Sounding and tone block allocation for orthogonal frequency multiple access (ofdma) in wireless local area networks

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

• receiving, at a first communication device, sounding feedback packets from a plurality of second communication devices in a group of second communication devices for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication, wherein each sounding feedback packet includes (i) beamforming feedback information to be used by the first communication device for beamforming to the corresponding second communication device and (ii) 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 corresponding second communication device;
• allocating, based on the one or more quality indicators received from each of at least some of the second communication devices in the group, respective sub-channel blocks to respective ones of the second communication devices in the group;
• and
• transmitting, with the first communication device, at least one orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) data unit that includes respective OFDM data units directed to respective ones of the second communication devices in the group, wherein the respective OFDM data units are transmitted in the respective sub-channel blocks allocated to the second communication devices in the group.