Sub-1ghz mac frame header compression

A system for a communication network comprising:

• an access point (AP) in communication with a plurality of stations (STAs);
• wherein information communicated between the AP and the STAs is transmitted and received as frames;
• wherein a data frame can be transmitted and received between the AP and the STAs using compressed header medium access control (CH_MAC) fields, and
• wherein the CH_MAC fields comprise a MAC Address field of 6 octets and an AID field of 2 octets, which are used for identifying a transmitter and a receiver, and other CH_MAC fields comprising a combined size of no more than 8 octets.

A method of operating a communication network which comprises an access point (AP) in communication with a plurality of stations (STAs), the method comprising:

• receiving and transmitting information in frames;
• and
• transmitting and receiving a management frame using compressed header medium access control (CH_MAC) fields;
• wherein the CH_MAC fields comprise:
• a MAC Address field of 6 octets and an Association Identifier (AID) field of 2 octets, which are used for identifying either of a transmitter or a receiver, and other CH_MAC fields comprising a combined size of no more than eight octets.

A method of operating a communication network which comprises an access point (AP) in communication with a plurality of stations (STAs), the method comprising:

• receiving and transmitting information in frames;
• and
• transmitting and receiving either of a data frame or a management frame by using compressed header medium access control (CH_MAC) fields;
• wherein the CH_MAC fields comprise 802.11 MAC header fields in which at least one field has been reduced in size from the standard 802.11 MAC header field size;
• and
• wherein the CH_MAC fields comprise 802.11 MAC header fields in which at least one of the standard 802.11 MAC header fields has been removed.