Communication apparatus and method, information processing apparatus, control method, and storage medium

Abstract

The invention relates to a communication apparatus and method, an information processing apparatus, a control method, and a storage medium. The communication device communication includes: a receiving section for receiving a radio frame from a first other communication device; and a transmission section for transmitting a radio frame including a preamble of a physical layer and a data field, the preamble includes a legacy short training field, a legacy long training field, a legacy signal field, a second signal field related to a second communication standard specified at least after a legacy communication standard corresponding to the legacy signal field, a second short training field related to the second communication standard, and a second long training field associated with a second communication standard.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of an invention patent application with an application date of February 5, 2020, application number 202080016900.9 (international application number PCT / JP2020 / 004258), and invention name “Communication equipment and method, information processing equipment, control method and storage medium”. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates to a communication device, a communication method thereof, an information processing device, a control method thereof, and a computer-readable storage medium, and more particularly, to a communication control technology in a wireless LAN. Background Art

[0003] In recent years, as the amount of data to be transmitted has increased, communication technologies such as wireless LAN (local area network) have been developed. As the main communication standard for wireless LAN, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 standard series is known. The IEEE802.11 standard series includes standards such as IEEE802.11a / b / g / n / ac / ax. For example, in the latest standard IEEE802.11ax, a technology has been standardized that uses OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) to achieve a high peak throughput of up to 9.6 Gigabits per second (Gbps) and additionally improves the communication speed in congested conditions (see patent document 1).

[0004] On the other hand, in order to further improve the throughput, a research group called IEEE802.11EHT (Extremely High Throughput) has been formed as a successor standard of IEEE802.11ax. In EHT, in order to achieve an improvement in throughput, it has been examined to distribute the transmission data of a single STA (station) to multiple access points (APs) distributed in space and arranged simultaneously, and to have these access points send data to the STA in parallel.

[0005] Reference List

[0006] Patent Literature

[0007] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-050133 Summary of the invention

[0008] Technical issues

[0009] It is useful to identify whether a STA receives a frame from a single AP or receives frames from multiple APs. On the other hand, in conventional standards, it is assumed that a STA communicates with a single AP, but it is not assumed that a STA communicates with multiple APs in parallel. For this reason, there is no mechanism that enables a STA to identify that a frame is sent from multiple APs in parallel.

[0010] Solutions to the problem

[0011] The present invention provides a technology that enables identification of whether a terminal of a wireless LAN communicates with a plurality of access points in parallel.

[0012] According to one aspect of the present invention, a communication device is provided, characterized in that it includes a transmitting unit for transmitting a radio frame including a preamble code and a data field of a physical layer (PHY), wherein the preamble code includes L-STF (legacy short training field), L-LTF (legacy long training field), L-SIG (legacy signal field), EHT-SIG-A (extremely high throughput signal A field), EHT-STF (EHT short training field), and EHT-LTF (EHT long training field) and the EHT-SIG-A includes a subfield indicating whether data is transmitted in parallel from another communication device different from the communication device to a common partner device.

[0013] Advantageous Effects of the Invention

[0014] According to the present invention, it is possible to identify whether a terminal of a wireless LAN is communicating with a plurality of access points in parallel.

[0015] Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.Please note that the same reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to designate the same or similar parts. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

[0017] [ Figure 1 ] Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of a network configuration;

[0018] [ Figure 2 ] Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of an AP;

[0019] [ Figure 3 ] Figure 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of an AP;

[0020] [ Figure 4 ] Figure 4is a flowchart showing an example of a process performed in an AP;

[0021] [ Figure 5 ] Figure 5 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a process performed in a network;

[0022] [ Figure 6 ] Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of a PHY frame structure of an EHT SU PPDU;

[0023] [ Figure 7 ] Figure 7 is a diagram showing an example of a PHY frame structure of an EHT MU PPDU; and

[0024] [ Figure 8 ] Figure 8 is a diagram showing an example of a PHY frame structure of an EHT ER PPDU. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] Below, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Please note that the following examples are not intended to limit the scope of the claims of the present invention. A plurality of features are described in the embodiments, but the invention is not limited to requiring all such features, and a plurality of such features may be appropriately combined. In addition, in the accompanying drawings, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same or similar structures, and their redundant descriptions are omitted.

[0026] (Network Structure)

[0027] Figure 1 An example of the construction of a wireless communication network according to the present embodiment is shown. The wireless communication network is constructed to include access points (AP 102, AP 103, and AP 104) and terminals (STA 105, STA 106, and STA 107), each of which is an EHT (Extremely High Throughput) device. Each of these devices complies with IEEE802.11EHT (Extremely High Throughput) and is constructed to be able to perform wireless communications that comply with standards defined before the IEEE802.11EHT standard. Please note that the name "IEEE802.11EHT" is provided for convenience and may be other names when the standard is established, but this specification and the appended claims are intended to cover all standards that can support the processing described later. In the following description, in the absence of mentioning a specific device, etc., an access point may be referred to as an "AP" and a station may be referred to as a "STA" without a figure mark. Please note that in Figure 1 In FIG. 1 , a wireless communication network including three APs and three STAs is shown as an example, but the number of these communication devices may be two or less, or may be four or more. Figure 1 , the communicable area of ​​the network formed by AP 102, AP 103, and AP 104 is represented by circle 101. Note that this communicable area may cover a larger area, or may only cover a smaller area. Figure 1 STAs supporting EHT are shown, but there may be STAs supporting only a standard (legacy standard) one generation before EHT. Note that it can be understood that EHT is an acronym for Extreme High Throughput.

[0028] Note that in this example, AP 103 and AP 104 can receive signals sent from AP 102, and AP 102 can receive signals sent from AP 103 and AP 104. However, there is no particular limitation on the connection form, and AP 102, AP 103, and AP 104 can be connected by wire or wirelessly. Note that AP 103 and AP 104 may be capable of or incapable of sending / receiving signals to each other. Note that AP 102 to AP 104 can form a multi-AP coordination structure of IEEE802.11EHT. That is, AP 102 to AP 104 supports the following structure in which multiple APs communicate in collaboration with one STA, as defined by IEEE802.11EHT. For example, STA 105 can send / receive radio frames to / from AP 103 and AP 104 operating in collaboration in parallel. STA 105 can be constructed, for example, to include multiple wireless LAN control units and send / receive radio frames to / from multiple APs using different radio channels. Note that the STA 105 may include one physical control unit capable of processing multiple frames received in parallel via multiple radio channels. That is, the STA 105 has a configuration capable of processing multiple wireless communications logically in parallel physically using one or more control devices.

[0029] Here, an AP that directly sends / receives signals to / from each STA, such as AP 103 and AP 104, will be referred to as a slave access point (S-AP). In addition, an AP that can at least indirectly send / receive frames to / from each STA by issuing instructions to AP 103 and AP 104, such as AP 102, will be referred to as a master access point (M-AP). Note that the M-AP can directly send / receive signals to / from STA 105. For example, AP 102 can be used as an M-AP or an S-AP. In this case, for example, AP 102 can issue instructions to AP 103 or AP 104 to send / receive radio frames to / from STA while sending / receiving radio frames between its own device and STA 105. Note that when the S-AP is caused to send a radio frame, the M-AP can send the sending target data to the S-AP. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the S-AP can obtain the sending target data directly from, for example, the Internet. In addition, the M-AP can receive data from the S-AP that the S-AP receives from the STA. The S-AP may transmit the data received from the STA to the partner device of the STA instead of to the M-AP.

[0030] Note that all APs in the same network can operate as M-APs, and which AP should operate as an M-AP can be decided according to certain criteria. Note that an M-AP does not operate as an AP for beacon transmission, etc., and can only perform the role of an M-AP to, for example, send instructions to each AP. In addition, each AP can operate as a plurality of S-APs by including a plurality of wireless LAN control units. An M-AP can be implemented as a logical function, and one physical AP can operate as one or more S-APs while operating as an M-AP.

[0031] An example of the configuration and processing of each of the AP 103 and the AP 104 as an AP (S-AP) that directly transmits a radio frame to the STA will be described below.

[0032] (AP Structure)

[0033] Figure 2 1 shows the functional configuration of AP 103. Note that AP 104 has the same functions. As an example, AP 103 includes two sets of functional units (wireless LAN control unit 201 and antenna 207, and wireless LAN control unit 206 and antenna 208) configured to perform communication of wireless LAN. The number of wireless LAN control units provided in AP 103 is not limited to two, and may be one or three or more. AP 103 further includes a frame generation unit 202, an M-AP signal analysis unit 203, a UI control unit 204, and a storage unit 205.

[0034] The wireless LAN control unit 201 and the wireless LAN control unit 206 are each configured to include a circuit for transmitting / receiving a radio signal to / from other wireless LAN devices (e.g., other APs or STAs), and a program configured to control these. The wireless LAN control unit 201 and the wireless LAN control unit 206 each perform communication control of the wireless LAN, such as transmitting a frame generated by the frame generation unit 202 and receiving a radio frame from other wireless LAN devices in accordance with the IEEE802.11 standard series. The frame generation unit 202 generates a radio frame to be transmitted by each of the wireless LAN control unit 201 and the wireless LAN control unit 208 based on the content analyzed by the M-AP signal analysis unit 203. Note that if the AP operates as an M-AP or does not cooperate with other APs, the frame generation unit 202 can generate a radio frame independently of the analysis of the M-AP signal analysis unit 203. If the own device (AP 103) operates as an S-AP, the M-AP signal analysis unit 203 interprets the content of the radio frame received from the M-AP and to be transmitted to the STA. For example, regarding a frame to be transmitted from the AP 103 to the STA 105, information on how many APs other than the AP 103 there are that transmit frames to the STA 105, which channel is to be used for transmission / reception, and the like is obtained through this analysis.

[0035] The UI control unit 204 is configured to include hardware related to a user interface (UI), such as a touch panel and buttons configured to accept operations of the AP 103 by a user (not shown) of the AP 103, and a program configured to control these. Note that the UI control unit 204 also has a function of presenting information to the user, such as display of an image or audio output. The storage unit 205 is configured to include a storage device such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a RAM (Random Access Memory), which is configured to store programs to be executed by the AP 103 and various data.

[0036] Figure 3 1 shows the hardware configuration of each AP 103. As an example of its hardware configuration, the AP 103 includes a storage unit 301, a control unit 302, a function unit 303, an input unit 304, an output unit 305, a communication unit 306, and antennas 307 and 308. Note that the AP 104 and the STA can have the same hardware configuration. Note that since the STA has a general wireless LAN function, the description of its functional configuration will be omitted.

[0037] The storage unit 301 is formed of both or one of a ROM and a RAM, and stores programs for performing various operations to be described later and various information such as communication parameters for wireless communication. Note that, in addition to memories such as ROM and RAM, a storage medium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, or a DVD can be used as the storage unit 301.

[0038] The control unit 302 is formed of, for example, one or more processors such as a CPU and an MPU, an ASIC ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), etc. Here, CPU is an acronym for a Central Processing Unit, and MPU is an acronym for a Micro Processing Unit. The control unit 302 executes a program stored in the storage unit 301, thereby controlling the entire AP 103. Note that the control unit 302 can control the entire AP 103 by cooperation of the program stored in the storage unit 301 and an OS (Operating System).

[0039] In addition, the control unit 302 controls the function unit 303 to perform a predetermined process such as imaging, printing, or projection. The function unit 303 is hardware used by the AP 103 to perform a predetermined process. For example, if the AP 103 is a camera, the function unit 303 is an imaging unit and performs imaging processing. For example, if the AP 103 is a printer, the function unit 303 is a printing unit and performs printing processing. For example, if the AP 103 is a projector, the function unit 303 is a projection unit and performs projection processing. The data to be processed by the function unit 303 may be data stored in the storage unit 301, or may be data communicated with other APs or STAs via the communication unit 306 to be described later.

[0040] The input unit 304 accepts various operations from the user. The output unit 305 performs various outputs for the user. Here, the output of the output unit 305 includes at least one of, for example, display on a screen, audio output by a speaker, vibration output, etc. Please note that both the input unit 304 and the output unit 305 can be implemented by one module, such as a touch panel.

[0041] The communication unit 306 controls wireless communication in accordance with the IEEE802.11 standard series, or controls IP communication. The communication unit 306 is a so-called radio chip, which itself may include one or more processors and memories. In the present embodiment, the communication unit 306 may perform processing in accordance with at least the IEEE802.11ax standard. In addition, the communication unit 306 controls the antennas 307 and 308 to send and receive radio signals for wireless communication. The AP 103 communicates content such as image data, document data, or video data with other communication devices via the communication unit 306. Each of the antennas 307 and 308 is an antenna that can send and receive signals in at least any one of, for example, a sub-GHz band, a 2.4 GHz band, a 5 GHz band, and a 6 GHz band. Note that the frequency bands (and combinations of frequency bands) to which the antennas 307 and 308 are applicable are not particularly limited. Each of the antennas 307 and 308 may be one antenna, or may be configured to include two or more antennas for MIMO (multiple input and multiple output) transmission / reception. Note that, Figure 3 At least two antennas 307 and 308 are shown, but the AP 103 may include only one antenna by using, for example, a multi-band antenna supporting two or more of the above-mentioned multiple frequency bands. In addition, the AP 103 may include more antennas.

[0042] (Processing process)

[0043] Next, an example of a process performed by the above-described AP 103 and AP 104 and a process performed by the wireless communication network will be described. Figure 4 and Figure 5 An example of a process of deciding that AP 103 should operate as an S-AP and, after exchanging information with AP 102, transmitting data to STA 105 in cooperation with AP 104 is shown.

[0044] In this process, first, it is decided which AP should operate as an M-AP (and which AP should operate as an S-AP) among AP 102 to AP 104 (step S401). For example, parameters for being an AP are sent from AP 103 to AP 102 (F501), and parameter comparison is performed, thereby deciding the AP that should operate as an M-AP. Note that AP parameters may also be sent from AP 104 to AP 102 (not shown). Note that in this process example, it is decided that AP 102 should operate as an M-AP, and AP 103 and AP 104 should operate as S-APs. Thereafter, AP 102 operating as an M-AP notifies APs 103 and 104 operating as S-APs of network information such as SSID and BSSID. AP 103 and AP 104 receive the notified network information (steps S402, F502). Note that if the roles of the M-AP and the S-AP are determined in advance, the processing of steps S401 and S402 and F501 and F502 may be omitted.

[0045] AP 103 sends a beacon according to the notified information (F503). Note that the beacon includes information indicating that multiple APs can cooperatively send / receive data to the connected STA. Note that the AP here includes a logical AP, and one AP may include, for example, an AP operating in the 2.4 GHz band and an AP operating in the 5 GHz band. That is, the data transmission / reception of multiple APs may include the data transmission / reception of one physical AP that can be used as multiple logical APs. For example, AP 103 adds a multi-AP information element to the beacon and sends the following information, which includes SSID, BSSID, and information of operating wireless channels to be used by multiple APs capable of cooperative operation. The storage method and structure of this information are not limited to these, and AP103 can send similar information stored in a similar format. Upon receiving the beacon, STA 105 performs connection processing on at least one of the multiple S-APs based on the information included in the beacon (steps S403, F504). The connection processing here includes processing such as authentication and association defined by the IEEE802.11 standard series. In the connection state of establishing a connection with STA 105, AP 103 notifies M-AP of the connection state establishment with STA together with the connection parameters (steps S404, F505). At this time, if one physical AP is used as two logical APs and each of them is set to the connection state with STA, M-AP can be notified of this. Figure 5, only AP 103 is set to a connection state with STA 105. However, AP 104 may also connect to STA 105 by sending a beacon and notify M-AP (AP 102) that the connection state is established. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and for example, STA may be set to be in a connection state with only one of a plurality of S-APs. In this case, for example, a radio frame sent from another S-AP that is not in a connection state is processed by STA as a radio frame from an S-AP in a connection state. Note that even in a connection state of only one of a plurality of S-APs, STA is able to recognize that the transmission source S-AP is different from the radio frame from the S-AP. Note that in this embodiment, the preamble of the physical layer (PHY) of the radio frame is decoded, so that it is possible to recognize that the signal is sent from a plurality of S-APs (i.e., a multi-AP coordination system is formed). That is, information representing that a multi-AP coordination system is formed is included in the PHY preamble of a frame received by S-AP from M-AP or a frame received by STA from S-AP (or M-AP). This allows the device receiving the frame to confirm whether a single or multiple APs are sending data to STA. This will be described later.

[0046] The M-AP manages the connection parameters of the S-AP in the connection state with the STA, thereby determining the transmission parameters based on the information and performing transmission data allocation later (F506). The S-AP is notified of the information of the transmission parameters determined by the M-AP, and the AP 103 determines its own transmission parameters based on the notified information (step S405). The connection parameters may include information on the transmission rate and error rate of each connection. The M-AP may allocate a large amount of transmission data to the S-AP with a high transmission rate connection, and a small amount of transmission data to the S-AP with a low transmission rate connection. Accordingly, data transmission from the S-AP to the STA can be effectively performed. In order to reflect the current connection situation, the connection parameters may be updated at a predetermined time period of each S-AP and notified to the M-AP. Thereafter, upon receiving the transmission data from the M-AP to the STA (steps S406, F507), the S-AP sends the data to the STA (steps S407, F508).

[0047] Such parallel transmission of data from multiple S-APs to one STA can be performed by, for example, sending a trigger frame configured to trigger transmission from the M-AP to the S-AP after the transmission target data is transmitted from the M-AP to the S-AP. That is, in a state where preparation for the transmission target data is completed, the S-AP immediately transmits the data to the STA based on receiving the trigger frame from the M-AP. Note that when the transmission target data is transmitted from the M-AP to the S-AP, information indicating the transmission timing of the data can be notified to the S-AP together with the transmission target data. In this case, multiple S-APs transmit the transmission target data at the indicated transmission timing, thereby transmitting the data to the STA in parallel.

[0048] On the other hand, when receiving data from the STA (step S408), the S-AP transmits the received data to the M-AP (step S409). Note that the order of data transmission and reception is an example, and for example, the order may be Figure 4 and Figure 5 Data is sent / received in a mode other than the modes shown, so that, for example, data reception from the STA is performed before data is sent to the STA.

[0049] (Frame structure)

[0050] Figures 6 to 8 Each of FIG. 5 shows an example of a PPDU (Physical Layer (PHY) Protocol Data Unit) defined by the IEEE 802.11 EHT standard and transmitted in steps S406 and S407 , F503 , F507 , and F508 . Figure 6 shows an example of an EHT SU (Single User) PPDU, which is a PPDU for single user communication, Figure 7 An example of an EHT MU (Multi-User) PPDU for multi-user communication is shown. Figure 8 An example of an EHT ER (Extended Range) PPDU for long distance transmission is shown. When a communication area should be extended in communication between an AP and a single STA, the EHT ER PPDU is used.

[0051] The PPDU includes fields including STF (Short Training Field), LTF (Long Training Field) and SIG (Signal Field). Figure 6 As shown, the PPDU header includes L (legacy)-STF 601, L-LTF 602 and L-SIG 603 to ensure backward compatibility with IEEE802.11a / b / g / n / ax standards. Figure 7 and Figure 8The respective frame formats shown include: L-STF (L-STF 701 or L-STF 801), L-LTF (L-LTF 702 or L-LTF 802), and L-SIG (L-SIG 703 or L-SIG 803). Note that L-LTF is arranged immediately after L-STF, and L-SIG is arranged immediately after L-LTF. Note that Figures 6 to 8 Each structure shown further includes an RL-SIG (repeated L-SIG, RL-SIG 604, RL-SIG 704, or RL-SIG 804) arranged immediately after the L-SIG. In the RL-SIG field, the content of the L-SIG is sent repeatedly. The RL-SIG is used to enable the receiver to identify that this PPDU complies with the standards after the IEEE802.11ax standard. In some cases, the RL-SIG can be omitted in the IEEE802.11EHT. In addition, a field that enables the receiver to identify that the PPDU complies with the IEEE802.11EHT standard can be provided to replace the RL-SIG. Please note that the fields of each PPDU are not necessarily arranged in accordance with the IEEE802.11ax standard. Figures 6 to 8 The order shown in each of the above may be arranged, or may include Figures 6 to 8 There are new fields not shown in the various .

[0052] L-STF 601 is used to detect PHY frame signals, AGC (automatic gain control), timing detection, etc. L-LTF 602 is used for highly accurate frequency / time synchronization, obtaining propagation channel information (CSI: channel state information), etc. L-SIG 603 is used to send control information including information such as data transmission rate and PHY frame length. Legacy devices compliant with IEEE802.11a / b / g / n / ax standards can decode the various legacy fields described above.

[0053] Each PPDU further includes more EHT-SIGs (EHT-SIG-A 605, EHT-SIG-A 705, EHT-SIG-B 706, or EHT-SIG-A 805) arranged immediately after the RL-SIG and used to transmit EHT control information. Each PPDU further includes an STF of the EHT (EHT-STF 606, 707, or 806) and an LTF of the EHT (EHT-LTF 607, 708, or 807). Each PPDU includes a data field 608, 709, or 808 and a packet extension field 609, 710, or 809 after these control fields. The portion including the fields from the L-STF to the EHT-LTF of each PPDU is called a PHY preamble.

[0054] Please note, Figures 6 to 8Each of the PPDUs that can ensure backward compatibility is shown as an example. However, if there is no need to ensure backward compatibility, for example, the legacy field can be omitted. In this case, for example, EHT-STF and EHT-LTF are used instead of L-STF and L-LTF to establish synchronization. Then, in this case, one of the multiple EHT-LTFs after the EHT-STF and EHT-SIG fields can be omitted.

[0055] The EHT-SIG-A 605 and 805 included in the EHT SU PPDU and the EHT ER PPDU respectively include the EHT-SIG-A1 and EHT-SIG-A2 required for receiving the PPDU, as shown in Tables 1 and 2 below. In this embodiment, the EHT-SIG-A1 includes a "multi-AP" subfield representing whether data is transmitted from multiple APs to the STA. In addition, Figure 7 The EHT-SIG-A 705 of the illustrated EHT MU PPDU includes EHT-SIG-A1 and EHT-SIG-A2 required for receiving the PPDU, as shown in Tables 3 and 4 below. In this embodiment, the "Multi-AP" subfield representing whether data is transmitted from multiple APs to the STA is included in the EHT-SIG-A2. For example, if data is transmitted from multiple APs to the STA, 1 is stored in the "Multi-AP" subfield. If data is transmitted from a single AP to the STA, 0 is stored in the "Multi-AP" subfield. Please note that the constructions of Tables 1 to 4 are only examples, and for example, in the EHT SU PPDU and the EHT ERP PDU, the information of the multiple APs may be notified at a position other than the 15th bit of the EHT-SIG-A1 field. Similarly, in the EHT MU PPDU, the information of the multiple APs may be notified at a position other than the 8th bit of the EHT-SIG-A2 field. In addition, the information of the multiple APs may specify whether the data is transmitted from multiple physical APs to the STA, or may specify whether the data is transmitted from multiple logical APs to the STA. For example, even if data is physically transmitted to the STA from one AP, if data is logically transmitted to the STA from multiple APs, 1 may be specified in the Multi-AP subfield.

[0056] [Table 1]

[0057]

[0058]

[0059]

[0060] [Table 2]

[0061]

[0062]

[0063] [Table 3]

[0064]

[0065]

[0066] [Table 4]

[0067]

[0068]

[0069] Please note that the EHT-SIG-B 706 of the EHT MU PPDU includes the common field information shown in Table 5 and the user block field information shown in Table 6, which are necessary for receiving the PPDU.

[0070] [Table 5]

[0071]

[0072] [Table 6]

[0073]

[0074] As shown in Table 6, in the user block field, a user field is included, and information of each user is stored. The format of the user field changes depending on whether the data is sent to multiple users by OFDMA or by MU-MIMO. Table 7 shows the user field when the data is sent by OFDMA, and Table 8 shows the user field when the data is sent by MU-MIMO.

[0075] [Table 7]

[0076]

[0077]

[0078] [Table 8]

[0079]

[0080] Please note that the contents of these subfields are the same as those defined in the IEEE802.11ax standard and their description will be omitted here.

[0081] As described above, in the frame structure of the PPDU (EHT SU PPDU, EHT ER PPDU, and EHTMU PPDU) used in the IEEE802.11EHT standard, it is possible to inform the STA whether a single AP or multiple APs are sending data. That is, the S-AP can inform the STA whether there is an AP that sends data to a common partner device (STA) in parallel in addition to its own device. In addition, by sending this frame, the M-AP can inform the S-AP whether there are other S-APs that send data to a common partner device (STA) in parallel (or whether the M-AP sends data in parallel). At this time, for example, if the STA performs a connection process only on one AP, the STA can recognize that there are other APs with which the STA should communicate through a radio channel different from the AP that performs the connection process, that is, through a radio channel different from the radio channel in which its own device operates. Note that the radio channel here may include, for example, a frequency channel or a spatial channel. For example, when confirming the PHY preamble and confirming that data from multiple APs is received, the STA can operate to specify multiple APs as data transmission sources. STA can confirm, for example, the sender address in the MAC (Media Access Control) header of each of the multiple data streams, thereby obtaining information of multiple APs. In addition, for example, if the information of multiple APs is confirmed, STA can send confirmation (ACK / NACK) to each AP separately. In addition, if the radio quality of the data of some APs deteriorates, STA can notify any AP (e.g., M-AP) that these APs should be excluded from the target of multi-AP coordination. This makes it possible to maintain high radio quality communication in STA. In addition, in STA or AP, the user can be notified via UI of information representing whether data is sent from multiple APs to STA. In addition, if the own device does not support multi-AP coordination and receives a PPDU representing data sent from multiple APs, the STA can immediately discard the PPDU. Accordingly, in STA, for PPDUs that cannot be applied to its own device, the information after the multi-AP subfield will not be decoded unnecessarily. Therefore, power consumption can be suppressed. Note that the present invention can be implemented not only by the APs 102 to 104 and the STAs 105 to 107 as communication devices, but also by an information processing device (eg, a radio chip) configured to generate the above-described PHY preamble.

[0082] Note that in the example described above, the multi-AP subfield is prepared as a 1-bit field to indicate whether data is transmitted from multiple APs to the STA. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the multi-AP subfield may be prepared as a field of two or more bits to show the number of APs that transmit data to the STA. For example, if a 2-bit field is prepared, it may be used to indicate that data is transmitted from one AP with "00", data is transmitted from two APs with "01", data is transmitted from three APs with "10", and data is transmitted from four or more APs with "11". Similarly, when a field of three or more bits is prepared, it may represent a larger number of APs.

[0083] The present invention can be provided to a system or device via a network or storage medium by processing a program for implementing one or more functions of the above-mentioned embodiments, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or device read out and execute the program. The present invention can also be implemented by a circuit (e.g., ASIC) for implementing one or more functions.

[0084] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various changes and modifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, in order to make the public aware of the scope of the present invention, the following claims are made.

Claims

1. A communication device, characterized in that: The communication device comprises: a receiving unit configured to receive a radio frame from a first other communication device; and a transmitting unit configured to transmit a radio frame including a preamble and a data field of a physical layer, wherein the preamble includes a legacy short training field, a legacy long training field, a legacy signal field, a second signal field associated with a second communication standard specified at least after the legacy communication standard corresponding to the legacy signal field, a second short training field associated with the second communication standard, and a second long training field associated with the second communication standard, and In the case where a predetermined radio frame is received from the first other communication device for indicating that coordinated transmission of data from the communication device and a second other communication device different from the communication device to a common partner device is to be performed, the second signal field includes a subfield indicating that coordinated transmission of data from the communication device and the second other communication device different from the communication device to the common partner device is to be performed.

2. The communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that The subfield is a 1-bit subfield in the second signal field, and the 1-bit subfield indicates whether the devices that perform coordinated transmission of data include a single device or a plurality of devices.

3. The communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that The subfield is a subfield of at least 2 bits in the second signal field, and the subfield of at least 2 bits indicates the number of devices that perform coordinated transmission of data.

4. The communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that The subfield includes information according to the number of physical devices that transmit data.

5. The communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that The subfield includes information according to the number of logical devices that transmit data.

6. An information processing device, characterized in that: The information processing device comprises: a generating unit configured to generate a radio frame including a preamble of a physical layer, wherein the preamble includes a legacy short training field, a legacy long training field, a legacy signal field, a second signal field associated with a second communication standard specified at least after the legacy communication standard corresponding to the legacy signal field, a second short training field associated with the second communication standard, and a second long training field associated with the second communication standard, and In the case where a first communication device sends a predetermined radio frame to a second communication device and a third communication device for indicating that coordinated transmission of data from the second communication device and the third communication device to a common partner device is to be performed, the second signal field to be sent from the second communication device includes a subfield, and the subfield indicates that coordinated transmission of data from the second communication device and the third communication device to the common partner device is to be performed.

7. A communication method performed by a communication device, characterized in that: The communication method comprises: receiving a radio frame from a first other communication device; and transmitting a radio frame including a preamble and a data field of a physical layer, wherein the preamble includes a legacy short training field, a legacy long training field, a legacy signal field, a second signal field associated with a second communication standard specified at least after the legacy communication standard corresponding to the legacy signal field, a second short training field associated with the second communication standard, and a second long training field associated with the second communication standard, and In the case where a predetermined radio frame is received from the first other communication device for indicating that coordinated transmission of data from the communication device and a second other communication device different from the communication device to a common partner device is to be performed, the second signal field includes a subfield indicating the coordinated transmission of data from the communication device and the second other communication device different from the communication device to the common partner device.

8. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program configured to cause a computer to execute the communication method according to claim 7.

9. A control method executed by an information processing device, characterized in that: The control method comprises: generating a radio frame including a preamble of a physical layer, wherein the preamble includes a legacy short training field, a legacy long training field, a legacy signal field, a second signal field associated with a second communication standard specified at least after the legacy communication standard corresponding to the legacy signal field, a second short training field associated with the second communication standard, and a second long training field associated with the second communication standard, and In the case where a first communication device sends a predetermined radio frame to a second communication device and a third communication device for indicating that coordinated transmission of data from the second communication device and the third communication device to a common partner device is to be performed, the second signal field to be sent from the second communication device includes a subfield, and the subfield indicates that coordinated transmission of data from the second communication device and the third communication device to the common partner device is to be performed. 10 . A computer-readable storage medium storing a program configured to cause a computer to execute the control method according to claim 9 .

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