Method, apparatus, and computer readable media for acknowledgement in wireless networks

Abstract

Embodiments of a system and method for communicating acknowledgments in a wireless network are generally described herein. In some embodiments, a method of wirelessly communicating acknowledgements includes receiving a first signal on a first subchannel from a second wireless device. The method may include transmitting a block acknowledgement of the first signal on a subchannel. The first wireless communication device may not receive a block acknowledgement request to transmit the block acknowledgement. In some embodiments, a method of communicating block acknowledgements includes transmitting a first transmission to a first wireless device on a first subchannel and a second transmission to a second wireless device on a second subchannel. The method may include receiving a first block acknowledgement from the first wireless device and a second block acknowledgement from second wireless device. The first and second block acknowledgement may be received on one of the first and second subchannels.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A station (STA), the STA comprising hardware processing circuitry configured to:
 receive data frames on a subchannel from an access point (AP) in accordance with down link (DL) multi-user multiple input and multiple output (MU-MIMO) and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA); and   in response to the data frames, transmit a block acknowledgement of the data frames in accordance with uplink (UL) MU-MIMO and OFDMA.   
     
     
         2 . The STA according to  claim 1 , wherein the hardware processing circuitry is further configured to:
 transmit the block acknowledgement of the data frames on the subchannel.   
     
     
         3 . The STA according to  claim 1 , wherein the hardware processing circuitry is further configured to:
 transmit the block acknowledgement of the data frames when a block acknowledgement request has not been received by the STA.   
     
     
         4 . The STA according to  claim 1 , wherein the hardware processing circuitry is further configured to:
 receive an indication of an acknowledgment policy from the AP.   
     
     
         5 . The STA according to  claim 1 , wherein the hardware processing circuitry is further configured to wait a short interframe space (SIFS) time before the transmit. 
     
     
         6 . The STA according to  claim 1 , wherein the hardware processing circuitry is further configured to wait a predetermined time before the transmit, wherein the predetermined time is longer than a short interframe space (SIFS) time. 
     
     
         7 . The STA according to  claim 1 , wherein the hardware processing circuitry is further configured to transmit the block acknowledgement at a time based on a MU-MIMO group identification of the wireless device. 
     
     
         8 . The STA according to  claim 1 , wherein the hardware processing circuitry is further configured to:
 in response to the data frames, transmit second data frames in accordance with UL MU-MIMO and OFDMA, wherein the second data frames comprises the block acknowledgement of the data frames.   
     
     
         9 . The STA according to  claim 1 , wherein the hardware processing circuitry is further configured to:
 in response to the data frames, transmit second data frames on the subchannel, and transmit the block acknowledgement of the data frames on the subchannel in accordance with UL MU-MIMO and OFDMA.   
     
     
         10 . The STA according to  claim 1 , wherein the hardware processing circuitry is further configured to:
 receive a signal frame from the AP prior to the data frames.   
     
     
         11 . The STA according to  claim 10 , wherein the data frames or the signal frame comprise an indication of a schedule; and
 wherein the second data frames are transmitted according to the schedule.   
     
     
         12 . The STA according to  claim 10 , wherein the data frames or the signal frame comprise an indication to transmit the block acknowledgement of the data on the subchannel. 
     
     
         13 . The wireless communication device of  claim 1 , further comprising memory and a transceiver coupled to the processing circuitry. 
     
     
         14 . The wireless communications device of  claim 13 , further comprising one or more antennas coupled to the transceiver. 
     
     
         15 . A method on a station (STA), the method comprising:
 receiving data frames on a subchannel from an access point (AP) using multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU MIMO);   in response to receiving the data frames, transmitting a block acknowledgement of the data frames, wherein the block acknowledgement is transmitted without receiving a block acknowledgement request.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 transmitting the block acknowledgement of the data frames on the subchannel.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 waiting a short interframe space (SIFS) time before transmitting.   
     
     
         18 . An access point (AP), the AP comprising:
 comprising memory and a transceiver;   one or more antennas coupled to the transceiver; and   hardware processing circuitry coupled to the memory and the transceiver and configured to:   transmit first data frames to a first station (STA) on a first subchannel and concurrently transmit second data frames to a second STA on a second subchannel in accordance with down link (DL) multi-user multiple input and multiple output (MU-MIMO) and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA);   receive a first block acknowledgement from the first STA and concurrently receive a second block acknowledgement from the second STA in accordance with uplink (UL) MU-MIMO and OFDMA; and   wherein the first block acknowledgement is received on one of the first and second subchannels, and the second block acknowledgement is received on the other of the first and second subchannels.   
     
     
         19 . The AP of  claim 18 , wherein the first subchannel and the second subchannel have a first bandwidth and a second bandwidth, respectively; and
 wherein the first bandwidth and the second bandwidth are each one of the following group: 1 MHz, 1.25 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 Mhz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz; and   wherein the first subchannel and the second subchannel are different portions of a radio spectrum.   
     
     
         20 . The AP of  claim 18 , wherein the hardware processing circuitry is further configured to:
 transmit the first transmission to the first STA on the first subchannel and a third transmission to a third STA on the first subchannel.   
     
     
         21 . The AP of  claim 18 , wherein the hardware processing circuitry is further configured to:
 transmit a multi-user (MU) block acknowledgement request (BAR).   
     
     
         22 . The AP of  claim 21 , wherein the MU-BAR comprises a scheduling subchannel allocation. 
     
     
         23 . The AP of  claim 21 , wherein the hardware processing circuitry is further configured to:
 receive a third block acknowledgement from the third STA after the first block acknowledgement from the first STA is received, wherein the third subchannel and the first subchannel occupy the same portion of the radio spectrum.   
     
     
         24 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors to perform operations for block acknowledgement, the instructions to configure the one or more processors to:
 receive data frames on a subchannel from an access point (AP) in accordance with down link (DL) multi-user multiple input and multiple output (MU-MIMO) and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA); and   in response to the data frames, transmit a block acknowledgement of the data frames on a subchannel in accordance with uplink (UL) MU-MIMO and OFDMA.   
     
     
         25 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the instructions further configure the one or more processors to:
 transmit the block acknowledgement when a block acknowledgement request has not been received.