MAC header compression in long-range wireless local area networks

1. A method of wireless communication comprising:

receiving, at a first communication device, a plurality of packets, wherein

each packet of the plurality of packets includes (i) a set of one or more flag bits, and (ii) a medium access control (MAC) header,

each respective MAC header of a first subset of the plurality of packets contains only two address fields including (i) a first address field specifying a receiver address, and (ii) a second address field specifying a transmitter address, and

each respective MAC header of a second subset of the plurality of packets includes a third address field in addition to and separate from the first address field and the second address field, the second subset different from the first subset;

for a respective packet among the plurality of packets, determining, at the first communication device, whether a respective set of one or more flag bits of the respective packet indicates that a station (STA), being either an original source or a final destination of the respective packet, has any association identifier (AID) assigned by an access point (AP); and

processing, at the first communication device, a respective MAC header of the respective packet, wherein processing, the MAC header includes:

(i) perceiving the respective packet as belonging to the second subset and processing the third address field when said determining indicates that the STA, being either the original source or the final destination of the respective packet, was not assigned any AID by the AP, wherein the third address field contains a MAC address of the original source or the final destination of the respective packet, and

(ii) perceiving the respective packet as belonging to the first subset and processing an AID in the first address field or in the second address field and an address of the AP when said determining indicates that the STA, being either the original source or the final destination of the respective packet, was assigned an AID by the AP.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises determining, at the first communication device, for the respective packet, whether a respective set of one or more flag bits indicate that the respective packet includes an aggregated MAC service data unit (A-MSDU), and wherein processing the respective MAC header of the respective packet does not include processing the third address field in the respective packet when it is determined that the respective set of one or more flag bits indicates that the respective packet includes an A-MSDU.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a respective MAC header of each packet of the plurality of packets includes the respective set of one or more flag bits.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the first communication device is a (STA).

5. A method according to claim 4 , wherein the AID is located in the first address field.

6. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the AIDS is located in the second address field.

7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein processing the respective AID includes:

determining a respective MAC address of the STA based on the AID; and

calculating a respective counter mode with CBC-MAC protocol (CCMP) nonce based on the respective MAC address of the STA.

8. A method according to claim 6 , wherein processing the AID includes:

calculating a respective counter mode with CBC-MAC protocol (CCMP) nonce based on a respective receiver MAC address included in the first address field.

9. A method according to claim 6 , wherein processing the AID includes:

calculating a respective counter mode with CBC-MAC protocol (CCMP) nonce based on the respective AID augmented by additional bits.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a network interface device having one or more integrated circuits configured to

receive a plurality of packets, wherein

each packet of the plurality of packets includes (i) a set of one or more flag bits, and (ii) a medium access control (MAC) header, and

each respective MAC header of a first subset of the plurality of packets contains only two address fields including (i) a first address field specifying a receiver address, and (ii) a second address field specifying a transmitter address, and

each respective MAC header of a second subset of the plurality of packets includes a third address field in addition to and separate from the first address field and the second address field, the second subset different from the first subset;

determine, for a respective packet among the plurality of packets, whether a respective set of one or more flag bits of the respective packet indicates that a station (STA), being either an original source or a final destination of the respective packet, has any association identifier (AID) assigned by an access point (AP), and

processing a respective MAC header of the respective packet, wherein processing the respective MAC header includes:

(i) perceiving the respective packet as belonging to the second subset and processing the third address field when said determining indicates that the STA, being either the original source or the final destination of the respective packet, was not assigned any AID by the AP, wherein the third address field contains a MAC address of the original source or the final destination of the respective packet, and

(ii) perceiving the respective packet as belonging to the first subset and processing an AID in the first address field or in the second address field and an address of the AP when said determining indicates that the STA, being either the original source or the final destination of the respective packet, was assigned an AID by the AP.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the one or more integrated circuit devices are further configured to determine whether the respective set of one or more flag bits indicates that the respective packet includes an aggregated MAC service data unit (A-MSDU), and wherein the network interface is configured to process the respective MAC headers of the respective packet without processing the third address field in the respective packet when it is determined that the respective set of one or more flag bits indicates that the respective packet includes an A-MSDU.

12. An apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein a respective MAC header of each packet includes the respective set of one or more flag bits.

13. An apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the AID is located in the second address field.