Transmission of wide bandwidth signals in a network having legacy devices

1. A method for generating a preamble of a frame for a wide-bandwidth channel wireless communication, the method comprises:

generating a legacy carrier detect field in accordance with a legacy wireless protocol, wherein a legacy channel of the legacy wireless protocol has a first channel bandwidth and wherein the wide-bandwidth channel includes at least two legacy channels;

generating a channel sounding field, wherein the channel sounding field includes a plurality of tones within the wide-bandwidth channel, wherein a first portion of the plurality of tones corresponds to tones of a legacy channel sounding field and wherein a second portion of the plurality of tones are in accordance with a current wireless protocol;

generating a legacy signal field, wherein, in time, the legacy signal field follows the channel sounding field, which follows the legacy carrier detect field.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

generating at least one additional channel sounding field that includes a second plurality of tones; and

generating another signal field, wherein the at least one additional channel sounding field follows, in time, the legacy signal field, and the another signal field follows the at least one additional channel sounding field.

3. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the first portion of the channel sounding field corresponds to a first set of the plurality of tones; and

wherein the second portion of the channel sounding field corresponds to remaining tones of the plurality of tones.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprises:

generating a short training sequence as the legacy carrier detect field in accordance with a legacy version of an IEEE 802.11 protocol;

generating a long training sequence as the first portion of the channel sounding field in accordance with a legacy version of an IEEE 802.11 protocol; and

repeating the long training sequence as at least part of the second portion of the channel sounding field in accordance with a current version of an IEEE 802.11 protocol.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein generating the second portion of the channel sounding field further comprises:

generating tones within a guard band field between the at least two legacy channels of the wide-bandwidth channel.

6. The method of claim 3 further comprises:

combining the at least two legacy channels for a single input single output (SISO) wireless communication.

7. The method of claim 3 further comprises:

processing the at least two legacy channels in parallel for a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless communication.

8. A radio frequency (RF) transmitter comprises:

a baseband processing module operably coupled to convert outbound data into an outbound symbol stream, wherein a legacy channel of the legacy wireless protocol has a first channel bandwidth and wherein the wide-bandwidth channel includes at least two legacy channels; and

a transmitter section operably coupled to convert the outbound symbol stream into outbound RF signals, wherein the baseband processing module is operably coupled to:

generate a legacy carrier detect field;

generate a channel sounding field, wherein the channel sounding field includes a plurality of tones within the wide-bandwidth channel, wherein a first portion of the plurality of tones corresponds to tones of a legacy channel sounding field;

generate a second portion of the channel sounding field in accordance with a current wireless protocol, wherein the second portion of the channel sounding field corresponds to remaining tones of the plurality of tones; and

generate a legacy signal field, wherein, in time, the legacy signal field follows the channel sounding field, which follows the legacy carrier detect field.

9. The RF transmitter of claim 8 , wherein the baseband processing module is further operably coupled to:

generate at least one additional channel sounding field that includes a second plurality of tones; and

generate another signal field, wherein the at least one additional channel sounding field follows, in time, the legacy signal field, and the another signal field follows the at least one additional channel sounding field.

10. The RF transmitter of claim 8 , wherein the baseband processing module is further operably coupled to:

generate a short training sequence as the legacy carrier detect field in accordance with a legacy version of an IEEE 802.11 protocol;

generate a long training sequence as the first portion of the channel sounding field in accordance with a legacy version of an IEEE 802.11 protocol; and

repeat the long training sequence as at least part of the second portion of the channel sounding field in accordance with a current version of an IEEE 802.11 protocol.

11. The RF transmitter of claim 8 , wherein the baseband processing module is further operably coupled to generate the second portion of the channel sounding field by:

generating tones within a guard band field between the at least two legacy channels of the wide-bandwidth channel.

12. The RF transmitter of claim 8 , wherein the baseband processing module is further operably coupled to:

combine the at least two legacy channels for a single input single output (SISO) wireless communication.

13. The RF transmitter of claim 8 , wherein the baseband processing module is further operably coupled to:

process the at least two legacy channels in parallel for a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless communication.

14. A method for generating a preamble of a frame for a wide-bandwidth channel in a wireless communication device, the method comprises:

generating a legacy carrier detect field, wherein the wide-bandwidth channel includes at least two legacy channels each having a legacy channel bandwidth in accordance with a legacy wireless protocol;

generating a first set of a plurality of tones in a channel sounding field that correspond to a legacy wireless protocol within at least one of the legacy channel bandwidths; and

generating at least one of a second set of a plurality of tones in the channel sounding field that correspond to a current wireless protocol within a legacy guard band between the at least two legacy channels of the wide-bandwidth channel.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

generating a legacy signal field, wherein the legacy signal field follows the legacy guard band.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprises:

generating a short training sequence as the legacy carrier detect field in accordance with a legacy version of an IEEE 802.11 protocol;

generating a long training sequence as the first set of the plurality of tones in the channel sounding field in accordance with a legacy version of an IEEE 802.11 protocol; and

generating a long training sequence at least one of a second set of a plurality of tones in the channel sounding field in accordance with a current version of an IEEE 802.11 protocol.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprises:

combining the at least two legacy channels for a single input single output (SISO) wireless communication.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprises:

processing the at least two legacy channels and the legacy guard band in parallel for a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless communication.