WLAN decodability-based frame processing for power saving

1. A method, comprising:

receiving an IEEE 802.11 frame at a wireless local area network (WLAN) station;

determining whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is decodable by performing signal integrity checks of a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) header of the IEEE 802.11 frame;

determining whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is un-decodable due to frame error by checking the PLCP header of the IEEE 802.11 frame;

determining whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is addressed to the WLAN station when the IEEE 802.11 frame is determined to be decodable; and

entering a reduced power state when the IEEE 802.11 frame is not un-decodable or not addressed to the WLAN station.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is decodable comprises:

determining whether a combination of parameters in a signaling field of the PLCP header is valid.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein performing signal integrity checks of the PLCP header comprises one or more of:

determining whether a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a signaling field of the PLCP header is below a predetermined minimum SNR value required to decode data packets at any data rate;

determining whether the SNR of a signaling field of the PLCP header is below a predetermined minimum SNR value required to decode data packets based on a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a number of spatial streams (NSS) and a space-time block coding (STBC) configuration of the number of spatial streams obtained from the signaling field,

determining from a channel estimate whether a root mean square (RMS)) delay spread exceeds a predetermined maximum RMS delay spread; and

determining whether a channel condition number based on the channel estimate can support a data rate based on the MCS, the NSS and the STBC configuration.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein an invalid combination of parameters in the signaling field of the PLCP header comprises one or more of:

an invalid rate field combination in a legacy signaling (L-SIG) field;

a mismatch between a number of spatial streams (NSS) field and a space-time block coding (STBC) field in a high throughput signaling (HT-SIG) field; and

a mismatch between a single-user (SU) field and a group ID (GID) field in a very high throughput (VHT) field.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is addressed to the WLAN station comprises:

determining whether the WLAN station is a member of a basic service set (BSS) identified by a basic service set identifier (BSSID) in a medium access control (MAC) header of the IEEE 802.11 frame; and

determining whether a receiver address (RA) in the MAC header of the IEEE 802.11 frame matches a MAC address of the WLAN station.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein entering the reduced power state comprises entering one of a sleep state or a nap state for a remaining duration of the IEEE 802.11 frame, based on a frame duration field in the MAC header.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein entering the nap state comprises duty-cycling a PHY/RF data path for the remaining duration of the IEEE 802.11 frame, and wherein entering the sleep state comprises powering down the PHY/RF data path for the remaining duration of the IEEE 802.11 frame.

8. A wireless local area network (WLAN) controller comprising:

a memory containing instructions; and

a processor coupled with the memory, the processor to execute the instructions to cause the WLAN controller to:

receive an IEEE 802.11 frame;

determine whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is decodable by performing signal integrity checks of a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) header of the IEEE 802.11 frame;

determine whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is un-decodable due to frame error by checking the PLCP header of the IEEE 802.11 frame;

determine whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is addressed to the WLAN controller when the IEEE 802.11 frame is determined to be decodable; and

enter a reduced power state ifwhen the frame is not un-decodable or not addressed to the WLAN controller.

9. The WLAN controller of claim 8 , wherein to determine whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is decodable, the processor is to:

determine whether a combination of parameters in a signaling field of the PLCP header is valid.

10. The WLAN controller of claim 9 , wherein to perform signal integrity checks of the PLCP header comprises one or more of:

determine whether a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a signaling field of the PLCP header is below a predetermined minimum SNR value required to decode data packets at any data rate;

determine whether the SNR of the signaling field of the PLCP header is below a predetermined minimum SNR value required to decode data packets based on a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a number of spatial streams (NSS) and a space-time block coding (STBC) configuration of the number of spatial streams;

determine from a channel estimate whether a root mean square (RMS) delay spread of the channel exceeds a predetermined maximum RMS delay spread; and

determine whether a channel condition number based on the channel estimate can support a data rate based on the MCS, the NSS and the STBC configuration.

11. The WLAN controller of claim 9 , wherein an invalid combination of parameters in the signaling field of the PLCP header comprises one or more of:

an invalid rate field combination in a legacy signaling (L-SIG) field;

a mismatch between a number of spatial streams (NSS) field and a space-time block coding (STBC) field in a high throughput signaling (HT-SIG) field; and

a mismatch between a single-user (SU) field and a group ID (GID) field in a very high throughput (VHT) field.

12. The WLAN controller of claim 8 , wherein to determine whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is addressed to the WLAN controller, the processor is to:

determine whether the WLAN controller is a member of a basic service set (BSS) identified by a basic service set identifier (BSSID) in a medium access control (MAC) header of the IEEE 802.11 frame; and

determine whether a receiver address (RA) in the MAC header of the IEEE 802.11 frame matches a MAC address of the WLAN controller.

13. The WLAN controller of claim 8 , wherein to enter the reduced power state, the processor is to enter one of a sleep state or a nap state for a remaining duration of the IEEE 802.11 frame, based on a frame duration field in the MAC header.

14. The WLAN controller of claim 13 , wherein to enter the nap state, the processor is to duty-cycle a PHY/RF data path for the remaining duration of the IEEE 802.11 frame, and wherein to enter the sleep state, the processor is to power down the PHY/RF data path for the remaining duration of the IEEE 802.11 frame.

15. A system, comprising:

at least one antenna to receive an IEEE 802.11 frame; and

a wireless local area network (WLAN) controller comprising a processor to:

determine whether the IEEE 802 . 11 frame is decodable by performing signal integrity checks of a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP)header of the IEEE 802.11 frame;

determine whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is un-decodable due to frame error by checking the PLCP header of the IEEE 802.11 frame;

determine whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is addressed to the WLAN controller when the IEEE 802.11 frame is determined to be decodable; and

enter a reduced power state ifwhen the IEEE 802.11 frame is not un-decodable or not addressed to the WLAN controller.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein to determine whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is decodable, the processor is to:

determine whether a combination of parameters in a signaling field of the PLCP header is valid.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein to perform signal integrity checks of the PLCP header comprises one or more of:

determine whether a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a signaling field of the PLCP header is below a predetermined minimum SNR value required to decode data packets at any data rate;

determine whether the SNR of the signaling field of the PLCP header is below a predetermined minimum SNR value required to decode data packets based on a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a number of spatial streams (NSS) and a space-time block coding (STBC) configuration of the number of spatial streams;

determine from a channel estimate whether a root mean square (RMS) delay spread of the channel exceeds a predetermined maximum RMS delay spread; and

determine whether a channel condition number based on the channel estimate can support a data rate based on the MCS, the NSS and the STBC configuration.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein an invalid combination of parameters in the signaling field of the PLCP header comprises one or more of:

an invalid rate field combination in a legacy signaling (L-SIG) field;

a mismatch between a number of spatial streams (NSS) field and a space-time block coding (STBC) field in a high throughput signaling (HT-SIG) field; and

a mismatch between a single-user (SU) field and a group ID (GID) field in a very high throughput (VHT) field.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein to determine whether the IEEE 802.11 frame is addressed to the WLAN controller, the processor is to:

determine whether the WLAN controller is a member of a basic service set (BSS) identified by a basic service set identifier (BSSID) in a medium access control (MAC) header of the IEEE 802.11 frame; and

determine whether a receiver address (RA) in the MAC header of the IEEE 802.11 frame matches a MAC address of the WLAN controller.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein to enter the reduced power state, the processor is to enter one of a sleep state or a nap state for a remaining duration of the IEEE 802.11 frame, based on a frame duration field in the MAC header.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein to enter the nap state, the processor is to duty- cycle a PHY/RF data path for the remaining duration of the IEEE 802.11 frame, and wherein to enter the sleep state, the processor is to power down the PHY/RF data path for the remaining duration of the IEEE 802.11 frame.