METHOD FOR SIGNALING PAYLOAD TYPE IN SIGNALING FIELD OF FRAME

A method of overloading a signaling subfield for different MAC frame types is proposed to provide enhanced functionality for the wireless communications network. In one embodiment, a transmitter encodes and transmits a bit stream into a frame having one or more subfields including a signaling subfield in a physical layer header of the bit stream. The signaling subfield has a type indication field that specifies the information carried in the one or more subfields is MAC layer or PHY layer information. The signaling subfield also has a sub-type indication field that specifies a type of MAC or PHY information. A receiver that receives the bit stream and decodes information carried in the one or more subfields in accordance with the type indication field and the sub-type indication field.