RANGE TRANSMISSION

TECHNICAL FIELD

An exemplary aspect is directed toward communications systems. More specifically an exemplary aspect is directed toward wireless communications systems and even more specifically to wireless networks and Wi-Fi. Even more particularly, an exemplary aspect is directed toward wireless networks and longer-range Wi-Fi communications.

BACKGROUND

For example, but not by way of limitation, common and widely adopted techniques used for communication are those that adhere to the Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards such as the IEEE 802.11η standard, the IEEE 802.1 lax standard and the IEEE 802.11-2016 standard.

The IEEE 802.11 standards specify a common Medium Access Control (MAC) Layer which provides a variety of functions that support the operation of IEEE 802.11 -based Wireless LANs (WLANs) and devices. The MAC Layer manages and maintains communications between IEEE 802.11 stations (such as between radio network interface cards (NIC) in a PC or other wireless device(s) or stations (STA) and access points (APs)) by coordinating access to a shared radio channel and utilizing protocols that enhance communications over a wireless medium.

IEEE 802.1 lax is proposed to increase the efficiency of WLAN networks, especially in high density areas like public hotspots and other dense traffic areas. IEEE 802.1 lax also uses orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA).

Wi-Fi is typically used for shorter length communications, such as within an office, at a hotspot, or within a home environment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and its advantages, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals represent like parts: Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary narrow band architecture/configuration in accordance with some embodiments;

Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a narrow band preamble in accordance with some embodiments;

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary phase and amplitude of a time domain sample for alternative 1 in accordance with some embodiments;

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary phase and amplitude of a time domain sample for alternative 2 in accordance with some embodiments;

Fig. 5 illustrates one example of a B-STF design for longer range communications in accordance with some embodiments; Fig. 6 illustrates how a channel can be subdivided such that each subchannel can be used as the narrow band shared channel (NBSCH) for longer range data transmissions in accordance with some embodiments;

Fig. 7 illustrates distributed allocation of the NBCCH in accordance with some embodiments; Fig. 8 illustrates an example of AP scheduling based power boosting on a distributed

NBCCH with occupied and vacant subchannels in accordance with some embodiments;

Fig. 9 illustrates an example of a hopping-based NBCCH allocation in accordance with some embodiments;

Fig. 10 illustrates an embodiment where a device can transmit on more than one subchannel in one hopping cycle in accordance with some embodiments;

Fig. 11 illustrates an embodiment where one NBCCH is fixed in one subchannel, and another NBCCH hops across other subchannels in accordance with some embodiments; Fig. 12 is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some embodiments;

Fig. 13 is a circuit diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some embodiments; Fig. 14 illustrates a front-end module circuitry for use in the radio architecture of Fig.

7 in accordance with some embodiments;

Fig. 15 illustrates a radio IC circuitry for use in the radio architecture of Fig. 7 in accordance with some embodiments;

Fig. 16 illustrates a baseband processing circuitry for use in the radio architecture of Fig. 7 in accordance with some embodiments; and

Fig. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for longer range communications in accordance with some aspects of the technology.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Long range transmission using Wi-Fi has been identified as a useful scenario for a number of implementation environments and will likely be a potential next generation Wi-Fi topic for discussion and development. Due to the low cost of Wi-Fi chips, long range Wi-Fi can be used for wider coverage in, for example, rural areas or other more distant areas, e.g. for agricultural sensor networks, and as a lower cost solution as compared to the use of cellular networks. Additionally, longer range transmission can be used for whole home coverage including both indoor and outdoor coverage, such as in the yard or areas proximate to an access point. For instance, IEEE 802.1 lac/ax provides high throughput for indoor traffic, and narrow band provides wider coverage for sensor and IoT (Internet-of-Things) devices both indoors and outdoors. A longer range transmission can be achieved by concentrating the transmission power within a narrower band or a specially designed band(s) usable for more robust and longer transmissions.

An example of a narrow band transmission architecture is shown in Fig. 1. In Fig. 1, as one example, the X band, say for example a 20 MHz band, is separated into a number of subchannels, say, for example, nine 2 MHz subchannels. Each subchannel can be used as the narrow band shared channel ( BSCH) for longer range data transmissions.

Any one of the subchannel(s) can also be used as narrow band control channel ( BCCH) to handle, for example, the initial access and trigger frame transmission. Discussed herein are several alternatives for the design of the NBCCH. While Figs. 1 and 6 will be described in relation to a 20 MHz band being divided into nine 2 MHz subbands for the longer range communications, it is to be appreciated that a band of any bandwidth can be divided into any number of subbands, with each of the subbands capable of being any bandwidth (as reflected in Fig. 1), with the subbands not all necessarily being the same bandwidth. A 20 MHz band with 2 MHz subbands just happens to be a likely and convenient implementation, such as for Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, such that the discussion herein will focus on this example.

The use of longer range transmissions is depicted Fig. 2 with an exemplary field structure. One aspect introduces a high-level design for longer range communications with a narrow band short training field (NB-STF). An exemplary narrow band preamble portion is shown in Fig. 2. The functions of the NB-STF include automatic gain control (AGC) settings, packet detection, carrier frequency offset (CFO) and DC offset estimations. One exemplary aspect introduces a 2 MHz NB-STF design as discussed herein.

In accordance with one exemplary aspect, the design of the NB-STF can consider any one or more of the following points in an effort to increase transmission distance: 1. The NB-STF should be able to provide robust packet detection capability;

2. The NB-STF should be able to finish the packet detection as early as possible;

3. The NB-STF should be able to correct the carrier frequency offset (CFO) up to 40ppm (parts per million);

4. The NB-STF should reuse legacy design (if feasible); and/or 5. The NB-STF sequence should have low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR).

There are two criteria which can be considered along with the NB-STF design. One is the tone mapping (which tone to distribute energy on) and the other one is the sequence design (what is the value for Si and S ₂ ). First, tone mapping. Since one non-limiting exemplary objective is to estimate up to 40PPM CFO, which is 200 kHz in a 5G system, that means the periodicity shouldn't be larger than 1/200 kHz/2 = 2.5 us (the CFO estimator can only distinguish phase rotation up to 180 degrees instead of 360 degrees). In IEEE 802.1 lax, the HE-STF (High-Efficiency Short Training Field) is 0.8us and

1.6us periodicity. However, 0.8us means one needs to populate a tone at least every 1.25 MHz which is not feasible for a 2 MHz bandwidth system. Thus, the only reusable periodicity in IEEE 802.1 lax is 1.6us. Depending on the tone spacing and periodicity of the B-STF, one has the following four alternatives for NB-STF tone mapping. Optional Alternative 1 - 1.6us Periodicity with 78.125 kHz Tone Spacing

For this example, the focus is arbitrarily on a 2 MHz transmission (with any other value being possible). If the tone spacing is 78.125 kHz, the populated tone index shouldn't be larger than 12. Assuming the sequence S=[sl, s2], one can use the following tone mapping scheme in Eq. 1 to get 8 cycles with each cycle having 1.6us in the time domain, i.e., the NB-STF sequence is mapped to +/- 8th tones. As an example, the phase and amplitude of the time domain waveform is shown in Fig. 3 where S=[l -1]. There are 2 samples on the edge of 2 MHz, such that better frequency selectivity gain can be realized.

NB - STF = [00000000s ₁ 00000000(Z)i;)0000000s ₂ 0000000] Eq. 1

Optional Alternative 2 - 1.6us Periodicity with 312.5 kHz Tone Spacing Again, for this example, the focus is arbitrarily on a 2 MHz transmission (with any other value being possible). If the tone spacing is 312.5 kHz, the populated tone index shouldn't be larger than 3. Assuming the sequence S=[sl, s2], one can use the following tone mapping scheme in Eq. 2 to get 2 cycles with each cycle having 1.6us in the time domain, i.e., the NB- STF sequence is mapped to +/- 2th tones. As an example, the phase and amplitude of time domain waveform are shown in Fig. 4 given S=[l -1].

NB - STF = [OOS-LOOCD OS^] Eq. 2

Optional Alternative 3 - 1.067us Periodicity with 78.125 kHz Tone Spacing

Using the same rationale as alternative 1, the populated tone index shouldn't be larger than 12. Assuming the sequence S=[sl, s2], one can use the following tone mapping scheme in Eq. 3 to get 12 cycles with each cycle having 1.067us periodicity, i.e., the NB-STF sequence is mapped to +/- 12th tones. Note that in this alternative, the time domain signal should be down sampled by a factor of 0.75 to achieve the desired cycles.

NB - STF = 0000s ₁ 000000000000(Z)i:)00000000000s ₂ 000] Eq. 3

Optional Alternative 4 - 1.067us Periodicity with 312.5 kHz Tone Spacing With the same rationale as alternative 2 above, the populated tone index may not be larger than 3. Assuming the sequence S=[sl, s2], one can use the following tone mapping scheme in Eq. 4 to get 3 cycles with each cycle having 1.067us periodicity, i.e., the NB-STF sequence is mapped to +/- 2th tones. Note that in this alternative, the time domain signal should be down sampled by a factor of 0.75 to achieve the desired cycles.

Since there are only two values in sequence S, one can simply keep si and s2 equal to any value in { 1, -1, (l+lj)/sqrt(2), (l-lj)/sqrt(2), (-l+lj)/sqrt(2), (- 1 - 1 j )/sqrt(2) } = [1 1] }. The PAPR would be the same. In order to extend the range relative to existing IEEE 802.1 lax and IEEE 802.1 lac protocols, more energy may be needed in the NB-STF portion. To obtain more energy, the configuration can be modified to either extend to more cycles on the NB-STF (For instance, extend to two OFDM symbols duration for 78.125kHz tone spacing or extend to 8 OFDM symbols duration for 312.5kHz), and/or the configuration can be modified to boost the NB- STF portion just as was done in IEEE 802.1 lax for the L-STF in the extended range mode. The power boosting could be approximately 3dB, or even more, as long as for US implementations FCC rules are considered.

One example is shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 5, both power boosting and time domain extension are applied to the NB-STF to achieve the longer range reach/coverage. In Fig. 5. it is graphically illustrated that one or more of power boosting and/or time extension can be applied to the NB-STF 504 to improve longer range communications as discussed.

As mentioned above, longer range transmissions can be achieved by concentrating the transmission power within a narrower band or with a special design for robust transmission. An example of narrower band transmission is shown in Fig. 6. In this illustrative, non-limiting example, the 20 MHz band is separated into 8 separate 2 MHz subchannels (NBSCH A - H). 2 MHz was chosen in that 26 RU (Resource Units) is approximately 2 MHz. However, as other values for RU are chosen, different channel bandwidths can be adopted without limitation.

Each of these subchannels can be used as the narrow band shared channel(s) (NBSCH) (data channel) for longer range data transmissions. Moreover, the subchannel(s) can be used as a narrow band control channel (NBCCH) (control channel) to at least handle the initial access and trigger frame transmission. Several non-limiting alternatives of the design of the NBCCH are presented herein.

Optionally usable with the above tone mapping and sequence design, the following options can be applied to the NBCCH implementation: distributed NBCCH allocation, and/or hopping based NBCCH allocation. For the hopping option, power can be allocated on only one subchannel, or power can be allocated on several subchannels.

Depending on the DL (downlink) transmission bandwidth and/or the location of the NBCCH, several alternatives for the NBCCH design are introduced.

Alternative 1 - Distributed NBCCH in 20 MHz An illustration of alternative 1 is shown in Fig. 7. In Fig. 7, the NBCCH is transmitted in every subchannel of the 20 MHz channel. The NBSCH, which is the data channel, can also optionally be transmitted in every subchannel of the 20 MHz channel as illustrated which means the NBCCH and NBSCH could share the same subchannel, for example, using a TDM (Time Domain Multiplexing) arrangement. This would allow, for example, the beacon to be transmitted in every subchannel such that a NB-STA can associate with the NB-AP (Narrow- Band Access Point) in any subchannel.

Should the NB-STA (Narrow Band Station/Device) need to associate or re-associate, the NB-STA could camp on any subchannel to wait for the beacon. After the NB-STA receives the beacon and calibrates with the NB-AP, the STA can initiate the association procedure. After a successful association, the NB-STA can continue to camp on this subchannel for further communication.

In the case where the NB-STA happens to camp on a deep fading subchannel, the NB- STA may not be able to hear the beacon. The NB-STA can optionally try another subchannel if any of the following events happen: i. The NB-STA cannot hear the beacon for several beacon cycles; and/or ii. The NB-STA cannot hear the feedback after initiating the association.

One exemplary upside of this configuration is that all the subchannels within the 20 MHz channel provide full flexibility for the NB-STA to access the resource. The NB-STA does not have to perform extensive searching of the beacon on different subchannels. One possible downside is the total power may be distributed on all the subchannels. Compared to allocating more power on a 2 MHz subchannel, this alternative may sacrifice some range.

However, it's not necessary that NB-AP must always transmit on all the subchannels. Depending on one or more of AP scheduling and/or down link traffic (or other condition(s)), some of the subchannels may be vacant. This could allow, for example, the AP to dynamically allocate more power on the occupied sub channel (s). An example of this technique is shown in Fig. 8 where all of the subchannels are vacant except the identified occupied channels. With this configuration, the AP could boost power on the occupied subchannels to extend the range.

Alternative 2 - Hopping Based NBCCH Allocation

An example of this alternative is shown in Fig. 9. In this embodiment, the AP concentrates the transmit power on only one of the subchannels to gain range. Meanwhile, the transmission can hop across a plurality of the subchannels using a predetermined sequence to avoid the situation that a STA/device experiences deep fading on one subchannel. With this alternative, the AP can transmit the beacon on one of the subchannels within one beacon cycle. When the NB-STA needs to access the channel, the NB-STA can hop across a plurality of the subchannels to search for the beacon. After the NB-STA locates the beacon, the NB-STA can camp on this subchannel to initiate the association procedure. After a successful association, further communication can be done on this subchannel.

One exemplary upside of this alternative is the range gain from the transmission power. One possible downside is that the NB-STA may need to wait some time until the NB-STA can find the beacon.

This embodiment can optionally have only one subchannel per timeslot, and all power can be concentrated in one subchannel. Another advantage of this configuration is diversity gain and an increase in a STAs/device's ability to hear/locate the beacon.

One variation to this alternative is that the AP can transmit on more than one subchannel in one hopping cycle. As shown in Fig. 10, the AP can transmit on 3 out of 9 subchannels (which is just one non-limiting example with other combinations possible) in the 20 MHz channel. Thus, power can be boosted on the occupied channel(s). Also, the average beacon searching time could reduce by 3 times from the STA's point of view. Note that this variation is quite similar to the variation depicted in Fig. 8. The difference is Fig. 8 has AP scheduling based on power boosting, while the variation in Fig. 10 can be standardized power boosting. That means that the subchannels need to be specified for transmission of the beacon and also the hopping pattern.

In illustrative Fig. 10, only 3 subchannels per beacon cycle are used, however other numbers of subchannels are possible and this disclosure is not limited thereto. Additionally, and optionally, the device, such as an AP, can select the number of subchannels per cycle. One advantage to the configuration in Fig. 10 is an increase in the ability for a station to hear the beacon.

Another variation is that the AP can keep one NBCCH fixed in one subchannel, and have another NBCCH hopping across the other subchannels as shown in Fig. 11. The fixed NBCCH can be pre-known to the NB-STAs such that the NB-STA could always try to associate from this pre-known NBCCH. If this association fails due to, for example, deep fading or other cause(s), the STA can try another NBCCH which would be the hopping NBCCH. One illustrative advantage of this configuration is that overall association time can be reduced due to the fixing of the NBCCH. In Fig. 11, the hopping NBCCH and/or NBSCH can increase frequency diversity while the fixed NBCCH and/or NBSCH can improve access.

Note that in any alternative discussed herein, in order to improve the range relative to IEEE 802.1 lax, the NB-STF sequence could be lengthened in time and/or boosted in power in order for the device's initial acquisition process to be more likely to succeed for beacon detection at an extended range location.

A further aspect is described in relation to Fig. 12. The device 1200 in Fig. 12 addresses and enables one or more of the extended range (e.g., longer range) scenarios discussed herein.

Fig. 12 illustrates an exemplary hardware diagram of a device 1200, such as a wireless device, designated device, mobile device, access point, station, IoT device, and/or the like, that is adapted to implement the technique(s) discussed herein. Operation will be discussed in relation to the components in Fig. 12 appreciating that each separate device in a system, e.g., station, AP, proxy server, etc., can include one or more of the components shown in the figure, with the components each being optional and each capable of being collocated or non- collocated. Each of the components in Fig. 12 can optionally be merged with one or more of the other components described herein, or into a new component(s). Additionally, it is to be appreciated that some of the components may have partially overlapping functionality. Similarly, all or a portion of the functionality of a component can optionally be merged with one or more of the other components described herein, or into a new component(s). Additionally, one or more of the components illustrated in Fig. 12 can be optionally implemented partially or fully in, for example, a baseband portion of a wireless communications device such as in an analog and/or digital baseband system and/or baseband signal processor, that is typically in communication with a radio frequency (RF) system. The baseband signal processor could optionally be implemented in one or more FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). In addition to well-known componentry (which has been omitted for clarity), the device

1200 includes interconnected elements (with links 5 generally omitted for clarity - and one or more of the elements being optional) including one or more of: one or more antennas/antenna arrays 1204, an interleaver/deinterleaver 1228, scrambler 1240, an analog front end (AFE) 1212, memory/storage/cache 1248, controller/microprocessor 1256, (Wi- Fi/Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE)) MAC module/circuitry 1224, modulator/demodulator 121232, encoder/decoder 1236, GPU 1252, accelerator 1260, a multiplexer/demultiplexer 1244, a Wi-Fi/BT/BLE (Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® Low Energy) PHY module 1220, transmitter(s) radio circuitry 1208 and receiver(s) radio circuitry 1216. The device 1200 further includes a preamble management module 1264, a tone mapper 1268, a sequence determiner 1272 and a power boosting manager 1276. The various elements in the device 1200 are connected by one or more links (not shown, again for sake of clarity).

The device 1200 can have one more antennas 1204, for use in wireless communications such as multi-input multi-output (MIMO) communications, multi-user multi-input multi- output (MU-MIMO) communications Bluetooth®, LTE, RFID, 4G, 5G, LTE, LWA, LP communications, Wi-Fi, etc. In general, the antenna(s) discussed herein can include, but are not limited to one or more of directional antennas, omnidirectional antennas, monopoles, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, dipoles, multi-element antennas, and any other antenna(s) suitable for communication transmission/reception. In an exemplary embodiment, transmission/reception using MTMO may require particular antenna spacing. In another exemplary embodiment, MIMO transmission/reception can enable spatial diversity allowing for different channel characteristics at each of the antennas. In yet another embodiment, MIMO transmission/reception can be used to distribute resources to multiple users.

Antenna(s) 1204 generally interact with the Analog Front End (AFE) 1212, which is needed to enable the correct processing of the received modulated signal and signal conditioning for a transmitted signal. The AFE 1212 can be functionally located between the antenna and a digital baseband system in order to convert the analog signal into a digital signal for processing and vice-versa.

The device 1200 can also include a controller/microprocessor 1256 and a memory/storage/cache 1248. The device 1200 can interact with the memory/storage/cache 1248 which may store information and operations necessary for configuring and transmitting or receiving the information described herein and/or operating the device as described herein. The memory/storage/cache 1248 may also be used in connection with the execution of application programming or instructions by the controller/microprocessor 1256/GPU 1252, and for temporary or long term storage of program instructions and/or data. As examples, the memory/storage/cache 1248 may comprise a computer-readable device, RAM, ROM, DRAM, SDRAM, and/or other storage device(s) and media. The controller/microprocessor 1256 may comprise a general purpose programmable processor or controller for executing application programming or instructions related to the device 1200. Furthermore, the controller/microprocessor 1256 can perform operations for configuring and transmitting information as described herein. The controller/microprocessor 1256 may include multiple processor cores, and/or implement multiple virtual processors. Optionally, the controller/microprocessor 1256 may include multiple physical processors. By way of example, the controller/microprocessor 1256 may comprise a specially configured Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor(s), a controller, a hardwired electronic or logic circuit, a programmable logic device or gate array, a special purpose computer, or the like, to perform the functionality described herein. The device 1200 can further include a transmitted s) radio circuit 1208 and receiver(s) radio circuit 1216 which can transmit and receive signals, respectively, to and from other wireless devices and/or access points using the one or more antennas 1204. Included in the device 1200 circuitry is the medium access control or MAC module/circuitry 1224. MAC circuitry 1224 provides control for accessing to the wireless medium. In an exemplary embodiment, the MAC circuitry 1224 may be arranged to contend for the wireless medium and configure frames or packets for communicating over the wireless medium as discussed.

The PHY module/circuitry 1220 controls the electrical and physical specifications for device 1200. In particular, PHY module/circuitry 1220 manages the relationship between the device 1200 and a transmission medium. Primary functions and services performed by the physical layer, and in particular the PHY module/circuitry 1220, include the establishment and termination of a connection to a communications medium, and participation in the various process and technologies where communication resources are shared between, for example, multiple STAs. These technologies further include, for example, contention resolution and flow control and modulation/demodulation or conversion between a representation of digital data in user equipment and the corresponding signals transmitted over the communications channel. These signals are transmitted over the physical cabling (such as copper and optical fiber) and/or over a radio communications (wireless) link. The physical layer of the OSI model and the PHY module/circuitry 1220 can be embodied as a plurality of sub components. These sub components and/or circuits can include a Physical Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) which acts as an adaptation layer. The PLCP is at least responsible for the Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) and building packets for different physical layer technologies. The Physical Medium Dependent (PMD) layer specifies modulation and coding techniques used by the device and a PHY management layer manages channel tuning and the like. A station management sub layer and the MAC circuitry 1224 can also handle co-ordination of interactions between the MAC and PHY layers.

The MAC layer and components, and in particular the MAC circuitry 1224 provide functional and procedural means to transfer data between network entities and to detect and possibly correct errors that may occur in the physical layer. The MAC circuitry 1224 also can provide access to contention-based and contention-free traffic on different types of physical layers, such as when multiple communications technologies are incorporated into the device 1200. In the MAC, the responsibilities are divided into the MAC sub-layer and the MAC management sub-layer. The MAC sub-layer defines access mechanisms and packet formats while the MAC management sub-layer defines power management, security and roaming services, etc.

The device 1200 can also optionally contain a security module (not shown). This security module can contain information regarding but not limited to, security parameters required to connect the device to an access point or other device or other available network(s), and can include WEP or WPA/WPA-2 (optionally + AES and/or TKIP) security access keys, network keys, etc. The WEP security access key is a security password used by Wi-Fi networks. Knowledge of this code can enable a wireless device to exchange information with the access point and/or another device. The information exchange can occur through encoded messages with the WEP access code often being chosen by the network administrator. WPA is an added security standard that is also used in conjunction with network connectivity with stronger encryption than WEP.

The accelerator 1260 can cooperate with MAC circuitry 1224 to, for example, perform real-time MAC functions. The GPU 1252 can be a specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of data. GPUs are typically used in embedded systems, mobile phones, personal computers, workstations, and game consoles. GPUs are very efficient at manipulating computer graphics, image processing, and algorithm processing, and their highly parallel structure makes them more efficient than general-purpose CPUs for algorithms where the processing of large blocks of data is done in parallel.

The device 1200 can also optionally contain an interleaver/deinterleaver 1228 that can perform interleaving and/or deinterleaving functions to, for example, assist with error correction. The modulator/demodulator 1232 can perform modulation and/or demodulation functions such as OFDM, QPSK, QAM, etc. The encoder/decoder 1236 performs various types of encoding/decoding of data. The scrambler 1240 can optionally be used for data encoding. The multiplexer/demultiplxer 1244 provides multiplexing and demultiplexing services, such as spatial multiplexing.

In operation, device 1200 can perform distributed BCCH allocation(s), and/or hopping based NBCCH allocation(s). For the hopping option, and in cooperation with the preamble management module 1264 and power boosting module 1276 (optionally in cooperation with one or more of the other components in Fig. 12), power can be allocated on only one subchannel, or power can be allocated on several subchannels.

Depending on the DL (downlink) transmission bandwidth and the location of the BCCH, several alternatives for the BCCH design were presented above. The alternatives provided several exemplary embodiments of the NBCCH technology including: where the NBCCH is transmitted in every subchannel of the 20 MHz channel and the NBSCH, which is the data channel, can also optionally be transmitted in one or more of the subchannels of the 20 MHz channel, and wherein the AP concentrates the transmit power on only one of the subchannels to gain range, meanwhile, the transmission can hop across all of the subchannels using a predetermined sequence to avoid the situation that a ST A/device experiences deep fading on one subchannel.

The tone mapper 1268 and sequence determiner 1272, optionally in cooperation with one or more of the other components in Fig. 12, enable modification to the NB-STF by using the tone mapping (to decide which tone(s) to distribute energy on) and sequence assignment (which chooses the values for Si and S ₂ ), for example, based on one or more of the equations presented herein.

One or more of the preamble management module 1264, tone mapper 1268, sequence determiner 1272 and power boosting manager 1276 can at least be embodied in firmware, such as in an FPGA and/or in conjunction with baseband processing circuitry such with an associated application processor and corresponding instructions stored in a memory. The components could also be individual circuits or sub-components within the device 1200.

Fig. 13 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 1300 in accordance with some embodiments usable with the technology discussed herein. Any of the functionality described herein can optionally be implemented in one or more portions of the architecture described in Figs.13-16. As one example, the functionality of one or more of the preamble management module 1264, tone manager 1268, sequence determiner 1272 and power boosting manager 1276 (in cooperation with the radio and AFE circuitry) could be implemented in the baseband processing circuitry, and more specifically in the control logic, although the technology is not limited thereto. Radio architecture 1300 may include radio front-end module (FEM) circuitry 1304, radio IC circuitry 1306 and baseband processing circuitry 1308. Radio architecture 1300 as shown optionally includes both Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth® (BT) functionality although embodiments are not so limited. In this disclosure, "WLAN" and "Wi-Fi" are used interchangeably.

FEM circuitry 1304 may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 1304a and a Bluetooth® (BT) FEM circuitry 1304b. The WLAN FEM circuitry 1304a may include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 1301, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 1306a for further processing. The BT FEM circuitry 1304b may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 1302, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuitry 1306b for further processing. FEM circuitry 1304a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 1306a for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 1301. In addition, FEM circuitry 1304b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 1306b for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 1302. In the embodiment of Fig. 13, although FEM 1304a and FEM 1304b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of an FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least some of the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

Radio IC circuitry 1306 as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry 1306a and BT radio IC circuitry 1306b. The WLAN radio IC circuitry 1306a may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1304a and provide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 1308a. BT radio IC circuitry 1306b may in turn include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1304b and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 1308b. WLAN radio IC circuitry 1306a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 1308a and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 1304a for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 1301. BT radio IC circuitry 1306b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry 1308b and provide BT RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 1304b for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 1302. In the embodiment of Fig. 13, although radio IC circuitries 1306a and 1306b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of a radio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and/or a receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more radio IC circuitries where at least some of the radio IC circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

Baseband processing circuity 1308 may include a WLAN baseband processing circuitry 1308a and a BT baseband processing circuitry 1308b. The WLAN baseband processing circuitry 1308a may include a memory, such as, for example, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and/or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 1308a. Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry 1308a and the BT baseband circuitry 1308b may further include one or more processors and/or control logic to process the signals received from the corresponding WLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 1306, and to also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 1306. Each of the baseband processing circuitries 1308a and 1308b may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with application processor 1311 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio IC circuitry 1306.

Referring still to Fig. 13, optional WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 1313 may include logic providing an interface between the WLAN baseband circuitry 1308a and the BT baseband circuitry 1308b to enable use cases that may require WLAN and BT coexistence. In addition, a switch 1303 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuitry 1304a and the BT FEM circuitry 1304b to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios according to, for example, application needs. In addition, although the antennas 1301, 1302 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLAN FEM circuitry 1304a and the BT FEM circuitry 1304b, embodiments include within their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between the WLAN and BT FEMs, or the provision of more than one antenna connected to each of FEM 1304a or 1304b.

In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 1304, the radio IC circuitry 1306, and baseband processing circuitry 1308 may be provided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 1307. In some other embodiments, the one or more antennas 1301, 1302, the FEM circuitry 1304 and the radio IC circuitry 1306 may be provided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 1306 and the baseband processing circuitry 1308 may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as IC 1312.

In some embodiments, the wireless radio card 1307 may include a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 1300 may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals over a multicarrier communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMA signals may comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some of these multicarrier embodiments, radio architecture 1300 may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA) such as a wireless access point (AP), a base station or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device. In some of these embodiments, radio architecture 1300 may be configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with specific communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards including, IEEE 802.11-2016, IEEE 802.1 ln-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, 802.11n-2009, 802.1 lac, and/or 802.1 lax standards and/or proposed specifications for WLANs, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. Radio architecture 1300 may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 1300 may be configured for high- efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.1 lax standard. In these embodiments, the radio architecture 1300 may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMA technique, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some other embodiments, the radio architecture 1300 may be configured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time-division multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, as further shown in Fig. 13, the BT baseband circuitry 1308b may be compliant with a Bluetooth® (BT) connectivity standard such as Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® 4.0 or Bluetooth® 5.0, BT Low Energy, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth® Standard. In embodiments that include BT functionality as shown for example in Fig. 13, the radio architecture 1300 may be configured to establish a BT synchronous connection oriented (SCO) link and or a BT low energy (BT LE) link. In some of the embodiments that include this functionality, the radio architecture 1300 may be configured to establish an extended SCO (eSCO) link for BT communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments that include a BT functionality, the radio architecture may be configured to engage in a BT Asynchronous Connection-Less (ACL) communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, as shown in Fig. 13, the functions of a BT radio card and WLAN radio card may be combined on a single wireless radio card, such as single wireless radio card 1377, although embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope discrete WLAN and BT radio cards.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 1300 may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 3 GPP such as LTE, LTE- Advanced, 4G and/or 5G communications). In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the radio architecture 1300 may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths including bandwidths having center frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of about 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 16 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or 80+80 MHz (160 MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths). In some embodiments, a 320 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of the embodiments is not limited with respect to any of the above center frequencies. Fig. 14 illustrates in greater detail the FEM circuitry 1304 in accordance with some embodiments. The FEM circuitry 1304 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN and/or BT FEM circuitry 1304a/1304b, although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 1304 may include a TX/RX switch 1402 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 1304 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 1304 may include one or more low-noise amplifiers (LNA) 1406 to amplify received RF signals 1403 and provide the amplified received RF signals 1407 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuitry 1306). The transmit signal path of the circuitry 1304 may include one or more a power amplifiers (PA) to amplify input RF signals 1409 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 1306), and one or more filters 1412, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters (LPFs) and/or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 1415 for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 1301/1302). In some dual -mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the FEM circuitry 1304 may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum and/or the 5 GHz frequency spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 1304 may include a receive signal path duplexer 1404 to separate the signals from each spectrum as well as provide a separate LNA 1406 for each spectrum as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 1304 may also include a power amplifier 1410 and a filter 1412, such as a BPF, a LPF or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 1414 to provide the signals of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by the one or more of the antennas 1301. In some embodiments, BT communications may utilize the 2.4 GHZ signal paths and may utilize the same FEM circuitry 1304 as the one used for WLAN communications.

Fig. 15 illustrates radio IC circuitry 1306 in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuitry 1306 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry 1306a/1306b, although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 1306 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 1306 may include at least mixer circuitry 1502, such as, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry 1506 and filter circuitry 1508. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 1306 may include at least filter circuitry 1512 and mixer circuitry 1514, such as, for example, up- conversion mixer circuitry. Radio IC circuitry 1306 may also include synthesizer circuitry 1504 for synthesizing a frequency 1505 for use by the mixer circuitry 1502 and the mixer circuitry 1514. The mixer circuitry 1502 and/or 1514 may each, according to some embodiments, be configured to provide direct conversion functionality. The latter type of circuitry presents a much simpler architecture as compared with standard super-heterodyne mixer circuitries, and any flicker noise brought about by the same may be alleviated for example through the use of OFDM modulation. Fig. 15 illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and may include, although not shown, embodiments where each of the depicted circuitries may include more than one component. For instance, mixer circuitry 1502 and/or 1514 may each include one or more mixers, and filter circuitries 1508 and/or 1512 may each include one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to application needs. For example, when mixer circuitries are of the direct-conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.

In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 1502 may be configured to down-convert RF signals 1507 received from the FEM circuitry 1304 based on the synthesized frequency 1505 provided by synthesizer circuitry 1504. The amplifier circuitry 1506 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 1508 may include a LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals 1504. Output baseband signals 1504 may be provided to the baseband processing circuitry 1308 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 1504 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 1502 may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1514 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals 1511 based on the synthesized frequency 1505 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 1504 to generate RF output signals 1509 for the FEM circuitry 1304. The baseband signals 1511 may be provided by the baseband processing circuitry 1308 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 1512. The filter circuitry 1512 may include a LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1502 and the mixer circuitry 1514 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up- conversion respectively with the help of synthesizer 1504. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1502 and the mixer circuitry 1514 may each include two or more mixers each configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1502 and the mixer circuitry 1514 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1502 and the mixer circuitry 1514 may be configured for super-heterodyne operation, although this is not a requirement. Mixer circuitry 1502 may comprise, according to one embodiment: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, RF input signal 807 may be down-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor.

Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety-degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuitry which may be configured to receive a LO frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or a synthesizer, such as LO frequency 1505 of synthesizer 1504. In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be the carrier frequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one- half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero and ninety-degree time-varying switching signals may be generated by the synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle (the percentage of one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset (the difference between start points of the period). In some embodiments, the LO signals may have a 25% duty cycle and a 50% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at a 25% duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction is power consumption.

The RF input signal 1507 may comprise a balanced signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to low-nose amplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 1506 or to filter circuitry 1508. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 1504 and the input baseband signals 151 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals 1507 and the input baseband signals 1511 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for other spectrums not mentioned here, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1504 may be a fractional -N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 1504 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1504 may include digital synthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuitry is that, although it may still include some analog components, its footprint may be scaled down much more than the footprint of an analog synthesizer circuitry. In some embodiments, frequency input into synthesizer circuity 1504 may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. A divider control input may further be provided by either the baseband processing circuitry 1308 or the application processor 1311 depending on the desired output frequency 1505. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel center frequency as determined or indicated by the application processor 1311. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 1504 may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 1505, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 1505 may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 1505 may be a LO frequency (fLO). Fig. 16 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processing circuitry 1308 in accordance with some embodiments. The baseband processing circuitry 1308 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 1308, although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. The baseband processing circuitry 1308 may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 1602 for processing receive baseband signals 1504 provided by the radio IC circuitry 1306 and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 1604 for generating transmit baseband signals 1511 for the radio IC circuitry 1306. The baseband processing circuitry 1308 may also include control logic 1606 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processing circuitry 1308.

In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchanged between the baseband processing circuitry 1308 and the radio IC circuitry 1306), the baseband processing circuitry 1308 may include ADC 1610 to convert analog baseband signals received from the radio IC circuitry 1306 to digital baseband signals for processing by the RX BBP 1602. In these embodiments, the baseband processing circuitry 1308 may also include DAC 1612 to convert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 1604 to analog baseband signals.

In some embodiments that communicate OFDM signals or OFDMA signals, such as through baseband processor 1308a, the transmit baseband processor 1604 may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDMA signals as appropriate for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). The receive baseband processor 1602 may be configured to process received OFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT. In some embodiments, the receive baseband processor 1602 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an autocorrelation, to detect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and by performing a cross-correlation, to detect a long preamble. The preambles may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.

Referring back to Fig. 13, in some embodiments, the antennas 1301 may each comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstnp antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result. Antennas 1301 may each include a set of phased-array antennas, although embodiments are not so limited. Although the radio-architecture 1300 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

The radio-architecture 1300, can perform one or more of the functions described herein such as the division and use of a band, say for example a 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, 320 MHz band, into a number of subchannels, say, for example, a number of 2, 4, 8, 16, or in general any value, MHz subchannels. Each subchannel can be used as the narrow band shared channel (NBSCH) for longer range data transmissions. The radio architecture 1300 can also designate any one of the subchannel(s) as narrow band control channel (NBCCH) to handle, for example, initial access and trigger frame transmission. The radio architecture 1300, and for example instructions in the baseband processing circuitry 1308, can also establish hopping for one or more of the NBCCH and NBSCH. For example, the radio-architecture 1300 can allocate power on only one subchannel, or power can be allocated on several subchannels. Power can also be dynamically assigned and need not be allocated equally between subchannels. The radio architecture 1300, and for example instructions in the baseband processing circuitry 1308, can allocate more energy to the NB-STF portion of the preamble. To increase the amount of energy, the configuration can be modified to extend to more cycles on the NB- STF, and/or the configuration can be modified to boost energy in the NB-STF portion of the preamble. The power boosting could be approximately 3dB, or in general any value provided the power boosting is within FCC acceptable guidelines. Fig. 5. illustrates how both power boosting and a time domain extension are used in accordance with one exemplary NB-STF to achieve the longer range reach by the radio architecture 1300.

Fig. 17 outlines an exemplary method for improving Wi-Fi communications, and in particular for improving range. Control begins in step SI 700 and continues to step SI 704. In step S1704, a longer range communications protocol is established. In particular, in step SI 708, a selection is made for one or more of a distributed NBCCH protocol and/or hopping based on a BCCH allocation. Next, in step S1712, a channel is subdivided into one or more (equal or unequal) subchannels. Then, for hopping, in step S1716, power can be allocated on only one subchannel, power can be allocated on several subchannels and/or power can be dynamically assigned to one or more of the subchannels. In step SI 720, and for a distributed architecture, the NBCCH is transmitted in every subchannel of the channel or the NBCCH is transmitted on some subchannel(s) within the channel. Should a STA not be able to access a channel/sub channel, as shown in step SI 724, a NB-STA can optionally try another subchannel if any of the following events happen: i. The NB-STA cannot hear the beacon for several beacon cycles; and/or ii. The NB-STA cannot hear the feedback after initiating the association. Control then continues to step SI 728 where the control sequence ends.

In the detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of some embodiments. However, it will be understood by persons of ordinary skill in the art that some embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, units and/or circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the discussion.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, for example, a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Device (MD), a wireless station (STA), a Personal Computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off- board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless Access Point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wireless network, a wireless area network, a Wireless Video Area Network (WVAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wireless LAN (WLAN), a Personal Area Network (PAN), a Wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with devices and/or networks operating in accordance with existing Wireless-Gigabit- Alliance (WGA) specifications (Wireless Gigabit Alliance, Inc. WiGig MAC and PHY Specification Version 1.1, April 2011, Final specification) and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof, devices and/or networks operating in accordance with existing IEEE 802.11 standards (IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE Standard for Information technology—Telecommunications and information exchange between systems Local and metropolitan area networks—Specific requirements Part 11 : Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, March 29, 2012; IEEE802.11ac-2013 ("IEEE P802.1 lac-2013, IEEE Standard for Information Technology - Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems - Local and Metropolitan Area Networks - Specific Requirements - Part 11 : Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications - Amendment 4: Enhancements for Very High Throughput for Operation in Bands below 6GHz", December, 2013); IEEE 802. Had ("IEEE P802.11ad-2012, IEEE Standard for Information Technology - Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems - Local and Metropolitan Area Networks - Specific Requirements - Part 11 : Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications - Amendment 3 : Enhancements for Very High Throughput in the 60GHz Band", 28 December, 2012); IEEE-802.1 IREVmc ("IEEE 802.1 l-REVmcTM/D3.0, June 2014 draft standard for Information technology - Telecommunications and information exchange between systems Local and metropolitan area networks Specific requirements; Part 11 : Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specification"); IEEE802. i l -ay (P802.11ay Standard for Information Technology— Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems Local and Metropolitan Area Networks— Specific Requirements Part 11 : Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications— Amendment: Enhanced Throughput for Operation in License-Exempt Bands Above 45 GHz)), IEEE 802.11-2016 and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof, devices and/or networks operating in accordance with existing Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Alliance (WFA) Peer-to-Peer (P2P) specifications (Wi-Fi P2P technical specification, version 1.5, August 2014) and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof, devices and/or networks operating in accordance with existing cellular specifications and/or protocols, e.g., 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof, units and/or devices which are part of the above networks, or operate using any one or more of the above protocols, and the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, a Personal Communication Systems (PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable Global Positioning System (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFID element or chip, a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transceiver or device, a Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) transceiver or device, a Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi- standard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a Smartphone, a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) device, or the like. Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and/or systems, for example, Radio Frequency (RF), Infra-Red (IR), Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM), Orthogonal FDM (OFDM), Orthogonal Frequency- Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), FDM Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM), Time- Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Multi-User MIMO (MU-MFMO), Spatial Division Multiple Access (SDMA), Extended TDMA (E-TDMA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), extended GPRS, Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, Multi-Carrier Modulation (MDM), Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT), Bluetooth , Global Positioning System (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee™, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, Fifth Generation (5G), or Sixth Generation (6G) mobile networks, 3GPP, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE advanced, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), or the like. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices, systems and/or networks.

Some demonstrative embodiments may be used in conjunction with a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), e.g., a Wi-Fi network. Other embodiments may be used in conjunction with any other suitable wireless communication network, for example, a wireless area network, a "piconet", a WPAN, a WVAN, and the like.

Some demonstrative embodiments may be used in conjunction with a wireless communication network communicating over a frequency band of 5GHz and/or 60GHz. However, other embodiments may be implemented utilizing any other suitable wireless communication frequency bands, for example, an Extremely High Frequency (EHF) band (the millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency band), e.g., a frequency band within the frequency band of between 20GhH and 300GHz, a WLAN frequency band, a WPAN frequency band, a frequency band according to the WGA specification, and the like.

While the above provides just some simple examples of the various device configurations, it is to be appreciated that numerous variations and permutations are possible. Moreover, the technology is not limited to any specific channels, but is generally applicable to any frequency range(s)/channel(s). Moreover, and as discussed, the technology may be useful in the unlicensed spectrum.

In the detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed techniques. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present techniques may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the present disclosure.

Although embodiments are not limited in this regard, discussions utilizing terms such as, for example, "processing," "computing," "calculating," "determining," "establishing", "analysing", "checking", or the like, may refer to operation(s) and/or process(es) of a computer, a computing platform, a computing system, a communication system or subsystem, or other electronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within the computer's registers and/or memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer's registers and/or memories or other information storage medium that may store instructions to perform operations and/or processes.

Although embodiments are not limited in this regard, the terms "plurality" and "a plurality" as used herein may include, for example, "multiple" or "two or more". The terms "plurality" or "a plurality" may be used throughout the specification to describe two or more components, devices, elements, units, parameters, circuits, or the like. For example, "a plurality of stations" may include two or more stations.

It may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this document: the terms "include" and "comprise," as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation; the term "or," is inclusive, meaning and/or; the phrases "associated with" and "associated therewith," as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with, interconnected with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like; and the term "controller" means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least one operation, such a device may be implemented in hardware, circuitry, firmware or software, or some combination of at least two of the same. It should be noted that the functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. Definitions for certain words and phrases are provided throughout this document and those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior, as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

The exemplary embodiments will be described in relation to communications systems, as well as protocols, techniques, means and methods for performing communications, such as in a wireless network, or in general in any communications network operating using any communications protocol(s). Examples of such are home or access networks, wireless home networks, wireless corporate networks, and the like. It should be appreciated however that in general, the systems, methods and techniques disclosed herein will work equally well for other types of communications environments, networks and/or protocols.

For purposes of explanation, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present techniques. It should be appreciated however that the present disclosure may be practiced in a variety of ways beyond the specific details set forth herein. Furthermore, while the exemplary embodiments illustrated herein show various components of the system collocated, it is to be appreciated that the various components of the system can be located at distant portions of a distributed network, such as a communications network, node, within a Domain Master, and/or the Internet, or within a dedicated secured, unsecured, and/or encrypted system and/or within a network operation or management device that is located inside or outside the network. As an example, a Domain Master can also be used to refer to any device, system or module that manages and/or configures or communicates with any one or more aspects of the network or communications environment and/or transceiver(s) and/or stations and/or access point(s) described herein. Thus, it should be appreciated that the components of the system can be combined into one or more devices, or split between devices, such as a transceiver, an access point, a station, a Domain Master, a network operation or management device, a node or collocated on a particular node of a distributed network, such as a communications network. As will be appreciated from the following description, and for reasons of computational efficiency, the components of the system can be arranged at any location within a distributed network without affecting the operation thereof. For example, the various components can be located in a Domain Master, a node, a domain management device, such as a MIB, a network operation or management device, a transceiver(s), a station, an access point(s), or some combination thereof. Similarly, one or more of the functional portions of the system could be distributed between a transceiver and an associated computing device/system. Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the various links 5, including the communications channel(s) connecting the elements, can be wired or wireless links or any combination thereof, or any other known or later developed element(s) capable of supplying and/or communicating data to and from the connected elements. The term module as used herein can refer to any known or later developed hardware, circuitry, software, firmware, or combination thereof, that is capable of performing the functionality associated with that element. The terms determine, calculate, and compute and variations thereof, as used herein are used interchangeable and include any type of methodology, process, technique, mathematical operational or protocol.

Moreover, while some of the exemplary embodiments described herein are directed toward a transmitter portion of a transceiver performing certain functions, or a receiver portion of a transceiver performing certain functions, this disclosure is intended to include corresponding and complementary transmitter-side or receiver-side functionality, respectively, in both the same transceiver and/or another transceiver(s), and vice versa.

The exemplary embodiments are described in relation to enhanced GFDM communications. However, it should be appreciated, that in general, the systems and methods herein will work equally well for any type of communication system in any environment utilizing any one or more protocols including wired communications, wireless communications, powerline communications, coaxial cable communications, fiber optic communications, and the like. The exemplary systems and methods are described in relation to IEEE 802.11 and/or

Bluetooth® and/or Bluetooth® Low Energy transceivers and associated communication hardware, software and communication channels. However, to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure, the following description omits well-known structures and devices that may be shown in block diagram form or otherwise summarized.

Exemplary aspects are directed toward: A wireless communications device comprising:

a controller;

a preamble management module in communication with the controller to determine and assign a BCCH (Narrow Band Control Channel) to one or more subchannels within a channel based on one or more of a distribution, power boosting and a hopping protocol.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein the distribution is one or more of fixed, variable, and partial.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein fixed transmits a beacon on all subchannels, partial transmits a beacon on a portion of subchannels and partial transmits a beacon on a number of subchannels per timeslot.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein there are a fixed number of subchannels per beacon cycle.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein the assignment increases an opportunity for a station to hear a beacon.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein the assignment increases an opportunity for a narrow-bandwidth station to hear a beacon.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein power boosting is based on a hopping protocol where power is allocated to one a subchannel, power is allocated to several subchannels or power is dynamically assigned to one or more subchannels.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein a narrow-band station can listen on another subchannel when the narrow-band station cannot hear a beacon for a number of cycles and/or the narrow-band station does not receive feedback after initiating an

association.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein a portion of a preamble is one or more of extended in time and boosted in power, and wherein the portion is a narrow-band short training field. Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein one or more of tone mapping and sequence design are applied to a short training field.

A non-transitory information storage media having stored thereon one or more instructions, that when executed by one or more processors, cause a channel mapping method comprising:

assigning by a controller a BCCH (Narrow Band Control Channel) to one or more subchannels within a channel based on one or more of a distribution, power boosting and a hopping protocol.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein the distribution is one or more of fixed, variable, and partial.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein fixed transmits a beacon on all subchannels, partial transmits a beacon on a portion of subchannels and partial transmits a beacon on a number of subchannels per timeslot.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein there are a fixed number of subchannels per beacon cycle.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein the assignment increases an opportunity for a station to hear a beacon.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein the assignment increases an opportunity for a narrow-bandwidth station to hear a beacon.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein power boosting is based on a hopping protocol where power is allocated to one a subchannel, power is allocated to several subchannels or power is dynamically assigned to one or more subchannels.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein a narrow-band station can listen on another subchannel when the narrow-band station cannot hear a beacon for a number of cycles and/or the narrow-band station does not receive feedback after initiating an association.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein a portion of a preamble is one or more of extended in time and boosted in power.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein one or more of tone mapping and sequence design are applied to a short training field.

A wireless communications device comprising: means for assigning a BCCH (Narrow Band Control Channel) to one or more subchannels within a channel based on one or more of a distribution, power boosting and a hopping protocol;

means for assigning a NBSCH (Narrow Band Shared Channel) to one or more subchannels; and

means for transmitting the MBCCH and NBSCH.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein the distribution is one or more of fixed, variable, and partial.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein fixed transmits a beacon on all subchannels, partial transmits a beacon on a portion of subchannels and partial transmits a beacon on a number of subchannels per timeslot.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein there are a fixed number of subchannels per beacon cycle.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein the assignment increases an opportunity for a station to hear a beacon.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein the assignment increases an opportunity for a narrow-bandwidth station to hear a beacon.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein power boosting is based on a hopping protocol where power is allocated to one a subchannel, power is allocated to several subchannels or power is dynamically assigned to one or more subchannels.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein a narrow-band station can listen on another subchannel when the narrow-band station cannot hear a beacon for a number of cycles and/or the narrow-band station does not receive feedback after initiating an association.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein a portion of a preamble is one or more of extended in time and boosted in power, and wherein the portion is a narrow-band short training field.

Any one or more of the above aspects, wherein one or more of tone mapping and sequence design are applied to a short training field. A system on a chip (SoC) including any one or more of the above aspects.

One or more means for performing any one or more of the above aspects. Any one or more of the aspects as substantially described herein.

For purposes of explanation, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present embodiments. It should be appreciated however that the techniques herein may be practiced in a variety of ways beyond the specific details set forth herein.

Furthermore, while the exemplary embodiments illustrated herein show the various components of the system collocated, it is to be appreciated that the various components of the system can be located at distant portions of a distributed network, such as a communications network and/or the Internet, or within a dedicated secure, unsecured and/or encrypted system. Thus, it should be appreciated that the components of the system can be combined into one or more devices, such as an access point or station, or collocated on a particular node/element(s) of a distributed network, such as a telecommunications network. As will be appreciated from the following description, and for reasons of computational efficiency, the components of the system can be arranged at any location within a distributed network without affecting the operation of the system. For example, the various components can be located in a transceiver, an access point, a station, a management device, or some combination thereof. Similarly, one or more functional portions of the system could be distributed between a transceiver, such as an access point(s) or station(s) and an associated computing device.

Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the various links, including communications channel(s), connecting the elements (which may not be not shown) can be wired or wireless links, or any combination thereof, or any other known or later developed element(s) that is capable of supplying and/or communicating data and/or signals to and from the connected elements. The term module as used herein can refer to any known or later developed hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof that is capable of performing the functionality associated with that element. The terms determine, calculate and compute, and variations thereof, as used herein are used interchangeably and include any type of methodology, process, mathematical operation or technique.

While the above-described flowcharts have been discussed in relation to a particular sequence of events, it should be appreciated that changes to this sequence can occur without materially effecting the operation of the embodiment(s). Additionally, the exact sequence of events need not occur as set forth in the exemplary embodiments, but rather the steps can be performed by one or the other transceiver in the communication system provided both transceivers are aware of the technique being used for initialization. Additionally, the exemplary techniques illustrated herein are not limited to the specifically illustrated embodiments but can also be utilized with the other exemplary embodiments and each described feature is individually and separately claimable.

The above-described system can be implemented on a wireless telecommunications device(s)/system, such an IEEE 802.11 transceiver, or the like. Examples of wireless protocols that can be used with this technology include IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802. l lg, IEEE 802.11η, IEEE 802.1 lac, IEEE 802.1 lad, IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.1 lah, IEEE 802.11ai, IEEE 802.1 laj, IEEE 802.1 laq, IEEE 802.1 lax, Wi-Fi, LTE, 4G, Bluetooth®, WirelessHD, WiGig, WiGi, 3 GPP, Wireless LAN, WiMAX, DensiFi SIG, Unifi SIG, 3 GPP LAA (licensed-assisted access), and the like.

The term transceiver as used herein can refer to any device that comprises hardware, software, circuitry, firmware, or any combination thereof and is capable of performing any of the methods, techniques and/or algorithms described herein.

Additionally, the systems, methods and protocols can be implemented to improve one or more of a special purpose computer, a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit element(s), an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hard-wired electronic or logic circuit such as discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device such as PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, a modem, a transmitter/receiver, any comparable means, or the like. In general, any device capable of implementing a state machine that is in turn capable of implementing the methodology illustrated herein can benefit from the various communication methods, protocols and techniques according to the disclosure provided herein. Examples of the processors as described herein may include, but are not limited to, at least one of Qualcomm® Snapdragon® 800 and 801, Qualcomm® Snapdragon® 610 and 615 with 4G LTE Integration and 64-bit computing, Apple® A7 processor with 64-bit architecture, Apple® M7 motion coprocessors, Samsung® Exynos® series, the Intel® Core™ family of processors, the Intel® Xeon® family of processors, the Intel® Atom™ family of processors, the Intel Itanium® family of processors, Intel® Core® Ϊ5-4670Κ and Ϊ7-4770Κ 22nm Haswell, Intel® Core® Ϊ5-3570Κ 22nm Ivy Bridge, the AMD® FX™ family of processors, AMD® FX- 4300, FX-6300, and FX-8350 32nm Vishera, AMD® Kaveri processors, Texas Instruments® Jacinto C6000™ automotive infotainment processors, Texas Instruments® OMAP™ automotive-grade mobile processors, ARM® Cortex™-M processors, ARM® Cortex-A and ARM926EJ-S™ processors, Broadcom® AirForce BCM4704/BCM4703 wireless networking processors, the AR7100 Wireless Network Processing Unit, other industry-equivalent processors, and may perform computational functions using any known or future-developed standard, instruction set, libraries, and/or architecture.

Furthermore, the disclosed methods may be readily implemented in software using object or object-oriented software development environments that provide portable source code that can be used on a variety of computer or workstation platforms. Alternatively, the disclosed system may be implemented partially or fully in hardware using standard logic circuits or VLSI design. Whether software or hardware is used to implement the systems in accordance with the embodiments is dependent on the speed and/or efficiency requirements of the system, the particular function, and the particular software or hardware systems or microprocessor or microcomputer systems being utilized. The communication systems, methods and protocols illustrated herein can be readily implemented in hardware and/or software using any known or later developed systems or structures, devices and/or software by those of ordinary skill in the applicable art from the functional description provided herein and with a general basic knowledge of the computer and telecommunications arts. Moreover, the disclosed methods may be readily implemented in software and/or firmware that can be stored on a storage medium to improve the performance of: a programmed general-purpose computer with the cooperation of a controller and memory, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, or the like. In these instances, the systems and methods can be implemented as program embedded on personal computer such as an applet, JAVA.RTM. or CGI script, as a resource residing on a server or computer workstation, as a routine embedded in a dedicated communication system or system component, or the like. The system can also be implemented by physically incorporating the system and/or method into a software and/or hardware system, such as the hardware and software systems of a communications transceiver.

It is therefore apparent that there has at least been provided systems and methods for enhancing and improving communications. While the embodiments have been described in conjunction with a number of embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations would be or are apparent to those of ordinary skill in the applicable arts. Accordingly, this disclosure is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, equivalents and variations that are within the spirit and scope of this disclosure.