Structured resource allocation signaling

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining resource allocation (RA) information by a station (STA) in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) wireless network, wherein the RA information is indicated in an HE-SIG-B common field and a user specific field, and wherein the HE-SIG-B common field is of a fixed format;

decoding an 8-bit RU allocation signal in the HE-SIG-B common field following a structured resource unit (RU) allocation rule to produce a decoded 8 bit RU allocation signal; and

determining an RU allocation for the STA based on the decoded 8-bit RU allocation signal and a position of the user specific field for the STA, wherein two bits of the 8-bit RU allocation signal are used as a first category identifier to determine a first category of the RU allocation, wherein the first category is assigned to a no-large-RU category, wherein a three-bit second category identifier is used to further categorize the no-large-RU category into a second category including a 106-tone on a 1st half channel, a 106-tone on a 2nd half channel, and wherein the three-bit second category identifier includes two bits for the first category identifier bits.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first category of the RU allocation comprises: a large size RU category indicating that greater than or equal to 242-tone RUs exist; a two 106-tone category indicating that two 106-tone RUs exist; and a no-large-RU category indicating that only less-than-242-tone RUs exist and no more than one 106-tone RU exists.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first category is assigned the large size RU, and wherein two bits are encoded to indicate the RU size and three bits are encoded to indicate a number of STAs scheduled on the RU.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first category is assigned the two 106-tone category, and wherein a first 3-bits represent a number of STAs on a first 106-tone RU, and a second 3-bits represent a number of STAs on a second 106-tone RU.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the three-bit second category identifier is used to further categorize the no-large-RU category into a second category including a small RU.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein a second bit in the second category identifier represents whether a 106-tone RU exists on a first half of a 20 MHz channel and a third bit in the second category identifier represents whether a 106-tone RU exists on a second half of the 20 MHz channel.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein a three-bit identifier represents a number of STAs on a 106-tone RU if one of the second and third bits indicates a 106-tone RU, and wherein a two-bit identifier represents one of four RU allocations, comprising: a four 26-tone RU, a one 52-tone RU and a two 26-tone RU; two 26-tone RUs and one 52-tone RU; and two 52-tone RUs, on a half of the 20 MHz channel where no 106-tone RU exists.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining an RU allocation comprises:

obtaining a lookup table (LUT) for RU allocation based on the structured RU allocation rule; and

determining the RU allocation based on the LUT and the position of user specific field.

9. A method, comprising:

configuring a resource allocation (RA) for one or more stations (STAs) by a network entity in an OFDMA wireless network, wherein RA information is indicated in an HE-SIG-B common field and a user specific field, and wherein the HE-SIG-B common field is of a fixed format;

encoding an 8-bit RU allocation signal in the HE-SIG-B common field following a structured resource unit (RU) allocation rule for each 20 MHz resource block, wherein the structured RU allocation rule defines a range including between 5 to 8 users on RUs greater than or equal to 106-tone; and

transmitting the 8-bit RU allocation signal for receipt by one or more STAs, and wherein two bits of the 8-bit RU allocation signal are encoded to determine a first category of RU allocation, wherein the first category is assigned to a no-large-RU category, wherein a three-bit second category identifier is used to further categorize the no-large-RU category into a second category including a 106-tone on a 1st half channel, a 106-tone on a 2nd half channel, and wherein the three-bit second category identifier includes the two bits for the first category identifier bits.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein bit-1 of the 8-bit RU allocation signal is set to be ‘1’ if there exists an RU size greater than 106-tone or there are two 106-tone RUs, otherwise, bit-1 is set to be ‘0’.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein an RU size greater than 106-tone is set, and wherein bit-2 is set to be ‘1’, and wherein three bits are encoded to indicate a number of STAs and two bits are encoded to indicate a RU size.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein two 106-tone RUs are set, and wherein bit-2 is set to be ‘0’, and wherein a first 3-bits represent a number of STAs on a first 106-tone RU, and a second 3-bits represents a number of STAs on a second 106-tone RU.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein bit-1 is set to be ‘0’, and wherein bit-2 represents whether a 106-tone RU exists on a first half of a 20 MHz channel and bit-3 represents whether a 106-tone RU exists on a second half of the 20 MHz channel.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein three bits represent a number of STAs on a 106-tone RU if one of the second and third bits indicates a 106-tone RU, and wherein two bits represent one of four RU allocations, comprising: four 26-tone RUs: one 52-tone RU and two 26-tone RUs; two 26-tone RUs and one 52-tone RU; and two 52-tone RUs, on the half of the 20 MHz channel where no 106-tone RU exists.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

generating a lookup table (LUT) for RU allocation based on the structured RU allocation rule.

16. A station (STA), comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) transceiver operable to transmit and receive wireless signals in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) wireless network;

a resource allocation (RA) manager circuit that obtains RA information, wherein the RA information is indicated in an HE-SIG-B common field and a user specific field, and wherein the HE-SIG-B common field is of a fixed format;

an RA decoder operable to decode an 8-bit RU allocation signal in the HE-SIG-B common field following a structured resource unit (RU) allocation rule, wherein the structured RU allocation rule defines a range including between 5 to 8 users on RUs greater than or equal to 106-tone; and

an RU manager circuit operable to determine an RU allocation for the STA based on the decoded 8-bit RU allocation signal and a position of the user specific field for the STA, and wherein two bits of the 8-bit RU allocation signal are used as a first category identifier to determine a first category of the RU allocation, wherein the first category is set to the no-large-RU category, and wherein a three-bit second category identifier is used to further categorize the no-large-RU category into a second category including a 106-tone on a 1st half channel, and a 106-tone on a 2nd half channel, wherein the three-bit second category identifier includes the two bits for the first category identifier bits.

17. The STA of claim 16 , wherein the first category of the RU allocation comprises: a large size RU category indicating greater than or equal to 242-tone RU exists; a two 106-tone category indicating two 106-tone RUs exist; and a no-large-RU category indicating only smaller-than-242-tone RUs exist and no more than one 106-tone exists.

18. The STA of claim 16 , wherein the first category is set to the large size RU category, and wherein two bits are encoded to indicate the RU size and three bits are encoded to indicate a number of STAs scheduled on the RU.

19. The STA of claim 16 , wherein the first category is set to the two 106-tone category, and wherein a first 3-bits represent a number of STAs on a first 106-tone RU, and a second 3-bits represent a number of STAs on a second 106-tone RU.