Method, apparatus, and computer readable media for acknowledgement in wireless networks

Abstract

Embodiments of a system and method for communicating acknowledgments in a wireless network are generally described herein. In some embodiments, a method of wirelessly communicating acknowledgements includes receiving a first signal on a first subchannel from a second wireless device. The method may include transmitting a block acknowledgement of the first signal on a subchannel. The first wireless communication device may not receive a block acknowledgement request to transmit the block acknowledgement. In some embodiments, a method of communicating block acknowledgements includes transmitting a first transmission to a first wireless device on a first subchannel and a second transmission to a second wireless device on a second subchannel. The method may include receiving a first block acknowledgement from the first wireless device and a second block acknowledgement from second wireless device. The first and second block acknowledgement may be received on one of the first and second subchannels.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus of a high-efficiency (HE) station (STA), the apparatus comprising: memory; and, processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to:
 decode a preamble portion of a HE physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU), the preamble portion of the HE PPDU comprising a signal subfield,
 the signal subfield comprising a first resource allocation subfield, the first resource allocation subfield indicating a first resource unit (RU) for the HE STA to decode a corresponding data portion of the HE PPDU; 
   decode the corresponding data portion of the HE PPDU, the corresponding data portion comprising a downlink (DL) data frame for the HE STA and wherein the corresponding data portion further comprises a multi-user (MU) block acknowledgement request (BAR) frame, the MU-BAR. frame comprising a second resource allocation subfield, the second resource allocation subfield indicating a second RU for the HE STA to transmit a block acknowledgement (BA) to acknowledge receipt of the DL data frame;   encode the BA frame indicating receipt of the DL data by the HE STA; and   generate signaling to cause the HE STA to transmit the BA on the second RU.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the second resource allocation subfield further comprises an indication of a multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) (MU-MIMO) allocation, the MU-MIMO allocation indicating one or more spatial streams, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 generate signaling to cause the HE STA to transmit the BA on the second RU and on the one or more spatial streams.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the MU-BAR frame further comprises an indication of an acknowledgment policy for the HE STA to use. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the second resource allocation subfield further comprises an association identification (AID) of the HE STA, and the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 identify the second resource allocation subfield of a plurality of second subchannel subfields based on the AID.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein generate signaling to cause the HE STA to transmit the BA on the second RU further comprises:
 generate signaling to cause the HE STA to transmit the BA on the second RU, wherein the BA is to be transmitted a short interframe space (SIFS) after the HE PPDU is received.   
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein generate signaling to cause the HE STA to transmit the BA on the second RU further comprises:
 generate signaling to cause the HE STA to transmit in accordance with orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) the BA on the second RU.   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the first resource allocation subfield is one of a plurality of first resource allocations for a plurality of HE STAs to decode a plurality of data portions of HE PPDU, and wherein the HE STA is one of the plurality of HE STAs. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the second subchannel allocation is one of a plurality of second subchannel allocations for the plurality of HE STAs to transmit BAs to acknowledge receipt of a plurality of DL data of the plurality of data portions. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the signal subfield is received on a 20 MHz channel and the first RU indicates a subchannel of the 20 MHz channel, and wherein the second RU indicates a subchannel that is less than 20 MHz. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the BA is included in a second PPDU. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the PPDU is received from a HE access point (AP), and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 generate signaling to cause the HE STA to transmit the BA to the HE AP on the second RU.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the HE STA is configured to operate in accordance with at least one from the following group: Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ax and IEEE 802.11. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver coupled to the processing circuitry; and further comprising one or more antennas coupled to the transceiver. 
     
     
         14 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of an apparatus of a high-efficiency (HE) station (STA), the instructions to configure the one or more processors to:
 decode a preamble portion of a HE physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU), the preamble portion of the HE PPDU comprising a signal subfield,
 the signal subfield comprising a first resource allocation subfield, the first resource allocation subfield indicating a first resource unit (RU) for the HE STA to decode a corresponding data portion of the HE PPDU; 
   decode the corresponding data portion of the HE PPDU, the corresponding data portion comprising a downlink (DL) data frame for the HE STA and wherein the corresponding data portion further comprises a multi-user (MU) block acknowledgement request (BAR) frame, the MU-BAR frame comprising a second resource allocation subfield, the second resource allocation subfield indicating a second RU for the HE STA to transmit a block acknowledgement (BA) to acknowledge receipt of the DL data frame;   encode the BA frame indicating receipt of the DL data by the HE STA; and   generate signaling to cause the HE STA to transmit the BA on the second RU.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 14 , wherein the second resource allocation subfield further comprises an indication of a multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) (MU-MIMO) allocation, the MU-MIMO allocation indicating one or more spatial streams, and wherein the instructions further configure the one or more processors to:
 generate signaling to cause the HE STA to transmit the BA on the second RU and on the one or more spatial streams.   
     
     
         16 . A method performed by an apparatus of a high-efficiency (HE) station (STA), the method comprising:
 decoding a preamble portion of a HE physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU), the preamble portion of the HE PPDU comprising a signal subfield,
 the signal subfield comprising a first resource allocation subfield, the first resource allocation subfield indicating a first resource unit (RU) for the HE STA to decode a corresponding data portion of the HE PPDU; 
   decoding the corresponding data portion of the HE PPDU, the corresponding data portion comprising a downlink (DL) data frame for the HE STA and wherein the corresponding data portion further comprises a multi-user (MU) block acknowledgement request (BAR) frame, the MU-BAR frame comprising a second resource allocation subfield, the second resource allocation subfield indicating a second RU for the HE STA to transmit a block acknowledgement (BA) to acknowledge receipt of the DL data frame;   encoding the BA frame indicating receipt of data by the HE STA; and   generating signaling to cause the HE STA to transmit the BA on the second RU.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the second resource allocation subfield further comprises an indication of a multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) (MU-MIMO) allocation, the MU-MIMO allocation indicating one or more spatial streams, and wherein the method further comprises:
 generating signaling to cause the HE STA to transmit the BA on the second RU and on the one or more spatial streams.   
     
     
         18 . An apparatus of a high-efficiency (HE) access point (AP), the apparatus comprising: memory; and, processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the processing circuitry configured to:
 encode a preamble portion of a physical layer convergence procedure (PLOP) protocol data unit (PPDU), the preamble portion of the PPDU comprising a signal subfield, the signal subfield comprising a plurality of first subchannel allocations for a plurality of HE stations for receipt of downlink (DU data within a data portion of the PPDU;   encode the data portion of the PPDU in accordance with the plurality of first channel first subchannel allocations;   encode a multi-user (MU) block acknowledgement request (BAR) portion of the PPDU, the MU-BAR portion comprising a plurality of second subchannel allocations for the plurality of HE stations to transmit block acknowledgements (BAs) for acknowledging receipt of the DL data;   generate signaling to cause the HE AP to transmit the PPDU; and   decode BAs from the plurality of HE STAs in accordance with the plurality of first subchannel allocations, wherein the BAs indicate receipt of the DL data, and wherein the BAs from the plurality of HE STAB are received simultaneously.   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein decode BAs from the plurality of HE STAs in accordance with the plurality of first subchannel allocations, wherein the BAs indicate receipt of the DL data, and wherein the BAs from the plurality of HE STAs are received simultaneously, further comprises:
 decode BAs from the plurality of HE STAs in accordance with the plurality of first subchannel allocations and in accordance with orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), wherein the BAs indicate receipt of the DL data, and wherein the BAs from the plurality of HE STAs are received simultaneously.   
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , further comprising a transceiver coupled to the processing circuitry; and further comprising one or more antennas coupled to the transceiver.