Multi-rate overlay mode in wireless communication systems

A method for frame-based communication processing performed by a wireless communication device configured with a legacy wireless communication protocol (legacy protocol) and a multiple data rate (multi-rate) extension mechanism to the legacy protocol, the method comprising:

• performing demodulation on a first portion of a header structure of a received frame according to a legacy demodulation scheme specified by the legacy protocol to produce a demodulated first portion;
• extracting a start-of-frame delimiter (SFD) from the demodulated first portion;
• in response to a determination that the SFD is a non-legacy SFD that identifies the received frame as having a non-legacy frame structure specified by the multi-rate extension mechanism that is different from a legacy frame structure specified by the legacy protocol, performing demodulation on a second portion of the header structure of the received frame to produce a demodulated second portion;
• extracting a modulation configuration identifier from the demodulated second portion;
• and
• performing demodulation on a data payload of the received frame according to a modulation configuration identified by the modulation configuration identifier, wherein
• the modulation configuration specifies a selected demodulation scheme from among a plurality of non-legacy demodulation schemes supported by the wireless communication device,
• each of the plurality of non-legacy demodulation schemes is different from the legacy demodulation scheme, and
• each of the plurality of non-legacy demodulation schemes achieves a data transfer rate different than a legacy data transfer rate achieved by the legacy demodulation scheme.

A wireless communication device configured with a legacy wireless communication protocol (legacy protocol) and a multiple data rate (multi-rate) extension mechanism to the legacy protocol, comprising:

• a communication stack module configured to encapsulate a data payload into a frame, wherein
• the frame comprises a header structure that comprises a non-legacy start-of-frame delimiter (SFD) and a modulation configuration identifier (ID),
• the non-legacy SFD identifies the frame as having a non-legacy frame structure specified by the multi-rate extension mechanism that is different from a legacy frame structure specified by the legacy protocol, and
• the modulation configuration ID identifies a selected modulation configuration;
• a modem configured to
• perform modulation of the header structure according to a legacy modulation scheme specified by the legacy protocol, and
• perform modulation of the data payload according to a selected data payload modulation scheme specified by the selected modulation configuration, wherein
• the modem is configured to implement a plurality of modulation configurations,
• each of the plurality of modulation configurations specify a different data payload modulation scheme that achieves higher throughput of the data payload during transmission of the frame than a throughput achieved by utilization of the legacy modulation scheme on the data payload.