The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication and, in particular, to a communication method and device in multiple links.
In the related art, a Station (STA) or an Access Point (AP) may be a multi-link device (MLD), i.e. a device that supports the function of sending and/or receiving data in multiple links. Accordingly, in the related art, there may be multiple links between the STA and the AP, and research is being conducted on the communication between these two devices in multiple links.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide the following technical solutions.
According to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication method including: determining, by an access point (AP) that supports multi-link communication, a multi-station block acknowledgement message; and sending, in a first link, the multi-station block acknowledgement message to a first station and a second station, wherein the first station supports single-link communication with the AP, the second station supports multi-link communication with the AP, and the first link is a connection that the first station establishes block acknowledgement feedback with the AP.
According to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication method including: in a case where a communication environment includes a first station and a second station, receiving a multi-station block acknowledgement message in a first link from an access point (AP) that supports multi-link communication; wherein the first station supports single-link communication with the AP, the second station supports multi-link communication with the AP, and the first link is a connection that the first station establishes block acknowledgement feedback with the AP.
According to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device including a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and runnable on the processor, wherein the processor, when executing the computer program, performs the methods as described above.
According to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium on which is stored a computer program which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the methods as described above.
The above and other features of embodiments of the present disclosure will be made more apparent by describing in detail the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in fully understanding the various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. The various embodiments of the present disclosure include various specific details, but these specific details are considered exemplary only. In addition, descriptions of well-known techniques, functions, and constructions may be omitted for clarity and brevity.
Terms and phrases used in the present disclosure are not limited to their written meaning, but are used by the inventors, so that the present disclosure can be clearly and consistently understood. Accordingly, the description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustrative purposes only, and not for limiting purposes, to those skilled in the art.
It is to be understood that the singular forms, e.g. “one”, “a”, “an” and “this” used herein may also encompass the plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It is to be further understood that the term “including” as used in the present disclosure refers to the presence of the described features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
It is to be understood that although the terms “first”, “second”, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. Thus, without departing from the teachings of the exemplary embodiments, a first element discussed below may also be referred to as a second element.
It is to be understood that when an element is described as “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it may imply that an element may be directly connected or coupled to another element, or that an intermediate element may also exist between an element and another element. In addition, “connected” or “coupled” as used herein may include wirelessly connected or wirelessly coupled. The term “and/or” or the expression “at least one of . . . ” or “at least one” as used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the relevant listed items.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical and scientific terms, have the same meaning as generally understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.
The current Wi-Fi technology is studied for 320 MHz bandwidth transmission and multi-band aggregation and coordination, etc., and is expected to be able to improve at least four times the rate and throughput relative to the existing standard. The main application scenarios include video transmission, Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR), etc.
The multi-band aggregation and coordination refers to the communication between devices simultaneously in 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands, etc. A new Media Access Control (MAC) mechanism needs to be defined to manage the communication between devices simultaneously in multiple frequency bands. In addition, it is expected that the multi-band aggregation and coordination can support low-latency transmission.
The maximum bandwidth that will be supported in the current multi-band aggregation and coordination technologies is 320 MHz (160 MHz+160 MHz), with 240 MHz (160 MHz+80 MHz) bandwidth and other bandwidths likely to be supported.
In the related art, a Station (STA) or an Access Point (AP) may be a multi-link device (MLD), i.e. a device that supports the function of sending and/or receiving data in multiple links. Accordingly, in the related art, there may be multiple links between the STA and the AP, and research is being conducted on the communication between these two devices in multiple links.
In the related art, two MLDs can negotiate the Block Acknowledgement (BA) feedback mode, and the feedback mode of multiple stations for BA, i.e. the feedback mode of multi-STA BA, can be supported. That is, the AP provides feedback on the reception status of the data sent by multiple STAs. In addition, based on the related art, there can be a mixed case of a station that supports single-link communication and a station that supports multi-link communication in a communication environment. However, the related art lacks an effective mechanism for applying the multi-STA BA feedback mode in this mixed case.
The AP is a wireless switch used for wireless networks and is also an access device for wireless networks. The AP may be used as a wireless base station that is mainly used as a bridge to connect wireless networks to wired networks. This AP allows the integration of wired and wireless networks.
The AP may include software applications and/or circuitry to enable other types of nodes in the wireless network to communicate with the outside of the wireless network as well as the inside the wireless network via the AP. In some examples, the AP may, for example, be a terminal device or network device equipped with a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip.
In a Basic Service Set (BSS) consisting of AP MLDs, there may be a station that supports single-link communication (which may hereinafter be referred to as “pre-802.11be STA”, e.g. 802.11ax STA) and a station that supports multi-link communication (which may hereinafter be referred to as “802.11be STA”), and the multi-STA BA mechanism is also applied to them (i.e. a scenario where pre-802.11be STA and 802.11be STA are present in a mixture). Furthermore, in an existing BA feedback approach, BA feedback may be performed in any link where a Traffic Identifier (TID) is mapped. However, in the above-described scenarios where pre-802.11be STA and 802.11be STA are present in a mixture, since pre-802.11be STA supports only single-link communication, such an approach of performing BA feedback in any link where the TID is mapped cannot be applied to the multi-STA BA mechanism. In view of this, a communication method is proposed according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
Referring to
In step 120, the multi-station block acknowledgement message (e.g. multi-STA BA) determined in step 110 is sent to the first station and the second station in the first link. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first station may be a device that supports single-link communication with the AP MLD, i.e. pre-802.11be STA, such as STA to be described with reference to
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, since the pre-802.11be STA only supports the single-link communication, if there is a scenario where both pre-802.11be STA and 802.11 be STA are present and there is a need to feed back a multi-STA BA, the AP MLD may provide feedback in the link that pre-802.11be STA establishes the BA feedback with the AP MLD, and in addition, the 802.11be STA needs to receive the multi-STA BA in this link.
As a descriptive embodiment, the multi-station block acknowledgement message (e.g. multi-STA BA) in steps 110 and 120 may be a delayed block acknowledgment message. Since the AP MLD, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, provides feedback on the reception status of data sent by a plurality of STAs at one time, the multi-station block acknowledgement message for such feedback may be a delayed block acknowledgement message, and this BA feedback mode saves signaling, thereby contributing to power saving of the device.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the multi-station block acknowledgement message in step 120 may be sent based on a multicast address assigned to the first station and the second station. Alternatively, the multi-station block acknowledgement message in step 120 may be sent based on a broadcast address as a receiving address for the multi-station block acknowledgement message. For example, multicast addresses may be assigned to the pre-802.11be STA and the 802.11be STA (non-AP STA MLD) before the establishment or setup of BA feedback, or the receiving address of the BA fed back by the AP MLD may be used as a broadcast address. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, via the multicast address, the AP MLD may send the multi-station block acknowledgement message to the stations within a group identified by the multicast address. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, via the broadcast address, the AP MLD may send the multi-station block acknowledgement message via broadcast, in which case the multi-station block acknowledgement message may include information related to an Association Identifier (AID) of a station. For the station by which the multi-station block acknowledgement message is received, the AID can be parsed out to determine if the received multi-station block acknowledgement message is a feedback for the data sent by the station itself. Compared to the method using the broadcast address, the method using the multicast address is more power efficient for a station that does not need to receive the multi-station block acknowledgement message. Compared to the method using the multicast address, the method using the broadcast address can simplify the communication process by not assigning multicast addresses in advance.
The communication method according to embodiments of the present disclosure may enable the BA feedback mechanism to be applied to a scenario where both pre-802.11be STA and 802.11be STA are present to improve spectrum utilization.
It is to be understood that the communication method shown in
Referring to
In
Additionally, in
Referring to
In addition, at the BA feedback setup stage (a), the AP MLD may receive an ADDBA request from the non-AP STA MLD, send an Ack and an ADDBA response back to the non-AP STA MLD, and then receive an Ack from the non-AP STA MLD in order to establish or set up the BA feedback with the second station (non-AP STA MLD). According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the link used for establishment or setup of the BA feedback between the AP MLD and the non-AP STA MLD may be the same or different from Link1. In other words, the communication method according to embodiments of the present disclosure may further include: receiving an add block acknowledgment request message (ADDBA request) from the second station (non-AP STA MLD) in the first link described with reference to
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, via one of n links (Link to Linkn) supported by the AP MLD and the non-AP STA MLD, the BA feedback may be established or set up in one or more of the n links, or all of the n links. For example, this may be realized by defining an information field in the ADDBA request and the ADDBA response related to the link(s) for the establishment or setup of the BA feedback. However, embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto, and the ADDBA request. Ack, and ADDBA response may be transmitted respectively in each of the n links (Link1 to Linkn) in order to realize the establishment of the BA feedback in the corresponding links, respectively.
At the data transmission & block acknowledgement stage (b), the AP MLD may receive one or more data frames, and a block acknowledgement request (BA request) from the first station (STA) via the first link (Link1); and the AP MLD may receive one or more data frames, and a BA request from the second station (non-AP STA MLD) via a link in Link1 to Linkn where the BA feedback has been established or set up. In response to receiving the BA request, the AP MLD may determine a multi-STA BA, and send the multi-STA BA to the first station (STA) and the second station (non-AP STA MLD) via the first link (Link1), in order to provide feedback on the reception status of the data sent by the first station (STA) and the second station (non-AP STA MLD).
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, in the establishment or setup of the BA feedback mechanism, the BA feedback mechanism can be established or set up for the non-AP STA MLD (802.11be STA) in any of the multi-links (Link1 to Linkn). The link for sending the ADDBA request frame can be any link where the TID is mapped, which may be the same as or different from the link in step 120, and the BA fed back can be a delayed BA. For pre-802.11be STA, the sending of the ADDBA request frame needs to be performed in the link (the first link or Link1) in step 120, i.e. the BA feedback is performed in the link in which the ADDBA request frame is sent.
In addition, although not shown in
The communication method according to embodiments of the present disclosure may enable the BA feedback mechanism to be applied to a scenario where both pre-802.11be STA and 802.11be STA are present, improving spectrum utilization.
a station that supports single-link communication (a first station or STA in
Referring to
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the multi-station block acknowledgement message may be a delayed block acknowledgement message.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the multi-station block acknowledgement message may be sent by the AP based on a multicast address assigned to the first station and the second station. Alternatively, the multi-station block acknowledgement message may be sent by the AP based on a broadcast address as a receiving address for the multi-station block acknowledgement message.
In step 320, a communication operation may be performed based on the multi-station block acknowledgement message. For example, when both the first station and the second station determine, via the multi-station block acknowledgement message, that the respective data frames sent by them have been received, and if there is no other data that needs to be sent, a delete BA request frame (DELBA request) may be sent in step 320. For example, if either of the first station and the second station determines, via the multi-station block acknowledgement message, that the data frame sent has not been received, then, in step 320, an attempt may be made to send the data frame again.
It is to be understood that the communication method shown in
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the communication method shown in
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the communication method shown in
The operations described above with reference to
The communication method according to embodiments of the present disclosure may enable the BA feedback mechanism to be applied to a scenario where both a station that supports single-link communication and a station that supports multi-link communication are present to improve spectrum utilization.
Referring to
In the case where the communication device shown in
In the case where the communication device shown in
Furthermore, the communication device 400 shown in
The communication method and communication device according to embodiments of the present disclosure may enable the BA feedback mechanism to be applied to a scenario where both a station that supports single-link communication and a station that supports multiple-link communication are present, improving spectrum utilization.
Based on the same principles as the methods provided in embodiments of the present disclosure, embodiments of the present disclosure also provide an electronic device including a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores machine-readable instructions (which may also be referred to as a “computer program”), and a processor configured to execute the machine-readable instructions to implement the method described with reference to
Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program being executed by a processor to implement the method described with reference to
In exemplary embodiments, the processor may be logic boxes, modules, and circuits for implementing or executing various exemplary embodiments described in conjunction with the present disclosure, such as, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. A processor may also be a combination that implements a computing function, such as a combination containing one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and the like.
In exemplary embodiments, the memory may be, for example, Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), Compact Disc Read Only Memory CD-ROM ( ) or other optical disc storage, optical disk storage (including Compact Disc. Laser Disc, CD-ROM. Digital Versatile Disc, Blu-Ray Disc, etc.), magnetic storage media, or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium capable of carrying or storing program code in the form of instructions or data structures and accessible by a computer, without limitation.
It is to be understood that although the individual steps in the flowchart of the accompanying drawings are shown in sequence as indicated by the arrows, the steps are not necessarily executed in the order indicated by the arrows in sequence. Unless expressly stated herein, the execution of these steps is not strictly limited in order, and they may be executed in other orders. In addition, at least a portion of the steps in the flowchart of the accompanying drawings may include a plurality of sub-steps or a plurality of phases, which are not necessarily executed or completed at the same moment but may be executed at different moments, and whose order of execution is not necessarily sequential, but may be in turn or alternately with at least a portion of the other steps, or of the sub-steps or phases of the other steps.
Although the present disclosure has been shown and described with reference to certain embodiments of the present disclosure, those skilled in the art will understand that various changes in form and detail can be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to being limited by the embodiments, but rather by the appended claims and their equivalents.
The present application is a U.S. national phase application of International Application No. PCT/CN2021/122671, filed on Oct. 8, 2021, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/CN2021/122671 | 10/8/2021 | WO |