Systems and methods for high-throughput wideband wireless local area network communications

摘要

A frame format provides for wideband wireless local area network communications and informs narrower--band communication units when the channels are occupied by wider-band communication units. In some embodiments, the frame format includes a channelization field (408) identifying channels that are used for communicating subsequent wideband fields of a packet, and a wideband-header field (412) communicated on the identified channels. The wideband--header field may identify sub-fields that may be present in the wideband-header field, and may identify the presence of a wideband-data field. A long-compatibility field (404) may be present that provides protection at the MAC level and includes a PLCP-SERVICE field. The long-compatibility field may transport MAC frames that may include medium-reservation information compatible with narrower-band communication units. A short compatibility field (402) may be present that comprises a PLCP-preamble and a PLCP-SIGNAL-field.