Uplink OFDMA Processing in WLANs
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsJoonsuk Kim, Yuchul Kim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This disclosure relates to orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication in wireless local area networks (WLANs). According to some embodiments, a downlink OFDMA frame may be transmitted. An uplink OFDMA frame including acknowledgements associated with the downlink OFDMA frame may be received. The uplink OFDMA frame may be processed, in some instances including determining which devices receiving the downlink OFDMA frame transmitted an acknowledgement associated with the downlink OFDMA frame in the uplink OFDMA frame.
Claims20
A wireless device, comprising:
- an antenna;
- a radio operably coupled to the antenna;
- and
- a processing element operably coupled to the radio;
- wherein the wireless device is configured to:
- transmit a downlink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame to a plurality of receiving devices;
- receive an uplink OFDMA frame, wherein the uplink OFDMA frame comprises a plurality of acknowledgements associated with the downlink OFDMA frame, wherein the plurality of acknowledgements comprise an acknowledgement from at least a subset of the plurality of receiving devices;
- and
- process the uplink OFDMA frame, comprising determining which of the plurality of receiving devices transmitted, in the uplink OFDMA frame, an acknowledgement associated with the downlink OFDMA frame, wherein said determining comprises comparing bandwidth portions of the downlink OFDMA frame to bandwidth portions of the uplink OFDMA frame.
A method for performing orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication in a wireless local area network (WLAN), comprising:
- at a first device:
- transmitting a downlink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame over the WLAN, wherein the downlink OFDMA frame comprises packets transmitted to a plurality of second devices;
- receiving an uplink OFDMA frame over the WLAN in response to the downlink OFDMA frame, wherein the uplink OFDMA frame comprises packets received from the plurality of second devices;
- and
- processing the uplink OFDMA frame, comprising comparing bands of the downlink OFDMA frame to bands of the uplink OFDMA frame.
An apparatus configured for implementation in a wireless device, comprising:
- one or more processing elements configured to cause the wireless device to:
- generate a plurality of packets, wherein the plurality of packets comprise a packet for each of a plurality of receiving devices;
- concurrently transmit the plurality of packets to the plurality of receiving devices as a downlink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame;
- receive information comprising a plurality of acknowledgements from the plurality of receiving devices corresponding to the plurality of packets transmitted to the plurality of receiving devices, wherein the plurality of acknowledgements were transmitted concurrently;
- and
- process the information to determine which of the plurality of receiving devices transmitted acknowledgements based at least in part on comparing channels of the downlink OFDMA frame to channels of the plurality of acknowledgements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.