Method and apparatus for supporting coordinated orthogonal block-based resource allocation (cobra) operations

Abstract

A method and apparatus may be configured to support coordinated orthogonal block-based resource allocation (COBRA) operations. An access point (AP) may be configured to indicate to a plurality of stations (STA)s that it may support COBRA. Each WTRU may be configured to indicate to the AP that it can support COBRA as well. The AP may be configured to transmit a COBRA controller information element (IE) comprising a plurality of fields to each of the WTRUs. Each WTRU may be configured to transmit a COBRA controllee IE comprising a plurality of fields. STA grouping management, group maintenance, channel access, beamforming, sounding and frequency and synchronization procedures are also described.

1 . A station (STA) comprising:
 a transceiver; and   a processor, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to:   transmit, to an access point (AP), a first frame according to a physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) format, wherein the first frame includes a first part of a preamble that is transmitted on a full bandwidth of an operating frequency band and a second part of the preamble that is transmitted on a first time-frequency resource, assigned to the STA, that has a bandwidth that is a portion of the full bandwidth of the operating frequency band.   
     
     
         2 . The STA of  claim 1 , wherein the first part of the preamble includes a legacy short training field, a legacy long training field, and a legacy signal field, which are backwards compatible with legacy devices. 
     
     
         3 . The STA of  claim 2 , wherein the second part of the preamble includes a second short training field, a second long training field, and a data field. 
     
     
         4 . The STA of  claim 1 , wherein the first frame is an uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame. 
     
     
         5 . The STA of  claim 1 , wherein the operating frequency band is divided in frequency into a plurality of time-frequency resources assigned to a plurality of STAs, wherein the second part of the preamble is transmitted by the STA on the first time-frequency resource at the same time as another STA from the plurality of STAs transmits the second part of the preamble on another time-frequency resource from the plurality of time-frequency resources. 
     
     
         6 . The STA of  claim 5 , wherein the plurality of time-frequency resources are non-overlapping in frequency. 
     
     
         7 . The STA of  claim 1 , wherein the full bandwidth of the operating frequency band is one of 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz. 
     
     
         8 . The STA of  claim 1 , wherein the first part of the preamble precedes the second part of the preamble in the first frame. 
     
     
         9 . The STA of  claim 1 , wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to receive, from the AP, a control frame including a bandwidth field indicating the bandwidth of the operating frequency band and an allocation field indicating an allocation of the first time-frequency resource to the STA. 
     
     
         10 . The STA of  claim 9 , wherein the control frame further includes an association ID (AID) field indicating an identity of the STA, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field indicating an MCS assigned to the STA, and a number of spatial streams field indicating a number of spatial streams assigned to the STA. 
     
     
         11 . A method performed by a station (STA), the method comprising:
 transmitting, to an access point (AP), a first frame according to a physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) format, wherein the first frame includes a first part of a preamble that is transmitted on a full bandwidth of an operating frequency band and a second part of the preamble that is transmitted on a first time-frequency resource, assigned to the STA, that has a bandwidth that is a portion of the full bandwidth of the operating frequency band.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first part of the preamble includes a legacy short training field, a legacy long training field, and a legacy signal field, which are backwards compatible with legacy devices. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the second part of the preamble includes a second short training field, a second long training field, and a data field. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first frame is an uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the operating frequency band is divided in frequency into a plurality of time-frequency resources assigned to a plurality of STAs, wherein the second part of the preamble is transmitted by the STA on the first time-frequency resource at the same time as another STA from the plurality of STAs transmits the second part of the preamble on another time-frequency resource from the plurality of time-frequency resources. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the plurality of time-frequency resources are non-overlapping in frequency. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the full bandwidth of the operating frequency band is one of 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first part of the preamble precedes the second part of the preamble in the first frame. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising receiving, from the AP, a control frame including a bandwidth field indicating the bandwidth of the operating frequency band and an allocation field indicating an allocation of the first time-frequency resource to the STA. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the control frame further includes an association ID (AID) field indicating an identity of the STA, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field indicating an MCS assigned to the STA, and a number of spatial streams field indicating a number of spatial streams assigned to the STA.