322.

[0062] Figure 3B Another example PDU 350 is shown that can be used for wireless communication between an AP and several STAs. PDU 350 can be used for MU-OFDMA or MU-MIMO transmissions. PDU 350 includes a PHY preamble comprising a first part 352 and a second part 354. PDU 350 may further include a PHY payload 356 (e.g., in the form of a PSDU including a data field 374) after the preamble. The first part 352 includes L-STF 358, L-LTF 360, and L-SIG 362. According to the IEEE 802.11ax revision to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard, the second part 354 of the preamble and the data field 374 can be formatted as a High Efficiency (HE) WLAN preamble and frame, respectively. Part 2, 354, includes a repeating legacy signal field (RL-SIG) 364, a first HE signal field (HE-SIG-A) 366, a second HE signal field (HE-SIG-B) 368 encoded separately from HE-SIG-A 366, a HE short training field (HE-STF) 370, and several HE long training fields (HE-LTF) 372. Similar to L-STF 358, L-LTF 360, and L-SIG 362, in instances involving the use of bonded channels, the information in RL-SIG 364 and HE-SIG-A 366 can be duplicated and transmitted in each component 20MHz subchannel. In contrast, HE-SIG-B 368 can be unique for each 20MHz subchannel and can be specific to a particular STA 104.

[0063] RL-SIG 364 indicates to HE-compatible STA 104 that the PPDU is an HE PPDU. AP 102 can use HE-SIG-A366 to identify multiple STA 104 and notify those STA 104 that the AP has scheduled UL or DL ​​resources for them. HE-SIG-A366 can be decoded by each HE-compatible STA 104 served by AP 102. HE-SIG-A 366 includes information that can be used by each identified STA 104 to decode the associated HE-SIG-B 368. For example, HE-SIG-A 366 may indicate the frame format (including the location and length of HE-SIG-B 368), available channel bandwidth, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), and other possible examples. HE-SIG-A 366 may also include HE WLAN signaling information that can be used by STA 104 other than the identified STA 104.

[0064] The HE-SIG-B 368 can carry STA-specific scheduling information, such as, for example, per-user MCS values ​​and per-user RU allocation information. In the context of DL MU-OFDMA, this information enables the corresponding STA 104 to identify and decode the corresponding RU in the associated data field. Each HE-SIG-B368 includes a common field and at least one STA-specific (“user-specific”) field. The common field can indicate the RU distribution across multiple STA 104s, indicate RU assignment in the frequency domain, indicate which RUs are allocated for MU-MIMO transmissions and which RUs correspond to MU-OFDMA transmissions, and the number of users in the allocation, etc. The common field can be encoded with common bits, CRC bits, and tail bits. The user-specific field is assigned to a specific STA 104 and can be used to schedule specific RUs and indicate this scheduling to other WLAN devices. Each user-specific field can include multiple user block fields (which may be subsequently padded). Each user block field may include two user fields, which contain information for the two corresponding STAs to decode their respective RU payloads in data field 374.

[0065] Figure 4 Example PDUs including the Universal Signal Field (U-SIG) are shown according to some implementations. For example, PDU 400 can be configured as a PPDU. Recall that PDU 300 ( Figure 3A The PDU 350 is formatted according to the IEEE 802.11ac revision of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard. Figure 3BIt is formatted according to the IEEE 802.11ax revision of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard. Compared to PDU 300 and PDU 350, Figure 4 The PDU 400 can support the IEEE 802.11be revision and future revisions of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication standard, each of which may be referred to herein as a version of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication standard. Specifically, the PDU 400 may include a general signaling field (U-SIG) 416, which in particular may indicate the format of the PPDU, the version of the wireless communication protocol (e.g., the Extremely High Throughput (EHT) protocol as defined in 802.11be), bandwidth, puncturing, or any combination thereof. Thus, the U-SIG 416 may precede version-specific signaling that is formatted as the EHT portion of the preamble according to the IEEE 802.11be revision of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard, or may be formatted separately as a preamble and frame of any subsequent (post-EHT) version conforming to a new wireless communication protocol (conforming to future IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standards or other standards). For the sake of brevity, the version-specific fields can be described based on the EHT signaling.

[0066] PDU 400 includes a PHY preamble comprising a first portion 402 and a second portion 404. PDU 400 may further include a PHY payload 406 (e.g., in the form of a PSDU including a data field 426) following the preamble. The first portion 402 includes L-STF 408, L-LTF 410, and L-SIG 412. The second portion 404 of the preamble includes a repeating legacy signal field (RL-SIG) 414. Following RL-SIG 414, the second portion 404 of the preamble includes U-SIG 416. Depending on the format of the PDU, PDU 400 may include a version-specific signal field, such as EHT-SIG 418. Part 2, 404, further includes an additional short training field 422 (referred to herein as “EHT-STF”, but which may also be constructed for other wireless communication protocol versions besides EHT and carry version-related information) and several additional long training fields (referred to herein as “EHT-LTF” 424, but which may be constructed for other wireless communication protocol versions besides EHT and carry version-related information).

[0067] U-SIG 416 may include a version-independent field 442 and a version-dependent field 444. Examples of the version-independent field 442 may include a version identifier, an indication of whether PDU 400 is an uplink (UL) or downlink (DL) PPDU, BSS color, and Transmission Opportunity (TxOP) duration, etc. The version identifier in the version-independent field 442 may indicate the version (and associated format) of the version-dependent field 444. In some implementations, the version-dependent field 444 may indicate the PPDU format (such as in a format information field). The PPDU format may determine which other indicators are included in the version-dependent field 444 and the format or content of the remainder of U-SIG 416 and EHT-SIG 418. For example, depending on the value of the PPDU format field in the version-dependent field 444, PDU 400 may include different formats 472, 474, 476, or 478 for EHT-SIG 418. In some implementations, if the PPDU format field indicates that PDU 400 is a triggered (TB) PPDU, the EHT-SIG can be omitted (as shown in format 472). If the PPDU format field indicates that PDU 400 is a single-user (SU) PPDU, then EHT-SIG 452 can be formatted as shown in format 474. For example, EHT-SIG 452 for a SU PPDU can be a single symbol length and can be modulated using a fixed MCS (e.g., rate 1 / 2, BPSK). If the PPDU format field indicates that PDU 400 is a multi-user (MU) PPDU, other format information fields may be present for interpreting the EHT-SIG structure and content, such as EHT-SIG MCS, EHT-DCM, EHT-SIG compression, the number of EHT-SIG symbols, or the number of non-OFDMA users, and other examples. The EHT-SIG can then be formatted as shown in format 476. For example, the EHT-SIG may include a common field 462 and one or more user-specific fields 464. The MU-PPDU format 476 can be multi-symbol length and can have a variable MCS as indicated in U-SIG 416.

[0068] In some other implementations, the PPDU (which may be referred to as a unified SU / MU PPDU) can be formatted to support single-user (SU) or multi-user (MU) payloads. A unified SU / MU PPDU may include a U-SIG 416 with a consistent field structure, regardless of whether the unified SU / MU PPDU carries SU or MU traffic. Furthermore, an EHT-SIG 418 with a unified SU / MU EHT-SIG format 478 may follow the EHT-SIG 416. In the unified approach, separate formats 474 and 476 for SU and MU PPDU formats may not exist. Instead, the unified SU / MU PPDU may have a U-SIG 416 and an EHT-SIG format 478 that support signal fields that vary by MU or by SU. For example, when used for SU traffic, the EHT-SIG format 478 may have a compressed version of the EHT-SIG defined for MU format 476. For example, the unified SU / MU EHT-SIG format 478 may include a compression mode with a common field 466, and may include only one user-specific field 468. For a PPDU that occupies the full bandwidth and is directed to a single user, the common field 466 may omit some unnecessary information, such as resource unit (RU) allocation, etc. The U-SIG 416 may be two symbol lengths, followed by an EHT-SIG 418 with an adjustable MCS indicated by the U-SIG 416. The EHT-SIG of the unified SU / MU EHT-SIG format 478 may be multiple symbol lengths and may use a deterministic MCS (such as rate 1 / 2, BPSK).

[0069] In some implementations, U-SIG 416 may include PPDU bandwidth (BW) and punctured channel information. The PPDU BW and punctured channel information can be collectively referred to as frequency occupancy indication. Frequency occupancy indication allows WLAN devices on a wireless channel to determine the utilization of different portions of the wireless channel. For example, frequency occupancy information can be used to indicate puncturing of some sub-channels.

[0070] Figure 5A An example of a bound wireless channel 500 including multiple sub-channels is shown. In Figure 5, channel mapping of frequency bands (such as 2.5 GHz, 5 GHz, or 6 GHz bands) can define multiple channels 504. Figure 5A In the example, each channel 504 has a uniform channel width W (such as 20MHz, 40MHz, or 80MHz, etc.). Some WLAN devices are able to transmit at higher bandwidth using a wireless channel composed of multiple channels (which can be called sub-channels when used as part of a larger wireless channel). Figure 5AIn the example, wireless channel 500 can be used to transmit 80 MHz by bundling a group of four sub-channels 504 (first sub-channel 504A, second sub-channel 504B, third sub-channel 504C, and fourth sub-channel 504D) together. Although depicted as adjacent sub-channels in this channel mapping, in some implementations, wireless channel 500 may contain sub-channels 504 that are not adjacent in this channel mapping. Furthermore, in some implementations, a larger group of channels 504 can be used. For example, IEEE 802.11ax provides the use of eight sub-channels, and later versions of IEEE 802.11 provide 16 (or more) sub-channels for higher bandwidth transmissions.

[0071] Figure 5B A conceptual diagram of a conventional OFDM 501 is shown. The OFDM channel width can include multiple subcarriers. WLAN packets (also known as PPDUs) consist of data encoded using subcarriers with the channel width. For example, a first STA can transmit a first PPDU 510 during a first time period 530. During a second time period, a second STA can transmit a second PPDU 520. The time durations of PPDUs 510 and 520 can be the same or different. Typically, the first and second STAs (and any other STAs in the BSS) will contend for access to the channel. Once a STA wins the contention, it can use the channel to transmit PPDUs. Figure 5B As shown, the different shades on the PPDU indicate that different STAs can utilize the wireless channel sequentially, one STA at a time. However, this communication architecture can be inefficient if the WLAN device does not have sufficient data to justify using the full channel bandwidth. The IEEE 802.11ax standard introduced the use of OFDMA in WLANs.

[0072] Figure 5C This diagram illustrates a concept of OFDMA 502, explaining resource allocation for a wireless channel. OFDMA divides the entire channel bandwidth into multiple Resource Units (RUs). Each RU can include a different number of subcarriers. By using OFDMA, a first WLAN device (such as an AP) can allocate different RUs to different STAs. Figure 5C As shown, different shaded indications can be transmitted to different RUs of a PPDU (or allocated for use by different STAs). For example, PPDU 550 may include different RUs allocated for a first STA, a second STA, a third STA, and a fourth STA. One RU 540 is allocated to a STA to transmit uplink data in PPDU 550, while other RUs are allocated to different STAs. RU allocation can be used for downlink transmission or scheduling channel access.

[0073] Figure 6 An exemplary series of radio frames 600 using OFDMA is depicted.

[0074] The first frame 601 (F1) includes a first RU 610 assigned to the first STA (“User 1”). For example, the first RU 610 can be used for downstream traffic from the AP to the first STA (User 1). Figure 6 In this configuration, the first RU 610 is a 40MHz RU (684 frequency modulations). If more data needs to be sent to User 1, the AP can allocate a second RU 620 in the next radio frame (second frame 602, F2). In second frame 602, the second RU 620 is allocated to User 1. The second RU 620 in second frame 602 is a 20MHz RU (242 frequency modulations) associated with the fourth sub-channel. Second frame 602 also allocates a third RU 630 to the second STA (“User 2”).

[0075] refer to Figure 6 The examples shown and described are illustrative in nature and represent only one of many examples that can be supported by various aspects of this disclosure. For example, the RU allocation technique of this disclosure can be used for 160MHz wide channels and RU allocation with two or more users. In another example, a 320MHz wide channel can support 240MHz allocated to user 1 (using a combination of smaller RU sizes) and 80MHz allocated to user 2. In some implementations, RUs can be allocated or combined in non-contiguous portions of the PPDU.

[0076] Figure 7 An exemplary perforated transmission 700 is depicted. Specifically, Figure 7 A time-based conceptual explanation of possible transmissions on the first sub-channel 715, second sub-channel 725, third sub-channel 735, and fourth sub-channel 745 of the wireless channel is shown. For non-triggered transmissions not prompted (or triggered) by previous transmissions, the WLAN device performs a clear channel assessment (CCA, not shown) before sending the non-triggered transmission. CCA is a type of collision avoidance technique. Other types may be referred to as carrier sensing, carrier detection, listen-before-speak, etc. CCA is performed by the WLAN device to determine whether the wireless communication medium (such as a group of sub-channels) is available or busy (used by another transmission). If the wireless communication medium is in use, the WLAN device can postpone the transmission until CCA is performed again and the wireless communication medium is not being used by another device.

[0077] exist Figure 7In this system, there is an existing system transmission occupying a portion of the second sub-channel 725. Therefore, the wireless channel can be punctured to exclude the second sub-channel 725 from the transmission. Thus, transmission 700 is transmitted only on the first sub-channel 715, the third sub-channel 735, and the fourth sub-channel 745. The preamble 705 may include signaling 710, 730, and 740 on the unpunctured sub-channels 715, 735, and 745, respectively. However, signaling can be omitted from the second sub-channel 725.

[0078] Figure 8 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device 800 is shown. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 800 may be for STAs (such as those referenced above). Figure 1 Examples of devices in one of the described STAs (104). In some implementations, the wireless communication device 800 may be for an AP (such as the one described above). Figure 1 Example of a device in the described AP 102. Wireless communication device 800 is capable of transmitting (or outputting for transmission) and receiving wireless communications (e.g., in the form of wireless packets). For example, the wireless communication device can be configured to transmit and receive packets in the form of Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Units (PPDUs) and Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Units (MPDUs) conforming to IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standards (such as those defined by the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification or its amendments, including but not limited to 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba, and 802.11be).

[0079] Wireless communication device 800 may be or may include a chip, system-on-a-chip (SoC), chipset, package, or device that includes one or more modems 802 (e.g., a Wi-Fi (compliant with IEEE 802.11) modem). In some implementations, one or more modems 802 (collectively, "modem 802") additionally include a WWAN modem (e.g., a 3GPP 4G LTE or 5G compatible modem). In some implementations, wireless communication device 800 also includes one or more radios 804 (collectively, "radio 804"). In some implementations, wireless communication device 806 further includes one or more processors, processing blocks, or processing elements 806 (collectively, "processor 806") and one or more memory blocks or elements 808 (collectively, "memory 808").

[0080] Modem 802 may include intelligent hardware blocks or devices, such as, for example, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Modem 802 is generally configured to implement the PHY layer. For example, modem 802 is configured to modulate packets and output modulated packets to radio 804 for transmission over a wireless medium. Similarly, modem 802 is configured to receive modulated packets received by radio 804 and demodulate these packets to provide demodulated packets. In addition to modulators and demodulators, modem 802 may further include digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry, automatic gain control (AGC), encoders, decoders, multiplexers, and demultiplexers. For example, when in transmission mode, data obtained from processor 806 is provided to encoders, which encode the data to provide encoded bits. The encoded bits are then mapped to points in a modulation constellation (using a selected MCS) to provide modulated symbols. Subsequently, the modulated symbols may be mapped to several (N) SS One) spatial flow or several (N) STS (1) space-time stream. Subsequently, the modulated symbols in the corresponding space stream or space-time stream can be multiplexed, transformed via an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) block, and then provided to the DSP circuitry for Tx windowing and filtering. The digital signal can then be provided to a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The resulting analog signal can then be provided to an up-converter and ultimately to Radio 804. In implementations involving beamforming, the modulated symbols in the corresponding space stream are pre-coded via a guiding matrix before being provided to the IFFT block.

[0081] In receive mode, the digital signal received from radio 804 is provided to a DSP circuitry system configured to acquire the received signal, for example, by detecting the presence of the signal and estimating the initial timing and frequency offset. The DSP circuitry system is further configured to digitally condition the digital signal, for example, using channel (narrowband) filtering, analog impairment conditioning (such as correcting I / Q imbalance), and applying digital gain to ultimately obtain a narrowband signal. The output of the DSP circuitry system can then be fed to an AGC, configured to use information extracted from the digital signal (e.g., in one or more received training fields) to determine an appropriate gain. The output of the DSP circuitry system is also coupled to a demodulator configured to extract modulated symbols from the signal and, for example, calculate the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) for each bit position of each subcarrier in each spatial stream. The demodulator is coupled to a decoder configured to process the LLR to provide decoded bits. The decoded bits from all spatial streams are then fed to a demultiplexer for demultiplexing. The demultiplexed bits can then be descrambled and provided to the MAC layer (processor 806) for processing, evaluation, or interpretation.

[0082] Radio 804 generally includes at least one radio frequency (RF) transmitter (or “transmitter chain”) and at least one RF receiver (or “receiver chain”), which may be combined into one or more transceivers. For example, the RF transmitter and receiver may include various DSP circuitry systems, each including at least one power amplifier (PA) and at least one low-noise amplifier (LNA). The RF transmitter and receiver may then be coupled to one or more antennas. For example, in some implementations, wireless communication device 800 may include or be coupled to multiple transmit antennas (each with a corresponding transmit chain) and multiple receive antennas (each with a corresponding receive chain). Symbols output from modem 802 are provided to radio 804, which then transmits these symbols via the coupled antennas. Similarly, symbols received via the antennas are acquired by radio 804, which then provides these symbols to modem 802.

[0083] Processor 806 may include intelligent hardware blocks or devices designed to perform the functions described herein, such as, for example, processing cores, processing blocks, central processing units (CPUs), microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs) (such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof. Processor 806 processes information received via radio 804 and modem 802, and processes information to be output via modem 802 and radio 804 for transmission over a wireless medium. For example, processor 806 may implement a control plane and a MAC layer, configured to perform various operations related to the generation and transmission of MPDUs, frames, or packets. The MAC layer is configured to perform or facilitate frame encoding and decoding, spatial multiplexing, space-time block coding (STBC), beamforming, and OFDMA resource allocation, and other operations or techniques. In some implementations, processor 806 may generally control modem 802 to cause the modem to perform the various operations described above.

[0084] Memory 808 may include tangible storage media, such as random access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM), or combinations thereof. Memory 808 may also store non-transient processor or computer-executable software (SW) code containing instructions that, when executed by processor 806, cause the processor to perform various operations described herein for wireless communication, including the generation, transmission, reception, and interpretation of MPDUs, frames, or packets. For example, the various functions of the components disclosed herein, or the various blocks or steps of the methods, operations, processes, or algorithms disclosed herein, may be implemented as one or more modules of one or more computer programs.

[0085] Figure 9A A block diagram of example AP 902 is shown. For example, AP 902 could be a reference... Figure 1 The described example implementation of AP 102. AP 902 includes a wireless communication device (WCD) 910. For example, the wireless communication device 910 may be a reference... Figure 8 An example implementation of the described wireless communication device 800 is described. AP 902 also includes a plurality of antennas 920 coupled to the wireless communication device 910 for transmitting and receiving wireless communications. In some implementations, AP 902 additionally includes an application processor 930 coupled to the wireless communication device 910, and a memory 940 coupled to the application processor 930. AP 902 further includes at least one external network interface 950, which enables AP 902 to communicate with a core network or backhaul network to obtain access to external networks, including the Internet. For example, external network interface 950 may include one or both of a wired (e.g., Ethernet) network interface and a wireless network interface (such as a WWAN interface). Components of the foregoing can communicate directly or indirectly with other components of these components on at least one bus. AP 902 further includes a housing that surrounds the wireless communication device 910, the application processor 930, the memory 940, and at least a portion of the antennas 920 and the external network interface 950.

[0086] Figure 9B A block diagram of example STA 904 is shown. For example, STA 904 may be a reference... Figure 1 The STA 104 is described as an example implementation. STA 904 includes a wireless communication device 915. For example, the wireless communication device 915 may be a reference... Figure 8 An example implementation of the described wireless communication device 800. STA 904 also includes one or more antennas 925 coupled to the wireless communication device 915 for transmitting and receiving wireless communications. STA 904 additionally includes an application processor 935 coupled to the wireless communication device 915, and a memory 945 coupled to the application processor 935. In some implementations, STA 904 further includes a user interface (UI) 955 (such as a touchscreen or keyboard) and a display 965, which can be integrated with the UI 955 to form a touchscreen display. In some implementations, STA 904 may further include one or more sensors 975 (for example, one or more inertial sensors, accelerometers, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, or altitude sensors). Components of the foregoing can communicate directly or indirectly with other components of these components on at least one bus. STA 904 further includes a housing that surrounds the wireless communication device 915, the application processor 935, the memory 945, and at least a portion of the antenna 925, the UI 955, and the display 965.

[0087] As described above, due to the enhanced features of new wireless communication protocol implementations, new preamble designs are required to support signaling related to features and resource allocation. Implementations generally involve incorporating signaling into the physical layer preamble supporting the new wireless communication protocol. Some implementations more specifically involve preamble designs that do not significantly increase the preamble length. Additionally or alternatively, some implementations more specifically involve preamble designs that accommodate different types of signal fields. Additionally or alternatively, some implementations more specifically involve preamble designs that accommodate signaling parallelization between different content channels, sub-channels, or sub-bands (sub-channel groups) within a wireless channel.

[0088] Figure 10 An example PPDU 1000, according to some implementations, is shown for wireless communication between an AP and several STAs. The PPDU 1000 can be used for SU, MU-OFDMA, or MU-MIMO transmissions. The PPDU 1000 includes a PHY preamble comprising a first part 1002 and a second part 1004. The PPDU 1000 may further include a PHY payload 1006 (e.g., in the form of a PSDU including a data field 1026) following the preamble. The first part 1002 includes L-STF 1008, L-LTF 1010, and L-SIG 1012. The second part 1004 of the preamble and the data field 1026 may be formatted as an Ultra High Throughput (EHT) WLAN preamble and frame respectively according to the IEEE 802.11be revision of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard, or may be formatted as a preamble and frame respectively according to any later (post-HT) version of a new wireless communication protocol (following future IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standards or other standards).

[0089] The second part 1004 of the preamble includes a repeating legacy signal field (RL-SIG) 1014 and several wireless communication protocol version-related signal fields following RL-SIG 1014. For example, the second part may include a second signal field (referred to herein as "U-SIG") 1016 and a third signal field (referred to herein as "EHT-SIG," but which may be constructed for other wireless communication protocol versions besides EHT and carry version-related information) 1018. The second part 1004 further includes an additional short training field 1022 (referred to herein as "EHT-STF," but which may also be constructed for other wireless communication protocol versions besides EHT and carry version-related information) and several additional long training fields 1024 (referred to herein as "EHT-LTF," but which may be constructed for other wireless communication protocol versions besides EHT and carry version-related information). Similar to L-STF 1008, L-LTF 1010, and L-SIG 1012, in instances involving the use of bonded channels, the information in RL-SIG 1014, U-SIG 1016, and EHT-SIG 1018 can be copied and transmitted in each component 20MHz subchannel (which may include content channels). In some implementations, EHT-SIG 1018 may additionally or alternatively carry information different from that carried in the primary 20MHz subchannels in one or more non-primary 20MHz channels. In some implementations, EHT-SIG may have some content that is the same in all 20MHz subchannels, and may have some other content that is different for one or more of the 20MHz subchannels.

[0090] RL-SIG 1014 and U-SIG 1016 can indicate to STA 104, which is compatible with EHT or later versions, that PPDU 1000 is an EHT PPDU or a PPDU conforming to another non-legacy wireless communication protocol version. For example, U-SIG 1016 can be used by the receiving device to interpret bits in one or more of EHT-SIG 1018 or data field 1026. In some implementations, U-SIG 1016 may include reserved bits indicating whether PPDU 1000 conforms to, for example, EHT or a later version of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard family or other standards (e.g., after IEEE 802.11ax). In some implementations, U-SIG 1016 includes a version field that includes at least one bit indicating the specific wireless communication protocol version conformed to by PPDU 1000. In some implementations, U-SIG 1016 also includes at least one generic bit independent of the wireless communication protocol version.

[0091] The receiving device of PPDU 1000 can initially begin or continue its determination of the wireless communication protocol version used to transmit PPDU 1000 based on the presence of RL-SIG 1014 and the modulation scheme used to modulate the symbols in U-SIG 1016. In some implementations, the receiving device can initially determine that the wireless communication protocol used to transmit PPDU 1000 is HE or a later version based on the presence of RL-SIG 1014 (i.e., determining that the first symbol of the second part of the preamble is the same as L-SIG 1012) and determining that both the first and second symbols after RL-SIG 1014 are modulated according to a BPSK modulation scheme (e.g., BPSK1 / 2, the opposite of Q-BPSK or other modulation schemes). In this way, STAs that comply with HE but not EHT or later versions can interpret PPDU 1000 as an HE PPDU and can adhere to the duration of PPDU 1000 as indicated by L-SIG 1012. Furthermore, the ability of HE devices to interpret information associated with transmissions that comply with EHT or later versions (such as indications of whether PPDU 1000 is an uplink (UL) or downlink (DL) PPDU, BSS color, and Transmission Opportunity (TxOP) duration) enables advanced latency techniques.

[0092] Although the presence of RL-SIG 1014 and the modulation scheme indicates that the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol, EHT or later, is used to transmit the PPDU 1000, in some implementations, to indicate that the PPDU is an EHT or later 802.11 wireless communication protocol version, the transmitting device sets the value of the reserved bit in U-SIG 1016 such that its value relative to the reserved bit in the corresponding bit position within HE-SIG-A is inverted (or “flipped”) (e.g., the reserved bit may have a logic “0” value instead of the logic “1” expected in HE-SIG-A). In some such implementations, the value of the reserved bit itself does not indicate a specific version; rather, the version field (e.g., 16 bits) identifies a specific version within a possible set of versions. In some other implementations, more than one reserved bit may be used to indicate the version, and a separate version field may not be used.

[0093] As previously described, in IEEE 802.11be and future generations, new fields can be used to carry signaling information. For example, new fields and signaling information can be included in U-SIG 1016. Additionally, new fields and signaling information can be included in EHT-SIG 1018 (or overflow into EHT-SIG 1018). If additional training signals (such as L-SIG and RL-SIG in 11ax) are transmitted on other frequency moduli before U-SIG, each symbol in U-SIG can carry more available data for feature signaling than for training signals. In some implementations, U-SIG 1016 comprises two symbols that can be co-encoded in a single block, and each symbol can carry at least twenty-four available data (or "information") bits. In some implementations, U-SIG 1016 can support 26 bits per symbol by using four additional frequency moduli for signaling. Therefore, a total of 52 bits can be available from the two symbols used for U-SIG 1016. This disclosure includes several options to enable U-SIG 1016 and EHT-SIG 1018 to carry 2 more bits per symbol compared to L-SIG (which carries 24 bits). For example, training signals on additional frequency moduli (such as [-28, -27, 27, 28]) can be transmitted on L-SIG and RL-SIG as in IEEE 802.11ax. Channel estimation for these four frequency moduli is ready after RL-SIG, so these additional four frequency moduli can be used for signaling starting from U-SIG. In another option, training signals on additional frequency moduli (such as [-28, -27, 27, 28]) can be transmitted on L-LTF and L-SIG. If the energy detection and comparison signals in these four frequency moduli in L-LTF and L-SIG indicate training, the receiver can attempt to use 52 data frequency moduli. These additional four frequency moduli can then be enabled for signaling starting from U-SIG.

[0094] The bits in U-SIG 1016 may include signaling about the type or format of additional signaling fields following U-SIG 1016 (such as EHT-SIG 1018). U-SIG 1016 may include two types of content, such as version-independent field 1050 and version-dependent field 1051. In some implementations, version-independent field 1050 includes general fields 1056, such as a version identifier for indicating the WLAN protocol version of the packet (e.g., a value for indicating 802.11be), an indicator of whether the PPDU is uplink or downlink (UL / DL indicator), a transmission opportunity (TX OP) field, or a BSS color, etc.

[0095] U-SIG 1016 may include a frequency occupancy indication that allows any WLAN device on the wireless channel to determine the utilization of individual portions of the wireless channel. For example, U-SIG 1016 may include a PPDU BW and a punctured channel information field 1052. The PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 may include a PPDU BW value, a punctured channel indicator, or any combination thereof. The PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 may be included in a version-independent field 1050 or a version-dependent field 1051. The PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 may be included in the version-independent field 1050 to explicitly indicate the full punctured mode of a specific 80MHz so that an observer will be aware of the punctured channel. Alternatively, if it is not necessary to notify an observer, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 may be included in the version-dependent field 1051. Figure 11 , 12A Examples of PPDU BW and the punctured channel information field 1052 are further described in 12B.

[0096] In addition to the version-independent field 1050, U-SIG 1016 may also include a version-related field 1051. Examples of version-related fields 1051 may include a format information field 1058 and an additional signaling field 1062. The format information field 1058 may indicate the format of the remaining fields of U-SIG 1016 and the format of EHT-SIG 1018 (if included). For example, the format information field 1058 may include a PPDU format field indicating whether PPDU 1000 is a trigger-based (TB) PPDU, a single-user (SU) PPDU, or a multi-user (MU) PPDU. In some implementations, the format information field 1058 may change how the rest of U-SIG 1016 and EHT-SIG 1018 are structured. For example, the format of the additional signaling field 1062 and EHT-SIG 1018 may depend on the value in the format information field 1058. In some implementations, the format information field 1058 may include a PPDU format field indicating whether the PPDU is a TB PPDU, SU PPDU, or MU PPDU. For a TB PPDU, EHT-SIG 1018 may not be present. For a SU PPDU, EHT-SIG 1018 may have a first format 1070. And, for a MU PPDU, EHT-SIG 1018 may have a second format 1080. The format and content of the additional signaling field 1062 and EHT-SIG 1018 are further described below. U-SIG 1016 may also include a CRC and a tail (not shown). The CRC may protect earlier fields of U-SIG 1016. In some implementations, the CRC may protect earlier fields of U-SIG 1016 and all or part of L-SIG.

[0097] EHT-SIG 1018 may include one or more jointly coded symbols, and in some implementations, may be encoded in a different block than the block in which U-SIG 1016 is encoded. EHT-SIG 1018 may be used by the AP to identify multiple STAs 104 and notify them that the AP has scheduled UL or DL ​​resources. EHT-SIG 1018 may be decoded by each compatible STA 104 served by AP 102. U-SIG 1016 may include information that can be used by the identified STA 104 to decode EHT-SIG 1018. U-SIG 1016 is typically used by the receiving equipment to interpret bits in EHT-SIG 1018 or data field 1026. For example, U-SIG 1016 may indicate the format of EHT-SIG 1018 in each component channel, the available channel bandwidth, and the modulation and coding scheme (MCS), etc. EHT-SIG 1018 may further include a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) (e.g., 4 bits) and a tail (e.g., 6 bits) that can be used for binary convolutional codes (BCC).

[0098] The EHT-SIG 1018 can carry STA-specific scheduling information, such as, for example, per-user MCS values ​​and per-user RU allocation information. The EHT-SIG 1018 is generally used by the receiving device to interpret the bits in the data field 1026. In the context of DL MU-OFDMA, this information enables the corresponding STA 104 to identify and decode the corresponding RU in the associated data field 1026. Each EHT-SIG 1018 includes a common field and at least one STA-specific (“user-specific”) field. The common field can indicate the RU distribution across multiple STAs 104, indicate RU assignment in the frequency domain, indicate which RUs are allocated for MU-MIMO transmissions and which RUs correspond to MU-OFDMA transmissions, and the number of users in the allocation, etc. The common field can be encoded with common bits, CRC bits, and tail bits. The user-specific field is assigned to a specific STA 104 and can be used to schedule specific RUs and indicate this scheduling to other WLAN devices. The common field can have a variable length. Each user-specific field may include multiple user block fields (which may be subsequently padded). Each user block field may include, for example, two user fields containing information for two corresponding STAs to decode their respective RU payloads.

[0099] In some implementations, EHT-SIG 1018 content is replicated across each content channel. In other implementations, parallelization designs for EHT-SIG 1018 (or a portion thereof) may include extending different fields across different content channels. Table 1 summarizes how U-SIG 1016 and EHT-SIG 1018 can be formatted differently for different PPDU formats (such as different formats for TB PPDU, SU PPDU, or MU PPDU).

[0100]

[0101]

[0102]

[0103]

[0104] Table 1. Examples of U-SIG and EHT-SIG

[0105] For a TB-PPDU, the additional signaling field 1062 may include one or more indicators regarding spatial reuse. For example, in some implementations, the additional signaling field 1062 may include a spatial reuse field comprising 4 bits. This 4-bit field may indicate spatial reuse for the entire PPDU BW or an 80MHz portion of the radio channel. The spatial reuse field may be different for each 80MHz portion of the radio channel. In some other implementations, the spatial reuse field may include 8 bits and may indicate spatial reuse for each half of the entire PPDU BW, or for each 40MHz portion within an 80MHz portion of the radio channel. As indicated above, EHT-SIG 1018 may not be present in the TB PPDU.

[0106] For the SU PPDU, the additional signaling field 1062 may include one or more of the following indicators: guard interval and long training field size (GI+LTF, such as 2 bits), number of EHT-LTF symbols and intermediate code periodicity (or NSTS and intermediate code periodicity) (such as 4 bits), Doppler indicator (such as 1 bit), LDPC extra symbol segmentation (such as 1 bit), space-time block code (STBC, such as 1 bit), pre-FEC padding factor (such as 2 bits), packet spread (PE) disambiguation indicator (such as 1 bit), and beam variation (such as 1 bit), etc. Note that some of these indicators mentioned above may be carried over to a portion of EHT-SIG 1018, or may be signaled in EHT-SIG 1018 (instead of U-SIG 1016). For example, EHT-SIG 1018 may include overflows from U-SIG and field 1072, which varies by SU. Fields that vary depending on the SU may include MCS indicators (such as 4 bits), DCM indicators (such as 1 bit), encoding indicators (such as 1 bit), beamforming indicators (such as 1 bit), or spatial reuse (such as 4 bits or 8 bits), etc.

[0107] For the MU PPDU, the additional signaling field 1062 may include one or more of the following indicators: spatial reuse (e.g., 4 bits), guard interval and long training field size (GI+LTF, e.g., 2 bits), number of EHT-LTF symbols and intermediate code periodicity (e.g., 4 bits), Doppler indicator (e.g., 1 bit), LDPC extra symbol segmentation (e.g., 1 bit), space-time block code (STBC, e.g., 1 bit), pre-FEC padding factor (e.g., 2 bits), packet spread (PE) disambiguation indicator (e.g., 1 bit), and beam variation (e.g., 1 bit), etc. Note that some of these indicators mentioned above may be carried over to a portion of EHT-SIG 1018, or may be signaled in EHT-SIG 1018 (rather than U-SIG 1016). For example, the common field 1082 may include overflow bits from the additional signaling field 1062. Furthermore, the common field 1082 may include resource allocation information (e.g., RU allocation for one or more STAs). User-specific field 1084 may include one or more user block fields. For example, different user block fields may exist for each resource allocation indicated in the common field 1082. In some implementations, the EHT-SIG compression field (such as 2 bits) may be used to indicate an un-punctured non-OFDMA compressed mode, a punctured non-OFDMA compressed mode, and an uncompressed mode (for OFDMA). In some implementations, the EHT-SIG compression field (such as 1 bit) may be used to indicate a (punctured or un-punctured) non-OFDMA compressed mode and an uncompressed mode (for OFDMA).

[0108] For the unified SU / MU PPDU format, the additional signaling field 1062 may include fields for SU or MU transmission, including one or more of the following indicators: spatial reuse (e.g., 4 bits), guard interval and long training field size (GI+LTF, e.g., 2 bits), number of EHT-LTF symbols and intermediate code periodicity (e.g., 4 bits), Doppler indicator (e.g., 1 bit), LDPC extra symbol segmentation (e.g., 1 bit), space-time block code (STBC, e.g., 1 bit), pre-FEC padding factor (e.g., 2 bits), packet spread (PE) disambiguation indicator (e.g., 1 bit), and beam variation (e.g., 1 bit), etc. Note that some of these indicators mentioned above may be carried over to a portion of EHT-SIG 1018, or may be signaled in EHT-SIG 1018 (rather than U-SIG 1016). For example, the common field 1082 may include overflow bits from the additional signaling field 1062. If the unified SU / MU-PPDU is directed to multiple users, the common field 1082 may include resource allocation information (such as RU allocation for one or more STAs). Alternatively, if the unified SU / MU PPDU is directed to a single user and there is no preamble punching, the RU allocation information may be omitted. In some uses of the SU / MU PPDU, such as when SU ​​preamble punching is used, the RU allocation information may be included (optionally in a compressed version compared to the RU allocation subfield of a conventional multi-user transmission). The user-specific field 1084 may include one or more user block fields. For example, if the unified SU / MU PPDU is directed to multiple users, there may be different user block fields for each resource allocation indicated in the common field 1082. Alternatively, if the unified SU / MU PPDU is directed to a single user, there may be only one user field (with a non-MU MIMO format), where SU-specific fields (such as MCS, DCM, encoding, beamforming, etc.) may be combined. Compared to fields that vary by SU, there are additional fields that can be included in user fields, such as the STAID field (11 bits) and NSTS (4 bits).

[0109] The unified MU / SU PPDU format can support both MU and SU traffic. For full BW SU transmissions, the cost of using the unified MU / SU PPDU format U-SIG compared to the SU PPDU format is an additional 26 bits (11 bits for other format information fields used in the MU PPDU, 11 bits for the STA ID field in the user field, and 4 bits for the NSTS field)). However, for higher bandwidth communication protocols (such as IEEE 802.11be and later), the unified MU / SU PPDU format may be desirable. The total size of the unified MU / SU PPDU's U-SIG and EHT-SIG will be >= 73 bits (for PPDUs formatted for single-user transmissions), which can be filled in a 2-symbol U-SIG and a closely fitted 2-symbol EHT-SIG (for BPSK, rate 1 / 2). In some implementations, a 3-symbol EHT-SIG (BPSK, rate 1 / 2) can be used if the PPDU BW and puncturing information fields use >4 bits, or if signaling for additional features is present. In some implementations, the EHT-SIG compression field (e.g., 2 bits) can be used to indicate an unpunctured non-OFDMA compressed mode, a punctured non-OFDMA compressed mode, and an uncompressed mode (for OFDMA). In some implementations, the EHT-SIG compression field (e.g., 1 bit) can be used to indicate a (punctured or unpunctured) non-OFDMA compressed mode and an uncompressed mode (for OFDMA). In some implementations, the EHT-SIG compression field (e.g., 2 bits) can be used to indicate a (punctured or unpunctured) SU compressed mode (to support single-user transmission), a (punctured or unpunctured) non-OFDMA compressed mode (for MU-MIMO transmission to support more than one user), and an uncompressed mode (for OFDMA transmission).

[0110] Some fields of the EHT-SIG can be transmitted in a specific 20MHz sub-channel of the first content channel, and different fields can be transmitted in different 20MHz sub-channels of the second content channel. Although the content or values ​​within the EHT-SIG can differ for different content channels, the format and field structure of the EHT-SIG can be consistent across all content channels. For punctured sub-channels (such as those indicated in the PPDU BW and Punctured Channel Information field 1052), the content channel (including the EHT-SIG) can be eliminated.

[0111] As shown in Table 1, there may be different ways to format the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information. In one example formatting option, the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information can be formatted as a single value from a lookup table that includes entries for various combinations of PPDU BW and puncturing. In another example formatting option, the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information can be formatted as separate subfields, where the first subfield includes a value indicating the PPDU BW and the second subfield includes a value indicating the punctured channel information.

[0112] The fields and field sizes in Table 1 are provided as illustrative examples. Some implementations may include additional fields or different sizes.

[0113] Figure 11 Example options for PPDU BW and punctured channel information according to some implementations are shown. As indicated above, alternative options 1150 may exist for the content and format of PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052. In some options 1172, 1174, and 1176, PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 may be included in a version-dependent field of the U-SIG. For example, these options can be used if it is not necessary to notify bystanders. In another option 1178, PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 may be included in a version-independent field.

[0114] In the first option 1172, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 may include a value representing the combined BW and puncturing configuration to convey complete puncturing information. This value can be determined from a table in which different bit values ​​(possibly up to 8 bits or more) represent different combinations of BW and puncturing.

[0115] In the second option 1174, the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information field 1052 can convey partial channel puncturing information (at the content channel level). The PPDU BW and the punctured channel information field 1052 can represent the puncturing of the primary 80MHz sub-channel, and the values ​​of the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information field 1052 can be replicated in each 80MHz sub-channel that constitutes the complete channel.

[0116] In the third option 1176, the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information field 1052 can convey partial channel puncturing information (at the content channel level). However, unlike option 1174, the third option 1176 uses different values ​​for each different 80MHz sub-channel of the full channel. Therefore, the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information field 1052 include values ​​specific to that 80MHz sub-channel in each 80MHz sub-channel.

[0117] In the fourth option 1178, the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information field 1052 can explicitly indicate the full puncturing mode for each 80MHz. In some implementations, option 1178 can be used to inform bystanders of the punctured 20MHz subchannels in each particular 80MHz subchannel and to inform the intended receiver so that the receiver knows the content channel location in each particular 80MHz subchannel.

[0118] In some implementations, the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information field 1052 may include a punctured channel bitmap to indicate a punctured channel. In one option, the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information field 1052 may be 4-bit values, including values ​​selected from a lookup table. Each potential value in the lookup table for the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information field 1052 may be associated with a specific bandwidth of the channel. Additionally, some values ​​may further indicate a fixed set of puncturing configurations. In another option, the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information field 1052 may be 3-bit values, indicating a value selected from the lookup table for a specific bandwidth. In such an example, the U-SIG may further include a punctured channel bitmap (not shown) following the 3-bit value. The punctured channel bitmap (if included) may indicate puncturing at different granularities. For example, in some implementations, the punctured channel bitmap may be an 80MHz bitmap, where each bit indicates puncturing (or not puncturing) of a corresponding one of the 80MHz sub-channels of the wireless channel. In some other implementations, the punctured channel bitmap can be a per-20MHz bitmap, where each bit indicates the puncturing (or non-puncturing) of a 20MHz sub-channel. In some implementations, parallelization can be used to prepare different punctured channel bitmaps for each 80MHz sub-channel of the wireless channel. For example, the punctured channel bitmap can be a per-20MHz bitmap, where each bit indicates the puncturing (or non-puncturing) of a 20MHz sub-channel within a corresponding 80MHz portion of the wireless channel. Therefore, the punctured channel bitmap can be different for each 80MHz portion and can include bits specific to that 80MHz portion.

[0119] In some implementations, the PPDU BW and the punctured channel information are separate subfields. The PPDU BW subfield can use 3 bits to indicate the PPDU BW, including but not limited to the following: 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, 160MHz (or 160 / 80+80MHz), 320MHz (or 320 / 160+160MHz). The indication for 320MHz (or 320 / 160+160MHz) may be one entry or two entries to indicate how the PPDU BW and the 320MHz channelization are used to disambiguate both. For example, one entry could be 320MHz (lower 160MHz) to indicate that the PPDU BW is 320MHz and the current 160MHz subchannel is the lower 160MHz channel of the PPDU BW; another entry could be 320MHz (upper 160MHz) to indicate that the PPDU BW is 320MHz and the current 160MHz subchannel is the upper 160MHz channel of the PPDU BW.

[0120] In some implementations, the punctured channel information can be indicated using 5 to 6 bits, which can depend on the PPDU BW and the EHT-SIG compression field (which indicates whether the PPDU is OFDMA or non-OFDMA, and can include SU transmission and non-OFDMA MU-MIMO transmission). For example, if the EHT-SIG compression field indicates that it is in uncompressed mode (e.g., OFDMA transmission), then 4 bits of the 5-6 bit field are used to indicate the punctured channel bit mapping per 20 MHz of the current 80 MHz. If the EHT-SIG compression field indicates that it is in non-OFDMA compressed mode, then the 5-6 bit field is used to indicate the non-OFDMA punctured channel mode.

[0121] Figure 12A Example Table 1202 is shown, which has a 5- to 6-bit design for the punctured channel indication option to indicate non-OFDMA punctured channel modes. Each entry in Table 1201 can provide information about puncturing information including non-OFDMA punctured channel modes.

[0122] Figure 12BExample Table 1202 is shown, featuring a 5-6 bit design for the punctured channel indication option to indicate both OFDMA and non-OFDMA punctured channel modes. Each entry in Table 1202 provides information about puncturing information, including either OFDMA or non-OFDMA punctured channel modes. If the EHT-SIG compression field indicates an uncompressed mode (e.g., OFDMA transmission), the 5-6 bit field is used to indicate the current 80MHz punctured channel information by referring to the corresponding "80MHz / segment" row in Table 1202. If the EHT-SIG compression field indicates a non-OFDMA compressed mode, the 5-6 bit field is used to indicate the non-OFDMA punctured channel mode by looking at the row corresponding to the PPDU BW.

[0123] Space reuse (SR) field

[0124] Recall that in IEEE 802.11ax, 4 bits are used for each Spatial Reuse (SR) field. For SU and MU PPDUs, the SR field is used for the entire PPDU BW. For TB PPDUs, each spatial reuse field is used for a 20MHz subband if the total BW is <= 80MHz, or for a 40MHz subband if the total BW is 160MHz. However, an observer only needs to know the spatial reuse information for a specific 80MHz (not the entire PPDU BW). Therefore, the SR field can be modified for use in IEEE 802.11be and later. For example, for SU / MU PPDUs, the SR field can be used for a specific 80MHz. For TB PPDUs, the SR field can be a 4-bit value representing the SR for a specific 80MHz. The SR field can carry different values ​​in different 80MHz subchannels. In another option, for TB PPDUs, the SR field (or individual SR fields) can include a total of 8 bits per 80MHz, with each SR field having 4 bits for a 40MHz channel. Each SR field can be used for a 40MHz subband within a specific 80MHz range, and can carry different values ​​in different 80MHz channels. In some implementations, the SR field can use 2 bits to indicate a subset of states that can be indicated by an 11ax 4-bit SR field.

[0125] In some implementations, parallelization can be used on U-SIG and EHT-SIG. Parallelization may involve not replicating signaling across all 20MHz subchannels. Parallelization may involve using the same field structure across all 20MHz subchannels, but using different values ​​in certain signaling fields across different 20MHz subchannels. Conversely, different signaling can be carried across different subchannels (such as different subchannels within different content channels), as described earlier in this document.

[0126] In some implementations, parallel design for U-SIG can include using the same field structure across all 20MHz subchannels. All U-SIGs within a 20MHz subchannel of an 80MHz segment carry the same signaling information. Specific fields in the U-SIG can carry different values ​​in different 80MHz segments.

[0127] In some implementations, the coded block structure of EHT-SIG can depend on the EHT-SIG compression field and PPDU bandwidth. In one option, in punctured non-OFDMA compression mode (for SU and MU-MIMO transmissions) and unpunctured non-OFDMA compression mode (for SU and MU-MIMO transmissions) or (punctured and unpunctured) non-OFDMA compression mode (for SU and MU-MIMO transmissions), the EHT-SIG common field in each content channel uses a single coded block to encode all subfields. In uncompressed mode (for OFDMA transmission), if the PPDU bandwidth is 20MHz, 40MHz, or 80MHz, the EHT-SIG common field in each content channel can use one coded block to encode all subfields. If the PPDU bandwidth is 160MHz or higher (e.g., 240MHz, 320MHz, 480MHz, 640MHz, etc.), the EHT-SIG common field in each content channel can use multiple coded blocks to encode different subfields, and each coded block has a maximum of 64 information bits (such as 54 signaling bits, 4 CRC bits, and 6 tail bits) before encoding. For example, for PPDU bandwidths of 160MHz and 320MHz, the EHT-SIG common field can use two coded blocks. The user-specific EHT-SIG fields in each content channel use one coded block to encode every two user fields, until the last coded block may contain only one or two user fields.

[0128] In another option, in the punctured non-OFDMA compression mode (for SU and MU-MIMO transmission) and the unpunctured non-OFDMA compression mode (for SU and MU-MIMO transmission), or (punctured and unpunctured) non-OFDMA compression mode (for SU and MU-MIMO transmission), or (punctured and unpunctured) SU compression mode (for SU transmission) and (punctured and unpunctured) non-OFDMA MU-MIMO compression mode (for MU-MIMO transmission), the EHT-SIG common field and the first user field from the user-specific fields in a content channel are jointly encoded into a single encoded block; for the remaining user fields in the content channel, each pair of user fields is encoded using an encoded block until the final encoded block may contain only one or two user fields. In uncompressed mode (for OFDMA transmission), if the PPDU bandwidth is 20MHz, 40MHz, or 80MHz, the EHT-SIG common field in each content channel can use one coded block to encode all subfields. If the PPDU bandwidth is 160MHz or higher (such as 240MHz, 320MHz, 480MHz, 640MHz, etc.), the EHT-SIG common field in each content channel can use multiple coded blocks to encode different subfields, and each coded block has a maximum of 64 information bits (such as a maximum of 54 signaling bits, 4 bits of CRC, and 6 bits of tail) before encoding. For example, for PPDU bandwidths of 160MHz and 320MHz, the EHT-SIG common field can use 2 coded blocks. In uncompressed mode (for OFDMA transmission), the user-specific EHT-SIG fields in each content channel use one coded block to encode every two user fields until there may be only one user field or the last coded block of two user fields.

[0129] Figure 13Example frame structures with U-SIG followed by the EHT-SIG field 1312 are shown according to some implementations. In some implementations, U-SIG may be replicated every 20MHz subchannel, followed by EHT-SIG 1312. In some other implementations, U-SIG may have the same field structure across all 20MHz subchannels, but the values ​​of some fields may differ for each 80MHz or 160MHz subband and be specific to that 80MHz or 160MHz subband. For example, within each 80MHz or 160MHz subband, U-SIG may be replicated for each 20MHz subchannel. Therefore, U-SIG may contain different signaling information for different subbands. In some implementations, EHT-SIG 1312 may contain different signaling information for each 80MHz bandwidth portion of the radio channel. In some implementations, the content of EHT-SIG may be based on a per-80MHz bandwidth basis or for the total bandwidth of the radio channel. In some implementations, the content of EHT-SIG can be based on which devices are parked on the 80MHz bandwidth portion, and can support signaling for RU allocation to other 80MHz bandwidth portions.

[0130] Figure 14 Example frame structures based on some implementations are shown, where different types of signal fields follow RL-SIG on different sub-channels. For example, the upper sub-band 1400 with a total channel bandwidth (such as 320MHz) can be used for 11ax transmission, while the lower sub-band 1450 with a total channel bandwidth can be used for 11be transmission. This can be referred to as mixed-mode transmission because it can include a mixture of communication protocols in the same packet. After RL-SIG 1408, the upper sub-band 1400 can include HE-SIG-A1 1410, HE-SIG-A2 1412, and HE-SIG-B 1414. HE-SIG-B 1414 can span multiple 20MHz sub-channels constituting the upper sub-band 1400. Meanwhile, in the lower sub-band 1450, RL-SIG 1428 can be followed by U-SIG 1430 and EHT-SIG 1432. EHT-SIG 1432 can span multiple 20MHz sub-channels constituting the lower sub-band 1450. The example of which type of transmission is included in the upper and lower subbands is intended as an illustrative example, but other subband sizes and other types of protocol signaling can be used for other examples.

[0131] Therefore, according to this technique, 11ax STA can be multiplexed in 80MHz or 160MHz subbands (using 11ax preamble), while 11be STA can be multiplexed in the remainder of the channel bandwidth (using 11be preamble). In some implementations, signal fields (such as HE-SIG-B and EHT-SIG) can end at the same symbol boundary, even if other signal fields in the second part of the preamble may have different sizes (e.g., Figure 14 (As shown). The signal field can end simultaneously for all sub-channels and all sub-bands, such that the next symbol after RL-SIG and the end of SIG-B has the same number of OFDM SIG symbols (each 4μs) for all sub-channels and all sub-bands. After SIG, and after SIG, there may be other fields (such as the EHT Short Training Field (EHT-STF), the EHT Long Training Field (EHT-LTF), and data). Therefore, EHT-STF and EHT-LTF are time-aligned for all sub-channels and all sub-bands.

[0132] In some implementations, the HE data (HE-Data) of a sub-channel starting with an 11ax preamble and the EHT data (EHT-Data) of a sub-channel starting with an 11be preamble do not need to end simultaneously. Furthermore, the L_length (L_LENGTH) value in L-SIG does not need to be the same for sub-channels starting with an 11ax preamble and for sub-channels starting with an 11be preamble. Also, the TXOP values ​​in HE-SIG-A in the 11ax preamble and EHT-SIG-A in the 11be preamble do not need to be the same. 11ax devices are in 11ax mode, while 11be devices parked in a sub-band starting with an 11ax preamble will also be in 11ax mode, with each device using one RU. When a device is parked in a sub-band, it processes the 20MHz legacy preamble signal within that sub-band, and then continues processing potentially wider bandwidths or other sub-bands if signaling (such as PPDU BW indication and perforated channel indication) indicates that the device should process signaling in other sub-bands. 11be devices parked in a subband starting with an 11be preamble will be in 11be mode and can utilize multiple RUs (including RUs in a subband starting with an 11ax preamble).

[0133] In addition to the format of the signal fields described in the preceding figures, this disclosure includes various types of information that may be included in the signal fields. For example, punctured channel information may be indicated in one or more signal fields.

[0134] Punctured Channel Indicator

[0135] In some implementations, punctured channel information can be indicated in the PPDU bandwidth (BW) field. The punctured channel information can indicate which channels within the total bandwidth (such as 160MHz or 320MHz) are punctured and the puncturing mode, so that the receiver STA knows which channels to process to obtain information (such as content channel information, which will be described further herein), and which channels are punctured and therefore unavailable or excluded from the information available for processing by the STA. In some implementations, the PPDU BW field may be included in the U-SIG field. In some other implementations, the PPDU BW field may be included in the EHT-SIG-A field. The PPDU BW field can be a 4-bit or 5-bit field used to indicate the punctured channel and puncturing mode. In some implementations, the PPDU BW field may also indicate which EHT-SIG content channel to demodulate.

[0136] In some implementations, for the 4-bit PPDU BW field, a PPDU BW field value of 0 indicates a 20MHz channel bandwidth (without preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 1 indicates a 40MHz channel bandwidth (without preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 2 indicates an 80MHz channel bandwidth (without preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 3 indicates a 160MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80MHz subband bandwidth (without preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 4 indicates a 320MHz channel bandwidth or an 160+160MHz subband bandwidth (without preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 5 indicates an 80MHz channel bandwidth, with only the secondary 20MHz subchannel punctured. A PPDU BW field value of 6 indicates an 80MHz channel bandwidth, with the primary 40MHz subchannel not punctured. A PPDU BW field value of 7 indicates a 160MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80MHz subband bandwidth, with only the secondary 20MHz subchannel being punctured in the primary 80MHz subband. A PPDU BW field value of 8 indicates a 160MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80MHz subband bandwidth, with the primary 40MHz subchannel not being punctured in the primary 80MHz subband. A PPDU BW field value of 9 indicates a 320MHz channel bandwidth or a 160+160MHz subband bandwidth, with only the secondary 20MHz subchannel being punctured in the primary 80MHz subband. A PPDU BW field value of 10 indicates a 320MHz channel bandwidth or a 160+160MHz subband bandwidth, with the primary 40MHz subchannel not being punctured in the primary 80MHz subband.

[0137] In some implementations, for the 5-bit PPDU BW field, a PPDU BW field value of 0 indicates a 20MHz channel bandwidth (without preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 1 indicates a 40MHz channel bandwidth (without preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 2 indicates an 80MHz channel bandwidth (without preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 3 indicates a 160MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80MHz subband bandwidth (without preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 4 indicates a 320MHz channel bandwidth or an 160+160MHz subband bandwidth (without preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 5 indicates an 80MHz channel bandwidth, with only the secondary 20MHz subchannel punctured. A PPDU BW field value of 6 indicates an 80MHz channel bandwidth, with the primary 40MHz subchannel not punctured. A PPDU BW field value of 7 indicates a 160MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80MHz subband bandwidth, with only the secondary 20MHz subchannel being punctured in the primary 80MHz subband. A PPDU BW field value of 8 indicates a 160MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80MHz subband bandwidth, with the primary 40MHz subchannel not punctured in the primary 80MHz subband. A PPDU BW field value of 9 indicates a 320MHz channel bandwidth or a 160+160MHz subband bandwidth, with only the secondary 20MHz subchannel being punctured in the primary 80MHz subband. A PPDU BW field value of 10 indicates a 320MHz channel bandwidth or a 160+160MHz subband bandwidth, with the primary 40MHz subchannel not punctured in the primary 80MHz subband. A PPDU BW field value of 11 indicates an 80MHz channel bandwidth, with only the primary 40MHz subchannel being punctured (the secondary 20MHz subchannel is punctured). A PPDU BW field value of 12 indicates an 80MHz channel bandwidth, with the secondary 20MHz sub-channel and the tertiary 20MHz sub-channel not punctured, but the primary 20MHz sub-channel is punctured (the secondary 20MHz sub-channel is not punctured). A PPDU BW field value of 13 indicates a 160MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80MHz sub-band bandwidth, with only the primary 40MHz sub-channel punctured in the primary 80MHz sub-band. A PPDU BW field value of 14 indicates a 160MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80MHz sub-band bandwidth, with the secondary 20MHz sub-channel and the tertiary 20MHz sub-channel not punctured, but the primary 20MHz sub-channel is punctured. A PPDU BW field value of 15 indicates a 320MHz channel bandwidth, with only the primary 40MHz sub-channel punctured in the primary 80MHz sub-band. A PPDU BW field value of 16 indicates a 320MHz channel bandwidth, and the secondary 20MHz sub-channel and the tertiary 20MHz sub-channel are not punctured, but the primary 20MHz sub-channel is punctured.

[0138] In some implementations, instead of the PPDU BW field, the punctured channel bitmap can be used to indicate punctured sub-channels and puncturing modes. In some implementations, the punctured channel bitmap can be included in the N-bit field of the U-SIG. In some implementations, the punctured channel bitmap can be included in the N-bit field of the EHT-SIG. In some implementations, the number of bits (N) in the N-bit field can be based on the total bandwidth and the puncturing granularity (B), where the product of N and B equals the total bandwidth. For example, if the total bandwidth is 320 MHz and the granularity is 20 MHz, then 16 bits (N = 16) will be used. Therefore, each 80 MHz or 160 MHz sub-band can have a 16-bit field to indicate the punctured channel bitmap. In some implementations, a single bit can be used to signal the puncturing granularity (B) to indicate a 20 MHz or 40 MHz granularity. In some implementations, the PPDU BW field value can indicate the puncturing granularity (B) without additional signaling.

[0139] In some implementations, instead of replicating the N-bit field with the punctured channel bitmap for each subband (such as an 80MHz or 160MHz subband), each subband may include a different N-bit field with its own punctured channel bitmap. In some implementations, the number of bits (N) in the N-bit field for each subband may be based on the subband bandwidth and the puncturing granularity (B), where the product of N and B equals the subband bandwidth. For example, if the subband bandwidth is 80MHz and the granularity is 20MHz, 4 bits (N=4) will be used. If the subband bandwidth is 160MHz and the granularity is 20MHz, 8 bits (N=8) will be used. In some implementations, due to parallelization, it is expected that the receiver STA can look through all 80MHz or 160MHz subbands to find the relevant punctured channel bitmap.

[0140] Multi-AP transmission and beamforming

[0141] In some implementations, signaling for multi-AP coordinated beamforming (CBF) and joint transmission may be included. In some implementations, probes and feedback may be provided in advance for both the signaling for multi-AP CBF and the signaling for joint transmission. In some implementations, multi-AP CBF may be precoded to null values ​​for unintended receivers. Each CBF PPDU can operate like a single BSS PPDU without OBSS interference. The beamforming portion of the PPDU can be protected against OBSS interference by being left empty. In some implementations, beamforming can be performed from the beginning of the packet (including the legacy portion of the preamble), and the beam-change bit may be set to zero to indicate that beamforming is performed from the beginning of the packet. When the beam-change bit is set to 1, it indicates that the legacy and non-legacy portions are using different beams and different beamforming. In some implementations, in 11be, the beam-change bit may be included in U-SIG or EHT-SIG. In some implementations, multi-AP joint transmission uses beamforming from multiple APs to the intended receiver. Multi-AP JT sequences can be triggered, ensuring synchronization of all participating APs and STAs (in response packets) in time, frequency, and phase. Each JT PPDU can use the triggered PPDU, from which much signaling information is learned. The beamforming portion of the PPDU can have JT gain benefits. Specific BSS colors can be assigned to JT sequences so that all participating APs use that BSS color. In some implementations, beamforming can be performed from the beginning of the packet (including the legacy portion), and there may be no beam-changing bits in the signaling.

[0142] Figure 15 A flowchart illustrating an example process 1500 for receiving wireless communication, based on some implementation, is shown. Process 1500 can be implemented by a wireless communication device (such as the one described above). Figure 8 The described wireless communication device 800) performs the procedure. In some implementations, the procedure 1500 can be performed by an AP (such as those described above, referred to separately). Figure 1 and Figure 9A The process 1500 is performed by a wireless communication device that operates as one of the described APs 102 and 902, or operates within an AP. In some implementations, process 1500 can be performed by a STA (such as those described above, referred to separately). Figure 1 and Figure 9B The wireless communication device that operates or operates within the STA (either of the STA 104 and 904) as described herein.

[0143] In some implementations, process 1500 begins in block 1502 with receiving a packet via a wireless channel, comprising a preamble portion and a data portion. The preamble portion includes a universal signaling field (U-SIG), followed by one or more signaling fields that vary depending on the version.

[0144] In box 1504, procedure 1500 continues to determine that U-SIG includes at least the version identifier, frequency occupancy information, and format information fields.

[0145] In box 1506, process 1500 proceeds to determine the format of the group based at least in part on the version identifier and format information fields.

[0146] In box 1508, process 1500 proceeds to determine, at least in part, one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel, including signal fields that vary from version, based on frequency occupancy information.

[0147] In block 1510, process 1500 proceeds to receive at least a portion of the packet and decodes the version-dependent signal fields on one or more sub-channels based on the determined format.

[0148] Figure 16 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device 1600 according to some implementations is shown. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 1600 is configured to perform one or more of the processes described herein. The wireless communication device 1600 may be the above-mentioned reference... Figure 8 The described wireless communication device 800 is an example implementation. For example, wireless communication device 1600 may be a chip, SoC, chipset, package, or device that includes at least one processor and at least one modem (e.g., a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) modem or a cellular modem). In some implementations, wireless communication device 1600 may be used in an access point (such as those described above, respectively). Figure 1 and 9A The device described is one of the APs 102 and 902. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 1600 can be used in a STA (such as those described above, respectively). Figure 1 and 9B The device is one of the STAs 104 and 904 described. In some other implementations, the wireless communication device 1600 may be an AP or STA that includes such a chip, SoC, chipset, package or device and at least one transmitter, at least one receiver and at least one antenna.

[0149] Wireless communication device 1600 includes a demodulation module 1602, a decoding module 1604, a signaling module 1606, and a parameter configuration module 1608. A portion of one or more of modules 1602, 1604, 1606, and 1608 may be implemented at least partially in hardware or firmware. For example, the demodulation module 1602, decoding module 1604, signaling module 1606, and parameter configuration module 1608 may be implemented at least partially by a modem (such as modem 802). In some implementations, a portion of some of modules 1602, 1604, 1606, or 1608 is implemented at least partially as software stored in a memory (such as memory 808). For example, a portion of one or more of modules 1602, 1604, 1606, or 1608 may be implemented as non-transient instructions (or "code") executable by a processor (such as processor 806) to perform the function or operation of the respective module.

[0150] Demodulation module 1602 is configured to receive packets including a physical layer preamble, the preamble comprising a first portion and a second portion following the first portion. The packet may also include a payload following the preamble. Demodulation module 1602 is configured to demodulate the symbols in the received packet and determine the modulation scheme previously used to modulate the symbols. In some implementations, the packet may be a reference. Figure 10 An example of the described PPDU 1000. As described above, in such an implementation, the first part includes a first signal field (L-SIG), and the second part includes a repetition of L-SIG (RL-SIG) immediately following L-SIG. In some implementations, RL-SIG can be masked using a mask sequence, and the demodulation module 1602 is further configured to demask RL-SIG before demodulating it. The second part also includes at least one additional signal field following RL-SIG. For example, the second part of the preamble may include a new signal field (U-SIG), such as U-SIG 1016. The second part may further include an additional third signal field, such as EHT-SIG.

[0151] The decoding module 1604 is configured to decode the bits in the demodulated code and interpret the bits in the decoded bits based on the WLAN communication protocol.

[0152] Signaling module 1606 is configured to interpret the signal field of the packet according to the implementation described above. For example, signaling module 1606 can interpret the signal field using parallelization of different subbands or different subchannels of the radio channel. Signaling module 1606 can interpret signaling regarding different content channels following RL-SIG or U-SIG. Signaling module 1606 can interpret EHT-SIG based on the format information field in U-SIG.

[0153] The parameter configuration module 1608 is configured to set at least one reception parameter for the packet based on at least one decoded bit received from the decoding module 1604. For example, the parameter configuration module 1608 may set parameters including one or more of the following: channel bandwidth parameter, spatial stream setting, and modulation order for receiving the packet.

[0154] Figure 17 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device 1700 according to some implementations is shown. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 1700 is configured to perform one or more of the processes described herein. The wireless communication device 1700 may be the above-mentioned reference... Figure 8 The described wireless communication device 800 is an example implementation. For example, wireless communication device 1700 may be a chip, SoC, chipset, package, or device that includes at least one processor and at least one modem (e.g., a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) modem or a cellular modem). In some implementations, wireless communication device 1700 may be used in an AP (such as those described above, respectively referred to). Figure 1 and 9A The device described is one of the APs 102 and 902. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 1700 can be used in STAs (such as those described above, respectively). Figure 1 and 9B The device is one of the STAs 104 and 904 described. In some other implementations, the wireless communication device 1700 may be an AP or STA that includes such a chip, SoC, chipset, package or device and at least one transmitter, at least one receiver and at least one antenna.

[0155] Wireless communication device 1700 includes a packet generation module 1702, a signaling module 1704, an encoding module 1706, a modulation module 1708, and a parameter selection module 1710. A portion of one or more of modules 1702, 1704, 1706, 1708, and 1710 may be implemented at least partially in hardware or firmware. For example, the packet generation module 1702, signaling module 1704, encoding module 1706, modulation module 1708, and parameter selection module 1710 may be implemented at least partially by a modem (such as modem 802). In some implementations, a portion of some of modules 1702, 1704, 1706, 1708, and 1710 is implemented at least partially as software stored in a memory (such as memory 808). For example, portions of one or more of modules 1702, 1704, 1706, or 1708 may be implemented as non-transient instructions (or "code") that can be executed by a processor (such as processor 806) to perform the function or operation of the respective module.

[0156] The packet generation module 1702 is configured to generate packets including a physical layer preamble, which comprises a first portion and a second portion following the first portion. The packet may also include a payload following the preamble. In some implementations, the packet may be a reference packet. Figure 10 An example of the described PPDU 1000. As described above, in such an implementation, the first part includes a first signal field (L-SIG), and the second part includes a repetition of L-SIG (RL-SIG) immediately following L-SIG. In some implementations, the packet generation module 1702 may be configured to mask RL-SIG with a mask sequence. The second part also includes at least one additional signal field following RL-SIG. For example, the second part of the preamble may include a new signal field (U-SIG), such as U-SIG 1016. The second part may further include an additional third signal field, such as EHT-SIG.

[0157] Signaling module 1704 is configured to prepare the signal field of the packet according to the implementation described above. For example, signaling module 1704 may prepare the signal field using parallelization of different subbands or different subchannels of the radio channel. Signaling module 1704 may determine and prepare signaling for different content channels following RL-SIG or U-SIG.

[0158] Modulation module 1708 is configured to modulate symbols in the generated packets. Parameter selection module 1710 is configured to select at least one transmission parameter for the packet. For example, parameter selection module 1710 may set parameters including one or more of channel bandwidth, spatial stream settings, and modulation order for transmitting the packet.

[0159] As used herein, the phrase “at least one” or “one or more” in a list of items refers to any combination of these items, including a single member. For example, “at least one of a, b, or c” is intended to cover the following possibilities: only a, only b, only c, a combination of a and b, a combination of a and c, a combination of b and c, and a combination of a, b, and c.

[0160] The various illustrative components, logic, logic blocks, modules, circuits, operations, and algorithmic processes described in conjunction with the implementations disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, firmware, software, or a combination of hardware, firmware, or software, including the structures disclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents. This interchangeability of hardware, firmware, and software has been generally described in terms of its functionality and is illustrated in the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and processes described above. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware, firmware, or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0161] Various modifications to the implementations described in this disclosure may be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other implementations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the implementations shown herein, but are to be granted the broadest scope consistent with this disclosure, the principles disclosed herein, and the novel features.

[0162] Furthermore, the various features described in this specification in the context of separate implementations may also be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, the various features described in the context of a single implementation may also be implemented separately or in any suitable sub-combination in multiple implementations. Thus, although features may be described above as operating in a particular combination and even initially claimed in this way, one or more features from the claimed combination may be removed from that combination in some cases, and the claimed combination may be for sub-combinations or variations thereof.

[0163] Similarly, although the operations are depicted in a specific order in the accompanying drawings, this should not be construed as requiring such operations to be performed in the specific order shown or sequentially, or requiring the execution of all explained operations to achieve the desired result. Furthermore, the drawings may schematically depict one or more example processes in the form of flowcharts or flow diagrams. However, other operations not depicted may be incorporated into the schematically explained example processes. For example, one or more additional operations may be performed before, after, simultaneously with, or between any explained operations. In some environments, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of the various system components in the implementation described above should not be construed as requiring such separation in all implementations, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication by a wireless communication device, comprising: A packet comprising a preamble portion and a data portion is received via a wireless channel, wherein the preamble portion includes: The Universal Signal Field (U-SIG) includes one or more fields that provide format information; and One or more version-varying signal fields, including a common field and at least one user block field, wherein the common field has a format indicated by the format information that can be used for single-user (SU) communication and multi-user (MU) communication, and the at least one user block field provides information for at least one user to decode the data portion; and The one or more version-specific signal fields are decoded based on the U-SIG and the format information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein: The shared field indicates resource allocation for a single user based on the indication of preamble punching associated with the preamble portion of the communication with SU. The shared field indicates one or more resource allocations according to MU communication, or The shared field does not indicate any resource allocation based on the absence of an indication of preamble punching for the SU communication.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more version-dependent signal fields include a first signal field, the first signal field including the common field, the first signal field having: The compressed format associated with the group being directed to a single user, and The uncompressed format associated with the group being directed to multiple users.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, In association with the first signal field having the compressed format, the one or more version-specific signal fields each include only one user block field.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein, In association with the first signal field having the uncompressed format, the one or more version-dependent signal fields include one or more user block fields.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, When the group is directed to multiple users, the shared field includes two or more resource unit (RU) allocations associated with two or more users respectively, and when the group is directed to a single user, the shared field does not include RU allocations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, The one or more version-specific signal fields are transmitted according to the adjustable modulation and coding scheme (MCS) indicated by the U-SIG.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, The one or more version-dependent signal fields have a common length of one or more symbols indicated by the U-SIG.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein, The one or more version-specific signal fields further include one or more additional signal fields, which include one or more of the following: beamforming indicator, spatial reuse indicator, guard interval (GI) and long training field (LTF) indicator, number of LTF symbol indicators, low-density parity check (LDPC) additional symbol segmentation indicator, fill factor indicator before forward error correction (FEC), packet spread (PE) disambiguation indicator, or beam change indicator.

10. A wireless communication device, comprising: At least one modem configured to communicate via a wireless channel; At least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one modem; as well as At least one memory communicatively coupled to and storing processor-readable code, the processor-readable code being configured to, when executed by the at least one processor in conjunction with the at least one modem, be: A packet comprising a preamble portion and a data portion is acquired via the at least one modem, the preamble portion comprising: The Universal Signal Field (U-SIG) includes one or more fields that provide format information; and One or more version-varying signal fields, including a common field and at least one user block field, wherein the common field has a format indicated by the format information that can be used for single-user (SU) communication and multi-user (MU) communication, and the at least one user block field provides information for at least one user to decode the data portion; and The one or more version-specific signal fields are decoded based on the U-SIG and the format information.

11. The wireless communication device as claimed in claim 10, wherein: The shared field indicates resource allocation for a single user based on the indication of preamble punching associated with the preamble portion of the communication with SU. The shared field indicates one or more resource allocations according to MU communication, or The shared field does not indicate any resource allocation based on the absence of an indication of preamble punching for the SU communication.

12. The wireless communication device of claim 10, wherein the one or more version-dependent signal fields include a first signal field, the first signal field including the common field, the first signal field having: The compressed format associated with the group being directed to a single user, and The uncompressed format associated with the group being directed to multiple users.

13. The wireless communication device as claimed in claim 12, wherein, In association with the first signal field having the compressed format, the one or more version-specific signal fields each include only one user block field.

14. The wireless communication device as claimed in claim 12, wherein, In association with the first signal field having the uncompressed format, the one or more version-dependent signal fields include one or more user block fields.

15. The wireless communication device as claimed in claim 10, wherein, When the group is directed to multiple users, the shared field includes two or more resource unit (RU) allocations associated with two or more users respectively, and when the group is directed to a single user, the shared field does not include RU allocations.

16. The wireless communication device as claimed in claim 10, wherein, The one or more version-specific signal fields are transmitted according to the adjustable modulation and coding scheme (MCS) indicated by the U-SIG.

17. The wireless communication device as claimed in claim 16, wherein, The one or more version-dependent signal fields have a common length of one or more symbols indicated by the U-SIG.

18. The wireless communication device as claimed in claim 10, wherein, The one or more version-specific signal fields further include one or more additional signal fields, which include one or more of the following: beamforming indicator, spatial reuse indicator, guard interval (GI) and long training field (LTF) indicator, number of LTF symbol indicators, low-density parity check (LDPC) additional symbol segmentation indicator, fill factor indicator before forward error correction (FEC), packet spread (PE) disambiguation indicator, or beam change indicator.

19. A mobile station, comprising: Wireless communication device, the wireless communication device comprising: At least one modem configured to communicate via a wireless channel; At least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is communicatively coupled to the at least one modem; At least one memory communicatively coupled to and storing processor-readable code, the processor-readable code being configured to, when executed by the at least one processor in conjunction with the at least one modem, be: A packet comprising a preamble portion and a data portion is acquired via the at least one modem, the preamble portion comprising: The Universal Signal Field (U-SIG) includes one or more fields that provide format information; and One or more version-varying signal fields, including a common field and at least one user block field, wherein the common field has a format indicated by the format information that can be used for single-user (SU) communication and multi-user (MU) communication, and the at least one user block field provides information for at least one user to decode the data portion; and Decode one or more version-dependent signal fields based on the U-SIG and the format information; At least one transceiver coupled to the at least one modem; At least one antenna, coupled to the at least one transceiver, for wirelessly transmitting signals output from the at least one transceiver and wirelessly receiving signals for input to the at least one transceiver; and A housing that encloses the at least one modem, the at least one processor, the at least one memory, the at least one transceiver, and at least a portion of the at least one antenna.

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