Spectrum allocation for multiple resource units in a wireless network
Methods, devices and systems for allocating spectrum in a wireless local area network. A bit representation of the availability or unavailability of a plurality of sub-bands of a portion of frequency spectrum is generated and included in a physical layer protocol data unit, which is transmitted to a target station to allocate resource units within the portion of frequency spectrum for use by the target station. The sub-bands may be 20 MHz spectrum sub-bands for large-size resource units, or the portion of frequency spectrum may be a single 20 MHz band sub-divided into multiple sub-bands for allocating small-size resource units. A station that receives the data unit may decode the bit representation and use the allocated resource units to communicate over the wireless local area network.
1. A method for allocating a portion of frequency spectrum in a wireless local area network, comprising:
transmitting a physical layer protocol data unit to a target station, the physical layer protocol data unit including a header that includes a bit representation of the portion of frequency spectrum for use by the target station, the bit representation including a plurality of binary values, each binary value indicating the availability or unavailability of one or more equal-size sub-bands making up the portion of frequency spectrum,
wherein:
the portion of frequency spectrum is an operating channel consisting of one to four sub-blocks of the operating channel, each sub-block of the operating channel consisting of four 20 MHz sub-bands;
each binary value in the plurality of binary values indicates an unavailable sub-band or an available one or more sub-bands; and
the bit representation consists of, for each sub-block of the operating channel, a corresponding sub-block representation, each sub-block representation consisting of one or more binary values.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
each binary value is two bits; and
each binary value corresponds to an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band or the size of an available one or more contiguous 20 MHz sub-bands.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:
the four possible binary values correspond to:
an unavailable sub-band;
an available sub-band;
two contiguous available sub-bands; and
four contiguous available sub-bands.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
each binary value is one bit; and
each binary value corresponds to an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band or an available 20 MHz sub-band.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein:
a binary value of “0” indicates an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band; and
a binary value of “1” indicates an available 20 MHz sub-band.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the header includes a universal signal field; and
the bit representation is included in the universal signal field.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the header includes an extreme high throughput signal field; and
the bit representation is included in the extreme high throughput signal field.
8. A processing system for allocating a portion of frequency spectrum in a wireless local area network, comprising:
a processing device;
a wireless network interface for wireless communication with a network; and
a memory storing machine-executable instructions that, when executed by the processing device, implement a communication module configured to transmit a physical layer protocol data unit to a target station, the physical layer protocol data unit including a header that includes a bit representation of the portion of frequency spectrum for use by the target station, the bit representation including a plurality of binary values, each binary value indicating the availability or unavailability of one or more equal-size sub-bands making up the portion of frequency spectrum,
wherein:
the portion of frequency spectrum is an operating channel consisting of one to four sub-blocks of the operating channel, each sub-block of the operating channel consisting of four 20 MHz sub-bands;
each binary value in the plurality of binary values indicates an unavailable sub-band or an available one or more sub-bands; and
the bit representation consists of, for each sub-block of the operating channel, a corresponding sub-block representation, each sub-block representation consisting of one or more binary values.
9. The processing system of claim 8 , wherein:
each binary value is two bits; and
each binary value corresponds to an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band or the size of an available one or more contiguous 20 MHz sub-bands.
10. The processing system of claim 9 , wherein:
the four possible binary values correspond to:
an unavailable sub-band;
an available sub-band;
two contiguous available sub-bands; and
four contiguous available sub-bands.
11. The processing system of claim 8 , wherein:
each binary value is one bit; and
each binary value corresponds to an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band or an available 20 MHz sub-band.
12. The processing system of claim 11 , wherein:
a binary value of “0” indicates an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band; and
a binary value of “1” indicates an available 20 MHz sub-band.
13. The processing system of claim 8 , wherein:
the header includes a universal signal field; and
the bit representation is included in the universal signal field.
14. The processing system of claim 8 , wherein:
the header includes an extreme high throughput signal field; and
the bit representation is included in the extreme high throughput signal field.