Signal field encoding in a high efficiency wireless local area network (WLAN) data unit

A communication device, comprising:

• a wireless network interface device having i) one or more integrated circuit (IC) devices, and ii) an encoder circuit implemented on the one or more IC devices;
• wherein the one or more IC devices are configured to generate a physical layer (PHY) preamble of a PHY data unit, including:
• generating an information bit stream to be included in a field of the PHY preamble, the information bit stream including information for decoding a PHY data portion of the PHY data unit,
• appending respective sets of tail bits after respective sets of information bits of the information bit stream such that at least some of the respective sets of tail bits are between at least some of the respective sets of information bits, the respective sets of information bits corresponding to respective ones of a plurality of groups of subfields of the field, each of at least some of the groups including multiple subfields of the field,
• after appending the respective sets of tail bits, continually encoding, with the encoder circuit, the information bit stream, including continually encoding the plurality of groups of subfields of the field having the at least some of the respective sets of tail bits between the at least some of the respective sets of information bits, and
• after continually encoding the information bit stream, generating the field to include at least some bits from the information bit stream;
• and
• wherein the one or more IC devices are further configured to:
• generate the PHY data portion of the PHY data unit, and
• control the wireless network interface device to transmit the PHY data unit.