Implicit sounding for OFDMA operation

A system for communication in a basic service set (BSS),

• the system comprising:
• a radio frequency (RF) transceiver;
• one or more processors;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the system to:
• indicate that a station is permitted to transmit a control frame using a widest allowed bandwidth;
• receive a control frame using a plurality of sub bands of the widest allowed bandwidth from the station;
• determine a channel strength for each of a plurality of sub bands associated with a bandwidth of the control frame;
• allocate to the station one or more sub bands from the plurality of sub bands based, at least in part, on the determination, the one or more sub bands to be allocated to the station for transmitting data to the station;
• and
• transmit the data using the one or more allocated sub bands and via an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) frame,
• wherein the control frame is an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) frame having a bandwidth greater than 20 MHz,
• wherein the control frame is a power save (PS) Poll frame, and
• wherein the widest allowed bandwidth is determined by determining whether one or more of a secondary 80 MHz channel, a secondary 40 MHz channel, and a secondary 20 channel is sensed busy during a Point Coordination Function InterFrame Space (PIFS) time before transmission of the PS-Poll frame, wherein the determination of the widest allowed bandwidth is made in response to the indication that the station is permitted to transmit the control frame using the widest allowed bandwidth.

A method for communication between devices in a wireless network, the method comprising:

• determining, by a first device, a widest allowed bandwidth for transmitting a control frame to a second device;
• transmitting, by the first device, the control frame to the second device using the widest allowed bandwidth, including using a plurality of sub bands of the widest allowed bandwidth to transmit the control frame;
• and
• receiving, by the first device, data from the second device via an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) frame and using one or more sub bands selected from the plurality of sub-bands, the one or more sub-bands having been selected based on channel strength information (CSI) determinations made for each of the plurality of sub bands,
• wherein the control frame is an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) frame having a bandwidth greater than 20 MHz,
• wherein the control frame is a power save (PS) Poll frame, and
• wherein determining the widest allowed bandwidth includes determining whether one or more of a secondary 80 MHz channel, a secondary 40 MHz channel, and a secondary 20 channel is sensed busy during Point Coordination Function Interframe Space (PIFS) time before transmission of the PS-Poll frame, wherein the determination is made when the second device indicates that the second device permits transmission by the first device of the control frame using the widest allowed bandwidth.