PPDU Signaling Field Segmentation for Lower Wi-Fi Overhead
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing number of user fields in the signaling field of a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) due to supporting more station users in wireless local area networks leads to significant signaling overheads.
Innovation Solution
The signaling field is transmitted on a first frequency domain segment, with a common field including a resource unit allocation subfield that indicates the resource units allocated to the segment, and a user specific field that omits or simplifies user fields for unallocated resource units, reducing the overall overheads by combining multiple small resource units into a single user field.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the PPDU supports more station users by including all user fields corresponding to each resource unit allocation subfield, then the system capacity and user support capability are improved, but the signaling overhead increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the frequency domain into multiple segments and divides the resource unit allocation into different types (first type and second type). The first resource units are allocated to stations in a first frequency domain segment, while second resource units are allocated to stations in a second frequency domain segment. This segmentation allows the access point to selectively include user fields only for relevant segments, reducing overall signaling overhead while maintaining support for multiple users.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of including all user fields for all resource units in the signaling field, the patent applies partial action by including user fields only for the first type of resource units allocated to the first frequency domain segment. The second type of resource units allocated to the second frequency domain segment do not have their user fields included in the same signaling field. This partial inclusion significantly reduces signaling overhead while still enabling multi-user support.
2Loss of information
If the signaling field includes all user fields for every resource unit allocation, then complete user information is provided, but the data transmission efficiency decreases due to large overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides resource units into first type and second type based on their frequency domain segment allocation. The signaling field is structured to include user fields only for first type resource units, while second type resource units are handled separately. This segmentation ensures that necessary user information is preserved for the first segment while avoiding redundant information transmission, thereby improving data transmission efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and excludes the user fields corresponding to second type resource units from the signaling field transmitted on the first frequency domain segment. By taking out these unnecessary user fields, the signaling overhead is reduced without compromising the completeness of user information needed for the first frequency domain segment, thus improving transmission efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes: generating a signaling field of a PPDU, and sending a signaling field on a first frequency domain segment, where a channel bandwidth for transmitting the PPDU includes at least two frequency domain segments, at least two frequency domain segments include the first frequency domain segment, and a resource unit allocation subfield in the signaling field indicates a resource unit RU included in the channel bandwidth for transmitting the PPDU, and indicates a quantity of user fields corresponding to an RU that is in the RU and that is allocated to a station parking on the first frequency domain segment. This application may be applied to a Wi-Fi system such as 802.11be or an extremely high throughput EHT.