US 2015/0146807 A1 · SOUNDING AND TONE BLOCK ALLOCATION FOR ORTHOGONAL FREQUENCY MULTIPLE ACCESS (OFDMA) IN WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORKS

Abstract

A first communication device obtains, for each second communication device of a plurality of second communication devices, one or more quality indicators corresponding to one or more sub-channel blocks of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication channel associated with the second communication device. The first communication device selects, based on the quality indicators obtained for each of at least some of the second communication devices, a group of second communication devices for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication. The first communication device transmits, to the group of second communication devices, at least one OFDMA data unit that includes respective OFDM data units directed to the two or more second communication devices of the group. The respective OFDM data units are transmitted in respective sub-channel blocks allocated to the two or more second communication devices of the group.

Claims28

Dependent claims

A method for simultaneously communicating with multiple communication devices in a communication network, the method comprising:

obtaining, at a first communication device for each second communication device of a plurality of second communication devices, one or more quality indicators corresponding to one or more sub-channel blocks of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication channel associated with the second communication device;
selecting, at the first communication device based on the quality indicators obtained for each of at least some of the second communication devices, a group of second communication devices for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication, wherein the group includes two or more second communication devices of the plurality of second communication devices;
and
transmitting, from the first communication device to the group of second communication devices, at least one OFDMA data unit that includes respective OFDM data units directed to the two or more second communication devices of the group, wherein the respective OFDM data units are transmitted in respective sub-channel blocks allocated to the two or more second communication devices of the group.

1 more element

An apparatus for use in a communication system, the apparatus comprising:

a network interface configured to
obtain, for each of a plurality of communication devices, one or more quality indicators corresponding to one or more sub-channel blocks of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication channel associated with the communication device;
select, based on the quality indicators obtained for each of at least some communication devices of the plurality of communication devices, a group of communication devices for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication, wherein the group includes two or more communication devices of the plurality of communication devices;
and
transmit, to the group of communication devices, at least one OFDMA data unit that includes respective OFDM data units directed to the two or more communication devices of the group, wherein the respective OFDM data units are transmitted in respective sub-channel blocks allocated to the two or more communication devices of the group.

2 more elements