Multiple protocol wireless communications in a WLAN

A wireless communication device comprises:

• a radio transceiver;
• a processing module;
• and
• memory operably coupled to the processing module, wherein the memory includes operational instructions that cause the processing module to:
• receive a frame via a wireless channel;
• determining, via the received frame, whether a selected protocol is not of a like protocol of the wireless communication device;
• when the selected protocol is not of the like protocol, utilize the selected protocol to interpret at least a portion of wireless communication set up information of the received frame;
• based on the at least a portion of the wireless communication set up information, determine whether a remainder of the received frame is formatted in accordance with the selected protocol of the wireless communication device;
• and
• when the remainder of the received frame is formatted in accordance with the selected protocol of the wireless communication device, process the remainder of the frame based in accordance with the selected protocol.

A method for a wireless communication device to participate in multiple protocol wireless communications, the method comprises:

• determining whether a selected protocol is of a like protocol of the wireless communication device;
• when the selected protocol is not of the like protocol of the wireless communication device,
• formatting a portion of wireless communication set up information in accordance with the selected protocol to produce legacy formatted set up information;
• formatting a remainder of the wireless communication set up information in accordance with the not of the like protocol of the wireless communication device to produce current formatted set up information;
• formatting data in accordance with the not of the like protocol of the wireless communication device to produce current formatted data;
• and
• transmitting a frame containing the legacy formatted set up information, the current formatted set up information, and the current formatted data.

A wireless communication device comprises:

• a radio transceiver;
• a processing module;
• and
• memory operably coupled to the processing module, wherein the memory includes operational instructions that cause the processing module to:
• determine whether a selected protocol is of a like protocol of the wireless communication device;
• when the selected protocol is not of the like protocol of the wireless communication device,
• format a portion of wireless communication set up information in accordance with the selected protocol to produce legacy formatted set up information;
• format a remainder of the wireless communication set up information in accordance with the not of the like protocol of the wireless communication device to produce current formatted set up information;
• format data in accordance with the not of the like protocol of the wireless communication device to produce current formatted data;
• and
• transmit a frame containing the legacy formatted set up information, the current formatted set up information, and the current formatted data.