Information indication method and device

Abstract

The present application provides an information indication method and device, which are used to solve the problem that the manufacturer's private design of the physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) may conflict with the wireless local area network (WLAN) standard. The method includes: a first device generates a PPDU and sends it, wherein the first field in the signaling field of the PPDU is a first value state used to indicate that the PPDU carries manufacturer-customized information, and the first value state is indicated by one or more of the following states: any value state of the ignore bit, the non-default state of the confirmation bit, the ignore state, and the confirmation state. By using any value state of the ignore bit, the non-default state of the confirmation bit, the ignore state, and the confirmation state as one or more states of the manufacturer-customized information, it can be ensured that the manufacturer does not conflict with the information of the PPDU defined in the original standard when the manufacturer privately customizes or the subsequent standard is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and in particular to an information indication method and device. Background Art

[0002] The wireless local area network (WLAN) standard started with 802.11a / b / g, and went through 802.11n, 802.11ac, and finally 802.11ax. The WLAN standard defines the signaling format of the physical layer protocol data unit (PHY protocol data unit, PPDU). However, in practice, manufacturers may make some private designs for PPDU, or manufacturer-specific designs, so that PPDU can carry some customized information of the manufacturer's private ownership. The manufacturer's private designs for PPDU may conflict with the information of PPDU defined by the WLAN standard. Summary of the invention

[0003] The embodiments of the present application provide an information indication method and device, a chip, a computer-readable storage medium, a computer program product, etc., which are used to solve the problem that some privatized designs of PPDU by manufacturers may conflict with the information of PPDU defined by WLAN standards.

[0004] In a first aspect, an information indication method is provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method can be applied to a communication device, or a chip or chipset in a communication device. The method includes: a first device generates a PPDU and sends it, wherein the first field in the signaling field of the PPDU is a first value state, and the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries manufacturer customized information. The first value state is indicated by one or more of the following states: any value state of an ignore bit, a non-default state of a confirmation bit, an ignore state, and a confirmation state.

[0005] In an embodiment of the present application, by using any value state of the ignore bit, the non-default state of the confirmation bit, the ignore state, and one or more states of the confirmation state as an identifier of the manufacturer's customized information, that is, when the first field in the signaling field of the PPDU is in the first value state, a device that supports the transmission mechanism of "the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries manufacturer customized information" can read the PPDU in the first value state and obtain the manufacturer customized information in the PPDU. Among them, the transmission mechanism of "the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries manufacturer customized information" can be called the first transmission mechanism, which will not be repeated below. In the above manner, it can be ensured that the information of the PPDU defined in the original standard does not conflict when the manufacturer privatizes and customizes or when the standard is subsequently improved.

[0006] In one possible design, the first field includes a PPDU type and compression mode subfield and a non-orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) transmission user number subfield; the first value state is indicated by the following confirmation state or ignore state: the PPDU type and compression mode subfield indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users participating in the non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1.

[0007] In the above design, the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users participating in non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1 as a confirmation state or an ignore state. By using the PPDU type and compression mode subfields to indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA user number indicating more than 1 as the identifier of the manufacturer's customized information, the receiving end that supports the transmission mechanism of "the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer's customized information" can determine the identifier that the PPDU carries the manufacturer's customized information, and the subsequent user fields will appear in the corresponding number of user fields according to the indication of the non-OFDMA user number. And read the manufacturer's customized information from these user fields. The receiving end that does not support the transmission mechanism of "the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer's customized information" can treat the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicating single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicating that the number of users participating in non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1 as a confirmation state or an ignore state. In this way, the manufacturer's privatized customization can be achieved without changing the information of the PPDU defined by the WLAN standard.

[0008] In one possible design, the manufacturer customized information is the modulation mode of N spatial streams in the unbalanced modulation mode, N is an integer greater than 1, and the modulation modes of at least two of the N spatial streams are different. Through the above design, the first device can identify the manufacturer customized information through the first value state, and carry the modulation mode of the N spatial streams in the unbalanced modulation mode in the PPDU.

[0009] In one possible design, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1<n≤N; the PPDU includes n user fields, wherein the first user field among the n user fields indicates the total number N of spatial streams, the identifier of the target site, and the modulation mode of the first spatial stream, and the second to nth user fields indicate the modulation modes of the second to Nth spatial streams. In the above design, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is n, and the PPDU may accordingly include n user fields, and the modulation modes of N spatial streams may be indicated by the n user fields.

[0010] In a possible design, the station identification sub-field of the first user field indicates the identification of the target station, the spatial stream indication sub-field of the first user field indicates the total number of N spatial streams, and the modulation and coding strategy MCS indication sub-field of the first user field indicates the modulation mode of the first spatial stream. In the above design, the first user field can adopt the signaling format of the user field defined by the WLAN standard, resulting in a relatively small modification to the WLAN standard.

[0011] In a possible design, the second to the Nth spatial streams among the N spatial streams are divided into K spatial stream groups. The non-OFDMA transmission user number sub-field indicates that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1 < n ≤ N; the PPDU includes n user fields. Among them, the first user field of the n user fields indicates the total number of spatial streams N, the identification of the target station, and the modulation mode of the first spatial stream, and the second to the nth user fields indicate the modulation modes of the K spatial stream groups, where K is an integer and 1 ≤ K ≤ N - 1.

[0012] In a possible design, the N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups, where H is an integer and 1 < H ≤ N. The non-OFDMA transmission user number sub-field indicates that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1 < n ≤ H; the PPDU includes n user fields. Among them, the n user fields include the first user field, and the first user field indicates the total number of spatial stream groups H and the number of spatial streams in each of the H spatial stream groups. The n - 1 user fields other than the first user field among the n user fields indicate the modulation modes of each of the H spatial stream groups. In the above design, the grouping information of the spatial streams can be indicated by the first user field, thereby improving the flexibility of spatial stream grouping.

[0013] In a possible design, the station identification of the first user field is a specific value.

[0014] In a possible design, the N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups, where H is an integer and 1 < H ≤ N. The non-OFDMA transmission user number sub-field indicates that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1 < n ≤ H; the PPDU includes n user fields. Among them, the first user field of the n user fields indicates the total number of spatial stream groups H, the identification of the target station, and the modulation mode of the first spatial stream group, and the second to the nth user fields indicate the modulation modes of the second to the Hth spatial stream groups. In the above design, the non-OFDMA transmission user number sub-field indicates that the number of users is n, and the PPDU can correspondingly include n user fields. The modulation modes of the H spatial stream groups can be indicated by the n user fields.

[0015] In a possible design, N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups, where H is an integer and 1 < H ≤ N. The non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is H; the PPDU includes H user fields, and the i-th user field among the H user fields is used to indicate the modulation method of the i-th spatial stream group among the H spatial stream groups and the number of spatial streams of each spatial stream group among the H spatial stream groups, where i is an integer and 1 ≤ i ≤ H. In the above design, one user field indicates the modulation method of one spatial stream group. Therefore, the total number of spatial stream groups H can be indicated by the number of users indicated by the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield, thereby reducing the signaling overhead.

[0016] In a possible design, the MCS indication subfield of the i-th user field indicates the modulation method of the i-th spatial stream group, and the spatial stream allocation subfield of the i-th user field indicates the number of spatial streams of each spatial stream group among the H spatial stream groups. In the above design, the user field can adopt the signaling format of the user field defined by the WLAN standard for MU-MIMO user transmission, resulting in less modification to the WLAN standard.

[0017] In a possible design, N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups, where H is an integer and 1 < H ≤ N. The non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is H; the PPDU includes H user fields, and the i-th user field among the H user fields is used to indicate the modulation method of the i-th spatial stream group among the H spatial stream groups and the number of spatial streams of the i-th spatial stream group, where i is an integer and 1 ≤ i ≤ H. In the above design, one user field indicates the modulation method of one spatial stream group. Therefore, the total number of spatial stream groups H can be indicated by the number of users indicated by the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield, thereby reducing the signaling overhead.

[0018] In a possible design, the MCS indication subfield of the i-th user field indicates the modulation method of the i-th spatial stream group, and the spatial stream indication subfield of the i-th user field indicates the number of spatial streams of the i-th spatial stream group. In the above design, the user field can adopt the signaling format of the user field defined by the WLAN standard for non-MU-MIMO user transmission, resulting in less modification to the WLAN standard.

[0019] In a possible design, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is N, the PPDU includes N user fields, and the j-th user field among the N user fields is used to indicate the modulation method of the j-th spatial stream among the N spatial streams, where j is an integer and 1 ≤ j ≤ N.

[0020] In one possible design, the first field includes a user field; the first value state is indicated by a second verification state, and the second verification state is that the site identification subfield of the user field takes a specific value. In the above design, the user field with the site identification as a specific value can be used as an identifier of the manufacturer's customized information.

[0021] In one possible design, the first value state is a confirmation state defined in the WLAN standard. For example, the first value state may be one or more confirmation states defined in the 802.11be standard.

[0022] In a possible design, the first value state may also be indicated by a confirmation state and a confirmation bit defined in the WLAN standard. For example, the first value state may be indicated by a confirmation state and a confirmation bit defined in the 802.11be standard.

[0023] In the second aspect, an information indication method provided by an embodiment of the present application can be applied to a communication device, or a chip or chipset in a communication device, and the method includes: a second device receives a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU, wherein the first field in the signaling field of the PPDU is a first value state, and the first value state is indicated by one or more of the following states: any value state of an ignore bit, a non-default state of a confirmation bit, an ignore state, and a confirmation state; if the second device supports the first transmission mechanism, the second device obtains the manufacturer customized information from the PPDU, and the first transmission mechanism is the first value state used to indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information; or, if the second device does not support the first transmission mechanism, the second device processes the PPDU with the first value state as a confirmation state or an ignore state.

[0024] In the embodiment of the present application, by using any value state of the ignore bit, the non-default state of the confirmation bit, the ignore state, and one or more states of the confirmation state as the identifier of the manufacturer customized information, the device supporting the first transmission mechanism can read the PPDU of the first value state and obtain the manufacturer customized information in the PPDU. In this way, it can be ensured that the information of the PPDU defined in the original standard does not conflict when the manufacturer privatizes the customization or when the standard is improved later.

[0025] In one possible design, the first field includes a PPDU type and compression mode subfield and a non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield; the first value state is indicated by the following confirmation state or ignore state: the PPDU type and compression mode subfield indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users participating in the non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1.

[0026] In the above design, the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users participating in non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1 as a confirmation state or an ignore state. By using the PPDU type and compression mode subfields to indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA user number indicating more than 1 as the identifier of the manufacturer's customized information, the receiving end that supports the transmission mechanism of "the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer's customized information" can determine the identifier that the PPDU carries the manufacturer's customized information, and the subsequent user fields will appear in the corresponding number of user fields according to the indication of the non-OFDMA user number. And read the manufacturer's customized information from these user fields. The receiving end that does not support the transmission mechanism of "the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer's customized information" can treat the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicating single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicating that the number of users participating in non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1 as a confirmation state or an ignore state. In this way, the manufacturer's privatized customization can be achieved without changing the information of the PPDU defined by the WLAN standard.

[0027] In one possible design, the manufacturer customized information is the modulation mode of N spatial streams in the unbalanced modulation mode, N is an integer greater than 1, and the modulation modes of at least two of the N spatial streams are different. Through the above design, the first device can identify the manufacturer customized information through the first value state, and carry the modulation mode of the N spatial streams in the unbalanced modulation mode in the PPDU.

[0028] In one possible design, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1<n≤N; the PPDU includes n user fields, wherein the first user field among the n user fields indicates the total number N of spatial streams, the identifier of the target site, and the modulation mode of the first spatial stream, and the second to nth user fields indicate the modulation modes of the second to Nth spatial streams. In the above design, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is n, and the PPDU may accordingly include n user fields, and the modulation modes of N spatial streams may be indicated by the n user fields.

[0029] In one possible design, the site identification subfield of the first user field indicates the identification of the target site, the spatial stream indication subfield of the first user field indicates the total number of N spatial streams, and the modulation coding strategy MCS indication subfield of the first user field indicates the modulation mode of the first spatial stream. In the above design, the first user field can adopt the signaling format of the user field defined in the WLAN standard, so that the change to the WLAN standard is relatively small.

[0030] In a possible design, the second to the Nth spatial streams among the N spatial streams are divided into K spatial stream groups. The non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1 < n ≤ N; the PPDU includes n user fields. Among them, the first user field among the n user fields indicates the total number of spatial streams N, the identifier of the target station, and the modulation method of the first spatial stream, and the second to the nth user fields indicate the modulation methods of the K spatial stream groups, where K is an integer and 1 ≤ K ≤ N - 1.

[0031] In a possible design, the N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups, where H is an integer and 1 < H ≤ N. The non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1 < n ≤ H; the PPDU includes n user fields. Among them, the n user fields include a first user field, and the first user field indicates the total number of spatial stream groups H and the number of spatial streams in each of the H spatial stream groups. The n - 1 user fields other than the first user field among the n user fields indicate the modulation methods of each of the H spatial stream groups. In the above design, the grouping information of the spatial streams can be indicated by the first user field, thereby improving the flexibility of spatial stream grouping.

[0032] In a possible design, the station identifier of the first user field is a specific value.

[0033] In a possible design, the N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups, where H is an integer and 1 < H ≤ N. The non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1 < n ≤ H; the PPDU includes n user fields. Among them, the first user field among the n user fields indicates the total number of spatial stream groups H, the identifier of the target station, and the modulation method of the first spatial stream group, and the second to the nth user fields indicate the modulation methods of the second to the Hth spatial stream groups. In the above design, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is n, and the PPDU can correspondingly include n user fields. The modulation methods of the H spatial stream groups can be indicated by the n user fields.

[0034] In a possible design, the N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups, where H is an integer and 1 < H ≤ N. The non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is H; the PPDU includes H user fields, and the ith user field among the H user fields is used to indicate the modulation method of the ith spatial stream group among the H spatial stream groups and the number of spatial streams in each of the H spatial stream groups, where i is an integer and 1 ≤ i ≤ H. In the above design, one user field indicates the modulation method of one spatial stream group. Therefore, the total number of spatial stream groups H can be indicated by the number of users indicated by the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield, thereby reducing the signaling overhead.

[0035] In a possible design, the MCS indication sub-field of the i-th user field indicates the modulation method of the i-th spatial stream group, and the spatial stream allocation sub-field of the i-th user field indicates the number of spatial streams in each of the H spatial stream groups. In the above design, the user field can adopt the signaling format of the user field defined in the WLAN standard for MU-MIMO user transmission, so that the modification to the WLAN standard is relatively small.

[0036] In a possible design, N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups, where H is an integer and 1 < H ≤ N. The non-OFDMA transmission user number sub-field indicates that the number of users is H; the PPDU includes H user fields, and the i-th user field in the H user fields is used to indicate the modulation method of the i-th spatial stream group in the H spatial stream groups and the number of spatial streams in the i-th spatial stream group, where i is an integer and 1 ≤ i ≤ H. In the above design, one user field indicates the modulation method of one spatial stream group, so the total number of spatial stream groups H can be indicated by the number of users indicated by the non-OFDMA transmission user number sub-field, thereby reducing the signaling overhead.

[0037] In a possible design, the MCS indication sub-field of the i-th user field indicates the modulation method of the i-th spatial stream group, and the spatial stream indication sub-field of the i-th user field indicates the number of spatial streams in the i-th spatial stream group. In the above design, the user field can adopt the signaling format of the user field defined in the WLAN standard for non-MU-MIMO user transmission, so that the modification to the WLAN standard is relatively small.

[0038] In a possible design, the non-OFDMA transmission user number sub-field indicates that the number of users is N, the PPDU includes N user fields, and the j-th user field in the N user fields is used to indicate the modulation method of the j-th spatial stream in the N spatial streams, where j is an integer and 1 ≤ j ≤ N.

[0039] In a possible design, the first field includes a user field; the first value state is indicated by the following confirmation state or ignore state, and the second confirmation state is that the station identification sub-field of the user field takes a specific value. In the above design, the user field with the station identification as a specific value can be used as the identification of the manufacturer-customized information.

[0040] In a possible design, the first value state is the confirmation state defined in the WLAN standard. For example, the first value state can be one or more confirmation states defined in the 802.11be standard.

[0041] In a possible design, the first value state may also be indicated by a confirmation state and a confirmation bit defined in the WLAN standard. For example, the first value state may be indicated by a confirmation state and a confirmation bit defined in the 802.11be standard.

[0042] In a third aspect, the present application provides an information indication device, which may be a communication device or a chip or chipset in a communication device, wherein the communication device may be an access point (AP) or a station (STA). The device may include a processing unit and a transceiver unit. When the device is a communication device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transceiver unit may be a transceiver; the device may also include a storage module, and the storage module may be a memory; the storage module is used to store instructions, and the processing unit executes the instructions stored in the storage module to execute the corresponding method in the first aspect or any design of the first aspect, or the processing unit executes the instructions stored in the storage module to execute the corresponding method in the second aspect or any design of the second aspect. When the device is a chip or chipset in a communication device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transceiver unit may be an input / output interface, a pin or a circuit, etc.; the processing unit executes the instructions stored in the storage module to execute the corresponding method in the first aspect or any design of the first aspect, or the processing unit executes the instructions stored in the storage module to execute the corresponding method in the second aspect or any design of the second aspect. The storage module may be a storage module within the chip or chipset (eg, a register, a cache, etc.), or a storage module within the network device that is located outside the chip or chipset (eg, a read-only memory, a random access memory, etc.).

[0043] In a fourth aspect, an information indicating device is provided, comprising: a processor, a communication interface and a memory. The communication interface is used to transmit information, and / or messages, and / or data between the device and other devices. The memory is used to store computer-executable instructions. When the device is running, the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, so that the device executes the method described in the first aspect or any one of the designs in the first aspect, the second aspect or any one of the designs in the second aspect.

[0044] In a fifth aspect, the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores instructions. When the computer-readable storage medium is run on a computer, it enables the computer to execute the method described in the first aspect or any design in the first aspect, the second aspect or any design in the second aspect.

[0045] In a sixth aspect, the present application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method described in the first aspect or any one of the designs in the first aspect, the second aspect or any one of the designs in the second aspect.

[0046] In the seventh aspect, the present application also provides a network system, which includes a first device and a second device, wherein the first device can execute the method corresponding to the above-mentioned first aspect or any design in the first aspect, and the second device can execute the method described in the above-mentioned second aspect or any design in the second aspect.

[0047] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, the chip comprising a memory, at least one processor and a communication interface, the processor being coupled to the memory and configured to read a computer program stored in the memory to execute the method described in the first aspect or any design in the first aspect, the second aspect or any design in the second aspect of the embodiment of the present application.

[0048] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip comprising a communication interface and at least one processor, wherein the processor operates to execute the method described in the first aspect or any design in the first aspect, the second aspect or any design in the second aspect of the embodiment of the present application.

[0049] In the tenth aspect, the present application also provides a communication device, which is used to implement the method described in the above-mentioned first aspect or any design in the first aspect, the second aspect or any design in the second aspect.

[0050] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present application, “coupling” refers to two components being directly or indirectly coupled to each other. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0051] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the architecture of a WLAN network provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] Figure 2 A flowchart of an information indication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the format of a PPDU provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] Figure 4A A schematic diagram of the format of a PPDU provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] Figure 4B A schematic diagram of the format of a PPDU provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] Figure 5A schematic diagram of a signaling format of negotiation information provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the format of a PPDU provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the format of a PPDU provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the format of a special user field provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the format of a PPDU provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the format of a PPDU provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] Fig.11 A schematic diagram of the format of a PPDU provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] Fig.12 A schematic diagram of the structure of an information indication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] Fig.13 A schematic diagram of the structure of an information indication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0065] In order to make the embodiments of the present application easier to understand, some descriptions involved in the embodiments of the present application are first explained below. These descriptions should not be regarded as limiting the scope of protection claimed for the present invention.

[0066] Vendor specific information: The relevant information required by the manufacturer for private design.

[0067] Disregard bit, Validate bit, Disregard state, Validate state: In the WLAN standard, there are two types of reserved / unused bits, namely, Disregard bit and Validate bit. There are two types of reserved / unused states of a field (or subfield), namely, Disregard state and Validate state.

[0068] If a PPDU satisfies at least one of the following two conditions, the device may wait until the end of the PPDU, pass the information in the version-independent field of the PPDU to the medium access control (MAC) layer to ensure coexistence, and terminate the reception of the PPDU: (1) the confirmation bit in the PPDU is not set to the default (or default) value specified in the standard, (2) the values ​​of certain subfields in the PPDU are set to the confirmation state. As for the ignore bit, or the subfield set to the ignore state, if the confirmation bit of a PPDU is set to the default (or default) value specified in the standard, and there is no subfield set to the confirmation state, the device may ignore the ignore bit, or ignore the subfield set to the ignore state, and continue to read other fields.

[0069] For example, in the universal signal field (U-SIG) field of the PPDU, there are 5 don't care bits and 3 confirmation bits. In the U-SIG overflow part of the extreme high throughput signal field (EHT-SIG), including 4 don't care bits, there is a confirmation status in the joint indication of the PPDU type and compression mode subfield and the uplink and downlink subfields. For example, when any one of the confirmation bits is a non-default value (or a non-default value), the device can wait until the PPDU ends, pass the information in the version-independent field of the PPDU to the MAC layer, and terminate the reception of the PPDU. For another example, when the joint indication of the PPDU type and compression mode subfield and the uplink and downlink subfields is in a confirmation state, the device can wait until the PPDU ends, pass the information in the version-independent field of the PPDU to the MAC layer to ensure coexistence and terminate the reception of the PPDU. If the confirmation bit in the PPDU is a default value and there is no subfield set to the confirmation state, the device can ignore the ignore bit or the subfield of the ignore state and continue to receive other fields.

[0070] Space-Time Streams, Spatial Stream: Space-Time Streams is space-time block coding (STBC) that takes into account different spatial streams and time dimensions. When the transmitter does not use STBC, the space-time stream can also be called a spatial stream. For the convenience of description, the embodiments of the present application are uniformly referred to as spatial streams.

[0071] Balanced modulation: Indicates that the modulation modes of all spatial streams are the same.

[0072] Unbalanced modulation: means that different spatial streams can have different modulation modes.

[0073] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0074] The embodiments of the present application may be applicable to wireless local area network (WLAN) scenarios, and may be applicable to IEEE 802.11 system standards, such as IEEE802.11ax standards, or their next-generation or later standards. Or the embodiments of the present application may also be applicable to wireless local area network systems such as the Internet of Things (IoT) network or the Vehicle to X (V2X) network. Of course, the embodiments of the present application may also be applicable to other possible communication systems, such as long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, universal mobile telecommunication systems (UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, 5G communication systems, and future communication systems such as 6G communication systems.

[0075] The application scenario of the embodiment of the present application can be communication between an AP and one or more STAs, and is also applicable to communication between APs and between STAs. For example, see Figure 1 , shows a network architecture diagram of a WLAN applicable to an embodiment of the present application, Figure 1 Take the example that the WLAN includes two APs, namely AP1 and AP2, STA1 and STA2 associated with AP1, and STA3 connected to STA2. Among them, AP1 can communicate with STA1 and STA2, AP1 can communicate with AP2, and STA2 can communicate with STA. It should be understood that Figure 1 The number of APs and STAs is just an example and can be more or less.

[0076] The STA involved in the embodiments of the present application may be various user terminals, user devices, access devices, subscriber stations, subscriber units, mobile stations, user agents, user equipment or other names with wireless communication functions, wherein the user terminal may include various handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem with wireless communication functions, as well as various forms of user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), terminal, terminal equipment, portable communication devices, handheld devices, portable computing devices, entertainment devices, game devices or systems, global positioning system devices or any other suitable devices configured to communicate over a wireless medium. Here, for the convenience of description, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as stations or STAs.

[0077] The AP involved in the embodiments of the present application is a device deployed in a wireless communication network to provide wireless communication functions for its associated STA. The AP can be used as the hub of the communication system and can be a communication device such as a base station, a router, a gateway, a repeater, a communication server, a switch or a bridge, wherein the base station can include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, etc. Here, for the convenience of description, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as access points AP. Specifically, the AP and STA involved in the present application can be AP and STA applicable to the IEEE 802.11 system standard.

[0078] In the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "more than one" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0079] Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the size, content, order, timing, priority or importance of multiple objects. For example, the first data packet and the second data packet are names given only for the convenience of description, and the two data packets may be the same data packet, or may be different data packets.

[0080] The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0081] The present application provides an information indication method, which can be applied to a WLAN system, for example, Figure 1 The WLAN system shown in FIG. Figure 2 As shown, the method includes:

[0082] S201, the first device generates a PPDU, wherein the first field in the signaling field of the PPDU is in a first value state, the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries manufacturer customized information, and the first value state is indicated by one or more of the following states: any value state of the ignore bit, a non-default state of the confirmation bit, an ignore state, and a confirmation state.

[0083] Exemplarily, the manufacturer customized information may include, but is not limited to: modulation modes of N spatial streams in an unbalanced modulation mode, wherein modulation modes of at least two of the N spatial streams are different, and N is an integer greater than 1; HARQ information; information indicating AP collaboration, etc. Manufacturers may design manufacturer customized information according to requirements, which will not be listed here one by one.

[0084] It should be noted that the first field may include one or more fields, which is not limited in this application.

[0085] Optionally, the PPDU may be in an extremely high throughput multiple user physical layer protocol data unit (EHT MU PPDU) format. For example, Figure 3As shown, the PPDU may include a preamble part, a data field, and a packet extension (PE). The preamble part includes a traditional preamble, such as a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), and a legacy signaling field (L-SIG). The traditional preamble can ensure the coexistence of new devices and traditional devices, wherein the L-SIG may include a length field, which may indirectly indicate the duration of the field following the L-SIG in the PPDU. In addition, the L-SIG may also include a repetition of a traditional signaling field to enhance the reliability of the traditional signaling field; in addition, the L-SIG may also provide the receiving end with features such as detecting whether two symbols are the same and the remainder of the length in the L-SIG, so that the receiving end can identify that the PPDU is an EHT PPDU.

[0086] Optionally, the preamble part may further include a repeat legacy signal field (RL-SIG). The RL-SIG may be the RL-SIG field defined in 802.11ax.

[0087] In addition, the preamble part may also include U-SIG, which may indicate the version information of the PPDU. If it is an EHTMU PPDU, an EHT-SIG may also exist after the U-SIG. The U-SIG and EHT-SIG may carry the signaling information required for demodulating subsequent data fields.

[0088] The following is an exemplary description of the U-SIG Overflow subfield in the common part of U-SIG and EHT-SIG, as shown in Table 1.

[0089] Table 1

[0090]

[0091]

[0092]

[0093]

[0094] The uplink / downlink subfields and the PPDU type and compression mode subfields in the U-SIG field are exemplarily described below, as shown in Table 2.

[0095] Table 2

[0096]

[0097]

[0098] Optionally, the EHT-SIG may include other fields in addition to the U-SIG Overflow subfield. Exemplarily, the fields included in the EHT-SIG may be as shown in Table 3.

[0099] Table 3

[0100]

[0101]

[0102] Optionally, the number of non-OFDMA transmission users may also be a subfield of the U-SIG overflow field.

[0103] It should be noted that the subfields included in the EHT-SIG shown in Table 3 and the corresponding number of bits are only an exemplary description and are not specifically limited.

[0104] The preamble part may further include an extremely high throughput short training field (EHT-STF) and an extremely high throughput long training field (EHT-LTF). The EHT-STF may be used for automatic gain control, and the EHT-LTF may be used for channel estimation.

[0105] Packet expansion provides more time for the receiver to process the data.

[0106] S202: The first device sends a PPDU, and correspondingly, the second device receives the PPDU.

[0107] S203: If the second device supports the first transmission mechanism, the second device obtains the manufacturer customized information from the PPDU, and the first transmission mechanism is that the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information; or, if the second device does not support the first transmission mechanism, the second device processes the PPDU using the first value state as a confirmation state or an ignore state.

[0108] If the second device can support the transmission mechanism of "the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information", the second device can determine that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information when the PPDU is in the first value state, and obtain the manufacturer customized information. If the second device does not support the transmission mechanism of "the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information", the PPDU in the first value state cannot be read, and thus the manufacturer customized information cannot be obtained. In other words, the value state of the first field in the PPDU signaling field (that is, the first value state) is used to indicate whether the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information. If the second device supports the mechanism of indicating that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information with the first value state, when the second device receives the PPDU, it finds that the first field of the PPDU is in the first value state, then the second device believes that the PPDU carries the relevant manufacturer customized information and obtains the manufacturer customized information; on the contrary, if the second device does not support the mechanism of indicating that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information with the first value state, when the second device receives the PPDU, it finds that the first field of the PPDU is in the first value state, then the second device cannot read the PPDU, and therefore cannot obtain the manufacturer customized information.

[0109] It is understandable that the first value state is indicated by the confirmation state or the ignore state, and the first value state is also used as an identifier of manufacturer customized information. For a device that supports such manufacturer customized information, the first value state is not processed as a confirmation state or an ignore state, but specific manufacturer customized information is further obtained according to the first value state; for a device that does not support such manufacturer customized information, the first value state is used as a confirmation state or an ignore state, that is, the reception of the PPDU is terminated, or the field in the ignore state is ignored, and other fields are continued to be read.

[0110] Optionally, before step S202, the first device and the second device may exchange information to determine whether the other party supports or does not support the first transmission mechanism. For example, the first device and the second device may interact in the association phase. For example, the STA sends an association request frame, and the association request frame includes an indication of whether the STA supports the first transmission mechanism. The AP sends an association response frame, and the association response frame includes an indication of whether the AP supports the first transmission mechanism. Among them, the STA can be the first device, and the AP can be the second device. Alternatively, the STA is the second device, and the AP is the first device.

[0111] It can be understood that the embodiments of the present application can be used for manufacturer privatization customization, and the manufacturer can determine that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customization information through the first value state. In addition, the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to WLAN standard definition, and the first value state can be defined in the WLAN standard to indicate certain information. For example, the first value state can be defined in the WLAN standard to indicate the modulation mode of N spatial streams in the unbalanced modulation mode, wherein the modulation modes of at least two of the N spatial streams are different.

[0112] In the embodiment of the present application, by using any value state of the ignore bit, the non-default state of the confirmation bit, the ignore state, and one or more states of the confirmation state as an identifier of the unbalanced modulation information or the manufacturer customized information, the device supporting the first transmission mechanism can read the PPDU whose first field is in the first value state, and obtain the unbalanced modulation information or the manufacturer customized information in the PPDU. In this way, it can be ensured that the information of the PPDU defined in the original standard does not conflict when the manufacturer privatizes and customizes or when the standard is subsequently improved.

[0113] To facilitate understanding of the solution, the embodiment of the present application is illustrated by taking the first value state as an example for indicating that the PPDU carries manufacturer customized information. The present application is illustrated below by taking the manufacturer customized information as an example of the modulation mode of N spatial streams in the unbalanced modulation mode, where N is an integer greater than 1, and the modulation modes of at least two spatial streams are different.

[0114] Optionally, the data field of the PPDU includes N spatial streams, wherein at least two spatial streams are modulated in different ways.

[0115] In a possible implementation, the first device may indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information through a first value state, and indicate the type of the manufacturer customized information through at least one ignore bit in the PPDU. For example, if the manufacturer customized information is an unbalanced modulation mode, the first device may indicate that the manufacturer customized information is an unbalanced modulation mode through at least one ignore bit in the PPDU.

[0116] After receiving the PPDU, if the second device supports the first transmission mechanism, the second device can determine that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information according to the first value state, and determine that the manufacturer customized information is an unbalanced modulation method by reading at least one ignore bit in the PPDU. The second device reads the PPDU to obtain the modulation method of N spatial streams.

[0117] The following describes seven possible examples of the first value state. It should be understood that the following seven examples are only for illustration and are not intended to be specific limitations on the first value state.

[0118] Example 1: The first field may include a PPDU type and compression mode subfield and a non-orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) transmission user number subfield. The first value state is that the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users participating in the non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1.

[0119] In this example 1, the PPDU type and compression mode subfields may indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield may indicate that the number of users participating in non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1 as a confirmation state or an ignore state.

[0120] For single-user transmission with equalization modulation, when the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicate single-user transmission, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield needs to indicate that the number of users is 1, so that the receiving end can read the unique user field, thereby obtaining the spatial stream number and the modulation mode with unified spatial stream numbers. In the embodiment of the present application, when the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicate single-user transmission, the number of non-OFDMA users can indicate more than 1. The PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users participating in non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1 as a confirmation state or an ignore state. By using the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicating single-user transmission and the non-OFDMA user number indicating more than 1 as the identification of the manufacturer customized information, the receiving end supporting the transmission mechanism of "the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information" can determine the identification of the PPDU carrying the manufacturer customized information, and the subsequent user fields will appear in the corresponding number of user fields according to the indication of the number of non-OFDMA users. And read the manufacturer customized information from these user fields. The receiving end that does not support the transmission mechanism of "the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries manufacturer customized information" can treat the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicating single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicating that the number of users participating in non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1 as a confirmation state or an ignore state. For example, if the second device treats the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicating single-user transmission and the non-OFDMA user number indicating more than 1 as a confirmation state, the second device can wait until the end of the PPDU, pass the information in the version-independent field of the PPDU to the MAC layer to ensure coexistence, and terminate the reception of the PPDU. Alternatively, the second device treats the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicating single-user transmission and the non-OFDMA user number indicating more than 1 as an ignore state, then the second device can ignore the subfields of the ignore state and continue to read other fields. In this way, manufacturer-private customization can be achieved without changing the information of the PPDU defined by the WLAN standard.

[0121] Based on Example 1, the PPDU may indicate the modulation mode of N spatial streams through multiple user fields. For example, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield may indicate that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1<n≤N. The PPDU includes n user fields, which are used to indicate the modulation mode of N spatial streams.

[0122] The n user fields can indicate the modulation mode of the N spatial streams in any of the following six ways:

[0123] Mode 1: The first user field among the n user fields indicates the number of spatial streams, the identifier of the target site, and the modulation mode of the first spatial stream, and the second to nth user fields indicate the modulation modes of the second to Nth spatial streams.

[0124] Exemplarily, the first user field may adopt the signaling format of the user field for non-MU-MIMO user transmission defined by the WLAN standard, such as the first user field may include a site identification subfield, a spatial stream indication subfield, and an MCS indication subfield. Among them, the site identification subfield may indicate the identification of the target site, the spatial stream indication subfield may indicate the number of spatial streams N, and the MCS indication subfield may indicate the modulation mode of the first spatial stream.

[0125] The second to nth user fields may not use the signaling format of the user field for non-MU-MIMO user transmission and the signaling format of the user field for MU-MIMO user transmission defined in the WLAN standard. The second to nth user fields may not have a fixed signaling format, and the modulation mode of the second to Nth spatial streams is indicated by combining the bits of the second to nth user fields. In this way, the second to nth user fields can also be combined into one field, and the modulation mode of the second to Nth spatial streams is indicated by this field.

[0126] For example, taking a user field including 22 bits and a modulation mode of a spatial stream requiring 4 bits to indicate as an example, in addition to a spatial stream indicated by the first user field (i.e., the first spatial stream), a subsequent user field can additionally carry modulation mode information of 5 spatial streams, 2 user fields can additionally carry modulation mode information of 11 spatial streams, and these 2 user fields can also be combined into 1 field to carry the modulation mode information of 11 spatial streams, and 3 user fields can additionally carry the modulation mode information of 15 spatial streams. Similarly, these 3 user fields can also be combined into 1 field to carry the modulation mode information of 15 spatial streams.

[0127] For example, the PPDU may be Figure 4A shown.

[0128] Optionally, the indication method of the modulation method of the first spatial stream may be as shown in Table 4.

[0129] Table 4

[0130] Value Indicates the modulation mode 0 BPSK, R=1 / 2 1 QSPK, R=1 / 2 2 QPSK, R=3 / 4 3 16-QAM, R=1 / 2 4 16-QAM, R=3 / 4 5 64-QAM, R=2 / 3 6 64-QAM, R=3 / 4 7 64-QAM, R=5 / 6 8 256-QAM, R=3 / 4 9 256-QAM, R=5 / 6 10 1024-QAM, R=3 / 4 11 1024-QAM, R=5 / 6 12 4096-QAM, R=3 / 4 13 4096-QAM, R=5 / 6 14 BPSK, dual carrier modulation, repetition, R=1 / 2 15 BPSK, dual carrier modulation, R=1 / 2

[0131] According to the indication method shown in Table 4, the modulation method of the first spatial stream requires at least 4 bits to indicate.

[0132] Optionally, the modulation order and / or code rate of different spatial streams may be different, so the modulation mode of the 2nd to Nth spatial streams needs to indicate the modulation order and code rate. The indication method of the modulation mode of the 2nd to Nth spatial streams may be the same as the indication method of the modulation mode of the 1st spatial stream. Therefore, the modulation mode of a spatial stream in the 2nd to Nth spatial streams requires at least 4 bits to indicate. Taking an example in which a user field includes 22 bits and the modulation mode of a spatial stream requires 4 bits to indicate, in addition to the spatial stream indicated by the first user field (i.e., the first spatial stream), a subsequent user field can additionally carry modulation mode information of 5 spatial streams, 2 user fields can additionally carry modulation mode information of 11 spatial streams, and 3 user fields can additionally carry modulation mode information of 15 spatial streams.

[0133] Alternatively, the code rate of the second to Nth spatial streams may be the same as the code rate of the first spatial stream, so the modulation mode of the second to Nth spatial streams may indicate the modulation order. The indication method of the modulation mode of the second to Nth spatial streams may be as shown in Table 5.

[0134] Table 5

[0135] Value Indicates the modulation mode 0 BPSK 1 QPSK 2 16-QAM 3 64-QAM 4 256-QAM 5 1024-QAM 6 4096-QAM 7 Reserve

[0136] According to the indication method shown in Table 5, the modulation method of any spatial stream from the 2nd to the Nth spatial stream requires at least 3 bits to indicate. Taking a user field including 22 bits and a modulation method of a spatial stream requiring 3 bits to indicate as an example, in addition to the spatial stream indicated by the first user field (i.e., the first spatial stream), a subsequent user field can carry additional modulation method information of 7 spatial streams, 2 user fields can carry additional modulation method information of 14 spatial streams, and 3 user fields can carry additional modulation method information of 22 spatial streams.

[0137] According to the indication method shown in Table 5 above, the second device can determine the modulation order and code rate of the first spatial stream by reading the first user field of the PPDU, and determine the modulation orders of the second to N-th spatial streams by reading the second to n-th user fields of the PPDU. Since the code rates of the second to N-th spatial streams can be the same as the code rate of the first spatial stream, the second device can determine the code rates of the second to N-th spatial streams according to the code rate of the first spatial stream.

[0138] Through the above-mentioned method 1, the first device can flexibly adjust the number of users indicated by the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield according to the number of spatial streams in accordance with the above method, thereby flexibly adjusting the number of user fields, thereby reducing signaling overhead. For example, taking a user field including 22 bits and a modulation mode of a spatial stream requiring 4 bits to indicate as an example, if the number of spatial streams is 3, that is, N=3, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield can indicate that the number of users is 2, then the PPDU includes two user fields, wherein the first user field can indicate the modulation mode of the first spatial stream, and the second user field can indicate the modulation mode of the second and third spatial streams. If the number of spatial streams is 9, that is, N=9, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield can indicate that the number of users is 3, then the PPDU includes 3 user fields, wherein the first user field can indicate the modulation mode of the first spatial stream, and the second user field can indicate the modulation mode of the second to ninth spatial streams.

[0139] Optionally, the first device may also determine the number of users indicated by the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield according to the maximum number of spatial streams that can be realized, thereby determining the number of user fields. For example, taking a user field including 22 bits and a modulation mode of a spatial stream requiring 3 bits to indicate as an example, the maximum number of spatial streams that can be realized by the first device is 16, and it can be determined that the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield can indicate the number of users as 4, then the PPDU includes 4 user fields, wherein the first user field can indicate the modulation mode of the first spatial stream, and the second to fourth user fields can indicate the modulation modes of the remaining spatial streams. In this way, the length of the PPDU is fixed, and the receiving end processing is simple to implement.

[0140] Alternatively, the PPDU may also include a fixed number of user fields, and when the number of spatial streams exceeds the number of spatial streams that can be indicated by the fixed number of user fields, one or more spatial streams may be combined into one spatial stream group. For example, assuming that the PPDU includes three user fields, and taking one user field including 22 bits, and the modulation mode of one spatial stream requiring 3 bits to indicate as an example, the first user field may indicate one spatial stream, and the second and third user fields may indicate 14 spatial streams in total, so the three user fields may indicate 15 spatial streams in total. When the total number of spatial streams N≤15, the 44 bits of the second and third user fields may indicate the modulation modes of the second to Nth spatial streams, respectively. When N=16, assuming that the modulation mode of the 16th spatial stream is the same as the modulation mode of the 15th spatial stream, the 15th and 16th spatial streams may be combined into one group. Alternatively, other combination methods may be used to combine any two spatial streams into one group.

[0141] In addition to the bits used to indicate the modulation mode of the spatial stream, the user field of the PPDU may have remaining bits. In one implementation, the remaining bits can be used to indicate the type of manufacturer-customized information. Taking the remaining 2 bits as an example, assuming that 00 indicates that the manufacturer-customized information is the modulation mode of unbalanced modulation of each spatial stream, 01 indicates that the manufacturer-customized information is a HARQ-related indication, 10 indicates that the manufacturer-customized information is an AP collaboration-related indication, and 11 is reserved. If the manufacturer-customized information is the modulation mode of unbalanced modulation of each spatial stream, the remaining 2 bits can take the value of 00, if the manufacturer-customized information is a HARQ-related indication, the remaining 2 bits can take the value of 01, and if the manufacturer-customized information is an AP collaboration-related indication, the remaining 2 bits can take the value of 10. It can be understood that the embodiment of the present application is explained by taking the modulation mode of unbalanced modulation of each spatial stream as an example, therefore, the remaining 2 bits can take the value of 00 to indicate that the manufacturer-customized information is the modulation mode of unbalanced modulation of each spatial stream.

[0142] If the embodiment of the present application is applied to the WLAN standard definition, multiple functions can be indicated by the remaining bits and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield. For example, taking the remaining 2 bits as an example, when the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is greater than 1, the remaining bits can use 00 to indicate that the manufacturer customized information is a modulation method of unbalanced modulation of each spatial stream, 01 to indicate that the manufacturer customized information is a HARQ-related indication, 10 to indicate that the manufacturer customized information is an AP collaboration-related indication, and 11 is reserved.

[0143] Mode 2: The first user field among the n user fields indicates the number of spatial streams, the identifier of the target site, and the modulation mode of the first spatial stream, the second to Nth spatial streams are divided into K spatial stream groups, and the second to nth user fields indicate the modulation modes of the K spatial stream groups, where K is an integer and 0<K≤N-1.

[0144] For example, the PPDU may be Figure 4B shown.

[0145] In one implementation, the grouping method of the K spatial stream groups may be fixed. The grouping method corresponding to each value of the total number of spatial streams (NSS) is fixed, that is, the number of spatial stream groups corresponding to each value of NSS and the number of spatial streams in each group are fixed. Exemplarily, when NSS=2, the grouping method is: divided into two groups, each spatial stream group includes 1 spatial stream. When NSS=3, the grouping method is: divided into 3 groups, each spatial stream group includes 1 spatial stream. When NSS=4, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, each spatial stream group includes 1 spatial stream. When NSS=5, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, and the numbers of spatial streams included in the 4 spatial stream groups are: 2; 1; 1; 1 respectively. When NSS=6, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, and the numbers of spatial streams included in the 4 spatial stream groups are: 2; 2; 1; 1 respectively. When NSS=7, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, and the numbers of spatial streams included in the 4 spatial stream groups are: 2; 2; 2; 1 respectively. When NSS=8, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, and the numbers of spatial streams included in the 4 spatial stream groups are: 2; 2; 2; 2. When NSS=9, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, and the numbers of spatial streams included in the 4 spatial stream groups are: 3; 2; 2; 2. When NSS=10, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, and the numbers of spatial streams included in the 4 spatial stream groups are: 3; 3; 2; 2. When NSS=11, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, and the numbers of spatial streams included in the 4 spatial stream groups are: 3; 3; 3; 2. When NSS=12, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, and the numbers of spatial streams included in the 4 spatial stream groups are: 3; 3; 3; 3. For example, the 1st to 3rd spatial streams are one group, the 4th to 6th spatial streams are one group, and so on. When NSS=13, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, and the numbers of spatial streams included in the 4 spatial stream groups are: 4; 3; 3; 3. When NSS=14, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, and the number of spatial streams included in the 4 spatial stream groups is: 4; 4; 3; 3. When NSS=15, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, and the number of spatial streams included in the 4 spatial stream groups is: 4; 4; 4; 3. When NSS=16, the grouping method is: divided into 4 groups, and the number of spatial streams included in the 4 spatial stream groups is: 4; 4; 4; 4.

[0146] It should be understood that the above grouping method is only an exemplary description, and the specific number of groups when grouping spatial streams and the number of spatial streams in each group are not specifically limited here.

[0147] It can be understood that when each spatial stream group includes one spatial stream, the number of divided spatial stream groups is equal to the total number of spatial streams, that is, K=N-1. In this case, mode 2 indicates the 2nd to Nth spatial streams through the 2nd to nth user fields, and the implementation method of mode 2 and mode 1 can be the same.

[0148] In another implementation, the grouping method of the K spatial stream groups may also be determined by the first device and the second device in advance through negotiation. The first device and the second device may negotiate in advance the grouping information corresponding to the total number of spatial streams under different total numbers of spatial streams, and the grouping information includes at least one of the following information: the total number of spatial stream groups K, and the number of spatial streams of each of the K spatial stream groups. Exemplarily, the first device and the second device may negotiate in advance through Figure 5 The negotiation information negotiation grouping mode of the signaling format shown in the figure, wherein the negotiation information may include an element identification field for indicating an element identification, a length field for indicating a length, a UEQM field for indicating whether unequal modulation (UEQM) is supported, and may also include grouping information corresponding to the total number of each spatial stream, wherein, when NSS=1, the grouping information includes the number of spatial streams of each of the M1 spatial stream groups. It can be understood that when NSS=1, only one spatial stream group is included, and the spatial stream group includes one spatial stream, so the negotiation information may not include the grouping information when NSS=1; when NSS=2, the grouping information includes the number of spatial streams of each of the M2 spatial stream groups, and optionally, the negotiation information may not include the grouping information when NSS=2; and so on, when NSS=R, the grouping information includes M R The number of spatial streams of each of the spatial stream groups, where R may be the maximum number of spatial streams supported by the first device. Optionally, the negotiation information may be carried in an information element of a management frame, where an information element is a unit that carries information in a management frame.

[0149] Optionally, the first device and the second device may negotiate the grouping method of the spatial stream during the association process. For example, the AP carries the corresponding negotiation information in the beacon frame, and the STA carries the corresponding negotiation information in the association request frame or the reassociation request frame, wherein the AP may be the first device, the STA may be the second device, or the AP is the second device and the STA is the first device. Alternatively, the first device and the second device may also negotiate the grouping information of the spatial stream through the management frame during the data interaction process.

[0150] When the first device and the second device negotiate the grouping mode of the spatial stream, the first device may determine the grouping mode of the spatial stream and notify the second device of the grouping mode. Alternatively, the first device may send a request message to the second device, the request message is used to request the negotiation of the grouping information of the spatial stream, and the second device feeds back to the first device whether to accept the request message. If the second device does not receive the request message, the second device may send indication information to the first device, the indication information is used to indicate the grouping information desired by the second device.

[0151] Mode 3: N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups. It can be understood that when N=1, H can be equal to the number M1 of spatial stream groups corresponding to 1 spatial stream, when N=2, H can be equal to the number M2 of spatial stream groups corresponding to 2 spatial streams, when N=3, H can be equal to the number M3 of spatial stream groups corresponding to 3 spatial streams, and so on. When N=R, H can be equal to the number M of spatial stream groups corresponding to R spatial streams. R , where R may be the maximum number of spatial streams supported by the first device. One user field in the n user fields indicates a modulation mode of a spatial stream group, and the modulation modes of the spatial streams included in each spatial stream group are the same.

[0152] In mode 3, the number of users n indicated by the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield is equal to the number of spatial stream groups H divided by N spatial streams, that is, the number of users indicated by the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield is H, and the PPDU indicates the modulation mode of H spatial stream groups through H user fields.

[0153] In one implementation, the H user fields may adopt the signaling format of the user field for MU-MIMO user transmission defined in the WLAN standard, such as the user field may include a site identification subfield, a spatial stream allocation subfield, and an MCS indication subfield. Among them, the site identification subfield is used to indicate the identification of the target site, the spatial stream allocation subfield is used to indicate the number of spatial streams of each spatial stream group in the H spatial stream groups, and the MCS indication subfield is used to indicate the modulation mode of the spatial stream group.

[0154] Among them, the site identification subfield of the i-th user field indicates the identifier of the target site, the spatial stream allocation subfield indicates the number of spatial streams of each spatial stream group in the H spatial stream groups, and the MCS indication subfield is used to indicate the modulation mode of the i-th spatial stream group, where i is an integer greater than 0 and not greater than H.

[0155] For example, the PPDU may be Figure 6 shown.

[0156] In another implementation, the H user fields may adopt the signaling format of the user field for non-MU-MIMO user transmission defined in the WLAN standard, such as the user field may include a site identification subfield, a spatial stream indication subfield, and an MCS indication subfield. Among them, the site identification subfield is used to indicate the identification of the target site, the spatial stream indication subfield is used to indicate the number of spatial streams of the spatial stream group, and the MCS indication subfield is used to indicate the modulation mode of the spatial stream group.

[0157] Among them, the site identification subfield of the i-th user field indicates the identifier of the target site, the spatial stream allocation subfield indicates the number of spatial streams of the i-th spatial stream group, and the MCS indication subfield is used to indicate the modulation mode of the i-th spatial stream group, where i is an integer greater than 0 and not greater than H.

[0158] For example, the PPDU may be Figure 7 shown.

[0159] Optionally, the indication method of the modulation methods of the H spatial stream groups may refer to the relevant description in method 1, which will not be repeated here.

[0160] In mode 3, one user field indicates a modulation mode of one spatial stream group, so the total number H of spatial stream groups can be indicated by the number of users indicated by the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield.

[0161] Mode 4: N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups. The first user field in the n user fields may indicate the grouping information of the spatial streams, such as the total number of spatial stream groups H and the number of spatial streams of each spatial stream group in the H spatial stream groups. The n-1 user fields other than the first user field in the n user fields may indicate the modulation information of the H spatial stream groups. The first user field may be any user field in the n user fields.

[0162] In one implementation, the first user field may be a user field including a site identification subfield with a specific value, and the user field including the site identification subfield with a specific value may indicate grouping information of the spatial stream, such as the total number of spatial stream groups H and the number of spatial streams of each of the H spatial stream groups. For the convenience of description, the user field including the site identification subfield with a specific value is referred to as a special user field below. The n-1 user fields other than the special user field among the n user fields specifically indicate the modulation mode of the H spatial stream groups.

[0163] Exemplarily, the special user field may include an NSS group number indication subfield and a spatial stream allocation subfield, the NSS group number indication subfield may indicate the total number of spatial stream groups H, and the spatial stream allocation subfield may indicate the number of spatial streams of each spatial stream group in the H spatial stream groups. The special user field may be as follows: Figure 8 shown.

[0164] Optionally, the spatial stream allocation subfield in the special user field may be similar to the spatial stream allocation subfield in the 802.11be standard. The spatial stream allocation subfield in the 802.11be standard is used to indicate the spatial stream allocation indication between each user of MU-MIMO transmission. The spatial stream allocation subfield in the 802.11be standard uses an index to traverse the number of spatial streams of each user based on the number of non-OFDMA transmission users.

[0165] The spatial stream allocation subfield in the special user field can be based on the number of spatial stream groups, and the number of spatial streams of each spatial stream group can be traversed in an index manner. For example, the number of spatial stream groups H is 2 or 3, as shown in Table 6.

[0166] Table 6

[0167]

[0168]

[0169] Optionally, the modulation method of the H spatial stream groups indicated by the n-1 user fields may be similar to the method in which the second to nth user fields indicate the second to Nth spatial streams in the above method 1, except that the above method 1 indicates in units of one spatial stream, while the method 3 indicates in units of one spatial stream group. The modulation method of the H spatial stream groups indicated by the n-1 user fields may refer to the relevant description in the above method 1, which will not be repeated here. Exemplarily, the PPDU may be as follows Fig. 9 shown.

[0170] Alternatively, the modulation method of the n-1 user fields indicating the H spatial stream groups may be similar to the method in which the second to nth user fields in the above-mentioned method 2 indicate the K spatial stream groups. For details, please refer to the relevant description in the above-mentioned method 2, which will not be repeated here. For example, the PPDU may be as follows Fig.10 shown.

[0171] Alternatively, the modulation method of the n-1 user fields indicating the H spatial stream groups may be similar to the method of the H user fields indicating the H spatial stream groups in the above method 3. For details, please refer to the relevant description in the above method 3, which will not be repeated here. Fig.11 shown.

[0172] Mode 5: N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups. The first user field of the n user fields indicates the total number of spatial stream groups H, the identifier of the target site, and the modulation mode of the first spatial stream group, and the second to nth user fields indicate the modulation modes of the second to Hth spatial stream groups.

[0173] Optionally, the modulation manner in which the n user fields indicate the H spatial stream groups may be similar to the manner in which the n user fields indicate the N spatial streams in the above-mentioned manner 1, with the difference that, in the above-mentioned manner 1, one spatial stream is used as a unit for indication, while in the manner 5, one spatial stream group is used as a unit for indication, and the modulation manner in which the n user fields indicate the H spatial stream groups may specifically refer to the relevant description in the above-mentioned manner 1, which will not be repeated here.

[0174] Mode 6: One user field among n user fields indicates a modulation mode of a spatial stream. In this mode, the number of user fields n may be equal to the number of spatial streams N. The PPDU includes N user fields, and the jth user field among the N user fields is used to indicate the modulation mode of the jth spatial stream among the N spatial streams, where j is an integer and 1≤j≤N.

[0175] Optionally, the modulation mode in which the n user fields indicate the N spatial streams may be similar to the mode in which the n user fields indicate H spatial stream groups in the above mode 3. The difference is that in the above mode 3, one spatial stream group is used as a unit for indication, while in mode 6, one spatial stream is used as a unit for indication. The modulation mode in which the n user fields indicate the N spatial streams may be specifically referred to the relevant description in the above mode 3, and will not be repeated here.

[0176] Example 2: The first field may also include a PPDU type and compression mode subfield, a non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield, and a user field. The first value state is that the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users participating in the non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1, and there is a user field whose site identification subfield is a specific value (that is, there is a special user field).

[0177] In this example two, the PPDU type and compression mode subfields may indicate single-user transmission, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield may indicate that the number of users participating in the non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1, and there is a user field whose site identification subfield has a specific value as a confirmation state or an ignore state.

[0178] Example 3: The first field may also include a non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield and a user field. The first value state is that the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users participating in the non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1, and there is a user field whose site identification subfield is a specific value (that is, there is a special user field).

[0179] In this example three, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicating that the number of users participating in non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1 and there is a user field with a specific value in the site identification subfield can be regarded as a confirmation state or an ignore state.

[0180] Example 4: The first field may also include a PPDU type and compression mode subfield and a user field. The first value state is that the PPDU type and compression mode subfields indicate single-user transmission, and there is a user field with a site identification subfield of a specific value (that is, there is a special user field).

[0181] In this example four, the PPDU type and compression mode subfields may indicate single-user transmission, and the user field in which the site identification subfield has a specific value may be regarded as a confirmation state or an ignore state.

[0182] Example 5: The first field may also only include a user field. The first value state is that there is a user field whose site identification subfield is a specific value (that is, there is a special user field).

[0183] In this fifth example, the user field in which the site identification subfield has a specific value may be regarded as a confirmation state or an ignore state.

[0184] Optionally, in the above examples 3 to 5, the indication method of the modulation method of the N spatial streams can refer to the special user field in the above method 4 indicating the total number of spatial stream groups H and the number of spatial streams of each spatial stream group in the H spatial stream groups, and the n-1 user fields other than the special user field in the n user fields specifically indicate the indication method of the modulation method of the H spatial stream groups, which will not be repeated here.

[0185] Example six: The first value state may also be a confirmation state defined in the WLAN standard. For example, the first value state may be one or more confirmation states defined in the 802.11be standard.

[0186] For example, the first value state may be that the uplink / downlink subfield value is 0 (or the uplink / downlink subfield indicates downlink), and the PPDU type and compression mode subfield values ​​are 3. Alternatively, the first value state may also be that the uplink / downlink subfield value is 1 (or the uplink / downlink subfield indicates uplink), and the PPDU type and compression mode subfield values ​​are 3.

[0187] For example, the first value state may be as shown in Table 7.

[0188] Table 7

[0189]

[0190]

[0191] Example seven: The first value state may also be indicated by a confirmation state and a confirmation bit defined in a WLAN standard. For example, the first value state may be indicated by a confirmation state and a confirmation bit defined in an 802.11be standard.

[0192] For example, the first value state may be that the uplink / downlink subfield value is 0 (or the uplink / downlink subfield indicates downlink), the PPDU type and compression mode subfield values ​​are 3, and one confirmation bit of the U-SIG field is 0. Alternatively, the first value state may also be that the uplink / downlink subfield value is 1 (or the uplink / downlink subfield indicates uplink), the PPDU type and compression mode subfield values ​​are 3, and one confirmation bit of the U-SIG field is 0.

[0193] For example, the first value state may be as shown in Table 8.

[0194] Table 8

[0195]

[0196]

[0197] Optionally, in the above examples 6 and 7, the indication method of the modulation method of the N spatial streams may refer to the indication method of the modulation method of the N spatial streams in the above example 1, and will not be repeated here.

[0198] In one possible implementation, after receiving the PPDU, the second device can check and encode the first user field in the PPDU together with the common part, and subsequent user fields can be checked and encoded in groups of two user fields. If the last group includes a user field, the user field can be checked and encoded alone.

[0199] In the embodiment of the present application, by defining one or more states of an ignore state, a confirmation state, any state of an ignore bit, and a non-default state of a confirmation bit as an identifier of the manufacturer customized information, a device supporting the first transmission mechanism can read the corresponding manufacturer customized information according to the first value state. For a device that does not support the first transmission mechanism, the state is regarded as an ignore state or a confirmation state, so that the intercommunication between devices is not affected.

[0200] For the confirmation state other than the first value state, the ignore state, the non-default state of the confirmation bit, and any state of the ignore bit, since they are not used by various manufacturers, they can be used for the expansion of subsequent standards to support more extended features, and will not conflict with manufacturer-specific features and will not cause interoperability problems.

[0201] In addition, the WLAN standard starts from 802.11a / b / g, goes through 802.11n, 802.11ac, and 802.11ax. Among them, 802.1a / b / g only supports single spatial stream and does not support MIMO. 802.11n supports MIMO of up to 4 spatial streams, and each spatial stream can use a different MCS to adapt to the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of different spatial streams. This method is called UEQM. Based on the number of spatial streams, each situation can be traversed in an indexed manner. For example, the MCS field can include 7 bits. Depending on whether the CBW indicates 20MHz or 40MHz, the MCS field can be as shown in Table 9.

[0202] Table 9

[0203]

[0204]

[0205] In one implementation, MCS can implement both the coding and modulation strategy and the number of spatial streams. In the unbalanced modulation mode, taking 20 MHz and 2 spatial streams as an example, the MCS indicates the coding and modulation strategy and the number of spatial streams as shown in Table 10.

[0206] Table 10

[0207]

[0208] In the unbalanced modulation mode, at 20MHz, the MCS indicates the way to implement the coding and modulation strategy and the number of spatial streams as shown in Table 11.

[0209] Table 11

[0210]

[0211]

[0212] For MCS 53-76, please refer to the relevant description in the WLAN standard 802.11n, which will not be elaborated here.

[0213] However, as the number of supported spatial streams increases and the types of supported MCSs increase, the number of entries in the table will increase exponentially, requiring a large amount of storage and computing power. It is obviously unrealistic to traverse each situation using an index.

[0214] In the embodiment of the present application, the modulation mode of each spatial stream (or each spatial stream group) is indicated respectively by the user field, and the number of user fields can be adjusted according to the number of spatial streams (or spatial stream groups), so that the indication of the modulation mode of multiple spatial streams can be realized in the scenario of multiple spatial streams. Compared with the method of traversing each situation in an index manner, the implementation method of the embodiment of the present application is relatively simple. In addition, by designing some user fields, the site identification subfield, the spatial stream indication subfield, etc. may not be included, so that the user field can use more bits to indicate the modulation mode of the spatial stream. Compared with the user field using a fixed signaling format, each user field needs to indicate redundant information such as the identification of the target site and spatial stream information. The embodiment of the present application can improve the bit utilization, thereby reducing the signaling overhead and improving the throughput gain.

[0215] Based on the same technical concept as the method embodiment, the present application embodiment provides an information indication device. The structure of the device can be as follows Fig.12 As shown, it includes a processing unit 1201 and a transceiver unit 1202.

[0216] In one implementation, the information indicating device can be used to implement Figures 2 to 11 In the embodiment of the method executed by the first device, the device may be the first device itself, or a chip or chipset in the first device or a part of the chip used to execute the function of the related method, and the first device may be an AP or a STA. Among them, the processing unit 1201 is used to generate a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU, wherein the first field in the signaling field of the PPDU is a first value state, and the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries manufacturer customized information, and the first value state is indicated by one or more of the following states: any value state of the ignore bit, the non-default state of the confirmation bit, the ignore state, and the confirmation state; the transceiver unit 1202 is used to send the PPDU.

[0217] Exemplarily, the first field includes a PPDU type and compression mode subfield and a non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield; the first value state is indicated by the following confirmation state or ignore state: the PPDU type and compression mode subfield indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users participating in the non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1.

[0218] Optionally, the manufacturer customized information is a modulation mode of N spatial streams in an unbalanced modulation mode, where N is an integer greater than 1, and modulation modes of at least two of the N spatial streams are different.

[0219] Exemplarily, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1<n≤N; the PPDU includes n user fields, wherein the first user field among the n user fields indicates the total number N of spatial streams, the identifier of the target site, and the modulation mode of the first spatial stream, and the second to nth user fields indicate the modulation modes of the second to Nth spatial streams.

[0220] Exemplarily, the site identification subfield of the first user field indicates the identification of the target site, the spatial stream indication subfield of the first user field indicates the total number N of spatial streams, and the modulation coding strategy MCS indication subfield of the first user field indicates the modulation mode of the first spatial stream.

[0221] Exemplarily, the first field includes a user field; the first value state is indicated by the following confirmation state or ignore state, and the second confirmation state is that the site identification subfield of the user field takes a specific value.

[0222] Optionally, the manufacturer customized information is a modulation mode of N spatial streams in an unbalanced modulation mode, wherein N is an integer greater than 1, and the modulation modes of at least two spatial streams are different.

[0223] Exemplarily, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is m, where m is an integer greater than 1; the N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups, where H is an integer greater than 1, and the PPDU includes m user fields, the first user field among the m user fields indicates the total number of spatial stream groups H and the number of spatial streams of each of the H spatial stream groups, and the m-1 user fields among the m user fields except the first user field indicate the modulation mode of each of the H spatial stream groups.

[0224] Optionally, the first user field is a user field whose site identification subfield value is a specific value.

[0225] In another implementation, the information indicating device can be used to implement Figures 2 to 11In the embodiment of the method executed by the second device, the device may be the second device itself, or a chip or chipset in the second device or a part of the chip for executing the function of the related method, and the second device may be an AP or a STA. The transceiver unit 1202 is used to receive a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU, wherein the first field in the signaling field of the PPDU is a first value state, and the first value state is indicated by one or more of the following states: any value state of the ignore bit, a non-default state of the confirmation bit, an ignore state, and a confirmation state; the processing unit 1201 is used to: if the first transmission mechanism is supported, obtain the manufacturer customized information from the PPDU, and the first transmission mechanism is the first value state used to indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information; or, if the first transmission mechanism is not supported, process the PPDU with the first value state as a confirmation state or an ignore state.

[0226] Exemplarily, the first field includes a PPDU type and compression mode subfield and a non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield; the first value state is indicated by the following confirmation state or ignore state, wherein the first confirmation state is that the PPDU type and compression mode subfield indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users participating in the non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1.

[0227] Optionally, the manufacturer customized information is a modulation mode of N spatial streams in an unbalanced modulation mode, where N is an integer greater than 1, and modulation modes of at least two of the N spatial streams are different.

[0228] Exemplarily, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1<n≤N; the PPDU includes n user fields, wherein the first user field among the n user fields indicates the total number N of spatial streams, the identifier of the target site, and the modulation mode of the first spatial stream, and the second to nth user fields indicate the modulation modes of the second to Nth spatial streams.

[0229] Exemplarily, the site identification subfield of the first user field indicates the identification of the target site, the spatial stream indication subfield of the first user field indicates the total number N of spatial streams, and the modulation coding strategy MCS indication subfield of the first user field indicates the modulation mode of the first spatial stream.

[0230] Exemplarily, the first field includes a user field; the first value state is indicated by the following confirmation state or ignore state, and the second confirmation state is that the site identification subfield of the user field takes a specific value.

[0231] Optionally, the manufacturer customized information is a modulation mode of N spatial streams in an unbalanced modulation mode, wherein N is an integer greater than 1, and the modulation modes of at least two spatial streams are different.

[0232] Exemplarily, the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is m, where m is an integer greater than 1; the N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups, where H is an integer greater than 1, and the PPDU includes m user fields, the first user field among the m user fields indicates the total number of spatial stream groups H and the number of spatial streams of each of the H spatial stream groups, and the m-1 user fields among the m user fields except the first user field indicate the modulation mode of each of the H spatial stream groups.

[0233] Optionally, the first user field is a user field whose site identification subfield value is a specific value.

[0234] The division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. In addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into a processor, or may exist physically separately, or two or more modules may be integrated into one module. The above-mentioned integrated modules may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It is understood that the functions or implementations of each module in the embodiments of the present application may further refer to the relevant description of the method embodiment.

[0235] In one possible manner, the information indicating device may be as follows: Fig.13 As shown, the device may be a communication device or a chip in a communication device, wherein the communication device may be a first device or a second device, wherein the first device may be an AP or a STA, and the second device may be an AP or a STA. The device may include a processor 1301, a communication interface 1302, and a memory 1303. The processing unit 1201 may be the processor 1301. The transceiver unit 1202 may be the communication interface 1302.

[0236] The processor 1301 may be a central processing unit (CPU), or a digital processing unit, etc. The communication interface 1302 may be a transceiver, or an interface circuit such as a transceiver circuit, or a transceiver chip, etc. The device further includes: a memory 1303 for storing programs executed by the processor 1301. The memory 1303 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), etc., or a volatile memory (volatile memory), such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory 1303 is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto.

[0237] The processor 1301 is used to execute the program code stored in the memory 1303, specifically to execute the actions of the processing unit 1201, which will not be described in detail in this application. The communication interface 1302 is specifically used to execute the actions of the transceiver unit 1202, which will not be described in detail in this application.

[0238] The specific connection medium between the communication interface 1302, the processor 1301 and the memory 1303 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Fig.13 The memory 1303, the processor 1301 and the communication interface 1302 are connected via a bus 1304. Fig.13 The connections between the other components are shown in bold lines, which are only for illustration and are not intended to be limiting. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, Fig.13 Only one thick line is used in the diagram, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0239] An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer software instructions required to be executed by the above-mentioned processor, which includes a program required to be executed by the above-mentioned processor.

[0240] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from a website site, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode to another website site, computer, server or data center. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that includes one or more available media integrated. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., an SSD), etc.

[0241] The present application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the present application. It should be understood that each process and / or box in the flowchart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the processes and / or boxes in the flowchart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device generate instructions for implementing the processes in the flowchart and / or block diagram. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0242] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture comprising an instruction device, which implements the process Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A function specified in one or more boxes.

[0243] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions for implementing the process. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The steps for the functions specified in one or more boxes.

[0244] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. An information indication method, characterized in that: include: The first device generates a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU, wherein a first field in a signaling field of the PPDU is in a first value state, the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries manufacturer customized information, and the first value state is indicated by one or more of the following states: any value state of an ignore bit, a non-default state of a confirmation bit, an ignore state, and a confirmation state; The first device sends the PPDU.

2. An information indication method, characterized in that: include: The second device receives a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU, wherein a first field in a signaling field of the PPDU is in a first value state, and the first value state is indicated by one or more of the following states: any value state of an ignore bit, a non-default state of a confirmation bit, an ignore state, and a confirmation state; If the second device supports the first transmission mechanism, and the first transmission mechanism is that the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information, the second device obtains the manufacturer customized information from the PPDU; Alternatively, if the second device does not support the first transmission mechanism, the second device processes the PPDU using the first value state as a confirmation state or an ignore state.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first field includes a PPDU type and compression mode subfield and a non-orthogonal frequency division multiple access OFDMA transmission user number subfield; The first value state is indicated by the following confirmation state or ignore state: the PPDU type and compression mode subfield indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users participating in non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The manufacturer customized information is a modulation mode of N spatial streams in an unbalanced modulation mode, where N is an integer greater than 1, and modulation modes of at least two of the N spatial streams are different.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1<n≤N; The PPDU includes n user fields, wherein the first user field among the n user fields indicates the total number N of the spatial streams, the identifier of the target site, and the modulation mode of the first spatial stream, and the second to nth user fields indicate the modulation modes of the second to Nth spatial streams.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The site identification subfield of the first user field indicates the identification of the target site, the spatial stream indication subfield of the first user field indicates the total number N of the spatial streams, and the modulation coding strategy MCS indication subfield of the first user field indicates the modulation mode of the first spatial stream.

7. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The first field includes a user field; The first value state is indicated by a confirmation state or an ignore state as follows: the value of the site identifier subfield of the user field is a specific value.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The manufacturer customized information is a modulation mode of N spatial streams in an unbalanced modulation mode, wherein N is an integer greater than 1, and the modulation modes of at least two spatial streams are different.

9. The method according to claim 4 or 8, characterized in that The non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is m, where m is an integer greater than 1; The N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups, where H is an integer greater than 1, and the PPDU includes m user fields, a first user field among the m user fields indicates a total number H of the spatial stream groups and a number of spatial streams of each of the H spatial stream groups, and m-1 user fields among the m user fields except the first user field indicate a modulation mode of each of the H spatial stream groups.

10. An information indicating device, characterized in that: include: A processing unit, configured to generate a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU, wherein a first field in a signaling field of the PPDU is in a first value state, the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries manufacturer customized information, and the first value state is indicated by one or more of the following states: any value state of an ignore bit, a non-default state of a confirmation bit, an ignore state, and a confirmation state; The transceiver unit is used to send the PPDU.

11. An information indicating device, characterized in that: include: A transceiver unit, configured to receive a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU, wherein a first field in a signaling field of the PPDU is in a first value state, and the first value state is indicated by one or more of the following states: any value state of an ignore bit, a non-default state of a confirmation bit, an ignore state, and a confirmation state; a processing unit, configured to: if a first transmission mechanism is supported, and the first transmission mechanism is that the first value state is used to indicate that the PPDU carries the manufacturer customized information, then obtain the manufacturer customized information from the PPDU; or If the first transmission mechanism is not supported, the PPDU is processed with the first value state as a confirmation state or an ignore state.

12. The device according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that The first field includes a PPDU type and compression mode subfield and a non-orthogonal frequency division multiple access OFDMA transmission user number subfield; The first value state is indicated by the following confirmation state or ignore state: the PPDU type and compression mode subfield indicate single-user transmission, and the non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users participating in non-OFDMA transmission is greater than 1.

13. The device according to claim 12, characterized in that The manufacturer customized information is a modulation mode of N spatial streams in an unbalanced modulation mode, where N is an integer greater than 1, and modulation modes of at least two of the N spatial streams are different.

14. The device according to claim 13, characterized in that The non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is n, where n is an integer and 1<n≤N; The PPDU includes n user fields, wherein the first user field among the n user fields indicates the total number N of the spatial streams, the identifier of the target site, and the modulation mode of the first spatial stream, and the second to nth user fields indicate the modulation modes of the second to Nth spatial streams.

15. The device according to claim 14, characterized in that The site identification subfield of the first user field indicates the identification of the target site, the spatial stream indication subfield of the first user field indicates the total number N of the spatial streams, and the modulation coding strategy MCS indication subfield of the first user field indicates the modulation mode of the first spatial stream.

16. The device according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that The first field includes a user field; The first value state is indicated by a confirmation state or an ignore state as follows: the value of the site identifier subfield of the user field is a specific value.

17. The device according to claim 16, characterized in that The manufacturer customized information is a modulation mode of N spatial streams in an unbalanced modulation mode, wherein N is an integer greater than 1, and the modulation modes of at least two spatial streams are different.

18. The device according to claim 13 or 17, characterized in that The non-OFDMA transmission user number subfield indicates that the number of users is m, where m is an integer greater than 1; The N spatial streams are divided into H spatial stream groups, where H is an integer greater than 1, and the PPDU includes m user fields, a first user field among the m user fields indicates a total number H of the spatial stream groups and a number of spatial streams of each of the H spatial stream groups, and m-1 user fields among the m user fields except the first user field indicate a modulation mode of each of the H spatial stream groups.

19. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores a program or an instruction, and when the program or the instruction is read and executed by one or more processors, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 can be implemented.

20. A computer program product, characterized in that When the computer program product is executed on a communication device, the communication device is enabled to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

21. A communication device, characterized in that: The device includes a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is used to receive a computer program code or instruction and transmit it to the processor; the processor runs the computer program code or instruction so that the device implements the method as claimed in claim 1 or any one of claims 3-9, or the processor runs the computer program code or instruction so that the device implements the method as claimed in any one of claims 2-9.

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