A method for implementing OFDMA, an AP, and a storage medium

Abstract

This specification provides a method, an AP, and a storage medium for implementing OFDMA. The method includes: sending a query message to a client and a neighbor AP, where the query message is used to query the packet buffer status of the client and the neighbor AP; receiving a feedback message sent by the client and the neighbor AP, where the feedback message carries the packet buffer status of the client and the neighbor AP; determining a target client and a target neighbor AP that need to send data according to the packet buffer status of the client and the neighbor AP in the feedback message; and sending a Trigger message to the target client and the target neighbor AP, so that the target client enables UpLink-OFDMA according to the Trigger message. Through this method, the number of single packet transmissions of non-OFDMA is reduced, thereby reducing network consumption.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a method for implementing OFDMA, an AP, and a storage medium. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous development and evolution of WLAN technologies, from the initial Wi-Fi1 (802.11a) to the current latest Wi-Fi6 (802.11ax), the user experience that can be provided is getting better and better. Wi-Fi6 focuses on improving the network usage efficiency and introduces a series of new features. The OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) technology is one of the very important components. Through OFDMA, concurrent uplink and downlink data transmission of multiple terminals can be achieved. Compared with the previous situation where only a single terminal could send and receive data each time, both the network usage efficiency and the Internet access experience of the terminals have been significantly improved. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The present disclosure provides a method for implementing OFDMA, an AP, and a storage medium. Through this method, the linkage function between multiple APs can be realized, the use of the overall network is balanced and optimized, and at the same time, the message sending and receiving efficiency is further optimized on the basis of the existing Wi-Fi6 network, reducing the number of single-message transmissions of non-OFDMA, and thus reducing network consumption.

[0004] The present disclosure provides a method for implementing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OFDMA. The method includes:

[0005] Sending a query message to a client and a neighbor AP, where the query message is used to query the message buffer situations of the client and the neighbor AP;

[0006] Receiving feedback messages sent by the client and the neighbor AP, where the feedback messages carry the message buffer situations of the client and the neighbor AP;

[0007] Determining a target client and a target neighbor AP that need to send data according to the message buffer situations of the client and the neighbor AP in the feedback message;

[0008] Sending a Trigger message to the target client and the target neighbor AP, so that the target client enables UpLink-OFDMA according to the Trigger message, and at the same time enables the target neighbor AP to use the resource units RU reserved by the Trigger message to enable DownLink-OFDMA for the clients associated with the target neighbor AP.

[0009] Optionally, the sending a query message to a client and a neighbor AP includes:

[0010] Send a query message to neighboring APs according to the list of neighboring APs.

[0011] Optionally, the method for obtaining the list of neighboring APs includes:

[0012] Receive Beacon messages carried with AP ID identifiers sent by each neighboring AP;

[0013] Generate a list of neighboring APs according to the AP ID identifiers of each neighboring AP.

[0014] Optionally, the feedback message includes: a PPDU message, and the client and the neighboring AP form a PPDU message with the message caching situation.

[0015] Optionally, the sending of a Trigger message to the target client and the target neighboring AP includes:

[0016] The Trigger message carries resource units (RUs) reserved for the target neighboring AP, so that the target neighboring AP that receives the Trigger message can use the reserved RUs to enable DownLink-OFDMA for the client associated with the target neighboring AP.

[0017] Optionally, receive a query message sent by a first neighboring AP, where the query message is used to query its own message caching situation;

[0018] Obtain its own message caching situation and carry the message caching situation in a feedback message. The feedback message further includes its own AID identifier, where the AID identifier is a set constant plus the AP ID, and form a HE TB PPDU message with the feedback message of the client.

[0019] Optionally, the method further includes:

[0020] Receive a Trigger message sent by a first neighboring AP for indicating enabling OFDMA, where the Trigger message carries reserved RUs;

[0021] Use the reserved RUs to enable DownLink-OFDMA for the client associated with itself.

[0022] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an AP, which includes: a first sending module, configured to send a query message to a client and a neighboring AP, where the query message is used to query the message caching situations of the client and the neighboring AP;

[0023] a receiving module, configured to receive feedback messages sent by the client and the neighboring AP, where the feedback messages carry the message caching situations of the client and the neighboring AP;

[0024] A processing module, configured to determine a target client and a target neighbor AP that need to send data according to the packet caching situations of the client and the neighbor AP in the feedback message.

[0025] A second sending module, configured to send a Trigger message to the target client and the target neighbor AP, so that the target client enables UpLink-OFDMA according to the Trigger message, and at the same time enables the target neighbor AP to use the resource unit (RU) reserved by the Trigger message to enable DownLink-OFDMA for the clients associated with the target neighbor AP.

[0026] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an AP, including: a memory, a processor, and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, where when the program is executed by the processor, the method steps in any one of the above embodiments are implemented.

[0027] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which a program is stored, and when the program is executed by a processor, the method steps in any one of the above embodiments are implemented. Description of the Drawings

[0028] The drawings here are incorporated into the specification and constitute a part of this specification, showing the embodiments consistent with this specification, and are used together with the specification to explain the principles of this specification.

[0029] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of an OFDM spectrum provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0030] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the use of OFDM and OFDMA channels provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0031] Figure 3 It is a schematic flowchart of a method for implementing orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. Detailed Embodiments

[0032] Here, the exemplary embodiments will be described in detail, and the examples are shown in the drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, unless otherwise indicated, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with this specification. On the contrary, they are merely examples of devices and methods consistent with some aspects of this specification as detailed in the appended claims.

[0033] The terms used in this specification are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit this specification. The singular forms "a", "the", and "said" used in this specification and the appended claims are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and / or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0034] It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used in this specification to describe various information, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish information of the same type from each other. For example, without departing from the scope of this specification, the first information may also be referred to as the second information, and similarly, the second information may also be referred to as the first information. Depending on the context, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "when" or "while" or "in response to determining".

[0035] For ease of understanding, the OFDMA technology is briefly described herein.

[0036] WLAN belongs to broadband communication technology and occupies a relatively large frequency band during use. Existing protocols support several different bandwidths of 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz. Except for the earliest 802.11b, the rest of the WLAN protocols use the wireless transmission technology of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing). The entire bandwidth will be evenly divided into a certain number to form a series of subcarriers, and data is transmitted on each subcarrier. As Figure 1 shown, the total signal bandwidth is 50 Hz, there are four subcarriers, and the frequencies of each subcarrier are 10 Hz, 20 Hz, 30 Hz, and 40 Hz respectively.

[0037] As Figure 2 shown, in the old WLAN communication without introducing OFDMA, the entire bandwidth must be used entirely for sending data to a single terminal, that is, the data transmitted on all subcarriers is for the same terminal. In OFDMA, the subcarriers are divided into several groups, and the data transmitted by each group can be sent to different terminals. In this way, although the channel bandwidth enjoyed by the terminal becomes smaller each time data is sent, the purpose of multi-terminal concurrency is achieved. Each subcarrier is called a Tone, and the group of subcarriers grouped together is called an RU. An RU must contain at least 26 Tones, and the number of subcarriers under different bandwidths is different, and the number of RUs that can be divided is also different.

[0038] Among them, DownLink-OFDMA (abbreviated as DL-OFDMA) refers to the OFDMA process when the AP sends data to the client.

[0039] When the AP sends data to multiple clients, the data of multiple clients form a HE MU PPDU (which refers to the PPDU sent by the AP when sending data to multiple clients simultaneously). The RU allocation information is carried in the physical header of this PPDU, and all clients can confirm the RU positions they should receive according to the information in the physical header.

[0040] When the AP sends a HE MU PPDU, it can request that the client reply to the ACK message in the ordinary way or in the way of a HETB PPDU (which refers to the PPDU sent by multiple clients to the AP after receiving the Trigger message). If the ACK is replied in the way of a HE TB PPDU, after the HE MU PPDU is sent, the clients will reply to the ACK message together, and these ACKs are combined to form a HE TB PPDU. The RU occupied by each client is the same as the RU in the HE MU PPDU sent by the AP.

[0041] Among them, UpLink-OFDMA refers to the OFDMA process when the client sends data to the AP.

[0042] The AP can periodically send BSRP (Buffer Status Report Poll, a type of Trigger message) messages to multiple clients to query the message buffer status of the clients. This message contains one or more User Info fields, each field corresponding to a client and containing the client's AID (association ID) information, the allocated RU size and position, the rate, power, and number of streams information that the client should use, etc.

[0043] The AID is the identification ID assigned by the AP to the client when the client associates with the AP. AID12 is the lower 12 bits of the AID. The protocol stipulates that the valid range of AID values is 1 - 2008, and the numerical range of AID12 is 0 - 4095. Excluding the several numerical values 0, 2045, and 4095 which are stipulated by the protocol for special purposes, there are more than 2000 numerical values not in use.

[0044] The client sends a message to reply to the buffer status according to the information specified by the AP, and the messages sent by all clients are combined to form a HE TB PPDU.

[0045] The AP designates one or more clients to which it sends cached packets, and this operation is implemented by sending Basic Trigger packets or other types of Trigger packets. The Trigger packet also contains one or more UserInfos.

[0046] The clients send the cached packets according to the information designated by the AP, and all the packets sent by the clients are combined to form a HE TB PPDU.

[0047] The AP sends a Multi-STA BlockAck (an ACK packet for the AP to simultaneously send receive acknowledgments to multiple clients after multiple clients send HE TB PPDUs) packet to reply to all clients with an ACK (acknowledgement response) to confirm the reception of the packets.

[0048] However, in a real network, the uplink and downlink data traffic is often asymmetric. For example, when playing a video, the downlink traffic is much larger than the uplink traffic, while in a video live broadcast, the uplink traffic is much larger than the downlink traffic. Therefore, there is a relatively high probability that the number of clients that need to send / receive data is insufficient in the direction with smaller traffic, and OFDMA cannot be used. In this case, the packets will be sent in the original single-terminal manner, occupying the entire bandwidth, resulting in a certain amount of resource waste.

[0049] At the same time, in a real network, due to the fact that APs are distributed at certain intervals from each other, according to users' usage habits, there may be a situation where a large number of users are connected to several APs while the adjacent APs are basically idle. Since the number of available Wi-Fi channels is limited, adjacent APs may not be able to ensure complete isolation of channels. In this scenario, when the idle AP sends and receives packets, the busy AP cannot use OFDMA either, resulting in waste of channel resources and affecting data transmission and reception on the busy AP.

[0050] To solve the above technical problems, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for implementing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), as Figure 3 shown, the method includes:

[0051] S301: Send a query packet to the clients and neighbor APs, where the query packet is used to query the packet cache situations of the clients and neighbor APs;

[0052] S302: Receive the feedback packets sent by the clients and neighbor APs, where the feedback packets carry the packet cache situations of the clients and neighbor APs;

[0053] S303: Determine the target clients and target neighbor APs that need to send data according to the packet cache situations of the clients and neighbor APs in the feedback packets;

[0054] S304 sends a Trigger message to the target client and the target neighbor AP, so that the target client enables UpLink-OFDMA according to the Trigger message, and at the same time enables the target neighbor AP to use the resource unit RU reserved by the Trigger message to enable DownLink-OFDMA for the clients associated with the target neighbor AP.

[0055] In this embodiment, each AP can obtain a list of neighbor APs with which it has a neighbor relationship through information interaction. Specifically, when the first AP is associated with the AC, the AC will issue an AP ID to the first AP as the identifier of the first AP. After receiving the AP ID issued by the AC, the first AP will broadcast a Beacon message to other APs (add a vendor-customized field in the Beacon message to fill in the AP ID).

[0056] At the same time, the first AP will also receive the Beacon message broadcast by the second AP. The first AP obtains the AP ID of the second AP from the Beacon message sent by the second AP and can generate a list of neighbor APs according to the AP ID of the second AP. Moreover, if the first AP cannot receive the Beacon message of a certain second AP within a period of time subsequently, it can be considered that the AP no longer exists and the AP is deleted from the list of neighbor APs.

[0057] When performing step S301, the first AP (for the convenience of description, it is assumed that the main body performing step S301 is the first AP) can send a query message to the neighbor AP according to the list of neighbor APs maintained by itself. The query message can be a BSRP message.

[0058] After the neighbor AP (subsequently referred to as the second AP for easy distinction) receives the query message sent by the first AP, it determines whether the AID carried in the query message contains its own AID. If it contains, it means that the first AP queries the cache data situation of itself. Then the second AP queries whether there is any cached data to be sent (downlink data sent to the clients associated with the second AP). If there is, it sends a feedback message to the first AP and carries the cache data situation (information such as data size and number) in the feedback message. At the same time, the clients associated with the first AP will also feedback the cache data situation of each client after receiving the query message sent by the first AP.

[0059] In this embodiment, when the second AP and the clients associated with the first AP send feedback messages to the first AP, they can form a PPDU message (form a HE TB PPDU) with the information to be fed back by the second AP and the information to be fed back by each client.

[0060] In addition, it should be noted that the PPDU message includes the AID information of each client, and also includes the AID information of the second AP. In order to avoid conflict between the AID information of the second AP and the AID information of the client, the AID information of the second AP is calculated by setting a constant plus AP ID (for example, if the constant is set to 2048, the AID of the second AP is 2048+AP ID).

[0061] In step S302, the first AP determines, based on the messages fed back by the clients and the second AP, that there is a target client and a target second AP to which the cached message needs to be sent, and executes step S304.

[0062] When executing step S304, the Trigger message carries the resource unit RU reserved for the target neighbor AP, wherein the size of the reserved RU can be set by the administrator, and the second AP uses the reserved RU to enable DownLink-OFDMA. At the same time, the first AP sends a Trigger message to each target client associated with the first AP, so that the target client uses the non-reserved RU to enable UpLink-OFDMA.

[0063] From this, it can be seen that the first AP obtains whether the second AP has cached data that needs to be sent (downlink data sent to the client associated with the second AP) by exchanging information with the second AP. If so, a Trigger message of the reserved RU can be sent to the second AP, so that the second AP uses the reserved RU to enable DownLink-OFDMA when sending downlink data to the client, thereby avoiding the technical problem that the second AP cannot enable DownLink-OFDMA due to too little downlink data.

[0064] In this embodiment, the first AP may receive a query message sent by a second AP (such as a first neighbor AP) at other times. The process of the first neighbor AP sending a query message to the first AP is the same as the process of the first AP sending a query message to the second AP, and will not be repeated here.

[0065] The first AP obtains its own message cache status, and carries the message cache status in a feedback message and sends it to the first neighbor AP. The feedback message also includes its own AID identifier, and the AID identifier is a set constant plus AP ID. The feedback message and the feedback message of the client are combined into a HE TB PPDU message.

[0066] Subsequently, the first AP receives a Trigger message sent by the first neighbor AP for indicating enabling OFDMA, wherein the Trigger message carries the reserved RU.

[0067] When the first AP sends data to a client associated with itself, it can enable DownLink - OFDMA by using reserved RUs.

[0068] From this, it can be seen that the first AP and the second AP can interchange roles under different conditions.

[0069] Based on the same inventive concept as the above - mentioned method embodiments, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an AP, which includes:

[0070] A first sending module, configured to send query messages to a client and a neighbor AP, where the query messages are used to query the message buffer situations of the client and the neighbor AP;

[0071] A receiving module, configured to receive feedback messages sent by the client and the neighbor AP, where the feedback messages carry the message buffer situations of the client and the neighbor AP;

[0072] A processing module, configured to determine a target client and a target neighbor AP for which data needs to be sent according to the message buffer situations of the client and the neighbor AP in the feedback messages;

[0073] A second sending module, configured to send Trigger messages to the target client and the target neighbor AP, so that the target client enables UpLink - OFDMA according to the Trigger messages, and at the same time enables the target neighbor AP to use the resource units RUs reserved by the Trigger messages to enable DownLink - OFDMA for the clients associated with the target neighbor AP.

[0074] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an AP, which includes: a memory, a processor, and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor. When the program is executed by the processor, the method steps in the above - mentioned embodiments are implemented.

[0075] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computer - readable storage medium, on which a program is stored. When the program is executed by a processor, the method steps in the above - mentioned embodiments are implemented.

[0076] The specific embodiments of this specification are described above. Other embodiments are within the scope of the appended claims. In some cases, the actions or steps recited in the claims can be executed in a different order than in the embodiments and still achieve the desired result. Additionally, the processes depicted in the figures do not necessarily require the specific order or sequential order shown to achieve the desired result. In certain embodiments, multitasking and parallel processing are also possible or may be advantageous.

[0077] Those skilled in the art will readily conceive of other embodiments of the present specification after considering the specification and practicing the invention claimed herein. This specification is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the specification, which follow the general principles of the specification and include common general knowledge or conventional technical means in the technical field not claimed in this specification. The specification and examples are only to be regarded as exemplary, and the true scope and spirit of this specification are pointed out by the following claims.

[0078] It should be understood that this specification is not limited to the exact structures already described and shown in the drawings, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from its scope. The scope of this specification is only limited by the appended claims.

[0079] The above are only the preferred embodiments of this specification and are not intended to limit this specification. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of this specification shall be included within the scope of protection of this specification.

Claims

1. A method for implementing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), characterized in that, The method includes: Sending a query message to the client and neighbor APs, where the query message is used to query the message cache status of the client and neighbor APs; Receiving feedback messages sent by the client and neighbor APs, where the feedback messages carry the message cache status of the client and neighbor APs; Determining the target client and target neighbor AP for which data needs to be sent according to the message cache status of the client and neighbor APs in the feedback message; Sending a Trigger message to the target client and target neighbor AP, so that the target client enables UpLink-OFDMA according to the Trigger message, and at the same time enabling the target neighbor AP to use the resource unit RU reserved by the Trigger message to enable DownLink-OFDMA for the clients associated with the target neighbor AP; The Trigger message carries the resource unit RU reserved for the target neighbor AP, so that the target neighbor AP that receives the Trigger message uses the reserved resource unit RU to enable DownLink-OFDMA for the clients associated with the target neighbor AP.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The sending the query message to the client and neighbor APs includes: Sending a query message to the neighbor APs according to the neighbor AP list.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein The method for obtaining the neighbor AP list includes: Receiving Beacon messages carried with AP ID identifiers sent by each neighbor AP; Generating a neighbor AP list according to the AP ID identifiers of each neighbor AP.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein The feedback message includes: a PPDU message, and the client and neighbor APs form a PPDU message with the message cache status.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein The method further includes: Receiving a query message sent by the first neighbor AP, where the query message is used to query its own message cache status; Obtaining its own message cache status and carrying the message cache status in the feedback message. The feedback message further includes its own AID identifier, where the AID identifier is a set constant plus the AP ID, and forming a HE TB PPDU message with the feedback message of the client.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receiving a Trigger message sent by the first neighbor AP for indicating enabling OFDMA, where the Trigger message carries the reserved RU; Using the reserved RU to enable DownLink-OFDMA for the clients associated with itself.

7. An AP, characterized in that, The AP includes: A first sending module, configured to send a query message to the client and neighbor APs, where the query message is used to query the message cache status of the client and neighbor APs; A receiving module, configured to receive feedback messages sent by the client and neighbor APs, where the feedback messages carry the message cache status of the client and neighbor APs; A processing module, configured to determine the target client and target neighbor AP for which data needs to be sent according to the message cache status of the client and neighbor APs in the feedback message; A second sending module, configured to send Trigger messages to a target client and a target neighbor AP, so that the target client enables UpLink-OFDMA according to the Trigger messages, and at the same time enables the target neighbor AP to use resource units (RUs) reserved by the Trigger messages to enable DownLink-OFDMA for clients associated with the target neighbor AP; Wherein, the Trigger message carries the resource units (RUs) reserved for the target neighbor AP, so that the target neighbor AP that receives the Trigger message uses the reserved resource units (RUs) to enable DownLink-OFDMA for clients associated with the target neighbor AP.

8. An AP, characterized in that, The AP includes: a memory, a processor, and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, and the program, when executed by the processor, implements the method steps described in any one of claims 1 to 6.

9. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, A program is stored on the computer-readable storage medium, and the program, when executed by the processor, implements the method steps described in any one of claims 1 to 6.

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