Method and Apparatus for Parallel Processing Protocol Data Units

1 . A method comprising:

receiving a transmit descriptor at a transmission (TX) module, wherein the transmit descriptor comprises a plurality of fields, the fields containing information for preparing a first protocol data unit (PDU) for transmission;

receiving, at a physical layer controller (PHY), at least a portion of a second PDU into a reception (RX) physical-layer queue, wherein the second PDU comprises a header;

receiving, at a reception (RX) module, a receive descriptor, wherein the receive descriptor comprises a plurality of fields, wherein the plurality of fields comprise information for processing the second PDU; and

processing, in parallel, the first PDU and the second PDU based on the transmit descriptor and the receive descriptor, respectively.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first PDU and the second PDU are media access control PDUs (MPDUs) for wireless communication according to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the TX module and RX module logically reside between the PHY and a media access control (MAC) processor.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating, at a media access control (MAC) processor, the transmit descriptor for the first PDU;

communicating the header of the second PDU to the MAC processor; and

generating, at the MAC processor, the receive descriptor based on the header of the second PDU.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the first PDU and second PDU comprises at least one of:

running a header check sequence (HCS);

running a cyclic redundancy check (CRC);

encrypting data; and

decrypting data.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising writing the first PDU to a transmission (TX) physical-layer queue.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating, at a media access control (MAC) processor, one or more transmit control parameters for transmitting a burst, the burst comprising the first PDU; and

sending the one or more control parameters to the PHY.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating, at a media access control (MAC) processor, one or more control parameters for receiving a burst, the burst comprising the second PDU; and

sending the one or more control parameters to the PHY.

9 . An apparatus comprising:

a transmit (TX) module configured to receive a transmit descriptor, wherein the transmit descriptor comprises a plurality of fields, the fields containing information for preparing a first protocol data unit (PDU);

a physical layer controller (PHY) configured to receive at least a portion of a second PDU into a reception (RX) physical-layer queue, wherein the second PDU comprises a header; and

a reception (RX) module configured to:

receive a receive descriptor, wherein the receive descriptor comprises a plurality of fields, wherein the plurality of fields comprise information for processing the second PDU; and

process the second PDU according to the receive descriptor in parallel with the TX module processing the first PDU based on the transmit descriptor.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the first PDU and the second PDU are media access control PDUs (MPDUs) for wireless communication according to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard.

11 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the TX module and RX module logically reside between the PHY and a media access control (MAC) processor.

12 . The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising a media access control (MAC) processor configured to:

generate the transmit descriptor for the first PDU;

receive the header of the second PDU; and

generate the receive descriptor based on the header of the second PDU.

13 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein processing the first PDU and second PDU comprises at least one of:

running a header check sequence (HCS);

running a cyclic redundancy check (CRC);

encrypting data; and

decrypting data.

14 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the TX module is further configured to write the first PDU to a transmission (TX) physical-layer queue.

15 . The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising a media access control (MAC) processor configured to:

generate one or more transmit control parameters for transmitting a burst, the burst comprising the first PDU; and

send the one or more control parameters to the PHY.

16 . The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising a media access control (MAC) processor configured to:

generate one or more control parameters for receiving a burst, the burst comprising the second PDU; and

send the one or more control parameters to the PHY.

17 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the PHY is further configured to transmit a bust to a communication device, the burst comprising the first PDU.

18 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the PHY is further configured to receive a burst from a communication device, the burst comprising the second PDU.

19 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the RX physical-layer queue is a first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue.

20 . An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a transmit descriptor at a transmission (TX) module, wherein the transmit descriptor comprises a plurality of fields, each field containing information for preparing a protocol data unit (PDU);

means for receiving, at a physical layer controller (PHY), at least a portion of a second PDU into a reception (RX) physical-layer queue, wherein the second PDU comprises a header;

means for receiving, at a reception (RX) module, a receive descriptor, wherein the receive descriptor comprises a plurality of fields, wherein each of the plurality of fields comprises information for processing the second PDU; and

means for processing, in parallel, the first PDU and the second PDU based on the transmit descriptor and the receive descriptor, respectively.