Physical layer preamble and signaling for wireless communication

Abstract

Physical layer preambles and signaling for wireless communications. The present disclosure provides methods, devices, and systems for wireless communications, and in particular, methods, devices, and systems for signaling including enhanced features with respect to new wireless communication protocols. The signaling can be included in various portions of a physical layer preamble of a wireless transmission. In some implementations, in accordance with preamble signaling designs of the present disclosure, a 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 a physical layer preamble can be used to multiplex different types of wireless local area network communications into different subsets of multiple sub-channels of the wireless channel.

Description

[0001] This application is a continuation of Patent Application No. 16 / 988,631 filed August 8, 2020, which is a continuation-in-part of Patent Application No. 16 / 883,629 filed August 9, 2019, which claims priority to Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 885,192 filed August 9, 2019, Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 926,406 filed October 25, 2019, Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 957,117 filed January 3, 2020, Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 978,297 filed February 18, 2020, Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 984,777 filed March 3, 2020, Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 003,812 filed April 1, 2020, and Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 013,530 filed April 21, 2020, all entitled “PHYSICAL LAYER PREAMBLE AND SIGNALING FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION” and assigned to the assignee hereof. The disclosures of these prior applications are considered part of and are hereby incorporated by reference in this patent application.

[0002] Cross Reference to Related Applications

[0003] This patent application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 988,631 filed August 8, 2020, which is a continuation-in-part of Patent Application No. 16 / 883,629 filed August 9, 2019, which claims priority to Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 885,192 filed August 9, 2019, Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 926,406 filed October 25, 2019, Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 957,117 filed January 3, 2020, Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 978,297 filed February 18, 2020, Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 984,777 filed March 3, 2020, Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 003,812 filed April 1, 2020, and Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 013,530 filed April 21, 2020, all entitled “PHYSICAL LAYER PREAMBLE AND SIGNALING FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION” and assigned to the assignee hereof. The disclosures of these prior applications are considered part of and are hereby incorporated by reference in this patent application. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0005] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to physical layer preamble and signaling for wireless transmissions.

[0006] DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

[0007] 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 a number of client devices, also referred to as stations (STAs). The basic building block of a WLAN adhering to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards is a basic service set (BSS) managed by an AP. Each BSS is identified by a basic service set identifier (BSSID) advertised by the AP. The AP periodically broadcasts beacon frames to enable any STAs within wireless range of the AP to establish or maintain a communication link with the WLAN. New WLAN communication protocols are being developed to enable enhanced WLAN communication features. As the new WLAN communication protocols enable enhanced features, new preamble designs are needed to support signaling related to the features and resource allocation.

[0008] SUMMARY

[0009] The systems, methods, and devices of the disclosure each have several innovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for the desirable attributes disclosed herein.

[0010] 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 including a preamble portion and a data portion. The preamble portion can include a universal signal field (U-SIG) followed by one or more version-specific signal fields. The one or more version-specific signal fields can include a third signal field (EHT-SIG) on one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel. The method can include determining that the U-SIG includes at least a version identifier, frequency occupation information, and format information fields. The method can include determining a format of the packet based at least in part on the format information field. The method can include determining the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel that include the version-specific signal fields based on the frequency occupation information. The method includes receiving at least a portion of the packet and decoding the version-specific signal fields on the one or more sub-channels based on the determined format.

[0011] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus. The apparatus can include a processor configured to perform any of the methods described above.

[0012] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform any of the methods described above.

[0013] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a system including means for implementing any of the methods described above. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0015] Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims. Note that the relative dimensions of the following drawings can not be drawn to scale.

[0016] Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing an example wireless communication network.

[0017] Figure 2 An example protocol data unit (PDU) usable for communication between an access point (AP) and a number of stations (STAs) is shown.

[0018] Figure 3A An example PDU usable for communication between an AP and a number of STAs is shown.

[0019] Figure 3B Another example PDU usable for communication between an AP and a number of STAs is shown.

[0020] Figure 4 An example PDU including a universal signal field (U-SIG) is shown in accordance with some implementations.

[0021] Figure 5A An example bound wireless channel including a number of sub-channels is shown.

[0022] Figure 5B A conceptual diagram of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is shown.

[0023] Figure 5C A conceptual diagram of orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) illustrating resource assignment of a wireless channel is shown.

[0024] Figure 6 An example series of wireless frames using OFDMA is depicted.

[0025] Figure 7 An example punctured transmission is depicted.

[0026] Figure 8 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device is shown.

[0027] Figure 9A A block diagram of an example AP is shown.

[0028] Figure 9B A block diagram of an example STA is shown.

[0029] Figure 10An example physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) usable for communications between an AP and a number of STAs is shown, in accordance with some implementations.

[0030] Figure 11 An example option for PPDU bandwidth (BW) and punctured channel information is shown, in accordance with some implementations.

[0031] Figure 12A An example table is shown with a 5-6 bit design for the punctured channel indication option to indicate non-OFDMA punctured channel modes.

[0032] Figure 12B An example table is shown with a 5-6 bit design for the punctured channel indication option to indicate both OFDMA and non-OFDMA punctured channel modes.

[0033] Figure 13 A conceptual diagram of an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) signal field (EHT-SIG) in a content channel of a first example content channel structure is shown, in accordance with some implementations.

[0034] Figure 14 A conceptual diagram of different EHT-SIGs in different content channels of a second example content channel structure is shown, in accordance with some implementations.

[0035] Figure 15 An example frame structure is shown with a U-SIG followed by an EHT-SIG field, in accordance with some implementations.

[0036] Figure 16 An example frame structure is shown with different types of signal fields following an RL-SIG on different sub-channels, in accordance with some implementations.

[0037] Figure 17 A flow diagram illustrating an example process for receiving wireless communications is shown, in accordance with some implementations.

[0038] Figure 18 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device is shown, in accordance with some implementations.

[0039] Figure 19 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device is shown, in accordance with some implementations.

[0040] Figure 20 An example of encoding an EHT-SIG using code blocks is shown, in accordance with some implementations.

[0041] Figure 21 An example padding scheme for EHT-SIG code blocks is shown, in accordance with some implementations.

[0042] Figure 22 An example padding scheme employing EHT-SIG code blocks when a subchannel is punctured is shown in accordance with some implementations.

[0043] Figure 23 An example padding scheme employing EHT-SIG code blocks using two content channels is shown in accordance with some implementations.

[0044] Figure 24 An example padding scheme employing EHT-SIG code blocks when a content channel includes a punctured subchannel is shown in accordance with some implementations.

[0045] Figure 25 Another example padding scheme employing EHT-SIG code blocks when a content channel includes a punctured subchannel is shown in accordance with some implementations.

[0046] Figure 26 An example spatial stream scenario supporting up to 16 spatial streams is shown in accordance with some implementations.

[0047] Figure 27 One example in which EHT-SIG signaling can be modified to support OFDMA resource unit (RU) allocation in different 80 MHz bandwidth parts of a wireless channel is shown in accordance with some implementations.

[0048] Figure 28 An example resource unit (RU) allocation using user-specific fields with RU assignments is shown in accordance with some implementations.

[0049] Figure 29 An example RU allocation employing user-specific fields to maintain RU assignment order is shown in accordance with some implementations.

[0050] Figure 30 An example RU allocation that can be used to eliminate some user-specific fields is shown in accordance with some implementations.

[0051] Figure 31 An example RU allocation in which RU assignments are included in user-specific fields is shown in accordance with some implementations.

[0052] Figure 32A A first example table with different options for compression modes (including no compression mode) that can be used in EHT-SIG is shown.

[0053] Figure 32B A second example table with different options for compression modes (including compression modes for PPDUs including partial bandwidth MU-MIMO) that can be used in EHT-SIG is shown.

[0054] Figure 32CA third example table is shown, which has different options for compression modes that can be used in EHT-SIG.

[0055] Figure 32D A fourth example table is shown, which has different options for compression modes that can be used in EHT-SIG.

[0056] Figure 33 A table showing the number of per-user RU assignment options when using self-contained user fields in EHT-SIG.

[0057] Similar reference numerals and naming conventions in the various figures indicate similar elements.

[0058] Detailed description

[0059] The following description is directed to certain implementations in order to illustrate 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.

[0060] A physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) can span multiple sub-channels and can include a preamble portion and a data portion. Signaling refers to control fields or information in the preamble portion that a wireless communication device 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 of multiple sub-channels. Portions of the wireless channel bandwidth can be divided or grouped to form different resource units (RUs). In particular, the preamble portion of a PPDU can include signaling to indicate which RUs are allocated to different devices. Other types of signaling include indicators of which sub-channels include further signaling or which sub-channels can be punctured. There are several types of PPDU formats (and related structures) defined for current wireless communication protocols. As new wireless communication protocols implement enhanced features, new preamble designs are needed to support signaling related to the features and resource allocation. Furthermore, it is desirable to define new preamble signaling protocols that can support future wireless communication protocols.

[0061] Implementations generally relate to signaling included in a physical layer preamble of a new wireless communication protocol. Some implementations more specifically relate to preamble designs for PPDUs in a wireless channel with up to (and potentially greater than) 320 MHz bandwidth. In some implementations, the preamble designs are optimized to minimize the length of the preamble portion. Additionally or alternatively, some implementations more specifically relate to preamble designs that accommodate different types of signal fields. Additionally or alternatively, some implementations more specifically relate to preamble designs that accommodate signaling parallelization between different content channels, sub-channels, or sub-bands (which can include groups of sub-channels) within a wireless channel. A sub-band can refer to a portion of the total bandwidth of a wireless channel and can include the use of multiple contiguous or non-contiguous sub-channels.

[0062] According to various implementations of the present disclosure, signaling can be included in various portions of a physical layer preamble of a wireless packet (e.g., a PPDU). In some implementations, the physical layer preamble can be used to indicate puncturing of sub-channels or content channels that can carry further signaling. The 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 sub-channels that make up the channel.

[0063] In some implementations, in the preamble portion of a PPDU, a universal signal field (U-SIG) can follow a legacy signal field. The U-SIG can include version-independent fields and version-dependent fields (i.e., fields that depend on a version of a wireless communication protocol used to format or otherwise generate the PPDU). The U-SIG can precede one or more other signal fields that are specific to the wireless communication protocol version identified in the U-SIG. This disclosure includes several example version-independent fields and version-dependent fields that can be included in the U-SIG.

[0064] In some implementations, the information carried in the U-SIG can depend on the format of the PPDU being transmitted. Some or all of the format and content of the U-SIG can be different for different formats of the PPDU. The PPDU can be a trigger-based (TB) PPDU, a single-user (SU) PPDU, an extended range (ER) SU PPDU, or a multi-user (MU) PPDU. In some implementations, a unified format for PPDUs can support SU or MU communications. For example, in some implementations, one format of the U-SIG can be used for PPDUs that serve a single user or multiple users. This disclosure includes several example formats of the U-SIG that can be used for various PPDU formats.

[0065] In some implementations, the U-SIG can be used to indicate a bandwidth, punctured channels, content channel structure, or any combination thereof. For example, the U-SIG can include an indicator that indicates a bandwidth structure of the PPDU. The U-SIG can include punctured channel information associated with punctured portions of the bandwidth. In some implementations, the U-SIG can support use of different content channel structures that include further signaling following the U-SIG.

[0066] Following the U-SIG, the PPDU can include one or more Extremely High Throughput (EHT) signal fields (EHT-SIGs). In some preamble designs, the EHT-SIGs can be different on different sub-channels. The EHT-SIGs can include overflow signaling information from the U-SIG as well as additional signaling about the data portion of the PPDU. For example, the EHT-SIGs can include RU allocation information, spatial stream configuration information, and per-user signaling information, among others. This disclosure includes several preamble design options for the EHT-SIGs that include optimizations for RU allocation information. The RU allocation information signaled in the EHT-SIGs can be optimized for full-bandwidth, partial-bandwidth, or aggregated RU allocations. In some implementations, the RU allocation information can support partitioning based on sub-channels within a wireless channel and use of different content channels for the PPDU.

[0067] The preamble design options in this disclosure can support flexible RU allocation for OFDMA communications during the data portion of a PPDU. Alternatively or additionally, the preamble design options can enable MU MIMO based on a new RU allocation table. In some implementations, the RU allocation table can be optimized to provide RU allocation that supports OFDMA and MU-MIMO while reducing the number of signaling bits used to indicate the RU allocation for different users. For example, in some implementations, a 9-bit signal field can include signaling for both RU allocation and MU-MIMO options. In some implementations, the 9-bit signal field for RU allocation and MU-MIMO options can be included in one or more self-contained user fields of the EHT-SIG. Furthermore, the preamble design options in this disclosure can support up to (and potentially greater than) 16 spatial streams. Some preamble design options can enable signaling for 16 spatial streams within a fixed preamble length.

[0068] The present disclosure includes some design options for encoding and padding fields in the EHT-SIG to support different types of devices. For example, in some implementations, the contents of the EHT-SIG can be modified to support OFDMA RU allocation in different 80 MHz portions of a wireless channel. Some options for determining the contents and encoding scheme of the EHT-SIG can provide flexibility and improved spectral efficiency of the wireless channel.

[0069] Particular implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. In some implementations, the described techniques can provide a universal signal field for new wireless communication protocols. The universal signal field can have a format and structure that supports future wireless communication protocols, particularly wireless communication protocols in the IEEE 802.11 family. By defining a universal signal field, the present disclosure enables wireless communication protocols to add new features and greater bandwidth support compared to legacy wireless communication protocols.

[0070] Figure 1A block diagram illustrating an example wireless communication network 100 is shown. According to some aspects, the wireless communication network 100 can be an example of a wireless local area network (WLAN) (such as a Wi-Fi network) (and will be referred to hereafter as WLAN 100). For example, the WLAN 100 can be a network implementing at least one of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communications protocol standards, such as defined by the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification or amendments thereof including, but not limited to, 802.11 ah, 802.11 ad, 802.11 ay, 802.11 ax, 802.11 az, 802.11 ba, and 802.11 be. The WLAN 100 can include a number of wireless communication devices, such as an access point (AP) 102 and a number of stations (STAs) 104. While only one AP 102 is shown, the WLAN network 100 can also include multiple APs 102.

[0071] Each of the STAs 104 can also be referred to as a mobile station (MS), mobile device, mobile handset, wireless handset, access terminal (AT), user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), or subscriber unit, among other possibilities. The STAs 104 can represent various devices, such as mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), other handheld devices, netbooks, netpad computers, tablet computers, laptop computers, display devices (e.g., TVs, computer monitors, navigation systems, etc.), music or other audio or stereo devices, remote control devices (“remotes”), printers, kitchen or other home appliances, key fobs (e.g., for passive keyless entry and start (PKES) systems), etc.

[0072] A single AP 102 and associated set of STAs 104 can be referred to as a basic service set (BSS), which is managed by the respective AP 102. Figure 1An example coverage area 106 of the AP 102 is additionally shown, which can represent a basic service area (BSA) of the WLAN 100. A BSS can be identified to users by a service set identifier (SSID) and to other devices by a basic service set identifier (BSSID), which can be a media access control (MAC) address of the AP 102. The AP 102 periodically broadcasts beacon frames (“beacons”) that include the BSSID to enable any STAs 104 within wireless range of the AP 102 to “associate” or re-associate with the AP 102 to establish respective communication links 108 (hereinafter also referred to as “Wi-Fi links”) with the AP 102 or to maintain a communication link 108 with the AP 102. For example, the beacons can include an identification of a primary channel used by the respective AP 102 and a timing synchronization function to establish or maintain timing synchronization with the AP 102. The AP 102 can provide various STAs 104 in the WLAN with access to external networks via respective communication links 108.

[0073] To establish a communication link 108 with an AP 102, each STA 104 is configured to perform a passive or active scan 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, the STA 104 listens for beacons transmitted by respective APs 102 at periodic time intervals called target beacon transmission times (TBTTs) (measured in time units (TUs), where one TU can equal 1024 microseconds (ps)). To perform an active scan, the STA 104 generates and sequentially transmits probe requests on each channel to be scanned and listens for probe responses from APs 102. Each STA 104 can be configured to identify or select an AP 102 with which to associate based on scan information obtained through passive or active scanning and to perform authentication and association operations to establish a communication link 108 with the selected AP 102. The AP 102 assigns an association identifier (AID) to the STA 104 at the end of the association operations, which the AP 102 uses to track the STA 104.

[0074] As wireless networks become more ubiquitous, a STA 104 can have the opportunity to select one of many BSSs within range of the STA or among multiple APs 102 that together form an extended service set (ESS), including multiple connected BSSs. An extended network station associated with the WLAN 100 can be connected to a wired or wireless distribution system that can allow for multiple APs 102 to be connected in such an ESS. As such, a STA 104 can be covered by more than one AP 102 and can associate with different APs 102 at different times for different transmissions. In addition, after associating with an AP 102, a STA 104 can also be configured to periodically scan its surroundings for a more suitable AP 102 to associate with. For example, a STA 104 that is moving relative to its associated AP 102 can perform a “roaming” scan to find another AP 102 with more desirable network characteristics, such as a greater received signal strength indicator (RSSI) or a reduced traffic load.

[0075] In some cases, STAs 104 can form networks without APs 102 or other equipment other than the STAs 104 themselves. One example of such a network is an ad hoc network (or wireless ad hoc network). An ad hoc network can alternatively be referred to as a mesh network or a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. In some cases, an ad hoc network can be implemented within a larger wireless network, such as the WLAN 100. In such implementations, while STAs 104 can be able to communicate with each other through APs 102 using communication links 108, the STAs 104 can also communicate directly with each other via direct wireless links 110. In addition, two STAs 104 can communicate via a direct communication link 110 regardless of whether or not the two STAs 104 are associated with and served by the same AP 102. In such an ad hoc system, one or more STAs 104 can assume the role filled by an AP 102 in a BSS. Such a STA 104 can be referred to as a group owner (GO) and can coordinate transmissions within the ad hoc network. Examples of direct wireless links 110 include Wi-Fi Direct connections, connections established by using a Wi-Fi Tunneled Direct Link Setup (TDLS) link, and other P2P group connections.

[0076] The APs 102 and STAs 104 can function and communicate (via respective communication links 108) according to the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards, such as defined by the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification or revisions thereof, including but not limited to 802.11 ah, 802.11 ad, 802.11 ay, 802.11 ax, 802.11 az, 802.11 ba, and 802.11 be. These standards define the WLAN radio and baseband protocol for the PHY and medium access control (MAC) layers. The APs 102 and STAs 104 transmit and receive wireless communications (hereafter also referred to as “Wi-Fi communications”) to and from each other in the form of physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data units (PPDUs). The APs 102 and STAs 104 in the WLAN 100 can transmit PPDUs on an unlicensed spectrum, which can be a portion of the spectrum that includes frequency bands traditionally used by Wi-Fi technology, such as the 2.4 GHz frequency band, the 5 GHz frequency band, the 60 GHz frequency band, the 3.6 GHz frequency band, and the 900 MHz frequency band. Some implementations of the APs 102 and STAs 104 described herein can also communicate in other frequency bands that can support both licensed and unlicensed communications, such as the 6 GHz frequency band. The APs 102 and STAs 104 can also be configured to communicate on other frequency bands, such as shared licensed frequency bands, where multiple operators can have a license to operate in one or more of the same or overlapping frequency bands.

[0077] Each frequency band can include multiple channels, which can be used as sub-channels of larger bandwidth channels as described below. For example, PPDUs conforming to the IEEE 802.11 n, 802.11 ac, and 802.11 ax standard amendments can be transmitted on the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, with each frequency band divided into multiple 20 MHz channels. As such, these PPDUs are transmitted on physical channels with a minimum bandwidth of 20 MHz, but can form larger channels 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 together multiple 20 MHz channels, which can be referred to as sub-channels.

[0078] Each PPDU is a composite structure including 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 a receiving device to decode the subsequent data in the PSDU. In instances in which a PPDU is transmitted on a bonded channel, the preamble fields can be duplicated and transmitted in each of the multiple component channels. The PHY preamble can include both a first portion (or "legacy preamble") and a second portion (or "non-legacy preamble"). The first portion can be used for packet detection, automatic gain control and channel estimation, among other uses. The first portion can also generally be used to maintain compatibility with legacy devices as well as non-legacy devices. The format, encoding, and information provided in the second portion of the preamble is based on the particular IEEE 802.11 protocol to be used to transmit the payload.

[0079] Figure 2 An example protocol data unit (PDU) 200 that can be used for wireless communication between an AP and a number of STAs is shown. For example, the PDU 200 can be configured as a PPDU. As shown, the PDU 200 includes a preamble 201 and a payload 204. For example, the preamble 201 can include a first portion 202 that itself includes a legacy short training field (L-STF) 206 that can consist of two BPSK symbols, a legacy long training field (L-LTF) 208 that can consist of two BPSK symbols, and a legacy signal field (L-SIG) 210 that can consist of one BPSK symbol. The first portion 202 of the preamble 201 can be configured according to the IEEE 802.1 la wireless communication protocol standard.

[0080] The L-STF 206 generally enables a receiving device to perform automatic gain control (AGC) and coarse timing and frequency estimation. The L-LTF 208 generally enables a receiving device to perform fine timing and frequency estimation and also to perform an initial estimate of the wireless channel. The L-SIG 210 generally enables a receiving device to determine the duration of the PDU and use the determined duration to refrain from transmitting on top of the PDU. For example, the 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 in the PDU 200 is shown. The L-SIG 210 includes a data rate field 222, a reserved bit 224, a length field 226, a parity bit 228, and a tail field 230. The data rate field 222 indicates a data rate (note that the data rate indicated in the data rate field 222 can not be the actual data rate of the data carried in the payload 204). The length field 226 indicates a packet length, e.g., in symbols or bytes. The parity bit 228 can be used to detect bit errors. The tail field 230 includes tail bits that can be used by a receiving device to terminate operation of a decoder (e.g., a Viterbi decoder). The receiving device can utilize the data rate and length indicated in the data rate field 222 and the length field 226 to determine a packet duration, e.g., in microseconds (ps) or other units of time.

[0081] The preamble 201 can also include a second portion 203 that includes one or more non-legacy signal fields 212, e.g., in compliance with an IEEE wireless communication protocol, such as IEEE 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be, or a later wireless communication protocol standard. In some implementations, the second portion 203 of the preamble 201 can include a repetition of the L-SIG (RL-SIG, not shown) before the non-legacy signal fields 212. To accommodate later versions of the IEEE wireless communication protocol, 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 can be populated with values that are used to identify the type of non-legacy signal field 212 that will follow. However, such a solution can not be scalable, and as more wireless communication protocols are developed, the redefined or overloaded L-SIG fields can become saturated. As described further in this disclosure, the non-legacy signal fields 212 can include a universal signal field (U-SIG, not shown) that is structured to indicate a type of PDU, a version of a wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU, a bandwidth, a puncturing, or any combination thereof.

[0082] After the non-legacy signal fields 212, the PDU 200 can include a payload 204. The payload 204 can be modulated according to a BPSK modulation scheme, a quadrature BPSK (Q-BPSK) modulation scheme, a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulation scheme, or another suitable modulation scheme. The payload 204 can include a PSDU that includes a data field (DATA) 214, which in turn can carry higher layer data, e.g., in the form of a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU) or an aggregated MPDU (A-MPDU).

[0083] Figure 3A Another example PDU 300 usable for wireless communication between an AP and a number of STAs is shown. The PDU 300 includes a PHY preamble that includes a first portion 302 and a second portion 304. The PDU 300 can 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 an L-STF 308, an L-LTF 310, and an L-SIG 312. The second portion 304 of the preamble and the data field 322 can be formatted as a Very High Throughput (VHT) preamble and frame, respectively, in accordance with the IEEE 802.1 lac amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard. The second portion 304 includes a first VHT signal field (VHT-SIG-A) 314, a VHT short training field (VHT-STF) 316, a number of VHT long training fields (VHT-LTFs) 318, and a second VHT signal field (VHT-SIG-B) 320 encoded separately from the VHT-SIG-A field 314. As with the L-STF 308, L-LTF 310, and L-SIG 312, in instances involving the use of bonded channels, the information in the VHT-SIG-A 314 can be duplicated and transmitted in each component 20 MHz subchannel.

[0084] The VHT-STF 316 can be used for improved automatic gain control estimation in MIMO transmissions. The VHT-LTFs 318 can be used for MIMO channel estimation and pilot subcarrier tracking. The preamble can include one VHT-LTF 318 for each spatial stream that transmits the preamble. The VHT-SIG-A 314 can indicate to VHT compatible APs 102 and STAs 104 that the PPDU is a VHT PPDU. The VHT-SIG-A 314 includes signaling information that can be used by STAs 104 to decode the VHT-SIG-B 320 and other information. The VHT-SIG-A 314 can indicate the bandwidth (BW) of the packet, the presence of space-time block coding (STBC), the number of spatial streams N STS(NSTS), a group ID indicating a group and user location assigned to the STA, a partially associated identifier that can combine AID and BSSID, a short guard interval (GI) indication, a single user / multi-user (SU / MU) coding indicating whether convolutional coding or LDPC coding is used, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), an indication about whether a beamforming matrix has been applied to the transmission, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), and a tail. VHT-SIG-B 320 can be used for MU transmissions and can contain actual data rate and MPDU or A-MPDU length values for each of a plurality of STAs 104, as well as signaling information that can be used by the STAs 104 to decode data received in data field 322, including, for example, MCS and beamforming information.

[0085] Figure 3B Another example PDU 350 that can be used for wireless communications between an AP and a number of STAs is shown. PDU 350 can be used for MU-OFDMA or MU-MIMO transmissions. PDU 350 includes a PHY preamble that includes a first portion 352 and a second portion 354. PDU 350 can further include a PHY payload 356 after the preamble (e.g., in the form of a PSDU that includes a data field 374). The first portion 352 includes an L-STF 358, an L-LTF 360, and an L-SIG 362. The second portion 354 of the preamble and the data field 374 can be formatted as a high efficiency (HE) WLAN preamble and frame, respectively, according to the IEEE 802.1 lax amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard. The second portion 354 includes a repeated legacy signal field (RL-SIG) 364, a first HE signal field (HE-SIG-A) 366, a second HE signal field (HE-SIG-B) 368 that is separately encoded from the HE-SIG-A 366, an HE short training field (HE-STF) 370, and a number of HE long training fields (HE-LTFs) 372. As with the L-STF 358, L-LTF 360, and L-SIG 362, in instances involving the use of bonded channels, the information in the RL-SIG 364 and HE-SIG-A 366 can be duplicated and transmitted in each component 20 MHz subchannel. In contrast, the HE-SIG-B 368 can be unique for each 20 MHz subchannel and can be targeted to a particular STA 104.

[0086] The RL-SIG 364 can indicate to HE-compatible STAs 104 that the PPDU is an HE PPDU. The AP 102 can use the HE-SIG-A 366 to identify and notify a plurality of STAs 104 that the AP has scheduled UL or DL resources for them. The HE-SIG-A 366 can be decoded by each HE-compatible STA 104 served by the AP 102. The 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, the HE-SIG-A 366 can indicate the frame format (including the location and length of the HE-SIG-B 368), the available channel bandwidth, and the modulation and coding scheme (MCS), among other things. The HE-SIG-A 366 can also include HE WLAN signaling information that can be used by STAs 104 other than the number of identified STAs 104.

[0087] 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, such information enables the corresponding STA 104 to identify and decode the corresponding RU in the associated data field. Each HE-SIG-B 368 includes a common field and at least one STA-specific field (also referred to as a“user field”). The common field can indicate the RU distribution to multiple STAs 104, indicate RU assignments in the frequency domain, indicate which RUs are allocated for MU-MIMO transmissions and which RUs correspond to MU-OFDMA transmissions, the number of users in the allocation, among other things. The common field can be encoded with common bits, CRC bits, and tail bits. The user field is assigned to a particular STA 104 and can be used to schedule particular RUs and indicate that scheduling to other WLAN devices. Each user field can include multiple user block fields (which can be followed by padding). Each user block field can include two user fields containing information for two respective STAs to decode their respective RU payloads in the data field 374.

[0088] Figure 4 An example PDU including a universal signal field (U-SIG) is shown in accordance with some implementations. For example, the PDU 400 can be configured as a PPDU. Recall that the PDU 300( Figure 3A ) is formatted in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 ac amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard, and the PDU 350( Figure 3B ) is formatted in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 ax amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard. In comparison to the PDU 300 and the PDU 350, the PDU 400 includes a U-SIG 402.Figure 4 The PDU 400 can support the IEEE 802.11be amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication standard, as well as future amendments, each of which can be referred to herein as a version of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication standard. In particular, the PDU 400 can include a universal signal field (U-SIG) 416, which can indicate, among other things, a format of the PPDU, a version of the wireless communication protocol (e.g., an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) protocol defined in 802.11be), a bandwidth, puncturing, or any combination thereof. Thus, the U-SIG 416 can precede version-specific signaling that is formatted according to the EHT portion of the preamble in accordance with the IEEE 802.11be amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard, or can be formatted as a preamble and frame for any subsequent (post-EHT) version of the new wireless communication protocol (following a future IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard or other standard), respectively. For brevity, the version-specific fields can be described in terms of EHT signaling.

[0089] The PDU 400 includes a PHY preamble that includes a first portion 402 and a second portion 404. The PDU 400 can further include a PHY payload 406 (e.g., in the form of a PSDU including a data field 426) after the preamble. The first portion 402 includes an L-STF 408, an L-LTF 410, and an L-SIG 412. The second portion 404 of the preamble includes a repeated legacy signal field (RL-SIG) 414. After the RL-SIG 414, the second portion 404 of the preamble includes the U-SIG 416. Depending on the format of the PPDU, the PDU 400 can include version-specific signal fields, such as an EHT-SIG 418. The second portion 404 further includes an additional short training field 422 (referred to herein as an “EHT-STF,” but which can also be structured for other wireless communication protocol versions beyond EHT and carry version-related information) and a number of additional long training fields (referred to herein as “EHT-LTFs” 424, but which can also be structured for other wireless communication protocol versions beyond EHT and carry version-related information).

[0090] The U-SIG 416 can include version-independent fields 442 and version-dependent fields 444. Examples of version-independent fields 442 can include a version identifier, an indication of whether the PDU 400 is an uplink (UL) or downlink (DL) PPDU, a BSS color, and a transmission opportunity (TxOP) duration, among other examples. The version identifier in the version-independent fields 442 can indicate the version (and associated format) of the version-dependent fields 444. In some implementations, the version-dependent fields 444 can indicate the PPDU format, such as in a format information field. The PPDU format can determine which other indicators are included in the version-dependent fields 444 and the format or content of the rest of the U-SIG 416 and the EHT-SIG 418. For example, depending on the value of the PPDU format field in the version-dependent fields 444, the PDU 400 can include a different format 472, 474, 476, or 478 for the EHT-SIG 418. In some implementations, if the PPDU format field indicates that the PDU 400 is a trigger-based (TB) PPDU, the EHT-SIG can be omitted, as shown in format 472. If the PPDU format field indicates that the PDU 400 is a single-user (SU) PPDU, the EHT-SIG 452 can be formatted as shown in format 474. For example, the EHT-SIG 452 for a SU PPDU can be a single symbol length and can be modulated using a fixed MCS (e.g., rate ½, BPSK). If the PPDU format field indicates that the PDU 400 is a multi-user (MU) PPDU, there can be other format information fields for interpreting the EHT-SIG structure and content, such as an EHT-SIG MCS, an EHT-DCM, an EHT-SIG compression, a number of EHT-SIG symbols, or a number of non-OFDMA users, among other examples. The EHT-SIG can then be formatted as shown in format 476. For example, the EHT-SIG can include a common field 462 and one or more user fields 464. The format 476 for a MU PPDU can be a multi-symbol length and can have a variable MCS as indicated in the U-SIG 416.

[0091] In some other implementations, a PPDU, which can be referred to as a unified SU / MU PPDU, can be formatted to support single-user (SU) or multi-user (MU) payloads. The unified SU / MU PPDU can include a U-SIG 416 that has a consistent field structure regardless of whether the unified SU / MU PPDU is carrying SU or MU traffic. Further, the U-SIG 416 can be followed by an EHT-SIG 418 having a unified SU / MU EHT-SIG format 478. In the unified approach, there can not be separate formats 474 and 476 for SU and MU PPDU formats. Rather, the unified SU / MU PPDU can have a U-SIG 416 and an EHT-SIG format 478 that support either MU-specific or SU-specific signal fields. For example, when used for SU traffic, the EHT-SIG format 478 can have a compressed version of the EHT-SIG defined for the MU format 476. For example, the unified SU / MU EHT-SIG format 478 can include a compressed version of the common field 466 and can 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 can omit some unneeded information, such as resource unit (RU) allocation and the like. The U-SIG 416 can be two symbol length followed by an EHT-SIG 418 having an adjustable MCS indicated by the U-SIG 416. The EHT-SIG of the unified SU / MU EHT-SIG format 478 can be multi-symbol length and can use a determinable MCS, such as rate ½, BPSK.

[0092] In some implementations, the U-SIG 416 can include a PPDU bandwidth (BW) and punctured channel information. The PPDU BW and punctured channel information can be collectively referred to as a frequency occupancy indication. The frequency occupancy indication can permit WLAN devices on the wireless channel to determine the utilization of various portions of the wireless channel. For example, the frequency occupancy information can be used to indicate the puncturing of some sub-channels.

[0093] Figure 5A An example bound wireless channel 500 including multiple sub-channels is shown. In FIG. 5, a channel map of a frequency band, such as a 2.5 GHz, 5 GHz, or 6 GHz frequency band, can define multiple channels 504. In the example of FIG. 5, the channels 504 are contiguous in frequency. In other examples, the channels 504 can not be contiguous in frequency. Figure 5A In the example of FIG. 5, each channel 504 has a uniform channel width W, such as 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHz, and the like. Some WLAN devices are capable of transmitting using a wireless channel that is composed of multiple channels, which can be referred to as sub-channels when used as part of a larger wireless channel, at a higher bandwidth. In the example of FIG. 5, a WLAN device can be capable of transmitting using a wireless channel that is composed of two or more of the channels 504. Figure 5AIn the example of wireless channel 500, the wireless channel 500 can be used to transmit an 80 MHz transmission by binding 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 contiguous sub-channels in this channel map, in some implementations, the wireless channel 500 can contain sub-channels 504 that are not adjacent in the channel map. Furthermore, in some implementations, larger groups of channels 504 can be used. For example, IEEE 802.11ax provides for the use of 8 sub-channels, and later versions of IEEE 802.11 can provide for the use of 16 (or more) sub-channels for higher bandwidth transmissions.

[0094] Figure 5B A conceptual diagram of legacy OFDM 501 is shown. The OFDM channel width can include a number of subcarriers. WLAN packets (also referred to as PPDUs) include data encoded using the subcarriers of 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 duration of the PPDUs 510 and 520 can be the same or different. Typically, the first STA and the second STA (as well as any other STAs in the BSS) will contend for access to the channel. Once a STA wins contention, the STA can use the channel to transmit a PPDU. As Figure 5B shown in the middle, different shades of the PPDUs indicate that different STAs can utilize the wireless channel in a sequence, one STA at a time. However, this communication structure can be inefficient if the WLAN devices do not have enough data to justify using the full channel bandwidth. The IEEE 802.11ax standard introduces the use of OFDMA in WLANs.

[0095] Figure 5C A conceptual diagram of OFDMA 502 is shown that illustrates resource assignment of a wireless channel. OFDMA breaks the full channel width into a number of 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. As Figure 5C shown on the right, different shades of the PPDUs indicate different RUs of the PPDUs that can be transmitted to (or allocated for use by) different STAs. For example, a PPDU 550 can include different RUs allocated to 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 the PPDU 550, while the other RUs are allocated to different STAs. The allocation of RUs can be used for downlink transmissions or to schedule channel access.

[0096] Figure 6 An example series of wireless frames 600 using OFDMA is depicted. The first frame 601 (Fl) includes a first RU 610 allocated to a 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). In FIG. 5, the first RU 610 is a 40 MHz RU (684 tones). If there is more data to send to User 1, the AP can allocate a second RU 620 in the next wireless frame (second frame 602, F2). In the second frame 602, the second RU 620 is allocated to User 1. The second RU 620 is a 20 MHz RU (242 tones) associated with the fourth subchannel in the second frame 602. The second frame 602 also allocates a third RU 630 to a second STA ("User 2").

[0097] Reference Figure 6 The examples shown and described are illustrative in nature and only one of many examples that can be supported by aspects of the disclosure. For example, the RU allocation techniques in this disclosure can be used for 160 MHz wide channels and RU allocation with two or more users. In another example, a 320 MHz wide channel can support 240 MHz allocated to User 1 (using a combination of smaller RU sizes) and 80 MHz allocated to User 2. In some implementations, RUs can be allocated or combined in non-contiguous portions of a PPDU.

[0098] Figure 7 An example punctured transmission 700 is depicted. In particular, Figure 7 A time-based conceptual illustration of transmissions that can be present on a first subchannel 715, a second subchannel 725, a third subchannel 735, and a fourth subchannel 745 of a wireless channel is shown. For non-triggered transmissions that are not prompted (or triggered) by a previous transmission, a WLAN device can perform a clear channel assessment (CCA, not shown) before transmitting a non-triggered transmission. CCA is one type of collision avoidance technique. Other types can be referred to as carrier sense, carrier sensing, listen before talk, etc. CCA is performed by a WLAN device to determine whether a wireless communication medium, such as a group of subchannels, is available or busy (being used by another transmission). If the wireless communication medium is in use, the WLAN device can defer the transmission until the CCA is performed again and the wireless communication medium is not being used by another device.

[0099] In Figure 7In this case, there is an incumbent system transmission that occupies a portion of the second subchannel 725. Thus, the wireless channel can be punctured to exclude the second subchannel 725 from the transmission. Thus, the transmission 700 is sent only on the first subchannel 715, the third subchannel 735, and the fourth subchannel 745. The preamble 705 can include signaling 710, 730, and 740 on the unpunctured subchannels 715, 735, and 745, respectively. However, signaling can be omitted from the second subchannel 725.

[0100] Figure 8 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device 800 is shown. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 800 can be an example of a device for use in a STA, such as one of the STAs 104 described above with reference to Figure 1 In some implementations, the wireless communication device 800 can be an example of a device for use in an AP, such as the AP 102 described above with reference to Figure 1 The 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 medium access control (MAC) protocol data units (MPDUs) that conform to IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standards, such as those defined by the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification or amendments thereof, including but not limited to 802.11 ah, 802.11 ad, 802.11 ay, 802.11 ax, 802.11 az, 802.11 ba, and 802.11 be.

[0101] The wireless communication device 800 can be or include a chip, system on a chip (SoC), chipset, package, or device that includes one or more modems 802 (e.g., Wi-Fi (conforming to IEEE 802.11) modems). In some implementations, the one or more modems 802 (collectively referred to as “modems 802”) additionally include WWAN modems (e.g., 3GPP 4G LTE or 5G compatible modems). In some implementations, the wireless communication device 800 also includes one or more radios 804 (collectively referred to as “radios 804”). In some implementations, the wireless communication device 800 further includes one or more processors, processing blocks, or processing elements 806 (collectively referred to as “processors 806”) and one or more memory blocks or elements 808 (collectively referred to as “memory 808”).

[0102] The modem 802 can include an intelligent hardware block or device, such as, for example, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or the like. The modem 802 is generally configured to implement the PHY layer. For example, the modem 802 is configured to modulate packets and output the modulated packets to the radio 804 for transmission on the wireless medium. Similarly, the modem 802 is configured to obtain modulated packets received by the radio 804 and demodulate the packets to provide demodulated packets. In addition to modulators and demodulators, the modem 802 can further include digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry, automatic gain control (AGC), encoders, decoders, multiplexers, and demultiplexers. For example, when in transmit mode, data obtained from the processor 806 is provided to an encoder, which encodes 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. The modulated symbols can then be mapped to a number (N SS STS of spatial streams or a number (N STS of space-time streams. The modulated symbols in the respective spatial or space-time streams can then be multiplexed, transformed via an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) block, and then provided to DSP circuitry for Tx windowing and filtering. The digital signals can then be provided to a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The resulting analog signals can then be provided to an up-converter, and ultimately to the radio 804. In implementations involving beamforming, the modulated symbols in the respective spatial streams are precoded via a steering matrix before being provided to the IFFT block.

[0103] When in receive mode, the digital signals received from the radio 804 are provided to DSP circuitry, which is 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 is further configured to digitally condition the digital signals, for example, using channel (narrowband) filtering, analog impairment adjustment (such as correcting I / Q imbalance), and applying digital gain to ultimately obtain a narrowband signal. The output of the DSP circuitry can then be fed to an AGC, which is configured to use information extracted from the digital signals (for example, in one or more received training fields) to determine an appropriate gain. The output of the DSP circuitry is also coupled to a demodulator, which is configured to extract modulated symbols from the signal and, for example, compute the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) for each bit position of each subcarrier in each spatial stream. The demodulator is coupled to a decoder, which can be configured to process the LLRs 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.

[0104] The radio 804 generally includes at least one radio frequency (RF) transmitter (or "transmitter chain") and at least one RF receiver (or "receiver chain"), which can be combined into one or more transceivers. For example, the RF transmitter and receiver can include various DSP circuitry, including at least one power amplifier (PA) and at least one low-noise amplifier (LNA), respectively. The RF transmitter and receiver can in turn be coupled to one or more antennas. For example, in some implementations, the wireless communication device 800 can include or be coupled to multiple transmit antennas (each with a corresponding transmit chain) and multiple receive antennas (each with a corresponding receive chain). The symbols output by the modem 802 are provided to the radio 804, which then transmits the symbols via the coupled antennas. Similarly, symbols received via the antennas are obtained by the radio 804, which then provides the symbols to the modem 802.

[0105] The processor 806 can include an intelligent hardware device, e.g., a

[0106] The memory 808 can include a tangible storage medium, such as random access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM), or a combination thereof. The memory 808 can also store non-transitory processor- or computer- executable software (SW) code containing instructions that, when executed by the 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 various components disclosed herein, or the various blocks or steps of a method, operation, process, or algorithm disclosed herein, can be implemented as one or more modules of one or more computer programs.

[0107] Figure 9A A block diagram of an example AP 902 is shown. The AP 902 can be an example implementation of the AP 102 described with reference to Figure 1 FIG. 2, for example. The AP 902 includes a wireless communication device (WCD) 910. The wireless communication device 910 can be an example implementation of the wireless communication device 800 described with reference to Figure 8 FIG. 1, for example. The AP 902 additionally includes a plurality of antennas 920 coupled with the wireless communication device 910 to transmit and receive wireless communications. In some implementations, the AP 902 additionally includes an application processor 930 coupled with the wireless communication device 910, and a memory 940 coupled with the application processor 930. The AP 902 further includes at least one external network interface 950 that enables the AP 902 to communicate with a core network or a backhaul network to obtain access to external networks including the Internet. For example, the external network interface 950 can include one or both of a wired (e.g., Ethernet) network interface and a wireless network interface (such as a WWAN interface). The components of the foregoing can communicate directly or indirectly with one another over at least one bus. The AP 902 further includes a housing that houses the wireless communication device 910, the application processor 930, the memory 940, and at least portions of the antennas 920 and the external network interface 950.

[0108] Figure 9B A block diagram of an example STA 904 is shown. The STA 904 can be an example implementation of the STA 104 described with reference to Figure 1 FIG. 2, for example. The STA 904 includes a wireless communication device 915. The wireless communication device 915 can be an example implementation of the wireless communication device 800 described with reference to Figure 8 FIG. 1, for example. The STA 904 additionally includes one or more antennas 925 coupled with the wireless communication device 915 to transmit and receive wireless communications. The STA 904 additionally includes an application processor 935 coupled with the wireless communication device 915, and a memory 945 coupled with the application processor 935. In some implementations, the STA 904 further includes a user interface (UI) 955 (such as a touchscreen or a keypad) and a display 965, which can be integrated with the UI 955 to form a touchscreen display. In some implementations, the STA 904 can further include one or more sensors 975 (such as one or more inertial sensors, accelerometers, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, or altitude sensors, for example). The components of the foregoing can communicate directly or indirectly with one another over at least one bus. The STA 904 further includes a housing that houses the wireless communication device 915, the application processor 935, the memory 945, and at least portions of the antennas 925, the UI 955, and the display 965.

[0109] As described above, as new wireless communication protocol implementations enable enhanced features, new preamble designs are needed to support signaling related to the features and resource allocation. Implementations generally involve signaling included in a physical layer preamble that supports a new wireless communication protocol. Some implementations more specifically involve preamble designs that do not significantly increase 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.

[0110] Figure 10 An example PPDU 1000 for wireless communication between an AP and a number of STAs according to some implementations is shown. The PPDU 1000 can be used for SU, MU-OFDMA, or MU-MIMO transmissions. The PPDU 1000 includes a PHY preamble including a first portion 1002 and a second portion 1004. The PPDU 1000 can further include a PHY payload 1006 (e.g., in the form of a PSDU including a data field 1026) after the preamble. The first portion 1002 includes an L-STF 1008, an L-LTF 1010, and an L-SIG 1012. The second portion 1004 of the preamble and the data field 1026 can be formatted as an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) WLAN preamble and frame, respectively, according to the IEEE 802.11be amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard, or can be formatted as any later (post-HT) version of a preamble and frame that complies with a new wireless communication protocol (complying with a future IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard or other standard).

[0111] The second portion 1004 of the preamble includes a repeated legacy signal field (RL-SIG) 1014 and a number of wireless communication protocol version dependent signal fields after the RL-SIG 1014. For example, the second portion can include a second signal field 1016 (referred to herein as “U-SIG”) and a third signal field 1018 (referred to herein as “EHT-SIG,” although it can be structured for use with other wireless communication protocol versions beyond EHT and carry version dependent information). The second portion 1004 further includes an additional short training field 1022 (referred to herein as “EHT-STF,” although it can be structured for use with other wireless communication protocol versions beyond EHT and carry version dependent information) and a number of additional long training fields 1024 (referred to herein as “EHT-LTF,” although they can be structured for use with other wireless communication protocol versions beyond EHT and carry version dependent information). As with the L-STF 1008, the L-LTF 1010, and the L-SIG 1012, in instances involving use of a bound channel, the information in the RL-SIG 1014, the U-SIG 1016, and the EHT-SIG 1018 can be duplicated and transmitted in each component 20 MHz subchannel (which can include the content channel). In some implementations, the EHT-SIG 1018 can additionally or alternatively carry different information in one or more non-primary 20 MHz channels than is carried in the primary 20 MHz subchannel. In some implementations, the EHT-SIG can have some content that is the same in all 20 MHz subchannels, and can have some other content that is different for one or more of the 20 MHz subchannels.

[0112] The RL-SIG 1014 and the U-SIG 1016 can indicate to STAs 104 that follow the EHT or later versions that the PPDU 1000 is an EHT PPDU or a PPDU that follows another non-legacy wireless communication protocol version. For example, the U-SIG 1016 can be used by a receiving device to interpret bits in the EHT-SIG 1018 or one or more of the data fields 1026. In some implementations, the U-SIG 1016 can include a reserved bit that indicates, for example, whether the PPDU 1000 follows a later version of the EHT or the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards or other standards (e.g., after IEEE 802.1 lax). In some implementations, the U-SIG 1016 includes a version field that includes at least one bit that indicates a particular wireless communication protocol version to which the PPDU 1000 conforms. In some implementations, the U-SIG 1016 also includes at least one general purpose bit that is independent of the wireless communication protocol version.

[0113] A device receiving PPDU 1000 can initially begin or continue its determination of the version of the wireless communication protocol 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, a receiving device can initially determine that the wireless communication protocol used to transmit PPDU 1000 is HE or later based on the presence of RL-SIG 1014 (i.e., determining that the first symbol of the second portion of the preamble is identical to L-SIG 1012) and determining that both the first and second symbols following RL-SIG 1014 are modulated according to a BPSK modulation scheme (e.g., BPSK ½ as opposed to Q-BPSK or other modulation schemes), as are L-STF 1008, L-LTF 1010, L-SIG 1012, and RL-SIG 1014. In this way, STAs that follow HE but not EHT or later versions can interpret PPDU 1000 as an HE PPDU and can comply with the duration of PPDU 1000 indicated by L-SIG 1012. Moreover, the ability of HE devices to interpret information associated with EHT or later version compliant transmissions, such as indications of whether PPDU 1000 is an uplink (UL) or downlink (DL) PPDU, a BSS color, and a transmission opportunity (TxOP) duration, enables advanced latency techniques.

[0114] While the presence of RL-SIG 1014 and modulation scheme can indicate that an HE or later IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol was used to transmit PPDU 1000, in some implementations, to indicate that PPDU is an EHT or later 802.11 wireless communication protocol version, the transmitting device sets the value of a reserved bit in U-SIG 1016 such that it is inverted (or “flipped”) relative to the value of the reserved bit in the corresponding bit position within HE-SIG-A (e.g., the reserved bit can have a value of logical “0” as opposed to the logical “1” expected in HE-SIG-A). In some such implementations, the value of the reserved bit itself does not indicate a particular version, but rather the (e.g., 16-bit) value of the version field identifies a particular version from a set of possible versions. In some other implementations, more than one reserved bit can be used to indicate the version, and a separate version field can not be used.

[0115] As described previously, 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 the U-SIG 1016. Additionally, new fields and signaling information can be included in the EHT-SIG 1018 (or can spill over into the EHT-SIG 1018). If additional training signals are sent on other tones before the U-SIG, such as the additional training signals in the L-SIG and RL-SIG in 11ax, each symbol in the U-SIG can carry more available data for feature signaling rather than training signals. In some implementations, the U-SIG 1016 includes two symbols, which can be jointly encoded together in a single block, and each symbol can carry at least twenty-four available data (or “information”) bits. In some implementations, the U-SIG 1016 can support 26 bits per symbol by using four extra tones for signaling. Thus, there can be a total of 52 bits available from the two symbols for the U-SIG 1016. This disclosure includes several options to enable the U-SIG 1016 and EHT-SIG 1018 to carry 2x more bits per symbol than the L-SIG, which carries 24 bits. For example, the training signals on the extra tones (such as [-28, -27, 27, 28]) can be sent on the L-SIG and RL-SIG as in IEEE 802.11ax. The channel estimates for these 4 tones are ready after the RL-SIG, so these extra four tones can be used for signaling starting from the U-SIG. In another option, the training signals on the extra tones (such as [-28, -27, 27, 28]) can be sent on the L-LTF and L-SIG. If the energy detection and comparison signals in these 4 tones in the L-LTF and L-SIG indicate training, then the receiver can attempt to use the 52 data tones. Then, these extra four tones can be enabled for signaling starting from the U-SIG.

[0116] The bits in the U-SIG 1016 can include signaling about the type or format of additional signal fields following the U-SIG 1016, such as the EHT-SIG 1018. The U-SIG 1016 can include two types of content, such as a version-independent field 1050 and a version-dependent field 1051. In some implementations, the version-independent field 1050 includes a general field 1056, such as a version identifier to indicate the WLAN protocol version of the packet (such as one value to indicate 802.11be), an indicator about whether the PPDU is uplink or downlink (UL / DL indicator), a transmission opportunity (TX OP) field, or a BSS color, among others.

[0117] The U-SIG 1016 can include a frequency occupancy indication that permits any WLAN device on the wireless channel to determine the utilization of various portions of the wireless channel. For example, the U-SIG 1016 can include a PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052. The PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can include a PPDU BW value, a punctured channel indicator, or any combination thereof. The PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can be included in the version-independent field 1050 or the version-dependent field 1051. The PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can be included in the version-independent field 1050 to explicitly indicate the full puncturing pattern of a particular 80 MHz so that a bystander will know the punctured channels. Alternatively, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can be included in the version-dependent field 1051 if there is no need to inform bystanders. Figure 11 Examples of the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 are further described in the PPDU BW and Punctured Channel Information Field section.

[0118] In addition to the version-independent fields 1050, the U-SIG 1016 can include version-dependent fields 1051. Examples of the version-dependent fields 1051 can include a format information field 1058 and additional signaling field(s) 1062. The format information field 1058 can indicate the format of the remaining fields of the U-SIG 1016 and the format of the EHT-SIG 1018, if included. For example, the format information field 1058 can include a PPDU format field that indicates whether the 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 can change how the rest of the U-SIG 1016 and the EHT-SIG 1018 are structured. For example, the format of the additional signaling field(s) 1062 and the EHT-SIG 1018 can depend on the value in the format information field 1058. In some implementations, the format information field 1058 can include a PPDU format field that indicates whether the PPDU is a TB PPDU, a SU PPDU, or a MU PPDU. For a TB PPDU, there can be no EHT-SIG 1018. For a SU-PPDU, the EHT-SIG 1018 can have a first format 1070. And, for a MU PPDU, the EHT-SIG 1018 can have a second format 1080. The format and content of the additional signaling field(s) 1062 and the EHT-SIG 1018 are further described below. The U-SIG 1016 can also include a CRC and a tail (not shown). The CRC can protect the earlier fields of the U-SIG 1016. In some implementations, the CRC can protect all or a portion of the U-SIG 1016 and the L-SIG.

[0119] EHT-SIG 1018 can include one or more jointly encoded symbols, and in some implementations, can be encoded in a different block than the block in which U-SIG 1016 is encoded. EHT-SIG 1018 can be used by an AP to identify and notify a plurality of STAs 104 that the AP has scheduled UL or DL resources. EHT-SIG 1018 can be decoded by each compatible STA 104 served by the AP 102. U-SIG 1016 can include information that can be used by the identified STAs 104 to decode EHT-SIG 1018. U-SIG 1016 can generally be used by a receiving device to interpret bits in EHT-SIG 1018 or data field 1026. For example, U-SIG 1016 can indicate the format of EHT-SIG 1018 in each component channel, the available channel bandwidth, and the modulation and coding scheme (MCS), among other examples. EHT-SIG 1018 can 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 code (BCC).

[0120] EHT-SIG 1018 can carry STA-specific scheduling information, such as, for example, per-user MCS values and per-user RU allocation information. EHT-SIG 1018 can generally be used by a receiving device to interpret bits in data field 1026. In the context of DL MU-OFDMA, such information enables a respective STA 104 to identify and decode a corresponding RU in the associated data field 1026. Each EHT-SIG 1018 includes a common field and at least one STA-specific field (“user field”). The common field can indicate a distribution of RUs to multiple STAs 104, indicate RU assignments in the frequency domain, indicate which RUs are allocated for MU-MIMO transmissions and which RUs correspond to MU-OFDMA transmissions, a number of users in the allocation, among other examples. The common field can be encoded with common bits, CRC bits, and tail bits. The user fields are assigned to specific STAs 104 and can be used to schedule specific RUs and indicate that scheduling to other WLAN devices. The common field can have a varying length. Each user field can include multiple user block fields (which can be followed by padding). Each user block field can include, for example, two user fields containing information for two respective STAs to decode their respective RU payloads.

[0121] In some implementations, the EHT-SIG 1018 content is duplicated in each content channel. In some other implementations, a parallelization design of the EHT-SIG 1018 (or a portion of the EHT-SIG 1018) can include extending different fields into different content channels. Table 1 summarizes how the U-SIG 1016 and the EHT-SIG 1018 can be formatted differently for different PPDU formats, such as different formats for a TB PPDU, a SU PPDU, or a MU PPDU.

[0122]

[0123]

[0124]

[0125] Table 1. Examples of U-SIG and EHT-SIG

[0126] For a TB PPDU, the additional signaling field 1062 can include one or more indicators regarding spatial reuse. For example, in some implementations, the additional signaling field 1062 can include a spatial reuse field that includes 4 bits. The 4-bit field can indicate spatial reuse for the entire PPDU BW or for 80 MHz portions of the wireless channel. The spatial reuse field can be different for each 80 MHz portion of the wireless channel. In some other implementations, the spatial reuse field can include 8 bits and can indicate spatial reuse for each half BW of the entire PPDU BW, or for each 40 MHz portion within an 80 MHz portion of the wireless channel. As indicated above, there can be no EHT-SIG 1018 in the TB PPDU.

[0127] For a SU PPDU, the additional signaling field 1062 can 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 midamble periodicity (or NSTS and midamble 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), front FEC padding factor, such as 2 bits, packet extension (PE) disambiguation indicator, such as 1 bit, and beam change, such as 1 bit, among others. Note that some of these above-mentioned indicators can continue into a portion of the EHT-SIG 1018, or can be signaled in the EHT-SIG 1018 (instead of the U-SIG 1016). For example, the EHT-SIG 1018 can include overflow from the U-SIG and SU-specific fields 1072. The SU-specific fields can include an MCS indicator, such as 4 bits, a DCM indicator, such as 1 bit, a coding indicator, such as 1 bit, a beamforming indicator, such as 1 bit, or spatial reuse, such as 4 bits or 8 bits, among others.

[0128] For a MU PPDU, the additional signaling field 1062 can include one or more of the following indicators: spatial reuse (such as 4 bits), guard interval and long training field size (GI+LTF, such as 2 bits), number of EHT-LTF symbols and midamble 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), front FEC padding factor (such as 2 bits), packet extension (PE) disambiguation indicator (such as 1 bit), and beam change (such as 1 bit), among others. Note that some of these above-mentioned indicators can continue into a portion of the EHT-SIG 1018, or can be signaled in the EHT-SIG 1018 (instead of the U-SIG 1016). For example, the common field 1082 can include overflow bits from the additional signaling field 1062. In addition, the common field 1082 can include resource allocation information, such as RU allocations for one or more STAs. The user-specific field 1084 can include one or more user block fields. For example, there can be a different user block field for each resource allocation indicated in the common field 1082. In some implementations, an EHT-SIG compression field (such as 2 bits) can be used to indicate one un-punctured non-OFDMA compressed mode, one punctured non-OFDMA compressed mode, and one uncompressed mode (for OFDMA). In some implementations, an EHT-SIG compression field (such as 1 bit) can be used to indicate one (punctured or un-punctured) non-OFDMA compressed mode and one uncompressed mode (for OFDMA).

[0129] For a unified SU / MU PPDU format, the additional signaling field 1062 can include fields for SU or MU transmission, including one or more of the following indicators: spatial reuse (such as 4 bits), guard interval and long training field size (GI+LTF, such as 2 bits), number of EHT-LTF symbols and midamble 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), front FEC padding factor (such as 2 bits), packet extension (PE) disambiguation indicator (such as 1 bit), and beam change (such as 1 bit), among others. Note that some of these above-mentioned indicators can continue into a portion of the EHT-SIG 1018, or can be signaled in the EHT-SIG 1018 (instead of the U-SIG 1016). For example, the common field 1082 can include overflow bits from the additional signaling field 1062. If the unified SU / MU PPDU is directed to multiple users, the common field 1082 can 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 puncturing, the RU allocation information can be omitted. In some uses of the SU / MU PPDU, such as when using SU preamble puncturing, the RU allocation information can be included (optionally, in a compressed version compared to the RU allocation subfield of a legacy multi-user transmission). The user-specific field 1084 can include one or more user block fields. For example, if the unified SU / MU PPDU is directed to multiple users, there can be a different user block field for each resource allocation indicated in the common field 1082. Alternatively, if the unified SU / MU PPDU is directed to a single user, there can be only one user field (with a non-MU-MIMO format), where the SU-specific fields (such as MCS, DCM, coding, beamformed, etc.) can be consolidated. There are additional fields that can be included in the user field compared to the SU-specific fields, such as a STA ID field (11 bits) and NSTS (4 bits).

[0130] A unified MU / SU PPDU format can support either MU or SU traffic. For full BW SU transmission, the cost of using the U-SIG of the unified MU / SU PPDU format compared to the SU PPDU format is the additional 26 bits (other format information fields (11 bits) in the U-SIG for MU PPDU, STA ID field (11 bits) in the user field, and NSTS field (4 bits)). However, for higher bandwidth communication protocols (such as IEEE 802.11be and beyond), it can be desirable to use the unified MU / SU PPDU format. The total size of the U-SIG and EHT-SIG of the unified MU / SU PPDU will be >= 73 bits (for a PPDU formatted for single user transmission), which can fit in a 2 symbol U-SIG (of BPSK, rate ½) and a snugly fitting 2 symbol EHT-SIG. In some implementations, a 3 symbol EHT-SIG (of BPSK, rate ½) can be used if the PPDU BW and puncturing information field uses > 4 bits, or if there is signaling for additional features. In some implementations, an EHT-SIG compression field (such as 2 bits) can be used to indicate one non-punctured non-OFDMA compression mode, one punctured non-OFDMA compression mode, and one non-compressed mode (for OFDMA). In some implementations, an EHT-SIG compression field (such as 1 bit) can be used to indicate one (punctured or non-punctured) non-OFDMA compression mode and one non-compressed mode (for OFDMA). In some implementations, an EHT-SIG compression field (such as 2 bits) can be used to indicate one (punctured or non-punctured) SU compression mode (to support single user transmission), one (punctured or non-punctured) non-OFDMA compression mode (for MU-MIMO transmission to support more than one user), and one non-compressed mode (for OFDMA transmission).

[0131] Some fields of the EHT-SIG can be transmitted in a particular 20 MHz subchannel of the first content channel, and different fields can be transmitted in a different 20 MHz subchannel of the second content channel. While the content or values within the EHT-SIG can be different for different content channels, the format and field structure of the EHT-SIG can be consistent for all content channels. For punctured subchannels (as indicated in the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052), the content channel (including the EHT-SIG) can be eliminated.

[0132] The fields and field sizes in Table 1 are provided as illustrative examples. Some implementations can include additional fields or different sizes.

[0133] Figure 11Example options for PPDU BW and punctured channel information are shown in accordance with some implementations. As indicated above, there can be alternative options 1150 for the content and format of the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052. In some options 1172, 1174, and 1176, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can be included in the version-dependent fields of the U-SIG. These options can be used, for example, if there is no need to inform bystanders. In another option 1178, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can be included in the version-independent fields.

[0134] In a first option 1172, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can include a value representing a combined BW and puncturing configuration to convey the full puncturing information. The 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.

[0135] In a second option 1174, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can convey partial channel puncturing information (at the content channel level). The PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can represent the puncturing of the primary 80 MHz subchannel, and the value of the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can be replicated in each 80 MHz subchannel making up the full channel.

[0136] In a third option 1176, the PPDU BW and 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 a different value for each different 80 MHz subchannel of the full channel. Thus, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 includes a value specific to that 80 MHz subchannel in each 80 MHz subchannel.

[0137] In a fourth option 1178, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can explicitly indicate the full puncturing pattern per 80 MHz. In some implementations, this option 1178 can be used to inform bystanders of the punctured 20 MHz subchannels in each particular 80 MHz subchannel, and to inform the intended recipient so that the recipient knows the content channel location in each particular 80 MHz subchannel.

[0138] In some implementations, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can include a punctured channel bitmap to indicate the punctured channel. In one option, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can be a 4-bit value that includes a value selected from a lookup table. Each potential value of the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 in the lookup table can be related to a particular bandwidth of the channel. Additionally, some values can further indicate a fixed set of puncturing configurations. In another option, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information field 1052 can be a 3-bit value that indicates a value for a particular bandwidth selected from the lookup table. In such examples, the U-SIG can further include a punctured channel bitmap (not shown) following the 3-bit value. The punctured channel bitmap (if included) can indicate puncturing at different granularities. For example, in some implementations, the punctured channel bitmap can be a per-80 MHz bitmap, where each bit indicates puncturing (or non-puncturing) of a respective one of the 80 MHz sub-channels of the wireless channel. In some other implementations, the punctured channel bitmap can be a per-20 MHz bitmap, where each bit indicates puncturing (or non-puncturing) of a 20 MHz sub-channel. In some implementations, parallelization can be used to prepare different punctured channel bitmaps for each 80 MHz sub-channel of the wireless channel. For example, the punctured channel bitmap can be a per-20 MHz bitmap, where each bit indicates puncturing (or non-puncturing) of a 20 MHz sub-channel within a respective one of the 80 MHz portions of the wireless channel. Thus, the punctured channel bitmap can be different for each 80 MHz portion and can include bits specific to that 80 MHz portion.

[0139] In some implementations, the PPDU BW and punctured channel information is a separate subfield. The PPDU BW subfield can use 3 bits to indicate the PPDU BW, including but not limited to the following: 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz (or 160 / 80+80 MHz), 320 MHz (or 320 / 160+160 MHz). The indication of 320 MHz (or 320 / 160+160 MHz) can be just one entry, or two entries to indicate the PPDU BW as well as how the channelization of 320 MHz is used to disambiguate both. For example, one entry can be 320 MHz (lower 160 MHz) to indicate that the PPDU BW is 320 MHz and the current 160 MHz sub-channel is the lower 160 MHz channel of the PPDU BW; another entry can be 320 MHz (upper 160 MHz) to indicate that the PPDU BW is 320 MHz and the current 160 MHz sub-channel is the upper 160 MHz channel of the PPDU BW.

[0140] In some implementations, the punctured channel information can use 5 to 6 bits to indicate the punctured channel information, which can depend on the PPDU BW and the EHT-SIG compression field (which indicates whether the PPDU is OFDMA or non-OFDMA, which can include SU transmission and non-OFDMA MU-MIMO transmission). For example, if the EHT-SIG compression field indicates it is the uncompressed mode (e.g., OFDMA transmission), 4 bits in the 5-6 bit field are used to indicate the punctured channel bitmap for each 20MHz of the current 80MHz. If the EHT-SIG compression field indicates it is the non-OFDMA compressed mode, the 5-6 bit field is used to indicate the non-OFDMA punctured channel mode.

[0141] Figure 12A An example table 1201 is shown with 5 to 6 bit design for punctured channel indication option to indicate the non-OFDMA punctured channel mode. Each entry of the table 1201 can provide information about the punctured information including the non-OFDMA punctured channel mode.

[0142] Figure 12B An example table 1202 is shown with 5 to 6 bit design for punctured channel indication option to indicate the punctured channel mode for both OFDMA and non-OFDMA. Each entry of the table 1202 can provide information about the PPDU BW and the punctured information including the OFDMA or non-OFDMA punctured channel mode. If the EHT-SIG compression field indicates it is the uncompressed mode (e.g., OFDMA transmission), the 5-6 bit field is used to indicate the punctured channel information for the current 80MHz by using the row corresponding to “80MHz / Segment” in the table 1202. If the EHT-SIG compression field indicates it is the 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.

[0143] Spatial reuse (SR) field

[0144] Recall that in IEEE 802.11ax, there are 4 bits per spatial reuse (SR) field. For SU and MU PPDU, the SR field is used for the entire PPDU BW. For TB PPDU, if the total BW <= 80MHz, each spatial reuse field is used for a 20MHz subband, or if the total BW is 160MHz, each spatial reuse field is used for a 40MHz subband. However, a bystander only needs to know the spatial reuse information for a particular 80MHz (not the entire PPDU BW). Therefore, the SR field can be modified for IEEE 802.11be and beyond. For example, for SU / MU PPDU, the SR field can be used for a particular 80MHz. For TB PPDU, the SR field can be 4-bit values that represent the SR for a particular 80MHz. The SR field can carry different values in different 80MHz subchannels. In another option, for TB PPDU, the SR field (or SR fields) can include 8 bits total per 80MHz, with 4 bits per SR field for 40MHz channels. Each SR field can be used for a 40MHz subband within a particular 80MHz, and can carry different values in different 80MHz channels. In some implementations, the SR field can use 2 bits to indicate a subset of the states that an 11ax 4-bit SR field can indicate.

[0145] content channel

[0146] In IEEE 802.11be, a 320MHz bandwidth can be divided into sixteen 20MHz subchannels. The sixteen 20MHz subchannels can be referenced (or labeled) based on frequency. Thus, from the lowest frequency to the highest frequency, the sixteen 20MHz subchannels can be labeled as first through sixteenth 20MHz subchannels. Similarly, a 160MHz bandwidth can be divided into eight 20MHz subchannels, which are referenced (or labeled) as first through eighth 20MHz subchannels from the lowest frequency to the highest frequency. An 80MHz bandwidth can be divided into four 20MHz subchannels, which are referenced (or labeled) as first through fourth 20MHz subchannels from the lowest frequency to the highest frequency. A 40MHz bandwidth can be divided into two 20MHz subchannels, which are referenced (or labeled) as first through second 20MHz subchannels from the lowest frequency to the highest frequency.

[0147] In some implementations, the 320 MHz bandwidth content channels include 20 MHz sub-channels in the upper or lower 160 MHz sub-band of the wireless channel, and thus each content channel can carry RU allocation for the upper or lower 160 MHz sub-band depending on the content channel location, such as depending on [1, 2, 1, 2] or [1, 2, 3, 4] content channel structure. In other words, just as the 20 MHz sub-channels are split into upper or lower 160 MHz sub-bands of the overall bandwidth, the RU allocation for 320 MHz channels or 160+160 MHz channels is split into two parts, the upper and lower 160 MHz sub-bands. The described sub-band sizes and number of divisions are examples. Other divisions and sizes of sub-bands can be possible. For example, a channel can be split into three sub-bands of 80 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz bandwidth.

[0148] In IEEE 802.11ax, only SIG-B (which has RU allocation information as a common field, and has user-specific fields) uses the content channel structure, but SIG-A does not. Similar to IEEE 802.11ax, EHT-SIG (which includes a common field and user-specific fields) can use the content channel structure. However, U-SIG does not use the content channel structure. Further, the common field in EHT-SIG can include RU allocation in that common field as well as fields that overflow from U-SIG. In some implementations, the content channel structure for all bandwidth modes (including 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz (and 80+80 MHz), 240 MHz (and 160+80 MHz), 320 MHz (and 160+160 MHz), and even higher bandwidth modes such as 480 MHz or 640 MHz, etc.) can use the [1, 2, 1, 2] content channel structure. In some implementations, the content channel structure for legacy bandwidth modes (up to 160 MHz) can use the [1, 2, 1, 2] content channel structure as described in IEEE 802.11ax. Higher bandwidth modes such as 320 MHz or higher can use a different content channel structure.

[0149] For a wireless channel of 320 MHz bandwidth (or 160 MHz + 160 MHz bandwidth), a first option for content channel structure can use a [1, 2, 1, 2] structure. For example, each 20 MHz subchannel in the wireless channel can be labeled (from lowest frequency to highest frequency) as first through sixteenth 20 MHz subchannels, and grouped into two subchannel groups to form two content channels. For example, a first content channel can include the first, third, fifth, and so on, to the fifteenth 20 MHz subchannels. A second content channel can include the second, fourth, sixth, and so on, to the sixteenth 20 MHz subchannels. Each 20 MHz subchannel in a content channel can carry signaling for every other 20 MHz in that content channel.

[0150] For a wireless channel of 320 MHz bandwidth (or 160 MHz + 160 MHz bandwidth), a second option for content channel structure can split the wireless channel into an upper 160 MHz bandwidth portion and a lower 160 MHz bandwidth portion. Each of the upper and lower 160 MHz bandwidth portions can use a [1, 2, 1, 2] structure. For example, a first content channel in the lower 160 MHz bandwidth portion can include the first, third, fifth, and seventh 20 MHz subchannels. A second content channel in the lower 160 MHz bandwidth portion can include the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth 20 MHz subchannels. A third content channel in the upper 160 MHz bandwidth portion can include the ninth, eleventh, thirteenth, and fifteenth 20 MHz subchannels. A fourth content channel in the upper 160 MHz bandwidth portion can include the tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, and sixteenth 20 MHz subchannels.

[0151] As described herein, various options for content channel structure can be implemented. In one option, a [1, 2, 1, 2] content channel structure can be used, where a transmitter divides all 20 MHz subchannels into even subchannel indices or odd subchannel indices. A first content channel can carry signaling information for all odd subchannels. For example, the first content channel carries signaling information for the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, thirteenth, and fifteenth 20 MHz subchannels. A second content channel can carry signaling information for all even subchannels. For example, the second content channel carries signaling information for the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, and sixteenth 20 MHz subchannels. Thus, there can be two subchannel groups, and each group corresponds to one content channel. Each 20 MHz subchannel in each group can carry the same signaling information. For example, the odd subchannels can have a first content channel for EHT-SIG, and the even subchannels can have a second content channel for EHT-SIG. Note that if a subchannel is punctured, a content channel can not exist.

[0152] In another option, a [1, 2, 3, 4] content channel structure can be used, in which the transmitter divides all 20 MHz subchannels into four groups associated with four content channels. For example, every fourth 20 MHz subchannel can be grouped together, and thus the 20 MHz subchannels of a content channel are separated by a multiple of 80 MHz. The first content channel can carry signaling information for the first, fifth, ninth, and thirteenth 20 MHz subchannels. The second content channel can carry signaling information for the second, sixth, tenth, and fourteenth 20 MHz subchannels. The third content channel can carry signaling information for the third, seventh, eleventh, and fifteenth 20 MHz subchannels. The fourth content channel can carry signaling information for the fourth, eighth, twelfth, and sixteenth 20 MHz subchannels. In some implementations, the 20 MHz subchannel groups associated with the content channels corresponding to every fourth 20 MHz subchannel can have the same EHT-SIG.

[0153] In another option, the 20 MHz sub-channels of the total 320 MHz bandwidth can be divided into multiple bandwidth parts and the [1, 2, 1, 2] content channel structure can be used in each part. One part can be one 80 MHz segment or 160 MHz sub-channel. The content channel in one bandwidth part, such as the content channel in one 80 MHz segment, can carry different signaling information than the content channel in another bandwidth part, such as the content channel in another 80 MHz segment. The content channel in one part, such as the content channel in one 80 MHz segment, can carry the signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth, or alternatively, the signaling information for the 20 MHz sub-channel within the current bandwidth part, such as the current 80 MHz segment. For example, the 20 MHz sub-channels of the total 320 MHz bandwidth can be divided into an upper 160 MHz part (which can also be referred to as an upper 160 MHz sub-band) that includes eight upper 20 MHz sub-channels, and a lower 160 MHz part (which can also be referred to as a lower 160 MHz sub-band) that includes eight lower 20 MHz sub-channels. For example, the lower 20 MHz sub-channels of the lower 160 MHz can include the first through eighth 20 MHz sub-channels, and the upper 20 MHz sub-channels of the upper 160 MHz can include the ninth through sixteenth 20 MHz sub-channels. In this option, the [1, 2, 1, 2] content channel structure can be used in both the lower 160 MHz and the upper 160 MHz, which results in a total of four content channels. The first content channel in the lower 160 MHz can carry the signaling information for the first, third, fifth, and seventh 20 MHz sub-channels. The second content channel in the lower 160 MHz can carry the signaling information for the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth 20 MHz sub-channels. The third content channel in the upper 160 MHz can carry the signaling information for the ninth, eleventh, thirteenth, and fifteenth 20 MHz sub-channels. The fourth content channel in the upper 160 MHz can carry the signaling information for the tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, and sixteenth 20 MHz sub-channels. In some implementations, the 20 MHz sub-channel groups associated with each content channel can have the same EHT-SIG.

[0154] In another option, the 20 MHz sub-channels of the total 320 MHz bandwidth can also be divided into an upper 160 MHz portion including eight upper 20 MHz sub-channels and a lower 160 MHz portion including eight lower 20 MHz sub-channels. For example, the lower 20 MHz sub-channels of the lower 160 MHz can include the first through eighth 20 MHz sub-channels, and the upper 20 MHz sub-channels of the upper 160 MHz can include the ninth through sixteenth 20 MHz sub-channels. In this option, the [1, 2, 3, 4] content channel structure can be used within both the lower 160 MHz and the upper 160 MHz, which results in a total of eight content channels. The first content channel in the lower 160 MHz can carry signaling information for the first and fifth 20 MHz sub-channels. The second content channel in the lower 160 MHz can carry signaling information for the second and sixth 20 MHz sub-channels. The third content channel in the lower 160 MHz can carry signaling information for the third and seventh 20 MHz sub-channels. The fourth content channel in the lower 160 MHz can carry signaling information for the fourth and eighth 20 MHz sub-channels. The fifth content channel in the upper 160 MHz can carry signaling information for the ninth and thirteenth 20 MHz sub-channels. The sixth content channel in the upper 160 MHz can carry signaling information for the tenth and fourteenth 20 MHz sub-channels. The seventh content channel in the upper 160 MHz can carry signaling information for the eleventh and fifteenth 20 MHz sub-channels. The eighth content channel in the upper 160 MHz can carry signaling information for the twelfth and sixteenth 20 MHz sub-channels. In some implementations, the 20 MHz sub-channel groups associated with each content channel can have the same EHT-SIG.

[0155] For example, a 20 MHz subchannel of a total 160 MHz bandwidth can be divided into two 80 MHz portions (segments). For example, a 20 MHz subchannel of a total 320 MHz bandwidth can be divided into four 80 MHz portions (segments). A first 80 MHz segment includes the first, second, third, and fourth 20 MHz subchannels and can carry signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth, or alternatively, signaling information for the first 80 MHz segment; a second 80 MHz segment includes the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth 20 MHz subchannels and can carry signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth, or alternatively, signaling information for the second 80 MHz segment; a third 80 MHz segment includes the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth 20 MHz subchannels and can carry signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth, or alternatively, signaling information for the third 80 MHz segment; a fourth 80 MHz segment includes the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth 20 MHz subchannels and can carry signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth, or alternatively, signaling information for the fourth 80 MHz segment. In this option, a [1, 2, 1, 2] content channel structure can be used within each 80 MHz segment. If the same signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth is carried in the content channels in different 80 MHz segments, this results in a total of two content channels. If different signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth or partial bandwidth is carried in the content channels in different 80 MHz segments, this results in a total of eight content channels.

[0156] In some implementations, parallelization can be used on the U-SIG and EHT-SIG. Parallelization can involve not duplicating signaling in all 20 MHz subchannels. Parallelization can involve using the same field structure in all 20 MHz subchannels, but using different values in some signaling fields in different 20 MHz subchannels. Conversely, different signaling can be carried in different subchannels, such as different subchannels in different content channels, as described earlier herein.

[0157] In some implementations, a parallelization design for the U-SIG can include using the same field structure in all 20 MHz subchannels. All U-SIGs in 20 MHz subchannels within one 80 MHz segment carry the same signaling information. A particular field in the U-SIG can carry different values in different 80 MHz segments.

[0158] In some implementations, the parallelization design for EHT-SIG can include spreading different fields into different content channels. For example, some fields can be transmitted in a particular 20 MHz subchannel of a first content channel, and different fields can be transmitted in a different 20 MHz subchannel of a second content channel. In some other implementations, parallelization can not be applied to EHT-SIG, and the content is duplicated for each content channel.

[0159] In some implementations, the parallelization design for EHT-SIG can include content channels on 20 MHz subchannels in both the upper 160 MHz subband and the lower 160 MHz subband, and thus each content channel can carry RU allocation for both the upper 160 MHz subband and the lower 160 MHz subband depending on the content channel location, such as depending on the [1, 2, 1, 2] or [1, 2, 3, 4] content channel structure. In some implementations, the content channels include 20 MHz subchannels of the upper or lower 160 MHz subband. In such implementations, each content channel can carry RU allocation for the upper or lower 160 MHz subband depending on the content channel location, e.g., depending on the [1, 2, 1, 2] or [1, 2, 3, 4] content channel structure. In other words, just as 20 MHz subchannels can be split into upper or lower 160 MHz subbands, RU allocation for 320 MHz and 160+160 MHz can be split into two parts, upper and lower 160 MHz.

[0160] In another option, the content channel structure can depend on the EHT-SIG compression field. In some implementations, for (punctured or non-punctured) SU compression mode, for all PPDU bandwidths, EHT-SIG can not use a parallelization design and carry the same signaling information in all 20 MHz sub-channels, which results in a [1, 1, 1, 1] content channel structure. For (punctured or non-punctured) non-OFDMA compression mode (for MU-MIMO transmission) and non-compression mode (for OFDMA transmission), EHT-SIG can use a parallelization design. As another example, the 20 MHz sub-channels of a total 160 MHz bandwidth can be divided into two 80 MHz portions (segments). For example, the 20 MHz sub-channels of a total 320 MHz bandwidth can be divided into four 80 MHz portions (segments). A first 80 MHz segment includes first, second, third, and fourth 20 MHz sub-channels and can carry the signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth, or alternatively, the signaling information for the first 80 MHz segment; a second 80 MHz segment includes fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth 20 MHz sub-channels and can carry the signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth, or alternatively, the signaling information for the second 80 MHz segment; a third 80 MHz segment includes ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth 20 MHz sub-channels and can carry the signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth, or alternatively, the signaling information for the third 80 MHz segment; and a fourth 80 MHz segment includes thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth 20 MHz sub-channels and can carry the signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth, or alternatively, the signaling information for the fourth 80 MHz segment. In this option, a [1, 2, 1, 2] content channel structure can be used within each 80 MHz segment. If the same signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth is carried in the content channels in different 80 MHz segments, this results in a total of two content channels. If different signaling information for the entire PPDU bandwidth or partial bandwidth is carried in the content channels in different 80 MHz segments, this results in a total of eight content channels.

[0161] For different content channel structures, there can be different common field design options as described in Figure 13 and 14 .

[0162] Figure 13 A conceptual diagram showing EHT-SIG 1300 in a content channel of a first example content channel structure according to some implementations is shown. For example, when the content channel structure uses a [1, 2, 1, 2] structure spanning the entire 320 MHz bandwidth wireless channel, common fields (shown as common-1A and common-1B) can use multiple encoding blocks for the common field in each content channel.Figure 13 EHT-SIG 1300 shown in FIG. 13B is an example of an EHT-SIG that can be included on the first content channel.

[0163] Figure 14 A conceptual diagram showing EHT-SIGs in different content channels according to a second example content channel structure is shown. For example, Figure 14 An example where a 320 MHz bandwidth wireless channel is divided into an upper 160 MHz bandwidth portion and a lower 160 MHz bandwidth portion can be used to depict this. The [1, 2, 1, 2] content channel structure can be used for the lower 160 MHz bandwidth portion 1401, while the [3, 4, 3, 4] content channel structure can be used for the upper 160 MHz bandwidth portion 1402.

[0164] In some implementations, the common field can be parallelized across different content channels. There are 4 content channels (2 for the upper 160 MHz bandwidth portion and 2 for the lower 160 MHz bandwidth portion). Thus, there can be one common field per content channel. The encoded block of the common field can have 44 information bits plus a 4-bit CRC and a 6-bit tail, for a total of 54 bits. Figure 14 An example of an EHT-SIG 1410 in content channel #1, an EHT-SIG 1420 in content channel #2, an EHT-SIG 1430 in content channel #3, and an EHT-SIG 1440 in content channel #4 is shown.

[0165] In some implementations, the coded block structure of EHT-SIG can depend on the EHT-SIG compression field and the PPDU bandwidth. In one option, in the punctured non-OFDMA compression mode (for SU and MU-MIMO transmissions) and the 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 one coded block to encode all subfields. In the uncompressed mode (for OFDMA transmissions), if the PPDU bandwidth is 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHz, the EHT-SIG common field in each content channel can use one coded block to encode all subfields; if the PPDU bandwidth is 160 MHz and above (such as 240 MHz, 320 MHz, 480 MHz, 640 MHz, etc.), the EHT-SIG common field in each content channel can use multiple coded blocks to encode different subfields, and each coded block has at most 64 information bits (such as 54 signaling bits, 4-bit CRC, and 6-bit tail) before encoding. For example, for PPDU bandwidth of 160 MHz and 320 MHz, the EHT-SIG common field can use 2 coded blocks. The EHT-SIG user-specific field in each content channel uses one coded block to encode every two user fields, until the last coded block can have only one user field or two user fields.

[0166] In another option, for some compression modes, the EHT-SIG common field and the first user field in the user-specific field in a content channel are jointly encoded into one encoded block. For example, the EHT-SIG common field and the first user field can be jointly encoded for one or more of the following compression modes: punctured non-OFDMA compression mode (for SU and MU-MIMO transmissions), unpunctured non-OFDMA compression mode (for SU and MU-MIMO transmissions), (punctured and unpunctured) non-OFDMA compression mode (for SU and MU-MIMO transmissions), (punctured and unpunctured) SU compression mode (for SU transmissions), or (punctured and unpunctured) non-OFDMA MU-MIMO compression mode (for MU-MIMO transmissions). After the jointly encoded EHT-SIG common field and the first user field, the remaining user fields in the content channel can be encoded using one encoded block per two user fields. The last encoded block can have only one user field or two user fields. In the uncompressed mode (for OFDMA transmissions), if the PPDU bandwidth is 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHz, the EHT-SIG common field in each content channel can be encoded using one encoded block for all subfields. If the PPDU bandwidth is 160 MHz and above (such as 240 MHz, 320 MHz, 480 MHz, 640 MHz, etc.), the EHT-SIG common field in each content channel can be encoded using multiple encoded blocks for different subfields, and each encoded block has at most 64 information bits (such as at most 54 signaling bits, 4-bit CRC, and 6-bit tail) before encoding. For example, for PPDU bandwidth of 160 MHz and 320 MHz, the EHT-SIG common field can use 2 encoded blocks. In the uncompressed mode (for OFDMA transmissions), the EHT-SIG user-specific field in each content channel uses one encoded block per two user fields until the last encoded block that can have only one user field or two user fields.

[0167] Figure 15An example frame structure is shown in which the U-SIG is followed by an EHT-SIG field 1512, according to some implementations. In some implementations, the U-SIG can be duplicated per 20 MHz subchannel, followed by the EHT-SIG field 1512. In some other implementations, the U-SIG can have the same field structure in all 20 MHz subchannels, but the values of some fields are different for each 80 MHz or 160 MHz subband and specific to that 80 MHz or 160 MHz subband. For example, within each 80 MHz or 160 MHz subband, the U-SIG is duplicated for each 20 MHz subchannel. Thus, the U-SIG can contain different signaling information for different subbands. In some implementations, the EHT-SIG field 1512 can contain different signaling information for each 80 MHz bandwidth part of the wireless channel. In some implementations, the content of the EHT-SIG can be on an per 80 MHz bandwidth basis or for the total bandwidth of the wireless channel. In some implementations, the content of the EHT-SIG can be based on which devices are camped on the 80 MHz bandwidth part and can support signaling for RU allocation for other 80 MHz bandwidth parts.

[0168] Figure 16 An example frame structure is shown in which different types of signal fields follow the RL-SIG on different subchannels, according to some implementations. For example, an upper subband 1600 of a total channel bandwidth (such as 320 MHz) can be used for 11ax transmissions, while a lower subband 1650 of the total channel bandwidth can be used for 11be transmissions. This can be referred to as a mixed mode transmission because it can include a mix of communication protocols in the same packet. Following the RL-SIG 1608, the upper subband 1600 can include a HE-SIG-A1 1610, a HE-SIG-A2 1612, and a HE-SIG-B 1614. The HE-SIG-B 1614 can span multiple 20 MHz subchannels that make up the upper subband 1600. Meanwhile, in the lower subband 1650, the RL-SIG 1628 can be followed by a U-SIG 1630 and an EHT-SIG 1632. The EHT-SIG 1632 can span multiple 20 MHz subchannels that make up the lower subband 1650. The example of which types of transmissions are included in the upper and lower subbands is intended as an illustrative example, but other sizes of subbands and other types of protocol signaling can be used in other examples.

[0169] Accordingly, according to the technique, 11ax STAs can be multiplexed in the 80MHz or 160MHz subband (using the 11ax preamble), while 11be STAs can be multiplexed in the remaining portion of the channel bandwidth (using the 11be preamble). In some implementations, the signal fields, such as HE-SIG-B and EHT-SIG, can end at the same symbol boundary, even though other signal fields in the second portion of the preamble can have different sizes (as shown). The signal fields can end at the same time for all subchannels and all subbands, such that the next symbol after the end of the SIG-B to the end of the SIG-B has the same number of OFDM SIG symbols (4μs each) for all subchannels and all subbands. After the SIG, there can be other fields (such as EHT Short Training Field (EHT-STF), EHT Long Training Field (EHT-LTF), and data) after the end of the SIG. Accordingly, the EHT-STF and EHT-LTF are aligned in time for all subchannels and all subbands. Figure 16 The signal fields can end at the same time for all subchannels and all subbands, such that the next symbol after the end of the SIG-B to the end of the SIG-B has the same number of OFDM SIG symbols (4μs each) for all subchannels and all subbands. After the SIG, there can be other fields (such as EHT Short Training Field (EHT-STF), EHT Long Training Field (EHT-LTF), and data) after the end of the SIG. Accordingly, the EHT-STF and EHT-LTF are aligned in time for all subchannels and all subbands.

[0170] In some implementations, the HE data (HE-Data) for the subchannel starting with the 11ax preamble and the EHT data (EHT-Data) for the subchannel starting with the 11be preamble do not need to end at the same time. Also, the L_LENGTH value in the L-SIG does not need to be the same for the subchannel starting with the 11ax preamble and for the subchannel starting with the 11be preamble. And, the TXOP value in the HE-SIG-A in the 11ax preamble and the EHT-SIG-A in the 11be preamble do not need to be the same. The 11ax device is in 11ax mode, while the 11be device parked in the subband starting with the 11ax preamble will be in 11ax mode, each device using 1 RU. When a device is parked in a subband, the device processes the 20MHz legacy preamble signal within that subband, and then continues to process the possibly wider bandwidth or other subband if signaling (such as PPDU BW indication and punctured channel indication) indicates that the device should process signaling in the other subband. The 11be device parked in the subband starting with the 11be preamble will be in 11be mode, and can utilize multiple RUs, including the RU in the subband starting with the 11ax preamble.

[0171] In addition to the format of the signal fields described in the previous figures, the present disclosure includes various types of information that can be included in the signal fields. For example, punctured channel information can be indicated in one or more of the signal fields.

[0172] Perforated channel indicator

[0173] In some implementations, punctured channel information can be indicated in a PPDU bandwidth (BW) field. The punctured channel information can indicate which channels are punctured and the puncturing pattern in a total bandwidth (such as 160 MHz or 320 MHz) so that a receiving STA knows which channels to process for information (such as content channel information as will be further described herein) and which channels are punctured and thus not available or do not include information for processing by the STA. In some implementations, the PPDU BW field can be included in the U-SIG field. In some other implementations, the PPDU BW field can be included in the EHT-SIG-A field. The PPDU BW field can be a 4-bit or 5-bit field to indicate the punctured channels and the puncturing pattern. In some implementations, the PPDU BW field can also indicate which EHT-SIG content channel to demodulate.

[0174] In some implementations, for a 4-bit PPDU BW field, a PPDU BW field value of 0 can indicate a 20 MHz channel bandwidth (and no preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 1 can indicate a 40 MHz channel bandwidth (and no preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 2 can indicate an 80 MHz channel bandwidth (and no preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 3 can indicate a 160 MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80 MHz sub-band bandwidth (and no preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 4 can indicate a 320 MHz channel bandwidth or a 160+160 MHz sub-band bandwidth (and no preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 5 can indicate an 80 MHz channel bandwidth, and only the secondary 20 MHz sub-channel is punctured. A PPDU BW field value of 6 can indicate an 80 MHz channel bandwidth, and the primary 40 MHz sub-channel is not punctured. A PPDU BW field value of 7 can indicate a 160 MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80 MHz sub-band bandwidth, and only the secondary 20 MHz sub-channel is punctured in the primary 80 MHz sub-band. A PPDU BW field value of 8 can indicate a 160 MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80 MHz sub-band bandwidth, and the primary 40 MHz sub-channel is not punctured in the primary 80 MHz sub-band. A PPDU BW field value of 9 can indicate a 320 MHz channel bandwidth or a 160+160 MHz sub-band bandwidth, and only the secondary 20 MHz sub-channel is punctured in the primary 80 MHz sub-band. A PPDU BW field value of 10 can indicate a 320 MHz channel bandwidth or a 160+160 MHz sub-band bandwidth, and the primary 40 MHz sub-channel is not punctured in the primary 80 MHz sub-band. In some implementations, for a 5-bit PPDU BW field, a PPDU BW field value of 0 can indicate a 20 MHz channel bandwidth (and no preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 1 can indicate a 40 MHz channel bandwidth (and no preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 2 can indicate an 80 MHz channel bandwidth (and no preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 3 can indicate a 160 MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80 MHz sub-band bandwidth (and no preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 4 can indicate a 320 MHz channel bandwidth or a 160+160 MHz sub-band bandwidth (and no preamble puncturing). A PPDU BW field value of 5 can indicate an 80 MHz channel bandwidth, and only the secondary 20 MHz sub-channel is punctured. A PPDU BW field value of 6 can indicate an 80 MHz channel bandwidth, and the primary 40 MHz sub-channel is not punctured. A PPDU BW field value of 7 can indicate a 160 MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80 MHz sub-band bandwidth, and only the secondary 20 MHz sub-channel is punctured in the primary 80 MHz sub-band.A PPDU BW field value of 8 can indicate a 160 MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80 MHz sub-band bandwidth, and the primary 40 MHz sub-channel is not punctured in the primary 80 MHz sub-band. A PPDU BW field value of 9 can indicate a 320 MHZ channel bandwidth or a 160+160 MHz sub-band bandwidth, and only the secondary 20 MHz sub-channel is punctured in the primary 80 MHz sub-band. A PPDU BW field value of 10 can indicate a 320 MHz channel bandwidth or a 160+160 MHz sub-band bandwidth, and the primary 40 MHz sub-channel is not punctured in the primary 80 MHz sub-band. A PPDU BW field value of 11 can indicate an 80 MHz channel bandwidth, and only the primary 40 MHz sub-channel is punctured (the secondary 20 MHz sub-channel is punctured). A PPDU BW field value of 12 can indicate an 80 MHz channel bandwidth, and the secondary 20 MHz sub-channel and tertiary 20 MHz sub-channel are not punctured, but the primary 20 MHz sub-channel is punctured (the secondary 20 MHz sub-channel is not punctured). A PPDU BW field value of 13 can indicate a 160 MHz channel bandwidth or an 80+80 MHz sub-band bandwidth, and only the primary 40 MHz sub-channel is punctured in the primary 80 MHz sub-band. A PPDU BW field value of 14 can indicate a 160 MHZ channel bandwidth or an 80+80 MHz sub-band bandwidth, and the secondary 20 MHz sub-channel and tertiary 20 MHz sub-channel are not punctured, but the primary 20 MHz sub-channel is punctured. A PPDU BW field value of 15 can indicate a 320 MHz channel bandwidth, and only the primary 40 MHz sub-channel is punctured in the primary 80 MHz sub-band. A PPDU BW field value of 16 can indicate a 320 MHZ channel bandwidth, and the secondary 20 MHz sub-channel and tertiary 20 MHz sub-channel are not punctured, but the primary 20 MHz sub-channel is punctured.

[0175] In some implementations, instead of the PPDU BW field, a punctured channel bitmap can be used to indicate the punctured sub-channels and the puncturing pattern. In some implementations, the punctured channel bitmap can be included in an N-bit field of the U-SIG. In some implementations, the punctured channel bitmap can be included in an N-bit field of the EHT-SIG. In some implementations, the number of bits (N) of the N-bit field can be based on the total bandwidth and the puncturing granularity (B), where the product of N and B is equal to the total bandwidth. For example, if the total bandwidth is 320 MHz and the granularity is 20 MHz, then 16 bits (N=16) would be used. Thus, each 80 MHz or 160 MHz sub-band can have a 16-bit field to indicate the punctured channel bitmap. In some implementations, one bit can be used to signal the puncturing granularity (B) in order to indicate 20 MHz or 40 MHz granularity. In some implementations, the PPDU BW field value can indicate the puncturing granularity (B) without additional signaling.

[0176] In some implementations, instead of replicating the N-bit field with punctured channel bit map for each sub-band (such as 80 MHz or 160 MHz sub-band), each sub-band can include a different N-bit field with its own punctured channel bit map. In some implementations, for each sub-band, the number of bits of the N-bit field (N) can be based on the sub-band bandwidth and the puncturing granularity (B), where the product of N and B is equal to the sub-band bandwidth. For example, if the sub-band bandwidth is 80 MHz and the granularity is 20 MHz, then 4 bits (N = 4) would be used. If the sub-band bandwidth is 160 MHz and the granularity is 20 MHz, then 8 bits (N = 8) would be used. In some implementations, due to parallelization, the intended receiver STA can look at all 80 MHz or 160 MHz sub-bands to find the relevant punctured channel bit map.

[0177] Multi-AP transmission and beamforming

[0178] In some implementations, signaling for multi-AP coordinated beamforming (CBF) and joint transmission can be included. In some implementations, sounding and feedback can be provided in advance for both the signaling for multi-AP CBF and the signaling for joint transmission. In some implementations, multi-AP CBF can form a null for unintended receivers through precoding. Each CBF PPDU can work like a single BSS PPDU without OBSS interference. The beamformed part of the PPDU can be protected through nulling of OBSS interference. In some implementations, beamforming can be performed from the start of the packet (including the legacy part of the preamble), and the beam change bit can be set to zero to indicate that beamforming is performed from the start of the packet. When the beam change bit is set to 1, then it indicates that the legacy part and the non-legacy part are using different beams and different beamforming. In some implementations, in 11be, the beam change bit can be included in the U-SIG or EHT-SIG. In some implementations, multi-AP joint transmission uses beamforming from multiple APs to an intended receiver. The multi-AP JT sequence can be triggered and ensures that all the participating APs and STAs (in the response packet) are synchronized in time, frequency, and phase. Each JT PPDU can use a triggered PPDU, where much of the signaling information is known from the trigger. The beamformed part of the PPDU can have a JT gain benefit. A special BSS color can be assigned to the JT sequence so that all the participating APs use that BSS color. In some implementations, beamforming can be performed from the start of the packet (including the legacy part), and there can be no beam change bit in the signaling.

[0179] Figure 17 A flow diagram illustrating an example process 1700 for receiving wireless communications, in accordance with some implementations, is shown. The process 1700 can be performed by a wireless communication device, such as the ones described above with reference to FIGs. 1-6.Figure 8 The described wireless communication device 800. In some implementations, the process 1700 can be performed by a wireless communication device operating as or within an AP (such as one of the APs 102 and 902 described above with reference to Figure 1 and Figure 9A The described wireless communication device operating as or within a STA (such as one of the STAs 104 and 904 described above with reference to Figure 1 and Figure 9B The described wireless communication device operating as or within a STA (such as one of the STAs 104 and 904 described above with reference to

[0180] In some implementations, the process 1700 begins, in block 1702, by receiving a packet including a preamble portion and a data portion via a wireless channel. The preamble portion includes a universal signal field (U-SIG), followed by one or more version-specific signal fields. The one or more version-specific signal fields include a third signal field (EHT-SIG) on one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel.

[0181] In block 1704, the process 1700 proceeds to determine that the U-SIG includes at least a version identifier, frequency occupancy information, and format information fields.

[0182] In block 1706, the process 1700 proceeds to determine a format of the packet based at least in part on the format information field.

[0183] In block 1708, the process 1700 proceeds to determine the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel that include the version-specific signal field based at least in part on the frequency occupancy information.

[0184] In block 1710, the process 1700 proceeds to receive at least a portion of the packet and decode the version-specific signal field on the one or more sub-channels based on the determined format.

[0185] Figure 18 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device 1800 according to some implementations is shown. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 1800 is configured to perform one or more of the processes described above. The wireless communication device 1800 can be an example implementation of the wireless communication device 800 described above with reference to Figure 8 For example, the wireless communication device 1800 can 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, the wireless communication device 1800 can be used in an AP (such as one of the APs 102 and 902 described above with reference to Figure 1 and 9AThe apparatus in one of the APs 102 and 902 described above. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 1800 can be a STA (such as one of the STAs 104 and 904 described above) in which case the at least one transmitter, the at least one receiver, and the at least one antenna can be used for wireless communication with an AP. In some other implementations, the wireless communication device 1800 can be an AP or a STA that includes such a chip, SoC, chipset, package, or device, as well as the at least one transmitter, the at least one receiver, and the at least one antenna. Figure 1 and 9B The apparatus in one of the APs 102 and 902 described above. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 1800 can be a STA (such as one of the STAs 104 and 904 described above) in which case the at least one transmitter, the at least one receiver, and the at least one antenna can be used for wireless communication with an AP. In some other implementations, the wireless communication device 1800 can be an AP or a STA that includes such a chip, SoC, chipset, package, or device, as well as the at least one transmitter, the at least one receiver, and the at least one antenna.

[0186] The wireless communication device 1800 includes a demodulation module 1802, a decoding module 1804, a signaling module 1806, and a parameter configuration module 1808. Portions of one or more of the modules 1802, 1804, 1806, and 1808 can be implemented at least in part in hardware or firmware. For example, the demodulation module 1802, the decoding module 1804, the signaling module 1806, and the parameter configuration module 1808 can be implemented at least in part by a modem, such as the modem 802. In some implementations, portions of some of the modules 1802, 1804, 1806, or 1808 are implemented at least in part as software stored in a memory, such as the memory 808. For example, portions of one or more of the modules 1802, 1804, 1806, or 1808 can be implemented as non-transitory instructions (or “code”) executable by a processor, such as the processor 806, to perform the functions or operations of the respective module.

[0187] The demodulation module 1802 is configured to receive a packet including a physical layer preamble that includes a first portion and a second portion that follows the first portion. The packet can further include a payload that follows the preamble. The demodulation module 1802 is configured to demodulate the symbols in the received packet and determine a modulation scheme that was used to modulate the symbols. In some implementations, the packet can be an example of the PPDU 1000 described above. As described above, in such implementations, the first portion includes a first signal field (L-SIG), and the second portion includes a repetition of the L-SIG (RL-SIG) that immediately follows the L-SIG. In some implementations, the RL-SIG can be masked with a mask sequence, and the demodulation module 1802 is further configured to unmask the RL-SIG prior to demodulating it. The second portion further includes at least one additional signal field that follows the RL-SIG. For example, the second portion of the preamble can include a new signal field (U-SIG), such as the U-SIG 1016. The second portion can further include an additional third signal field, such as the EHT-SIG. Figure 10

[0188] ​The decoding module 1804 is configured to decode bits in the demodulated symbols and interpret bits in the decoded bits based on a WLAN communication protocol.

[0189] The signaling module 1806 is configured to interpret the signal field of the packet according to the implementations described above. For example, the signaling module 1806 can interpret the signal field using parallelization for different sub-bands or different sub-channels of a wireless channel. The signaling module 1806 can interpret signaling for different content channels following the RL-SIG or U-SIG. The signaling module 1806 can interpret the EHT-SIG based on the format information field in the U-SIG.

[0190] The parameter configuration module 1808 is configured to set at least one reception parameter for the packet based on at least one interpreted bit received from the decoding module 1804. For example, the parameter configuration module 1808 can set a parameter including one or more of a channel bandwidth parameter, a spatial stream setting, and a modulation order for receiving the packet.

[0191] Figure 19 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device 1900 is shown, in accordance with some implementations. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 1900 is configured to perform one or more of the processes described above. The wireless communication device 1900 can be an example implementation of the wireless communication device 800 described above with reference to Figure 8 For example, the wireless communication device 1900 can 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, the wireless communication device 1900 can be a device used in an AP, such as one of the APs 102 and 902 described above with reference to Figure 1 and 9A In some implementations, the wireless communication device 1900 can be a device used in a STA, such as one of the STAs 104 and 904 described above with reference to Figure 1 and 9B In some other implementations, the wireless communication device 1900 can be an AP or a STA that includes such a chip, SoC, chipset, package, or device, as well as at least one transmitter, at least one receiver, and at least one antenna.

[0192] The wireless communication device 1900 includes a packet generation module 1902, a signaling module 1904, an encoding module 1906, a modulation module 1908, and a parameter selection module 1910. Portions of one or more of the modules 1902, 1904, 1906, 1908, and 1910 can be implemented at least in part in hardware or firmware. For example, the packet generation module 1902, the signaling module 1904, the encoding module 1906, the modulation module 1908, and the parameter selection module 1910 can be implemented at least in part by a modem, such as the modem 802. In some implementations, portions of some of the modules 1902, 1904, 1906, 1908, and 1910 are implemented at least in part as software stored in a memory, such as the memory 808. For example, portions of one or more of the modules 1902, 1904, 1906, or 1908 can be implemented as non-transitory instructions (or “code”) executable by a processor, such as the processor 806, to perform the functions or operations of the respective module.

[0193] The packet generation module 1902 is configured to generate a packet including a physical layer preamble including a first portion and a second portion following the first portion. The packet can also include a payload following the preamble. In some implementations, the packet can be a reference Figure 10 The packet generation module 1902 is configured to generate a packet including a physical layer preamble including a first portion and a second portion following the first portion. The packet can also include a payload following the preamble. In some implementations, the packet can be a reference

[0194] The signaling module 1904 is configured to prepare the signal fields of the packet according to the implementations described above. For example, the signaling module 1904 can use parallelization to different sub-bands or different sub-channels of a wireless channel to prepare the signal fields. The signaling module 1904 can determine and prepare signaling about different content channels following the RL-SIG or the U-SIG.

[0195] The modulation module 1908 is configured to modulate the symbols in the generated packet. The parameter selection module 1910 is configured to select at least one transmission parameter for the packet. For example, the parameter selection module 1910 can set parameters including one or more of a channel bandwidth used to transmit the packet, a spatial stream setting, and a modulation order.

[0196] Figure 20 An example of encoding EHT-SIG using code blocks is shown, according to some implementations. An EHT-SIG bit sequence 2010 can be prepared according to any of the example EHT-SIG options described herein. For example, the EHT-SIG bit sequence 2010 can include EHT-SIG common bits, which include bits spilled from U-SIG and RU allocation information. The EHT-SIG bit sequence 2010 can also include user-specific fields. The EHT-SIG bit sequence 2010 can be divided into code blocks (also referred to as chunks), which are individually encoded to form EHT-SIG code blocks, such as EHT-SIG code blocks 1-n 2051, 2052, and 2053. In some implementations, the encoding process for each code block can include adding a CRC and a tail. The code block size can be different for different code blocks. A receiver can retrieve the code blocks and individually decode each code block, combining them at the receiver to recover the EHT-SIG bit sequence 2010.

[0197] One reason for preparing EHT-SIG code blocks is to enable the use of existing 20 MHz decoders for preamble processing. The use of EHT-SIG code blocks can also enable different options for padding EHT-SIG over bandwidth parts of a wireless channel. Figures 21-25 Some example padding schemes and variations of EHT-SIG code blocks 1-n are described in Figure 20

[0198] Figure 21 An example padding scheme employing EHT-SIG code blocks is shown, according to some implementations. Each 80 MHz portion can have a different EHT-SIG bit sequence used to generate an EHT-SIG code block for that 80 MHz portion. A first EHT-SIG code block 1 2151 can start at the lowest 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel of the 80 MHz portion. From this starting point, EHT-SIG code blocks can be sequentially padded to fill the remaining 20 MHz bandwidth subchannels. Once the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel is filled with EHT-SIG code block 4, the next EHT-SIG code block 5 can be padded in the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel, and the pattern repeats until all EHT-SIG code blocks have been padded into available subchannels within each 80 MHz BW (bandwidth) portion. The set of all EHT-SIG code blocks 1-n Figure 21 The set of 1-8 in the example shown can collectively carry EHT-SIG signaling 2130 for the 80 MHz portion of the wireless channel.

[0199] Figure 22 An example padding scheme employing EHT-SIG code blocks is shown, according to some implementations, when subchannels are punctured. In this example, the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel is punctured. The first EHT-SIG code block 1 2151 can be padded in the second 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The second EHT-SIG code block 2 2152 can be padded in the third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The third EHT-SIG code block 3 2153 can be padded in the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The fourth EHT-SIG code block 4 2154 can be padded in the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The fifth EHT-SIG code block 5 2155 can be padded in the second 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The sixth EHT-SIG code block 6 2156 can be padded in the third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The seventh EHT-SIG code block 7 2157 can be padded in the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The eighth EHT-SIG code block 8 2158 can be padded in the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The ninth EHT-SIG code block 9 2159 can be padded in the second 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The tenth EHT-SIG code block 10 2160 can be padded in the third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The eleventh EHT-SIG code block 11 2161 can be padded in the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The twelfth EHT-SIG code block 12 2162 can be padded in the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The thirteenth EHT-SIG code block 13 2163 can be padded in the second 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The fourteenth EHT-SIG code block 14 2164 can be padded in the third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The fifteenth EHT-SIG code block 15 2165 can be padded in the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The sixteenth EHT-SIG code block 16 2166 can be padded in the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The seventeenth EHT-SIG code block 17 2167 can be padded in the second 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The eighteenth EHT-SIG code block 18 2168 can be padded in the third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The nineteenth EHT-SIG code block 19 2169 can be padded in the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The twentieth EHT-SIG code block 20 2170 can be padded in the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The twenty-first EHT-SIG code block 21 2171 can be padded in the second 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The twenty-second EHT-SIG code block 22 2172 can be padded in the third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The twenty-third EHT-SIG code block 23 2173 can be padded in the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The twenty-fourth EHT-SIG code block 24 2174 can be padded in the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The twenty-fifth EHT-SIG code block 25 2175 can be padded in the second 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The twenty-sixth EHT-SIG code block 26 2176 can be padded in the third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The twenty-seventh EHT-SIG code block 27 2177 can be padded in the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The twenty-eighth EHT-SIG code block 28 2178 can be padded in the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The twenty-ninth EHT-SIG code block 29 2179 can be padded in the second 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The thirtieth EHT-SIG code block 30 2180 can be padded in the third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The thirty-first EHT-SIG code block 31 2181 can be padded in the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel.​Figure 22 In the example, the third 20 MHz subchannel is punctured (shown as punctured channel 2210). In this example, the padding scheme can skip the punctured channel 2210. For example, EHT-SIG code block 3 will skip the punctured channel 2210 and will be padded in the fourth 20 MHz subchannel. The padding scheme will then return to the first 20 MHz subchannel to pad EHT-SIG code block 4.

[0200] Figure 23 An example padding scheme employing EHT-SIG code blocks using two content channels is shown according to some implementations. This example is similar to the [1 2 1 2] content channel structure. EHT-SIG code block 1 can be padded in the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel (shown as code block 2310) and the third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel (shown as code block 2310). The next code block (EHT-SIG code block 2) can then be padded in the second 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel and the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. This pattern will repeat for the remaining EHT-SIG code blocks. For example, EHT-SIG code block 3 can be padded in the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel and the third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The next code block (EHT-SIG code block 4) can then be padded in the second 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel and the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The [1 2 1 2] content channel structure can be used to transmit EHT-SIG code blocks in two content channels. For example, the first content channel can include the first and third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannels, and the second content channel can include the second and fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannels. This structure can be useful, for example, for a receiver configured to use two 20 MHz decoders to decode EHT-SIG code blocks in an 80 MHz portion of a wireless channel.

[0201] Figure 24 Another example padding scheme employing EHT-SIG code blocks when a content channel includes a punctured subchannel is shown according to some implementations. By using the [1 2 1 2] content channel structure, EHT-SIG code blocks can be padded in their intended subchannels, regardless of the punctured channel 2210. EHT code blocks that would have been padded in the punctured channel 2210 can be omitted.

[0202] Figure 25 Another example padding scheme employing EHT-SIG code blocks when a content channel includes a punctured subchannel is shown according to some implementations. In this example, the punctured channel 2210 can be skipped when padding EHT-SIG code blocks within the [1 2 1 2] content channel structure. Padding of EHT-SIG code blocks 1-4 in the first content channel pair (first and second 20 MHz subchannels) is similar to the padding of EHT-SIG code blocks 1-4 in the second content channel pair (third and fourth 20 MHz subchannels). For example, EHT-SIG code block 1 can be padded in the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel and the third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The next code block (EHT-SIG code block 2) can then be padded in the second 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel and the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. This pattern will repeat for the remaining EHT-SIG code blocks. For example, EHT-SIG code block 3 can be padded in the first 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel and the third 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. The next code block (EHT-SIG code block 4) can then be padded in the second 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel and the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel. Figure 25And 26 The padding of the EHT-SIG code blocks can be different for the second content channel of the second content channel pair due to the punctured channel 2210 for the first content channel of the second content channel pair in this example. Rather than omitting the punctured EHT-SIG code blocks (as described Figure 26 ), the EHT-SIG code blocks can be padded within the available second content channel. For example, EHT-SIG code block 1 followed by EHT-SIG code block 2 is shown as padded in the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel.

[0203] Due to the punctured channel 2210, the padding of the EHT-SIG code blocks in the fourth 20 MHz bandwidth subchannel can extend the length of the EHT-SIG portion of the preamble 2580. Thus, in some implementations, padding or repetition of code blocks can be added to the first content channel pair so that the EHT-SIG portions of both content channel pairs end at the same block.

[0204] Figure 26 An example spatial stream scenario that supports up to 16 spatial streams is shown according to some implementations. The spatial stream scenario can be used for MU-MIMO spatial stream configuration within the RUs allocated in the EHT-SIG. The first table 2610 shows a legacy implementation in 11 ax that supports up to 8 users and 8 spatial streams (with a limit of up to 4 spatial streams for MU-MIMO users). The spatial configuration subfield can use a non-decreasing order of NSTS for MU-MIMO users (e.g., NSTS[i+1] <= NSTS[i] where i is the MU-MIMO user index). Depending on the number of users, there are multiple configurations that the spatial streams can support. For example, if there are 8 users and 8 available spatial streams, there is only 1 possible configuration (1 spatial stream per user). When there are 7 users and 8 available spatial streams, there are only 2 possible combinations (6 users each get 1 spatial stream and 1 user gets 1 or 2 spatial streams). The highest number of combinations occurs when there are 3 users and 8 available spatial streams.

[0205] Thus, for the first table 2610, since the maximum number of configurations that can be used with 8 spatial streams (depending on the number of users) is 13, a 4-bit value can be used in the spatial stream configuration subfield in the user field of the EHT-SIG to identify which configuration is being used. By observing the number of devices and the spatial stream configuration, a device can determine which configuration is indicated. Further, by observing the order of the user field in the EHT-SIG, the device can determine how many SS are allocated for it (according to NSTS[1] for the first listed device, NSTS[2] for the second listed device, and so on).

[0206] As IEEE 802.11be is expected to support up to 16 spatial streams, the number of spatial stream configurations increases significantly. For example, a second table 2620 illustrates the number of spatial stream configurations possible when up to 16 users share up to 16 spatial streams and there is a maximum limit of up to 4 spatial streams per user. In a similar example, a third table 2622 illustrates the number of spatial stream configurations possible when up to 8 users share up to 16 spatial streams and there is a maximum limit of up to 4 spatial streams per user. Table 16 provides an example of spatial stream configurations employing the entries associated with the third table 2622. The spatial configuration subfield can use a non-increasing order of NSTS for the MU-MIMO users (e.g., NSTS[i+1]< = NSTS[i] where i is the MU-MIMO user index). In a lookup table supporting up to 4 spatial streams per user and up to 8 users, the highest number of spatial stream configurations can be 54. To signal the value for the spatial stream configuration, 6 bits will be used in the spatial stream configuration subfield in the user field of the EHT-SIG. In another option, 6 bits will be used in the spatial configuration subfield in the user field of the EHT-SIG. The 6 bits include 4 bits to indicate the starting spatial stream index (starting NSTS index) with values from 1 to 16 and then 2 bits to indicate the number of spatial streams for this user (NSTS-this user) with values from 1 to 4.

[0207] The fourth table 2630 shows the number of spatial stream configurations possible when up to 16 users share up to 16 spatial streams and there is a maximum limit of up to 8 spatial streams per user. The spatial configuration subfield can use a non-increasing order of NSTS for the MU-MIMO users (e.g., NSTS[i+1]< = NSTS[i] where i is the MU-MIMO user index). The highest number of spatial stream configurations is 136 when there are 5 users sharing up to 16 available spatial streams. To signal the value for the spatial stream configuration, 8 bits will be used in the spatial stream configuration subfield in the user field of the EHT-SIG. In another option, 7 bits will be used in the spatial configuration subfield in the user field of the EHT-SIG. The 7 bits include 4 bits for indicating the starting spatial stream index (starting NSTS index) with values from 1 to 16 and then 3 bits for indicating the number of spatial streams for this user (NSTS-this-user) with values from 1 to 8. In yet another option, the number of bits for signaling the spatial stream configuration can be reduced by optimizing the look-up table of spatial stream configurations in the previous option by using 7 bits. For example, the look-up table can indicate all combinations of starting NSTS index and NSTS-this-user and the number of spatial streams can be arranged in non-increasing order for the users (e.g., NSTS[i+1]< = NSTS[i]). By doing so, 6 bits can be used in the spatial stream configuration subfield in the user field of the EHT-SIG to indicate the spatial stream configuration and NSTS for a particular user.

[0208] Figure 27 An example is shown in which EHT-SIG signaling can be modified to support OFDMA RU allocation in different 80 MHz bandwidth parts of a wireless channel, according to some implementations. Figure 27The wireless channel 2700 in this description can be a 320 MHz bandwidth consisting of four 80 MHz bandwidth parts 2712, 2722, 2732, and 2742. The techniques in this description are not limited to 320 MHz wireless channels, but the concepts are applicable to any wireless channel consisting of multiple 80 MHz bandwidth parts. Each 80 MHz bandwidth part 2712, 2722, 2732, and 2742 can include a preamble portion 2710, 2720, 2730, and 2740, respectively. As described in this disclosure, some fields of the preamble portions 2710, 2720, 2730, and 2740, such as L-STF, L-LTF, can be the same for all 80 MHz bandwidth parts 2712, 2722, 2732, and 2742. Some fields, such as L-SIG, RL-SIG, U-SIG, and EHT-SIG, can be different for each 80 MHz bandwidth part 2712, 2722, 2732, and 2742. The preamble portions 2710, 2720, 2730, and 2740 can describe how resource units in the OFDMA portion 2780 can be allocated. For brevity, the first preamble portion 2710 is illustrated, but the other preamble portions 2720, 2730, and 2740 will have similar fields, although possibly with different content for some fields.

[0209] In some implementations, a device can observe the preamble portion of a single 80 MHz part. For example, a STA parked on or monitoring an 80 MHz bandwidth part can obtain signaling from the preamble in that 80 MHz bandwidth part to determine which RUs of the preamble portion 2730 are assigned to it. However, the RU assignments can not be limited to the 80 MHz bandwidth part on which the STA is parked or monitoring. For example, a STA can monitor the first preamble portion 2710 in the first 80 MHz bandwidth part 2712 of the wireless channel. Based on the signaling in the U-SIG and EHT-SIG in the first 80 MHz bandwidth part of the wireless channel, the STA can determine that the RU assignment for it is assigned within the OFDMA portion 2730 in the second 80 MHz bandwidth part 2722. In some implementations, the EHT-SIG in each 80 MHz bandwidth part can signal all RU assignments for the entire bandwidth of the wireless channel. Alternatively, the EHT-SIG in each 80 MHz bandwidth part can include signaling for that 80 MHz bandwidth part and for any RU allocations that include STAs parked on that 80 MHz bandwidth part. To signal the RU assignments in the other 80 MHz bandwidth parts, the content of the EHT-SIG can be modified according to any of the examples described in this section. Figures 28-31 The content of the EHT-SIG can be modified according to any of the examples described in this section. Figures 28-31The example in FIG. 26 is based on RU allocation for OFDMA, which can assign one or more RUs for MU-MIMO. However, some concepts can be applicable to RU allocation for non-OFDMA MU-MIMO.

[0210] Figure 28 An example RU allocation using user-specific fields with RU assignments is shown according to some implementations. The contents of EHT-SIG 2810 can include a common field 2820 and user-specific fields 2850, as described elsewhere in this disclosure. The common field 2820 can include, among other subfields, a RU allocation 2822. The RU allocation 2822 describes the RU size within the 80 MHz bandwidth portion and the number of users in each RU. Currently, the mapping of user fields to RU allocation is done based on the order of user fields in the user-specific fields 2850 portion of EHT-SIG. For example, the first three user fields 1-3 2811-2813 can be interpreted as the three users sharing RU 106, while each of the remaining user fields 4-8 2814-2818 are each assigned to the next consecutive RU 26 in the tone plan for the 80 MHz bandwidth portion. Thus, the order of user fields in the user-specific fields 2850 is used with the RU allocation 2822 to determine which RU is assigned to which user. Figure 28 The RU allocation 2822 in FIG. 26 indicates that the 80 MHz bandwidth portion includes RU 106 shared by 3 users and 5 RUs 26 each with 1 user assigned. The first three user fields 1-3 2811-2813 can be interpreted as the three users sharing RU 106, while each of the remaining user fields 4-8 2814-2818 are each assigned to the next consecutive RU 26 in the tone plan for the 80 MHz bandwidth portion. Thus, the order of user fields in the user-specific fields 2850 is used with the RU allocation 2822 to determine which RU is assigned to which user.

[0211] As described herein, the EHT-SIG for one 80 MHz bandwidth portion can include RU allocation subfields and user fields for that 80 MHz bandwidth portion, and can also include RU allocation subfields and user fields for another 80 MHz bandwidth portion. This can be useful, for example, when a device is camped on one 80 MHz bandwidth portion and the RU assigned for the device is in another 80 MHz bandwidth portion. Including RU allocation subfields and user fields for other 80 MHz bandwidth portions can also be useful, for example, when the RU assignment crosses an 80 MHz bandwidth boundary or when multiple RUs are assigned to a particular device.

[0212] Figure 29 An example RU allocation using user fields to maintain RU assignment order is shown according to some implementations. As referenced above, the RU allocation 2822 in FIG. 26 indicates that the 80 MHz bandwidth portion includes RU 106 shared by 3 users and 5 RUs 26 each with 1 user assigned. The first three user fields 1-3 2811-2813 can be interpreted as the three users sharing RU 106, while each of the remaining user fields 4-8 2814-2818 are each assigned to the next consecutive RU 26 in the tone plan for the 80 MHz bandwidth portion. Thus, the order of user fields in the user-specific fields 2850 is used with the RU allocation 2822 to determine which RU is assigned to which user. Figure 28As described, when any user is camped on an 80 MHz bandwidth part, the EHT-SIG of that 80 MHz bandwidth part will include a RU assignment for that user, even if the RU assignment is in a different 80 MHz bandwidth part. To include the RU assignment for that user, the RU allocation subfield 2922 can include a RU allocation value that defines the RU size and the number of users per RU in another 80 MHz bandwidth part. To maintain the order of the user fields and the relationship between the RU allocation subfields, in some implementations, whenever the EHT-SIG includes a RU allocation subfield within a different 80 MHz bandwidth part, the EHT-SIG can also include a user field for that RU allocation subfield. Using the example in Figure 29 , the RU allocation subfield 2922 for the 20 MHz subchannel in the first 80 MHz bandwidth part is for a different 80 MHz bandwidth part, but defines the same [3 1 1 1 1 1] RU allocation as described in Figure 28 . Even though the STA defined in user field 4 2914 is not camped on the first 80 MHz bandwidth part, the user-specific field can include user field 4 2929 14 in the user-specific field so that the order of the user fields matches the RU allocation subfield.

[0213] Figure 30 An example RU allocation that can be used to eliminate some user-specific fields is shown according to some implementations. For example, a first 80 MHz bandwidth part can include a RU allocation subfield 3022 that describes a 20 MHz subchannel in a second 80 MHz bandwidth part. However, the RU allocation subfield 3022 can carry a different value [3 0 1 1 11] than the RU allocation described in Figure 29 . The RU allocation subfield 3022 can define a “not assigned” indicator for a particular RU. Figure 30 The example in Figure 30 shows that the first RU 26 is not assigned (0 in the RU allocation value, which indicates zero users or a not assigned RU). When a RU is not assigned, the user field that would otherwise be included for that RU can be omitted from the user-specific field. As shown in

[0214] The RU allocation table can be extended to indicate not assigned or omitted RUs in addition to different sizes of RUs and the number of users per RU. In some implementations, the RU allocation field of the EHT-SIG can be extended to include a subfield that indicates which RUs are assigned or not assigned. These variants can be used to reduce the number of user fields included in the user-specific field portion of the EHT-SIG.

[0215] Figure 31 An example RU allocation is shown in which the RU assignments are included in the user fields, according to some implementations. Referring to Figure 31 The technology illustrated and described includes the RU assignments for each user in its corresponding user field, rather than including a RU allocation field (not shown) in the common field 2620 of the EHT-SIG 3110. The user-specific fields 3150 of the EHT-SIG 3110 can include user fields that contain the RU assignments for each user. The first user field 1 3110 includes the RU assignments for the first user, the second user field 2 3112 includes the RU assignments for the second user, and so on. In this example implementation, the order of the user fields can be modified as needed, as this order is no longer related to the RU allocation values in the common field. Some potential new subfields that can be included in each user field can include the RU assignments and a MU-MIMO indicator (to indicate whether the RU assignments are for MU-MIMO or non-MU-MIMO), the NSTS and starting stream index for this user (when MU-MIMO is used), and so on.

[0216] To accommodate the potential RU assignments that can be included in each user field, a different lookup value can be given to each RU within the entire bandwidth of the wireless channel. Figure 33 Some RU size options are included. For example, for a total 320 MHz PPDU BW, there can be 343 options for RU size and location within the 320 MHz channel bandwidth (148 26-tone RUs, 64 52-tone RUs, 16 78-tone RUs, 32 106-tone RUs, 16 132-tone RUs, 16 242-tone RUs, 8 484-tone RUs, 16 726-tone RUs, 4 996-tone RUs, 8 (996+484) -tone RUs, 2 2x996-tone RUs, 4 3x996-tone RUs, 8 (3x996+484) -tone RUs, and 1 4x996-tone RU). In addition, in some implementations, there can be 115 options for different MU-MIMO RUs (if RU 106 and above RU sizes are available for MU-MIMO transmissions). Thus, different 9-bit values (up to 512 values) can be used to identify each different possible RU or aggregated RU within the PPDU BW of the 320 MHz channel bandwidth. In another implementation, 9-bit values (up to 512 values) can be used to identify each different possible RU or aggregated RU assigned to a single user within the PPDU BW, as well as each different possible RU or aggregated RU assigned to multiple users for performing MU-MIMO transmissions.

[0217] In some implementations, the RU allocation table can support partial bandwidth MU-MIMO. Partial bandwidth MU-MIMO refers to RU allocation that permits MU-MIMO for a portion of the bandwidth of a PPDU. Other portions of the same PPDU can be used for non-MU-MIMO OFDMA RUs. Thus, such a PPDU can include a combination of MU-MIMO RUs and non-MU-MIMO OFDMA RUs. To signal such RUs, the present disclosure includes some design options or simplification rules that can be applied in some implementations. For example, the simplification rules can reduce the number of RU allocation options or just reduce the RU allocation signaling. In some implementations, these simplification rules can only be applied when a PPDU includes partial bandwidth MU-MIMO RUs. For example, in PPDUs that do not include partial bandwidth MU-MIMO or use full bandwidth MU-MIMO, the simplification rules can not be needed. Up to 16 users can be supported for full BW MU-MIMO (with or without punctured channels) without the need to use a dedicated RU allocation table. Meanwhile, when a PPDU includes partial bandwidth MU-MIMO, a dedicated RU allocation table can be used based on the simplification rules. The dedicated RU allocation table can be applied to both uplink and downlink traffic when there is partial bandwidth MU-MIMO in a PPDU.

[0218] Example simplification rules presented in the present disclosure can include a minimum PPDU BW size that is permitted to support partial bandwidth MU-MIMO in the same PPDU. For example, partial bandwidth MU-MIMO can only be permitted in PPDUs with a bandwidth that exceeds a threshold size. In some implementations, the minimum PPDU bandwidth that can support partial bandwidth MU-MIMO can be a 40 MHz bandwidth or an 80 MHz bandwidth. PPDUs with a PPDU BW that is less than the minimum bandwidth can not support partial bandwidth MU-MIMO. Instead, it can use the EHT-SIG compression mode for full bandwidth MU-MIMO (with or without punctured channels) or just the RU allocation table for OFDMA. By setting a minimum PPDU BW for PPDUs that support partial bandwidth, the RU allocation signaling can be simplified for the various options of MU-MIMO and OFDMA RUs that would be used for higher bandwidth PPDUs. In some implementations, the minimum PPDU BW for supporting partial bandwidth MU-MIMO can be a configurable setting. Setting the minimum PPDU BW that supports partial bandwidth MU-MIMO to a 20 MHz bandwidth can effectively disable the rule because all PPDU BWs would support partial BW MU-MIMO. However, setting the minimum PPDU BW to a 40 MHz bandwidth or an 80 MHz bandwidth can result in different RU allocation tables being used.

[0219] Another example simplification rule presented in this disclosure can include a minimum RU size that can be assigned to partial bandwidth MU-MIMO. For example, the minimum RU size can be RU 242. In some implementations, the minimum RU size for use with MU-MIMO can depend on the bandwidth of the PPDU. For example, for a 240 MHz bandwidth (or 320 MHz bandwidth) PPDU, the minimum RU size for MU-MIMO can be RU 484. For a PPDU with a smaller PPDU BW size (less than 240 MHz bandwidth), the minimum RU size for MU-MIMO can be RU 242. The determination of the minimum RU size for MU-MIMO can be fixed or can be dynamic. For example, in a fixed configuration, the minimum RU size for MU-MIMO can be the same regardless of the PPDU BW. In a dynamic configuration, the minimum RU size for MU-MIMO can be adjusted based on the PPDU BW. In some implementations, the minimum RU size for MU-MIMO can be determined as a fraction of the PPDU BW (PBW) size. For example, the minimum RU size can be one-eighth of the PBW size. In some implementations, there can be a lower limit, such as RU 242. Table 2 summarizes some example minimum RU sizes for partial BW MU-MIMO using this example simplification rule.

[0220]

[0221]

[0222] Table 2. Minimum RU sizes for partial BW MU-MIMO based on simplification rule

[0223] Option 1: Minimum PPDU BW = 40 MHz, Minimum RU size = RU 106 (+ allowed RU 132)

[0224] Option la: Dynamic minimum RU size = 1 / 8 PPDU BW, with a lower limit of the minimum RU size being RU 106 (i.e., minimum RU size = max(PPDU BW / 8, RU 106)

[0225] 240 / 160 + 80 MHz PPDU uses a minimum RU size of RU 484

[0226] Option lb: Static minimum RU size = RU 106 (regardless of PPDU BW)

[0227] Option 2: Minimum PPDU BW = 80 MHz, Minimum RU size = RU 242

[0228] Option 2a: Dynamic minimum RU size = 1 / 8 PBW, with a lower limit of the minimum RU size being RU242 (i.e., minimum RU size = max(PBW / 8, RU242)

[0229] 240 / 160+80MHz PPDU uses a minimum RU size of RU484

[0230] Option 2b: Dynamic minimum RU size = 1 / 4 PBW

[0231] Option 2c: Static minimum RU size = RU242 (regardless of PPDU BW)

[0232] Option 3: Minimum PPDU BW = 40MHz, minimum RU size = RU242

[0233] Option 3a: Dynamic minimum RU size = 1 / 8 PBW, with a lower limit of the minimum RU size being RU242 (i.e., minimum RU size = max(PBW / 8, RU242)

[0234] 240 / 160+80MHz PPDU uses a minimum RU size of RU484

[0235] Option 3b: Dynamic minimum RU size = 1 / 4 PBW, with a lower limit of the minimum RU size being RU242 (i.e., minimum RU size = max(PBW / 4, RU242)

[0236] Option 3c: Static minimum RU size = RU242 (regardless of PPDU BW)

[0237] Another example simplification rule presented in this disclosure can include a minimum RU size that can be allocated to non-MU-MIMO users in a PPDU that includes a mix of MU-MIMO and OFDMA RUs. The minimum RU size can be used for OFDMA sections. In some implementations, the minimum RU size allocated to a single user can be the same as the minimum RU size for MU-MIMO. For example, the minimum RU size allocated to a single user can be RU242. In some implementations, the allocation of OFDMA sections can only allow a defined list of normative OFDMA patterns within the OFDMA section of the PPDU BW. For example, the normative OFDMA patterns can be based on a restriction that the size of the OFDMA section must be at least RU242. In some implementations, additional signaling can be used to split the RUs used for the OFDMA section into 2 or 4 RUs, each for one OFDMA user.

[0238] The example simplification rules described herein can be used independently or can be combined in various combinations.

[0239] The present disclosure includes design options for compressed EHT-SIG that can follow U-SIG. For example, compressed EHT-SIG can be used when EHT-SIG follows U-SIG formatted for unified SU / MU PPDU frame format. Other uses of compressed EHT-SIG can be related to MU PPDU. In some implementations, the size of compressed EHT-SIG can be reduced by omitting the RU allocation subfield in the EHT-SIG common field or using a reduced size RU allocation subfield for the EHT-SIG common field.

[0240] Figure 32A A first example table 3200 is shown, which has different options for compression modes (including no compression mode) that can be used in EHT-SIG. The use of different compression modes can depend on the type of communication in the PPDU (such as SU, non-OFDMA MU-MIMO, or OFDMA) and the puncturing of sub-channels within the PPDU BW. The PPDU type can be MU PPDU as indicated in the U-SIG. Alternatively or additionally, SU or non-OFDMA MU-MIMO designation can be determined by the “EHT-SIG symbol number” field, which can be interpreted as the number of non-OFDMA users (the value indicated in this field can be the number of non-OFDMA users minus 1). A value of “0” in the “EHT-SIG symbol number” field can indicate that the PPDU is for SU transmission. The SU will have only one per-user EHT-SIG field of non-MU-MIMO allocation format (even for punctured transmissions). In yet another implementation, if the SU PPDU is a separate PPDU type, the compression modes can be defined only for non-OFDMA MU-MIMO.

[0241] A first compression mode (“compression mode 1”) can be used in a PPDU on an un-punctured (full bandwidth) wireless channel when the PPDU is directed to a single user or uses non-OFDMA MU-MIMO transmission. In compression mode 1, the RU allocation information in the common field (of EHT-SIG) can be omitted.

[0242] A second compression mode (“compression mode 2”) can be used in a PPDU on a punctured wireless channel when the PPDU is directed to a single user or using a non-OFDMA MU-MIMO transmission. In compression mode 2, the RU allocation information in the common field (of EHT-SIG) can be replaced with punctured channel information. The punctured channel information can have a granularity of 20 MHz bandwidth. For example, the RU allocation information in the common field (of EHT-SIG) can be replaced with punctured channel bitmaps for other 80 MHz segments (different from where the EHT-SIG is located). The puncturing information for the 80 MHz segment (that carries the EHT-SIG) would be indicated by the PPDU BW indicator in the U-SIG. Thus, compression mode 2 can permit conveying information about the puncturing in the current 80 MHz segment of the wireless channel as well as other 80 MHz segments.

[0243] In some implementations, the punctured channel bitmaps can be omitted if the PPDU BW is 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHz. The punctured channel bitmaps can be 4 bits if the PPDU BW is 160 MHz or 80+80 MHz. The punctured channel bitmaps can be 8 bits if the PPDU BW is 240 MHz or 160+80 MHz. The punctured channel bitmaps can be 12 bits if the PPDU BW is 320 MHz or 160+160 MHz. In some implementations, such as when the [1 2 1 2] structure is used with EHT-SIG parallelization, the punctured channel bitmaps can be half the size.

[0244] When OFDMA is used, neither compressed mode 1 nor compressed mode 2 is used. In a full bandwidth PPDU, OFDMA signaling can not need punctured channel bitmap. When OFDMA is used in a PPDU on a wireless channel with punctured sub-channels, RU allocation can be based on shifted tone plan or updated RU allocation table. For example, an updated tone plan (with shifted RUs) can support different puncturing modes. Punctured channel bitmap can support indication of puncturing in other 80 MHz segments (different from the 80 MHz segment used for this EHT-SIG). Punctured channel bitmap can support granularity of 20 MHz puncturing. Updated tone plan can be based on punctured channel bitmap. Alternatively, the RU allocation table can be revised to include 1-2 bits to indicate use of updated tone plan. In another alternative, the per-user field can be updated to include bits to indicate use of updated tone plan (with RU shifting). In some implementations, the same punctured channel bitmap used with compressed mode 2 can be used. In some implementations, such as when the tone plan for 80 MHz segment uses a duplicated HE40 tone plan or a new EHT80 tone plan, puncturing of sub-channels does not change the OFDMA tone plan, and punctured channel signaling can not be needed in the EHT-SIG common field. In some implementations, the same RU allocation subfield design can be used for both full bandwidth OFDMA and OFDMA with punctured sub-channels.

[0245] In some implementations, the RU allocation table can be reduced by limiting some options of RU allocation that can be made (in the EHT-SIG common RU allocation subfield or in the per-user RU allocation subfield). Depending on the limitation of RU allocation options, the number of bits needed to signal the RU allocation can change.

[0246] Figure 32B A second example table is shown with different options for compressed modes that can be used in EHT-SIG, including for PPDUs that include partial bandwidth MU-MIMO. The use of different compressed modes can depend on the type of communication in the PPDU (such as SU, non-OFDMA MU-MIMO, or OFDMA), puncturing of sub-channels within the PPDU BW, and whether the PPDU includes a partial bandwidth MU-MIMO portion. When the PPDU is directed to a single user or uses non-OFDMA MU-MIMO transmission, a first compressed mode (“compressed mode 1”) can be used in the PPDU on an unpunctured (full bandwidth) wireless channel. In compressed mode 1, the RU allocation information in the common field (of EHT-SIG) can be omitted.

[0247] When the PPDU is directed to a single user or uses non-OFDMA MU-MIMO transmission, a second compression mode (“compression mode 2”) can be used in the PPDU over the punctured wireless channel. In compression mode 2, the RU allocation information in the common field (of EHT-SIG) can be replaced with punctured channel information.

[0248] When the PPDU includes OFDMA, neither compression mode 1 nor compression mode 2 can be used. Instead, a third compression mode (“compression mode 3”) can be used with the PPDU including partial bandwidth MU-MIMO RUs. A fourth compression mode (“compression mode 4”) can be used with the PPDU including only OFDMA RUs without any MU-MIMO RUs. In compression mode 4, each RU can be assigned to no more than one user, and no RUs can be assigned for MU-MIMO. Thus, compression mode 3 supports a mix of OFDMA and MU-MIMO, and compression mode 4 can be used for PPDUs that are only for OFDMA. The use of different compression modes can simplify the signaling regarding RU allocation.

[0249] Figure 32C A third example table is shown with different options for the compression mode that can be used in EHT-SIG. The use of different compression modes can depend on the type of communication in the PPDU, such as SU, non-OFDMA MU-MIMO, or OFDMA. When the PPDU is directed to a single user, a first compression mode (“compression mode 1”) can be used in the PPDU. In compression mode 1, the RU allocation information in the common field (of EHT-SIG) can be omitted, and only the total number of non-OFDMA users is signaled in all 20 MHz subchannels in the EHT-SIG common field. When the PPDU is a non-OFDMA MU-MIMO transmission, a second compression mode (“compression mode 2”) can be used in the PPDU. In compression mode 2, the RU allocation information in the common field (of EHT-SIG) can be omitted, and only the total number of non-OFDMA users is signaled in all 20 MHz subchannels in the EHT-SIG common field. When the PPDU includes OFDMA, neither compression mode 1 nor compression mode 2 can be used.

[0250] Figure 32DA fourth example table is shown with different options for compressed mode that can be used in EHT-SIG. The use of compressed mode can depend on the type of communication in the PPDU, such as SU, non-OFDMA MU-MIMO, or OFDMA. When the PPDU is directed to a single user or is a non-OFDMA MU-MIMO transmission, a first compressed mode (“compressed mode 1”) can be used in the PPDU. In compressed mode 1, the RU allocation information in the common field (of EHT-SIG) can be omitted and only the total number of non-OFDMA users is signaled in the EHT-SIG common field in all 20 MHz sub-channels. When the PPDU includes OFDMA, the uncompressed mode can be used.

[0251] The present disclosure includes some options for a reduced size RU allocation subfield of EHT-SIG. In some implementations, the compressed EHT-SIG can use a [1, 2, 1, 2] content channel structure similar to IEEE 802.11ax. However, the EHT-SIG structure for channel bandwidths up to 160 MHz can be the same as the SIG-B structure defined for IEEE 802.11ax. However, for channel bandwidths exceeding 160 MHz, a reduced size RU allocation subfield of EHT-SIG can be used to manage the overhead. For example, for 320 MHz, the reduced size RU allocation subfield of EHT-SIG can include a 5-bit value (rather than the 8-bit value that would otherwise be used to signal each size of RU allocation).

[0252] In a first example option, the minimum RU size can be RU52. MU-MIMO can be allowed only for RU sizes >= RU242. The center RU26 of each 20 MHz can be used only if it is aggregated with adjacent RUs 106.

[0253] In a second example option, the minimum RU size can be RU106. MU-MIMO can be allowed only for RU sizes >= RU242. The center RU26 of each 20 MHz can be assigned individually.

[0254] Within each 80 MHz of an EHT 80 MHz, 160 MHz, or 320 MHz, there are other possible small RU aggregation patterns. For example, in the first and third 20 MHz sub-channels, the aggregation can include [RU 106 + 26, RU 106]. In the second and fourth 20 MHz sub-channels, the aggregation can include [RU 106, RU 26 + 106]. In some implementations, the RU allocation table can assume a minimum RU 52 size, and MU-MIMO for RU 242 and larger RUs. In another example variant, the RU allocation table can use a minimum RU 106 size with aggregation pattern options. The aggregation pattern can depend on which 20 MHz within each 80 MHz. The center RU 26 (C-RU 26) in each 20 MHz can be aggregated with the adjacent RU 106. The aggregation pattern depends on which 20 MHz within each 80 MHz. Other variants can be possible. For example, each RU allocation subfield in the EHT-SIG can be in the uncompressed mode and include up to 8 or 9 bits. However, it is possible to add new RU allocation options for the newly defined aggregated RUs in 11 be or higher bandwidths by removing some RU allocation options. Further, in some implementations, the revised RU allocation table can implement some further optimizations or conventions for MU-MIMO signaling. For example, by limiting the minimum RU allocation size for MU-MIMO RUs to RU 242 or larger, the RU allocation table can be extended to include larger bandwidth RU options as well as MU-MIMO for up to 16 users without increasing the total size of the RU allocation table. In some options, aggregated RUs can also be used to support different RU sizes.

[0255] In some implementations, the RU allocation table can be modified to limit some options while adding new options. For example, each RU allocation subfield in the EHT-SIG can be in the uncompressed mode and include up to 8 or 9 bits. However, it is possible to add new RU allocation options for newly defined aggregated RUs in 11 be or higher bandwidths by removing some RU allocation options. Further, in some implementations, the revised RU allocation table can implement some further optimizations or conventions for MU-MIMO signaling. For example, by limiting the minimum RU allocation size for MU-MIMO RUs to be RU242 or larger, the RU allocation table can be extended to include larger bandwidth RU options as well as MU-MIMO for up to 16 users without increasing the total size of the RU allocation table. In some options, aggregated RUs can also be used to support different RU sizes. The updated RU allocation table can be used for the RU allocation values filled in the RU allocation subfields (in the EHT-SIG). Alternatively, as further described below, the updated RU allocation table can be used for the RU assignment and MU-MIMO indication in a self-contained user field of the EHT-SIG. In some implementations, the MU-MIMO transmission can support up to 16 users without the RU allocation subfields in the EHT-SIG common. This can include MU-MIMO transmissions with or without puncturing. The MU-MIMO configuration can be signaled in each user RU allocation subfield of the user field. When the RU allocation (with or without the MU-MIMO indicator) is included in each user RU allocation subfield of the user field, the user field can be referred to as a self-contained user field, similar to the reference Figure 31 described. When the EHT-SIG includes a self-contained user field, the EHT-SIG common can not include the RU allocation subfields. Instead, the RU allocation information (and frequency allocation) is included in the self-contained user field. In some implementations, the EHT-SIG common can be revised to include the total number of users and the total number of spatial streams (N sts,total ) for MU-MIMO RUs.

[0256] The RU allocation table can include entries for the RU allocation subfield of the EHT-SIG that support MU-MIMO for up to 16 users for RU 242. For larger RUs, such as RUs that span multiple 20 MHz subchannels, 16 users can be supported for MU-MIMO because the RU allocation table can be used for each 20 MHz. For each 20 MHz of a full bandwidth or punctured bandwidth PPDU, an 8-bit value for the RU allocation subfield can be included. The example RU allocation tables differ from the legacy IEEE 802.11ax RU allocation tables because the example RU allocation tables all support MU-MIMO for up to 16 users. In the first example RU allocation table, the RU allocation and MU-MIMO information can be combined in the RU allocation table, and the first example RU allocation table can include some aggregated RUs to enable more RU allocation options.

[0257] Each entry in the example RU allocation tables (one table per 20 MHz within the PPDU BW) indicates what the RUs are in this 20 MHz and how many users are in each RU. The example RU allocation tables can limit some MU-MIMO configurations (lower than RU 242) so that the same number of bits (8) can be used to signal the RU allocation options. For PPDUs that include MU-MIMO, the minimum RU size for partial BW MU-MIMO can be RU 242 or higher. This is to signal 16 users with the existing RU allocation subfield size (8 bits).

[0258] In both example RU allocation tables, the number of entries for RU 242 is increased from 8 to 16 to support up to 16 users. In some implementations, one entry can be added to the example RU allocation tables to indicate a puncture of the 20 MHz subchannel. Having an entry for indicating a puncture has the advantage that if a particular 20 MHz subchannel is punctured, a device can determine whether to shift the RU within the tone map. Both example RU allocation tables include additional entries within the 20 MHz bandwidth. For example, the example RU allocation tables add 11 entries related to RU 78 and 10 entries related to RU 132 within the 20 MHz bandwidth. The example RU allocation tables include additional entries to support bandwidths greater than 20 MHz. For example, the example RU allocation tables add 18 entries related to RU 768 (242 + 484 or 484 + 242) in order to support additional options for RUs for greater than 40 Mhz. For another example, the example RU allocation tables add 54 entries related to RU (484 + 996 or 996 + 484), 9 entries related to RU 2x996, and 9 entries related to RU 3x996. These new entries are added so that RU allocation can be made for larger bandwidths (beyond 80 MHz or 160 MHz bandwidth). The example RU allocation tables can include additional entries to support additional options for greater than 20 MHz bandwidth in the RU allocation table using more aggregation mode options. For example, the example RU allocation tables add 18 entries related to RU (484 + 2x996, 996 + 484 + 996, 2x996 + 484) and 18 entries related to RU (484 + 3x996).

[0259] In some implementations, the RU allocation tables can support aggregated RUs referred to as combinations of smaller RU sizes. For example, a 484 tone RU and a 996 tone RU can be combined to form an aggregated RU referred to as a (484 + 996) tone RU or a (996 + 484) tone RU. To support larger aggregated RUs, the RU allocation subfield in the EHT-SIG common field can have a first entry and up to 8 other entries. The first entry represents a (size A) tone RU within a (size A + size B) tone RU in the current 20 MHz and there is no user field in the EHT-SIG associated with this RU allocation subfield. In the RU allocation table including the aggregated RUs, the (size A + size B) tone RU and the (size B + size A) tone RU (e.g., the (484 + 996) tone RU and the (996 + 484) tone RU) have different values. The “size A” RU component is in the lower band and the “size B” RU component is in the higher band.

[0260] As previously described, the content of the EHT-SIG common field can depend on the compression mode option for the PPDU when the wireless channel is full bandwidth or punctured. In addition, the size of the EHT-SIG common field can be adjusted based on the PPDU BW. Table 3 shows the size of the EHT-SIG based on the PPDU BW for 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, 240 MHz, and 320 MHz bandwidths.

[0261]

[0262] Table 3: EHT-SIG common field size

[0263] In addition to other details, Table 3 shows the number of RU allocation subfields in the EHT-SIG common. Each RU allocation subfield is 8 bits and can be used to signal RU allocation within a 20 MHz bandwidth. Thus, when the PPDU BW is 320 MHz, up to 16 RU allocation subfields can be included in the EHT-SIG common to indicate RU allocation for the full bandwidth. In some implementations, in the case where 11ax is used (similar to [1 2 1 2] content channel structure), the RU allocation subfields can be parallelized into two content channels and the common field size changes in each content channel. Table 3 also shows the number of bits for the punctured channel bitmap to indicate which subchannels are punctured.

[0264] In the compressed mode, the user field can not include per-user RU allocation information. When the EHT-SIG common includes RU allocation subfields, the user field can not include per-user RU allocation information. However, the user field of the EHT-SIG common can be adjusted to support up to 16 spatial streams for non-MU-MIMO and MU-MIMO. Examples of the user field are shown as Table 4 (for non-MU-MIMO allocation), Table 5 (for non-MU-MIMO with MCS with DCM parameters), and Table 6 (for MU-MIMO allocation) below.

[0265] Subfield Number of bits STA-ID 11 NSTS 4 Beamformed 1 MCS 4 DCM 1 Encoding 1

[0266] Table 4: User field for non-MU-MIMO allocation

[0267]

[0268]

[0269] Table 5: User field for non-MU-MIMO allocation (where DCM and BPSK modulation are reflected in the MCS value)

[0270] Subfield Number of bits STA-ID 11 Spatial configuration 6-8 MCS 4 Encoding 1

[0271] Table 6: User field for MU-MIMO allocation

[0272] NSTS (in Table 4) can be 4 bits, so it can signal a high enough value to support 16 spatial streams. The Table 5 Spatial Configuration (in Table 6) can be 6, 7, or 8 bits to support different spatial stream configurations for MU-MIMO as described with reference to Figure 26 In some implementations, the Spatial Configuration in Table 6 is 6 bits so that the user field is exactly 22 bits. Thus, the user field for non-MU-MIMO (Table 4) and MU-MIMO (Table 6) can have a consistent size (22 bits) while supporting up to 16 spatial streams.

[0273] When the EHT-SIG includes self-contained user fields, each user field can include RU allocation information. In some implementations, the RU allocation subfield in the EHT-SIG common can not be necessary because the RU allocation information is included in the self-contained user field. Examples of self-contained user fields are shown below as Table 7 (for non-MU-MIMO allocation) and Table 8 (for MU-MIMO allocation).

[0274] Table 7 shows an example format of a self-contained user field when RU allocation is for non-MU-MIMO allocation.

[0275]

[0276]

[0277] Table 7. Example format of user field for non-MU-MIMO allocation

[0278] Table 8 shows an example format of a user field when RU allocation is for MU-MIMO allocation.

[0279]

[0280]

[0281] Table 8. Example format of user field for MU-MIMO allocation

[0282] Table 9 shows an example format of a user field with a unified format that supports non-MU-MIMO or MU-MIMO allocation.

[0283]

[0284]

[0285] Table 9. Example unified format for user field for non-MU-MIMO or MU-MIMO allocation

[0286] In some implementations, it is possible to combine RU allocation information with MU-MIMO information. For example, in IEEE 802.11ax, not all RUs are MU-MIMOed. RUs 26 and 52 can be assigned to a single user (SU) only, not to multiple users for MU-MIMO. Only certain size RUs, such as RU 106 or RU 242, and larger RUs can be assigned to multiple users for MU-MIMO.

[0287] If similar restrictions are used in IEEE 802.11be, it is possible to signal the RU allocation and MU-MIMO indication as a 9-bit combined value, as described in one option in Figure 33 For channel bandwidths up to 320 MHz, there can be 458 RUs and RU aggregation modes in non-MU-MIMO mode. See Figure 33 for a list of various RU allocations and MU-MIMO options (and their potential bit lengths) for other bandwidth sizes. If only RU 106 and larger RUs (32+16+8+4+2+1 = 63) and RU aggregation modes (using RU 106 and larger RUs) are allowed to be allocated for MU-MIMO mode, the total number of RUs and combinations will be less than 512. Thus, 9 bits can be sufficient to represent the combinations of different RUs and MU-MIMO and non-MU-MIMO indications within 320 MHz bandwidth with the restriction on smaller RUs. Further, in another implementation, 9 bits can be sufficient to represent the combinations of different RUs and RU aggregation modes and MU-MIMO and non-MU-MIMO indications within 320 MHz bandwidth with the restriction on smaller RUs. Table 10 shows an example format for the user field when the RU allocation and MU-MIMO indicator is represented by a combined indicator and the user field is for non-MU-MIMO allocation.

[0288]

[0289]

[0290] Table 10. Example format for user field for non-MU-MIMO allocation with combined RU allocation

[0291] Table 11 shows an example format for the user field when the RU allocation and MU-MIMO indicator is represented by a combined indicator and the user field is for MU-MIMO allocation.

[0292]

[0293]

[0294] Table 11. Example format of user field for MU-MIMO allocation with combined RU allocation

[0295] Table 12 shows an example format of the user field using a unified format when the RU allocation and MU-MIMO indicator are represented by a combined indicator.

[0296]

[0297] Table 12. Example unified format of user field using combined RU allocation and MU-MIMO allocation

[0298] In some implementations, a self-contained user field, such as any of those described in Tables 7-12, can be formatted to have a consistent length, such as 31 or 32 bits. In a self-contained user field design, the number of reserved bits or the length of various indicators can be varied to achieve a consistent bit length for each user field.

[0299] Figure 33 Table 3310 shows the number of per-user RU assignment options when using a self-contained user field in the EHT-SIG. This shows the RU types that can be assigned within different channel bandwidth (CBW) options. For example, for a 20 MHz channel bandwidth, there can be 9 26-tone RUs, 5 52-tone RUs, 2 78-tone RUs, 2 106-tone RUs, 2 132-tone RUs, 1 242-tone RU. New RU sizes (based on aggregated RUs) are indicated in italics, such as 78-tone RU, 132-tone RU, etc. Thus, for a 20 MHz CBW, there can be a total of 20 RU options for OFDMA. In addition to the non-MU-MIMO OFDMA RU assignment options, this table can be extended to include MU-MIMO options. As described herein, the MU-MIMO options can be limited, such as RU 106, RU 242, or larger. The example in Table 3310 is based on the limitation of MU-MIMO RU allocation to be RU 106 or larger. For a channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, there can be up to 5 options for MU-MIMO RUs. Thus, within a channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, there can be 20 OFDMA RU options and 5 MU-MIMO RU options, for a total of 25 entries in the RU assignment table. The per-user RU assignment information in the self-contained user field can use 5 bits to signal any of the RU options— including whether the RU option is for OFDMA or MU-MIMO.

[0300] Table 3310 shows the total number of entries needed in the RU allocation table for different channel bandwidths up to 320 MHz. For example, in a channel bandwidth of 320 (CBW80x4, CBW160+80x2, CBW160x2, or CBW320), there can be a total of 458 entries. Each entry can signal different OFDMA RU options or MU-MIMO options. Thus, it can be possible to use 9 bits to signal OFDMA RU or MU-MIMO RU assignments.

[0301] In some implementations, the number of bits included in the per-user RU assignment information in the self-contained user field can change depending on the PPDU BW. For example, the PPDU BW field in the U-SIG can indicate that the PPDU bandwidth is CBW20, CBW40, CBW80, CBW80+80, CBW160, CBW80x3, CBW160+80, CBW240, CBW80x4, CBW160+80x2, CBW160x2, or CBW320. Based on the value in the PPDU BW field of the U-SIG, the per-user RU assignment information in the self-contained user field can be 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 bits, respectively, as shown in Table 3310.

[0302] As described previously (with reference to Figure 32B ), the signaling for a PPDU supporting partial bandwidth MU-MIMO and OFDMA can be simplified. In compressed mode 3, the RU allocation subfield can include signaling for RU allocation within a PPDU including both MU-MIMO and OFDMA sections. Some partial BW RUs can be MU-MIMO RUs, while other RUs can be for OFDMA. By using the simplified rules described herein, there can be a maximum of 8 MU-MIMO RUs within a PPDU. The RU allocation subfield can include some bits that signal the initial split of the PPDU BW into different initial RU portions. Further signaling for each initial RU portion can then signal whether the initial RU portion is punctured, used for MU-MIMO, or further split into one or more RUs for OFDMA.

[0303] In examples where no compression mode is used for the RU allocation subfield, there can be a new RU allocation table with entries optimized to support partial bandwidth MU-MIMO RU allocation. For example, the RU allocation table can include per 20MHz RU allocation options to support flexible combinations of MU-MIMO and OFDMA RU allocation in a PPDU. Table 14 shows the number of bits needed to signal the unique entries from some example RU allocation tables. For example, a first design option (Option 1) for the RU allocation table can support RU 106 for MU-MIMO but not RU 132 for MU-MIMO, 1 MU-MIMO RU and up to 16 users in a 20MHz bandwidth, or 2 MU-MIMO RUs and up to 4 users in a 20MHz bandwidth. There are 452 entries in the first design option for the RU allocation table. Thus, 9 bits can be used to signal the unique entries in the example RU allocation table with the first design option.

[0304] Table 15 shows example RU allocation tables according to some implementations described herein. Entries that reflect modifications are shown in bold.

[0305]

[0306]

[0307]

[0308]

[0309] Table 15. Example RU Allocation Tables

[0310] Table 16 shows a spatial stream configuration design.

[0311]

[0312]

[0313]

[0314]

[0315]

[0316]

[0317]

[0318]

[0319] Table 16. Illustrates spatial stream configuration design.

[0320] Table 16 illustrates reference Figure 26 described 6-bit spatial stream configuration design.

[0321] As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of’ or “one or more of’ a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. For example, “at least one of a, b, or c” is intended to cover the possibilities of: a alone, b alone, c alone, a combination of a and b, a combination of a and c, a combination of b and c, and a combination of a and b and c.

[0322] The various illustrative components, logic, logical blocks, modules, circuits, operations and algorithm processes described in connection with the implementations disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, firmware, software, or combinations of hardware, firmware or software, including the structures disclosed in this specification and the structural equivalents thereof. The interchangeability of hardware, firmware and software has been described generally, in terms of their functionality, and herein with respect to the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits and processes described above. Such functionality is implemented in the hardware, firmware or software depending on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0323] Various modifications to these implementations described in this disclosure can be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the generic principles defined herein can be applied to other implementations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the implementations shown herein, but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with this disclosure, the principles and novel features disclosed herein, and their equivalents.

[0324] In addition, various features described in this specification in the context of separate implementations can also be implemented in combinations with one another. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single implementation can also be implemented on other occasions. Such combinations are also within the scope of the disclosure, and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Thus, although specific implementations have been described in detail, these are not meant to be limiting, and other implementations can be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the disclosure and this description, and are intended to be encompassed by the claims.

[0325] Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring such an order nor that all illustrated operations be performed, to accomplish desirable results. Further, the illustrated examples can be implemented in a flow diagram form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a flowchart form, or in a

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication by a wireless communication device, comprising: receiving, via a wireless channel, a packet comprising a preamble portion and a data portion, the preamble portion comprising: a universal signal field (U-SIG) comprising at least a version identifier and frequency occupancy information, the frequency occupancy information comprising a bandwidth field and a punctured channel information field; and a first signal field on one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel indicated by one or more of the bandwidth field or the punctured channel information field; and decoding the first signal field on the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel in accordance with the version identifier and the frequency occupancy information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein: the bandwidth field indicates a plurality of sub-channels of the wireless channel, and the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel comprise each of the plurality of sub-channels in accordance with the punctured channel information field indicating that no sub-channels are punctured, or the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel comprise fewer than all of the plurality of sub-channels in accordance with the punctured channel information field indicating that one or more of the plurality of sub-channels are punctured.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the bandwidth field indicates a plurality of sub-channels of the wireless channel and the punctured channel information field comprises a value indicating which sub-channel or sub-channels of the plurality of sub-channels of the wireless channel are punctured.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the punctured channel information field comprises a bitmap, each bit of the bitmap indicating whether an associated sub-channel of a plurality of sub-channels of the wireless channel is punctured.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each bit is associated with a single respective 20 MHz sub-channel of the plurality of sub-channels.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the wireless channel comprises a plurality of 80 MHz sub-channels and wherein the punctured channel information field comprises a respective bitmap for each of the plurality of 80 MHz sub-channels, each bit of the bitmap indicating whether an associated sub-channel of the respective 80 MHz sub-channel is punctured.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal field comprises one or more overflow bits associated with one or more fields of the U-SIG.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal field indicates one or more resource allocations for a single wireless communication device or a plurality of wireless communication devices.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal field is included in one or more content channels within the one or more sub-channels of a plurality of sub-channels of the wireless channel.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more content channels comprise a first content channel repeated within first and third sub-channels of the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel, and a second content channel repeated within second and fourth sub-channels of the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the punctured channel information field indicates that at least one sub-channel of the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel is a punctured sub-channel, and the at least one punctured sub-channel does not include a repetition of the first content channel or the second content channel.

12. A wireless communication device, comprising: at least one modem configured to communicate via a wireless channel; at least one processor communicatively coupled with the at least one modem; and at least one memory communicatively coupled with the at least one processor and storing processor-readable code that, when executed by the at least one processor in conjunction with the at least one modem, is configured to: acquire, via the at least one modem, a packet comprising a preamble portion and a data portion, the preamble portion comprising: a universal signal field (U-SIG) comprising at least a version identifier and frequency occupancy information, the frequency occupancy information comprising a bandwidth field and a punctured channel information field; and a first signal field on one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel indicated by one or more of the bandwidth field or the punctured channel information field; and decode the first signal field on the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel in accordance with the version identifier and the frequency occupancy information.

13. The wireless communication device of claim 12, wherein the bandwidth field comprises a value indicating the one or more sub-channels of a plurality of sub-channels of the wireless channel, the punctured channel information field is not present, and at least a portion of the first signal field is on each of the one or more sub-channels.

14. The wireless communication device of claim 12, wherein the punctured channel information field comprises a value indicating which sub-channel or sub-channels of a plurality of sub-channels of the wireless channel are punctured.

15. The wireless communication device of claim 12, wherein the punctured channel information field comprises a bitmap, each bit of the bitmap indicating whether an associated sub-channel of a plurality of sub-channels of the wireless channel is punctured.

16. The wireless communication device of claim 15, wherein each bit is associated with a single respective 20 MHz sub-channel of the plurality of sub-channels.

17. The wireless communication device of claim 16, wherein the wireless channel comprises a plurality of 80 MHz sub-channels and wherein the punctured channel information field comprises a respective bitmap for each of the plurality of 80 MHz sub-channels, each bit of the bitmap indicating whether an associated sub-channel of the respective 80 MHz sub-channel is punctured.

18. The wireless communication device of claim 12, wherein the first signal field comprises one or more overflow bits associated with one or more fields of the U-SIG.

19. The wireless communication device of claim 12, wherein the first signal field is included in one or more content channels within the one or more sub-channels of a plurality of sub-channels of the wireless channel.

20. The wireless communication device of claim 19, wherein the one or more content channels comprise a first content channel that is repeated within a first sub-channel and a third sub-channel of the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel, and a second content channel that is repeated within a second sub-channel and a fourth sub-channel of the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel.

21. The wireless communication device of claim 20, wherein the punctured channel information field indicates that at least one sub-channel of the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel is a punctured sub-channel, and the at least one punctured sub-channel does not include a repetition of the first content channel or the second content channel.

22. A mobile station, comprising: a wireless communication device, the wireless communication device comprising: at least one modem; at least one processor communicatively coupled with the at least one modem; and at least one memory communicatively coupled with the at least one processor and storing processor-readable code that, when executed by the at least one processor in conjunction with the at least one modem, is configured to: receive, via a wireless channel, a packet comprising a preamble portion and a data portion, the preamble portion comprising: a universal signal field (U-SIG) comprising at least a version identifier and frequency occupancy information, the frequency occupancy information comprising a bandwidth field and a punctured channel information field; and a first signal field on one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel indicated by one or more of the bandwidth field or the punctured channel information field; and decode the first signal field on the one or more sub-channels of the wireless channel in accordance with the version identifier and the frequency occupancy information; at least one transceiver coupled to the at least one modem; at least one antenna coupled to the at least one transceiver to wirelessly transmit signals output from the at least one transceiver and to wirelessly receive signals for input into 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.

23. A wireless communication device, comprising: a processing system including processor circuitry and memory circuitry storing code, the processing system configured to cause the wireless communication device to: receive, via at least a portion of a wireless channel, a packet including a preamble portion and a data portion, the preamble portion including: a universal signal field (U-SIG) duplicated on each of a first subset of sub-channels of the wireless channel, the first subset of sub-channels including two or more sub-channels, and the U-SIG including at least a version identifier indicating a version of the packet and frequency occupancy information indicating a bandwidth of the wireless channel and punctured channel information, wherein the two or more sub-channels of the first subset of sub-channels are determined based at least in part on the bandwidth of the wireless channel and the punctured channel information; and a first signal field encoded in a frequency domain across the first subset of sub-channels; and decode the first signal field on the first subset of sub-channels according to the version identifier and the frequency occupancy information.

24. The wireless communication device of claim 23, wherein the wireless channel spans one or more 80 MHz bandwidth portions, and the first signal field is encoded across two or more 20 MHz sub-channels within a first 80 MHz bandwidth portion.

25. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein a starting 20 MHz sub-channel within the first 80 MHz bandwidth portion is a lowest 20 MHz sub-channel within the 80 MHz bandwidth portion.

26. The wireless communication device of claim 23, wherein the wireless channel spans one or more 80 MHz bandwidth portions, and a first instance of the first signal field is encoded across a first 20 MHz sub-channel and a second 20 MHz sub-channel within a first 80 MHz bandwidth portion, and a second instance of the first signal field is encoded across a third 20 MHz sub-channel and a fourth 20 MHz sub-channel within the first 80 MHz bandwidth portion.

27. The wireless communication device of claim 26, wherein: when the first 80 MHz bandwidth portion is not punctured, the first 20 MHz sub-channel includes a first instance of a first content channel of the first signal field, the second 20 MHz sub-channel includes a first instance of a second content channel of the first signal field, the third 20 MHz sub-channel includes a second instance of the first content channel, and the fourth 20 MHz sub-channel includes a second instance of the second content channel.

28. The wireless communication device of claim 27, wherein to decode the first signal field, the processing system is further configured to cause the wireless communication device to: combine the first instance of the first content channel and the second instance of the first content channel; and decode the first content channel using a 20 MHz decoder.

29. The wireless communication device of claim 26, wherein the punctured channel information indicates that one or more of the 20 MHz sub-channels are punctured.

30. The wireless communication device of claim 27 or 28, wherein the first content channel and the second content channel are alternately encoded in consecutive 20 MHz sub-channels, and one or more instances of the first content channel or the second content channel are omitted when the corresponding 20 MHz sub-channels are punctured.

31. The wireless communication device of claim 27 or 28, wherein the first content channel and the second content channel are alternately encoded in consecutive unpunctured 20 MHz sub-channels.

32. The wireless communication device of claim 23, wherein the packet is formatted according to a multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) format that supports multiple users including the wireless communication device, and wherein the first signal field further includes a spatial stream configuration for the wireless communication device.

33. The wireless communication device of claim 32, wherein the spatial stream configuration indicates that at least two spatial streams are configured for the wireless communication device.

34. The wireless communication device of claim 33, wherein the spatial stream configuration indicates that up to 4 spatial streams or up to 8 spatial streams are configured for the wireless communication device, and wherein at least one other user is configured with up to 4 spatial streams or up to 8 spatial streams.

35. The wireless communication device of claim 32, wherein the spatial stream configuration supports up to 16 spatial streams.

36. A method for a wireless communication device, comprising: receiving, via at least a portion of a wireless channel, a packet including a preamble portion and a data portion, the preamble portion including: a universal signal field (U-SIG) duplicated on each sub-channel in a first subset of sub-channels of the wireless channel, the first subset of sub-channels including two or more sub-channels, and the U-SIG including at least a version identifier indicating a version of the packet and frequency occupation information indicating a bandwidth of the wireless channel and punctured channel information, wherein the two or more sub-channels in the first subset of sub-channels are determined based at least in part on the bandwidth of the wireless channel and the punctured channel information; and a first signal field encoded in a frequency domain across the first subset of sub-channels; and decoding the first signal field on the first subset of sub-channels according to the version identifier and the frequency occupation information.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the wireless channel spans one or more 80 MHz bandwidth portions, and the first signal field is encoded across two or more 20 MHz sub-channels within a first 80 MHz bandwidth portion.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein a starting 20 MHz subchannel within the first 80 MHz bandwidth part is a lowest 20 MHz subchannel within the 80 MHz bandwidth part.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein the wireless channel spans one or more 80 MHz bandwidth parts, and a first instance of the first signal field is encoded across a first 20 MHz subchannel and a second 20 MHz subchannel within a first 80 MHz bandwidth part, and a second instance of the first signal field is encoded across a third 20 MHz subchannel and a fourth 20 MHz subchannel within the first 80 MHz bandwidth part.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein: when the first 80 MHz bandwidth part is not punctured, the first 20 MHz subchannel comprises a first instance of a first content channel of the first signal field, the second 20 MHz subchannel comprises a first instance of a second content channel of the first signal field, the third 20 MHz subchannel comprises a second instance of the first content channel, and the fourth 20 MHz subchannel comprises a second instance of the second content channel.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the decoding further comprises: combining the first instance of the first content channel and the second instance of the first content channel; and decoding the first content channel using a 20 MHz decoder.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein the punctured channel information indicates that one or more of the 20 MHz subchannels are punctured.

43. The method of claim 40 or 41, wherein the first content channel and the second content channel are alternately encoded in consecutive 20 MHz subchannels, and one or more instances of the first content channel or the second content channel are omitted when a corresponding 20 MHz subchannel is punctured.

44. The method of claim 40 or 41, wherein the first content channel and the second content channel are alternately encoded in consecutive unpunctured 20 MHz subchannels.

45. The method of claim 36, wherein the packet is formatted according to a multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) format, the MU MIMO format supporting multiple users, and wherein the first signal field further comprises a spatial stream configuration for the wireless communication device.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the spatial stream configuration indicates that at least two spatial streams are configured for the wireless communication device.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the spatial stream configuration indicates that up to 4 spatial streams or up to 8 spatial streams are configured for the wireless communication device, and wherein at least one other user is configured with up to 4 spatial streams or up to 8 spatial streams. ​ 48. The method of claim 45, wherein the spatial stream configuration supports up to 16 spatial streams.

49. A mobile station, comprising: a wireless communication device, the wireless communication device comprising: at least one modem; at least one processor communicatively coupled with the at least one modem; and at least one memory communicatively coupled with the at least one processor and storing processor-readable code that, when executed by the at least one processor in conjunction with the at least one modem, is configured to: receive, via at least a portion of a wireless channel, a packet comprising a preamble portion and a data portion, the preamble portion comprising: a universal signal field (U-SIG) duplicated on each subchannel in a first subset of subchannels of the wireless channel, the first subset of subchannels comprising two or more subchannels, and the U-SIG comprising at least a version identifier indicating a version of the packet and frequency occupation information indicating a bandwidth of the wireless channel and punctured channel information, wherein the two or more subchannels in the first subset of subchannels are determined based at least in part on the bandwidth of the wireless channel and the punctured channel information; a first signal field encoded in a frequency domain across the first subset of subchannels; and decode the first signal field on the first subset of subchannels according to the version identifier and the frequency occupation information; at least one transceiver coupled to the at least one modem; at least one antenna coupled to the at least one transceiver to wirelessly transmit signals output from the at least one transceiver and to wirelessly receive signals for input into 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.

Images