Dual-stream signal (SIG) field encoding with higher order modulation

1. A method for communicating in a wireless network, the method comprising:

encoding a portion of signal (SIG) field data in accordance with a single-stream encoding scheme to obtain a single-stream encoded SIG field;

encoding another portion of the SIG field data in accordance with a space-time block code (STBC) encoding scheme to obtain a dual-stream encoded SIG field; and

transmitting the single-stream encoded SIG field and the dual-stream encoded SIG field in an omnidirectional portion of a preamble of a frame.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting the single-stream encoded SIG field and the dual-stream encoded SIG field in the preamble of the frame comprises:

transmitting the single-stream encoded SIG field and the dual-stream encoded SIG field using an omnidirectional beam.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoding the another portion of the SIG field data in accordance with the STBC encoding scheme comprises encoding the another portion of the SIG field data using two transmit streams.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

transmitting two long training fields (LTFs) in the preamble of the frame, wherein the two LTFs are positioned before the dual-stream encoded SIG field, wherein the two LTFs provide channel estimation for the two transmit streams.

5. An apparatus for transmitting data, the apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium coupled to the processor and storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:

encode a portion of signal (SIG) field data in accordance with a single-stream encoding scheme to obtain a single-stream encoded SIG field,

encode another portion of the SIG field data in accordance with a space-time block code (STBC) encoding scheme to obtain a dual-stream encoded SIG field, and

transmit the single-stream encoded SIG field and the dual-stream encoded SIG field in an omnidirectional portion of a preamble of a frame.

6. A method for communicating in a wireless network, the method comprising:

generating, by a communications device, a legacy signal (SIG) field using a single transmit stream;

generating, by the communications device, a very-high throughput (VHT) SIG field using two transmit streams; and

transmitting the legacy SIG field and the VHT SIG field in an omnidirectional portion of a preamble of a frame.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the VHT SIG field using an omnidirectional beam.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the generating the VHT SIG field comprises encoding SIG field data in accordance with a space-time block code (STBC) encoding scheme.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the generating the VHT SIG field comprises:

encoding SIG field data in accordance with a space-time block code (STBC) encoding scheme to generate the two transmit streams;

mapping the two transmit streams to two transmit antennas; and

transmitting the two transmit streams over the two transmit antennas during a time-frequency resource reserved for the VHT SIG field.

10. An apparatus for transmitting data, the apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium coupled to the processor and storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:

generate a legacy signal (SIG) field using a single transmit stream,

generate a very-high throughput (VHT) SIG field using two transmit streams, and

transmit the legacy SIG field and the VHT SIG field in an omnidirectional portion of a preamble of a frame.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the instructions to transmit the VHT SIG field include instructions to transmit the VHT SIG field using an omnidirectional beam.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the instructions to generate the VHT SIG field include instructions to encode SIG field data in accordance with a space-time block code (STBC) encoding scheme to generate the VHT SIG field.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the instructions to generate the VHT SIG field includes instructions to:

encode SIG field data in accordance with a space-time block code (STBC) encoding scheme to generate the two transmit streams;

map the two transmit streams to two transmit antennas; and

transmit the two transmit streams over the two transmit antennas during a time-frequency resource reserved for the VHT SIG field.

14. A method for wireless communication, the method comprising:

generating very-high throughput (VHT) signal (SIG) field data and legacy SIG field data;

encoding the legacy SIG field data in accordance with a single-stream encoding scheme to generate a legacy SIG field;

modulating the legacy SIG field in accordance with a binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation scheme;

encoding the VHT SIG field data in accordance with a space-time block code (STBC) encoding scheme to generate a VHT SIG field;

modulating the VHT SIG field in accordance with a quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation scheme; and

transmitting the modulated legacy SIG field and the modulated VHT SIG field in an omnidirectional portion of a preamble of a frame over a network.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein generating the VHT SIG field comprises generating the VHT SIG field using two transmit streams.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the encoding the VHT SIG field data comprises:

encoding the VHT SIG field data in accordance with the STBC encoding scheme to generate two transmit streams;

mapping the two transmit streams to two transmit antennas; and

transmitting the two transmit streams over the two transmit antennas during a time-frequency resource reserved for the VHT SIG field.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the VHT SIG field includes a single-user/multi-user (SU/MU) indication specifying whether the frame is destined for a single receiver or multiple receivers.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the generating the VHT SIG field data comprises determining a transmit power level.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the generating the VHT SIG field data comprises determining scheduling information of a next transmission in the VHT SIG field.

20. The method of claim 14 , wherein the modulated VHT SIG field has a twenty megahertz (MHz) bandwidth, and wherein the VHT SIG field comprises a length of 96 bits.

21. An apparatus for transmitting data, the apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium coupled to the processor and storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:

generate legacy signal (SIG) field data and very-high throughput (VHT) SIG field data;

encode the legacy SIG field data in accordance with a single-stream encoding scheme to generate a legacy SIG field;

modulate the legacy SIG field in accordance with a binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation scheme;

encode the VHT SIG field data in accordance with a space-time block code (STBC) encoding scheme to generate a VHT SIG field;

modulate the VHT SIG field in accordance with a quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation scheme; and

transmit the modulated VHT SIG field and the modulated legacy SIG field in an omnidirectional portion of a preamble of a frame over a network.