Channel bonding mode signaling for punctured channels

1. A wireless communication device, comprising:

processor electronics configured to

select a channel bonding mode from a plurality of channel bonding modes, wherein (i) each of the plurality of channel bonding modes indicates at least two wireless communication channels and (ii) at least one of the plurality of channel bonding modes corresponds to a mode that indicates a punctured wireless communication channel, and

generate a frame to be transmitted from the wireless communication device in accordance with the selected channel bonding mode, wherein (i) the frame includes a preamble portion and a data portion and (ii) the preamble portion includes a first preamble field and a second preamble field, (iii) the first preamble field is a bandwidth field of a high efficiency (HE) signal A (HE-SIG-A) field and the second field is an HE signal B (HE-SIG-B) field, wherein the HE-SIG-A and HE-SIG-B fields include multiple subfields indicating transmission parameters, and (iv) the selected channel bonding mode is indicated by a combination of contents of the first preamble field and the second preamble field, wherein the contents of the first preamble field indicate one of a first set of channel bonding modes corresponding to a primary channel bonding mode, the contents of the second preamble field indicate one of a second set of channel bonding modes corresponding to a secondary channel bonding mode, and each of the channel bonding modes in the first set of channel bonding modes includes at least one HE-SIG-B content channel 1 and at least one HE-SIG-B content channel 2 in a primary 80 MHz channel; and

transceiver electronics configured to transmit the frame on the wireless communication channels indicated by the selected channel bonding mode identified in the combination of the contents of the first preamble field and the second preamble field.

2. The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the first preamble field indicates whether the selected channel bonding mode includes a punctured wireless communication channel.

3. The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the bandwidth field is a three bit field.

4. The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the bandwidth field indicates both channel bonding modes that do not include a punctured wireless communication channel and channel bonding modes that include a punctured wireless communication channel.

5. The wireless communication device of claim 4 , wherein the channel bonding modes that include a punctured wireless communication channel include (i) a punctured secondary 20 MHz (S20) channel and (ii) a punctured secondary 40 MHz (S40) channel.

6. The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver electronics are further configured to transmit the preamble portion on each of the wireless communication channels indicated by the selected channel bonding mode.

7. The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication channels indicated by the selected channel bonding mode include at least two available wireless communication channels and at least one busy wireless communication channel.

8. The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the first set of channel bonding modes includes a plurality of category modes, and wherein each of the plurality of category modes corresponds to a specified subset of channels.

9. A method for operating a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

selecting a channel bonding mode from a plurality of channel bonding modes, wherein (i) each of the plurality of channel bonding modes indicates at least two wireless communication channels and (ii) at least one of the plurality of channel bonding modes corresponds to a mode that indicates a punctured wireless communication channel;

generating a frame to be transmitted from the wireless communication device in accordance with the selected channel bonding mode, wherein (i) the frame includes a preamble portion and a data portion and (ii) the preamble portion includes a first preamble field and a second preamble field, (iii) the first preamble field is a bandwidth field of a high efficiency (HE) signal A (HE-SIG-A) field and the second field is an HE signal B (HE-SIG-B) field, wherein the HE-SIG-A and HE-SIG-B fields include multiple subfields indicating transmission parameters, and (iv) the selected channel bonding mode is indicated by a combination of contents of the first preamble field and the second preamble field, wherein the contents of the first preamble field indicate one of a first set of channel bonding modes corresponding to a primary channel bonding mode, the contents of the second preamble field indicate one of a second set of channel bonding modes corresponding to a secondary channel bonding mode, and each of the channel bonding modes in the first set of channel bonding modes includes at least one HE-SIG-B content channel 1 and at least one HE-SIG-B content channel 2 in a primary 80 MHz channel; and

transmitting the frame on the wireless communication channels indicated by the selected channel bonding mode identified in the combination of the contents of the first preamble field and the second preamble field.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising using the first preamble field to whether the selected channel bonding mode includes a punctured wireless communication channel.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the bandwidth field is a three bit field, the method further comprising setting the three bit field to indicate the selected channel bonding mode.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising setting the bandwidth field to indicate channel bonding modes that do not include a punctured wireless communication channel and channel bonding modes that include a punctured wireless communication channel.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the channel bonding modes that include a punctured wireless communication channel include (i) a punctured secondary 20 MHz (S20) channel and (ii) a punctured secondary 40 MHz (S40) channel.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising transmitting the preamble portion on each of the wireless communication channels indicated by the selected channel bonding mode.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the wireless communication channels indicated by the selected channel bonding mode include at least two available wireless communication channels and at least one busy wireless communication channel.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first set of channel bonding modes includes a plurality of category modes, and wherein each of the plurality of category modes corresponds to a specified subset of channels.