Method for signaling the status of a subcarrier in a MC network and a method for adaptively allocating the subcarriers in a MC network

1. A method for signalling the status of a subcarrier in a Multi Carrier network working with a certain bandwidth, which is divided into a number of subcarriers, comprising:

signalling the status of each of the subcarriers of the bandwidth,

wherein, to signal the status, a terminal sends a status signal indicating the current status of each subcarrier of the bandwidth in a sensing radius of the terminal, and

wherein the status is indicative of whether the subcarrier is occupied, and the status is determined by listening to transmissions by other terminals in the sensing radius of the terminal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the status signal is transmitted on the medium as one of a dedicated packet, part of a signalling packet, following the signalling packet, part of a data packet, and following the data packet.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the status signal is a binary sequence.

4. A method for adaptively allocating subcarriers of a network to a transmitter terminal and a receiver terminal which attempt to exchange data, the method comprising:

sending a proposal signal indicating which subcarriers are available;

sending a determination signal indicating which subcarriers can be selected; and

allocating, based on the information of the determination signal, subcarriers to a forthcoming data transmission,

wherein a bandwidth of the network is divided into several subcarriers,

wherein sending the proposal signal and allocating subcarriers is done by the transmitter terminal and is carried out based on available subcarriers among the several subcarriers of the bandwidth in a sensing radius of the transmitter terminal, and wherein the sending the determination signal is done by the receiver terminal and is carried out based on available subcarriers among the several subcarriers of the bandwidth in a sensing radius of the receiving terminal, and the available subcarriers are determined by listening to transmissions by other terminals in the sensing radius of the receiver terminal.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the proposal signal is transmitted as one of a dedicated packet, part of a signalling packet, following the signalling packet, part of a data packet, and following the data packet.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determination signal is transmitted as one of a dedicated packet, part of a signalling packet, and following the signalling packet.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein both the proposal signal and the determination signal are binary sequences.

8. A method for adaptively allocating subcarriers of a network to both a transmitter and a receiver which attempt to exchange data, comprising:

sending a first Management Frame indicating a fixed subcarrier allocation;

sending a second Management Frame; and

allocating, based on the information of the second Management Frame, subcarriers to one or several forthcoming data transmissions,

wherein a bandwidth of the network is divided into several subcarriers,

wherein sending the first Management frame and allocating subcarriers is done by the transmitter and is carried out based on available subcarriers among the several subcarriers of the bandwidth in a sensing radius of the transmitter, and

wherein sending the second Management Frame is done by the receiver and is carried out based on available subcarriers among the several subcarriers of the bandwidth in a sensing radius of the receiver.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first and the second Management Frames are binary sequences.

10. A method for adaptively allocating subcarriers of a network to both a transmitter and a receiver which attempt to exchange data, comprising:

sending a first Availability Signal on the subcarriers that meet the transmitter's requirements from the transmitter's perspective;

sending a second Availability Signal on the subcarriers that meet the receiver's requirements from the receiver's perspective;

allocating, based on the information of the first and the second Availability Signal, subcarriers to one or more forthcoming data transmissions,

wherein a bandwidth of the network is divided into several subcarriers,

wherein sending the first Availability Signal and allocating subcarriers is done by the transmitter and is carried out based on available subcarriers among the several subcarriers of the bandwidth in a sensing radius of the transmitter, and

wherein sending the second Availability Signal is done by the receiver and is carried out based on available subcarriers among the several subcarriers of the bandwidth in a sensing radius of the receiver, and the available subcarriers are determined by listening to transmissions by other terminals in the sensing radius of the receiver.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first and the second Availability Signals are binary sequences.

12. The method of claim 3 , wherein the length of the binary sequence in bits equals the total amount of channels or subcarriers in the medium.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first and the second Availability Signals are energy tone pulses.

14. The method of claim 4 , wherein, in the allocating step, the subcarriers, which are adaptively allocated according to which subcarriers are available, are one of constantly kept for a certain duration and re-allocated after every data transmission.

15. The method of claim 4 , wherein, after finishing a negotiation, the transmitter terminal sends an announcement signal indicating which subcarriers are finally chosen.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein, after receiving the announcement signal, the receiver terminal sends a similar announcement signal indicating which subcarriers are finally chosen.

17. A device for multicarrier network communications, the device is configured to:

determine the status of subcarriers on a multicarrier network;

generate a status signal, and

send the status signal on the network,

wherein a bandwidth of the multicarrier network is divided into several subcarriers,

wherein the status is indicative of, for each subcarrier of the bandwidth, whether the subcarrier is occupied, and

wherein the status is based on the subcarriers in a sensing radius of the device, and the status is determined by listening to transmissions by other devices in the sensing radius of the device.

18. The device of claim 17 , further configured to:

produce a binary sequence in accordance with a predetermined status of the subcarriers of the network.

19. A device for multicarrier network communications, the device is configured to:

determine a status of every subcarrier of a multicarrier network's bandwidth, which is divided into several subcarriers;

generate a proposal signal;

send the proposal signal on the multicarrier network;

receive a determination signal generated and sent by a receiving terminal; and

allocate, based on the determination signal, subcarriers to a forthcoming data transmission,

wherein the status is indicative of whether the subcarrier is occupied, and

wherein the status is based on the subcarriers in a sensing radius of the device, and the status is determined by listening to transmissions by other devices in the sensing radius of the device.

20. A device for multicarrier network communications, the device is configured to:

determine a status of every subcarrier of a multicarrier network's bandwidth, which is divided into several subcarriers;

generate a first Management Frame indicating a fixed subcarrier allocation according to the determined status;

send the first Management Frame on the network; and

receive a second Management Frame generated and transmitted by a further terminal,

wherein the status is indicative of whether the subcarrier is occupied, and

wherein the status is based on the subcarriers in a sensing radius of the device, and the status is determined by listening to transmissions by other devices in the sensing radius of the device.

21. A device for multicarrier network communications, the device is configured to:

determine a status of each subcarrier on a multicarrier network with a bandwidth that is divided into several subcarriers,

send a first Availability Signal in parallel on those subcarriers belonging to the bandwidth;

receive a second Availability Signal transmitted in parallel on those subcarriers that belong to the bandwidth; and

allocate certain subcarriers to a forthcoming transmission,

wherein the status is indicative of whether the subcarrier is occupied, and wherein the status is based on the subcarriers in a sensing radius of the device, and the status is determined by listening to transmissions by other devices in the sensing radius of the device.

22. The device of claim 21 , further configured to:

generate an energy tone pulse.

23. A multicarrier network communications system for allocating a certain number of subcarriers to a forthcoming transmission, the system comprising:

a first device configured to:

determine the status of each of the subcarriers of a network's bandwidth in a sensing radius of the first device, which is divided into several subcarriers; and

generate a signal according to the determined status of the subcarriers in the sensing radius of the first device; and

a second device configured to:

determine the status of the subcarriers in a sensing radius of the second device; and

generate a signal according to the status of the subcarriers in the sensing radius of the second device, wherein the status is indicative of whether the subcarrier is occupied, and the status is determined by listening to transmissions by other devices in the sensing radius of the second device.