Channel Bonding Design and Signaling in Wireless Communications

An apparatus comprising:

• an interface to access a wireless medium of a wireless local area network (WLAN);
• and
• processor electronics coupled with the interface, wherein the processor electronics are configured to:
• identify a channel bonding mode out of a plurality of channel bonding modes, the channel bonding mode comprising two or more available channels used by the apparatus in the WLAN, and the two or more available channels indicating at least one busy channel not used by the apparatus for data transmission;
• signal, to a receiver, the channel bonding mode using a bandwidth field of a legacy signal field that is duplicated across respective channels used in the WLAN, the legacy signal field being in a preamble portion of a frame;
• and
• control, via the interface, a transmission of the frame to the receiver, wherein the frame comprises a data portion of the frame that occupies the two or more available channels according to the channel bonding mode.

An apparatus comprising:

• an interface to access a wireless medium of a wireless local area network (WLAN);
• and
• processor electronics coupled with the interface, wherein the processor electronics are configured to:
• receive a frame via a group of channels associated with the wireless medium, the frame comprising a preamble portion and a data portion, the preamble portion comprising a legacy signal field that is duplicated across respective channels used by the apparatus in the WLAN, the legacy signal field comprising a bandwidth field that indicates a channel bonding mode out of a plurality of channel bonding modes, the channel bonding mode comprising two or more available channels used by the apparatus in the WLAN, and the two or more available channels indicating at least one busy channel not used by the apparatus for data transmission;
• decode the channel bonding mode from the bandwidth field of the legacy signal field;
• determine the two or more available channels out of the group of channels based on the channel bonding mode;
• and
• decode the data portion of the frame that occupies the two or more available channels.