Patent ID: 8750192

Claim:
An access point for use in a wireless local area network, the access point comprising: a baseband processing module for generating a management frame operative to direct a plurality of uplink communications from a plurality of wireless stations, and for selectively applying cyclic rotation based on delay adjustment information to at least one of the plurality of uplink communications for effectuating data alignment among the plurality of uplink communications, wherein the delay adjustment information includes an integer part of a carrier spacing for adjusting a data sample boundary by the access point and a fractional part of the carrier spacing for adjusting a data sample index by at least one of the plurality of wireless stations; and at least one antenna for transmitting the management frame to the plurality of wireless stations, wherein: the management frame serves to ensure that a plurality of relative time offsets respectively correspond to the plurality of uplink communications being less than a predetermined value based on a duration of at least one guard interval and a delay spread of the communication channel by which the plurality of uplink communications are passing, the plurality of relative time offsets operative to provide the plurality of wireless stations uplink transmission scheduling; and serves to adjust packet arrival times of the plurality of uplink communications from the plurality of wireless stations by directing the at least one of the plurality of wireless stations to wait a period of time before transmitting its respective uplink communication.