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WO2019005027A1 - Procédés d'attribution de ressources pour une liaison de canal à ap multiples coordonnés dans des wlan ieee 802.11 - Google Patents

Procédés d'attribution de ressources pour une liaison de canal à ap multiples coordonnés dans des wlan ieee 802.11 Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2019005027A1
WO2019005027A1 PCT/US2017/039657 US2017039657W WO2019005027A1 WO 2019005027 A1 WO2019005027 A1 WO 2019005027A1 US 2017039657 W US2017039657 W US 2017039657W WO 2019005027 A1 WO2019005027 A1 WO 2019005027A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
macb
mhz
circuitry
channel
sta
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English (en)
Inventor
Alexander W. Min
Juan FANG
Minyoung Park
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Intel Corp
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Intel Corp
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Priority to PCT/US2017/039657 priority Critical patent/WO2019005027A1/fr
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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W72/00—Local resource management
    • H04W72/50—Allocation or scheduling criteria for wireless resources
    • H04W72/52—Allocation or scheduling criteria for wireless resources based on load
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W74/00—Wireless channel access
    • H04W74/08—Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA
    • H04W74/0808—Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA using carrier sensing, e.g. carrier sense multiple access [CSMA]
    • H04W74/0816—Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA using carrier sensing, e.g. carrier sense multiple access [CSMA] with collision avoidance
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W84/00—Network topologies
    • H04W84/02—Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop]
    • H04W84/10—Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks
    • H04W84/12—WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Definitions

  • An exemplary aspect is directed toward communications systems. More specifically an exemplary aspect is directed toward wireless communications systems and even more specifically to wireless networks and Wi-Fi. Even more particularly, an exemplary aspect is directed toward wireless networks and improving cell edge communications.
  • IEEE 802.11 standards such as the IEEE 802.11 ⁇ standard, the IEEE 802.1 lax standard and the IEEE 802.11-2016 standard.
  • cell edge stations are stations or devices that are located at or are located close to the limit of being able to communicate with another device, such as a base station or access point. While cell edge stations generally have communication capabilities with a base station, oftentimes their throughput is less than optimal and frequently far below optimal.
  • MACB multi-access point channel bonding
  • MACB coordinates multiple APs (Access Points) to transmit downlink (DL) data packets to a CE STA over multiple adjacent 20 MHz channels so as to increase an aggregated DL physical data rate to the CE STA.
  • One technique defines a master AP and secondary (or assisting) APs that coordinate to serve the CE STA.
  • Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary MACB data transmission over an 80 MHz channel in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig. 2 illustrates an example of data transmission over a 20 MHz channel in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary technique for operation of communications environment when the secondary 20 MHz channel is busy in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary multi-AP channel bonding scenario and environment in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig. 5 illustrates one example of sub-optimal channel usage in MACB DL transmissions to which enhanced MAC protocols are applied to better utilize available channel bandwidth in MACB downlink transmissions in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig. 6 illustrates one MACB MAC protocol where the CE station triggers MACB DL transmissions assuming that the channels are available at each AP;
  • Fig. 7 illustrates a MACB MAC protocol where each AP conveys a list of available channels in the CTS frame so that the CE STA can better allocate resources for MACB DL transmissions in accordance with some embodiments;
  • Fig. 8 is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Fig. 9 is a circuit diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Fig. 10 illustrates a front-end module circuitry for use in the radio architecture of Fig. 7 in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig. 11 illustrates a radio IC circuitry for use in the radio architecture of Fig. 7 in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig. 12 illustrates a baseband processing circuitry for use in the radio architecture of Fig. 7 in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a method for performing a MACB transmissions in accordance with some aspects of the technology
  • Fig. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a method for performing a MACB transmissions in accordance with some aspects of the technology
  • Fig. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method for performing a MACB transmissions in accordance with some aspects of the technology.
  • a master AP and/or secondary APs have data to transmit to a STA (e.g., STAO in Fig. 1)
  • the master AP, secondary APs and the STA can perform the following:
  • the master AP senses the secondary channels during an interval of PIFS (Point Coordination Function Interframe Space) immediately preceding the master AP's backoff expiration (or the start of the TXOP (Transmit Opportunity)) and decides the TX channel bandwidth. If both secondary 20 MHz and 40 MHz channels are idle (as shown in Fig. 1), then:
  • PIFS Point Coordination Function Interframe Space
  • the master AP sends four duplicate 20 MHz multiple AP channel bonding request frames (MACB-RTS) to the STA,
  • the STA (the receiver of the MACB-RTS frame) is monitoring its CCA (Clear Channel Assessment) for the entire 80 MHz prior to the reception of the MACB-RTS frame: if the STA does not detect interference on any of the secondary channels
  • PIFS prior to and SIFS SIFS is used to denote interframe spacing before transmission of any of: an acknowledgment (ACK), a Clear To Send (CTS) frame, a block ack frame in response to a block ack request frame or an A-MPDU, a second or follow-on MPDU of a fragment burst, a STA responding to polling by point coordination function and during contention free periods of point coordination functions) after the reception of the MACB-RTS frame, the STA transmits four duplicate 20 MHz MACB -TRIGGER frames to all the coordinated APs (APs 0- 3), if the STA detects interference on the secondary 20 MHz channel PIFS prior to or SIFS after the reception of the MACB-RTS frame, the STA only transmits a 20MHz MACB-TRIGGER frame to the master AP, if the STA detects interference on the secondary 40 MHz channel PIFS prior to or SIFS after the reception of the MACB-RTS frame, the STA only transmits two duplicate
  • the master AP transmits a 20 MHz RTS frame to the STA, at a SIFS time after the reception of the RTS frame
  • the STA (the receiver of the RTS frame) transmits a 20 MHz CTS frame to API, at a SIFS time after the reception of the CTS frame
  • the API transmits a data packet to the STA over the primary 20 MHz channel, and at a SIFS time after the reception of the data packet from all the coordinated APs, the STA (the receiver of the data packet) feeds back a block acknowledge (BA) frame.
  • BA block acknowledge
  • the MACB data transmissions from four APs to the cell edge (CE) STA over four adjacent 20 MHz channels cannot be initiated if the secondary 20 MHz channel is sensed busy for a PIFS duration immediately before the RTS frame transmission even if the secondary channels soon become available. This limits the performance of the CE STA since the multiple APs have less chance to transmit 20 MHz data packets simultaneously.
  • An exemplary embodiment introduces an enhanced multiple AP channel bonding transmission technology that can dynamically switch from single AP transmission (e.g., API to STAO over a 20 MHz channel) to four APs (AP1-AP4) to single STA transmission (as shown in Fig. 3) even in the middle of an on-going single transmission over the 20 MHz channel.
  • the master AP (e.g., API in Fig. 1) can continuously monitor the status (i.e., busy/idle) of the adjacent secondary 20 MHz and secondary 40 MHz channels while API is transmitting data on the primary channel using self- interference cancellation (SIC) techniques available in antenna, analog and digital domains.
  • SIC self- interference cancellation
  • the master AP can suppress the master APs own transmitted signal (self-interference) sufficiently enough to perform sensing on adjacent secondary channels. This enables the AP to detect when the secondary channels become idle even while transmitting data on the primary channel.
  • the master AP can initiate the transition to MACB transmission to achieve one or more of higher throughput performance and spectral efficiency.
  • An initial data packet transmitted on the narrowband channel may be formatted as an A-MPDU (aggregated MPDU) so that the transmission can be interrupted in the middle of the transmission for the more efficient MACB data transmission without losing the entirety of the packet.
  • A-MPDU aggregated MPDU
  • the MACB data transmission does not affect the reception of the A- MPDU subframes transmitted before the MACB data transmission as illustrated in Fig. 3.
  • the acknowledgements (Block Acknowledgements (BAs)) of the various A-MPDU subframes can optionally be delayed after the transmission of the MACB data.
  • the entire 80 MHz bandwidth can be utilized when the secondary channel becomes available.
  • data on the primary 20 MHz channel is sent from API to STAO.
  • Data on the secondary 20 MHz channel is sent from AP2 to STAO.
  • Data on the secondary 40 MHz channel is sent from AP3 to STAO and from AP4 to STAO.
  • the MACB-RTS frames in general can contain the information necessary for notifying the availability of which AP(s) can use which channel(s) for MACB communication and the MACB-TRIGGER frames allow the STA to specify in response to the MACB-RTS frames which channel(s) should be used by which AP.
  • the STA can determine based on any one or more of the known channel quality metrics (S R (Signal to Noise Ratio), latency, BER (Bit Error Rate), signal strength, etc.) which AP should use which channel(s) for the MACB communications.
  • S R Signal to Noise Ratio
  • the S R Signal to Noise Ratio
  • BER Bit Error Rate
  • signal strength etc.
  • the designated APs Upon receipt of the MACB- TRIGGER by the APs, the designated APs transmit the data in accordance with the allocation identified in the MACB- TRIGGER frame(s).
  • enhanced wideband transmission can be accomplished by using an AP's SIC capability to sense secondary channels and initiate wideband data transmission in the middle of on-going narrowband data transmission so as to increase the DL physical data rate to the STA.
  • This approach works when the STA is able to communicate with the AP over a wide bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz).
  • An exemplary embodiment enables enhanced wideband transmission to STAs, such as cell edge STAs, which can only communicate with the AP over, for example, a narrower bandwidth (e.g., 20 MHz) by initiating coordinated MACB data transmission in the middle of on-going narrowband data transmission.
  • the MACB can provide at least up to 4x physical data rate gain with 4 APs' coordination when comparing to the case that the STA can only receive a 20 MHz data packet from a single AP.
  • Fig. 3 there is an overlapping BSS (Basic Service Set) and the secondary 20 MHz channel is occupied by another station (shown as "Busy").
  • BSS Basic Service Set
  • the master AP and/or secondary APs have data to transmit to a STA (e.g., STAO)
  • STAO STA
  • the master AP, secondary APs and the STA can perform the following:
  • the master AP senses the secondary channels during an interval of PIFS immediately preceding the AP's backoff expiration (or the start of the TXOP) and decides the transmit channel bandwidth. If both secondary 20 MHz and 40 MHz channels are idle, the master AP, secondary APs and the STA can follow the MACB procedure shown in Fig 1.
  • the master AP (API) transmits a 20 MHz RTS frame to the STA.
  • the STA (the receiver of the RTS frame) transmits a 20 MHz CTS frame to API .
  • the API transmits a 20 MHz PPDU packet in the A-MPDU format such as that defined in the IEEE 802.1 lac specification over the primary 20 MHz channel, while transmitting the A-MPDU packet, API senses the secondary channels by utilizing SIC (self-interference cancellation) techniques, when the secondary 20 MHz and the secondary 40 MHz channels become idle for a fixed duration of time (e.g., PIFS), the API stops the current A-MPDU transmission and transmits duplicate MACB-RTS frames across the available channel bandwidth.
  • SIC self-interference cancellation
  • API is transmitting four duplicate MACB-RTS frames on the four 20 MHz channels.
  • any number of MACB-TRS frames could be transmitted utilizing any of the channels.
  • the master AP may indicate the early termination of the current A-MPDU transmission in a last A-MPDU subframe, e.g., using an A-MPDU delimiter field.
  • the delimiter field indicates that the current single AP packet transmission has ended for a new MACB packet transmission. This information can optionally also indicate that the A-MPDU subframes that have been transmitted will be acknowledged by the BlockAck frames following the MACB packet transmission.
  • STA0 After termination of the A-MPDU transmission from the master AP, STA0 monitors its CCA prior to the reception of the new MACT-RTS frame.
  • the STA If the STA does not detect interference on any of the secondary channels SIFS prior to and SIFS after the reception of the new MACB-RTS frame, the STA transmits four duplicate 20 MHz MACB-TRIGGER frames to all the coordinated APs (APs 1-4). If the STA detects interference on the secondary 20 MHz channel SIFS prior to or SIFS after the reception of the MACB-RTS frame, the STA only transmits a 20MHz MACB-TRIGGER frame to the master AP.
  • the STA detects interference on the secondary 40 MHz channel SIFS prior to or SIFS after the reception of the MACB-RTS frame, the STA only transmits two duplicate 20 MHz MACB-TRGGER frames over the primary and secondary 20MHz channels to two of the coordinated APs (e.g., APs 1-2).
  • the coordinated APs e.g., APs 1-2.
  • the MACB-TRIGGER frames contain specific information to parameterize the DL MACB transmission. In this example and for sake of simplicity, it is assumed that there is no interference over the secondary channels.
  • all the coordinated APs (identified in the MACB-TRIGGER frame) transmit data packet(s) to the STA over each 20 MHz channels simultaneously.
  • the STA (the receiver of the data packet) feeds back block acknowledgement (B A) frames including the acknowledgement information of the 20 MHz A-MPDU subframes that had been received before the reception of the MACB-RTS frame.
  • B A block acknowledgement
  • Optional features allow the API to sense the full 80 MHz channel with cell edge STA.
  • the cell-edge STA can sense the full 80 MHz channel PIFS before and SIFS after receiving the MACB-RTS frame, and the STA only needs to perform a trigger on idle channels where the STA received the MACB-RTS correctly to avoid any potential collisions due to MACB packet transmissions.
  • Multi-AP Channel Bonding is an exciting technology that at least improves throughput performance of stations, such as cell-edge (CE) STAs.
  • CE cell-edge
  • MACB allows the CE STA to associate with multiple nearby Wi-Fi APs, and coordinates the triggering of simultaneous downlink (DL) transmissions from those APs on different (non-overlapping) channels (or frequency bands), as shown in Fig. 4.
  • the CE STA can achieve a higher DL throughput performance by receiving multiple data packets over a wider channel bandwidth (BW) (e.g., 80 MHz instead of 20 MHz) from a plurality of APs.
  • BW channel bandwidth
  • One simulation-based performance evaluation shows up to -3.4 times throughput improvement for CE STAs with 4 coordinated APs with even higher values expected and possible.
  • Basic operations of MACB with enhanced OFDM tone plans can be improved to at least (i) identify available APs and their channel availabilities, and (ii) allocate resources among all coordinated APs (including the master AP and all the assisting APs) based on their channel availabilities to maximize the spectral efficiency.
  • One of the challenges with basic MACB is that a STA sends a trigger frame not knowing if and/or when an APs have that channel free.
  • one exemplary MACB procedure is as follows:
  • the master AP senses the secondary channels during an interval of PIFS immediately preceding the master APs backoff expiration (or the start of the TXOP) and decides the TX channel bandwidth. If both secondary 20 MHz and 40 MHz channels are idle, the master AP sends four 20 MHz duplicated MACB-RTS frames to the CE STA.
  • the CE STA monitors its CCA prior to reception of the MACB-RTS. If the CE STA does not detect interference on a secondary channel PIFS prior to the receipt of the MACB-RTS frame, the CE STA sends four 20 MHz duplicated MACB-TRIG frames to trigger all the coordinated APs to transmit DL data packet to the CE STA.
  • the assisting AP may not be available due to variety of reasons, such as (1) the AP is receiving data packets from one of its associated STAs, which cannot be heard by the CE STA, or (2) the NAV of the AP is not expired, or (3) the AP is not able to receive the MACB-TRIG frame due to the interference coming from the 3rd party STAs.
  • This can result in sub-optimal resource allocation (e.g., channel bandwidth, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), tone plan, etc.) and throughput performance as shown in Fig. 5.
  • the CE STA triggers APs 1-4 to transmit DL data packet over channels (CHs) 1-4, respectively.
  • CHs modulation and coding scheme
  • APs 3-4 cannot respond to the MACB-TRIG frame due to one of above described reasons, resulting in the CE STA only receiving data packets from AP 1 and AP2 over CH 1 and CH 2. CH 3 and CH 4 will be wasted in this scenario as seen in Fig. 5. If the CE STA knows the various APs' availabilities and the channel availabilities at the APs in this example, the CE STA can assign CH 3 and CH 4 for other available APs to transmit DL data packets, such as AP 2 as shown in Fig 5.
  • One exemplary embodiment introduces CE-STA-initiated MACB-specific RTS-CTS frames to (i) identify available APs and channel availabilities at each AP (e.g., the entire 80 MHz channel bandwidth), (ii) reserve the channel at both the CE STA and AP, (iii) dynamically allocate resources (including channel bandwidth, MCS, tone plan, etc.) based on the various APs' availabilities and channel availability.
  • One exemplary advantage of the enhanced MACB MAC protocol enables more coordinated and efficient MACB DL transmissions.
  • the exemplary embodiment introduces CE-STA-initiated RTS and CTS frame exchanges to identify APs available to participate in sending MACB DL data on their operating channel (e.g., the primary 20 MHz channel) before the CE-STA sends out a MACB-TRIG frame.
  • the CE STA can determine the best operation mode, including resource allocations in terms of optimal OFDM tone plans, bandwidth, and modulation and coding schemes (MCSs), and the like, for each participating AP.
  • MCSs modulation and coding schemes
  • the CE STA can indicate the presence of such information in the MACB- TRIG frame so that the CE STA can achieve improved throughput performance.
  • the RTS-CTS-based enhanced MACB MAC protocols also allow the CE STA to efficiently allocate resources (including channel bandwidth, MCS, tone plan, etc.) based on channel availability not only at the CE STA, but also at each coordinated AP.
  • An exemplary embodiment provides illustrative behavior of the proposed MACB protocol to highlight its efficacy and performance benefit.
  • Figs. 6 and 7 compare the behavior of one current and an exemplary RTS-CTS-based MACB protocols in the architecture of Fig. 4. It is assumed that APs 3 and 4 are not available due to busy channel status, whereas channels 2, 3, and 4 are available at the AP 2. In the current MACB protocol, only APs 1 and 2 respond to the MACB-TRIG frame using the 20 MHz channels (here, the secondary 20 MHz channel is the primary 20 MHz channel for AP 2). On the other hand, with the exemplary RTS-CTS frames, AP 2 indicates the list of available channels in the CTS frame (i.e., CTS 2 in Fig.
  • the CE STA dynamically allocates resources (including channel BW, MCS, tone plan, etc.) and indicates the allocated resources in the following MACB-TRIG frame to improve and/or maximize the aggregated MACB DL channel BW and throughput performance.
  • resources including channel BW, MCS, tone plan, etc.
  • the primary 20 MHz channel is associated with the master AP, and the Secondary 20 MHz channel is associated with AP2.
  • wireless spectrum waste can further be reduced if all four stations are available.
  • the channel allocation can vary based on availability.
  • a CTS3 for AP3
  • a CTS4 for AP4
  • the population of the various portions of Fig. 7 will depend on AP availability and each of the CTS portions can include any available channel information.
  • An exemplary protocol behavior for the MACB DL transmission with enhanced tone plan follows starting with the functionality of the STA and then the AP.
  • the CE STA Upon the receipt of the MACB-RTS frame from the master AP, the CE STA performs the following functions:
  • the CE STA sends RTS frames (RTS1, RTS2, RTS3 and RTS4) to one or more APs with different receiver addresses over different 20 MHz channels to solicit simultaneous CTS responses from one or more APs, as shown in Fig. 7.
  • RTS1, RTS2, RTS3 and RTS4 RTS frames
  • the CE STA indicates the target recipients (APs), e.g., the receiver address of the RTS on primary the 20 MHz channel is API, the receiver address of the RTS on secondary 20 MHz channel is AP2, etc.
  • APs target recipients
  • the CE STA receives CTS frames from the solicited APs over the 20 MHz channels.
  • the CTS frames can indicate the availability of the AP to participate in the following MACB DL transmission.
  • the CTS frame can also include the available channel BW (and index) information, e.g., 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, etc. If the CE STA does not hear a CTS frame on a 20 MHz channel, then the CE STA indicates that the AP on that channel is not available and cannot participate in the MACB transmission. Based on the CTS frames that are received from the APs, the CE STA allocates resources for each AP for MACB DL transmissions, including (i) channel BW, (ii) MCS, (iii) OFDM tone plan, and/or (iv) transmit power, etc.
  • the CE STA then allocates one of the pre-defined tone plans for each AP based on their relative channel location within the triggered channel bonding transmission.
  • the CE STA next prepares an MACB-TRIG frame to solicit MACB DL transmissions from the APs who responded with the CTS frames discussed above.
  • the MACB-TRIG frame can include one or more of the data mode selection information, channel BW allocation, MCS, tone allocation for each coordinated AP who has responded with the CTS frame, etc.
  • the CE STA next sends MACB-TRIG frames to the participating APs to solicit MACB DL transmissions therefrom, wherein the MACB-TRIG frames can optionally be duplicated on 20 MHz channels.
  • the CE STA then prepares its receiver chain to process the MACB PPDUs based on resource allocation in the MACB-TRIG frame.
  • the MACB DL transmission may include four 20 MHz PPDUs, two 20 MHz and one 40 MHz PPDU, two 40 MHz PPDU, etc.
  • the CE STA processes the received MACB PPDUs using the allocated channel BW, MCS, and tone plan in the MACB-TRIG frame. It is assumed that the CE STA is equipped with multiple receiver chains in the digital domain and can parallel process multiple MACB PPDUs sent simultaneously from coordinated APs. It is also assumed that the OFDM tone demapper module in each receiver chain can be pre-configured to use the tone plan allocated in the MACB-TRIG frame to decode the received OFDM symbols.
  • the CE STA Upon the completion of the packet reception, the CE STA sends BlockAck (BA) frames to each AP on each AP's primary 20 MHz channel, and optionally duplicated BAs on other 20 MHz channels, if needed. For example, if AP2 used channels 2, 3 and 4 for MACB DL transmissions, the BA frame for AP2 can be duplicated over those three channels, as shown in Fig. 7.
  • BA BlockAck
  • the AP When an AP receives an RTS frame from the CE STA, the AP performs the following: The AP checks the availability of the channel by checking TX/RX status, the AP's NAV setting and/or performs sensing (e.g., energy detection) over entire 80 MHz before responding to the RTS frame. When the AP's primary 20 MHz channel (e.g., CH3 for AP3 in Fig. 4) is not available, then the AP does not respond to the RTS frame.
  • sensing e.g., energy detection
  • the AP sends a CTS frame including the list of all the available channels, and prepares to receive a MACB-TRIG frame on its primary 20 MHz channel from the CE STA.
  • Each AP monitors its CCA (Clear Channel Assessment) prior to reception of the RTS. Therefore, each AP can identify available channels by detecting interference on the secondary channels PIFS prior to the receipt of the RTS frame. If an AP detects interference on a secondary channel PIFS prior to the receipt of the RTS frame, the AP knows that that secondary channel is not available.
  • CCA Carrier Channel Assessment
  • the AP Upon the receipt of the MACB-TRIG frame from the CE STA, the AP first checks the allocated resources and transmission configurations, including the channel BW, MCS, OFDM tone plan, etc., and then prepares the data packet (PPDU) accordingly.
  • the allocated resources and transmission configurations including the channel BW, MCS, OFDM tone plan, etc.
  • the AP Upon the completion of the MACB DL packet transmission, the AP receives a BA frame from the CE STA on its primary 20 MHz channel.
  • Fig. 8 illustrates an exemplary hardware diagram of a device 800, such as a wireless device, designated device, mobile device, access point (AP), station (STA), IoT device, and/or the like, that is adapted to implement the technique(s) discussed herein. Operation will be discussed in relation to the components in Fig. 8 appreciating that each separate device in a system, e.g., station, AP, proxy server, etc., can include one or more of the components shown in the figure, with the components each being optional and each capable of being collocated or non-collocated. Each of the components in Fig. 8 can optionally be merged with one or more of the other components described herein, or into a new component(s).
  • a wireless device such as a wireless device, designated device, mobile device, access point (AP), station (STA), IoT device, and/or the like. Operation will be discussed in relation to the components in Fig. 8 appreciating that each separate device in a system, e.g., station
  • a component may have partially overlapping functionality. Similarly, all or a portion of the functionality of a component can optionally be merged with one or more of the other components described herein, or into a new component(s). Additionally, one or more of the components illustrated in Fig. 8 can be optionally implemented partially or fully in, for example, a baseband portion of a wireless communications device such as in an analog and/or digital baseband system and/or baseband signal processor, that is typically in communication with a radio frequency (RF) system.
  • the baseband signal processor could optionally be implemented in one or more FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays).
  • the device 800 includes interconnectable elements (with links 5 generally omitted for clarity - and one or more of the elements being optional) including one or more of: one or more antennas/antenna arrays 804, an interleaver/deinterleaver 828, scrambler 840, an analog front end (AFE) 812, memory/storage/cache 848, controller/microprocessor 856, (Wi-Fi/Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE)) MAC module/circuitry 824, modulator/demodulator 832, encoder/decoder 836, GPU 852, accelerator 860, a multiplexer/demultiplexer 844, a Wi-Fi/BT/BLE (Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® Low Energy) PHY module/circuit 820, transmitter(s) radio circuitry 808 and receiver(s) radio circuitry 816.
  • interconnectable elements including one or more of: one or more antennas/antenna arrays 804, an interleaver/
  • the device 800 further includes a MACB manager 864, an echo canceller/SIC module 868, a monitoring circuit 872 and a tone plan allocation module 876.
  • the various elements in the device 800 are connected by one or more links (not shown, again for sake of clarity).
  • the device 800 can have one more antennas 804, for use in wireless communications such as multi-input multi-output (MIMO) communications, multi-user multi-input multi- output (MU-MIMO) communications Bluetooth®, LTE, RFID, 4G, 5G, LTE, LWA, LP communications, Wi-Fi, etc.
  • MIMO multi-input multi-output
  • MU-MIMO multi-user multi-input multi- output
  • the antenna(s) discussed herein can include, but are not limited to one or more of directional antennas, omnidirectional antennas, monopoles, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, dipoles, multi-element antennas, and any other antenna(s) suitable for communication transmission/reception.
  • transmission/reception using MFMO may require particular antenna spacing.
  • MIMO transmission/reception can enable spatial diversity allowing for different channel characteristics at each of the antennas.
  • MIMO transmission/reception can be used to distribute resources to multiple users.
  • Antenna(s) 804 generally interact with the Analog Front End (AFE) 812, which is needed to enable the correct processing of the received modulated signal and signal conditioning for a transmitted signal.
  • the AFE 812 can be functionally located between the antenna and a digital baseband system to convert the analog signal into a digital signal for processing and vice-versa.
  • the device 800 can also include a controller/microprocessor 856 and a memory/storage/cache 848.
  • the device 800 can interact with the memory/storage/cache 848 which may store information and operations necessary for configuring and transmitting or receiving the information described herein and/or operating the device as described herein.
  • the memory/storage/cache 848 may also be used in connection with the execution of application programming or instructions by the controller/microprocessor 856/GPU 852, and for temporary or long term storage of program instructions and/or data.
  • the memory/storage/cache 848 may comprise a computer-readable device, RAM, ROM, DRAM, SDRAM, and/or other storage device(s) and media.
  • the controller/microprocessor 856 may comprise a general purpose programmable processor or controller for executing application programming or instructions related to the device 800. Furthermore, the controller/microprocessor 856 can perform operations for configuring and transmitting information as described herein.
  • the controller/microprocessor 856 may include multiple processor cores, and/or implement multiple virtual processors.
  • the controller/microprocessor 856 may include multiple physical processors.
  • the controller/microprocessor 856 may comprise a specially configured Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor(s), a controller, a hardwired electronic or logic circuit, a programmable logic device or gate array, a special purpose computer, or the like, to perform the functionality described herein.
  • ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit
  • the controller/microprocessor 856 may comprise a specially configured Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor(s), a controller, a hardwired electronic or logic circuit, a programmable logic device or gate array, a special purpose computer, or the like, to perform the functionality described herein.
  • ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit
  • the device 800 can further include a transmitter(s) radio circuit 808 and receiver(s) radio circuit 816 which can transmit and receive signals, respectively, to and from other wireless devices and/or access points using the one or more antennas 804. Included in the device 800 circuitry is the medium access control or MAC module/circuitry 824. MAC circuitry 824 provides control for accessing to the wireless medium. In an exemplary embodiment, the MAC circuitry 824 may be arranged to contend for the wireless medium and configure frames or packets for communicating over the wireless medium as discussed.
  • the PHY module/circuitry 820 controls the electrical and physical specifications for device 800.
  • the PHY module/circuitry 820 manages the relationship between the device 800 and a transmission medium.
  • Primary functions and services performed by the physical layer, and in particular the PHY module/circuitry 820 include the establishment and termination of a connection to a communications medium, and participation in the various process and technologies where communication resources are shared between, for example, multiple STAs. These technologies further include, for example, contention resolution and flow control and modulation/demodulation or conversion between a representation of digital data in user equipment and the corresponding signals transmitted over the communications channel. These signals are transmitted over the physical cabling (such as copper and optical fiber) and/or over a radio communications (wireless) link.
  • the physical layer of the OSI model and the PHY module/circuitry 820 can be embodied as a plurality of sub components. These sub components and/or circuits can include a Physical Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) which acts as an adaptation layer.
  • the PLCP is at least responsible for the Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) and building packets for different physical layer technologies.
  • the Physical Medium Dependent (PMD) layer specifies modulation and coding techniques used by the device and a PHY management layer manages channel tuning and the like.
  • a station management sub layer and the MAC circuitry 824 can also handle co-ordination of interactions between the MAC and PHY layers.
  • the MAC layer and components, and in particular the MAC circuitry 824 provide functional and procedural means to transfer data between network entities and to detect and possibly correct errors that may occur in the physical layer.
  • the MAC circuitry 824 also can provide access to contention-based and contention-free traffic on different types of physical layers, such as when multiple communications technologies are incorporated into the device 800. In the MAC, the responsibilities are divided into the MAC sub-layer and the MAC management sub-layer.
  • the MAC sub-layer defines access mechanisms and packet formats while the MAC management sub-layer defines power management, security and roaming services, etc.
  • the device 800 can also optionally contain a security module (not shown).
  • This security module can contain information regarding but not limited to, security parameters required to connect the device to an access point or other device or other available network(s), and can include WEP or WPA/WPA-2 (optionally + AES and/or TKIP) security access keys, network keys, etc.
  • WEP security access key is a security password used by Wi-Fi networks. Knowledge of this code can enable a wireless device to exchange information with the access point and/or another device. The information exchange can occur through encoded messages with the WEP access code often being chosen by the network administrator.
  • WPA is an added security standard that is also used in conjunction with network connectivity with stronger encryption than WEP.
  • the accelerator 860 can cooperate with MAC circuitry 824 to, for example, perform real-time MAC functions.
  • the GPU 852 can be a specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of data. GPUs are typically used in embedded systems, mobile phones, personal computers, workstations, and game consoles. GPUs are very efficient at manipulating computer graphics, image processing, and algorithm processing, and their highly parallel structure makes them more efficient than general-purpose CPUs for algorithms where the processing of large blocks of data is done in parallel.
  • the device 800 can also optionally contain an interleaver/deinterleaver 828 that can perform interleaving and/or deinterleaving functions to, for example, assist with error correction.
  • the modulator/demodulator 832 can perform modulation and/or demodulation functions such as OFDM, QPSK, QAM, etc.
  • the encoder/decoder 836 performs various types of encoding/decoding of data.
  • the scrambler 840 can optionally be used for data encoding.
  • the multiplexer/demultiplxer 844 provides multiplexing and demultiplexing services, such as spatial multiplexing.
  • device 800 can perform as an AP or STA such that when the master AP and/or secondary APs have data to transmit to a STA, the master AP, secondary APs and the STA can perform the following:
  • the master AP using the monitoring circuit 872 senses the secondary channels during an interval of PIFS immediately preceding the AP's backoff expiration (or the start of the TXOP) and decides the transmit channel bandwidth.
  • the master AP, secondary APs and the STA can follow the MACB procedure discussed above in relation to Fig 1. However, when the secondary 20 MHz is busy (as shown in Fig.
  • the master AP using the MACB manager, transmitter radio circuitry 808 and associated components transmits a 20 MHz RTS frame to the STA.
  • the STA (the receiver of the RTS frame) transmits a 20 MHz CTS frame to the master AP.
  • the master AP transmits a 20 MHz PPDU packet in the A-MPDU format such as that defined in the IEEE 802.1 lac specification over the primary 20 MHz channel. While transmitting the A-MPDU packet, the master AP senses the secondary channels by utilizing the SIC (self-interference cancellation) techniques of the echo canceller/SIC module 868.
  • the master AP stops the current A-MPDU transmission and transmits duplicate MACB-RTS frames across the available channel bandwidth with the cooperation of the MACB manager 864.
  • STA0 After termination of the A-MPDU transmission from the master AP, STA0 monitors its CCA prior to the reception of the new MACB-RTS frame. When the STA does not detect interference using the echo cancellation / SIC module 868 on any of the secondary channel's SIFS prior to and SIFS after the reception of the new MACB-RTS frame, the STA transmits four duplicate 20 MHz MACB-TRIGGER frames to all the coordinated APs with the cooperation of the transmitter radio circuitry and related components. When the STA detects interference on the secondary 20 MHz channel SIFS prior to or SIFS after the reception of the MACB-RTS frame, the STA only transmits a 20MHz MACB-TRIGGER frame to the master AP.
  • the STA When the STA detects interference on the secondary 40 MHz channel SIFS prior to or SIFS after the reception of the MACB-RTS frame, the STA only transmits two duplicate 20 MHz MACB-TRGGER frames over the primary and secondary 20MHz channels to two of the coordinated APs (e.g., APs 1-2, etc.).
  • the coordinated APs e.g., APs 1-2, etc.
  • all the coordinated APs (identified in the MACB-TRIGGER frame) transmit data packet(s) to the STA over each 20 MHz channels simultaneously.
  • the STA (the receiver of the data packet) feeds back block acknowledgement (B A) frames including the acknowledgement information of the 20 MHz A-MPDU subframes that had been received before the reception of the MACB-RTS frame.
  • B A block acknowledgement
  • the description will start with the device 800 functioning as the STA and then the device 800 will be described as functioning as the AP.
  • the device 800 performs the following functions:
  • the device 800 and in particular the transmitter radio circuitry and associated components, sends RTS frames (RTS1, RTS2, RTS3 and RTS4) to one or more APs with different receiver addresses over different 20 MHz channels to solicit simultaneous CTS responses from one or more APs, as shown in Fig. 7.
  • the device 800 indicates the target recipients (APs), e.g., the receiver address of the RTS on the primary 20 MHz channel is API, the receiver address of the RTS on secondary 20 MHz channel is AP2, etc.
  • APs target recipients
  • the device 800 receives, with the cooperation of the receiver radio circuitry 816 and related components, CTS frames from the solicited APs over the 20 MHz channels.
  • the CTS frames can indicate the availability of the AP to participate in the following MACB DL transmission.
  • the CTS frame can also include the available channel BW (and index) information, e.g., 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, etc. If the device 800 does not hear a CTS frame on a 20 MHz channel as detected by the monitoring circuit 872, then the device 800 indicates that the AP on that channel is not available and cannot participate in the MACB transmission. Based on the CTS frames that are received from the APs, the MACB manager
  • tone plan allocation module 876 allocate resources for each AP for MACB DL transmissions, including (i) channel BW, (ii) MCS, (iii) OFDM tone plan, (iv) transmit power, and/or, etc.
  • the tone plan allocation module 876 then allocates one of the pre-defined tone plans for each AP based on their relative channel location within the triggered channel bonding transmission.
  • the device 800 next prepares an MACB-TRIG frame to solicit MACB DL transmissions from the APs who responded with the CTS frames discussed above.
  • the MACB-TRIG frame can include one or more of the data mode selection information, channel BW allocation, MCS, tone allocation for each coordinated AP who has responded with the CTS frame, etc.
  • the transmitter radio circuitry 808 and associated componentry next send MACB-TRIG frames prepared by the MACB manager 864 to the participating APs to solicit MACB DL transmissions therefrom, wherein the MACB-TRIG frames can optionally be duplicated on 20 MHz channels.
  • the device 800 then prepares its receiver and associated components to process the MACB PPDUs based on resource allocation in the MACB-TRIG frame. Then, the device 800 processes the received MACB PPDUs using the allocated channel BW, MCS, and tone plan in the MACB-TRIG frame. Upon the completion of the packet reception, the device 800 sends BlockAck (BA) frames to each AP on each AP's primary 20 MHz channel, and optionally duplicated BAs on other 20 MHz channels, if needed.
  • BA BlockAck
  • Exemplary operation of the device 800 acting as AP occurs as follows: When a device 800 acting as the AP receives an RTS frame from a CE STA, the AP performs the following:
  • the monitoring circuit 872 checks the availability of the channel by checking the transmit/receive status, the AP's NAV setting and/or performs sensing (e.g., energy detection) over entire 80 MHz before responding to the RTS frame.
  • sensing e.g., energy detection
  • the device 800 does not respond to the RTS frame.
  • the transmitter radio circuitry and associated components send a CTS frame including the list of all the available channels, and prepares to receive a MACB-TRIG frame on its primary 20 MHz channel from the CE STA.
  • each AP in the environment monitors its CCA prior to reception of the RTS.
  • each AP can identify available channels by detecting interference, potentially with the cooperation of the echo canceller / SIC module 868, (Optionally the AP may not need the echo cancellation / SIC capability.
  • the AP may use echo cancellation / SIC if the AP is transmitting a packet to a 3rd part STA on its primary channel, but in that case, the AP may not be able to receive the MACB-TRIGGER frame from the CE STA.) on the secondary channels PIFS prior to the receipt of the RTS frame. If an AP detects interference on a secondary channel PIFS prior to the receipt of the RTS frame, the AP knows that that secondary channel is not available.
  • Fig. 9 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 900 in accordance with some embodiments usable with the technology discussed herein. Any of the functionality described herein can optionally be implemented in one or more portions of the architecture described in Figs. 9-12.
  • the functionality of one or more of the MACB manager 864, echo canceller / SIC module 868, monitoring circuit 872 and tone plan allocation module 876 could be implemented in the baseband processing circuitry 908, and more specifically in the control logic, although the technology is not limited thereto.
  • Radio architecture 900 may include radio front-end module (FEM) circuitry 904, radio IC circuitry 906 and baseband processing circuitry 908.
  • Radio architecture 900 as shown optionally includes both Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth® (BT) functionality although embodiments are not so limited.
  • WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
  • BT Bluetooth®
  • the FEM circuitry 904 may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 904a and a Bluetooth® (BT) FEM circuitry 904b.
  • the WLAN FEM circuitry 904a may include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 901, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 906a for further processing.
  • the BT FEM circuitry 904b may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 902, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuitry 906b for further processing.
  • FEM circuitry 904a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 906a for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 901.
  • FEM circuitry 904b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 906b for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 902.
  • a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 906b for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 902.
  • FEM 904a and FEM 904b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of an FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least some of the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.
  • Radio IC circuitry 906 as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry 906a and BT radio IC circuitry 906b.
  • the WLAN radio IC circuitry 1306a may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 904a and provide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 908a.
  • BT radio IC circuitry 906b may in turn include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 904b and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 908b.
  • WLAN radio IC circuitry 906a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 908a and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 904a for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 901.
  • BT radio IC circuitry 906b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry 908b and provide BT RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 904b for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 902.
  • a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry 908b and provide BT RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 904b for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 902.
  • radio IC circuitries 906a and 906b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of a radio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and/or a receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more radio IC circuitries where at least some of the radio IC circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.
  • Baseband processing circuity 908 may include a WLAN baseband processing circuitry
  • the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 908a may include a memory, such as, for example, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and/or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 908a.
  • FFT Fast Fourier Transform
  • IFFT Inverse Fast Fourier Transform
  • Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry 908a and the BT baseband circuitry 908b may further include one or more processors and/or control logic to process the signals received from the corresponding WLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 906, and to also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 906.
  • Each of the baseband processing circuitries 908a and 908b may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with application processor 911 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio IC circuitry 906.
  • optional WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 913 may include logic providing an interface between the WLAN baseband circuitry 908a and the BT baseband circuitry 908b to enable use cases that may require WLAN and BT coexistence.
  • a switch 903 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuitry 904a and the BT FEM circuitry 904b to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios according to, for example, application needs.
  • antennas 901, 902 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLAN FEM circuitry 904a and the BT FEM circuitry 904b, embodiments include within their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between the WLAN and BT FEMs, or the provision of more than one antenna connected to each of FEM 904a or 904b.
  • the front-end module circuitry 904, the radio IC circuitry 906, and baseband processing circuitry 908 may be provided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 907.
  • the one or more antennas 901, 902, the FEM circuitry 904 and the radio IC circuitry 906 may be provided on a single radio card.
  • the radio IC circuitry 906 and the baseband processing circuitry 908 may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as IC 912.
  • the wireless radio card 907 may include a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
  • the radio architecture 900 may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals over a multicarrier communication channel.
  • OFDM orthogonal frequency division multiplexed
  • OFDMA orthogonal frequency division multiple access
  • radio architecture 900 may be part of a Wi- Fi communication station (STA) such as a wireless access point (AP), a base station or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device.
  • STA Wi- Fi communication station
  • AP wireless access point
  • radio architecture 900 may be configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with specific communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards including, IEEE 802.11-2016, IEEE 802.1 ln-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, 802.1 ln-2009, IEEE 802.1 lac, and/or IEEE 802.1 lax standards and/or proposed specifications for WLANs, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect.
  • Radio architecture 900 may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.
  • the radio architecture 900 may be configured for high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.1 lax standard.
  • the radio architecture 900 may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMA technique, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
  • the radio architecture 900 may be configured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time-division multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
  • DS-CDMA direct sequence code division multiple access
  • FH-CDMA frequency hopping code division multiple access
  • TDM time-division multiplexing
  • FDM frequency-division multiplexing
  • the BT baseband circuitry 908b may be compliant with a Bluetooth® (BT) connectivity standard such as Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® 4.0 or Bluetooth® 5.0, BT Low Energy, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth® Standard.
  • BT Bluetooth®
  • the radio architecture 900 may be configured to establish a BT synchronous connection oriented (SCO) link and/or a BT low energy (BT LE) link.
  • SCO BT synchronous connection oriented
  • BT LE BT low energy
  • the radio architecture 900 may be configured to establish an extended SCO (eSCO) link for BT communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
  • the radio architecture may be configured to engage in a BT Asynchronous Connection-Less (ACL) communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
  • ACL Asynchronous Connection-Less
  • the functions of a BT radio card and WLAN radio card may be combined on a single wireless radio card, such as single wireless radio card 907, although embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope discrete WLAN and BT radio cards.
  • the radio architecture 900 may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 3 GPP such as LTE, LTE- Advanced, 4G and/or 5G communications).
  • the radio architecture 900 may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths including bandwidths having center frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of about 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 16 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or 80+80 MHz (160 MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths).
  • a 320 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of the embodiments is not limited with respect to any of the above center frequencies.
  • Fig. 10 illustrates in greater detail the FEM circuitry 904 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • the FEM circuitry 904 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN and/or BT FEM circuitry 904a/904b, although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.
  • the FEM circuitry 904 may include a TX/RX switch 1002 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation.
  • the FEM circuitry 904 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path.
  • the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 904 may include one or more low-noise amplifiers (LNA) 1006 to amplify received RF signals 1003 and provide the amplified received RF signals 1007 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuitry 906).
  • LNA low-noise amplifiers
  • the transmit signal path of the circuitry 904 may include one or more a power amplifiers (PA) to amplify input RF signals 1009 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 906), and one or more filters 1012, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters (LPFs) and/or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 1015 for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 901/902).
  • PA power amplifiers
  • BPFs band-pass filters
  • LPFs low-pass filters
  • the FEM circuitry 904 may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum and/or the 5 GHz frequency spectrum.
  • the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 904 may include a receive signal path duplexer 904 to separate the signals from each spectrum as well as provide a separate LNA 1006 for each spectrum as shown.
  • the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 904 may also include a power amplifier 1010 and a filter 1012, such as a BPF, a LPF or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 1014 to provide the signals of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by the one or more of the antennas 901.
  • BT communications may utilize the 2.4 GHz signal paths and may utilize the same FEM circuitry 904 as the one used for WLAN communications.
  • Fig. 11 illustrates radio IC circuitry 906 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • the radio IC circuitry 906 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry 906a/906b, although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.
  • the radio IC circuitry 906 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path.
  • the receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 906 may include at least mixer circuitry 1102, such as, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry 1106 and filter circuitry 1 108.
  • the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 906 may include at least filter circuitry 1112 and mixer circuitry 1114, such as, for example, up- conversion mixer circuitry.
  • Radio IC circuitry 906 may also include synthesizer circuitry 1104 for synthesizing a frequency 1105 for use by the mixer circuitry 1102 and the mixer circuitry 1114.
  • the mixer circuitry 1102 and/or 1114 may each, according to some embodiments, be configured to provide direct conversion functionality.
  • Fig. 11 illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and may include, although not shown, embodiments where each of the depicted circuitries may include more than one component.
  • mixer circuitry 1 102 and/or 1114 may each include one or more mixers
  • filter circuitries 1108 and/or 1112 may each include one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to application needs.
  • mixer circuitries are of the direct-conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.
  • mixer circuitry 1102 may be configured to down-convert RF signals 1007 received from the FEM circuitry 904 based on the synthesized frequency 1105 provided by synthesizer circuitry 1104.
  • the amplifier circuitry 1106 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 1108 may include a LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals 1110.
  • Output baseband signals 1110 may be provided to the baseband processing circuitry 908 for further processing.
  • the output baseband signals 1110 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement.
  • mixer circuitry 1102 may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
  • the mixer circuitry 1114 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals 1111 based on the synthesized frequency 1105 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 1104 to generate RF output signals 1009 for the FEM circuitry 904.
  • the baseband signals 1111 may be provided by the baseband processing circuitry 908 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 1112.
  • the filter circuitry 1112 may include a LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
  • the mixer circuitry 1102 and the mixer circuitry 1114 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up- conversion respectively with the help of synthesizer 1104.
  • the mixer circuitry 1102 and the mixer circuitry 1114 may each include two or more mixers each configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection).
  • the mixer circuitry 1102 and the mixer circuitry 1114 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively.
  • the mixer circuitry 1102 and the mixer circuitry 1114 may be configured for super-heterodyne operation, although this is not a requirement.
  • Mixer circuitry 1102 may comprise, according to one embodiment: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) paths).
  • RF input signal 807 may be down-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor.
  • Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety-degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuitry which may be configured to receive a LO frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or a synthesizer, such as LO frequency 1105 of synthesizer 1104.
  • a LO frequency fLO
  • the LO frequency may be the carrier frequency
  • the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one- half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency).
  • the zero and ninety-degree time-varying switching signals may be generated by the synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
  • the LO signals may differ in duty cycle (the percentage of one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset (the difference between start points of the period). In some embodiments, the LO signals may have a 25% duty cycle and a 50% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at a 25% duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction is power consumption.
  • the RF input signal 1007 may comprise a balanced signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
  • the I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to low-nose amplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 1106 or to filter circuitry 1108.
  • the output baseband signals 1110 and the input baseband signals 1111 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals 1110 and the input baseband signals 1111 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.
  • ADC analog-to-digital converter
  • DAC digital-to-analog converter
  • a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for other spectrums not mentioned here, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
  • the synthesizer circuitry 1104 may be a fractional -N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable.
  • synthesizer circuitry 1104 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.
  • the synthesizer circuitry 1104 may include digital synthesizer circuitry.
  • frequency input into synthesizer circuity 1104 may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement.
  • VCO voltage controlled oscillator
  • a divider control input may further be provided by either the baseband processing circuitry 908 or the application processor 911 depending on the desired output frequency 1105.
  • a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel center frequency as determined or indicated by the application processor 911.
  • synthesizer circuitry 1104 may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 1105, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 1105 may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 1105 may be a LO frequency (fLO).
  • fLO LO frequency
  • Fig. 12 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processing circuitry 908 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • the baseband processing circuitry 908 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 908, although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.
  • the baseband processing circuitry 908 may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 1202 for processing receive baseband signals 1110 provided by the radio IC circuitry 906 and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 1204 for generating transmit baseband signals 1111 for the radio IC circuitry 906.
  • the baseband processing circuitry 908 may also include control logic 1206 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processing circuitry 908.
  • the baseband processing circuitry 908 may include ADC 1210 to convert analog baseband signals received from the radio IC circuitry 906 to digital baseband signals for processing by the RX BBP 1202.
  • the baseband processing circuitry 908 may also include DAC 1212 to convert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 1204 to analog baseband signals.
  • the transmit baseband processor 1204 may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDMA signals as appropriate for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT).
  • IFFT inverse fast Fourier transform
  • the receive baseband processor 1202 may be configured to process received OFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT.
  • the receive baseband processor 1202 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an autocorrelation, to detect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and by performing a cross-correlation, to detect a long preamble.
  • the preambles may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication. Referring back to Fig.
  • the antennas 901 may each comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstnp antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals.
  • the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result.
  • Antennas 901 may each include a set of phased-array antennas, although embodiments are not so limited.
  • radio-architecture 900 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements.
  • processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements.
  • DSPs digital signal processors
  • some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein.
  • the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.
  • the radio-architecture 900 can perform one or more of the functions described herein such as the management of the MACB, the echo cancellation, the SIC, channel monitoring and tone allocation. Even more specifically, the radio architecture 900, and for example instructions in the baseband processing circuitry 908, can perform channel sensing, MACB management, MACB-RTS frame preparation and transmission, MACB-TRIG frame preparation and transmission, RTS frame preparation and transmission, CTS frame preparation and transmission, BA transmission as well as the corresponding and complementary receiver functions as discussed herein.
  • Fig. 13 outlines an exemplary method for enhanced communications.
  • the radio-architecture 900 and in particular baseband processing circuitry 908 and associated processors (1202/1204) and control logic 1206 can be programmed to perform the methods discussed herein. It is to be appreciated however that other element(s) illustrated within the radio-architecture 900 could also perform one or more of the steps discussed herein.
  • Control begins in step S1300 and continues to step S1304.
  • the master AP senses the secondary channels during an interval of PIFS immediately preceding the AP's backoff expiration (or the start of the TXOP) and decides the transmit channel bandwidth.
  • step S1308 the master AP transmits a 20 MHz RTS frame to the STA.
  • step S1312 the STA (the receiver of the RTS frame) transmits a 20 MHz CTS frame to the master AP.
  • the master AP transmits a 20 MHz PPDU packet in the A-MPDU format.
  • step SI 320 the master AP senses the secondary channels by utilizing the SIC (self-interference cancellation) techniques of the echo canceller/SIC module 868.
  • step S1324 when the secondary 20 MHz and the secondary 40 MHz channels become idle for a fixed duration of time (e.g., PIFS), the master AP stops the current A-MPDU transmission and transmits duplicate MACB-RTS frames across the available channel bandwidth. Control then continues to step S1328.
  • a fixed duration of time e.g., PIFS
  • step SI 328 and after termination of the A-MPDU transmission from the master AP, the station monitors its CCA prior to the reception of the new MACB-RTS frame.
  • the STA does not detect interference, in step S1332, on any of the secondary channel's SIFS prior to and SIFS after the reception of the new MACB-RTS frame, the STA in step S1336 transmits four duplicate 20 MHz MACB-TRIGGER frames to all the coordinated APs. (As will be appreciated, when there are more/less than four APs, there will be a corresponding number of MACB-TRIGGER frames)
  • step SI 340 when the STA detects interference on the secondary 20 MHz channel SIFS prior to or SIFS after the reception of the MACB-RTS frame, the STA only transmits a 20MHz MACB-TRIGGER frame to the master AP.
  • the STA detects interference on the secondary 40 MHz channel SIFS prior to or SIFS after the reception of the MACB-RTS frame the STA only transmits two duplicate 20 MHz MACB-TRGGER frames over the primary and secondary 20MHz channels to two of the coordinated APs (e.g., APs 1-2, etc.).
  • step S1344 In step S1344 and at a SIFS time after the reception of the MACB-TRIGGER frame, all the coordinated APs (identified in the MACB-TRIGGER frame) transmit data packet(s) to the STA over each 20 MHz channel simultaneously. Then, in step S1348, and at a SIFS time after the reception of the data packet from all the coordinated APs, the STA (the receiver of the data packet) feeds back block acknowledgement (BA) frames including the acknowledgement information of the 20 MHz A-MPDU subframes that had been received before the reception of the MACB-RTS frame. Control then continues to step S1352 where the control sequence ends.
  • BA block acknowledgement
  • step S1400 begins in step S1400 and continues to step S1402.
  • step S1402 the AP transmits a MACB RTS frame.
  • step S1404 the STA and upon the receipt of the MACB-RTS frame from the master AP sends RTS frames (RTS1, RTS2, RTS3 and RTS4) to one or more APs with different receiver addresses over different 20 MHz channels to solicit simultaneous CTS responses from one or more APs, as shown in Fig. 7.
  • the STA receives CTS frames from the solicited APs over the 20 MHz channels.
  • the CTS frames can indicate the availability of the AP to participate in the following MACB DL transmission.
  • the CTS frame can also include the available channel BW (and index) information, e.g., 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, etc. If the device 800 does not hear a CTS frame on a 20 MHz channel then the device 800 indicates that the AP on that channel is not available and cannot participate in the MACB transmission.
  • step S1416 the STA allocate resources for each AP for MACB DL transmissions, including (i) channel BW, (ii) MCS, (iii) OFDM tone plan, (iv) transmit power, and/or, etc.
  • step S1420 the STA then allocates one of the pre-defined tone plans for each AP based on their relative channel location within the triggered channel bonding transmission. Control then continues to step S1424.
  • step S1424 the STA next prepares an MACB-TRIG frame to solicit MACB DL transmissions from the APs who responded with the CTS frames discussed above.
  • the MACB- TRIG frame can include one or more of the data mode selection information, channel BW allocation, MCS, tone allocation for each coordinated AP who has responded with the CTS frame, etc.
  • step SI 428 the STA sends MACB-TRIG frames to the participating APs to solicit MACB DL transmissions therefrom, wherein the MACB-TRIG frames can optionally be duplicated on 20 MHz channels.
  • step S1432 the STA prepares its receiver and associated components to process the MACB PPDUs based on resource allocation in the MACB-TRIG frame.
  • step S1436 the STA processes the received MACB PPDUs using the allocated channel BW, MCS, and tone plan in the MACB-TRIG frame and upon the completion of the packet reception, sends BlockAck (BA) frames to each AP on each AP's primary 20 MHz channel, and optionally duplicated BAs on other 20 MHz channels, if needed.
  • BA BlockAck
  • Control for the system generally begins in step SI 500 and continues to step SI 502 where the STA transmits an RTS frame.
  • Control for the AP begins in step SI 500 and continues to step SI 504.
  • step SI 504 the STA transmits an RTS frame.
  • Step SI 504 the AP receives the RTS frame from the STA.
  • step SI 508 the AP checks the availability of the channel by checking the transmit/receive status, the AP's NAV setting and/or performs sensing (e.g., energy detection) over entire 80 MHz before responding to the RTS frame. When the AP's primary 20 MHz channel is not available, then the AP does not respond to the RTS frame.
  • sensing e.g., energy detection
  • step S1512 when the AP's primary 20 MHz channel is available, then the AP sends a CTS frame including the list of all the available channels, and prepares to receive a MACB-TRIG frame on its primary 20 MHz channel from the STA. Control then continues to step S1516.
  • step S1516 and upon the receipt of the MACB-TRIG frame from the STA, the AP checks the allocated resources and transmission configurations, including the channel BW, MCS, OFDM tone plan, etc., and then in step S1520 prepares the data packet (PPDU) accordingly. Then, in step SI 524, and upon the completion of the MACB DL packet transmission, the AP receives a BA frame from the STA on its primary 20 MHz channel. Control then continues to step SI 528 where the control sequence ends.
  • the allocated resources and transmission configurations including the channel BW, MCS, OFDM tone plan, etc.
  • Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, for example, a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Device (MD), a wireless station (STA), a Personal Computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off- board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless Access Point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wireless network, a wireless area network, a Wireless Video Area Network (WVAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wireless
  • Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with devices and/or networks operating in accordance with existing Wireless-Gigabit- Alliance (WGA) specifications (Wireless Gigabit Alliance, Inc. WiGig MAC and PHY Specification Version 1.1, April 2011, Final specification) and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof, devices and/or networks operating in accordance with existing IEEE 802.11 standards (IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE Standard for Information technology—Telecommunications and information exchange between systems Local and metropolitan area networks—Specific requirements Part 11 : Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, March 29, 2012; IEEE802.11ac-2013 ("IEEE P802.1 lac-2013, IEEE Standard for Information Technology - Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems - Local and Metropolitan Area Networks - Specific Requirements - Part 11 : Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications - Amendment 4: Enhancements for Very High Throughput for Operation in Bands below 6GHz", December, 2013); IEEE 802.11-2012,
  • Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, a Personal Communication Systems (PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable Global Positioning System (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFID element or chip, a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transceiver or device, a Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) transceiver or device, a Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi- standard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a Smartphone, a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) device, or the like.
  • WAP Wireless Application Protocol
  • Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and/or systems, for example, Radio Frequency (RF), Infra-Red (IR), Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM), Orthogonal FDM (OFDM), Orthogonal Frequency- Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), FDM Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM), Time- Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Multi-User MIMO (MU-MFMO), Spatial Division Multiple Access (SDMA), Extended TDMA (E-TDMA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), extended GPRS, Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, Multi-Carrier Modulation (MDM), Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT), Bluetooth , Global Positioning System (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBeeTM, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM),
  • Some demonstrative embodiments may be used in conjunction with a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), e.g., a Wi-Fi network.
  • a WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
  • Other embodiments may be used in conjunction with any other suitable wireless communication network, for example, a wireless area network, a "piconet", a WPAN, a WVAN, and the like.
  • Some demonstrative embodiments may be used in conjunction with a wireless communication network communicating over a frequency band of 5GHz and/or 60GHz.
  • other embodiments may be implemented utilizing any other suitable wireless communication frequency bands, for example, an Extremely High Frequency (EHF) band (the millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency band), e.g., a frequency band within the frequency band of between 20GhH and 300GHz, a WLAN frequency band, a WPAN frequency band, a frequency band according to the WGA specification, and the like.
  • EHF Extremely High Frequency
  • mmWave millimeter wave
  • the terms “plurality” and “a plurality” as used herein may include, for example, “multiple” or “two or more”.
  • the terms “plurality” or “a plurality” may be used throughout the specification to describe two or more components, devices, elements, units, parameters, circuits, or the like.
  • a plurality of stations may include two or more stations.
  • the exemplary embodiments will be described in relation to communications systems, as well as protocols, techniques, means and methods for performing communications, such as in a wireless network, or in general in any communications network operating using any communications protocol(s). Examples of such are home or access networks, wireless home networks, wireless corporate networks, and the like. It should be appreciated however that in general, the systems, methods and techniques disclosed herein will work equally well for other types of communications environments, networks and/or protocols.
  • a Domain Master can also be used to refer to any device, system or module that manages and/or configures or communicates with any one or more aspects of the network or communications environment and/or transceiver(s) and/or stations and/or access point(s) described herein.
  • the components of the system can be combined into one or more devices, or split between devices, such as a transceiver, an access point, a station, a Domain Master, a network operation or management device, a node or collocated on a particular node of a distributed network, such as a communications network.
  • the components of the system can be arranged at any location within a distributed network without affecting the operation thereof.
  • the various components can be located in a Domain Master, a node, a domain management device, such as a MIB, a network operation or management device, a transceiver(s), a station, an access point(s), or some combination thereof.
  • a domain management device such as a MIB
  • a network operation or management device such as a MCIB
  • transceiver(s) such as a MIB
  • a station such as a station
  • an access point(s) such as a station
  • one or more of the functional portions of the system could be distributed between a transceiver and an associated computing device/system.
  • the various links 5, including the communications channel(s) connecting the elements can be wired or wireless links or any combination thereof, or any other known or later developed element(s) capable of supplying and/or communicating data to and from the connected elements.
  • module as used herein can refer to any known or later developed hardware, circuitry, software, firmware, or combination thereof, that is capable of performing the functionality associated with that element.
  • determine, calculate, and compute and variations thereof, as used herein are used interchangeable and include any type of methodology, process, technique, mathematical operational or protocol.
  • exemplary embodiments described herein are directed toward a transmitter portion of a transceiver performing certain functions, or a receiver portion of a transceiver performing certain functions, this disclosure is intended to include corresponding and complementary transmitter-side or receiver-side functionality, respectively, in both the same transceiver and/or another transceiver(s), and vice versa.
  • the exemplary embodiments are described in relation to enhanced GFDM communications. However, it should be appreciated, that in general, the systems and methods herein will work equally well for any type of communication system in any environment utilizing any one or more protocols including wired communications, wireless communications, powerline communications, coaxial cable communications, fiber optic communications, and the like.
  • the exemplary systems and methods are described in relation to IEEE 802.11 and/or
  • Bluetooth® and/or Bluetooth® Low Energy transceivers and associated communication hardware, software and communication channels are not limited to:
  • a multi-access point (AP) channel bonding (MACB) wireless communications device comprising:
  • a MACB manager connected to the controller and a memory to allocate resources based on: channel availability at the device and channel availability at each coordinated access point.
  • the allocation includes considering one or more of channel bandwidth, a modulation and coding scheme and/or a tone plan.
  • a transmitter radio circuitry of the device is adapted to transmit a number of duplicate 20 MHz MACB-TRIGGER frames to all of the coordinated access points.
  • a transmitter radio circuitry of the device is adapted to transmit a 20 MHz MACB-TRIGGER frame to a master access point.
  • a monitoring circuit is adapted to detect interference on a secondary 40 MHz channel SIFS (Short Interframe Space) prior to or SIFS after a reception of a MACB-RTS frame and transmitter radio circuitry adapted to transmit two duplicate 20 MHz MACB-TRGGER frames over primary and secondary 20MHz channels to two of the coordinated access points.
  • SIFS Short Interframe Space
  • the device receives data packets from all coordinated access points over each 20 MHz channel simultaneously.
  • the MACB manager and connected transmitter circuitry are to send RTS frames to one or more access points with different receiver addresses over different 20 MHz channels to solicit simultaneous CTS (Clear to Send) responses from the one or more access points.
  • receiver radio circuity in response to the sent RTS frames, is to receive CTS frames which indicate an availability of the access points to participate in a MACB downlink transmission and the list of available channels at the access point.
  • a tone plan allocation module is to allocate resources for each access point for the MACB downlink transmissions at least based on the list of available channels indicated in the CTS frames.
  • a transmitter circuitry is to transmit a MACB-TRIG frame to solicit MACB downlink transmissions from access point who responded with the CTS frames.
  • a non-transitory information storage media having stored thereon one or more instructions, that when executed by one or more processors, cause to be performed a multiaccess point (AP) channel bonding (MACB) method comprising:
  • the allocation includes considering one or more of channel bandwidth, a modulation and coding scheme and/or a tone plan.
  • a transmitter radio circuitry of the device is adapted to transmit a number of duplicate 20 MHz MACB-TRIGGER frames to all of the coordinated access points.
  • a transmitter radio circuitry of the device is adapted to transmit a 20 MHz MACB-TRIGGER frame to a master access point.
  • a monitoring circuit is adapted to detect interference on a secondary 40 MHz channel SIFS (Short Interframe Space) prior to or SIFS after a reception of a MACB-RTS frame and transmitter radio circuitry adapted to transmit two duplicate 20 MHz MACB-TRGGER frames over primary and secondary 20MHz channels to two of the coordinated access points.
  • SIFS Short Interframe Space
  • the device receives data packets from all coordinated access points over each 20 MHz channel simultaneously.
  • the MACB manager and connected transmitter circuitry are to send RTS frames to one or more access points with different receiver addresses over different 20 MHz channels to solicit simultaneous CTS (Clear to Send) responses from the one or more access points.
  • receiver radio circuity in response to the sent RTS frames, is to receive CTS frames which indicate an availability of the access points to participate in a MACB downlink transmission and the list of available channels at the access point.
  • a tone plan allocation module is to allocate resources for each access point for the MACB downlink transmissions and/or wherein a transmitter circuitry is to transmit a MACB-TRIG frame to solicit MACB downlink transmissions from access point who responded with the CTS frames.
  • a multi-access point (AP) channel bonding (MACB) wireless communications device comprising:
  • the allocation includes considering one or more of channel bandwidth, a modulation and coding scheme and/or a tone plan.
  • a transmitter radio circuitry of the device is adapted to transmit a number of duplicate 20 MHz MACB-TRIGGER frames to all of the coordinated access points.
  • a transmitter radio circuitry of the device is adapted to transmit a 20 MHz MACB-TRIGGER frame to a master access point.
  • a monitoring circuit is adapted to detect interference on a secondary 40 MHz channel SIFS (Short Interframe Space) prior to or SIFS after a reception of a MACB-RTS frame and transmitter radio circuitry adapted to transmit two duplicate 20 MHz MACB-TRGGER frames over primary and secondary 20MHz channels to two of the coordinated access points.
  • SIFS Short Interframe Space
  • the device receives data packets from all coordinated access points over each 20 MHz channel simultaneously.
  • the MACB manager and connected transmitter circuitry are to send RTS frames to one or more access points with different receiver addresses over different 20 MHz channels to solicit simultaneous CTS (Clear to Send) responses from the one or more access points.
  • receiver radio circuity in response to the sent RTS frames, is to receive CTS frames which indicate an availability of the access points to participate in a MACB downlink transmission and the list of available channels at the access point.
  • a tone plan allocation module is to allocate resources for each access point for the MACB downlink transmissions at least based on the list of available channels indicated in the CTS frames.
  • a transmitter circuitry is to transmit a MACB-TRIG frame to solicit MACB downlink transmissions from access point who responded with the CTS frames.
  • SoC system on a chip
  • One or more means for performing any one or more of the above aspects are provided.
  • the various components of the system can be located at distant portions of a distributed network, such as a communications network and/or the Internet, or within a dedicated secure, unsecured and/or encrypted system.
  • a distributed network such as a communications network and/or the Internet
  • the components of the system can be combined into one or more devices, such as an access point or station, or collocated on a particular node/element(s) of a distributed network, such as a telecommunications network.
  • the components of the system can be arranged at any location within a distributed network without affecting the operation of the system.
  • the various components can be located in a transceiver, an access point, a station, a management device, or some combination thereof.
  • one or more functional portions of the system could be distributed between a transceiver, such as an access point(s) or station(s) and an associated computing device.
  • wireless protocols examples include IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802. l lg, IEEE 802.11 ⁇ , IEEE 802.1 lac, IEEE 802.1 lad, IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.1 lah, IEEE 802.11ai, IEEE 802.1 laj, IEEE 802.1 laq, IEEE 802.1 lax, Wi-Fi, LTE, 4G, Bluetooth®, WirelessHD, WiGig, WiGi, 3 GPP, Wireless LAN, WiMAX, DensiFi SIG, Unifi SIG, 3 GPP LAA (licensed-assisted access), and the like.
  • transceiver can refer to any device that comprises hardware, software, circuitry, firmware, or any combination thereof and is capable of performing any of the methods, techniques and/or algorithms described herein. Additionally, the systems, methods and protocols can be implemented to improve one or more of a special purpose computer, a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit element(s), an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hard-wired electronic or logic circuit such as discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device such as PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, a modem, a transmitter/receiver, any comparable means, or the like. In general, any device capable of implementing a state machine that is in turn capable of implementing the methodology illustrated herein can benefit from the various communication methods, protocols and techniques according to the disclosure provided herein.
  • Examples of the processors as described herein may include, but are not limited to, at least one of Qualcomm® Qualcomm® Qualcomm® 800 and 801, Qualcomm® Qualcomm® Qualcomm® 610 and 615 with 4G LTE Integration and 64-bit computing, Apple® A7 processor with 64-bit architecture, Apple® M7 motion coprocessors, Samsung® Exynos® series, the Intel® CoreTM family of processors, the Intel® Xeon® family of processors, the Intel® AtomTM family of processors, the Intel Itanium® family of processors, Intel® Core® ⁇ 5-4670 ⁇ and ⁇ 7-4770 ⁇ 22nm Haswell, Intel® Core® ⁇ 5-3570 ⁇ 22nm Ivy Bridge, the AMD® FXTM family of processors, AMD® FX- 4300, FX-6300, and FX-8350 32nm Vishera, AMD® Kaveri processors, Texas Instruments® Jacinto C6000TM automotive infotainment processors, Texas Instruments® OMAPTM automotive-grade mobile processors, ARM® CortexTM
  • the disclosed methods may be readily implemented in software using object or object-oriented software development environments that provide portable source code that can be used on a variety of computer or workstation platforms.
  • the disclosed system may be implemented partially or fully in hardware using standard logic circuits or VLSI design. Whether software or hardware is used to implement the systems in accordance with the embodiments is dependent on the speed and/or efficiency requirements of the system, the particular function, and the particular software or hardware systems or microprocessor or microcomputer systems being utilized.
  • the communication systems, methods and protocols illustrated herein can be readily implemented in hardware and/or software using any known or later developed systems or structures, devices and/or software by those of ordinary skill in the applicable art from the functional description provided herein and with a general basic knowledge of the computer and telecommunications arts.
  • the disclosed methods may be readily implemented in software and/or firmware that can be stored on a storage medium to improve the performance of: a programmed general-purpose computer with the cooperation of a controller and memory, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, or the like.
  • the systems and methods can be implemented as program embedded on personal computer such as an applet, JAVA.RTM. or CGI script, as a resource residing on a server or computer workstation, as a routine embedded in a dedicated communication system or system component, or the like.
  • the system can also be implemented by physically incorporating the system and/or method into a software and/or hardware system, such as the hardware and software systems of a communications transceiver.

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Abstract

Un mode de réalisation donné à titre d'exemple concerne un protocole MAC de MACB (liaison de canal à points d'accès (AP) multiples) amélioré basé RTS-CTS qui permet à une STA d'attribuer efficacement des ressources (y compris une largeur de bande de canal, un MCS, un plan de tonalité, etc.) sur la base de la disponibilité de canal non seulement au niveau de la STA, mais également au niveau de chaque AP coordonné.
PCT/US2017/039657 2017-06-28 2017-06-28 Procédés d'attribution de ressources pour une liaison de canal à ap multiples coordonnés dans des wlan ieee 802.11 Ceased WO2019005027A1 (fr)

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