Communication method, electronic equipment and storage medium

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of mobile communication, and provides a communication method, electronic equipment and a storage medium. The communication method is applied to a station device STA, and the method comprises the following steps: second connections are established through a first AP and second APs, and each second connection is in an inactive state; wherein the STA establishes a first connection with a first AP, the first connection is in an activated state, and the first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities. The embodiment of the invention provides a mechanism for supporting the STA to switch among a plurality of AP devices.

Description

Communication method, electronic device and storage medium Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of mobile communication technologies. Specifically, the embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a communication method, an electronic device, and a storage medium. Background Art

[0002] Currently, Wi-Fi technology research focuses on Ultra High Reliability (UHR), with the goal of improving the reliability of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) connections, reducing latency, improving manageability, increasing throughput at different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels, and reducing device-level power consumption.

[0003] In UHR, low-latency service transmission mechanisms will be further enhanced to support multi-connection scenarios. To ensure the transmission of low-latency services, stations (STAs) may switch between multiple access points (APs). Therefore, a mechanism is needed to support STA switching between multiple APs to meet the transmission requirements of UHR.

[0004] Summary of the Invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method, an electronic device, and a storage medium to provide a mechanism for supporting STA switching between multiple AP devices to meet the transmission requirements of UHR.

[0006] In one aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method, applied to a station device STA, the method including:

[0007] establishing a second connection with a second AP through the first AP, each of the second connections being in an inactive state;

[0008] The STA establishes a first connection with a first AP, and the first connection is in an activated state. The first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities.

[0009] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a communication method, applied to a first access point device AP, the method comprising:

[0010] Determine a first radio frame; wherein the first radio frame includes identification information of the second AP, the identification information indicating that when the station device STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP, and each of the second connections is in an inactive state and the first connection is in an active state; the first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities;

[0011] The first radio frame is sent.

[0012] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an electronic device, where the electronic device is a station device STA, and the electronic device includes:

[0013] a connection establishing module, configured to establish a second connection with a second AP through the first AP, wherein each second connection is in an inactive state;

[0014] The STA establishes a first connection with a first AP, and the first connection is in an activated state. The first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities.

[0015] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an electronic device, wherein the electronic device is a first access point device AP, and the electronic device includes:

[0016] a determining module configured to determine a first radio frame; wherein the first radio frame includes identification information of the second AP, the identification information indicating that when a station device STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP, and each of the second connections is in an inactive state and the first connection is in an active state; and the first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities;

[0017] A sending module is used to send the first wireless frame.

[0018] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an electronic device, including a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor. When the processor executes the program, one or more methods described in the embodiments of the present disclosure are implemented.

[0019] The embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. When the computer program is executed by a processor, one or more methods described in the embodiments of the present disclosure are implemented.

[0020] In the disclosed embodiments, a STA establishes a second connection with a second AP through the first AP during or after establishing a first connection with the first AP. This allows the STA to switch to the second AP for communication if the communication status of the STA's associated first AP changes, ensuring uninterrupted data transmission and meeting the transmission rate requirements of UHR and the latency requirements of low-latency services. The disclosed embodiments provide a mechanism to support STA switching between multiple AP devices. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present disclosure. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative work.

[0022] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a first example of an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0023] FIG2 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0024] FIG3 is a second flowchart of the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0025] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a structure of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0026] FIG5 is a second structural diagram of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0027] FIG6 is a third structural diagram of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail herein, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following description, unless otherwise indicated, like numbers in different figures represent like or similar elements. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments are not intended to represent all possible embodiments consistent with the present invention. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of the present invention, as detailed in the appended claims.

[0029] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the terms used are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. The singular forms "a", "said" and "the" used in the present disclosure and the appended claims are also intended to include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and / or" used herein refers to and includes any or all possible combinations of one or more associated listed items. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. The character " / " generally indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship. The term "multiple" refers to two or more. In view of this, "multiple" can also be understood as "at least two" in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0030] It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used in this disclosure to describe various information, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish information of the same type from each other. For example, without departing from the scope of this disclosure, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information. Depending on the context, for example, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at the time of" or "when" or "in response to determining."

[0031] The following will be combined with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the embodiments described are only part of the embodiments of the present disclosure and not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making any creative efforts shall fall within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0032] The present disclosure provides a communication method, electronic device, and storage medium for providing a mechanism to support STA switching between multiple AP devices to meet the transmission requirements of UHR. The method and device are based on the same patent application concept. Since the method and device solve similar problems, the implementation of the device and method can refer to each other, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0033] As a first example, refer to FIG1 , which shows an example of an application scenario of the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0034] As shown in Figure 1, AP1 is the first AP; AP2, AP3, and AP4 are the second APs. The first AP can be a broadcast AP. Optionally, the first AP can be attached to an AP MLD. It can be understood that the AP MLD supports multi-connection communication. The second AP can include one or more (the number of second APs in Figure 1 is only an example and does not constitute a limitation). The second AP can be a single-connection device that does not support multi-connection communication, or it can be an MLD device that supports multi-connection communication. The second AP and the first AP belong to different physical entities; optionally, the second AP can be in a certain location range or coverage range with the first AP, so that the first AP can obtain parameter information of the second AP (parameter information such as identification information of the second AP).

[0035] The STA establishes a second connection with the second AP through the first AP, and each of the second connections is in an inactive state; wherein the STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, and the first connection is in an active state.

[0036] Optionally, the STA may establish a second connection with a second AP through the first AP during the process of establishing the first connection with the first AP, or after establishing the first connection.

[0037] If there are multiple second APs, the STA can establish connections with multiple second APs, which includes multiple second connections. In this case, each of the second connections is in an inactive state.

[0038] Optionally, upon receiving a connection establishment request from the first AP, the STA may establish connections with the first AP and the second AP, respectively. The connection establishment request may include identification information of the first AP and the second AP. The first connection established with the first AP is in an active state, or is in an active state after the first AP establishes a TID-to-Link mapping; and the second connection established with the second AP is in an inactive state. Optionally, after a handover occurs (the STA switches from the first AP to the second AP), the second connection of the STA with one of the second APs is in an active state, and the first connection is in an inactive state.

[0039] In addition, the second connection can establish a TID-to-Link mapping through the first AP; that is, the service-to-connection mapping between the second AP and the STA can be completed by the first AP, so that after the STA switches to the second AP, the service data of the TID-to-Link mapping can be quickly transmitted.

[0040] As an example, the STA may receive a first radio frame broadcast by the first AP to obtain identification information of the second AP carried in the first radio frame, thereby establishing a second connection with the second AP. Optionally, the identification information of the second AP may be obtained by the first AP from a beacon frame, a probe response frame, an association response frame, etc. broadcast by the second AP. The first radio frame includes at least one of the following: a beacon frame, a probe response frame, an association response frame, and a reassociation response frame.

[0041] Optionally, the identification information may be carried in a first information element in the first radio frame.

[0042] The first information element may be an existing information element. For example, the first information element may be a multi-link information element. The format of the multi-link information element is shown in Table 1 below:

[0043] Table 1:

[0044] In addition, the first information element may also be a newly defined information element. Optionally, the format of the newly defined element may be similar to the multi-link information element. Optionally, when the first information element is a newly defined information element, the first information element and the multi-link information element may be carried together in the first radio frame.

[0045] Optionally, in a case where the second AP does not support multi-connection communication, the identification information may include MAC address information of the second AP, or device identification information allocated by the first AP to the second AP.

[0046] In the case where the second AP is attached to AP MLD (it can be understood that AP MLD supports multi-connection communication), the identification information may include group identification information of the group to which the second AP belongs and device identification information of the second AP in the group.

[0047] As an example, the format of the identification information is shown in Table 2 below:

[0048] Table 2:

[0049] Optionally, the group identification information of the second AP may include the MAC address information of the AP MLD to which the second AP belongs; that is, the MAC address information of the AP MLD is used as the group identification information of the second AP, and the identification information further includes the device identification information of the second AP in the AP MLD.

[0050] Optionally, the first information element may further include switching delay information of the STA from the first AP to the second AP.

[0051] The switching delay information is used to identify the delay for the STA to switch from the first AP to the second AP. As an example, the switching delay information can be defined as a switching delay similar to the Enhanced MLSR (EMLSR) working mode and the Enhanced Multi-Link Multi-Radio (EMLMR) working mode. For example, the switching delay information can be identified by one or more bits. Optionally, a switching delay of 0us (microseconds) can be identified by "0"; a switching delay of 32us can be identified by "1"; a switching delay of 64us can be identified by "2", and so on. In this way, the second AP can perform data transmission, time synchronization and other operations with the STA based on the switching delay information.

[0052] Optionally, after establishing the second connection, the STA may switch to the second AP for communication based on communication quality with the first AP, for example, if the communication quality does not meet a preset communication quality requirement. Optionally, the communication quality may be determined based on parameters such as a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and a packet error rate (PER).

[0053] As an example, the STA may request a handover from the first AP to the second AP by sending a second radio frame to the second AP. For example, the second radio frame may include a transition notification frame. When the STA receives an acknowledgment message frame fed back by the second AP in response to the second radio frame, the first AP may switch to the second AP.

[0054] In the disclosed embodiments, a STA establishes a second connection with a second AP through the first AP during or after establishing a first connection with the first AP. This allows the STA to switch to the second AP for communication if the communication status of the STA's associated first AP changes, ensuring uninterrupted data transmission and meeting the transmission rate requirements of UHR and the latency requirements of low-latency services. The disclosed embodiments provide a mechanism to support STA switching between multiple AP devices.

[0055] As shown in FIG2 , an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method. Optionally, the method may be applied to a station device STA. The method may include the following steps:

[0056] Step 201: Establish a second connection with a second AP through a first AP, where each second connection is in an inactive state;

[0057] The STA establishes a first connection with a first AP, and the first connection is in an active state. The first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities.

[0058] In UHR, STAs may switch between multiple APs or AP MLDs. For example, if the communication quality with the AP associated with the STA is poor, the STA can seamlessly switch to another AP for communication, ensuring uninterrupted data transmission. Therefore, a mechanism is needed to support STA switching between multiple APs to meet the transmission requirements of UHR.

[0059] To achieve seamless data connection, in the disclosed embodiment, a STA can establish a second connection with a second AP through a first AP, allowing the STA to switch to the second AP for communication. It should be noted that the first connection established between the STA and the first AP is in an active state, while the second connection is in an inactive state.

[0060] In an actual scenario, the first AP may be a broadcast AP. Optionally, the first AP may be attached to an AP MLD. It is understood that the AP MLD supports multi-connection communication.

[0061] The first connection includes a connection between the STA and a first AP, and the first connection is in an active state.

[0062] The second AP may include one or more second APs, and the second AP may be a single-connection device that does not support multi-connection communication, or an MLD device that supports multi-connection communication. The second AP and the first AP are different physical entities; optionally, the second AP may be within a certain location range or coverage area from the first AP, so that the first AP can obtain parameter information of the second AP (e.g., identification information of the second AP).

[0063] The second connection includes a connection between the STA and a second AP via the first AP, and the second connection is in an inactive state. If there are multiple second APs, the STA can establish connections with multiple second APs, thus including multiple second connections. In this case, each second connection is in an inactive state.

[0064] As an example, upon receiving a connection establishment request from the first AP, the STA may establish connections with the first AP and the second AP, respectively. The connection establishment request may include identification information of the first AP and the second AP, wherein the first connection established with the first AP is in an active state, or is in an active state after the first AP establishes a TID-to-Link mapping, and the second connection established with the second AP is in an inactive state. Furthermore, after a handover occurs (the STA switches from the first AP to the second AP), the second connection of the STA with one of the second APs is in an active state, and the first connection is in an inactive state.

[0065] Optionally, the second connection may be established during the process of establishing the first connection. In addition, the second connection may be established after the first connection is established.

[0066] In the disclosed embodiments, a STA establishes a second connection with a second AP through the first AP during or after establishing a first connection with the first AP. This allows the STA to switch to the second AP for communication if the communication status of the STA's associated first AP changes, ensuring uninterrupted data transmission and meeting the transmission rate requirements of UHR and the latency requirements of low-latency services. The disclosed embodiments provide a mechanism to support STA switching between multiple AP devices.

[0067] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method. Optionally, the method may be applied to a station device (STA). The method may include the following steps:

[0068] establishing a second connection with a second AP through the first AP, each of the second connections being in an inactive state;

[0069] The STA establishes a first connection with a first AP, and the first connection is in an activated state. The first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities.

[0070] Optionally, establishing the second connection with the second AP through the first AP includes:

[0071] A first wireless frame sent by a first AP is received; wherein the first wireless frame includes identification information of the second AP.

[0072] As an example, the STA may establish a second connection with a second AP via the first radio frame broadcast by the first AP, wherein the first radio frame may carry identification information of the second AP to request the STA to establish a connection with the second AP.

[0073] Optionally, the identification information of the second AP may be acquired by the first AP from a beacon frame, a probe response frame, an association response frame, etc. broadcast by the second AP.

[0074] Optionally, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first radio frame includes at least one of the following:

[0075] Beacon frames, Probe Response frames, Association Response frames, and Reassociation Response frames. The STA can establish a second connection with the second AP through the first wireless frame broadcast by the first AP. In this way, when the communication status of the STA with the first AP it is associated with changes, it can switch to the second AP for communication, ensuring uninterrupted data transmission, thereby meeting the transmission rate requirements of UHR and the latency requirements of low-latency services.

[0076] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first wireless frame includes a first information element, and the identification information is carried in the first information element.

[0077] As an example, the first information element may be a multi-link information element; the format of the multi-link information element is shown in Table 1 above.

[0078] As another example, the first information element may be a newly defined element. Optionally, the format of the newly defined element may be similar to the multi-link information element. Optionally, when the first information element is a newly defined element, the first information element and the multi-link information element may be carried together in the first radio frame.

[0079] Optionally, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first information element further includes:

[0080] Switching delay information of the STA from the first AP to the second AP.

[0081] The switching delay information is used to identify the delay for the STA to switch from the first AP to the second AP. As an example, the switching delay information can be defined as a switching delay similar to the Enhanced MLSR (EMLSR) working mode and the Enhanced Multi-Link Multi-Radio (EMLMR) working mode. For example, the switching delay information can be identified by one or more bits. Optionally, a switching delay of 0us (microseconds) can be identified by "0"; a switching delay of 32us can be identified by "1"; a switching delay of 64us can be identified by "2", and so on. In this way, the second AP can perform data transmission, time synchronization and other operations with the STA based on the switching delay information.

[0082] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the second AP does not support multi-connection communication (the first AP is attached to AP MLD, and the AP MLD supports multi-connection communication), the identification information includes: the MAC address information of the second AP, or the device identification information assigned by the first AP to the second AP.

[0083] If the second AP is attached to the AP MLD, it can be understood that the AP MLD supports multi-connection communication (the first AP may also be attached to the AP MLD), and the identification information includes:

[0084] Group identification information of the group to which the second AP belongs, and device identification information of the second AP in the group.

[0085] Optionally, the second AP may include one or more; the group identification information is used to identify the group to which the second AP belongs, and the device identification information is used to identify the identity of the second AP in the group to which it belongs. As an example, the format of the identification information is shown in Table 2 above.

[0086] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the group identification information of the second AP includes the MAC address information of the AP MLD to which the second AP belongs; that is, the MAC address information of the AP MLD is used as the group identification information of the second AP, and the identification information further includes the device identification information of the second AP in the AP MLD.

[0087] Optionally, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, after receiving the first wireless frame sent by the first AP, the method further includes:

[0088] A second wireless frame is sent, where the second wireless frame requests switching from the first AP to the second AP.

[0089] Optionally, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the second radio frame may include a transition notification frame.

[0090] Optionally, the second radio frame may carry identification information of the second AP. Optionally, the identification information of the second AP may be group identification information (group set ID) of the group to which the second AP belongs, and device identification information (group ID) of the second AP within the group. Optionally, the second radio frame may also carry a connection identifier (Link ID) of the established connection between the STA and the second AP.

[0091] As an example, after receiving the first radio frame, the STA may switch to the second AP for communication based on the communication quality with the first AP, for example, when the communication quality does not meet a preset communication quality requirement. Optionally, the communication quality may be determined based on parameters such as a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and a packet error rate (PER).

[0092] Optionally, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, after sending the second radio frame, the method further includes:

[0093] Upon receiving a confirmation message frame fed back by the second AP for the second wireless frame, the first AP switches to the second AP.

[0094] As an example, when the STA receives a confirmation message frame fed back by the second AP for the second radio frame, the first AP may switch to the second AP.

[0095] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method. Optionally, the method may be applied to a station device (STA). The method may include the following steps:

[0096] establishing a second connection with a second AP through the first AP, each of the second connections being in an inactive state;

[0097] The STA establishes a first connection with a first AP, and the first connection is in an activated state. The first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities.

[0098] Optionally, the second connection establishes a TID-to-Link mapping through the first AP; that is, the service-to-connection mapping between the other AP (i.e., the second AP) and the STA can be completed by the first AP, so that after the STA switches to other APs, the service data of the TID-to-Link mapping can be quickly transmitted.

[0099] In the disclosed embodiments, a STA establishes a second connection with a second AP through the first AP during or after establishing a first connection with the first AP. This allows the STA to switch to the second AP for communication if the communication status of the STA's associated first AP changes, ensuring uninterrupted data transmission and meeting the transmission rate requirements of UHR and the latency requirements of low-latency services. The disclosed embodiments provide a mechanism to support STA switching between multiple AP devices.

[0100] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method. Optionally, the method may be applied to a station device (STA). The method may include the following steps:

[0101] establishing a second connection with a second AP through the first AP, each of the second connections being in an inactive state;

[0102] The STA establishes a first connection with a first AP, and the first connection is in an activated state. The first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities.

[0103] Optionally, establishing the second connection with the second AP through the first AP includes:

[0104] A first wireless frame sent by a first AP is received; wherein the first wireless frame includes identification information of the second AP.

[0105] Optionally, the first radio frame includes a first information element, and the identification information is carried in the first information element.

[0106] Optionally, the second AP does not support multi-connection communication, and the identification information includes: MAC address information of the second AP or device identification information allocated by the first AP to the second AP;

[0107] or

[0108] The second AP is attached to the AP MLD, and the identification information includes: group identification information of the group to which the second AP belongs, and device identification information of the second AP in the group.

[0109] Optionally, the group identification information of the second AP includes MAC address information of an AP MLD to which the second AP belongs.

[0110] Optionally, the second connection establishes a TID-to-Link mapping through the first AP.

[0111] Optionally, the first information element further includes:

[0112] Switching delay information of the STA from the first AP to the second AP.

[0113] Optionally, after receiving the first wireless frame sent by the first AP, the method further includes:

[0114] A second wireless frame is sent, where the second wireless frame requests switching from the first AP to the second AP.

[0115] Optionally, after sending the second radio frame, the method further includes:

[0116] Upon receiving a confirmation message frame fed back by the second AP for the second wireless frame, the first AP switches to the second AP.

[0117] Optionally, the second wireless frame includes a handover notification frame.

[0118] In the disclosed embodiments, a STA establishes a second connection with a second AP through the first AP during or after establishing a first connection with the first AP. This allows the STA to switch to the second AP for communication if the communication status of the STA's associated first AP changes, ensuring uninterrupted data transmission and meeting the transmission rate requirements of UHR and the latency requirements of low-latency services. The disclosed embodiments provide a mechanism to support STA switching between multiple AP devices.

[0119] 3 , an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method, which may be applied to a first AP. The method may include the following steps:

[0120] Step 301: Determine a first radio frame; wherein the first radio frame includes identification information of the second AP, the identification information indicating that when a station device STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP, and each second connection is in an inactive state and the first connection is in an active state; the first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities;

[0121] Step 302: Send the first wireless frame.

[0122] Among them, the WLAN architecture applied to the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure refers to the aforementioned first example and will not be repeated here.

[0123] In UHR, STAs may switch between multiple APs or AP MLDs. For example, if the communication quality with the AP associated with the STA is poor, the STA can seamlessly switch to another AP for communication, ensuring uninterrupted data transmission. Therefore, a mechanism is needed to support STA switching between multiple APs to meet the transmission requirements of UHR.

[0124] To achieve seamless data connection, in the disclosed embodiment, a STA can establish a second connection with a second AP through a first AP, allowing the STA to switch to the second AP for communication. It should be noted that the first connection established between the STA and the first AP is in an active state, while the second connection is in an inactive state.

[0125] In an actual scenario, the first AP may be a broadcast AP. Optionally, the first AP may be attached to an AP MLD. It is understood that the AP MLD supports multi-connection communication.

[0126] The first connection includes a connection between the STA and a first AP (the AP to which the STA is currently communicating). It can be understood that the first connection is in an active state.

[0127] The second AP may include one or more devices. The second AP may be a single-connection device that does not support multi-connection communication, or a multi-connection device (MLD) that supports multi-connection communication. The second AP and the first AP are different physical entities. Optionally, the second AP may be within a certain location range or coverage area of ​​the first AP, so that the first AP can obtain parameter information of the second AP (e.g., identification information of the second AP).

[0128] The second connection includes a connection between the STA and a second AP via the first AP, and the second connection is in an inactive state. If there are multiple second APs, the STA can establish connections with multiple second APs, thus including multiple second connections. In this case, each second connection is in an inactive state.

[0129] As an example, upon receiving a connection establishment request from the first AP, the STA may establish connections with the first AP and the second AP, respectively. The connection establishment request may include identification information of the first AP and the second AP, wherein the first connection established with the first AP is in an active state, or is in an active state after the first AP establishes a TID-to-Link mapping, and the second connection established with the second AP is in an inactive state. Furthermore, after a handover occurs (the STA switches from the first AP to the second AP), the second connection of the STA with one of the second APs is in an active state, and the first connection is in an inactive state.

[0130] Optionally, the second connection may be established during the process of establishing the first connection. In addition, the second connection may be established after the first connection is established.

[0131] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a first AP sends a first wireless frame to a STA, where the first wireless frame includes identification information of a second AP, to indicate that when the STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP. In this way, when the communication status of the first AP associated with the STA changes, the STA can subsequently switch to a second AP for communication, so that data transmission is uninterrupted, thereby meeting the UHR requirements for transmission rate and the low-latency service requirements for latency.

[0132] Optionally, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first radio frame includes at least one of the following:

[0133] Beacon frame, Probe Response frame, Association Response frame, Reassociation Response frame.

[0134] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method, which can be applied to a first AP and may include the following steps:

[0135] Determine a first wireless frame; wherein the first wireless frame includes identification information of the second AP, and the identification information indicates that when the station device STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP, and each second connection is in an inactive state and the first connection is in an active state;

[0136] The first radio frame is sent.

[0137] The first radio frame includes a first information element, and the identification information is carried in the first information element.

[0138] As an example, the first information element may be a multi-link information element; the format of the multi-link information element is shown in Table 1 above and will not be repeated here.

[0139] As another example, the first information element may be a newly defined element. Optionally, the format of the newly defined element may be similar to the multi-link information element. Optionally, when the first information element is a newly defined element, the first information element and the multi-link information element may be carried together in the first radio frame.

[0140] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the second AP does not support multi-connection communication (the first AP is attached to AP MLD, and the AP MLD supports multi-connection communication), the identification information includes: the MAC address information of the second AP, or the device identification information assigned by the first AP to the second AP.

[0141] If the second AP is attached to the AP MLD, it can be understood that the AP MLD supports multi-connection communication (the first AP may also be attached to the AP MLD), and the identification information includes:

[0142] Group identification information of the group to which the second AP belongs, and device identification information of the second AP in the group.

[0143] Optionally, the second AP may include one or more; the group identification information is used to identify the group to which the second AP belongs, and the device identification information is used to identify the identity of the second AP in the group to which it belongs. As an example, the format of the identification information is shown in Table 2 above.

[0144] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the group identification information of the second AP includes the MAC address information of the AP MLD to which the second AP belongs; that is, the MAC address information of the AP MLD is used as the group identification information of the second AP, and the identification information further includes the device identification information of the second AP in the AP MLD.

[0145] Optionally, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first information element further includes:

[0146] Switching delay information of the STA from the first AP to the second AP.

[0147] The switching delay information is used to identify the delay for the STA to switch from the first AP to the second AP. As an example, the switching delay information can be defined as a switching delay similar to the enhanced single radio frequency multi-link (Enhanced MLSR, EMLSR) working mode and the enhanced multi-link radio frequency multi-link (Enhanced Multi-Link Multi-Radio, EMLMR) working mode. For example, the switching delay information can be identified by one or more bits. Optionally, a switching delay of 0us can be identified by "0"; a switching delay of 32us can be identified by "1"; a switching delay of 64us can be identified by "2", and so on. In this way, the second AP can perform data transmission, time synchronization and other operations with the STA based on the switching delay information.

[0148] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method, which can be applied to a first AP and may include the following steps:

[0149] Determine a first radio frame; wherein the first radio frame includes identification information of the second AP, the identification information indicating that when the station device STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP, and each of the second connections is in an inactive state and the first connection is in an active state; the first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities;

[0150] The first radio frame is sent.

[0151] Optionally, the second connection establishes a TID-to-Link mapping through the first AP; that is, the service-to-connection mapping between the other AP (i.e., the second AP) and the STA can be completed by the first AP, so that after the STA switches to other APs, the service data of the TID-to-Link mapping can be quickly transmitted.

[0152] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a first AP sends a first wireless frame to a STA, where the first wireless frame includes identification information of a second AP, to indicate that when the STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP. In this way, when the communication status of the first AP associated with the STA changes, the STA can subsequently switch to a second AP for communication, so that data transmission is uninterrupted, thereby meeting the UHR requirements for transmission rate and the low-latency service requirements for latency.

[0153] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method, which can be applied to a first AP and may include the following steps:

[0154] Determine a first radio frame; wherein the first radio frame includes identification information of the second AP, the identification information indicating that when the station device STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP, and each of the second connections is in an inactive state and the first connection is in an active state; the first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities;

[0155] The first radio frame is sent.

[0156] Optionally, the first radio frame includes a first information element, and the identification information is carried in the first information element.

[0157] Optionally, the second AP does not support multi-connection communication, and the identification information includes: MAC address information of the second AP or device identification information allocated by the first AP to the second AP;

[0158] or

[0159] The second AP is attached to the AP MLD, and the identification information includes:

[0160] Group identification information of the group to which the second AP belongs, and device identification information of the second AP in the group.

[0161] Optionally, the group identification information of the second AP includes MAC address information of an AP MLD to which the second AP belongs.

[0162] Optionally, the second connection establishes a TID-to-Link mapping through the first AP.

[0163] Optionally, the first information element further includes:

[0164] Switching delay information of the STA from the first AP to the second AP.

[0165] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a first AP sends a first wireless frame to a STA, where the first wireless frame includes identification information of a second AP, to indicate that when the STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP. In this way, when the communication status of the first AP associated with the STA changes, the STA can subsequently switch to a second AP for communication, so that data transmission is uninterrupted, thereby meeting the UHR requirements for transmission rate and the low-latency service requirements for latency.

[0166] Referring to FIG. 4 , based on the same principle as the method provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an electronic device, which is a station device STA, and includes:

[0167] A connection establishing module 401 is configured to establish a second connection with a second AP through a first AP, wherein each second connection is in an inactive state;

[0168] The STA establishes a first connection with a first AP, and the first connection is in an activated state. The first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities.

[0169] The present disclosure also provides a power saving information negotiation device, which is applied to a station device STA. The device includes:

[0170] a connection establishing module, configured to establish a second connection with a second AP through the first AP, wherein each second connection is in an inactive state;

[0171] The STA establishes a first connection with a first AP, and the first connection is in an activated state. The first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities.

[0172] The device also includes other modules of the electronic device in the aforementioned embodiment, which will not be described in detail here.

[0173] 5 , based on the same principle as the method provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an electronic device, the electronic device being a first access point device AP, and the electronic device including:

[0174] A determining module 501 is configured to determine a first radio frame; wherein the first radio frame includes identification information of the second AP, the identification information indicating that when a station device STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP, and each of the second connections is in an inactive state and the first connection is in an active state; and the first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities;

[0175] The sending module 502 is configured to send the first wireless frame.

[0176] The present disclosure also provides a power saving information negotiation device, which is applied to a first access point device AP. The device includes:

[0177] a radio frame determining module, configured to determine a first radio frame; wherein the first radio frame includes identification information of the second AP, the identification information indicating that when a station device STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP, and each of the second connections is in an inactive state and the first connection is in an active state; and the first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities;

[0178] A wireless frame sending module is used to send the first wireless frame.

[0179] The device also includes other modules of the electronic device in the aforementioned embodiment, which will not be described in detail here.

[0180] In an optional embodiment, the present disclosure further provides an electronic device, as shown in FIG6 . The electronic device 600 shown in FIG6 may be a server, and includes a processor 601 and a memory 603. The processor 601 and the memory 603 are connected, for example, via a bus 602. Optionally, the electronic device 600 may further include a transceiver 604. It should be noted that in actual applications, the number of transceivers 604 is not limited to one, and the structure of the electronic device 600 does not constitute a limitation on the present disclosure.

[0181] Processor 601 may be a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a general-purpose processor, a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It may implement or execute the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the present disclosure. Processor 601 may also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and the like.

[0182] Bus 602 may include a path for transmitting information between the aforementioned components. Bus 602 may be a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus or an EISA (Extended Industry Standard Architecture) bus, for example. Bus 602 may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and so on. For ease of illustration, FIG6 shows only one thick line, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0183] The memory 603 may be a ROM (Read Only Memory) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a RAM (Random Access Memory) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, or an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory) or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto.

[0184] The memory 603 is used to store application code for executing the solution of the present disclosure, and the execution is controlled by the processor 601. The processor 601 is used to execute the application code stored in the memory 603 to implement the content shown in the above method embodiment.

[0185] The electronic devices include, but are not limited to, mobile terminals such as mobile phones, laptop computers, digital broadcast receivers, PDAs (personal digital assistants), PADs (tablet computers), PMPs (portable multimedia players), and in-vehicle terminals (e.g., in-vehicle navigation terminals), as well as fixed terminals such as digital TVs and desktop computers. The electronic device shown in FIG6 is merely an example and should not limit the functionality and scope of use of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0186] The server provided in this disclosure can be a standalone physical server, a server cluster or distributed system composed of multiple physical servers, or a cloud server that provides basic cloud computing services such as cloud services, cloud databases, cloud computing, cloud functions, cloud storage, network services, cloud communications, middleware services, domain name services, security services, CDN, and big data and artificial intelligence platforms. The terminal can be a smartphone, tablet computer, laptop computer, desktop computer, smart speaker, smart watch, etc., but is not limited to these. The terminal and server can be directly or indirectly connected via wired or wireless communication, which is not limited in this disclosure.

[0187] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. When the computer-readable storage medium is run on a computer, the computer can execute the corresponding contents of the aforementioned method embodiment.

[0188] It should be understood that although the steps in the flowcharts of the accompanying drawings are shown in sequence as indicated by the arrows, these steps are not necessarily executed in the order indicated by the arrows. Unless otherwise specified herein, there is no strict order restriction on the execution of these steps, and they can be executed in other orders. Moreover, at least some of the steps in the flowcharts of the accompanying drawings may include multiple sub-steps or multiple stages, and these sub-steps or stages are not necessarily executed at the same time, but can be executed at different times, and their execution order is not necessarily sequential, but can be executed in turn or alternately with other steps or at least a portion of the sub-steps or stages of other steps.

[0189] It should be noted that the computer-readable medium mentioned above in the present disclosure may be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium, or any combination of the two. A computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device, or component, or any combination of the above. More specific examples of computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to: an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the above. In the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that contains or stores a program that can be used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, device, or component. In the present disclosure, a computer-readable signal medium may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, which carries computer-readable program code. Such a propagated data signal may take a variety of forms, including but not limited to electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination of the above. A computer-readable signal medium may also be any computer-readable medium other than a computer-readable storage medium that can transmit, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The program code contained on the computer-readable medium may be transmitted using any suitable medium, including but not limited to wires, optical cables, RF (radio frequency), etc., or any suitable combination thereof.

[0190] The computer-readable medium may be included in the electronic device, or may exist independently without being incorporated into the electronic device.

[0191] The computer-readable medium carries one or more programs. When the one or more programs are executed by the electronic device, the electronic device executes the method shown in the above embodiment.

[0192] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product or computer program is provided, the computer program product or computer program including computer instructions stored in a computer-readable storage medium. A processor of a computer device reads the computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium and executes the computer instructions, causing the computer device to perform the methods provided in the various optional implementations described above.

[0193] Computer program code for performing the operations of the present disclosure may be written in one or more programming languages, or a combination thereof, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java, Smalltalk, C++, and conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as "C" or similar programming languages. The program code may be executed entirely on the user's computer, partially on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or entirely on the remote computer or server. In cases involving a remote computer, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computer (e.g., through the Internet using an Internet service provider).

[0194] The flowcharts and block diagrams in the accompanying drawings illustrate the possible implementation architecture, functions and operations of the systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each box in the flowchart or block diagram can represent a module, program segment, or a part of code, and the module, program segment, or a part of code contains one or more executable instructions for realizing the specified logical function. It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions marked in the box can also occur in a different order than that marked in the accompanying drawings. For example, two boxes represented in succession can actually be executed substantially in parallel, and they can sometimes be executed in the opposite order, depending on the functions involved. It should also be noted that each box in the block diagram and / or flowchart, and the combination of the boxes in the block diagram and / or flowchart, can be implemented with a dedicated hardware-based system that performs the specified function or operation, or can be implemented with a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

[0195] The modules described in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in software or hardware. In some cases, the name of a module does not necessarily define the module itself. For example, module A may also be described as "module A for performing operation B."

[0196] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure and an illustration of the technical principles employed. Those skilled in the art should understand that the scope of disclosure involved in the present disclosure is not limited to the technical solutions formed by the specific combination of the above-mentioned technical features, but also includes other technical solutions formed by any combination of the above-mentioned technical features or their equivalents without departing from the above-mentioned disclosed concepts. For example, a technical solution formed by replacing the above-mentioned features with (but not limited to) technical features with similar functions disclosed in this disclosure.

Claims

1. A communication method, applied to a station device STA, characterized in that: The method comprises: Establishing a second connection with a second AP through the first AP, each of the second connections being in an inactive state; The STA establishes a first connection with a first AP, the first connection is in an activated state, and the first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities.

2. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The establishing a second connection with the second AP through the first AP includes: A first wireless frame sent by a first AP is received; wherein the first wireless frame includes identification information of the second AP.

3. The communication method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The first radio frame includes a first information element, and the identification information is carried in the first information element.

4. The communication method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: The second AP does not support multi-connection communication, and the identification information includes: MAC address information of the second AP or device identification information allocated by the first AP to the second AP; or, The second AP is attached to the AP MLD, and the identification information includes: group identification information of the group to which the second AP belongs, and device identification information of the second AP in the group.

5. The communication method according to claim 4, characterized in that: The group identification information of the second AP includes MAC address information of the AP MLD to which the second AP belongs.

6. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The second connection establishes a TID-to-Link mapping through the first AP.

7. The communication method according to claim 3, characterized in that: The first information element also includes: The switching delay information of the STA from the first AP to the second AP.

8. The communication method according to claim 2, characterized in that: After receiving the first wireless frame sent by the first AP, the method further includes: A second wireless frame is sent, wherein the second wireless frame requests switching from the first AP to the second AP.

9. The communication method according to claim 8, characterized in that: After sending the second radio frame, the method further includes: When a confirmation message frame fed back by the second AP for the second wireless frame is received, the first AP switches to the second AP.

10. The communication method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: The second radio frame includes a handover notification frame.

11. A communication method, applied to a first access point device AP, characterized in that: The method comprises: Determine a first wireless frame; wherein the first wireless frame includes identification information of the second AP, and the identification information indicates that when the station device STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP, and each of the second connections is in an inactive state, and the first connection is in an active state; the first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities; The first radio frame is sent.

12. The communication method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The first radio frame includes a first information element, and the identification information is carried in the first information element.

13. The communication method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that: The second AP does not support multi-connection communication, and the identification information includes: MAC address information of the second AP or device identification information allocated by the first AP to the second AP; or, The second AP is attached to the AP MLD, and the identification information includes: Group identification information of the group to which the second AP belongs, and device identification information of the second AP in the group.

14. The communication method according to claim 13, characterized in that: The group identification information of the second AP includes MAC address information of the AP MLD to which the second AP belongs.

15. The communication method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The second connection establishes a TID-to-Link mapping through the first AP.

16. The communication method according to claim 12, characterized in that: The first information element also includes: The switching delay information of the STA from the first AP to the second AP.

17. An electronic device, the electronic device being a station device STA, characterized in that: The electronic device comprises: A connection establishing module, configured to establish a second connection with a second AP through the first AP, wherein each of the second connections is in an inactive state; The STA establishes a first connection with a first AP, and the first connection is in an activated state, wherein the first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities.

18. An electronic device, the electronic device being a first access point device AP, characterized in that: The electronic device comprises: A determination module, configured to determine a first wireless frame; wherein the first wireless frame includes identification information of the second AP, wherein the identification information indicates that when a station device STA establishes a first connection with the first AP, a second connection is established with the second AP through the first AP, and each of the second connections is in an inactive state, and the first connection is in an active state; the first AP and the second AP belong to different physical entities; A sending module is used to send the first wireless frame.

19. An electronic device, characterized in that: The invention comprises a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein when the processor executes the program, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 or the method according to any one of claims 11 to 16 is implemented.

20. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 or the method according to any one of claims 11 to 16 is implemented.

Images