High data throughput WLAN frame format

1. A device comprising:

a radio transmitter section operable to generate a frame with a frame format for high data throughput wireless local area network transmissions, wherein the frame format comprises:

a first preamble segment including at least a first training sequence and a second training sequence in accordance with at least one legacy lower data throughput standard and a signal field including information based on a transmission rate and a length of a variable length data segment;

a second preamble segment including a high data throughput training sequence when high throughput channel operations are supported and another field including information to identify one of a plurality of high throughput channel formats.

2. The radio transmitter section of claim 1 , wherein the first training sequence is within a first set of subcarriers of a channel and the second training sequence is within a second set of subcarriers of the channel.

3. The radio transmitter section of claim 2 , wherein the first set of subcarriers of the channel is a subset of the second set of subcarriers of the channel.

4. The radio transmitter of claim 3 , wherein the first training sequence of the first preamble segment corresponds to a short training sequence and wherein the second training sequence of the first preamble segment corresponds to a long training sequence.

5. The radio transmitter of claim 4 , wherein the signal field of the first preamble segment includes a high throughput channel indication for indicating when high throughput channel operations are supported.

6. The radio transmitter of claim 5 , wherein the another field in the second preamble segment includes information to identify one of the following plurality of high throughput channel formats:

a 40 Mega Hertz (MHz) channel with a first number of subcarriers transmitted via a single antenna;

a 20 MHz channel with a second number of subcarriers transmitted via the single antenna;

a 10 MHz channel with a third number of subcarriers transmitted via the single antenna;

the 40 MHz channel with the first number of subcarriers transmitted via multiple antennas;

the 20 MHz channel with the second number of subcarriers transmitted via the multiple antennas; and

the 10 MHz channel with the third number of subcarriers transmitted via the multiple antennas.

7. The radio transmitter of claim 5 , wherein the frame format further comprises:

the variable length data segment following the second preamble segment.

8. A method for high throughput transmission by a transmitter within a wireless local area network comprising:

generating a first preamble segment of a frame by the transmitter, wherein the first preamble segment includes at least a first training sequence and a second training sequence in accordance with legacy lower data throughput standards and a signal field including information based on a transmission rate and a length of a variable length data segment;

generating a second preamble segment of the frame by the transmitter, wherein the second preamble segment includes a high data throughput training sequence and a channel format indication field to identify one of a plurality of high throughput channel formats; and

generating the variable length data segment of the frame by the transmitter in accordance with the identified one of the plurality of high throughput channel formats.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the channel format identification field includes information regarding at least one of bit rate of the high throughput data, channel configuration and a diversity antenna arrangement to identify one of the plurality of high throughput channel formats.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first training sequence is within a first set of subcarriers of a channel and the second training sequence is within a second set of subcarriers of the channel.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first set of subcarriers of the channel is a subset of the second set of subcarriers of the channel.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first training sequence of the first preamble section corresponds to a short training sequence and wherein the second training sequence of the first preamble section corresponds to a long training sequence.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the signal field of the first preamble segment includes a rate indication, an indication of length of the variable length data segment, and a high throughput channel indication for indicating when high throughput channel operations are supported.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the second preamble segment further comprises:

a high throughput channel training field that includes a third training sequence, wherein the third training sequence corresponds to the one of the plurality of high throughput channel formats.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the channel format indication field of the second preamble segment identifies one of the following plurality of high throughput channel formats:

a 40 Mega Hertz (MHz) channel with a first number of subcarriers transmitted via a single antenna;

a 20 MHz channel with a second number of subcarriers transmitted via the single antenna;

a 10 MHz channel with a third number of subcarriers transmitted via the single antenna;

the 40 MHz channel with the first number of subcarriers transmitted via multiple antennas;

the 20 MHz channel with the second number of subcarriers transmitted via the multiple antennas; and

the 10 MHz channel with the third number of subcarriers transmitted via the multiple antennas.

16. A wireless communication device for high throughput communications within a wireless local area network comprises:

a receiver section coupled to convert an inbound radio frequency (RF) signal into an inbound digital baseband signal, wherein a frame format of the inbound RF signal includes:

a first preamble segment that includes a first training sequence in accordance with legacy lower data throughput standards and a signal field that indicates high throughput channel operations are supported;

a second preamble segment that includes a high data throughput training sequence and a channel format indication field to identify one of a plurality of high throughput channel formats; and

a variable length data segment formatted in accordance with the identified one of the plurality of high throughput channel formats;

a baseband processing module coupled to:

interpret the first training sequence to identify the inbound RF signal;

determine whether high throughput channel operations are supported;

when high throughput channel operations are supported, interpret the high throughput training sequence to establish a high throughput communication, wherein the interpreting the high throughput training sequence to establish a high throughput communication comprises:

processing the channel format identification field to determine a channel configuration;

reconfiguring at least one of the baseband processing module and the RF section based on the channel configuration to produce a reconfigured state; and

in the reconfigured state, processing the high throughput training sequence; and

convert contents of the variable length data segment into inbound data in accordance with the high throughput channel format.

17. The wireless communication device of claim 16 , wherein the signal field in the first preamble segment includes a rate indication, an indication of length of the variable length data segment, and the high throughput channel indication.

18. The wireless communication device of claim 17 , wherein the first preamble segment further comprises:

a second training sequence in accordance with legacy lower data throughput standards, wherein the first training sequence is within a first set of subcarriers of a channel and the second training sequence is within a second set of subcarriers of the channel.

19. The wireless communication device of claim 18 , further comprising:

a radio transmitter section operable to generate an outbound RF signal having an outbound frame format with a variable length data segment in accordance with the identified one of the plurality of high throughput channel formats.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the channel format indication field of the second preamble segment identifies one of the following plurality of high throughput channel formats:

a 40 Mega Hertz (MHz) channel with a first number of subcarriers transmitted via a single antenna;

a 20 MHz channel with a second number of subcarriers transmitted via the single antenna;

a 10 MHz channel with a third number of subcarriers transmitted via the single antenna;

the 40 MHz channel with the first number of subcarriers transmitted via multiple antennas;

the 20 MHz channel with the second number of subcarriers transmitted via the multiple antennas; and

the 10 MHz channel with the third number of subcarriers transmitted via the multiple antennas.