Apparatus, method, and computer readable media for indicating a communication protocol and information in a signal field

A method performed by a high-efficiency (HE) wireless device, the method comprising:

• generating a HE packet comprising a legacy signal (L-SIG) field and an R-L-SIG field, wherein the L-SIG field comprises a plurality of subcarriers and the R-L-SIG field comprises a repeat of the plurality of subcarriers partitioned into a plurality of groups, and wherein information is encoded into one or more groups of the plurality of groups by a same modulation to each subcarrier partitioned into the corresponding group of the one or more groups, wherein if the R-L-SIG field is a repeated L-SIG field, the HE packet is generated in accordance with a communication protocol of Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ax or a subsequent protocol if the information indicates a subsequent protocol;
• and
• configuring the HE wireless device to transmit the HE packet.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a high-efficiency (HE) wireless station, the operations to configure the one or more processors to cause the HEW master station to:

• generate a HE packet comprising a legacy signal (L-SIG) field and an R-L-SIG field, wherein the L-SIG field comprises a plurality of subcarriers and the R-L-SIG field comprises a repeat of the plurality of subcarriers partitioned into a plurality of groups, and wherein information is encoded into one or more groups of the plurality of groups by a same modulation to each subcarrier partitioned into the corresponding group of the one or more groups, wherein if the R-L-SIG field is a repeated L-SIG field, the HE packet is generated in accordance with a communication protocol of Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ax or a subsequent protocol if the information indicates a subsequent protocol;
• and
• configure the wireless device to transmit the HE packet.