Detailed signaling designs for distributed-tone resource unit transmission

An apparatus, comprising:

• a transceiver configured to communicate wirelessly;
• and
• a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform operations comprising:
• generating, by a processor of an apparatus, a frame with indications of a resource unit (RU) type and a distributed-tone RU (dRU) distribution bandwidth;
• and
• transmitting, via the transceiver, the frame to another apparatus,
• wherein the RU type is indicated in a Common Information field or a Special User Information field of the frame, and
• wherein the dRU distribution bandwidth is indicated in a Spatial Stream (SS) Allocation subfield of a User Information field of the frame,
• wherein the RU type is indicated by up to four non-consecutive bits in the Common Information field or a combination of the Common Information field and the Special User Information field of the frame in a first arrangement or a second arrangement or a third arrangement,
• wherein, in the first arrangement:
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz, bit B22 in a Reserved subfield of the Common Information field indicates the RU type as regular RU (rRU) or dRU for a 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz bandwidth while bits B26, B53 and B63 are reserved;
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 160 MHz, each of bits B22 and B26 indicates the RU type for a respective 80 MHz frequency segment of two 80 MHz frequency segments while bits B53 and B63 are reserved;
• and
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 320 MHz, each of bits B22, B26, B53 and B63 indicates the RU type for a respective 80 MHz frequency segment of four 80 MHz frequency segments,
• wherein, in the second arrangement:
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz, bit B53 or B63 in a Reserved subfield of the Common Information field indicates the RU type as regular RU (rRU) or distributed-tone RU (dRU) for a 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz bandwidth while bits B20, B21, B22 and B26 are reserved;
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 160 MHz, each of bits B20 and B21 in a Gap Interval (GI) And High-Efficiency (HE)/Extremely-High-Efficiency (EHT) Long Training Field (EHT-LTF) Type/Triggered Transmission Opportunity (TXOP) Sharing Mode subfield of the Common Information field indicates the RU type for a respective 80 MHz frequency segment of two 80 MHz frequency segments while bits B22 and B26 are reserved and while bit B53 or B63 indicates that the RU type of at least one 80 MHz frequency segment is dRU;
• and
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 320 MHz, each of bits B20, B21, B22 and B26 indicates the RU type for a respective 80 MHz frequency segment of four 80 MHz frequency segments while bit B53 or B63 indicates that the RU type of at least one 80 MHz frequency segment is dRU, and
• wherein, in the third arrangement:
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz, bit B63 in a Reserved subfield of the Common Information field indicates the RU type as regular RU (rRU) or dRU for a 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz bandwidth while bits B37˜B39 in another Reserved subfield of the Special User Information field are reserved;
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 160 MHz, each of bits B63 and B21 indicates the RU type for a respective 80 MHz frequency segment of two 80 MHz frequency segments while bits B38 and B39 are reserved;
• and
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 320 MHz, each of bits B63 and B37˜B39 indicates the RU type for a respective 80 MHz frequency segment of four 80 MHz frequency segments.

A method, comprising:

• generating, by a processor of an apparatus, a frame with indications of a resource unit (RU) type and a distributed-tone RU (dRU) distribution bandwidth;
• and
• transmitting, by the processor, the frame to another apparatus,
• wherein the RU type is indicated in a Common Information field or a Special User Information field of the frame, and
• wherein the dRU distribution bandwidth is indicated in a Spatial Stream (SS) Allocation subfield of a User Information field of the frame,
• wherein the RU type is indicated by up to four consecutive bits in the Common Information field in a first arrangement or a second arrangement or a third arrangement,
• wherein, in the first arrangement, the four consecutive bits comprise bits B56 B59 in a Reserved subfield of the Common Information field, and:
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz, bit B56 indicates the RU type as regular RU (rRU) or dRU for a 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz bandwidth while bits B57˜B59 are reserved;
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 160 MHz, each of bits B56 and B57 indicates the RU type for a respective 80 MHz frequency segment of two 80 MHz frequency segments while bits B58 and B59 are reserved;
• and
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 320 MHz, each of bits B56˜B59 indicates the RU type for a respective 80 MHz frequency segment of four 80 MHz frequency segments,
• wherein, in the second arrangement, the four consecutive bits comprise bits B59˜B62 in a Reserved subfield of the Common Information field, and:
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz, bit B59 indicates the RU type as regular RU (rRU) or distributed-tone RU (dRU) for a 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz bandwidth while bits B60˜B62 are reserved;
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 160 MHz, each of bits B59 and B60 indicates the RU type for a respective 80 MHz frequency segment of two 80 MHz frequency segments while bits B61 and B62 are reserved;
• and
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 320 MHz, each of bits B59˜B62 indicates the RU type for a respective 80 MHz frequency segment of four 80 MHz frequency segments, and
• wherein, in the third arrangement, the four consecutive bits comprise bits B25 B28 in a Universal Signal (U-SIG) Disregard and Validate subfield of the Special User Information field, and:
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz, bit B25 indicates the RU type as regular RU (rRU) or dRU for a 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz bandwidth while bits B26˜B28 are reserved;
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 160 MHz, each of bits B25 and B26 indicates the RU type for a respective 80 MHz frequency segment of two 80 MHz frequency segments while bits B27 and B28 are reserved;
• and
• responsive to a transmission bandwidth of 320 MHz, each of bits B25˜B28 indicates the RU type for a respective 80 MHz frequency segment of four 80 MHz frequency segments.