Data transmission method, apparatus and system, and computer-readable storage medium

Abstract

Disclosed are a data transmission method, device and system, and a computer readable storage medium, and belong to the technical field of wireless communication. A first AP receives an RTS frame from a STA associated with the first AP. The first AP sends a CTS frame to the STA on a first channel group and sends a coordination announcement frame on a second channel group. The CTS frame comprises an indication of a first transmission duration, and the coordination announcement frame comprises an indication of a second AP, an indication of a first target channel group, and an indication of the first transmission duration. The coordination announcement frame is used to indicate that the second AP uses the first target channel group within the first transmission duration after receiving the coordination announcement frame. In the process of uplink transmission of the STA competing for the channel, other APs deployed in the same frequency as the AP associated with the STA can use the channel bandwidth not used by the STA for downlink transmission, thereby realizing uplink and downlink cooperative transmission of the STA and non-associated APs.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of wireless communication, in particular to a data transmission method, device and system, and computer readable storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] A wireless local area network (WLAN) includes access points (APs) and stations (STAs). The AP is used to provide a bridging function between the WLAN and other types of networks (such as wired networks). The STA refers to a wireless terminal configured with WLAN access functions, such as smart phones and notebook computers, etc.

[0003] At present, the STA usually uses a carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) mode to send uplink data to the AP. Moreover, in the uplink transmission process, in order to avoid the problem of co-frequency interference, in a multi-AP co-frequency deployment scenario, only the STA that has contended for the channel can transmit data between the AP associated with the STA, and the data transmission flexibility is low. SUMMARY

[0004] The present application provides a data transmission method, device and system, and computer readable storage medium, which can solve the problem of low data transmission flexibility at present.

[0005] A first aspect provides a data transmission method. The method includes: a first access point (AP) receiving a request-to-send (RTS) frame from a STA associated with the first AP. The first AP sends a clear-to-send (CTS) frame in response to the RTS frame to the STA on a first channel group, and simultaneously sends a coordination announcement (CoA) frame on a second channel group. The CTS frame includes an indication of a first transmission duration, and the CoA frame includes an identifier of the second AP, an indication of a first target channel group, and an indication of the first transmission duration. The CoA frame is used to instruct the second AP to use the first target channel group for the first transmission duration after receiving the CoA frame. Wherein, the operating channels of the second AP overlap with those of the first AP, i.e., the second AP and the first AP are deployed on the same frequency. The first channel group belongs to the operating channels of the first AP and includes the primary channel of the first AP's operating channels. The second channel group includes one or more channels of the first AP's operating channels other than those in the first channel group. The first target channel group belongs to the operating channels of the second AP and includes the primary channel of the second AP's operating channels, and the first target channel group does not include any channels in the first channel group.

[0006] In this application, after a STA that has won a channel sends an RTS frame to the AP associated with that STA, the AP associated with that STA can allocate channels other than the channels used by that STA to other APs deployed on the same frequency. This allows other APs that have been allocated channels to send downlink frames to the STA associated with them on the allocated channels while the STA is sending uplink frames to the AP associated with that STA. This enables uplink and downlink coordinated transmission between the STA and non-associated APs, improving data transmission flexibility and bandwidth resource utilization.

[0007] Optionally, the main channel of the second AP's operating channel does not overlap with the main channel of the first AP's operating channel.

[0008] Optionally, the RTS frame includes an indication of a second transmission duration.

[0009] In one implementation, the first AP receives RTS frames from the STA on a third channel group, the third channel group including the first channel group and including channels in the first AP's operating channels that are not in the first channel group. That is, the STA requests to use the third channel group for a second transmission duration, and the first AP allows the STA to use some channels in the third channel group (i.e., the first channel group) for a first transmission duration.

[0010] Optionally, the first transmission duration is greater than or equal to the second transmission duration. Since the channel bandwidth of the third channel group requested by the STA is smaller than the channel bandwidth of the first channel group permitted by the first AP, the time duration of the STA transmitting the uplink frame in the first transmission duration set by the first AP is greater than the time duration of the STA transmitting the uplink frame in the second transmission duration set by the STA, and thus the first transmission duration can be greater than or equal to the second transmission duration.

[0011] In another implementation, the first AP receives the RTS frame from the STA on the first channel group. That is, the STA requests to use the first channel group within the second transmission duration, and the first AP permits the STA to use the first channel group within the first transmission duration. In this implementation, the first transmission duration is less than the second transmission duration.

[0012] Optionally, the first transmission duration is greater than a duration threshold.

[0013] In the present application, since the first transmission duration includes the transmission time of the coordination announcement frame and the time for the second AP to analyze the coordination announcement frame, if the first transmission duration is too small, the second AP can not have enough time to transmit the downlink frame within the first transmission duration of receiving the coordination announcement frame, or can not have enough time to complete one downlink frame, i.e., the coordinated transmission cannot be achieved. Therefore, by setting the first transmission duration to be greater than the duration threshold, the reliability and effectiveness of the coordinated transmission can be improved.

[0014] Optionally, the start time and the end time of the CTS frame transmitted by the first AP are the same as the start time and the end time of the coordination announcement frame, and the CTS frame includes a padding field.

[0015] In the present application, by adding the padding field in the CTS frame, the length of the CTS frame is equal to the length of the coordination announcement frame, and thus the start time and the end time of the CTS frame transmitted by the first AP are the same as the start time and the end time of the coordination announcement frame. The synchronous transmission of the CTS frame and the coordination announcement frame can be achieved, and thus the synchronous response of the STA to the CTS frame and the synchronous response of the other APs receiving the coordination announcement frame to the coordination announcement frame can be achieved, thereby improving the reliability of the coordinated transmission.

[0016] Optionally, the coordination announcement frame further includes the identification of the third AP, the indication of the second target channel group, and the indication of the first transmission duration. The coordination announcement frame is further used to indicate that the third AP uses the second target channel group within the first transmission duration after receiving the coordination announcement frame. The working channel of the third AP overlaps with the working channel of the first AP. The second target channel group belongs to the working channel of the third AP and includes the primary channel of the working channel of the third AP, and the second target channel group does not include any channel in the first channel group and the first target channel group.

[0017] Optionally, the first AP can also receive a frame from the STA on the first channel group. The frame can be a data frame, a control frame or a management frame.

[0018] In a second aspect, a data transmission method is provided. The method comprises: receiving, by an AP, a preamble of a first frame from a STA which is not associated with the AP, the preamble of the first frame comprising an indication of a transmission duration of a data portion of the first frame; and transmitting, by the AP, a second frame to STAs associated with the AP on a primary channel of a working channel of the AP within the transmission duration after receiving the preamble of the first frame, when the primary channel of the working channel of the AP is idle.

[0019] In the present application, the STA which contends for the channel can transmit an uplink frame to the AP associated with the STA, and other APs which are deployed at the same frequency as the AP associated with the STA can listen to the uplink frame on the working channel and transmit a downlink frame to the STA associated with the AP on the primary channel when the primary channel is idle, i.e., the other APs which are deployed at the same frequency as the AP associated with the STA can actively initiate cooperative transmission to perform downlink transmission using the bandwidth of the channel which is not used by the STA, so as to realize uplink and downlink cooperative transmission between the STA and the non-associated AP, improve data transmission flexibility, and improve bandwidth resource utilization.

[0020] Optionally, when there is an idle secondary channel in the working channel of the AP, the AP can also transmit the second frame to the STA associated with the AP on the idle secondary channel within the transmission duration after receiving the preamble of the first frame, i.e., the AP can transmit the second frame to the STA associated with the AP using the total bandwidth of the primary channel and the idle secondary channel.

[0021] In the present application, the AP transmits the second frame to the STA associated with the AP using the total bandwidth of the primary channel and the idle secondary channel, which can fully utilize bandwidth resources, improve bandwidth resource utilization, reduce transmission time of the second frame, enable the AP to transmit more data to the STA associated with the AP within a specified duration, and improve transmission efficiency.

[0022] Optionally, the implementation of transmitting, by the AP, the second frame to the STA associated with the AP on the primary channel of the working channel of the AP comprises: when the transmission duration is greater than a duration threshold, transmitting, by the AP, the second frame to the STA associated with the AP on the primary channel of the working channel of the AP.

[0023] In the present application, since the AP can only send the downlink frame after a short inter frame space (SIFS) after parsing the preamble within the time length of sending the preamble of the first frame, if the time length of sending the data part of the first frame is too small, the AP can not send the downlink frame within the time length or can not send a complete downlink frame, that is, the cooperative transmission cannot be implemented. Therefore, by setting the time length of sending the data part of the first frame to be greater than the time length threshold as a condition for the AP to send the second frame to the STA associated with the AP, the reliability and effectiveness of the cooperative transmission can be improved.

[0024] In a third aspect, an AP is provided. The AP includes a plurality of function modules which interact to implement the method in the first aspect and each of the implementations thereof. The plurality of function modules can be implemented based on software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware, and the plurality of function modules can be combined or split based on specific implementation.

[0025] In a fourth aspect, an AP is provided. The AP includes a plurality of function modules which interact to implement the method in the second aspect and each of the implementations thereof. The plurality of function modules can be implemented based on software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware, and the plurality of function modules can be combined or split based on specific implementation.

[0026] In a fifth aspect, a data transmission system is provided, including a STA, a first AP and a second AP, wherein the working channels of the first AP and the second AP overlap, the STA is associated with the first AP, the first AP is configured to perform the method in any one of the first aspect, or the second AP is configured to perform the method in any one of the second aspect.

[0027] In a sixth aspect, an AP is provided, including a transceiver and an antenna.

[0028] The transceiver is configured to perform transceiving actions on the working channel of the AP using the antenna, to implement the method in the first aspect and each of the implementations thereof or to implement the method in the second aspect and each of the implementations thereof.

[0029] In a seventh aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, and the computer readable storage medium stores instructions, when the instructions are executed by a processor of a computer device, the method in the first aspect and each of the implementations thereof is implemented or the method in the second aspect and each of the implementations thereof is implemented.

[0030] Eighthly, a chip is provided, the chip including programmable logic circuitry and / or program instructions, which, when the chip is running, implement the methods of the first aspect and its embodiments or implement the methods of the second aspect and its embodiments. Attached Figure Description

[0031] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a multi-AP collaborative architecture provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0032] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an application scenario involving a data transmission method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0033] Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating a data transmission method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0034] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a cooperative declaration frame provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0035] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of a frame transmission sequence provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0036] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of another frame transmission sequence provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0037] Figure 7 This is a flowchart illustrating another data transmission method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0038] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of another frame transmission sequence provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0039] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a first AP provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0040] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an AP provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0041] Figure 11 This is a block diagram of an AP provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0042] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the embodiments of this application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0043] The radio frequency frequency range used by WLAN is defined in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series standards (also known as WLAN protocols), which includes the 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) band and the 5 GHz band. Among them, the 2.4 GHz band includes 2.4-2.4835 GHz, and the 5 GHz band includes 5.150-5.350 GHz and 5.725-5.850 GHz. In order to avoid the problem of co-channel interference, the available frequency bands in WLAN are divided into independent channels, that is, there is no frequency band overlap between channels. For example, the 2.4 GHz band has 3 independent channels, including channel 1, channel 6 and channel 11, so at most three co-frequency WLANs can be deployed simultaneously under the 2.4 GHz band. In the embodiments of the present application, “x” in “channel x” refers to the channel number defined in the WLAN protocol. For example, the 5 GHz band includes channel 36, channel 40, channel 44 and channel 48, etc.

[0044] Due to the limited signal coverage of a single AP, in high-density deployment scenarios such as offices, canteens, airports and railway stations, multiple APs are usually needed to meet the signal coverage requirements. Due to the limited number of independent channels in WLAN, it is not possible to meet the requirement that all APs are deployed in different frequency bands (i.e., each AP uses an independent channel), so some APs need to be deployed in the same frequency band. Multiple APs deployed in the same frequency band means that the working channels of the multiple APs overlap, which can be that the working channels of the multiple APs are completely the same, or can be that the working channels of the multiple APs are partially the same.

[0045] In the embodiments of the present application, the working channel of the AP refers to a complete WLAN channel, for example, a 20 megahertz (MHz) WLAN channel, or a WLAN channel with a larger bandwidth (for example, 40 MHz, 80 MHz or 160 MHz). A channel with a bandwidth greater than 20 MHz can be referred to as a large bandwidth channel, and the large bandwidth channel is composed of multiple continuous 20 MHz channels. For example, in the 5 GHz frequency band, a 40 MHz large bandwidth channel can be composed of a 20 MHz channel 36 and a 20 MHz channel 40, denoted as channel <36, 40>. If the working channel of the AP is a large bandwidth channel, the working channel of the AP can include a primary channel and a secondary channel. Any one of the 20 MHz channels in the working channel of the AP can be set as the primary channel, and the primary channel can be one or more. The channels in the working channel of the AP other than the primary channel are the secondary channels. In order to improve the quality of WLAN service, the AP can use a large bandwidth channel as the working channel, for example, a 40 MHz or larger bandwidth WLAN channel. If the working channel of the AP or the STA is configured as a large bandwidth channel, in each data transmission, part or all of the bandwidth of the working channel can be used for transmission, but at least one primary channel must be included. For example, the working channel of the AP is configured as an 80 MHz channel <36, 40, 44, 48>, and the primary channel is channel 36, then the AP can transmit data on the entire 80 MHz channel, or on the 40 MHz channel <36, 40>, or on the 20 MHz channel 36.

[0046] The current WLAN protocol only supports single-AP transmission, and there is no spatial multiplexing cooperation between different APs, so the effective use of time resources, frequency resources and spatial resources is very limited. In order to effectively use the limited wireless resources, the next generation WLAN protocol (IEEE 802.11be protocol) draft begins to introduce multi-AP cooperative transmission technology. Multi-AP cooperative transmission refers to the common transmission of data by multiple APs deployed on the same frequency. Multiple APs share data information and control information through wired networks or wireless networks, and can achieve multi-AP cooperative transmission, thereby improving peak throughput, improving spectrum utilization, and reducing transmission delay.

[0047] For example, Figure 1 is a multi-AP cooperative architecture diagram provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in Figure 1As shown, multiple APs located in close proximity and deployed in the same frequency form a multi-AP coordination group (as shown by the dashed box). The APs in the multi-AP coordination group exchange data information and control information through a wired network or a wireless network. There is a master AP (the master AP can also be referred to as a sharing AP or a coordinator AP) in the multi-AP coordination group, which controls the CSMA / CA channel access of the APs in the multi-AP coordination group, schedules the frequency resources of the APs in the multi-AP coordination group, and coordinates the coordinated transmission of the multiple APs in the multi-AP coordination group, etc. The APs other than the master AP in the multi-AP coordination group are secondary APs (the secondary APs can also be referred to as shared APs or coordinated APs), which are subject to the scheduling of the master AP and perform coordinated transmission according to the frequency resources allocated by the master AP. In the multi-AP coordination architecture, the master AP is not fixed. Generally, the AP that preempts the channel and performs data transmission in the transmission opportunity (TXOP) time is taken as the master AP, and the other APs are taken as the secondary APs.

[0048] For example, in the multi-AP coordination architecture as shown in FIG. 1, the operating channels of the AP 101A and the AP 101B both include the channel 36 and the channel 40. If the AP 101A preempts the channel this time, the AP 101A is taken as the master AP in the TXOP time and can transmit downlink data to the STA 102A associated with the AP 101A; the AP 101B is taken as the secondary AP in the TXOP time and is subject to the scheduling of the AP 101A. If the AP 101B preempts the channel next time, the AP 101B is taken as the master AP in the next TXOP time and can transmit downlink data to the STA 102B associated with the AP 101B; the AP 101A is taken as the secondary AP in the TXOP time and is subject to the scheduling of the AP 101A. Figure 1

[0049] The embodiments of the present application propose a coordinated transmission mechanism triggered by an AP in uplink transmission for the multi-AP same-frequency deployment scenario. The main idea of the embodiments of the present application is that, in the process that a STA competes for a channel to perform uplink transmission, other APs deployed in the same frequency as the AP associated with the STA can perform downlink transmission using the channel bandwidth not used by the STA, so as to realize the uplink and downlink coordinated transmission of the STA and the non-associated AP, improve the data transmission flexibility, and improve the utilization rate of bandwidth resources.

[0050] For example, Figure 2 is an application scenario diagram involved in a data transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2, the AP 201A and the AP 201B are deployed in the same frequency, and the STA 202A is associated with the AP 201A. The AP 201A and the AP 201B form a multi-AP coordination group. The AP 201A is taken as the master AP in the TXOP time, and the AP 201B is taken as the secondary AP in the TXOP time. Figure 2 ​As shown, the application scenario includes a plurality of APs 201A-201C (collectively referred to as APs 201) and a plurality of STAs 202A-202C (collectively referred to as STAs 202). Among them, the STA 202A is associated with the AP 201A, the STA 202B is associated with the AP 201B, and the STA 202C is associated with the AP 201C. That is, the AP 201A is configured to provide wireless access services based on a WLAN protocol for the STA 202A, the AP 201B is configured to provide wireless access services based on a WLAN protocol for the STA 202B, and the AP 201C is configured to provide wireless access services based on a WLAN protocol for the STA 202C. The number of APs and STAs in the figure is only used as an example for illustrative purposes, and does not limit the application scenarios involved in the data transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0051] The AP 201 is a network device with a WLAN chip or a WLAN system on a chip (SoC) chip. For example, the AP 201 can be a router or a switch, etc. The STA 202 is a wireless terminal with a WLAN chip, for example, the STA 202 can be a smart phone, a notebook computer, or a smart wearable device, etc.

[0052] In the embodiments of the present application, the working channel of the AP 201 and the primary channel of the working channel are pre-configured. The working channels of the AP 201A, the AP 201B and the AP 201C overlap, and the primary channels of the working channels of the AP 201A, the AP 201B and the AP 201C do not completely overlap. For example, the working channels of the AP 201A and the AP 201B are the same, both of which are 80MHz channels <36, 40, 44, 48>. The working channels of the AP 201A and the AP 201C partially overlap, and the working channel of the AP 201C is a 40MHz channel <44, 48>. The primary channels of the working channels of the two APs do not completely overlap, which means that the primary channels of the working channels of the two APs completely do not overlap or partially overlap. For example, the primary channels of the working channel of the AP 201A include channel 36 and channel 40, the primary channel of the working channel of the AP 201B is channel 40, and the primary channel of the working channel of the AP 201C is channel 44.

[0053] Optionally, the AP 201 stores a neighbor AP list. The neighbor AP list records the primary channel of the operating channel of the neighbor AP of the AP 201. The neighbor AP list can also record the identification of the neighbor AP of the AP 201, the operating channel, and the received signal strength indication (RSSI) of the neighbor AP by the AP 201, and other information. The identification of the neighbor AP can be the basic service set identifier (BSSID) of the neighbor AP. The BSSID of an AP refers to the Medium Access Control (MAC) address of the AP in the air interface. An AP can regard other APs whose operating channels overlap with the operating channel of the AP and whose RSSI values are greater than a threshold value as neighbor APs of the AP. For example, the neighbor APs of the AP 201A include the AP 201B and the AP 201C, and the AP 201A can store the neighbor AP list as shown in Table 1.

[0054] Table 1

[0055] Identification of neighbor APs Operating channel Primary channel RSSI BSSID1 (AP 201B) Channel <36, 40, 44, 48> Channel 40 RSSI1 BSSID2 (AP 201C) channel <44, 48> Channel 44 RSSI2

[0056] In Table 1, BSSID1 is the BSSID of the AP 201B, and RSSI1 is the RSSI value of the AP 201A to the AP 201B. BSSID2 is the BSSID of the AP 201C, and RSSI2 is the RSSI value of the AP 201A to the AP 201C.

[0057] In some implementations, the neighbor AP list can be obtained by the AP through background channel scanning. When the AP is configured with an operating channel of 20MHz bandwidth, the AP listens to the beacon frames of other APs on the current operating channel, and if the beacon frames can be detected, the AP that sends the beacon frames is regarded as a neighbor AP, and the information of the neighbor AP is recorded in the neighbor AP list. When the AP is configured with an operating channel of 40MHz or greater bandwidth, the AP selects each 20MHz channel of the 20MHz channel set contained in the current operating channel, switches to the 20MHz channel for a period of time (for example, 200 milliseconds), and then listens to the beacon frames of other APs on the 20MHz channel, and if the beacon frames can be detected, the AP that sends the beacon frames is regarded as a neighbor AP, and the information of the neighbor AP is recorded in the neighbor AP list.

[0058] Optionally, the beacon frame sent by the AP carries an indication of the AP's operating channel and / or the primary channel of the AP's operating channel, enabling other APs receiving the beacon frame to record the AP's channel information. Alternatively, after identifying neighboring APs, the AP can send an indication of its operating channel and / or the primary channel of the AP's operating channel to the neighboring APs via wired or wireless means.

[0059] In some implementations, the list of neighboring APs can be manually configured. Optionally, please see [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 2 This application scenario also includes a wireless controller 203. The wireless controller 203 can be an access controller. For example, the wireless controller 203 can specifically be an access device such as a switch or gateway. Multiple APs 201 are wired to the wireless controller 203. The wireless controller 203 is used to manage the APs 201. Maintenance personnel can configure a list of neighboring APs in the APs 201 through the wireless controller 203.

[0060] Optionally, the AP can also receive and store service information sent by neighboring APs, and can also send its own service information to neighboring APs. This service information includes one or more of the following: the amount of data to be transmitted, the transmission duration, the service priority of the data to be transmitted, or the user priority of the data to be transmitted. Since the operating channels of the AP and its neighboring APs overlap, they can synchronize service information wirelessly on the operating channel. Alternatively, the AP and its neighboring APs can also synchronize service information via a wireless controller (wired).

[0061] In this embodiment of the application, the AP associated with the STA that competes for the channel during uplink transmission is designated as the primary AP, and the neighboring APs of the primary AP are designated as secondary APs. For example, in... Figure 2 In the application scenario shown, if STA 202A wins the channel, then AP 201A is the primary AP, and AP 201B and AP 201C are secondary APs.

[0062] Based on the same theme described above, this application provides two implementation methods through the following two embodiments. In the first embodiment of this application, the primary AP triggers the secondary AP to cooperate in downlink transmission during the uplink transmission process of the STA associated with the primary AP. In the second embodiment of this application, the secondary AP actively cooperates in downlink transmission during the uplink transmission process of the STA associated with the primary AP.

[0063] The first embodiment of this application: Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating a data transmission method provided in an embodiment of this application. This method can be applied to, for example... Figure 2 In the application scenarios shown. For example... Figure 3 As shown, the method includes:

[0064] Step 301, the first AP receives an RTS frame from a STA associated with the first AP.

[0065] The first AP is a master AP. After the STA associated with the first AP competes for the channel, the STA sends an RTS frame to the first AP. The RTS frame includes an indication of a second transmission duration. Other STAs remain silent within the second transmission duration after receiving the RTS frame. The RTS frame is used to request occupation of the channel on which the RTS frame is sent within the second transmission duration. The second transmission duration is a network allocation vector (NAV) duration set by the STA, including the total duration from the start time of the STA sending the RTS frame to the end time of the STA sending an uplink frame. The indication of the second transmission duration can be carried in the duration field of the RTS frame. In the embodiment, the uplink frame sent by the STA can be a data frame.

[0066] Step 302, the first AP sends a CTS frame responding to the RTS frame to the STA on the first channel group, and sends a CoA frame on the second channel group.

[0067] The first AP can send the CTS frame to the STA on the first channel group and send the CoA frame on the second channel group one SIFS after receiving the RTS frame from the STA, that is, the first AP transmits the CTS frame at the same start time as the CoA frame. The first AP can use an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technology to simultaneously send the CTS frame and the CoA frame on different channel groups.

[0068] Optionally, the first AP transmits the CTS frame at the same start time and end time as the CoA frame, and the CTS frame includes a padding field. Since the length of the CTS frame is usually smaller than the length of the CoA frame, the padding field can be added to the CTS frame to make the length of the CTS frame equal to the length of the CoA frame.

[0069] In the embodiment of the application, the length of the CTS frame is made equal to the length of the CoA frame by adding a padding field to the CTS frame, and then the first AP transmits the CTS frame at the same start time and end time as the CoA frame. Synchronous transmission of the CTS frame and the CoA frame can be achieved, and then the STA and other APs that receive the CoA frame can respond to the CoA frame synchronously, thereby improving the reliability of the coordinated transmission.

[0070] Alternatively, in some other implementations, the length of the CTS frame can also be greater than the length of the coordination announcement frame, and then a padding field can be set in the coordination announcement frame to make the length of the coordination announcement frame equal to the length of the CTS frame. The embodiments of the present application do not exclude this possibility.

[0071] The CTS frame includes an indication of the first transmission duration. The CTS frame sent on the first channel group is used to indicate that the STA is permitted to use the first channel group for the first transmission duration after receiving the CTS frame. The first transmission duration is the NAV duration set by the first AP, including the total duration from the start time of sending the CTS frame by the first AP to the end time of sending the uplink frame by the STA. The indication of the first transmission duration can be carried in the duration field of the CTS frame.

[0072] In one implementation, the first AP receives the RTS frame from the STA on the first channel group. In this implementation, the STA requests to use the first channel group for the second transmission duration, and the first AP permits the STA to use the first channel group for the first transmission duration. The first transmission duration is less than the second transmission duration.

[0073] In this implementation, since the channel group requested to be used by the STA (the first channel group) is the same as the channel group permitted to be used by the STA by the first AP (the first channel group), the duration of sending the uplink frame by the STA included in the first transmission duration set by the first AP is the same as the duration of sending the uplink frame by the STA included in the second transmission duration set by the STA. For example, the first transmission duration can be equal to the second transmission duration minus the response duration of the RTS frame by the first AP (i.e. the transmission duration of the RTS frame) and 1 SIFS duration.

[0074] In another implementation, the first AP receives the RTS frame from the STA on the third channel group. The third channel group includes the first channel group and includes the channels in the operating channel of the first AP that are not in the first channel group, i.e. the first channel group is a proper subset of the third channel group. In this implementation, the STA requests to use the third channel group for the second transmission duration, and the first AP permits the STA to use part of the channels in the third channel group (i.e. the first channel group) for the first transmission duration.

[0075] In this implementation, since the channel bandwidth of the third channel group requested by the STA is less than the channel bandwidth of the first channel group allowed by the first AP, the duration of uplink frame transmission by the STA in the first transmission duration set by the first AP is greater than the duration of uplink frame transmission by the STA in the second transmission duration set by the STA. For example, if the first channel group includes one channel and the third channel group includes two channels, then the duration of uplink frame transmission by the STA in the first transmission duration set by the first AP can be twice the duration of uplink frame transmission by the STA in the second transmission duration set by the STA. In this implementation, the first transmission duration can be greater than or equal to the second transmission duration.

[0076] The cooperative announcement frame includes an identifier of the second AP, an indication of the first target channel group, and an indication of the first transmission duration. This cooperative announcement frame is used to instruct the second AP to use the first target channel group within a first transmission duration after receiving the cooperative announcement frame. In this embodiment, the second AP is a secondary AP of the first AP.

[0077] Optionally, the identifier of the second AP is the BSSID of the second AP. The indication of the first target channel group includes the channel codes of the channels contained in the first target channel group. Optionally, the indication of the first target channel group also includes the channel bandwidth allocated to the second AP.

[0078] The following embodiments of this application explain the relationship between the first channel group, the second channel group, the first target channel group, the working channel of the first AP, and the working channel of the second AP.

[0079] 1. The relationship between the working channels of the first AP and the second AP.

[0080] The first AP operates on a high-bandwidth channel. The second AP's operating channel overlaps with the first AP's operating channel, but the primary channel of the second AP's operating channel does not completely overlap with the primary channel of the first AP's operating channel. For example, the first AP is as follows: Figure 2 In the application scenario shown, AP 201A is the second AP as follows: Figure 2 The AP 201B is shown in the application scenario. Both AP201A and AP 201B operate on the same 80MHz channel <36,40,44,48>. The primary channels of AP 201A include channel 36 and channel 40, while the primary channel of AP 201B is channel 40.

[0081] Optionally, the primary channel of the second AP's operating channel does not overlap with the primary channel of the first AP's operating channel. For example, the first AP is as follows: Figure 2 In the application scenario shown, AP 201A is the second AP as follows:Figure 2 The AP 201C in the application scenario shown. The primary channel of the operating channel of the AP 201A includes channel 36 and channel 40, and the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP 201C is channel 44.

[0082] 2. Relationship between the first channel group and the operating channel of the first AP.

[0083] The first channel group belongs to the operating channel of the first AP and includes the primary channel of the operating channel of the first AP. If the operating channel of the first AP has multiple primary channels, the first channel group including the primary channel of the operating channel of the first AP means that the first channel group includes at least one primary channel of the operating channel of the first AP.

[0084] The first channel group can only include the primary channel of the operating channel of the first AP. For example, the first AP is the AP 201A in the application scenario shown, and the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP 201A includes channel 36 and channel 40. The first channel group can include channel 36, or include channel 40, or include channel 36 and channel 40. Figure 2 Alternatively, the first channel group can include the secondary channel of the operating channel of the first AP in addition to the primary channel of the operating channel of the first AP. For example, the first AP is the AP 201A in the application scenario shown, the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP 201A includes channel 36 and channel 40, and the secondary channel of the operating channel of the AP 201A includes channel 44 and channel 48. The first channel group can include channel 40 and channel 44, or include channel 36, channel 40 and channel 44, or include channel 40, channel 44 and channel 48, and so on.

[0085] Figure 2 3. Relationship between the second channel group and the first channel group and the operating channel of the first AP.

[0086] The second channel group includes one or more channels of the operating channel of the first AP other than the channels in the first channel group, that is, the second channel group belongs to the operating channel of the first AP and does not overlap with the first channel group. For example, the first AP is the AP 201A in the application scenario shown, the first channel group includes channel 36, and the second channel group includes channel 40, channel 44 and channel 48.

[0087] Figure 2 4. Relationship between the first target channel group and the first channel group and the operating channel of the second AP.

[0088]

[0089] ​​​The first target channel group belongs to the operating channels of the second AP and includes the main channel of the second AP's operating channels, but does not include any channels in the first channel group. Since the first target channel group does not include any channels in the first channel group, the first target channel group does not overlap with the first channel group, thus avoiding co-channel interference between STAs associated with the first AP during uplink transmission and the second AP during downlink transmission.

[0090] In the first possible implementation, the first target channel group belongs to the operating channel of the first AP. For example, the first AP is as follows: Figure 2 In the application scenario shown, AP 201A is the second AP as follows: Figure 2 In the illustrated application scenario, AP 201B has a first channel group including channels 40 and 44, and a first target channel group including channels 36 and 48. In this implementation, the first target channel group may overlap with the second channel group; that is, the first AP can transmit a cooperative announcement frame on the channels allocated to the second AP. Alternatively, the first target channel group may not overlap with the second channel group; this embodiment does not limit this.

[0091] In the second possible implementation, the first target channel group does not belong to the operating channels of the first AP. For example, the first AP is as follows: Figure 2 In the application scenario shown, AP 201C is the second AP, as shown below. Figure 2 In the application scenario shown, AP 201A has a first channel group including channel 44 and a first target channel group including channels 36 and 40. AP 201C can send a cooperative announcement frame on channel 48, instructing AP 201A to use channels 36 and 40.

[0092] In a third possible implementation, some channels of the first target channel group belong to the operating channels of the first AP. For example, the first AP is as follows: Figure 2 In the application scenario shown, AP 201C is the second AP, as shown below. Figure 2 In the application scenario shown, AP201A has a first channel group including channel 44 and a first target channel group including channels 36 and 48. Channel 48 in the first target channel group is a working channel of AP 201C, while channel 36 in the first target channel group is not a working channel of AP 201C.

[0093] Optionally, the cooperative announcement frame further comprises an indication of the third AP, an indication of the second target channel group, and an indication of the first transmission duration. The cooperative announcement frame is further used to indicate that the third AP uses the second target channel group within the first transmission duration after receiving the cooperative announcement frame. The working channel of the third AP overlaps the working channel of the first AP, and the relationship between the working channel of the third AP and the working channel of the first AP can refer to the relationship between the working channel of the second AP and the working channel of the first AP, which will not be repeated here. The second target channel group belongs to the working channel of the third AP and comprises a primary channel of the working channel of the third AP, and the second target channel group does not comprise any channel in the first channel group and the first target channel group. The relationship between the second target channel group and the first channel group and the working channel of the third AP can refer to the relationship between the first target channel group, the first channel group and the working channel of the second AP, which will not be repeated here. The second target channel group does not comprise any channel in the first target channel group, that is, the second target channel group does not overlap the first target channel group, which can avoid mutual same-frequency interference between the second AP and the third AP in downlink transmission.

[0094] Optionally, the first AP broadcasts the cooperative announcement frame on a channel shared by the second AP and the third AP, and indicates the first target channel group for the second AP and the second target channel group for the third AP in the cooperative announcement frame. For example, the first AP is the AP 201A in the application scenario as shown in FIG. 2A, the second AP is the AP 201B in the application scenario as shown in FIG. 2B, and the third AP is the AP 201C in the application scenario as shown in FIG. 2C. The first channel group comprises channel 36, the first target channel group comprises channel 40, the second target channel group comprises channel 44 and channel 48, and the AP 201A can broadcast the cooperative announcement frame on channel 44 and / or channel 48. Figure 2 Figure 2 Figure 2

[0095] In the embodiment of the application, the master AP can indicate one or more secondary APs to use corresponding channel groups within a specified transmission duration after receiving a cooperative announcement frame by sending the cooperative announcement frame, so as to realize cooperative downlink transmission of the one or more secondary APs in the uplink transmission process of the STA associated with the master AP.

[0096] Alternatively, when the master AP determines to select multiple secondary APs to cooperatively perform downlink transmission, the master AP can also use OFDMA technology to simultaneously send a cooperative announcement frame to each secondary AP, and each cooperative announcement frame is used to indicate the corresponding secondary AP to use the corresponding channel group within the specified transmission duration after receiving the cooperative announcement frame.

[0097] ​​​In the embodiments of the present application, the cooperative announcement frame carries the identifier of the secondary AP, the indication of the channel group, and the indication of the transmission duration, to indicate that the secondary AP uses the channel group within the transmission duration after receiving the cooperative announcement frame, and the cooperative announcement frame is used to trigger the secondary AP to perform the downlink transmission cooperatively in the uplink transmission process of the STA associated with the primary AP. In addition, in the cooperative transmission mechanism provided by the present application, the primary channel of the working channel of each AP is fixed, and after receiving the cooperative announcement frame from the primary AP, the secondary AP can directly use the channel indicated by the cooperative announcement frame to perform the downlink transmission, and the cooperative efficiency is high.

[0098] Optionally, the cooperative announcement frame provided by the embodiments of the present application is a control frame. For example, Figure 4 is a structure diagram of a cooperative announcement frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. As Figure 4 indicated, the cooperative announcement frame includes a frame control (frame control) field, a duration (duration) field, a receiver address (receiver address, RA) field, a transmitter address (transmitter address, TA) field, a common information (common info) field, a user information list (user info list) field (variable length), a padding (padding) field (optional), and a frame check sequence (Frame Check Sequence, FCS) field. Among them, the frame control field, the duration field, the RA field and the TA field belong to the frame header. The cooperative announcement frame can be a newly defined control frame, for example, the control frame with the subtype value of 0011 in the frame control field can be defined as the cooperative announcement frame. Alternatively, the cooperative announcement frame can also be a subtype of the trigger frame (trigger frame) defined in the WLAN protocol, for example, the trigger frame with the trigger type value of one of 8-15 in the common information field can be defined as the cooperative announcement frame.

[0099] Optionally, the identifier of the secondary AP, the indication of the channel group, and the indication of the transmission duration contained in the cooperative announcement frame are in the user information list field. For example, referring to Figure 4 , the user information list field includes a neighbor AP identifier field, a channel identifier field, a channel bandwidth field, and a transmission duration field. Among them, the length of the neighbor AP identifier field is 48 bits (bit), used to carry the identifier of the neighbor AP. The length of the channel identifier field is 16 bits, used to carry the channel number of the channel group. The length of the channel bandwidth field is 8 bits, used to carry the total bandwidth size of the channel group. The length of the transmission duration field is 32 bits, used to carry the indication of the transmission duration.

[0100] Optionally, the first transmission duration is greater than a duration threshold. Since the first transmission duration contains the transmission time of the coordination announcement frame and the time for the second AP to parse the coordination announcement frame, if the first transmission duration is too small, the second AP can not have enough time to send downlink frames within the first transmission duration of the received coordination announcement frame, or can not have enough time to send one downlink frame, i.e. the coordinated transmission cannot be achieved. Therefore, by setting the first transmission duration to be greater than the duration threshold, the reliability and effectiveness of the coordinated transmission can be improved.

[0101] After receiving the RTS frame from the STA, the first AP can first determine the first channel group for the STA to use, and then determine the first transmission duration according to the relationship between the first channel group and the channel group used by the STA to send the RTS frame and the second transmission duration. If the first transmission duration is greater than the duration threshold, the first AP performs step 302. If the first transmission duration is less than or equal to the duration threshold, the first AP sends a CTS frame to the STA on the channel group used by the STA to send the RTS frame, i.e. the first AP grants the STA to use the channel group used by the STA to send the RTS frame.

[0102] Optionally, the first AP has a plurality of neighboring APs. The first AP can select one or more APs from the plurality of neighboring APs as secondary APs for coordinated transmission. For example, the first AP stores service information of the plurality of neighboring APs, and determines the coordinated transmission priority of the plurality of neighboring APs according to the service information of the plurality of neighboring APs, and selects one or more neighboring APs with the highest coordinated transmission priority as secondary APs for coordinated transmission. The amount of data to be transmitted, the duration to be transmitted, the service priority of the data to be transmitted, and the user priority of the data to be transmitted of the neighboring APs are all positively correlated with the coordinated transmission priority, i.e. the greater the amount of data to be transmitted, the longer the duration to be transmitted, the higher the service priority of the data to be transmitted, and the higher the user priority of the data to be transmitted, the higher the coordinated transmission priority of the neighboring AP.

[0103] The first AP sends a CTS frame to the associated STA on the first channel group, indicating that the first AP grants the STA to occupy the channels in the first channel group, i.e. the first AP allocates the channels in the first channel group to the STA for use, and the STA will only send uplink frames on the first channel group after receiving the CTS frame, so the first AP can further perform the following step 303.

[0104] Step 303, the first AP receives a frame from the STA associated with the first AP on the first channel group.

[0105] After receiving the coordination announcement frame from the first AP on the primary channel and / or the secondary channel of the second AP's operating channel, the second AP parses the coordination announcement frame to obtain the first target channel group and the first transmission duration allocated by the first AP for the second AP, and then the second AP can send a frame to the STA associated with the second AP on the first target channel group within the first transmission duration of receiving the coordination announcement frame. Optionally, if the duration of the second AP sending the frame to the STA associated with the second AP is less than the first transmission duration, a padding field can be added in the frame to keep alignment with the first AP.

[0106] The embodiments of the present application take the first AP and the second AP using the same 40MHz bandwidth operating channel as an example, and describe the implementation process of the data transmission method. Figure 3 The operating channel of the first AP and the operating channel of the second AP each include a 20MHz primary channel and a 20MHz secondary channel. The primary channel of the operating channel of the first AP overlaps with the secondary channel of the operating channel of the second AP, and the secondary channel of the operating channel of the first AP overlaps with the primary channel of the operating channel of the second AP. The first AP is associated with the first STA, and the second AP is associated with the second STA.

[0107] For example, Figure 5 is a frame sending sequence schematic diagram provided by the embodiments of the present application. As Figure 5 shown, after the first STA competes for the channel, the first STA sends an RTS frame to the first AP on the 40MHz operating channel of the first AP, and the RTS frame includes a transmission duration T1. After receiving the RTS frame, the first AP sends a CTS frame to the first STA on the 20MHz primary channel of the first AP, and simultaneously sends a coordination announcement frame to the second AP on the 20MHz secondary channel of the first AP, the CTS frame includes a transmission duration T2, and the coordination announcement frame includes an indication of the primary channel of the operating channel of the second AP and the transmission duration T2. The first STA sends an uplink frame to the first AP on the 20MHz primary channel of the first AP within the transmission duration T2 after receiving the CTS frame. The second AP sends a downlink frame to the second STA on the 20MHz primary channel of the second AP within the transmission duration T2 after receiving the coordination announcement frame.

[0108] For another example, Figure 6 is another frame sending sequence schematic diagram provided by the embodiments of the present application. As Figure 6As shown, after the first STA competes for the channel, the first STA sends an RTS frame to the first AP on the 20MHz primary channel of the first AP, the RTS frame including a transmission duration T3. The first AP, after receiving the RTS frame, sends a CTS frame to the first STA on the 20MHz primary channel of the first AP, the CTS frame including a transmission duration T4, and sends a coordination announcement frame to the second AP on the 20MHz secondary channel of the first AP, the coordination announcement frame including an indication of the primary channel of the operating channel of the second AP and the transmission duration T4. The first STA, within the transmission duration T4 after receiving the CTS frame, sends an uplink frame to the first AP on the 20MHz primary channel of the first AP. The second AP, within the transmission duration T4 after receiving the coordination announcement frame, sends a downlink frame to the second STA on the 20MHz primary channel of the second AP.

[0109] In summary, in the data transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application, after the STA that competes for the channel sends an RTS frame to the AP to which the STA is associated, the AP to which the STA is associated can allocate a channel other than the channel used by the STA to other APs that are deployed in the same frequency as the AP, so that the other APs that are allocated the channel can send downlink frames to the STAs associated with the APs themselves on the allocated channels in the process in which the STA sends uplink frames to the AP to which the STA is associated, thereby realizing uplink and downlink coordination transmission between the STA and the non-associated APs, improving data transmission flexibility, and improving the utilization rate of bandwidth resources.

[0110] A second embodiment of the present application is as follows: Figure 7 is a flow diagram of another data transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application. The method can be applied in an application scenario as shown in Figure 2 As shown in Figure 7 the method includes the following steps.

[0111] In step 701, the AP receives a preamble of a first frame from a STA that is not associated with the AP, the preamble of the first frame including an indication of a transmission duration of a data portion of the first frame.

[0112] Optionally, the indication of the transmission duration of the data portion of the first frame can be the transmission duration of the data portion of the first frame, or can also be the data amount of the data portion of the first frame, and the AP can calculate the transmission duration of the data portion of the first frame according to the data amount of the data portion of the first frame and the transmission rate. Alternatively, the indication of the transmission duration of the data portion of the first frame can also be the transmission duration of the first frame, and the AP can calculate the transmission duration of the data portion of the first frame according to the reception duration of the preamble of the first frame and the transmission duration of the first frame.

[0113] Optionally, the first frame is a data frame, a control frame or a management frame. In the embodiments of the present application, the preamble of the first frame refers to the preamble of the physical layer (PHY) header, and the data portion of the first frame refers to the portion of the first frame after the preamble. For example, the data portion of the first frame includes the MAC header and the payload portion.

[0114] Optionally, after the AP receives the preamble of the frame from the STA on the operating channel, the AP obtains a basic service set color (BSS color) value by analyzing the preamble of the frame, and then determines whether the frame is from a STA associated with the AP or from a STA not associated with the AP according to the BSS color value. Alternatively, after the AP receives the frame from the STA on the operating channel, the AP obtains a BSSID (i.e., the sender address) of a TA field by analyzing the MAC header of the data portion of the frame, and then determines whether the frame is from a STA associated with the AP or from a STA not associated with the AP according to the BSSID.

[0115] In step 702, when the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP is idle, the AP transmits a second frame to the STAs associated with the AP on the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP within the transmission duration of the data portion of the first frame after receiving the preamble of the first frame.

[0116] Optionally, the second frame is a data frame, a control frame or a management frame. After determining that the received frame is from a STA not associated with the AP, the AP can first detect whether the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP is idle. If the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP is idle, the AP decides whether to perform coordinated transmission. If the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP is busy, the AP remains silent.

[0117] Optionally, when the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP is idle and the transmission duration of the data portion of the first frame is greater than the duration threshold, the AP transmits a second frame to the STAs associated with the AP on the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP.

[0118] Since the AP can only send a downlink frame after a SIFS interval after analyzing the preamble within the transmission duration after receiving the preamble of the first frame, if the transmission duration of the data portion of the first frame is too small, the AP can not have enough time to send a downlink frame or to send a complete downlink frame, i.e., coordinated transmission cannot be achieved. Therefore, by setting the transmission duration of the data portion of the first frame to be greater than the duration threshold as a condition for the AP to transmit a second frame to the STAs associated with the AP, the reliability and effectiveness of coordinated transmission can be improved.

[0119] Optionally, when there is a free secondary channel in the operating channel of the AP, the AP can also send a second frame to the STA associated with the AP on the free secondary channel within the sending duration after receiving the preamble of the first frame. The AP sending the second frame to the STA associated with the AP on the primary channel and the free secondary channel can be understood as that the AP sends the second frame to the STA associated with the AP using the total bandwidth of the primary channel and the free secondary channel, and does not mean that the AP sends the second frame to the STA associated with the AP on the primary channel and the free secondary channel respectively, that is, does not mean that the second frame is sent repeatedly.

[0120] In the embodiments of the present application, the AP sends the second frame to the STA associated with the AP using the total bandwidth of the primary channel and the free secondary channel, on one hand, the bandwidth resources can be fully utilized, and the utilization rate of the bandwidth resources can be improved. On the other hand, the transmission time of the second frame can be reduced, so that the AP can transmit more data to the STA associated with the AP within the specified duration, thereby improving the transmission efficiency.

[0121] The embodiments of the present application take the application scenario including a third AP, a third STA associated with the third AP, a fourth AP and a fourth STA associated with the fourth AP as an example, and describe the implementation process of the data transmission method shown in the figure. Figure 7 The third AP and the fourth AP use the same 40MHz bandwidth operating channel, and the operating channel of the third AP and the operating channel of the fourth AP each include a 20MHz primary channel and a 20MHz secondary channel. The primary channel of the operating channel of the third AP overlaps with the secondary channel of the operating channel of the fourth AP, and the secondary channel of the operating channel of the third AP overlaps with the primary channel of the operating channel of the fourth AP.

[0122] For example, Figure 8 is another frame sending sequence schematic diagram provided by the embodiments of the present application. As Figure 8 shown, after the third STA competes for the channel, the third STA sends an uplink frame to the third AP on the 20MHz primary channel of the third AP, the uplink frame includes a preamble and a data part, and the preamble includes an indication of the sending duration T5 of the data part of the uplink frame. The fourth AP sends a downlink frame to the fourth STA on the 20MHz primary channel of the fourth AP after a SIFS interval within the sending duration T5 after receiving the preamble of the uplink frame.

[0123] To sum up, in the data transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the STA that competes for the channel can send an uplink frame to the AP associated with the STA, and the other APs that are deployed in the same frequency as the AP associated with the STA can listen to the uplink frame on the working channel, and send a downlink frame to the STA associated with the AP on the main channel when the main channel is idle, that is, the other APs that are deployed in the same frequency as the AP associated with the STA can actively initiate cooperative transmission to perform downlink transmission by using the channel bandwidth that is not used by the STA, so as to realize uplink and downlink cooperative transmission between the STA and the non-associated AP, improve the data transmission flexibility, and improve the utilization rate of the bandwidth resource.

[0124] The steps of the data transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be adjusted in proper order, and the steps can be increased or decreased according to the situation. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of the changed method within the technical range disclosed by the present application, which should be covered in the protection range of the present application. The above Figure 3 The data transmission method shown in the above Figure 7 The data transmission method shown in the above can be applied in the same application scenario, for example, the primary AP can allocate channels for some secondary APs, and the secondary APs that are not allocated with channels can actively perform cooperative transmission when the main channel of the secondary AP is idle, which will not be described herein.

[0125] Figure 9 FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of an AP provided by the embodiments of the present application. The AP is a first AP in at least two APs.

[0126] As shown in FIG. 1, the first AP 90 includes: Figure 9

[0127] The receiving module 901 is configured to receive an RTS frame from a STA associated with the first AP.

[0128] The sending module 902 is configured to send a CTS frame in response to the RTS frame to the STA on the first channel group, and send a cooperative announcement frame on the second channel group, the CTS frame including an indication of the first transmission duration, and the cooperative announcement frame including an indication of the first target channel group, an indication of the first transmission duration, and an identification of the second AP, the cooperative announcement frame being used to indicate that the second AP uses the first target channel group within the first transmission duration after receiving the cooperative announcement frame.

[0129] ​The working channel of the second AP overlaps the working channel of the first AP, the first channel group belongs to the working channel of the first AP and includes a primary channel of the working channel of the first AP, the second channel group includes one or more channels of the working channel of the first AP other than the channels in the first channel group, the first target channel group belongs to the working channel of the second AP and includes a primary channel of the working channel of the second AP, and the first target channel group does not include any channel in the first channel group.

[0130] Optionally, the primary channel of the working channel of the second AP does not overlap the primary channel of the working channel of the first AP.

[0131] Optionally, the first AP receives the RTS frame from the STA on a third channel group, the third channel group includes the first channel group and includes a channel of the working channel of the first AP that is not in the first channel group.

[0132] Optionally, the RTS frame includes an indication of a second transmission duration, the first transmission duration is greater than or equal to the second transmission duration.

[0133] Optionally, the first transmission duration is greater than a duration threshold.

[0134] Optionally, the first AP transmits the CTS frame at a same start time and a same end time as the start time and the end time of transmitting the coordination announcement frame, and the CTS frame includes a padding field.

[0135] Optionally, the coordination announcement frame further includes an identification of a third AP, an indication of a second target channel group, and an indication of the first transmission duration, and the coordination announcement frame is further used to indicate that the third AP uses the second target channel group within the first transmission duration after receiving the coordination announcement frame; the working channel of the third AP overlaps the working channel of the first AP, the second target channel group belongs to the working channel of the third AP and includes a primary channel of the working channel of the third AP, and the second target channel group does not include any channel in the first channel group and the first target channel group.

[0136] Optionally, the receiving module 901 is further configured to receive a frame from the STA on the first channel group.

[0137] Figure 10 is a structural schematic diagram of an AP provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 10 , the AP 100 includes:

[0138] The receiving module 1001 is configured to receive a preamble of a first frame from a STA that is not associated with the AP, and the preamble of the first frame includes an indication of a transmission duration of a data part of the first frame.

[0139] The sending module 1002 is configured to send, to the STA associated with the AP, the second frame on the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP within a sending duration after receiving the preamble of the first frame when the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP is idle.

[0140] Optionally, the sending module 1002 is further configured to send, to the STA associated with the AP, the second frame on the idle secondary channel of the operating channel of the AP within the sending duration after receiving the preamble of the first frame when there is an idle secondary channel in the operating channel of the AP.

[0141] Optionally, the sending module 1002 is configured to send, to the STA associated with the AP, the second frame on the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP within a sending duration after receiving the preamble of the first frame when the primary channel of the operating channel of the AP is idle and the sending duration is greater than a duration threshold.

[0142] As to the apparatus in the above-described embodiments, the specific manners in which various modules perform operations have been described in detail in the embodiments of the method, and thus will not be described here in detail.

[0143] An AP provided by an embodiment of the present application includes a transceiver and an antenna. The transceiver is configured to perform transceiving actions on an operating channel of the AP using the antenna, to implement a data transmission method as shown in Figure 3 or Figure 7 .

[0144] Optionally, the transceiver includes a baseband processing circuit and a radio frequency processing circuit. The baseband processing circuit can perform processing actions involved in the above-described data transmission method, and the baseband processing circuit can also perform transceiving actions involved in the above-described data transmission method through the radio frequency processing circuit.

[0145] Optionally, the AP further includes a processor. The processor is configured to perform processing actions involved in the above-described data transmission method, and the transceiver performs transceiving actions involved in the above-described data transmission method under control of the processor.

[0146] For example, Figure 11 is a block diagram of an AP provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 11 , the AP 110 includes a processor 1101, a transceiver 1102, and an antenna 1103. The transceiver 1102 is configured to perform transceiving actions of the AP in the above-described method embodiments using the antenna 1103 under control of the processor 1101.

[0147] The processor 1101 can be a general central processing unit (CPU), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the program execution of the solutions of the present application. In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the AP can include multiple processors. Each of the processors can be a single-CPU processor or a multi-CPU processor. The processor herein can refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0148] Optionally, the AP 110 further includes a memory, a communication bus, and a communication interface (not shown in the figure).

[0149] The communication bus can include a path for transmitting information between the above-mentioned components.

[0150] The memory can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, a magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium capable of carrying or storing desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and accessible by a computer, but not limited to. The memory can exist independently and be connected to the processor through the communication bus. The memory can also be integrated with the processor.

[0151] The memory is used to store program code for executing the solutions of the present application, and the processor is used to control the execution. The processor is used to execute the program code stored in the memory. The program code can include one or more software modules. The one or more software modules can be Figure 9 or Figure 10 The software modules provided in any embodiment.

[0152] The communication interface is used for communication with other devices or communication networks, such as WLAN, etc.

[0153] The embodiment of the present application further provides a data transmission system, comprising: a STA, a first AP and a second AP, wherein the working channels of the first AP and the second AP have an overlap. The STA is associated with the first AP, and the first AP is used for performing the method as shown in Figure 3 or the second AP is used for performing the method as shown in Figure 7 .

[0154] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium, wherein instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium, and when the instructions are executed by a processor of a computer device, the data transmission method as shown in Figure 3 or Figure 7 is implemented.

[0155] Those skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the steps of the above-mentioned embodiments can be completed by hardware, or by program instructing relevant hardware to complete, and the program can be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and the storage medium mentioned above can be a read-only memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0156] In the embodiment of the present application, the terms "first", "second" and "third" are only used for descriptive purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0157] In the present application, the term "and / or" is only used to describe the association relationship of the associated objects, and indicates that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B can represent the following three cases: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / " in the present application generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after it.

[0158] The above is only optional embodiments of the present application, and is not used to limit the present application, and any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the concept and principle of the present application should be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A data transmission method, characterized in that, The method includes: The first access point (AP) receives a request from a site (STA) associated with the first AP and sends an RTS frame. The first AP sends an explicit transmission CTS frame in response to the RTS frame to the STA on the first channel group, and simultaneously sends a cooperative announcement frame on the second channel group. The CTS frame includes an indication of a first transmission duration. The cooperative announcement frame includes an identifier of the second AP, an indication of a first target channel group, and an indication of the first transmission duration. The cooperative announcement frame is used to instruct the second AP to use the first target channel group within the first transmission duration after receiving the cooperative announcement frame. Wherein, the working channels of the second AP overlap with the working channels of the first AP, the first channel group belongs to the working channels of the first AP and includes the main channel of the working channels of the first AP, the second channel group includes one or more channels of the working channels of the first AP other than the channels in the first channel group, the first target channel group belongs to the working channels of the second AP and includes the main channel of the working channels of the second AP, and the first target channel group does not include any channels in the first channel group.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The main channel of the second AP's operating channel does not overlap with the main channel of the first AP's operating channel.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first AP receives the RTS frame from the STA on a third channel group, the third channel group including the first channel group and including channels in the first AP's operating channels that are not in the first channel group.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The RTS frame includes an indication of a second transmission duration, wherein the first transmission duration is greater than or equal to the second transmission duration.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 4, characterized in that, The first transmission duration is greater than the duration threshold.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 4, characterized in that, The start and end times of the first AP transmitting the CTS frame are the same as the start and end times of transmitting the cooperative announcement frame, and the CTS frame includes a padding field.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 4, characterized in that, The cooperative announcement frame also includes an identifier of the third AP, an indication of the second target channel group, and an indication of the first transmission duration. The cooperative announcement frame is also used to instruct the third AP to use the second target channel group within the first transmission duration after receiving the cooperative announcement frame. Wherein, the working channel of the third AP overlaps with the working channel of the first AP, the second target channel group belongs to the working channel of the third AP and includes the main channel of the working channel of the third AP, and the second target channel group does not include the first channel group or any channel in the first target channel group.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 4, characterized in that, The method further includes: The first AP receives frames from the STA on the first channel group.

9. A data transmission method, characterized in that, The method includes: The access point (AP) receives a preamble from a station (STA) not associated with the AP. The preamble of the first frame includes an indication of the duration of transmission of the data portion of the first frame. When the main channel of the AP's working channel is idle, the AP sends a second frame to the STA associated with the AP on the main channel of the AP's working channel within the transmission duration after receiving the preamble of the first frame; The working channel of the AP overlaps with the working channel of the AP associated with the STA that sent the first frame.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The method further includes: When there is an idle secondary channel in the working channel of the AP, the AP transmits the second frame to the STA associated with the AP on the idle secondary channel within the transmission duration after receiving the preamble of the first frame.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that, The AP sends a second frame to the STA associated with the AP on the main channel of the AP's operating channel, including: When the transmission duration exceeds the duration threshold, the AP transmits the second frame to the STA associated with the AP on the main channel of the AP's working channel.

12. An access point (AP), characterized in that, The AP is the first of at least two APs, wherein the first AP includes: The receiving module is used to receive a request to send an RTS frame from a station STA associated with the first AP; The transmitting module is configured to transmit an explicit transmit CTS frame in response to the RTS frame to the STA on a first channel group, and simultaneously transmit a cooperative announcement frame on a second channel group. The CTS frame includes an indication of a first transmission duration. The cooperative announcement frame includes an identifier of the second AP, an indication of a first target channel group, and an indication of the first transmission duration. The cooperative announcement frame is used to instruct the second AP to use the first target channel group within the first transmission duration after receiving the cooperative announcement frame. Wherein, the working channels of the second AP overlap with the working channels of the first AP, the first channel group belongs to the working channels of the first AP and includes the main channel of the working channels of the first AP, the second channel group includes one or more channels of the working channels of the first AP other than the channels in the first channel group, the first target channel group belongs to the working channels of the second AP and includes the main channel of the working channels of the second AP, and the first target channel group does not include any channels in the first channel group.

13. The AP according to claim 12, characterized in that, The main channel of the second AP's operating channel does not overlap with the main channel of the first AP's operating channel.

14. The AP according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that, The first AP receives the RTS frame from the STA on a third channel group, the third channel group including the first channel group and including channels in the first AP's operating channels that are not in the first channel group.

15. The AP according to claim 14, characterized in that, The RTS frame includes an indication of a second transmission duration, wherein the first transmission duration is greater than or equal to the second transmission duration.

16. The AP according to any one of claims 12, 13, and 15, characterized in that, The first transmission duration is greater than the duration threshold.

17. The AP according to any one of claims 12, 13, and 15, characterized in that, The start and end times of the first AP transmitting the CTS frame are the same as the start and end times of transmitting the cooperative announcement frame, and the CTS frame includes a padding field.

18. The AP according to any one of claims 12, 13, and 15, characterized in that, The cooperative announcement frame also includes an identifier of the third AP, an indication of the second target channel group, and an indication of the first transmission duration. The cooperative announcement frame is also used to instruct the third AP to use the second target channel group within the first transmission duration after receiving the cooperative announcement frame. Wherein, the working channel of the third AP overlaps with the working channel of the first AP, the second target channel group belongs to the working channel of the third AP and includes the main channel of the working channel of the third AP, and the second target channel group does not include the first channel group or any channel in the first target channel group.

19. The AP according to any one of claims 12, 13, and 15, characterized in that, The receiving module is also configured to receive frames from the STA on the first channel group.

20. An access point (AP), characterized in that, include: A receiving module is configured to receive a preamble from a station STA not associated with the AP, the preamble of the first frame including an indication of the transmission duration of the data portion of the first frame; The transmitting module is configured to transmit a second frame to the STA associated with the AP on the main channel of the AP's working channel within the transmission duration after receiving the preamble of the first frame when the main channel of the AP's working channel is idle; The working channel of the AP overlaps with the working channel of the AP associated with the STA that sent the first frame.

21. The AP according to claim 20, characterized in that, The transmitting module is further configured to, when there is an idle secondary channel in the working channel of the AP, transmit the second frame to the STA associated with the AP on the idle secondary channel within the transmission duration after receiving the preamble of the first frame.

22. The AP according to claim 20 or 21, characterized in that, The sending module is used for: When the main channel of the AP's working channel is idle and the transmission duration is greater than the duration threshold, the second frame is transmitted to the STA associated with the AP on the main channel of the AP's working channel.

23. A data transmission system, characterized in that, include: A site STA, a first access point AP, and a second AP, wherein the operating channels of the first AP and the second AP overlap, the STA is associated with the first AP, the first AP is used to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 8, or the second AP is used to perform the method as described in any one of claims 9 to 11.

24. An access point (AP), characterized in that, include: Transceiver and antenna; The transceiver is used to perform transmit and receive operations on the operating channel of the AP using the antenna, thereby implementing the data transmission method as described in any one of claims 1 to 11.

25. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computer device, implement the data transmission method as described in any one of claims 1 to 11.

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