Apparatus, system and method of communicating a non-data physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU)

1. An apparatus comprising circuitry and logic configured to cause a wireless station to:

transmit a non-data physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU); and

transmit a control frame separated from the non-data PPDU by a Reduced Inter-Frame Space (RIFS).

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the non-data PPDU comprises only a preamble.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the non-data PPDU comprises only a short training field (STF).

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the STF comprises training sequences, which do not end with a stop sequence.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the non-data PPDU comprises no more than a preamble and a PLCP header.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the PLCP header comprises a length field comprising a zero length value.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the control frame comprises a Request To Send (RTS) frame or a Clear To Send (CTS) frame.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 configured to cause the wireless station to transmit a first non-data PPDU to an other wireless station, to transmit to the other wireless station a Request To Send (RTS) frame separated from the first non-data PPDU by a first RIFS, to process a second non-data PPDU from the other wireless station, and to process a Clear To Send (CTS) frame from the other wireless station, said CTS frame is separated from said second non-data PPDU by a second RIFS.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a duration of the non-data PPDU is no more than an aSlotTime.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a duration of the non-data PPDU is no more than five microseconds.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the non-data PPDU is interpretable as an invalid PPDU by a legacy station, and the control frame is decodable by the legacy station.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a radio to transmit the non-PPDU and the control frame.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising one or more antennas, a processor, and a memory.

14. A product comprising one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one computer processor, enable the at least one computer processor to implement operations at a wireless station, the operations comprising:

transmitting a non-data physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU); and

transmitting a control frame separated from the non-data PPDU by a Reduced Inter-Frame Space (RIFS).

15. The product of claim 14 , wherein the operations comprise transmitting a first non-data PPDU to an other wireless station, transmitting to the other wireless station a Request To Send (RTS) frame separated from the first non-data PPDU by a first RIFS, processing a second non-data PPDU from the other wireless station, and processing a Clear To Send (CTS) frame from the other wireless station, said CTS frame is separated from said second non-data PPDU by a second RIFS.

16. An apparatus comprising circuitry and logic configured to cause a wireless station to:

operate at a first power receive state configured to detect a non-data physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU); and

upon detecting the non-data PPDU, switch to a second power receive state to receive a control frame separated from said non-data PPDU by a Reduced Inter-Frame Space (RIFS).

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the non-data PPDU comprises only a preamble.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the non-data PPDU comprises only a short training field (STF).

19. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the non-data PPDU comprises no more than a preamble and a PLCP header.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the control frame comprises a Request To Send (RTS) frame or a Clear To Send (CTS) frame.

21. The apparatus of claim 16 configured to cause the wireless station to process a first non-data PPDU from an other wireless station, to process a Request To Send (RTS) frame from the other wireless station, the RTS frame is separated from the first non-data PPDU by a first RIFS, to transmit a second non-data PPDU to the other wireless station, and to transmit to the other wireless station a Clear To Send (CTS) frame separated from said second non-data PPDU by a second RIFS.

22. The apparatus of claim 16 comprising one or more antennas, a processor, and a memory.

23. A product comprising one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one computer processor, enable the at least one computer processor to implement operations at a wireless station, the operations comprising:

operating at a first power receive state configured to detect a non-data physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU); and

upon detecting the non-data PPDU, switching to a second power receive state to receive a control frame, the control frame is separated from said non-data PPDU by a Reduced Inter-Frame Space (RIFS).

24. The product of claim 23 , wherein the operations comprise processing a first non-data PPDU from an other wireless station, processing a Request To Send (RTS) frame from the other wireless station, the RTS frame is separated from the first non-data PPDU by a first RIFS, transmitting a second non-data PPDU to the other wireless station, and transmitting to the other wireless station a Clear To Send (CTS) frame separated from said second non-data PPDU by a second RIFS.

25. The product of claim 23 , wherein the operations comprise switching to the first power receive state based on said control frame.