System and method for high efficiency wireless local area network communications

A wirelessly enabled network component, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:
• generate a frame, wherein the frame comprises orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in two different fast Fourier transform (FFT) sizes, wherein the frame comprises a preamble portion and a data portion, wherein the preamble portion comprises a first FFT size and the data portion comprises a second FFT size, wherein the first FFT size and the second FFT size are different, wherein the first FFT size is 64 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is at least 512 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is a high efficiency wireless local area network (HEW) FFT size, wherein at least a first part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a first modulation scheme and at least a second part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a second modulation scheme, wherein the first modulation scheme is binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation and the second modulation scheme is a higher order modulation than BPSK modulation, wherein the preamble portion comprises a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), a legacy signal (L-SIG) field, and a frame control field, wherein the frame control field comprises a downlink/uplink (DL/UL) MAP configuration, and wherein the frame control field is modulated with the second modulation scheme;
• and
• transmit the frame during a single transmission opportunity.

A method in a wireless network device, comprising:

• receiving a frame, wherein the frame comprises orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in two different FFT sizes, wherein the frame comprises a preamble portion and a data portion, wherein the preamble portion comprises a first FFT size and the data portion comprises a second FFT size, wherein the first FFT size and the second FFT size are different, wherein the first FFT size is 64 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is at least 512 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is a high efficiency wireless local area network (HEW) FFT size, wherein at least a first part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a first modulation scheme and at least a second part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a second modulation scheme, wherein the first modulation scheme is binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation and the second modulation scheme is a higher order modulation than BPSK modulation, wherein the preamble portion comprises a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), a legacy signal (L-SIG) field, and a frame control field, wherein the frame control field comprises a downlink/uplink (DL/UL) MAP configuration, and wherein the frame control field is modulated with the second modulation scheme;
• decoding the preamble portion according to the first FFT size;
• and
• decoding the data portion according to the second FFT size.

A wireless system, comprising:

• a transmitter;
• and
• a processor coupled to the transmitter, wherein the processor is configured to generate a frame, wherein the frame comprises orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in two different fast Fourier transform (FFT) sizes, wherein the frame comprises a preamble portion and a data portion, wherein the preamble portion comprises a first FFT size and the data portion comprises a second FFT size, wherein the first FFT size and the second FFT size are different, wherein the first FFT size is 64 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is at least 512 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is a high efficiency wireless local area network (HEW) FFT size, wherein at least a first part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a first modulation scheme and at least a second part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a second modulation scheme, wherein the first modulation scheme is binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation and the second modulation scheme is a higher order modulation than BPSK modulation, wherein the preamble portion comprises a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), a legacy signal (L-SIG) field, and a frame control field, wherein the frame control field comprises a downlink/uplink (DL/UL) MAP configuration, wherein the frame control field is modulated with the second modulation scheme, and wherein the processor is further configured to cause the transmitter to transmit the frame during a single transmission opportunity.