HEW packet structure and method for high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communication

1. A master station arranged to configure a high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) frame for communicating with a plurality of HEW compliant devices, the master station comprising physical layer and medium access control circuitry arranged to:

transmit a master sync transmission that includes synchronization information, the master sync transmission being transmitted at a beginning of an HEW control period;

configure an HEW frame to include an HEW Signal field (HEW SIG) as a first field of the frame; and

transmit the HEW frame without legacy synchronization information at the beginning of the HEW frame, the HEW frame following the master sync transmission and being transmitted during the HEW control period.

2. The master station of claim 1 wherein the synchronization information included in the master sync transmission comprises a preamble structure comprising a short-training field (STF) and a long-training field (LTF), and

wherein the master station is to refrain from including a short-training field (STF) and a long-training field (LTF) at the beginning of the HEW frame.

3. The master station of claim 2 wherein the master station is further arranged to configure the HEW frame to include a data field followed by a normal-length guard interval (GI), and

wherein the HEW SIG includes a long guard interval (LGI) precedes a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbol (HEW SIG- 1 ) of the HEW SIG, the long guard interval being longer than the normal-length guard interval.

4. The master station of claim 3 wherein the HEW SIG is further configured to include a second OFDM symbol (HEW SIG- 2 ), the second OFDM symbol being preceded with a second long guard interval.

5. The master station of claim 3 wherein the master station is arranged to refrain from including a LGI preceding the first OFDM symbol of the HEW SIG field when the HEW devices are configured to meet tighter frequency drift requirements, and

wherein the master station is arranged to include the LGI preceding the first OFDM symbol of the HEW SIG field when the HEW devices are not configured to meet tighter frequency drift requirements.

6. The master station of claim 3 wherein the master station is further arranged to:

contend for a wireless medium during a contention period to receive exclusive control of the medium for the HEW control period; and

transmit the master-sync transmission at the beginning of the HEW control period followed by the HEW frame.

7. The master station of claim 3 wherein the HEW SIG is configured with BPSK modulation and a coding rate of one-half, and

wherein the data fields are configured with a higher-order modulation and coding scheme (MCS) than BPSK modulation and a coding rate of one-half.

8. The master station of claim 3 wherein the HEW control period is an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) control period,

wherein the master sync transmission includes at least a schedule indicating channel resources for communicating with a plurality of HEW devices during the HEW control period in accordance with an OFDMA technique, and

wherein the HEW frame is configured to include a plurality of data fields, at least one data field for each of the HEW devices scheduled to communicate during the HEW control period.

9. The master station of claim 8 wherein the HEW SIG includes a single bit to indicate whether the HEW frame is a single user (SU) HEW frame or a multi-user (MU) HEW frame, and

wherein the master station is further arranged to:

refrain from including a legacy signal field (L-SIG) in the HEW frame; and

include rate and length information in one or more signal fields of the HEW frame.

10. The master station of claim 9 wherein the HEW SIG includes a first HEW signal field (HEW SIG-A 1 ) and a second HEW signal field (HEW SIG-A 2 ),

wherein the HEW SIG-A 1 includes a length field to indicate a length of a protocol data unit when the HEW frame is an SU HEW frame, and

wherein the HEW SIG-A 2 indicates at least rate information comprising a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of the one or more data fields of the HEW frame.

11. A method for communicating with a plurality of high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) compliant devices performed by a master station, the method comprising:

transmitting a master sync transmission that includes synchronization information, the master sync transmission being transmitted at a beginning of an HEW control period;

configuring an HEW frame to include an HEW Signal field (HEW SIG) as a first field of the frame; and

transmitting the HEW frame without legacy synchronization information at the beginning of the HEW frame, the HEW frame following the master sync transmission and being transmitted during the HEW control period.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the synchronization information included in the master sync transmission comprises a preamble structure comprising a short-training field (STF) and a long-training field (LTF), and

wherein the method further includes refraining from including a short-training field (STF) and a long-training field (LTF) at the beginning of the HEW frame.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising configuring the HEW frame to include a data field followed by a normal-length guard interval (GI), and

wherein the HEW SIG includes a long guard interval (LGI) precedes a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbol (HEW SIG- 1 ) of the HEW SIG, the long guard interval being longer than the normal-length guard interval.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising configuring the HEW SIG to include a second OFDM symbol (HEW SIG- 2 ), the second OFDM symbol being preceded with a second long guard interval.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

refraining from including a LGI preceding the first OFDM symbol of the HEW SIG field when the HEW devices are configured to meet tighter frequency drift requirements; and

including the LGI preceding the first OFDM symbol of the HEW SIG field when the HEW devices are not configured to meet tighter frequency drift requirements.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors to perform operations for high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications, the operations comprising:

transmitting a master sync transmission that includes synchronization information, the master sync transmission being transmitted at a beginning of an HEW control period;

configuring an HEW frame to include an HEW Signal field (HEW SIG) as a first field of the frame; and

transmitting the HEW frame without legacy synchronization information at the beginning of the HEW frame, the HEW frame following the master sync transmission and being transmitted during the HEW control period.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein the synchronization information included in the master sync transmission comprises a preamble structure comprising a short-training field (STF) and a long-training field (LTF), and

wherein the operations further include refraining from including a short-training field (STF) and a long-training field (LTF) at the beginning of the HEW frame.

18. A wireless communication device configured for high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications comprising:

one or more antennas;

physical layer circuitry coupled to the one or more antennas; and

medium access control circuitry,

wherein the physical layer and medium access control circuitry are arranged to:

transmit, using the one or more antennas, a master sync transmission that includes synchronization information, the master sync transmission being transmitted at a beginning of an HEW control period;

configure an HEW frame to include an HEW Signal field (HEW SIG) as a first field of the frame; and

transmit, using the one or more antennas, the HEW frame without legacy synchronization information at the beginning of the HEW frame, the HEW frame following the master sync transmission and being transmitted during the HEW control period.

19. The wireless communication device of claim 18 wherein the synchronization information included in the master sync transmission comprises a preamble structure comprising a short-training field (STF) and a long-training field (LTF), and

wherein the physical layer and medium access control circuitry is to refrain from including a short-training field (STF) and a long-training field (LTF) at the beginning of the HEW frame.

20. The wireless communication device of claim 19 wherein the physical layer and medium access control circuitry is further arranged to configure the HEW frame to include a data field followed by a normal-length guard interval (GI), and

wherein the HEW SIG includes a long guard interval (LGI) precedes a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbol (HEW SIG- 1 ) of the HEW SIG, the long guard interval being longer than the normal-length guard interval.