Medium accessing mechanisms within multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications

A wireless communication device comprising:

• a processor configured to generate a multi-user super-frame (MU-SF) to indicate a contention free period associated with a first at least one cluster and a contention based period associated with a second at least one cluster that includes the first at least one cluster and also includes at least one other cluster that is different than the first at least one cluster to govern communication medium access by a plurality of wireless communication devices that is located remotely from the wireless communication device;
• and
• at least one wireless communication interface configured to transmit the MU-SF to the plurality of wireless communication devices, as a multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) frame or an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame, and to support subsequent communications with the plurality of wireless communication devices based on the MU-SF, wherein at least one of:
• the processor is further configured to provide a first mapping of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) tones within a first at least one channel within a first at least one frequency band for the first at least one cluster and a second mapping of OFDM tones within a second at least one channel within a second at least one frequency band for the second at least one cluster;
• or
• the processor is further configured to generate at least one additional MU-SF based on communications received from at least some of the plurality of wireless communication devices during a time period governed by the MU-SF, and the at least one wireless communication interface is further configured to transmit the at least one additional MU-SF to and support subsequent communications with the plurality of wireless communication devices based on the at least one additional MU-SF.

A method for operating a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

• generating a multi-user super-frame (MU-SF) to indicate a contention free period associated with a first at least one cluster and a contention based period associated with a second at least one cluster that includes at least one other cluster that is different than the first at least one cluster to govern communication medium access by a plurality of wireless communication devices that is located remotely from the wireless communication device;
• and
• via at least one wireless communication interface of the wireless communication device:
• transmitting the MU-SF to the plurality of wireless communication devices;
• and
• receiving subsequent communications from at least some of the plurality of wireless communication devices based on the MU-SF, MU-SF, and further comprising at least one of:
• via the at least one wireless communication interface of the wireless communication device and based on the first at least one cluster, receiving a first signal from a first of the plurality of wireless communication devices using a first mapping of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) tones within a first at least one channel within a first at least one frequency band and receiving a second signal from a second of the plurality of wireless communication devices using a second mapping of OFDM tones within a second at least one channel within a second at least one frequency band;
• or
• generating at least one additional MU-SF based on communications received from at least some of the plurality of wireless communication devices during a time period governed by the MU-SF, transmitting the at least one additional MU-SF to the plurality of wireless communication devices via the at least one wireless communication interface of the wireless communication device, and supporting subsequent communications with the plurality of wireless communication devices based on the at least one additional MU-SF via the at least one wireless communication interface of the wireless communication device.