Wireless communication method and device

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a wireless communication method and equipment, a mobile AP (Access Point) in a wireless local area network can autonomously and synchronously update an SSID (Service Set Identifier) and a BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier) of the mobile AP, so that an attacker is prevented from identifying and tracking a user corresponding to the mobile AP through the SSID or the BSSID, a method for protecting a PNL (Passive Network Link) of an STA (Station) is provided, a confusion SSID is added in the PNL of the STA, and the security of the mobile AP is improved. Therefore, an attacker is prevented from identifying and tracking the user corresponding to the STA through the content of the SSID and the sequence of different SSIDs in the detection of the specified SSID of the STA.

Description

Wireless communication method and device Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a method and device for wireless communications. Background Art

[0002] In a wireless local area network (WLAN), an attacker may identify and track users corresponding to an access point (AP) through its Service Set Identifier (SSID) and Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID). Alternatively, an attacker may identify and track users corresponding to a station (STA) through its Preferred Network List (PNL).

[0003] Summary of the Invention

[0004] Embodiments of the present application provide a wireless communication method and apparatus in which an AP can autonomously update its SSID and BSSID, thereby preventing attackers from identifying and tracking users associated with the AP through the SSID or BSSID. Alternatively, a STA's PNL includes at least one SSID selected from an obfuscation library, thereby preventing attackers from identifying and tracking users associated with the STA through the STA's PNL.

[0005] In a first aspect, a wireless communication method is provided, the method comprising:

[0006] The AP autonomously updates its SSID and BSSID;

[0007] The AP locally maintains a first list and a second list, the first list includes M SSIDs, the second list includes N BSSIDs, the M SSIDs include the AP's current SSID and at least one SSID used previously, the N BSSIDs include the AP's current BSSID and at least one BSSID used previously, and M and N are both positive integers.

[0008] In a second aspect, a wireless communication method is provided, the method comprising:

[0009] STA sends a probe request frame to AP;

[0010] The SSID in the probe request frame belongs to a PNL, which includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has accessed, or the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has accessed; wherein the SSID included in the obfuscation library does not involve the privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA.

[0011] In a third aspect, an AP is provided for executing the method in the first aspect.

[0012] Specifically, the AP includes a functional module for executing the method in the above-mentioned first aspect.

[0013] In a fourth aspect, a STA is provided for executing the method in the second aspect.

[0014] Specifically, the STA includes a functional module for executing the method in the above second aspect.

[0015] In a fifth aspect, an AP is provided, comprising a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, so that the AP executes the method in the above-mentioned first aspect.

[0016] In a sixth aspect, a STA is provided, comprising a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, so that the STA executes the method in the above-mentioned second aspect.

[0017] In a seventh aspect, a device is provided for implementing the method in any one of the first to second aspects above.

[0018] Specifically, the apparatus includes: a processor, configured to call and run a computer program from a memory, so that a device equipped with the apparatus executes the method in any one of the first to second aspects described above.

[0019] In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program, wherein the computer program enables a computer to execute the method in any one of the first to second aspects above.

[0020] In a ninth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising computer program instructions, wherein the computer program instructions enable a computer to execute the method in any one of the first to second aspects above.

[0021] In a tenth aspect, a computer program is provided, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method in any one of the first to second aspects above.

[0022] Through the technical solution of the first aspect above, the AP autonomously updates its SSID and BSSID, thereby preventing attackers from identifying and tracking users corresponding to the AP through the SSID or BSSID. Specifically, the AP locally maintains a first list, which includes the AP's current SSID and at least one SSID used previously. As long as the SSID in the received probe request frame is in the first list, the AP will respond, thereby ensuring that STAs that have connected to the AP in the past but do not know the AP's current SSID can still find the AP through the old SSID. Specifically, the AP locally maintains a second list, which includes the AP's current BSSID and at least one BSSID used previously. Therefore, when the AP changes its BSSID, since the BSSID used for a period of time is saved, the message sent by the STA carrying the old BSSID can be recognized and received by the AP, thereby ensuring that when the AP updates its BSSID, the communication of the STA that is or has been associated will not be interrupted.

[0023] Through the technical solution of the second aspect above, the STA sends a probe request frame to the AP, wherein the SSID in the probe request frame belongs to the PNL, and the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, thereby preventing an attacker from identifying and tracking the user corresponding to the STA through the STA's PNL. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture applied in an embodiment of the present application.

[0025] FIG2 is a schematic flowchart of a wireless communication method provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0026] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a second list provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0027] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a first list provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0028] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a two-dimensional list of SSIDs (a fourth list) maintained by a STA according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0029] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of an AP maintenance list provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0030] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a first management frame provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0031] FIG8 is a schematic flowchart of an AP updating SSID and BSSID according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0032] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a second management frame provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0033] FIG10 is a schematic flowchart of a STA accessing an AP supporting an SSID privacy enhancement function for the first time according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0034] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a two-dimensional list (fifth list) maintained by a STA according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0035] FIG12 is a schematic diagram of an SSID information element provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0036] FIG13 is a schematic diagram of a third list provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0037] FIG14 is a schematic diagram of another first list provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0038] FIG15 is a schematic diagram of a first frame provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0039] Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of another AP maintenance list provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0040] FIG17 is a schematic flowchart of another AP updating SSID and BSSID provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0041] Figure 18 is a schematic flowchart of another STA accessing an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function for the first time according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0042] Figure 19 is a schematic flowchart of another wireless communication method provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0043] Figure 20 is a schematic diagram of an obfuscation library provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0044] Figure 21 is a schematic diagram of a sixth table provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0045] Figure 22 is a schematic flowchart of a STA initializing PNL and using the PNL to discover an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0046] Figure 23 is a schematic flowchart of another STA initializing PNL and using the PNL to discover an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0047] Figure 24 is a schematic block diagram of an AP provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0048] Figure 25 is a schematic block diagram of a STA provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0049] Figure 26 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0050] Figure 27 is a schematic block diagram of a device provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0051] Figure 28 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system provided according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0052] The following will describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of this application. Obviously, the embodiments described are part of the embodiments of this application, not all of the embodiments. With respect to the embodiments in this application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0053] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), or other communication systems.

[0054] For example, a communication system 100 used in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG1 . The communication system 100 may include an access point (AP) 110 and a station (STA) 120 that accesses a network through the AP 110 .

[0055] In some scenarios, an AP can be referred to as an AP STA, that is, in a sense, an AP is also a type of STA. In some scenarios, a STA can be referred to as a non-AP STA.

[0056] In some embodiments, STAs may include AP STAs and non-AP STAs.

[0057] The communication in the communication system 100 may be communication between an AP and a STA, communication between STAs, or communication between a STA and another (peer STA), where a peer STA may refer to a device that communicates with the STA peer, for example, a peer STA may be an AP or a non-AP STA.

[0058] An AP acts as a bridge between wired and wireless networks. Its primary function is to connect wireless network clients together and then connect the wireless network to the Ethernet. An AP can be a terminal device with a WiFi chip (such as a mobile phone) or a network device (such as a router).

[0059] It should be understood that the role of STA in the communication system is not absolute. For example, in some scenarios, when a mobile phone is connected to a router, the mobile phone is a STA. When the mobile phone serves as a hotspot for other mobile phones, the mobile phone acts as an AP.

[0060] APs and STAs can be devices used in the Internet of Vehicles, IoT nodes and sensors in the Internet of Things (IoT), smart cameras, smart remote controls, smart water and electricity meters in smart homes, and sensors in smart cities.

[0061] In some embodiments, the STA may support the 802.11be standard. The STA may also support various current and future 802.11 family WLAN standards, such as 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a.

[0062] In some embodiments, the AP may be a device supporting the 802.11be standard. The AP may also be a device supporting various current and future 802.11 family WLAN standards, such as 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a.

[0063] In some embodiments, AP 110 and / or STA 120 can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld, wearable or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface (such as a ship); can also be deployed in the air (for example, on an airplane, balloon, and satellite, etc.).

[0064] In the embodiment of the present application, STA 120 may be a mobile phone supporting WLAN / WiFi technology, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, a wireless device in industrial control, a set-top box, a wireless device in self-driving, an in-vehicle communication device, a wireless device in remote medical care, a wireless device in a smart grid, a wireless device in transportation safety, a wireless device in a smart city or a wireless device in a smart home, an in-vehicle communication device, a wireless communication chip / application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) / system on chip (SoC), etc.

[0065] As an example and not a limitation, in the embodiment of the present application, STA 120 may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices may also be referred to as wearable smart devices, which are a general term for wearable devices that are intelligently designed and developed using wearable technology for everyday wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not just hardware devices, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. In a broad sense, wearable smart devices include those that are fully functional, large in size, and can achieve complete or partial functions without relying on smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as those that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to be used in conjunction with other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0066] The frequency bands supported by WLAN technology may include but are not limited to: low frequency bands (frequency bands below 1 GHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz) and high frequency bands (45 GHz, 60 GHz).

[0067] FIG1 exemplarily shows an AP and two STAs. In some embodiments, the communication system 100 may include multiple APs and other numbers of STAs, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0068] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, a device having communication functionality in a network / system may be referred to as a communication device. Taking the communication system 100 shown in FIG1 as an example, the communication device may include an AP 110 and a STA 120 having communication functionality. AP 110 and STA 120 may be the specific devices described above and will not be described in detail here. The communication device may also include other devices in the communication system 100, such as a network controller, a gateway, or other network entities, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0069] It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and / or" is simply a description of an association between related objects, indicating that three possible relationships exist. For example, "A and / or B" can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone. Furthermore, the character " / " generally indicates that the related objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0070] It should be understood that the "indication" mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be a direct indication, an indirect indication, or an indication of an association. For example, "A indicates B" can mean that A directly indicates B, for example, B can be obtained through A; it can also mean that A indirectly indicates B, for example, A indicates C, and B can be obtained through C; it can also mean that there is an association between A and B.

[0071] The terms used in the embodiments of this application are intended only to explain the specific embodiments of this application and are not intended to limit this application. The terms "first," "second," "third," and "fourth," etc. in the specification and claims of this application and the accompanying drawings are used to distinguish different objects, not to describe a specific order. In addition, the terms "including" and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions.

[0072] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "corresponding" may indicate a direct or indirect correspondence between the two, or an association relationship between the two, or a relationship between indication and being indicated, configuration and being configured, etc.

[0073] In the embodiments of the present application, "pre-defined" or "pre-configured" may be implemented by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables, or other methods that can be used to indicate relevant information in a device (e.g., including STAs and network devices). The present application does not limit the specific implementation method. For example, pre-defined may refer to what is defined in the protocol.

[0074] In the embodiments of the present application, the “protocol” may refer to a standard protocol in the communication field, for example, it may include a WiFi protocol and related protocols used in future WiFi communication systems, and the present application does not limit this.

[0075] To facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions of the present application are described in detail below through specific embodiments. The following related technologies can be combined with the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application as optional solutions, and they all fall within the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present application. The embodiments of the present application include at least part of the following contents.

[0076] Wireless devices support multi-band communications, for example, communicating simultaneously on the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, 45 GHz, and 60 GHz bands, or communicating simultaneously on different channels within the same band (or different bands), improving the throughput and / or reliability of communications between devices. Such devices are typically referred to as multi-band devices, or multi-link devices (MLDs), and are sometimes also referred to as multi-link entities or multi-band entities. A multi-link device can be either an access point or a station. If the multi-link device is an access point, it includes one or more APs; if it is a station, it includes one or more non-AP STAs.

[0077] To facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the relevant technical solutions and existing problems of the present application are described below.

[0078] Specifically, the BSSID and SSID privacy issues of mobile APs exist. For example, a mobile AP can change its BSSID when there are no associated users. If there are associated users, the mobile AP needs to ensure that its BSSID is changed without interrupting the communication of the associated users. The BSSID value of the mobile AP needs to be randomized, without considering the privacy leakage problem caused by the static SSID to the corresponding user of the mobile AP.

[0079] Specifically, regarding the privacy issues of SSIDs that exist for STAs, for example, an attacker can learn the preferences and movement trajectories of the user corresponding to the STA by monitoring the detection of the specified SSID sent by the STA (i.e., using a detection request frame and the frame carrying a specific SSID). In order to reduce the detection of the specified SSID, it is recommended that the STA use the detection of the specified SSID only when it is close to a "known" network. The disadvantage is that before the detection of the specified SSID is executed, only passive scanning or detection of non-specified (wildcard) SSIDs (i.e., the value of the SSID is an empty string with a length of 0) can be performed. These two detection methods will consume more connection time than the detection of the specified SSID. In order to reduce the detection of the specified SSID, it is also recommended that the STA device do not perform detection of the specified SSID, but only perform detection of non-specified SSIDs. The disadvantage is that it will destroy the current function or increase the association time, and the hidden AP can only be discovered through the detection of the specified SSID. The detection of the specified SSID is also called directional detection or directional scanning.

[0080] To address the above issues, this application proposes a solution to protect user privacy. On the one hand, in a wireless local area network (WLAN), access points (APs), particularly mobile APs (e.g., mobile hotspots and vehicle-mounted access points), autonomously and synchronously update their SSIDs and BSSIDs, preventing attackers from identifying and tracking the users associated with the APs through the SSIDs or BSSIDs. On the other hand, by adding an obfuscated SSID to the STA's PNL, attackers are prevented from identifying and tracking the users associated with the STAs through the SSID content and the order of different SSIDs in the STA's designated SSID detection.

[0081] Specifically, when an AP (particularly a mobile AP (e.g., a mobile hotspot or vehicle-mounted access point)) synchronously updates its SSID and BSSID, the AP maintains a list of current and past SSIDs. Therefore, STAs that have previously connected to the AP but do not know its current SSID can still discover the AP using the old SSID. Because the AP maintains a list of current and past BSSIDs, messages sent by associated STAs with a receiving address that uses the old BSSID can still be received by the AP, ensuring that communications between associated STAs are not interrupted when the AP changes its BSSID. After the AP synchronously updates its SSID and BSSID, it notifies associated STAs of its new BSSID and SSID via management frames. Upon receiving the management frames, the STAs begin communicating using the new Over The Air Media Access Control (OTA MAC) address and the AP's new BSSID within the time indicated in the management frames. This prevents attackers from associating the AP's old BSSID with the new BSSID using the STA's OTA MAC address.

[0082] Specifically, the STA maintains a local obfuscation library of SSIDs, wherein the SSIDs in the obfuscation library have characteristics such as not involving user privacy and containing certain semantics. The SSIDs in the SSID obfuscation library can be collected from surrounding probe request frames, or the SSIDs in the SSID obfuscation library can be randomly generated, or the SSIDs in the SSID obfuscation library can be generated using a library set by an upper-layer application. When the STA is performing a probe of a specified SSID, some probe request frames sent contain the SSID of the AP to which it has been connected, and other probe request frames sent contain SSIDs selected from the SSID obfuscation library, making it impossible for an attacker to distinguish from the probe request frames which SSIDs the STA has previously connected, thereby preventing the attacker from identifying and tracking the existence of the corresponding user of the STA through the content of the SSID and the order of different SSIDs in the probe of the STA's specified SSID.

[0083] The technical solution of this application is described in detail below through specific embodiments.

[0084] FIG2 is a schematic flowchart of a wireless communication method 200 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG2 , the wireless communication method 200 may include at least part of the following contents:

[0085] S210, the AP autonomously updates its SSID and BSSID; wherein, the AP locally maintains a first list and a second list, the first list includes M SSIDs, the second list includes N BSSIDs, the M SSIDs include the AP's current SSID and at least one SSID used previously, the N BSSIDs include the AP's current BSSID and at least one BSSID used previously, and M and N are both positive integers.

[0086] In an embodiment of the present application, the scheme for protecting the privacy of the AP's SSID is implemented as follows: the AP maintains a first list that stores the current and past SSIDs. As long as the SSID in a received probe request frame is in the first list, the AP will respond, thereby ensuring that STAs that have connected to the AP in the past but do not know the AP's current SSID can still find the AP through the old SSID. The scheme for protecting the privacy of the AP's BSSID is implemented as follows: the AP maintains a second list that stores the current and past BSSIDs. Therefore, when the AP changes its BSSID, because the BSSID used for a period of time is stored, messages sent by STAs carrying the old BSSID can be recognized and received by the AP, thereby ensuring that when the AP updates its BSSID, the communication of currently or previously associated STAs will not be interrupted. Specifically, after the AP autonomously synchronizes and updates its SSID and BSSID, it sends the encrypted new SSID and new BSSID to the associated STA through a management frame. At the same time, a time is set in the management frame to indicate that the associated STA should start using the new OTA MAC and new BSSID to communicate within the time indicated in the management frame after receiving the management frame. The STA should use the new SSID to discover the existence of the AP in subsequent detection of the specified SSID. The synchronous change of the STA's OTA MAC address and the AP's BSSID prevents attackers from associating the AP's old BSSID with the new BSSID through the STA's OTA MAC.

[0087] In the embodiment of the present application, the AP may be a mobile AP (eg, a mobile phone hotspot or a vehicle-mounted access point).

[0088] In some embodiments, the AP described in this embodiment supports the SSID privacy enhancement function, or the AP described in this embodiment is a mobile AP that implements the SSID privacy enhancement function, or the AP described in this embodiment is an AP that supports a variable SSID, or the AP described in this embodiment is a privacy-enhanced AP.

[0089] In the embodiments of the present application, a “field” may also be referred to as a “field” or a “subfield.” A field may occupy one or more bytes (byte / octet), or a field may occupy one or more bits (bit).

[0090] In the embodiment of the present application, the "previously used SSID" may also be referred to as the "SSID used in the past", and the "previously used BSSID" may also be referred to as the "BSSID used in the past".

[0091] In some embodiments, the first list may be a one-dimensional list. Of course, the first list may also be a list of other dimensions, which is not limited in this application. Optionally, the first list may also be called an SSID list, or a similar name, which is not limited in this application.

[0092] In some embodiments, the second list may be a one-dimensional list. Of course, the second list may also be a list of other dimensions, which is not limited in this application. Optionally, the second list may also be called a BSSID list, or a similar name, which is not limited in this application.

[0093] In some embodiments, the at least one SSID previously used includes at least an initial SSID, and / or the at least one BSSID previously used includes at least an initial BSSID.

[0094] For example, the current SSID in the first list is initially the initial SSID, and / or the current BSSID in the second list is initially the initial BSSID.

[0095] In some embodiments, the initial SSID may be an SSID set by a user or an AP default SSID.

[0096] The technical solution of the wireless communication method 200 in this application is described in detail below through specific embodiments 1 to 3.

[0097] In embodiment 1, the new SSID is derived from the old SSID.

[0098] In embodiment 1, the current SSID in the first list is generated based on the previous SSID of the current SSID and first secret information when not initially generated; wherein the first secret information is secret information shared between the AP and the STA that has accessed the AP.

[0099] That is, in embodiment 1, at the initial time, the current SSID is the initial SSID; at the non-initial time, the AP may generate the current SSID based on the previous SSID of the current SSID and the first secret information.

[0100] In some implementations, the first secret information may be a network key or a key derived from the network key.

[0101] In embodiment 1, the second list maintained by the AP may be as shown in FIG3 , in which the currently and previously used BSSIDs are stored. The header stores the initial BSSID1, and the footer stores the currently used BSSID. Initially, the list has only one BSSID1.

[0102] In embodiment 1, the first list maintained by the AP can be a one-dimensional list with a length of 2, and the first element in the first list is the initial SSID of the AP, and the second element is the current SSID of the AP. For example, the first list can be as shown in Figure 4, where SSID1 is the initial SSID of the AP (the SSID set by the user or the default SSID of the AP), SSID now Is the SSID currently used by the AP. Initially, both elements in the first list are SSID1, that is, the initial SSID now =SSID1.

[0103] In embodiment 1, the STA (i.e., the STA that has accessed the AP) locally maintains S SSIDs to be used by the AP in the future;

[0104] The S SSIDs are generated based on the current SSID and the first secret information, and S is a positive integer.

[0105] For example, S = 50, or S = 80, or S = 100. Of course, S may also take other values, which are not limited in this embodiment.

[0106] Specifically, the first SSID among the S SSIDs is generated based on the current SSID and the first secret information, and the i+1th SSID among the S SSIDs is generated based on the i-th SSID and the first secret information; where i is a positive integer and 1≤i≤S-1.

[0107] For example, a STA maintains a two-dimensional SSID list as shown in Figure 5 , where the two-dimensional SSID list includes the SSIDs of m APs (also known as mobile APs or APs supporting variable SSIDs) that support the SSID privacy enhancement function, where S = n-2 in Figure 5 . Specifically, the length of the two-dimensional SSID list (i.e., the value of m in Figure 5 ) is the number of APs that support the SSID privacy enhancement function that the STA has accessed.

[0108] In some implementations of Example 1, when the AP updates the current SSID and the current BSSID, the AP generates a new SSID (i.e., the newly generated current SSID) based on the current SSID and the first secret information, and the AP generates a new BSSID (i.e., the newly generated current BSSID).

[0109] In some implementations of Example 1, the AP generates a new SSID according to certain rules. now For example, the new SSID now The generation method can be to combine the secret information shared by the AP and the STA that has accessed the AP (such as using the network key or a key derived from the network key) with the SSID now The hash result is used as the new SSID of the AP now (Make sure the new SSID now The length is greater than 0 and less than 32 bytes), or the hashed part is used as the new SSID of the AP. now (Make sure the new SSID now The length of the SSID is greater than 0 and less than 32 bytes. For example, the new SSID now The generation method can be to use the HKDF algorithm or the PBKDF algorithm to combine the secret information shared by the AP and the STA that has connected to the AP (such as the network key or the key derived from the network key) with the SSID now The value is taken as input and the output of the algorithm is used as the new SSID of the AP now Optionally, you can use Base64 encoding to encode the output of the HKDF algorithm or PBKDF algorithm into a visible string and use it as the new SSID of the AP. now The secret information shared between the AP and the STAs that have connected to the AP ensures that STAs that have not connected to the AP cannot know the AP's future SSID. now .

[0110] In some implementations of Example 1, a STA that has accessed an AP (such as an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function) generates and stores locally S SSIDs (for example, S can be 100) that the AP will use in the future according to the same rules as the AP, as shown in the SSID two-dimensional list in FIG5. Specifically, the AP i -SSID j The method of generating the secret key is to combine the secret information shared by the AP and the STA that has connected to the AP (such as the network key or the key derived from the network key) with the secret key of the AP. i -SSID j-1The calculation result according to the above rules is used as the AP of AP i -SSID j When a STA receives a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function, the STA compares the SSID in the beacon frame or the probe response frame with all SSID values ​​in the AP's SSID two-dimensional list maintained locally (as shown in Figure 5). If the SSID in the beacon frame or the probe response frame exists in the SSID two-dimensional list, the SSID in the SSID two-dimensional list is associated with the AP. If the SSID in the beacon frame or the probe response frame is the SSID that an AP in the SSID two-dimensional list will use in the future (denoted as AP i -SSID j ), the STA converts the SSID of the AP into the initial SSID corresponding to the AP in the displayed available network list, and updates the current and future SSID values ​​of the AP stored locally by the STA. The update method is to convert the AP i -SSID2 to AP i -SSID j-1 Between (including AP i -SSID2 to AP i -SSID j-1 ) and generate AP as above i -SSID j A new SSID is generated until the two-dimensional SSID list is filled with the S SSIDs that the AP will use in the future. If the SSID in the beacon frame or probe response frame does not exist in the two-dimensional SSID list, the STA ignores it. This ensures that if the AP changes its SSID while one or more previously connected STAs are not associated, these STAs can associate the new SSID with the AP's old, currently used SSID through passive scanning or detection of non-specified SSIDs.

[0111] In some implementations of Example 1, the AP obtains the current SSID from the first list and obtains the current BSSID from the second list; and the AP sends a first frame to the STA, wherein the SSID element in the first frame carries the current SSID, and the sender address of the first frame is the current BSSID.

[0112] In some implementations of Example 1, the first frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame. Specifically, after the AP updates its BSSID and SSID, the AP always uses only the current SSID of the AP in the beacon frame or the probe response frame, so that an attacker cannot associate the AP's old SSID with the new SSID, or the attacker cannot associate the AP's old BSSID with the new BSSID.

[0113] In some implementations of Example 1, the capability information element in the first frame includes a first bit, wherein the value of the first bit is used to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function. Optionally, the first bit is a reserved bit in the capability information element in the first frame. The reserved bits in the capability information element in the first frame may be bits 15 and 16.

[0114] For example, the AP sets the value of the 15th or 16th bit of the capability information element in the first frame to "1" to indicate that the AP is an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function; or, the AP sets the value of the 15th or 16th bit of the capability information element in the first frame to "0" to indicate that the AP is an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0115] In some implementations of Example 1, the AP checks whether it is set as a hidden AP. If so, the SSID element in its beacon frame does not carry its current SSID. Otherwise, the SSID element in its beacon frame carries its current SSID.

[0116] In some implementations of Example 1, when an AP receives a probe request frame with a non-specified SSID (wildcard SSID) and is not set as a hidden AP, the AP responds with a probe response frame with its current SSID and BSSID to indicate its presence. When receiving a probe request frame with its current SSID as the SSID field value, the AP responds with a probe response frame with its current SSID and BSSID to indicate its presence.

[0117] In some implementations of Embodiment 1, when the first frame is a probe response frame, and before sending the first frame, the AP receives a first probe request frame sent by the STA, wherein the first frame is a response frame to the first probe request frame, and the SSID in the first probe request frame is the AP's current SSID, or the SSID in the first probe request frame is the SSID previously used by the STA when accessing the AP. The SSID previously used by the STA when accessing the AP may be the initial SSID or another SSID.

[0118] In some implementations of Embodiment 1, the SSID in the first probe request frame belongs to a PNL; wherein the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from an obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs previously accessed by the STA, or the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP's initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs previously accessed by the STA; wherein the SSIDs included in the obfuscation library do not involve privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA. Specifically, for example, the SSIDs included in the obfuscation library are SSIDs that contain certain semantic features and do not involve privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA.

[0119] Optionally, the SSID in the obfuscation library includes but is not limited to at least one of the following:

[0120] SSIDs detected in the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, and SSIDs in the SSID library provided by the upper-layer application.

[0121] In some implementations, when a STA has not associated with an AP for a period of time, the STA uses at least one SSID selected from the confusion library, at least one AP's initial SSID, and one or more AP's SSIDs that the STA has previously accessed as its own PNL.

[0122] In some implementations, the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed. If the STA fails to access the AP after multiple attempts, the STA will re-use at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP's initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed as its own PNL.

[0123] For example, as shown in Figure 6, the AP locally maintains a first list and a second list. The AP checks whether it is set as a hidden AP. If so, the SSID element in the beacon frame does not carry its current SSID. Otherwise, the SSID element in the beacon frame carries its current SSID. The AP sets the value of the 15th bit of the capability information element in the frame body of the beacon frame or the probe response frame to "1" to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0124] In some implementations of Example 1, after the current SSID and BSSID are updated, the AP sends a first management frame to the STA. The first management frame is a protected management frame and includes the new SSID and BSSID. Specifically, the AP generates a new SSID based on the current SSID and a new BSSID. After the current SSID and BSSID are updated, the AP indicates the new SSID and BSSID to the STA via the first management frame.

[0125] It should be noted that the first management frame is a protected management frame, that is, the frame body of the first management frame is an encrypted frame body.

[0126] Optionally, the first management frame is an Action frame. Since the values ​​of "30 to 125" in the Category field in the Action frame are reserved, this embodiment selects any one value (for example, "30") to indicate the first management frame.

[0127] In some implementations of Example 1, the first management frame includes a control field, a new SSID field, a new BSSID field, and an update time field; wherein the control field includes a new SSID existence field, a new BSSID existence field, and an update time existence field, the value of the new SSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the value of the new BSSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field; wherein the new SSID field carries a new SSID, the new BSSID field carries a new BSSID, and the update time field carries a first duration; wherein the STA updates the currently used OTA MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA and the AP communicate using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the STA uses the new SSID to discover the AP.

[0128] Specifically, the New SSID Present field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes a New SSID field. For example, the New SSID Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). The New SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New SSID field, and the New SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New SSID field; alternatively, the New SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New SSID field, and the New SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New SSID field.

[0129] Specifically, the New BSSID Present field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes a New BSSID field. For example, the New BSSID Present field occupies 1 bit (it may also occupy other numbers of bits). The New BSSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New BSSID field, and the New BSSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New BSSID field; or, the New BSSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New BSSID field, and the New BSSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New BSSID field.

[0130] Specifically, the Update Time Present field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes the Update Time field. For example, the Update Time Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). A value of 1 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame includes the Update Time field, and a value of 0 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame does not include the Update Time field; alternatively, a value of 0 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame includes the Update Time field, and a value of 1 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame does not include the Update Time field.

[0131] For example, the first management frame can be as shown in Figure 7, where the control field of the first management frame includes a new SSID existence field (occupies 1 bit), a new SSID length field (occupies 5 bits), a new BSSID existence field (occupies 1 bit) and an update time existence field (occupies 1 bit), wherein the value of the new SSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the new SSID length field is used to indicate the length of the new SSID, the value of the new BSSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field; wherein the new SSID field carries the new SSID, the new BSSID field carries the new BSSID, and the update time field carries the first duration; wherein the STA updates the currently used OTA MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA and the AP communicate using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the STA uses the new SSID to discover the AP.

[0132] In some implementations, the process of the AP updating the BSSID and SSID may be as shown in FIG. 8 , and the specific process may include some or all of the following steps S11 to S19 .

[0133] S11. Using OTA MAC between STA and AP i (STA's current OTA MAC) and BSSID j (Mobile AP's current BSSID) communication.

[0134] S12.AP generates a new BSSID, namely BSSID j+1 .

[0135] S13.AP checks whether the second list (BSSID one-dimensional list) is full. If it is full, it deletes the header element and sets the BSSID j+1 Insert it to the end of the table, otherwise just insert the BSSID j+1 Inserted at the end of the table. Because the AP maintains the BSSID used for the past period of time in the second list, before the STA uses the new OTA MAC to communicate with the new BSSID, the messages sent by the STA using the old BSSID can still be recognized and received by the AP. This ensures that when the AP changes its BSSID, the communication of the associated STAs is not interrupted.

[0136] S14.AP generates a new SSID using the above rules now , and then set the new SSID now Overwrite the old SSID nowAfter that, the AP will no longer use the old BSSID and SSID in beacon frames and / or probe response frames, and will start using the BSSID in beacon frames and / or probe response frames. j+1 and the new SSID now .

[0137] S15.AP will send BSSID j+1 and the new SSID now The first management frame shown in FIG7 is used (the first management frame is a protected management frame) to be sent to the associated STA, wherein the value of the New SSID Present field in the first management frame is "1" (used to indicate that the first management frame includes the New SSID field, and the New SSID field carries the new SSID). now ), the value of the New BSSID Present field is "1" (used to indicate that the first management frame includes the New BSSID field, and the New BSSID field carries the BSSID j+1 ), the value of the update time existence field is "1" (used to indicate that the first management frame includes an update time field, and the update time field carries the first duration).

[0138] S16. After receiving the first management frame, the STA obtains the BSSID by decrypting the first management frame. j+1 and the new SSID now .

[0139] S17.STA deletes the SSID currently used by the AP in the maintained SSID two-dimensional list (as shown in Figure 5) now (ie old SSID now ), and then generate the SSID that the AP will use in the future (i.e. the new SSID) according to the above rules. now ), change the new SSID now The AP is added to the end of a column of SSIDs corresponding to the AP in the SSID two-dimensional list (as shown in FIG5 ).

[0140] S18. The STA updates the currently used OTA MAC address to the OTA MAC address within the time indicated by the first management frame (i.e., the first duration). i+1 .

[0141] S19. Using OTA MAC between STA and AP i+1 and BSSID j+1 STA will communicate through the new SSID now The AP is discovered.

[0142] In some implementations of Example 1, the AP sends a second management frame to the STA; wherein the control field in the second management frame includes an initial SSID existence field, and the initial SSID existence field is used to indicate whether an initial SSID field exists in the second management frame, and the initial SSID field carries the initial SSID of the AP.

[0143] In some implementations, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field does not exist in the second management frame.

[0144] In some implementations, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is not the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field exists in the second management frame.

[0145] Specifically, the Initial SSID Present field is used to indicate whether the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field. For example, the Initial SSID Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). The Initial SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field, and the Initial SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the second management frame does not include the Initial SSID field; alternatively, the Initial SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field, and the Initial SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the second management frame does not include the Initial SSID field.

[0146] Optionally, the second management frame is a protected management frame, that is, the frame body of the second management frame is an encrypted frame body. The second management frame is an Action frame. Since the values ​​of "30 to 125" in the Category field of the Action frame are reserved, this embodiment selects any value (for example, "30") to indicate the second management frame.

[0147] For example, the second management frame may be as shown in FIG9 . The control field of the second management frame includes an initial SSID presence field (occupying 1 bit) and an initial SSID length field (occupying 5 bits). The initial SSID presence field is used to indicate whether the second management frame includes the initial SSID field, and the initial SSID length field is used to indicate the length of the initial SSID. When the value of the initial SSID presence field indicates that the second management frame includes the initial SSID field (i.e., the initial SSID field occupies 32 bytes), the initial SSID length field occupies 5 bits. When the value of the initial SSID presence field indicates that the second management frame does not include the initial SSID field (i.e., the initial SSID field occupies 0 bytes), the initial SSID length field is a reserved field (i.e., each bit in the field is set to 0).

[0148] In some implementations, an AP supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function may indicate the initial SSID to the STA through a management frame after the STA first accesses. Specifically, the process of the STA first accessing an AP supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function may be as shown in Figure 10, and the specific process may include some or all of the following steps S21 to S26.

[0149] S21. The STA connects to a new AP that supports SSID privacy enhancement by manually entering the SSID or clicking on the available network list. Because an AP that supports SSID privacy enhancement uses only its current BSSID and SSID in beacon frames or probe response frames, the STA can directly connect to the AP.

[0150] S22. The AP determines whether the STA accesses using the initial SSID. If so, the AP sets the value of the Initial SSID Present field in the second management frame shown in Figure 9 to "0" (i.e., the second management frame does not include the Initial SSID field). Otherwise, the AP sets the value of the Initial SSID Present field to "1" (i.e., the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field), and the AP places the current SSID in the Initial SSID field.

[0151] S23. The AP uses the second management frame (this frame is a protected management frame) as shown in FIG9 to indicate the initial SSID to the STA;

[0152] S24. The STA determines whether the value of the Initial SSID Present field in the second management frame is 0. If so, the SSID used by the STA when accessing is the AP's initial SSID. Otherwise, the STA extracts the AP's initial SSID from the Initial SSID field.

[0153] S25. The STA generates S SSIDs for the AP to use in the future according to the above rules;

[0154] S26. The STA adds the AP's initial SSID, current SSID, and SSID to be used in the future to the SSID two-dimensional list (as shown in FIG5 ).

[0155] In embodiment 2, a new SSID is generated by a random number and a key.

[0156] In embodiment 2, the current SSID in the first list is generated based on a random number corresponding to the current SSID and first secret information when not initially generated; wherein the first secret information is secret information shared between the AP and the STA that has accessed the AP.

[0157] That is, in embodiment 2, at the initial time, the current SSID is the initial SSID; at the non-initial time, the AP may generate the current SSID based on the random number corresponding to the current SSID and the first secret information.

[0158] It should be noted that the random number corresponding to the current SSID may be a random number generated by the AP when generating the current SSID.

[0159] In some implementations, the first secret information may be a network key or a key derived from the network key.

[0160] In embodiment 2, the first list maintained by the AP can be a one-dimensional list with a length of 2, and the first element in the first list is the initial SSID of the AP, and the second element is the current SSID of the AP. For example, the first list can be as shown in Figure 4, where SSID1 is the initial SSID of the AP (the SSID set by the user or the default SSID of the AP), SSID now Is the SSID currently used by the AP. Initially, both elements in the first list are SSID1, that is, the initial SSID now =SSID1.

[0161] In embodiment 2, the second list maintained by the AP may be as shown in FIG3 , in which the currently and previously used BSSIDs are stored. The header stores the initial BSSID1, and the footer stores the currently used BSSID. Initially, the list has only one BSSID1.

[0162] In some implementations of Example 2, when the AP updates the current SSID and the current BSSID, the AP generates a new SSID (i.e., the newly generated current SSID) based on the newly generated random number and the first secret information, and the AP generates a new BSSID (i.e., the newly generated current BSSID).

[0163] In Example 2, the STA locally maintains a two-dimensional list, as shown in Figure 11. The first row of the two-dimensional list stores the initial SSID of the AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function, and the second row of the two-dimensional list stores the current SSID of the AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function. The length of the two-dimensional list is the number of APs that support the SSID privacy enhancement function to which the STA accesses.

[0164] In some implementations of Example 2, the AP generates a new SSID according to certain rules. now For example, the new SSID now The method of generating the SSID can be to combine the secret information shared by the AP and the STA that has accessed the AP (such as using the network key or a key derived from the network key) with a random number (the random number generated each time the SSID is updated). now The hash result is used as the new SSID of the AP now (Make sure the new SSID now The length is greater than 0 and less than 32 bytes), or the hashed part is used as the new SSID of the AP. now (Make sure the new SSID now The length of the SSID is greater than 0 and less than 32 bytes. For example, the new SSID now The method of generating the SSID can be to use the HKDF algorithm or the PBKDF algorithm to combine the secret information shared by the AP and the STA that has connected to the AP (such as the network key or the key derived from the network key) with a random number (the SSID is updated each time). now The output of the algorithm is used as the new SSID of the AP. now Optionally, the output of the algorithm can be encoded into a visible string using Base64 encoding as the new SSID of the AP. now The secret information shared between the AP and connected STAs ensures that STAs that are not connected to the AP cannot associate the AP's current, past, and future SSIDs.

[0165] In some implementations of Example 2, the AP obtains the current SSID from the first list and obtains the current BSSID from the second list; and the AP sends a first frame to the STA, wherein the SSID element of the first frame includes an SSID field and a random number field, the SSID field carries the current SSID, the random number field carries a random number corresponding to the current SSID, and the sender address of the first frame is the current BSSID.

[0166] In some implementations of Example 2, the first frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame. Specifically, after the AP updates its BSSID and SSID, the AP always uses only the current SSID of the AP in the beacon frame or the probe response frame, so that an attacker cannot associate the AP's old SSID with the new SSID, or associate the AP's old BSSID with the new BSSID.

[0167] Specifically, the SSID information element in the beacon frame or probe response frame sent by the AP (such as an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function) is shown in Figure 12. When the STA receives the beacon frame or probe response frame sent by the AP, if the value of the SSID field in the SSID information element does not exist in the value of the AP's current SSID stored locally by the STA, the value of the random number (Random Number) field in the beacon frame or probe response frame is compared with the secret information between all APs that support the SSID privacy enhancement function (the new SSID generated by the AP) stored locally. now The result calculated by the above algorithm is used as the new SSID of the AP stored locally. now If an SSID in the calculated result is consistent with the SSID in the beacon frame or probe response frame, the STA can associate the SSID with the SSID currently used by an AP in the two-dimensional list. This ensures that when the AP changes its SSID while one or more previously connected STAs are not associated, these STAs can associate the new SSID of the AP with their saved previous SSID of the AP through passive scanning or non-specified SSID detection.

[0168] For example, the STA generates the SSID according to the same rules as the AP. Assume that the random number carried in the random number field is Random Number 1, and the secret information shared between the STA and AP1 is Secret Information 1. For example, the STA concatenates Secret Information 1 and the value of Random Number 1 and hashes them, using the hash result as AP1's SSID (ensuring that the SSID length is greater than 0 and less than 32 bytes), or uses the hashed portion as AP1's SSID (ensuring that the SSID length is greater than 0 and less than 32 bytes). For another example, the STA uses the HKDF algorithm or the PBKDF algorithm, taking Secret Information 1 and Random Number 1 as input and using the algorithm output as AP1's SSID; optionally, the algorithm output can be encoded into a visible string using Base64 encoding and used as the AP's SSID.

[0169] In some implementations of Example 2, the capability information element in the first frame includes a first bit, wherein the value of the first bit is used to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function. Optionally, the first bit is a reserved bit in the capability information element in the first frame. The reserved bits in the capability information element in the first frame may be bits 15 and 16.

[0170] For example, the AP sets the value of the 15th or 16th bit of the capability information element in the first frame to "1" to indicate that the AP is an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function; or, the AP sets the value of the 15th or 16th bit of the capability information element in the first frame to "0" to indicate that the AP is an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0171] In some implementations of Example 2, the AP checks whether it is set as a hidden AP. If so, the SSID element in its beacon frame does not carry its current SSID. Otherwise, the SSID element in its beacon frame carries its current SSID.

[0172] In some implementations of Example 2, when an AP receives a probe request frame with a non-specified SSID (wildcard SSID) and is not set as a hidden AP, the AP responds with a probe response frame with its current SSID and BSSID to indicate its presence. When receiving a probe request frame with its current SSID as the SSID field value, the AP responds with a probe response frame with its current SSID and BSSID to indicate its presence.

[0173] In some implementations of Example 2, when the first frame is a probe response frame, and before sending the first frame, the AP receives a first probe request frame sent by the STA, wherein the first frame is a response frame to the first probe request frame, and the SSID in the first probe request frame is the AP's current SSID, or the SSID in the first probe request frame is the SSID previously used by the STA when accessing the AP. The SSID previously used by the STA when accessing the AP may be the initial SSID or another SSID.

[0174] In some implementations of Example 2, the SSID in the first probe request frame belongs to a PNL; wherein the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed, or the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed; wherein the SSID included in the obfuscation library does not involve the privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA.

[0175] Optionally, the SSID in the obfuscation library includes but is not limited to at least one of the following:

[0176] SSIDs detected in the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, and SSIDs in the SSID library provided by the upper-layer application.

[0177] In some implementations, when a STA has not associated with an AP for a period of time, the STA uses at least one SSID selected from the confusion library, at least one AP's initial SSID, and one or more AP's SSIDs that the STA has previously accessed as its own PNL.

[0178] In some implementations, the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed. If the STA fails to access the AP after multiple attempts, the STA will re-use at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP's initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed as its own PNL.

[0179] For example, as shown in Figure 6, the AP locally maintains a first list and a second list. The AP checks whether it is set as a hidden AP. If so, the SSID element in the beacon frame does not carry its current SSID. Otherwise, the SSID element in the beacon frame carries its current SSID. The AP sets the value of the 15th bit of the capability information element in the frame body of the beacon frame or the probe response frame to "1" to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0180] In some implementations of Example 2, after the current SSID and BSSID are updated, the AP sends a first management frame to the STA. The first management frame is a protected management frame and includes the new SSID and BSSID. Specifically, the AP generates a new SSID based on the current SSID and a new BSSID. After the current SSID and BSSID are updated, the AP indicates the new SSID and BSSID to the STA via the first management frame.

[0181] It should be noted that the first management frame is a protected management frame, that is, the frame body of the first management frame is an encrypted frame body.

[0182] In some implementations of Example 2, the first management frame includes at least one of the following: a control field, a new SSID field, a new BSSID field, and an update time field; wherein the control field includes a new SSID presence field, a new BSSID presence field, and an update time presence field, the value of the new SSID presence field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the value of the new BSSID presence field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time presence field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes the update time field; wherein the new SSID field carries a new SSID, the new BSSID field carries a new BSSID, and the update time field carries a first duration; wherein the STA updates the currently used OTA MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA and the AP communicate using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the STA uses the new SSID to discover the AP.

[0183] It should be noted that the description of the first management frame in Example 2 is consistent with that in Example 1 and is not repeated here. Also, the process of the AP updating the BSSID and SSID in Example 2 is consistent with that in Example 1 and is not repeated here.

[0184] In some implementations of Example 2, the AP sends a second management frame to the STA; wherein the control field in the second management frame includes an initial SSID existence field, and the initial SSID existence field is used to indicate whether an initial SSID field exists in the second management frame, and the initial SSID field carries the initial SSID of the AP.

[0185] In some implementations, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field does not exist in the second management frame.

[0186] In some implementations, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is not the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field exists in the second management frame.

[0187] Specifically, the Initial SSID Present field is used to indicate whether the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field. For example, the Initial SSID Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). The Initial SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field, and the Initial SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the second management frame does not include the Initial SSID field; alternatively, the Initial SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field, and the Initial SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the second management frame does not include the Initial SSID field.

[0188] Optionally, the second management frame is a protected management frame, that is, the frame body of the second management frame is an encrypted frame body. The second management frame is an Action frame. Since the values ​​of "30 to 125" in the Category field of the Action frame are reserved, this embodiment selects any value (for example, "30") to indicate the second management frame.

[0189] It should be noted that the description of the second management frame in Example 2 is consistent with that in Example 1 above and is not repeated here. In addition, the process of a STA first accessing an AP supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function in Example 2 is consistent with that in Example 1 above and is not repeated here.

[0190] In embodiment 3, a new SSID is selected from a third list, wherein the third list includes at least one SSID to be used by the AP in the future.

[0191] In some implementations, the at least one SSID to be used by the AP in the future includes, but is not limited to, at least one of the following:

[0192] SSIDs detected in the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, and SSIDs in the SSID library provided by the upper-layer application.

[0193] In some implementations, the third list may be agreed upon by a protocol, or the third list may be configured by an AP.

[0194] In Embodiment 3, the AP locally maintains the third list. Specifically, as shown in FIG13 , the third list can be a one-dimensional list of length k, storing SSIDs to be used in the future, with a total of k elements, where k is a positive integer. Elements of the third list can be SSIDs detected from the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, or SSIDs from an SSID library provided by an upper-layer application. Initially, the third list contains k SSIDs.

[0195] In some implementations of Example 3, when the AP updates the current SSID and the current BSSID, the AP selects a new SSID (ie, the new current SSID) from the third list, and generates a new BSSID (ie, the newly generated current BSSID).

[0196] In Example 3, the first list maintained by the AP can be a one-dimensional list with a length of P, which stores the SSIDs currently and previously used. The header stores the initial SSID of the AP (the SSID set by the user or the AP's default SSID), and the footer stores the current SSID of the AP. Specifically, the first list can be as shown in Figure 14, where SSID1 is the initial SSID of the AP, and SSID i The current SSID of the AP, SSID1~SSID i-1 It is the SSID previously used by the AP. Initially, the first list only has one SSID1.

[0197] In embodiment 3, the second list maintained by the AP may be as shown in FIG3 , in which the currently and previously used BSSIDs are stored. The header stores the initial BSSID1, and the footer stores the currently used BSSID. Initially, the list has only one BSSID1.

[0198] In Example 3, the STA locally maintains a two-dimensional list, as shown in Figure 11. The first row of the two-dimensional list stores the initial SSID of the AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function, and the second row of the two-dimensional list stores the current SSID of the AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function. The length of the two-dimensional list is the number of APs that support the SSID privacy enhancement function to which the STA accesses.

[0199] In some implementations of Example 3, the AP obtains the current SSID from the first list and obtains the current BSSID from the second list; and the AP sends a second frame to the STA, wherein the second frame carries the current SSID and the current BSSID.

[0200] In some implementations, the second frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame.

[0201] In some implementations, when the second frame is a probe response frame, and before sending the second frame, the AP receives a second probe request frame sent by the STA, and the second frame is a response frame to the second probe request frame.

[0202] In some implementations, the second frame includes a current SSID element (Current SSID Element), where the current SSID element is used to indicate that the AP supports an SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0203] In some implementations, the control field in the Current SSID element includes a Current SSID Present field, the value of which is used to indicate whether a Current SSID field exists in the Current SSID element, and the Current SSID field carries the current SSID.

[0204] For example, the Current SSID Exists field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). A Current SSID Exists field of 1 indicates that the Current SSID field exists in the Current SSID element, and a Current SSID Exists field of 0 indicates that the Current SSID field does not exist in the Current SSID element; or a Current SSID Exists field of 0 indicates that the Current SSID field exists in the Current SSID element, and a Current SSID Exists field of 1 indicates that the Current SSID field does not exist in the Current SSID element.

[0205] Optionally, in the second frame, “Element ID”=255 and “Element ID Extension”=94 may be used to indicate that the information element is a “Current SSID Element”.

[0206] Specifically, the second frame (which can be a probe response frame or a beacon frame) can be as shown in Figure 15. The value of the Current SSID Present field in the Current SSID element is 0, indicating that the Current SSID field does not exist, and the value of the Current SSID Present field is 1, indicating that the Current SSID field exists. When "Element ID" = 255, the "Element ID Extension" field exists in the element (94-255 are reserved and unused). Here, "Element ID" = 255 and "Element ID Extension" = 94 can be used to indicate that the information element is the "Current SSID Element". For example, an AP that implements the SSID privacy enhancement function carries the Current SSID Element in the probe response frame, and the value of the Current SSID Present field is 0 or 1. In the Media Access Control (MAC) header of the probe request frame (i.e., the second probe request frame) sent by the STA, Address 1 (also called the receiving address (RA)) is the broadcast address, Address 2 (also called the transmitting address (TA)) is the STA's own MAC, and Address 3 (also called the BSSID) is the broadcast address. In the MAC header of the probe response frame sent by the AP, Address 1 (or RA) is the MAC of the STA sending the probe request frame, Address 2 (or TA) is the AP's current MAC, and Address 3 (or BSSID) is the AP's current BSSID (generally also the AP's current MAC).

[0207] In some implementations, when the SSID in the second probe request frame is a non-specified SSID (wildcard SSID) or the SSID in the second probe request frame is the current SSID, the value of the current SSID present field is used to indicate that the current SSID field does not exist in the current SSID element, and the SSID element in the second frame carries the current SSID, and the sender address of the second frame is the current BSSID; or,

[0208] When the SSID in the second probe request frame is the SSID previously used by the AP, the value of the current SSID existence field is used to indicate that the current SSID field exists in the current SSID element, and the SSID element in the second frame carries the same SSID as the SSID in the second probe request frame, and the sender address of the second frame is the current BSSID.

[0209] Specifically, the interaction of the probe request frame and the probe response frame between the STA and the AP may be as shown in Table 1.

[0210] Table 1

[0211]

[0212] In some implementations, the current SSID carried in the current SSID field is an encrypted SSID, wherein the encryption key of the current SSID is a network key, or the encryption key of the current SSID is a key derived from the network key.

[0213] In some implementations, the STA locally stores the encryption key of the current SSID, or the encryption key of the current SSID is the network key input by the STA when the user manually inputs the SSID to access the AP.

[0214] In some implementations, the SSID in the second probe request frame belongs to a PNL; wherein the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed, or the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed; wherein the SSID included in the obfuscation library does not involve the privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA.

[0215] In some implementations, the SSIDs in the obfuscation library include at least one of the following:

[0216] SSIDs detected in the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, and SSIDs in the SSID library provided by the upper-layer application.

[0217] In some implementations, when a STA has not associated with an AP for a period of time, the STA uses at least one SSID selected from the confusion library, at least one AP's initial SSID, and one or more AP's SSIDs that the STA has previously accessed as its own PNL.

[0218] In some implementations, the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed. If the STA fails to access the AP after multiple attempts, the STA will re-use at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP's initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed as its own PNL.

[0219] Specifically, probe request frames carrying a specified SSID generally appear in the following two scenarios: First, a STA uses a locally stored PNL to find an AP it has previously connected to (not the first time accessing). Therefore, the network key is stored locally. If the Current SSID exists and is encrypted, the STA can decrypt it to obtain the Current SSID and use the AP's current SSID to associate with it. Second, when accessing an AP by manually entering the SSID (first access), the network key is required. If the Current SSID exists and is encrypted, the STA can decrypt it to obtain the Current SSID if the network key is correct. Therefore, the STA can use the AP's current SSID to associate with it.

[0220] For example, as shown in Figure 16, the AP locally maintains a first list, a second list, and a third list. The AP checks whether it is set as a hidden AP. If so, the SSID element in the beacon frame does not carry its current SSID. Otherwise, the SSID element in the beacon frame carries its current SSID. The AP adds a Current SSID Element to the beacon frame and / or the probe response frame to indicate to the STA that the AP is a mobile AP that has implemented the SSID privacy enhancement function. A value of 0 in the Current SSID Present field in the Current SSID Element indicates that the Current SSID field does not exist, and a value of 1 in the Current SSID Present field indicates that the Current SSID field exists. In the Current SSID Element, "Element ID" = 255 and "Element ID Extension" = 94 can be used to indicate that the information element is a "Current SSID Element." If the response is to a probe request frame with a non-specified SSID or a probe request frame whose SSID value is the SSID currently used by the AP, the Current SSID Present field has a value of 0, because the AP carries its own currently used SSID in the probe response frame. If the response is to a probe request frame with an SSID value that the AP has maintained for some time, the Current SSID Present field has a value of 1, because the AP carries the same SSID in the probe response frame as in the probe request frame. The Current SSID field is used to carry the AP's currently used SSID (the mobile AP's currently used SSID can also be encrypted for transmission, using the network key or a key derived from the network key). Probe request frames carrying a specified SSID typically occur in the following two scenarios: First, when a STA uses a locally stored PNL to find an AP it has previously connected to (not the first time accessing the AP). Therefore, the network key is stored locally. If the Current SSID field exists and is encrypted, the STA can decrypt it to obtain the Current SSID and use the AP's current SSID when associating. Second, when manually entering the SSID to access the AP (first access), the network key is required. If the Current SSID field exists and is encrypted, the STA can decrypt it to obtain the Current SSID and use the AP's current SSID when associating.

[0221] In some implementations of Example 3, after the current SSID and the current BSSID are updated, the AP sends a first management frame to the STA, where the first management frame is a protected management frame and includes the new SSID and the new BSSID. That is, the AP selects a new SSID and generates a new BSSID. After the current SSID and the current BSSID are updated, the AP indicates the new SSID and the new BSSID to the STA via the first management frame.

[0222] It should be noted that the first management frame is a protected management frame, that is, the frame body of the first management frame is an encrypted frame body.

[0223] Optionally, the first management frame is an Action frame. Since the values ​​of "30 to 125" in the Category field in the Action frame are reserved, this embodiment selects any one value (for example, "30") to indicate the first management frame.

[0224] In some implementations of Example 3, the first management frame includes a control field, a new SSID field, a new BSSID field, and an update time field; wherein the control field includes a new SSID existence field, a new BSSID existence field, and an update time existence field, the value of the new SSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the value of the new BSSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field; wherein the new SSID field carries the new SSID, the new BSSID field carries the new BSSID, and the update time field carries a first duration; wherein the STA updates the currently used OTA MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA and the AP communicate using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the STA uses the new SSID to discover the AP.

[0225] It should be noted that the description of the first management frame in Example 3 is consistent with that in the above-mentioned Example 1 and will not be repeated here.

[0226] In some implementations, the process of the AP updating the BSSID and SSID may be as shown in FIG. 17 , and the specific process may include some or all of the following steps S30 to S39 .

[0227] S30. Using OTA MAC between STA and AP i (STA's current OTA MAC) and BSSID j(Mobile AP's current BSSID) communication.

[0228] S31.AP generates a new BSSID, namely BSSID j+1 .

[0229] S32.AP checks whether the second list (BSSID one-dimensional list) is full. If it is full, it deletes the header element and sets the BSSID j+1 Insert it to the end of the table, otherwise just insert the BSSID j+1 Inserted at the end of the table. Because the AP maintains the BSSID used for the past period of time in the second list, before the STA uses the new OTA MAC to communicate with the new BSSID, the messages sent by the STA using the old BSSID can still be recognized and received by the AP. This ensures that when the AP changes its BSSID, the communication of the associated STAs is not interrupted.

[0230] S33.AP selects an SSID from the third list (SSID list that may be used in the future) as the SSID m+1 (The current SSID of the AP is SSID m ), and then remove the selected SSID from the third list. When the third list element is empty, it triggers the generation of a batch of new SSIDs.

[0231] S34.AP checks whether the first list (current and past SSID list) is full. If full, it deletes the second element and adds the SSID m+1 Insert it to the end of the table, otherwise just insert the SSID m+1 Inserted to the end of the table. When the first list is full, if the AP updates its SSID, the second element of the first list is deleted. Because the first list changes dynamically, if a STA does not access the AP for a long time, the SSID currently used by the AP stored in the STA two-dimensional list (as shown in Figure 11) may no longer exist in the SSID list maintained by the AP. In this case, the STA can use SSID1 to access the AP. Therefore, the AP always stores its initial SSID.

[0232] S35.AP will BSSID j+1 and SSID m+1 The first management frame shown in FIG7 is used (the first management frame is a protected management frame) to be sent to the associated STA, wherein the value of the New SSID Present field in the first management frame is "1" (used to indicate that the first management frame includes the New SSID field, and the New SSID field carries the new SSID). now), the value of the New BSSID Present field is "1" (used to indicate that the first management frame includes the New BSSID field, and the New BSSID field carries the BSSID j+1 ), the value of the update time existence field is "1" (used to indicate that the first management frame includes an update time field, and the update time field carries the first duration).

[0233] S36. After receiving the first management frame, the STA obtains the BSSID by decrypting the first management frame. j+1 and SSID m+1 .

[0234] S37.STA updates the SSID currently used by the AP in the two-dimensional list it maintains (as shown in Figure 11) to SSID m+1 .

[0235] S38.STA updates the currently used OTA MAC address to OTA MAC within the time indicated by the first management frame (ie, the first duration). i+1 .

[0236] S39. Using OTA MAC between STA and AP i+1 and BSSID j+1 Communication, STA later through SSID m+1 The AP is discovered.

[0237] In some implementations of embodiment 3, the AP sends a second management frame to the STA;

[0238] The control field in the second management frame includes an initial SSID existence field, and the initial SSID existence field is used to indicate whether an initial SSID field exists in the second management frame, and the initial SSID field carries the initial SSID of the AP.

[0239] In some implementations, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field does not exist in the second management frame; or,

[0240] In a case where the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is not the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field exists in the second management frame.

[0241] In some implementations, an AP supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function may indicate the initial SSID to the STA through a management frame after the STA first accesses. Specifically, the process of the STA first accessing an AP supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function may be as shown in FIG. 18 , and the specific process may include some or all of the following steps S41 to S45.

[0242] S41. The STA accesses a new AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function by manually entering the SSID or clicking on the available network list (a list of currently detected networks). If the STA accesses a new AP that implements the SSID privacy enhancement function by clicking on the available network list, the AP will inform the STA of its current BSSID and SSID in the beacon frame or probe response frame (the response to the probe request frame with a non-specified SSID), and the STA can directly access the AP. If a STA manually enters an SSID to connect to a new AP that implements the SSID privacy enhancement feature, the STA first broadcasts a probe request frame with the specified SSID. When the AP receives the probe request frame, if the SSID in the received probe request frame is its current SSID, it sets the value of the Current SSID Present field in the Current SSID Element of the probe response frame to 0. Otherwise, it sets the value of the Current SSID Present field in the Current SSID Element of the probe response frame to 1, puts the current SSID (which can also be encrypted for transmission) into the Current SSID field of the Current SSID Element, and then sends a probe response frame to the STA using the current BSSID and the SSID that matches the one in the probe request frame. After the STA receives the probe response frame, if the value of the Current SSID Present field in the probe response frame is 1, the value of the SSID field in the received probe response frame is the AP's current SSID. Otherwise, the STA extracts the AP's current SSID from the Current SSID field (if the AP's current SSID is encrypted, it is decrypted using the same method as above to obtain the AP's current SSID). The STA uses the AP's current BSSID and current SSID to access the AP.

[0243] S42. The AP determines whether the STA uses the initial SSID to access. If so, the AP sets the value of the Initial SSID Present field in the second management frame shown in Figure 9 to "0" (i.e., the second management frame does not include the Initial SSID field). Otherwise, the AP sets the value of the Initial SSID Present field to "1" (i.e., the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field), and the AP places the current SSID in the Initial SSID field.

[0244] S43. The AP uses the second management frame shown in FIG9 (this frame is a protected management frame) to indicate the initial SSID to the STA.

[0245] S44. The STA determines whether the value of the Initial SSID Present field in the second management frame is 0. If so, the SSID used by the STA when accessing is the AP's initial SSID. Otherwise, the AP's initial SSID is extracted from the Initial SSID field.

[0246] S45. The STA adds the initial SSID and current SSID of the AP to the SSID two-dimensional list (as shown in FIG11 ).

[0247] Therefore, in an embodiment of the present application, the AP autonomously updates its SSID and BSSID, thereby preventing attackers from identifying and tracking users corresponding to the AP through the SSID or BSSID. Specifically, the AP maintains a first list locally, which includes the AP's current SSID and at least one SSID used previously. As long as the SSID in the received probe request frame is in the first list, the AP will respond, thereby ensuring that STAs that have connected to the AP in the past but do not know the SSID currently used by the AP can still find the existence of the AP through the old SSID. Specifically, the AP maintains a second list locally, which includes the AP's current BSSID and at least one BSSID used previously. Therefore, when the AP changes its BSSID, since the BSSID used for a period of time in the past is saved, the message carrying the old BSSID sent by the STA can be recognized and received by the AP, thereby ensuring that when the AP updates its BSSID, the communication of the STA that is or has been associated will not be interrupted.

[0248] FIG19 is a schematic flowchart of a wireless communication method 300 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG19 , the wireless communication method 300 may include at least part of the following contents:

[0249] S310, the STA sends a probe request frame to the AP; wherein, the SSID in the probe request frame belongs to a PNL, and the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed, or, the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed; wherein, the SSID included in the obfuscation library does not involve the privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA.

[0250] In an embodiment of the present application, the STA maintains an SSID obfuscation library. The SSIDs in the SSID obfuscation library have characteristics such as not involving user privacy and containing certain semantics. When the STA performs detection of a specified SSID, it uses the SSID of the AP it has connected to and the SSID in the obfuscation library at the same time, thereby ensuring that an attacker cannot identify and track the existence of the STA's corresponding user through the content of the SSID and the order of different SSIDs in the detection of the STA's specified SSID.

[0251] In some embodiments, the SSIDs in the obfuscation library include but are not limited to at least one of the following:

[0252] SSIDs detected in the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, and SSIDs in the SSID library provided by the upper-layer application.

[0253] In the embodiments of the present application, a “field” may also be referred to as a “field” or a “subfield.” A field may occupy one or more bytes (byte / octet), or a field may occupy one or more bits (bit).

[0254] In some embodiments, the AP described in this embodiment supports the SSID privacy enhancement function, or the AP described in this embodiment is a mobile AP that implements the SSID privacy enhancement function, or the AP described in this embodiment is an AP that supports a variable SSID, or the AP described in this embodiment is a privacy-enhanced AP. For example, the AP may be a mobile phone hotspot or an in-vehicle access point.

[0255] In some embodiments, the AP described in this embodiment does not support the SSID privacy enhancement function, or the AP described in this embodiment is an AP that supports a non-variable SSID, for example, the AP is a traditional AP.

[0256] In some implementations, when a STA has not associated with an AP for a period of time, the STA uses at least one SSID selected from the confusion library, at least one AP's initial SSID, and one or more AP's SSIDs that the STA has previously accessed as its own PNL.

[0257] In some implementations, the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed. If the STA fails to access the AP after multiple attempts, the STA will re-use at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP's initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed as its own PNL.

[0258] The technical solution of the wireless communication method 300 in this application is described in detail below through specific embodiments 4 to 6.

[0259] In embodiment 4, the new SSID is derived from the old SSID.

[0260] In embodiment 4, the STA locally maintains at least one of the following: an obfuscation library, a fourth list, and a sixth list.

[0261] In Example 4, the obfuscation library can be a one-dimensional list of length R. Initially, the obfuscation library contains R SSIDs, and the R SSIDs do not involve the privacy information of the users corresponding to the STAs, where R is a positive integer, as shown in FIG20. For example, R = 100, or R = 200, or R is another value.

[0262] In embodiment 4, the fourth list includes at least W SSIDs of the AP, and the W SSIDs include the initial SSID of the AP, the current SSID of the AP, and S SSIDs to be used by the AP in the future; wherein the S SSIDs are generated based on the current SSID of the AP and the first secret information, W and S are both positive integers, and W>S. wherein the first secret information is secret information shared between the AP and the STA. Optionally, the fourth list also includes the SSIDs of one or more other APs that support the SSID privacy enhancement function, and the SSIDs of the other APs include the initial SSID of the other AP, the current SSID of the other AP, and multiple SSIDs to be used by the other AP in the future. For example, the fourth list can be as shown in FIG5. For example, S=50, or S=80, or S=100. Of course, S can also take other values, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0263] For example, a STA maintains a fourth list as shown in FIG5 , where the fourth list includes the SSIDs of m APs (also known as mobile APs or APs supporting variable SSIDs) that support the SSID privacy enhancement function, where S=n-2 in FIG5 . Specifically, the length of the fourth list (i.e., the value of m in FIG5 ) is equal to the number of APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function that the STA has accessed.

[0264] In Embodiment 4, the sixth list includes multiple SSIDs of APs that do not support the SSID privacy enhancement function. The number of SSIDs in the sixth list is equal to the number of APs that the STA accesses that do not support the SSID privacy enhancement function, as shown in FIG21. It should be noted that the AP that does not support the SSID privacy enhancement function may be a traditional AP.

[0265] In some implementations, the first secret information may be a network key or a key derived from the network key.

[0266] In some implementations of Example 4, the SSID in the probe request frame is the current SSID of the AP, or the SSID in the probe request frame is the SSID that the STA previously used when accessing the AP. The SSID that the STA previously used when accessing the AP may be the initial SSID or another SSID.

[0267] In some implementations of Example 4, the STA receives a first frame sent by the AP; wherein the SSID element in the first frame carries the current SSID of the AP, and the sender address of the first frame is the current BSSID of the AP.

[0268] In some implementations, when the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function, the current SSID is the initial SSID of the AP at the initial time, and the current SSID is generated based on the previous SSID of the current SSID and the first secret information when it is not initial. The first secret information is the secret information shared between the AP and the STA.

[0269] In some implementations, the S SSIDs are generated based on the AP's current SSID and the first secret information, including:

[0270] A first SSID among the S SSIDs is generated based on the current SSID and the first secret information, and an (i+1)th SSID among the S SSIDs is generated based on the (i)th SSID and the first secret information;

[0271] Wherein, i is a positive integer, and 1≤i≤S-1.

[0272] In some implementations, the STA compares the current SSID of the AP carried in the first frame with the W SSIDs of the AP in the fourth list; the current SSID of the AP carried in the first frame is the SSID to be used by the AP in the future in the fourth list, the STA converts the SSID of the AP to the initial SSID of the AP in the available network list, and the STA updates the current SSID of the AP and the S SSIDs to be used by the AP in the future in the fourth list; or, the current SSID of the AP carried in the first frame is the current SSID of the AP in the fourth list, and the STA associates the SSID carried in the first frame with the current SSID of the AP in the fourth list.

[0273] In some implementations of Example 4, the AP generates a new SSID according to certain rules. now (SSID now is the SSID currently used by the AP). For example, the new SSID now The generation method can be to combine the secret information shared by the AP and the STA that has accessed the AP (such as using the network key or a key derived from the network key) with the SSID now The hash result is used as the new SSID of the AP now (Make sure the new SSID now The length is greater than 0 and less than 32 bytes), or the hashed part is used as the new SSID of the AP. now (Make sure the new SSID now The length of the SSID is greater than 0 and less than 32 bytes. For example, the new SSID now The generation method can be to use the HKDF algorithm or the PBKDF algorithm to combine the secret information shared by the AP and the STA that has connected to the AP (such as the network key or the key derived from the network key) with the SSID now The value is taken as input and the output of the algorithm is used as the new SSID of the AP now Optionally, you can use Base64 encoding to encode the output of the HKDF algorithm or PBKDF algorithm into a visible string and use it as the new SSID of the AP. now The secret information shared between the AP and the STAs that have connected to the AP ensures that STAs that have not connected to the AP cannot know the AP's future SSID. now .

[0274] In some implementations of Example 4, a STA that has accessed an AP (such as an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function) generates and stores locally S SSIDs (for example, S may be 100) that the AP will use in the future according to the same rules as the AP. As shown in the fourth list in FIG5 , specifically, the AP i -SSID j The method of generating the secret key is to combine the secret information shared by the AP and the STA that has connected to the AP (such as the network key or the key derived from the network key) with the secret key of the AP. i -SSID j-1 The calculation result according to the above rules is used as the AP of AP i -SSID j When a STA receives a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function, the STA compares the SSID in the beacon frame or the probe response frame with all SSID values ​​in the fourth list of APs maintained locally (as shown in FIG5 ). If the SSID in the beacon frame or the probe response frame exists in the fourth list, the STA associates the SSID in the fourth list with the AP. If the SSID in the beacon frame or the probe response frame is the SSID that an AP in the fourth list will use in the future (denoted as AP i -SSID j ), the STA converts the SSID of the AP into the initial SSID corresponding to the AP in the displayed available network list, and updates the current and future SSID values ​​of the AP stored locally by the STA. The update method is to convert the AP i -SSID2 to AP i -SSID j-1 Between (including AP i -SSID2 to AP i -SSID j-1 ) and generate AP as above i -SSID j New SSIDs are generated in this manner until the fourth list of S SSIDs corresponding to the AP's future use is filled. If the SSID in a beacon frame or probe response frame does not exist in the fourth list, the STA ignores it. This ensures that if the AP changes its SSID while one or more previously connected STAs are not associated, these STAs can associate the new SSID with the AP's old, currently used SSID through passive scanning or detection of non-specified SSIDs.

[0275] In some implementations, the process of STA initializing PNL and using the PNL to discover APs that support SSID privacy enhancement can be as shown in Figure 22. Specifically, STA selects a random number of SSIDs from the obfuscation library; STA selects the SSID selected from the obfuscation library, the AP in the fourth list, and the AP in the fourth list. i The STA uses the current SSID and the SSIDs of previously connected APs as its PNL. The STA checks whether it has not associated with an AP for a period of time. If so, it obtains the initial SSID of an AP in the fourth list that implements the SSID privacy enhancement feature and uses it, along with the SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSID of the previously connected AP, as its new PNL. If not, no new PNL is generated. The STA sends multiple probe request frames (each carrying one SSID from the PNL in random order).

[0276] It should be noted that Figure 22 is an example of STA using PNL to discover an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function. The process of STA using PNL to discover an AP that does not support the SSID privacy enhancement function is similar to that shown in Figure 22. It only requires replacing the fourth list with the sixth list, which will not be repeated here.

[0277] In some implementations of Example 4, the first frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame. Specifically, after the AP updates its BSSID and SSID, the AP always uses only the current SSID of the AP in the beacon frame or the probe response frame, so that an attacker cannot associate the AP's old SSID with the new SSID, or the attacker cannot associate the AP's old BSSID with the new BSSID.

[0278] In some implementations of Example 4, the capability information element in the first frame includes a first bit, wherein the value of the first bit is used to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function. Optionally, the first bit is a reserved bit in the capability information element in the first frame. The reserved bits in the capability information element in the first frame may be bits 15 and 16.

[0279] For example, the AP sets the value of the 15th or 16th bit of the capability information element in the first frame to "1" to indicate that the AP is an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function; or, the AP sets the value of the 15th or 16th bit of the capability information element in the first frame to "0" to indicate that the AP is an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0280] In some implementations of Example 4, the AP checks whether it is set as a hidden AP. If so, the SSID element in its beacon frame does not carry its current SSID. Otherwise, the SSID element in its beacon frame carries its current SSID.

[0281] In some implementations of Example 4, when an AP receives a probe request frame with a non-specified SSID (wildcard SSID) and is not set as a hidden AP, the AP responds with a probe response frame with its current SSID and BSSID to indicate its presence. When receiving a probe request frame with its current SSID as the SSID field value, the AP responds with a probe response frame with its current SSID and BSSID to indicate its presence.

[0282] For example, as shown in Figure 6, the AP locally maintains a first list and a second list. The AP checks whether it is set as a hidden AP. If so, the SSID element in the beacon frame does not carry its current SSID. Otherwise, the SSID element in the beacon frame carries its current SSID. The AP sets the value of the 15th bit of the capability information element in the frame body of the beacon frame or the probe response frame to "1" to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0283] In some implementations of Example 4, after the current SSID and BSSID are updated, the AP sends a first management frame to the STA. The first management frame is a protected management frame and includes the new SSID and BSSID. Specifically, the AP generates a new SSID based on the current SSID and a new BSSID. After the current SSID and BSSID are updated, the AP indicates the new SSID and BSSID to the STA via the first management frame.

[0284] It should be noted that the first management frame is a protected management frame, that is, the frame body of the first management frame is an encrypted frame body.

[0285] Optionally, the first management frame is an Action frame. Since the values ​​of "30 to 125" in the Category field in the Action frame are reserved, this embodiment selects any one value (for example, "30") to indicate the first management frame.

[0286] In some implementations of Example 4, the first management frame includes a control field, a new SSID field, a new BSSID field, and an update time field; wherein the control field includes a new SSID existence field, a new BSSID existence field, and an update time existence field, the value of the new SSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the value of the new BSSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field; wherein the new SSID field carries a new SSID, the new BSSID field carries a new BSSID, and the update time field carries a first duration; wherein the STA updates the currently used OTA MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA and the AP communicate using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the STA uses the new SSID to discover the AP.

[0287] Specifically, the New SSID Present field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes a New SSID field. For example, the New SSID Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). The New SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New SSID field, and the New SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New SSID field; alternatively, the New SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New SSID field, and the New SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New SSID field.

[0288] Specifically, the New BSSID Present field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes a New BSSID field. For example, the New BSSID Present field occupies 1 bit (it may also occupy other numbers of bits). The New BSSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New BSSID field, and the New BSSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New BSSID field; or, the New BSSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New BSSID field, and the New BSSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New BSSID field.

[0289] Specifically, the Update Time Present field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes the Update Time field. For example, the Update Time Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). A value of 1 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame includes the Update Time field, and a value of 0 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame does not include the Update Time field; alternatively, a value of 0 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame includes the Update Time field, and a value of 1 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame does not include the Update Time field.

[0290] For example, the first management frame can be as shown in Figure 7, where the control field of the first management frame includes a new SSID existence field (occupying 1 bit), a new SSID length field (occupying 5 bits), a new BSSID existence field (occupying 1 bit) and an update time existence field (occupying 1 bit), wherein the value of the new SSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the new SSID length field is used to indicate the length of the new SSID, the value of the new BSSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field; wherein the new SSID field carries the new SSID, the new BSSID field carries the new BSSID, and the update time field carries a first duration; wherein the STA updates the currently used OTA MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA and the AP communicate using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the STA uses the new SSID to discover the AP.

[0291] In some implementations, the process of the AP updating the BSSID and SSID may be as shown in FIG8 . For details, please refer to the above description of FIG8 , which will not be repeated here.

[0292] In some implementations of Example 4, the STA receives a second management frame sent by the AP; wherein the control field in the second management frame includes an initial SSID existence field, and the initial SSID existence field is used to indicate whether an initial SSID field exists in the second management frame, and the initial SSID field carries the initial SSID of the AP.

[0293] In some implementations, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field does not exist in the second management frame.

[0294] In some implementations, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is not the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field exists in the second management frame.

[0295] Specifically, the Initial SSID Present field is used to indicate whether the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field. For example, the Initial SSID Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). The Initial SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field, and the Initial SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the second management frame does not include the Initial SSID field; alternatively, the Initial SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field, and the Initial SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the second management frame does not include the Initial SSID field.

[0296] Optionally, the second management frame is a protected management frame, that is, the frame body of the second management frame is an encrypted frame body. The second management frame is an Action frame. Since the values ​​of "30 to 125" in the Category field of the Action frame are reserved, this embodiment selects any value (for example, "30") to indicate the second management frame.

[0297] For example, the second management frame may be as shown in FIG9 . The control field of the second management frame includes an initial SSID presence field (occupying 1 bit) and an initial SSID length field (occupying 5 bits). The initial SSID presence field is used to indicate whether the second management frame includes the initial SSID field, and the initial SSID length field is used to indicate the length of the initial SSID. When the value of the initial SSID presence field indicates that the second management frame includes the initial SSID field (i.e., the initial SSID field occupies 32 bytes), the initial SSID length field occupies 5 bits. When the value of the initial SSID presence field indicates that the second management frame does not include the initial SSID field (i.e., the initial SSID field occupies 0 bytes), the initial SSID length field is a reserved field (i.e., each bit in the field is set to 0).

[0298] In some implementations, an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function can indicate the initial SSID to the STA through a management frame after the STA accesses for the first time. Specifically, the process of the STA accessing the AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function for the first time can be shown in Figure 10. For details, please refer to the above description of Figure 10, which will not be repeated here.

[0299] In embodiment 5, a new SSID is generated by a random number and a key.

[0300] In embodiment 5, the STA locally maintains at least one of the following: an obfuscation library, a fifth list, and a sixth list.

[0301] In Example 5, the obfuscation library can be a one-dimensional list of length R. Initially, the obfuscation library contains R SSIDs, and the R SSIDs do not involve the privacy information of the users corresponding to the STAs, where R is a positive integer, as shown in FIG20. For example, R = 100, or R = 200, or R is another value.

[0302] In Example 5, the fifth list includes the initial SSIDs and current SSIDs of multiple APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function, including the AP. Specifically, as shown in Figure 11, the first row of the fifth list stores the initial SSIDs of the APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function, and the second row of the fifth list stores the current SSIDs of the APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function. The length of the fifth list is the number of APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function that the STA has accessed.

[0303] In Example 5, the sixth list includes multiple SSIDs of APs that do not support the SSID privacy enhancement function. The number of SSIDs in the sixth list is equal to the number of APs that the STA accesses that do not support the SSID privacy enhancement function, as shown in Figure 21. It should be noted that the AP that does not support the SSID privacy enhancement function may be a traditional AP.

[0304] In some implementations of Example 5, the SSID in the probe request frame is the current SSID of the AP, or the SSID in the probe request frame is the SSID that the STA previously used to access the AP. The SSID that the STA previously used to access the AP may be the initial SSID or another SSID.

[0305] In some implementations of Example 5, the STA receives a first frame sent by the AP; wherein the SSID element in the first frame carries the current SSID of the AP, and the sender address of the first frame is the current BSSID of the AP.

[0306] In some implementations of Example 5, if the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function, the SSID element in the first frame includes a random number field that carries a random number corresponding to the current SSID. The current SSID is the initial SSID of the AP during initialization. During non-initialization, the current SSID is generated based on the random number corresponding to the current SSID and first secret information. The first secret information is secret information shared between the AP and the STA. For example, the SSID element may be as shown in FIG12 .

[0307] In some implementations of Example 5, the AP generates a new SSID according to certain rules. now (SSID now is the SSID currently used by the AP). For example, the new SSID now The method of generating the SSID can be to combine the secret information shared by the AP and the STA that has accessed the AP (such as using the network key or a key derived from the network key) with a random number (the random number generated each time the SSID is updated). now The hash result is used as the new SSID of the AP now (Make sure the new SSID now The length is greater than 0 and less than 32 bytes), or the hashed part is used as the new SSID of the AP. now (Make sure the new SSID now The length of the SSID is greater than 0 and less than 32 bytes. For example, the new SSID now The method of generating the SSID can be to use the HKDF algorithm or the PBKDF algorithm to combine the secret information shared by the AP and the STA that has connected to the AP (such as the network key or the key derived from the network key) with a random number (the SSID is updated each time). now The output of the algorithm is used as the new SSID of the AP. now Optionally, the output of the algorithm can be encoded into a visible string using Base64 encoding as the new SSID of the AP. now The secret information shared between the AP and connected STAs ensures that STAs that are not connected to the AP cannot associate the AP's current, past, and future SSIDs.

[0308] In some implementations of Example 5, the STA determines multiple SSIDs based on the random number carried by the random number field and multiple secret information, wherein the multiple secret information are secret information shared between the STA and multiple APs that support the SSID privacy enhancement function and are locally stored by the STA; and when there is an SSID among the multiple SSIDs that is consistent with the SSID carried in the first frame, the STA associates the SSID carried in the first frame with the current SSID of the AP.

[0309] For example, the STA generates the SSID according to the same rules as the AP. Assume that the random number carried in the random number field is Random Number 1, and the secret information shared between the STA and AP1 is Secret Information 1. For example, the STA concatenates Secret Information 1 and the value of Random Number 1 and hashes them, using the hash result as AP1's SSID (ensuring that the SSID length is greater than 0 and less than 32 bytes), or uses the hashed portion as AP1's SSID (ensuring that the SSID length is greater than 0 and less than 32 bytes). For another example, the STA uses the HKDF algorithm or the PBKDF algorithm, taking Secret Information 1 and Random Number 1 as input and using the algorithm output as AP1's SSID; optionally, the algorithm output can be encoded into a visible string using Base64 encoding and used as the AP's SSID.

[0310] In some implementations of Example 5, the capability information element in the first frame includes a first bit, wherein the value of the first bit is used to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function. Optionally, the first bit is a reserved bit in the capability information element in the first frame. The reserved bits in the capability information element in the first frame may be bits 15 and 16.

[0311] For example, the AP sets the value of the 15th or 16th bit of the capability information element in the first frame to "1" to indicate that the AP is an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function; or, the AP sets the value of the 15th or 16th bit of the capability information element in the first frame to "0" to indicate that the AP is an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0312] In some implementations of Example 5, the first frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame. Specifically, after the AP updates its BSSID and SSID, the AP always uses only the current SSID of the AP in the beacon frame or the probe response frame, so that an attacker cannot associate the AP's old SSID with the new SSID, or the attacker cannot associate the AP's old BSSID with the new BSSID.

[0313] In some implementations, the process of STA initializing PNL and using the PNL to discover APs that support SSID privacy enhancement can be as shown in Figure 23. Specifically, STA selects a random number of SSIDs from the obfuscation library; STA selects the SSID selected from the obfuscation library, the AP in the fifth list, and the SSID in the fifth list. i The STA uses the current SSID and the SSIDs of previously connected APs as its PNL. The STA checks whether it has not associated with an AP for a period of time. If so, it obtains the initial SSID of an AP in the fifth list that implements the SSID privacy enhancement feature and uses it, along with the SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSID of the previously connected AP, as its new PNL. If not, no new PNL is generated. The STA sends multiple probe request frames (each carrying one SSID from the PNL in random order).

[0314] It should be noted that Figure 23 is an example of STA using PNL to discover an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function. The process of STA using PNL to discover an AP that does not support the SSID privacy enhancement function is similar to that shown in Figure 23. It only requires replacing the fifth list with the sixth list, which will not be repeated here.

[0315] In some implementations of Example 5, the AP checks whether it is set as a hidden AP. If so, the SSID element in its beacon frame does not carry its current SSID. Otherwise, the SSID element in its beacon frame carries its current SSID.

[0316] In some implementations of Example 5, when an AP receives a probe request frame with a non-specified SSID (wildcard SSID) and is not set as a hidden AP, the AP responds with a probe response frame with its current SSID and BSSID to indicate its presence. When receiving a probe request frame with its current SSID as the SSID field value, the AP responds with a probe response frame with its current SSID and BSSID to indicate its presence.

[0317] For example, as shown in Figure 6, the AP locally maintains a first list and a second list. The AP checks whether it is set as a hidden AP. If so, the SSID element in the beacon frame does not carry its current SSID. Otherwise, the SSID element in the beacon frame carries its current SSID. The AP sets the value of the 15th bit of the capability information element in the frame body of the beacon frame or the probe response frame to "1" to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0318] In some implementations of Example 5, after the current SSID and current BSSID are updated, the STA receives a first management frame sent by the AP, where the first management frame is a protected management frame and includes the new SSID and new BSSID. That is, the AP generates a new SSID based on the current SSID and the AP generates a new BSSID. After the current SSID and current BSSID are updated, the AP indicates the new SSID and new BSSID to the STA via the first management frame.

[0319] It should be noted that the first management frame is a protected management frame, that is, the frame body of the first management frame is an encrypted frame body.

[0320] Optionally, the first management frame is an Action frame. Since the values ​​of "30 to 125" in the Category field in the Action frame are reserved, this embodiment selects any one value (for example, "30") to indicate the first management frame.

[0321] In some implementations of Example 5, the first management frame includes a control field, a new SSID field, a new BSSID field and an update time field; wherein the control field includes a new SSID existence field, a new BSSID existence field and an update time existence field, the value of the new SSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the value of the new BSSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field; wherein the new SSID field carries a new SSID, the new BSSID field carries a new BSSID, and the update time field carries a first duration; wherein the STA updates the currently used OTA MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA and the AP communicate using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the STA uses the new SSID to discover the AP.

[0322] Specifically, the New SSID Present field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes a New SSID field. For example, the New SSID Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). The New SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New SSID field, and the New SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New SSID field; alternatively, the New SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New SSID field, and the New SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New SSID field.

[0323] Specifically, the New BSSID Present field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes a New BSSID field. For example, the New BSSID Present field occupies 1 bit (it may also occupy other numbers of bits). The New BSSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New BSSID field, and the New BSSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New BSSID field; or, the New BSSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New BSSID field, and the New BSSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New BSSID field.

[0324] Specifically, the Update Time Present field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes the Update Time field. For example, the Update Time Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). A value of 1 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame includes the Update Time field, and a value of 0 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame does not include the Update Time field; alternatively, a value of 0 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame includes the Update Time field, and a value of 1 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame does not include the Update Time field.

[0325] For example, the first management frame can be as shown in Figure 7, where the control field of the first management frame includes a new SSID existence field (occupies 1 bit), a new SSID length field (occupies 5 bits), a new BSSID existence field (occupies 1 bit) and an update time existence field (occupies 1 bit), wherein the value of the new SSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the new SSID length field is used to indicate the length of the new SSID, the value of the new BSSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field; wherein the new SSID field carries the new SSID, the new BSSID field carries the new BSSID, and the update time field carries the first duration; wherein the STA updates the currently used OTA MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA and the AP communicate using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the STA uses the new SSID to discover the AP.

[0326] In some implementations, the process of the AP updating the BSSID and SSID may be as shown in FIG8 . For details, please refer to the above description of FIG8 , which will not be repeated here.

[0327] In some implementations of Example 5, the STA receives a second management frame sent by the AP; wherein the control field in the second management frame includes an initial SSID existence field, and the initial SSID existence field is used to indicate whether an initial SSID field exists in the second management frame, and the initial SSID field carries the initial SSID of the AP.

[0328] In some implementations, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field does not exist in the second management frame.

[0329] In some implementations, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is not the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field exists in the second management frame.

[0330] Specifically, the Initial SSID Present field is used to indicate whether the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field. For example, the Initial SSID Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). The Initial SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field, and the Initial SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the second management frame does not include the Initial SSID field; alternatively, the Initial SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field, and the Initial SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the second management frame does not include the Initial SSID field.

[0331] Optionally, the second management frame is a protected management frame, that is, the frame body of the second management frame is an encrypted frame body. The second management frame is an Action frame. Since the values ​​of "30 to 125" in the Category field of the Action frame are reserved, this embodiment selects any value (for example, "30") to indicate the second management frame.

[0332] For example, the second management frame may be as shown in FIG9 . The control field of the second management frame includes an initial SSID presence field (occupying 1 bit) and an initial SSID length field (occupying 5 bits). The initial SSID presence field is used to indicate whether the second management frame includes the initial SSID field, and the initial SSID length field is used to indicate the length of the initial SSID. When the value of the initial SSID presence field indicates that the second management frame includes the initial SSID field (i.e., the initial SSID field occupies 32 bytes), the initial SSID length field occupies 5 bits. When the value of the initial SSID presence field indicates that the second management frame does not include the initial SSID field (i.e., the initial SSID field occupies 0 bytes), the initial SSID length field is a reserved field (i.e., each bit in the field is set to 0).

[0333] In some implementations, an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function can indicate the initial SSID to the STA through a management frame after the STA accesses for the first time. Specifically, the process of the STA accessing the AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function for the first time can be shown in Figure 10. For details, please refer to the above description of Figure 10, which will not be repeated here.

[0334] In embodiment 6, a new SSID is selected from a third list, wherein the third list includes at least one SSID to be used by the AP in the future.

[0335] In some implementations, the at least one SSID to be used by the AP in the future includes, but is not limited to, at least one of the following:

[0336] SSIDs detected in the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, and SSIDs in the SSID library provided by the upper-layer application.

[0337] In Embodiment 6, the AP locally maintains the third list. Specifically, as shown in FIG13 , the third list can be a one-dimensional list of length k, storing SSIDs to be used in the future, with a total of k elements, where k is a positive integer. Elements of the third list can be SSIDs detected from the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, or SSIDs from an SSID library provided by an upper-layer application. Initially, the third list contains k SSIDs.

[0338] In some implementations of Example 6, when the AP updates the current SSID and the current BSSID, the AP selects a new SSID (ie, the new current SSID) from the third list, and the AP generates a new BSSID (ie, the newly generated current BSSID).

[0339] In some implementations, the third list may be agreed upon by a protocol, or the third list may be configured by an AP.

[0340] In embodiment 6, the STA locally maintains at least one of the following: an obfuscation library, a fifth list, and a sixth list.

[0341] In Example 6, the obfuscation library can be a one-dimensional list of length R. Initially, the obfuscation library contains R SSIDs, and the R SSIDs do not involve the privacy information of the users corresponding to the STAs, where R is a positive integer, as shown in FIG20. For example, R = 100, or R = 200, or R is another value.

[0342] In Example 6, the fifth list includes the initial SSIDs and current SSIDs of multiple APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function, including the AP. Specifically, as shown in Figure 11, the first row of the fifth list stores the initial SSIDs of the APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function, and the second row of the fifth list stores the current SSIDs of the APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function. The length of the fifth list is the number of APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function that the STA has accessed.

[0343] In some implementations of Example 6, the SSID in the probe request frame is the current SSID of the AP, or the SSID in the probe request frame is the SSID that the STA previously used when accessing the AP. The SSID that the STA previously used when accessing the AP may be the initial SSID or another SSID.

[0344] In some implementations, the process of STA initializing PNL and using the PNL to discover APs that support SSID privacy enhancement can be as shown in Figure 23. Specifically, STA selects a random number of SSIDs from the obfuscation library; STA selects the SSID selected from the obfuscation library, the AP in the fifth list, and the SSID in the fifth list. i The STA uses the current SSID and the SSIDs of previously connected APs as its PNL. The STA checks whether it has not associated with an AP for a period of time. If so, it obtains the initial SSID of an AP in the fifth list that implements the SSID privacy enhancement feature and uses it, along with the SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSID of the previously connected AP, as its new PNL. If not, no new PNL is generated. The STA sends multiple probe request frames (each carrying one SSID from the PNL in random order).

[0345] It should be noted that Figure 23 is an example of STA using PNL to discover an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function. The process of STA using PNL to discover an AP that does not support the SSID privacy enhancement function is similar to that shown in Figure 23. It only requires replacing the fifth list with the sixth list, which will not be repeated here.

[0346] In some implementations of embodiment 6, the STA receives a second frame sent by the AP;

[0347] The second frame includes a current SSID element, and the current SSID element is used to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function. The second frame carries the current SSID of the AP and the current BSSID of the AP.

[0348] In some implementations, the control field in the Current SSID element includes a Current SSID Present field, the value of which is used to indicate whether a Current SSID field exists in the Current SSID element, and the Current SSID field carries the current SSID.

[0349] For example, the Current SSID Exists field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). A Current SSID Exists field of 1 indicates that the Current SSID field exists in the Current SSID element, and a Current SSID Exists field of 0 indicates that the Current SSID field does not exist in the Current SSID element; or a Current SSID Exists field of 0 indicates that the Current SSID field exists in the Current SSID element, and a Current SSID Exists field of 1 indicates that the Current SSID field does not exist in the Current SSID element.

[0350] Optionally, in the second frame, “Element ID”=255 and “Element ID Extension”=94 may be used to indicate that the information element is a “Current SSID Element”.

[0351] Specifically, the second frame (which can be a probe response frame or a beacon frame) can be as shown in Figure 15. The value of the Current SSID Present field in the Current SSID element is 0, indicating that the Current SSID field does not exist, and the value of the Current SSID Present field is 1, indicating that the Current SSID field exists. When "Element ID" = 255, the "Element ID Extension" field exists in the element (94-255 are reserved and unused). Here, "Element ID" = 255 and "Element ID Extension" = 94 can be used to indicate that the information element is the "Current SSID Element". For example, an AP that implements the SSID privacy enhancement function carries the Current SSID Element in the probe response frame, and the value of the Current SSID Present field is 0 or 1. In the Media Access Control (MAC) header of a probe request frame sent by a STA, Address 1 (also called the receiving address (RA)) is the broadcast address, Address 2 (also called the transmitting address (TA)) is the STA's own MAC address, and Address 3 (also called the BSSID) is the broadcast address. In the MAC header of a probe response frame sent by an AP, Address 1 (or RA) is the MAC address of the STA sending the probe request frame, Address 2 (or TA) is the AP's current MAC address, and Address 3 (or BSSID) is the AP's current BSSID (usually also the AP's current MAC address).

[0352] In some implementations, when the SSID in the probe request frame is a wildcard SSID or the SSID in the probe request frame is the current SSID, the value of the current SSID present field is used to indicate that the current SSID field does not exist in the current SSID element, and the SSID element in the second frame carries the current SSID, and the sender address of the second frame is the current BSSID; or,

[0353] When the SSID in the probe request frame is the SSID previously used by the AP, the value of the current SSID existence field is used to indicate that the current SSID field exists in the current SSID element, and the SSID element in the second frame carries the same SSID as the SSID in the probe request frame, and the sender address of the second frame is the current BSSID.

[0354] Specifically, the interaction of the probe request frame and the probe response frame between the STA and the AP may be as shown in Table 1 above.

[0355] In some implementations, the current SSID carried in the current SSID field is an encrypted SSID, wherein the encryption key of the current SSID is a network key, or the encryption key of the current SSID is a key derived from the network key.

[0356] In some implementations, the STA locally stores the encryption key of the current SSID, or the encryption key of the current SSID is the network key input by the STA when accessing the AP by manually inputting the SSID.

[0357] In some implementations of Example 6, after the current SSID and the current BSSID are updated, the STA receives a first management frame sent by the AP, where the first management frame is a protected management frame and includes the new SSID and the new BSSID. That is, the AP generates a new SSID based on the current SSID and the AP generates a new BSSID. After the current SSID and the current BSSID are updated, the AP indicates the new SSID and the new BSSID to the STA via the first management frame.

[0358] It should be noted that the first management frame is a protected management frame, that is, the frame body of the first management frame is an encrypted frame body.

[0359] Optionally, the first management frame is an Action frame. Since the values ​​of "30 to 125" in the Category field in the Action frame are reserved, this embodiment selects any one value (for example, "30") to indicate the first management frame.

[0360] In some implementations of Example 6, the first management frame includes a control field, a new SSID field, a new BSSID field, and an update time field; wherein the control field includes a new SSID existence field, a new BSSID existence field, and an update time existence field, the value of the new SSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the value of the new BSSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field; wherein the new SSID field carries a new SSID, the new BSSID field carries a new BSSID, and the update time field carries a first duration; wherein the STA updates the currently used OTA MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA and the AP communicate using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the STA uses the new SSID to discover the AP.

[0361] Specifically, the New SSID Present field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes a New SSID field. For example, the New SSID Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). The New SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New SSID field, and the New SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New SSID field; alternatively, the New SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New SSID field, and the New SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New SSID field.

[0362] Specifically, the New BSSID Present field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes a New BSSID field. For example, the New BSSID Present field occupies 1 bit (it may also occupy other numbers of bits). The New BSSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New BSSID field, and the New BSSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New BSSID field; or, the New BSSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the first management frame includes the New BSSID field, and the New BSSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the first management frame does not include the New BSSID field.

[0363] Specifically, the Update Time Present field is used to indicate whether the first management frame includes the Update Time field. For example, the Update Time Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). A value of 1 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame includes the Update Time field, and a value of 0 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame does not include the Update Time field; alternatively, a value of 0 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame includes the Update Time field, and a value of 1 for the Update Time Present field indicates that the first management frame does not include the Update Time field.

[0364] For example, the first management frame can be as shown in Figure 7, where the control field of the first management frame includes a new SSID existence field (occupies 1 bit), a new SSID length field (occupies 5 bits), a new BSSID existence field (occupies 1 bit) and an update time existence field (occupies 1 bit), wherein the value of the new SSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the new SSID length field is used to indicate the length of the new SSID, the value of the new BSSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field; wherein the new SSID field carries the new SSID, the new BSSID field carries the new BSSID, and the update time field carries the first duration; wherein the STA updates the currently used OTA MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA and the AP communicate using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the STA uses the new SSID to discover the AP.

[0365] In some implementations, the process of the AP updating the BSSID and SSID may be as shown in FIG8 . For details, please refer to the above description of FIG8 , which will not be repeated here.

[0366] In some implementations of Example 6, the STA receives a second management frame sent by the AP; wherein the control field in the second management frame includes an initial SSID existence field, and the initial SSID existence field is used to indicate whether an initial SSID field exists in the second management frame, and the initial SSID field carries the initial SSID of the AP.

[0367] In some implementations, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field does not exist in the second management frame.

[0368] In some implementations, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is not the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field exists in the second management frame.

[0369] Specifically, the Initial SSID Present field is used to indicate whether the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field. For example, the Initial SSID Present field occupies 1 bit (or may occupy another number of bits). The Initial SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field, and the Initial SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the second management frame does not include the Initial SSID field; alternatively, the Initial SSID Present field is set to 0 to indicate that the second management frame includes the Initial SSID field, and the Initial SSID Present field is set to 1 to indicate that the second management frame does not include the Initial SSID field.

[0370] Optionally, the second management frame is a protected management frame, that is, the frame body of the second management frame is an encrypted frame body. The second management frame is an Action frame. Since the values ​​of "30 to 125" in the Category field of the Action frame are reserved, this embodiment selects any value (for example, "30") to indicate the second management frame.

[0371] For example, the second management frame may be as shown in FIG9 . The control field of the second management frame includes an initial SSID presence field (occupying 1 bit) and an initial SSID length field (occupying 5 bits). The initial SSID presence field is used to indicate whether the second management frame includes the initial SSID field, and the initial SSID length field is used to indicate the length of the initial SSID. When the value of the initial SSID presence field indicates that the second management frame includes the initial SSID field (i.e., the initial SSID field occupies 32 bytes), the initial SSID length field occupies 5 bits. When the value of the initial SSID presence field indicates that the second management frame does not include the initial SSID field (i.e., the initial SSID field occupies 0 bytes), the initial SSID length field is a reserved field (i.e., each bit in the field is set to 0).

[0372] In some implementations, an AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function can indicate the initial SSID to the STA through a management frame after the STA accesses for the first time. Specifically, the process of the STA accessing the AP that supports the SSID privacy enhancement function for the first time can be shown in Figure 10. For details, please refer to the above description of Figure 10, which will not be repeated here.

[0373] Therefore, in an embodiment of the present application, the STA sends a probe request frame to the AP, wherein the SSID in the probe request frame belongs to the PNL, and the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, thereby preventing an attacker from identifying and tracking the user corresponding to the STA through the STA's PNL.

[0374] The above text, in combination with Figures 2 to 23, describes in detail the method embodiment of the present application. The following text, in combination with Figures 24 to 28, describes in detail the device embodiment of the present application. It should be understood that the device embodiment and the method embodiment correspond to each other, and similar descriptions can refer to the method embodiment.

[0375] FIG24 shows a schematic block diagram of an AP 400 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG24 , the AP 400 includes:

[0376] The processing unit 410 is configured to autonomously update its service set identifier SSID and basic service set identifier BSSID;

[0377] The AP locally maintains a first list and a second list, the first list includes M SSIDs, the second list includes N BSSIDs, the M SSIDs include the AP's current SSID and at least one SSID used previously, the N BSSIDs include the AP's current BSSID and at least one BSSID used previously, and M and N are both positive integers.

[0378] In some embodiments, the at least one SSID previously used includes at least an initial SSID, and / or the at least one BSSID previously used includes at least an initial BSSID.

[0379] In some embodiments, the current SSID in the first list is initially the initial SSID, and / or the current BSSID in the second list is initially the initial BSSID.

[0380] In some embodiments, the current SSID in the first list is generated based on a previous SSID of the current SSID and the first secret information when not initially generated;

[0381] The first secret information is secret information shared between the AP and a station STA that has accessed the AP.

[0382] In some embodiments, the STA locally maintains S SSIDs that the AP will use in the future;

[0383] The S SSIDs are generated based on the current SSID and the first secret information, and S is a positive integer.

[0384] In some embodiments, the S SSIDs are generated based on the current SSID and the first secret information, including:

[0385] A first SSID among the S SSIDs is generated based on the current SSID and the first secret information, and an (i+1)th SSID among the S SSIDs is generated based on the (i)th SSID and the first secret information;

[0386] Wherein, i is a positive integer, and 1≤i≤S-1.

[0387] In some embodiments, the processing unit 410 is specifically configured to:

[0388] When the AP updates the current SSID and the current BSSID, a new SSID and a new BSSID are generated according to the current SSID and the first secret information.

[0389] In some embodiments, the AP 400 further includes: a communication unit 420;

[0390] The processing unit 410 is further configured to obtain the current SSID from the first list and obtain the current BSSID from the second list;

[0391] The communication unit 420 is configured to send a first frame to the STA, wherein the SSID element in the first frame carries the current SSID, and the sender address of the first frame is the current BSSID.

[0392] In some embodiments, the current SSID in the first list is generated based on a random number corresponding to the current SSID and first secret information when not initially generated;

[0393] The first secret information is secret information shared between the AP and the STA that has accessed the AP.

[0394] In some embodiments, the processing unit 410 is specifically configured to:

[0395] When the AP updates the current SSID and the current BSSID, a new SSID and a new BSSID are generated according to the newly generated random number and the first secret information.

[0396] In some embodiments, the AP 400 further includes: a communication unit 420;

[0397] The processing unit 410 is further configured to obtain the current SSID from the first list and obtain the current BSSID from the second list;

[0398] The communication unit 420 is used to send a first frame to the STA, wherein the SSID element of the first frame includes an SSID field and a random number field, the SSID field carries the current SSID, the random number field carries a random number corresponding to the current SSID, and the sender address of the first frame is the current BSSID.

[0399] In some embodiments, the capability information element in the first frame includes a first bit, wherein the value of the first bit is used to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0400] In some embodiments, the first bit is a reserved bit in a capability information element in the first frame.

[0401] In some embodiments, the first frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame.

[0402] In some embodiments, when the first frame is a probe response frame, and before sending the first frame, the AP 400 further includes: a communication unit 420;

[0403] The communication unit 420 is used to receive a first probe request frame sent by the STA, wherein the first frame is a response frame to the first probe request frame, the SSID in the first probe request frame is the current SSID, or the SSID in the first probe request frame is the SSID used by the STA when it previously accessed.

[0404] In some embodiments, the SSID in the first probe request frame belongs to a preferred network list PNL;

[0405] The PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed, or the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed;

[0406] The SSID included in the obfuscation library does not involve the privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA.

[0407] In some embodiments, the AP locally maintains a third list, wherein the third list includes at least one SSID to be used by the AP in the future.

[0408] In some embodiments, the at least one SSID to be used by the AP in the future includes at least one of the following:

[0409] SSIDs detected in the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, and SSIDs in the SSID library provided by the upper-layer application.

[0410] In some embodiments, the processing unit 410 is specifically configured to:

[0411] When the AP updates the current SSID and the current BSSID, a new SSID is selected from the third list, and a new BSSID is generated.

[0412] In some embodiments, the AP 400 further includes: a communication unit 420;

[0413] The processing unit 410 is further configured to obtain the current SSID from the first list and obtain the current BSSID from the second list;

[0414] The communication unit 420 is configured to send a second frame to the STA, where the second frame carries the current SSID and the current BSSID.

[0415] In some embodiments, the second frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame.

[0416] In some embodiments, when the second frame is a probe response frame, and before sending the first frame, the AP 400 further includes: a communication unit 420;

[0417] The communication unit 420 is configured to receive a second probe request frame sent by the STA, where the second frame is a response frame to the second probe request frame.

[0418] In some embodiments, the second frame includes a current SSID element, where the current SSID element is used to indicate that the AP supports an SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0419] In some embodiments, the control field in the current SSID element includes a current SSID existence field, the value of which is used to indicate whether a current SSID field exists in the current SSID element, and the current SSID field carries the current SSID.

[0420] In some embodiments, when the SSID in the second probe request frame is a non-designated SSID or the SSID in the second probe request frame is the current SSID, the value of the current SSID exists field is used to indicate that the current SSID field does not exist in the current SSID element, and the SSID element in the second frame carries the current SSID, and the sender address of the second frame is the current BSSID; or,

[0421] When the SSID in the second probe request frame is the SSID previously used by the AP, the value of the current SSID existence field is used to indicate that the current SSID field exists in the current SSID element, and the SSID element in the second frame carries the same SSID as the SSID in the second probe request frame, and the sender address of the second frame is the current BSSID.

[0422] In some embodiments, the current SSID carried in the current SSID field is an encrypted SSID, wherein the encryption key of the current SSID is a network key, or the encryption key of the current SSID is a key derived from the network key.

[0423] In some embodiments, the STA locally stores the encryption key of the current SSID, or the encryption key of the current SSID is the network key input by the STA when accessing the AP by manually inputting the SSID.

[0424] In some embodiments, the SSID in the second probe request frame belongs to a PNL;

[0425] The PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed, or the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed;

[0426] The SSID included in the obfuscation library does not involve the privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA.

[0427] In some embodiments, the SSID in the obfuscation library includes at least one of the following:

[0428] SSIDs detected in the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, and SSIDs in the SSID library provided by the upper-layer application.

[0429] In some embodiments, after the current SSID and the current BSSID are updated, the AP 400 further includes: a communication unit 420;

[0430] The communication unit 420 is configured to send a first management frame to the STA, where the first management frame is a protected management frame and includes a new SSID and a new BSSID.

[0431] In some embodiments, the first management frame includes a control field, a new SSID field, a new BSSID field, and an update time field;

[0432] The control field includes a new SSID presence field, a new BSSID presence field, and an update time presence field. The value of the new SSID presence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the value of the new BSSID presence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time presence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field.

[0433] The new SSID field carries the new SSID, the new BSSID field carries the new BSSID, and the update time field carries the first duration;

[0434] The STA updates the currently used over-the-air media access control OTA MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA communicates with the AP using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the STA discovers the AP using the new SSID.

[0435] In some embodiments, the AP 400 further includes: a communication unit 420;

[0436] The communication unit 420 is configured to send a second management frame to the STA;

[0437] The control field in the second management frame includes an initial SSID existence field, and the initial SSID existence field is used to indicate whether an initial SSID field exists in the second management frame, and the initial SSID field carries the initial SSID of the AP.

[0438] In some embodiments, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field does not exist in the second management frame; or,

[0439] In a case where the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is not the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field exists in the second management frame.

[0440] In some embodiments, the AP supports SSID privacy enhancement functionality.

[0441] In some embodiments, the AP is a mobile AP.

[0442] In some embodiments, the communication unit may be a communication interface or a transceiver, or an input / output interface of a communication chip or a system on chip. The processing unit may be one or more processors.

[0443] It should be understood that the AP 400 according to the embodiment of the present application may correspond to the AP in the embodiment of the method of the present application, and the above-mentioned and other operations and / or functions of each unit in the AP 400 are respectively for implementing the corresponding processes of the AP in the method 200 shown in Figure 2. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0444] FIG25 shows a schematic block diagram of a STA 500 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG25 , the STA 500 includes:

[0445] The communication unit 510 is configured to send a probe request frame to an access point AP;

[0446] The service set identifier SSID in the probe request frame belongs to the preferred network list PNL, which includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has accessed, or the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has accessed; wherein the SSID included in the obfuscation library does not involve the privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA.

[0447] In some embodiments, the SSID in the obfuscation library includes at least one of the following:

[0448] SSIDs detected in the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, and SSIDs in the SSID library provided by the upper-layer application.

[0449] In some embodiments, the communication unit 510 is further configured to receive a first frame sent by the AP;

[0450] The SSID element in the first frame carries the current SSID of the AP, and the sender address of the first frame is the current basic service set identifier BSSID of the AP.

[0451] In some embodiments, when the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function, the current SSID is the initial SSID of the AP at the initial time, and the current SSID is generated based on the previous SSID of the current SSID and the first secret information when it is not initial. The first secret information is the secret information shared between the AP and the STA.

[0452] In some embodiments, the STA locally maintains a fourth list, which includes at least W SSIDs of the AP, and the W SSIDs include the AP's initial SSID, the AP's current SSID, and the S SSIDs to be used by the AP in the future; wherein the S SSIDs are generated based on the AP's current SSID and the first secret information, W and S are both positive integers, and W>S.

[0453] In some embodiments, the S SSIDs are generated based on the AP's current SSID and the first secret information, including:

[0454] A first SSID among the S SSIDs is generated based on the current SSID and the first secret information, and an (i+1)th SSID among the S SSIDs is generated based on the (i)th SSID and the first secret information;

[0455] Wherein, i is a positive integer, and 1≤i≤S-1.

[0456] In some embodiments, the STA 500 further includes: a processing unit 520;

[0457] The processing unit 520 is configured to compare the current SSID of the AP carried in the first frame with the W SSIDs of the AP in the fourth list;

[0458] The current SSID of the AP carried in the first frame is the SSID to be used by the AP in the future in the fourth list. The processing unit 520 is further configured to convert the SSID of the AP to the initial SSID of the AP in the available network list, and the processing unit 520 is further configured to update the current SSID of the AP and the S SSIDs to be used by the AP in the future in the fourth list; or

[0459] The current SSID of the AP carried in the first frame is the current SSID of the AP in the fourth list. The processing unit 520 is further configured to associate the SSID carried in the first frame with the current SSID of the AP in the fourth list.

[0460] In some embodiments, the fourth list further includes SSIDs of one or more other APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function, where the SSIDs of the other APs include the initial SSID of the other AP, the current SSID of the other AP, and multiple SSIDs to be used by the other AP in the future.

[0461] In some embodiments, when the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function, the SSID element in the first frame includes a random number field, which carries a random number corresponding to the current SSID. The current SSID is the initial SSID of the AP at the initial time. The current SSID is generated based on the random number corresponding to the current SSID and the first secret information when it is not initial. The first secret information is secret information shared between the AP and the STA.

[0462] In some embodiments, the processing unit 520 is further configured to determine multiple SSIDs based on the random number carried by the random number field and multiple secret information, wherein the multiple secret information are secret information shared between the STA and multiple APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function that are locally stored by the STA;

[0463] In a case where there is an SSID in the multiple SSIDs that is consistent with the SSID carried in the first frame, the processing unit 520 is further configured to associate the SSID carried in the first frame with the current SSID of the AP.

[0464] In some embodiments, the capability information element in the first frame includes a first bit, wherein the value of the first bit is used to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0465] In some embodiments, the first bit is a reserved bit in a capability information element in the first frame.

[0466] In some embodiments, the first frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame.

[0467] In some embodiments, the communication unit 510 is further configured to receive a second frame sent by the AP;

[0468] The second frame includes a current SSID element, and the current SSID element is used to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function. The second frame carries the current SSID of the AP and the current BSSID of the AP.

[0469] In some embodiments, the control field in the current SSID element includes a current SSID existence field, the value of which is used to indicate whether a current SSID field exists in the current SSID element, and the current SSID field carries the current SSID.

[0470] In some embodiments, when the SSID in the probe request frame is a non-designated SSID or the SSID in the probe request frame is the current SSID, the value of the current SSID present field is used to indicate that the current SSID field does not exist in the current SSID element, and the SSID element in the second frame carries the current SSID, and the sender address of the second frame is the current BSSID;

[0471] or,

[0472] When the SSID in the probe request frame is the SSID previously used by the AP, the value of the current SSID existence field is used to indicate that the current SSID field exists in the current SSID element, and the SSID element in the second frame carries the same SSID as the SSID in the probe request frame, and the sender address of the second frame is the current BSSID.

[0473] In some embodiments, the current SSID carried in the current SSID field is an encrypted SSID, wherein the encryption key of the current SSID is a network key, or the encryption key of the current SSID is a key derived from the network key.

[0474] In some embodiments, the STA locally stores the encryption key of the current SSID, or the encryption key of the current SSID is the network key input by the STA when accessing the AP by manually inputting the SSID.

[0475] In some embodiments, the STA locally maintains a fifth list, where the fifth list includes initial SSIDs and current SSIDs of multiple APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function, where the multiple APs include the AP.

[0476] In some embodiments, the STA locally maintains a sixth list including multiple SSIDs of APs that do not support the SSID privacy enhancement function. The number of SSIDs in the sixth list is equal to the number of APs that the STA accesses that do not support the SSID privacy enhancement function.

[0477] In some embodiments, the communication unit 510 is also used to receive a first management frame sent by the AP, wherein the first management frame is a protected management frame, and the first management frame includes a new SSID and a new BSSID, the new SSID is updated by the current SSID, and the new BSSID is updated by the current BSSID.

[0478] In some embodiments, the first management frame includes a control field, a new SSID field, a new BSSID field, and an update time field; wherein the control field includes a new SSID presence field, a new BSSID presence field, and an update time presence field, the value of the new SSID presence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the value of the new BSSID presence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time presence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field; wherein the new SSID field carries the new SSID, the new BSSID field carries the new BSSID, and the update time field carries the first duration;

[0479] The STA 500 further includes: a processing unit 520;

[0480] The processing unit 520 is used to update the currently used over-the-air media access control OTA MAC address within the first time period, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the processing unit 520 is also used to communicate with the AP using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the processing unit 520 is also used to discover the AP using the new SSID.

[0481] In some embodiments, the communication unit 510 is further configured to receive a second management frame sent by the AP;

[0482] The control field in the second management frame includes an initial SSID existence field, and the initial SSID existence field is used to indicate whether an initial SSID field exists in the second management frame, and the initial SSID field carries the initial SSID of the AP.

[0483] In some embodiments, when the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field does not exist in the second management frame; or,

[0484] In a case where the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is not the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field exists in the second management frame.

[0485] In some embodiments, the communication unit may be a communication interface or a transceiver, or an input / output interface of a communication chip or a system on chip. The processing unit may be one or more processors.

[0486] It should be understood that the STA 500 according to the embodiment of the present application may correspond to the STA in the embodiment of the method of the present application, and the above-mentioned and other operations and / or functions of each unit in the STA 500 are respectively for implementing the corresponding process of the STA in the method 300 shown in Figure 19. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0487] Figure 26 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 600 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 600 shown in Figure 26 includes a processor 610, which can call and run a computer program from a memory to implement the method in the embodiment of the present application.

[0488] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG26 , the communication device 600 may further include a memory 620. The processor 610 may call and execute a computer program from the memory 620 to implement the method in the embodiment of the present application.

[0489] The memory 620 may be a separate device independent of the processor 610 , or may be integrated into the processor 610 .

[0490] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 26 , the communication device 600 may further include a transceiver 630 , and the processor 610 may control the transceiver 630 to communicate with other devices. Specifically, the transceiver 630 may send information or data to other devices, or receive information or data sent by other devices.

[0491] The transceiver 630 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 630 may further include an antenna, and the number of antennas may be one or more.

[0492] In some embodiments, the communication device 600 may specifically be the AP of the embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 600 may implement the corresponding processes implemented by the AP in each method of the embodiment of the present application. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0493] In some embodiments, the communication device 600 may specifically be the STA of the embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 600 may implement the corresponding processes implemented by the STA in each method of the embodiment of the present application, which will not be described here for the sake of brevity.

[0494] Figure 27 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 700 shown in Figure 27 includes a processor 710, which can call and execute a computer program from a memory to implement the method according to the embodiment of the present application.

[0495] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG27 , the apparatus 700 may further include a memory 720. The processor 710 may call and execute a computer program from the memory 720 to implement the method in the embodiment of the present application.

[0496] The memory 720 may be a separate device independent of the processor 710 , or may be integrated into the processor 710 .

[0497] In some embodiments, the apparatus 700 may further include an input interface 730. The processor 710 may control the input interface 730 to communicate with other devices or chips, and specifically, may obtain information or data sent by other devices or chips.

[0498] In some embodiments, the apparatus 700 may further include an output interface 740. The processor 710 may control the output interface 740 to communicate with other devices or chips, and specifically, may output information or data to other devices or chips.

[0499] In some embodiments, the device can be applied to the AP in the embodiments of the present application, and the device can implement the corresponding processes implemented by the AP in the various methods of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0500] In some embodiments, the device can be applied to the STA in the embodiments of the present application, and the device can implement the corresponding processes implemented by the STA in the various methods of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, they are not repeated here.

[0501] In some embodiments, the device mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may also be a chip, such as a system-on-chip, a system-on-chip, a chip system, or a system-on-chip chip.

[0502] FIG28 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system 800 provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG28 , the communication system 800 includes a STA 810 and an AP 820.

[0503] The STA 810 may be used to implement the corresponding functions implemented by the STA in the above method, and the AP 820 may be used to implement the corresponding functions implemented by the AP in the above method, which will not be described in detail here for the sake of brevity.

[0504] It should be understood that the processor of the embodiments of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. During implementation, each step of the above method embodiment can be completed by hardware integrated logic circuits in the processor or software instructions. The above processor can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented or executed. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware decoding processor, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art, such as random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and completes the steps of the above method in combination with its hardware.

[0505] It is understood that the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct RAM bus random access memory (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0506] It should be understood that the above-mentioned memories are exemplary but not restrictive. For example, the memories in the embodiments of the present application may also be static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct RAM RAM (DR RAM), etc. In other words, the memories in the embodiments of the present application are intended to include, but are not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memories.

[0507] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program.

[0508] In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium can be applied to the AP in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program enables the computer to execute the corresponding processes implemented by the AP in the various methods of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0509] In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium can be applied to the STA in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program enables the computer to execute the corresponding processes implemented by the STA in the various methods of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, they are not repeated here.

[0510] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, including computer program instructions.

[0511] In some embodiments, the computer program product can be applied to the AP in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program instructions enable the computer to execute the corresponding processes implemented by the AP in the various methods of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0512] In some embodiments, the computer program product can be applied to the STA in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program instructions enable the computer to execute the corresponding processes implemented by the STA in the various methods of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, they are not repeated here.

[0513] The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program.

[0514] In some embodiments, the computer program can be applied to the AP in the embodiments of the present application. When the computer program runs on a computer, the computer executes the corresponding processes implemented by the AP in the various methods of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0515] In some embodiments, the computer program can be applied to the STA in the embodiments of the present application. When the computer program runs on a computer, the computer executes the corresponding processes implemented by the STA in the various methods of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, they are not repeated here.

[0516] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0517] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0518] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0519] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0520] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0521] If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. In view of this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes a number of instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0522] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be included in the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A wireless communication method, characterized in that: include: The access point AP autonomously updates its service set identifier SSID and basic service set identifier BSSID; The AP locally maintains a first list and a second list, the first list includes M SSIDs, the second list includes N BSSIDs, the M SSIDs include the AP's current SSID and at least one SSID used previously, the N BSSIDs include the AP's current BSSID and at least one BSSID used previously, and M and N are both positive integers.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The at least one SSID used previously includes at least an initial SSID, and / or the at least one BSSID used previously includes at least an initial BSSID.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein The current SSID in the first list is initially the initial SSID, and / or the current BSSID in the second list is initially the initial BSSID.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The current SSID in the first list is generated based on the previous SSID of the current SSID and first secret information when not initially generated; The first secret information is secret information shared between the AP and a station STA that has accessed the AP.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein The STA locally maintains S SSIDs that the AP will use in the future; The S SSIDs are generated based on the current SSID and the first secret information, and S is a positive integer.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein The S SSIDs are generated based on the current SSID and the first secret information, including: A first SSID among the S SSIDs is generated based on the current SSID and the first secret information, and an (i+1)th SSID among the S SSIDs is generated based on the (i)th SSID and the first secret information; Wherein, i is a positive integer, and 1≤i≤S-1.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that The AP autonomously updates its SSID and BSSID, including: When the AP updates the current SSID and the current BSSID, the AP generates a new SSID according to the current SSID and the first secret information, and the AP generates a new BSSID.

8. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 7, characterized in that The method further comprises: The AP obtains the current SSID from the first list and obtains the current BSSID from the second list; The AP sends a first frame to the STA, wherein an SSID element in the first frame carries the current SSID, and a sender address of the first frame is the current BSSID.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The current SSID in the first list is generated based on a random number corresponding to the current SSID and first secret information when not initially generated; The first secret information is secret information shared between the AP and the STA that has accessed the AP.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein The AP autonomously updates its SSID and BSSID, including: When the AP updates the current SSID and the current BSSID, the AP generates a new SSID according to the newly generated random number and the first secret information, and the AP generates a new BSSID.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein: The method further comprises: The AP obtains the current SSID from the first list and obtains the current BSSID from the second list; The AP sends a first frame to the STA, wherein the SSID element of the first frame includes an SSID field and a random number field, the SSID field carries the current SSID, the random number field carries a random number corresponding to the current SSID, and the sender address of the first frame is the current BSSID.

12. The method according to claim 8 or 11, wherein: The capability information element in the first frame includes a first bit, wherein a value of the first bit is used to indicate that the AP supports an SSID privacy enhancement function.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein: The first bit is a reserved bit in a capability information element in the first frame.

14. The method according to claim 8, 11, 12 or 13, wherein: The first frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein In a case where the first frame is a probe response frame, and before sending the first frame, the method further includes: The AP receives a first probe request frame sent by the STA, wherein the first frame is a response frame to the first probe request frame, and the SSID in the first probe request frame is the current SSID, or the SSID in the first probe request frame is the SSID used by the STA when it previously accessed.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein The SSID in the first probe request frame belongs to a preferred network list PNL; The PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed, or the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed; The SSID included in the obfuscation library does not involve the privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The AP locally maintains a third list, where the third list includes at least one SSID to be used by the AP in the future.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein The at least one SSID used by the AP in the future includes at least one of the following: SSIDs detected in the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, and SSIDs in the SSID library provided by the upper-layer application.

19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, wherein: The AP autonomously updates its SSID and BSSID, including: When the AP updates the current SSID and the current BSSID, the AP selects a new SSID from the third list, and the AP generates a new BSSID.

20. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 19, characterized in that The method further comprises: The AP obtains the current SSID from the first list and obtains the current BSSID from the second list; The AP sends a second frame to the STA, where the second frame carries the current SSID and the current BSSID.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein The second frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein In a case where the second frame is a probe response frame, and before sending the second frame, the method further includes: The AP receives a second probe request frame sent by the STA, where the second frame is a response frame to the second probe request frame.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein The second frame includes a current SSID element, where the current SSID element is used to indicate that the AP supports an SSID privacy enhancement function.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein The control field in the current SSID element includes a current SSID existence field. The value of the current SSID existence field is used to indicate whether the current SSID field exists in the current SSID element. The current SSID field carries the current SSID.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein: When the SSID in the second probe request frame is a non-designated SSID or the SSID in the second probe request frame is the current SSID, the value of the current SSID present field is used to indicate that the current SSID field does not exist in the current SSID element, and the SSID element in the second frame carries the current SSID, and the sender address of the second frame is the current BSSID; or, When the SSID in the second probe request frame is the SSID previously used by the AP, the value of the current SSID existence field is used to indicate that the current SSID field exists in the current SSID element, and the SSID element in the second frame carries the same SSID as the SSID in the second probe request frame, and the sender address of the second frame is the current BSSID.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein: The current SSID carried in the current SSID field is an encrypted SSID, wherein the encryption key of the current SSID is a network key, or the encryption key of the current SSID is a key derived from the network key.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein The STA locally stores the encryption key of the current SSID, or the encryption key of the current SSID is the network key input by the STA when accessing the AP by manually inputting the SSID.

28. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 27, wherein The SSID in the second probe request frame belongs to PNL; The PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed, or the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has previously accessed; The SSID included in the obfuscation library does not involve the privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA.

29. The method according to claim 16 or 28, wherein The SSID in the obfuscation library includes at least one of the following: SSIDs detected in the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, and SSIDs in the SSID library provided by the upper-layer application.

30. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 29, wherein After the current SSID and the current BSSID are updated, the method further includes: The AP sends a first management frame to the STA, wherein the first management frame is a protected management frame and includes a new SSID and a new BSSID.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein: The first management frame includes a control field, a new SSID field, a new BSSID field, and an update time field; The control field includes a new SSID presence field, a new BSSID presence field, and an update time presence field. The value of the new SSID presence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field. The value of the new BSSID presence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field. The value of the update time presence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field. The new SSID field carries the new SSID, the new BSSID field carries the new BSSID, and the update time field carries the first duration; The STA updates the currently used over-the-air media access control OTA MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA communicates with the AP using the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID, and the STA discovers the AP using the new SSID.

32. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 31, wherein The method further comprises: The AP sends a second management frame to the STA; The control field in the second management frame includes an initial SSID existence field, and the initial SSID existence field is used to indicate whether there is an initial SSID field in the second management frame, and the initial SSID field carries the initial SSID of the AP.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein: In a case where the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field does not exist in the second management frame; or In a case where the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is not the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field exists in the second management frame.

34. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 33, wherein The AP supports an SSID privacy enhancement function.

35. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 34, wherein The AP is a mobile AP.

36. A wireless communication method, characterized in that: include: The station STA sends a probe request frame to the access point AP; The service set identifier SSID in the probe request frame belongs to the preferred network list PNL, and the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has accessed, or the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has accessed; wherein the SSID included in the obfuscation library does not involve the privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein: The SSID in the obfuscation library includes at least one of the following: SSIDs detected in the surrounding area, randomly generated SSIDs, and SSIDs in the SSID library provided by the upper-layer application.

38. The method according to claim 36 or 37, wherein The method further comprises: The STA receives a first frame sent by the AP; The SSID element in the first frame carries the current SSID of the AP, and the sender address of the first frame is the current basic service set identifier BSSID of the AP.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein When the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function, the current SSID is the initial SSID of the AP at the initial time, and the current SSID is generated based on the previous SSID of the current SSID and first secret information when it is not initial. The first secret information is secret information shared between the AP and the STA.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein The STA locally maintains a fourth list, where the fourth list includes at least W SSIDs of the AP, where the W SSIDs include the AP's initial SSID, the AP's current SSID, and S SSIDs to be used by the AP in the future; wherein the S SSIDs are generated based on the AP's current SSID and the first secret information, W and S are both positive integers, and W>S.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein: The S SSIDs are generated based on the current SSID of the AP and the first secret information, including: A first SSID among the S SSIDs is generated based on the current SSID and the first secret information, and an (i+1)th SSID among the S SSIDs is generated based on the (i)th SSID and the first secret information; Wherein, i is a positive integer, and 1≤i≤S-1.

42. The method according to claim 40 or 41, wherein The method further comprises: The STA compares the current SSID of the AP carried in the first frame with the W SSIDs of the APs in the fourth list; The current SSID of the AP carried in the first frame is the SSID to be used by the AP in the fourth list in the future, the STA converts the SSID of the AP to the initial SSID of the AP in the available network list, and the STA updates the current SSID of the AP and S SSIDs to be used by the AP in the future in the fourth list; or, The current SSID of the AP carried in the first frame is the current SSID of the AP in the fourth list, and the STA associates the SSID carried in the first frame with the current SSID of the AP in the fourth list.

43. The method according to any one of claims 40 to 42, wherein The fourth list also includes SSIDs of one or more other APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function, where the SSIDs of the other APs include initial SSIDs of the other APs, current SSIDs of the other APs, and multiple SSIDs to be used by the other APs in the future.

44. The method of claim 38, wherein When the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function, the SSID element in the first frame includes a random number field, where the random number field carries a random number corresponding to the current SSID. The current SSID is the initial SSID of the AP at the initial time. When the current SSID is not initially set, it is generated based on the random number corresponding to the current SSID and first secret information. The first secret information is secret information shared between the AP and the STA.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein: The method further comprises: The STA determines, according to the random number carried in the random number field and a plurality of secret information, a plurality of secret information shared by the STA and a plurality of APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function and stored locally by the STA; In a case where there is an SSID in the multiple SSIDs that is consistent with the SSID carried in the first frame, the STA associates the SSID carried in the first frame with the current SSID of the AP.

46. ​​The method according to any one of claims 38 to 45, wherein The capability information element in the first frame includes a first bit, wherein a value of the first bit is used to indicate that the AP supports an SSID privacy enhancement function.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein The first bit is a reserved bit in a capability information element in the first frame.

48. The method according to any one of claims 38 to 47, wherein The first frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame.

49. The method according to claim 36 or 37, wherein The method further comprises: The STA receives a second frame sent by the AP; The second frame includes a current SSID element, and the current SSID element is used to indicate that the AP supports the SSID privacy enhancement function. The second frame carries the current SSID of the AP and the current BSSID of the AP.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein The control field in the current SSID element includes a current SSID existence field. The value of the current SSID existence field is used to indicate whether the current SSID field exists in the current SSID element. The current SSID field carries the current SSID.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein: When the SSID in the probe request frame is a non-designated SSID or the SSID in the probe request frame is the current SSID, the value of the current SSID present field is used to indicate that the current SSID field does not exist in the current SSID element, and the SSID element in the second frame carries the current SSID, and the sender address of the second frame is the current BSSID; or, In the case that the SSID in the probe request frame is the SSID previously used by the AP, the value of the current SSID existence field is used to indicate that the current SSID field exists in the current SSID element, and the SSID element in the second frame carries the same SSID as the SSID in the probe request frame, and the sender address of the second frame is the current BSSID.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein The current SSID carried in the current SSID field is an encrypted SSID, wherein the encryption key of the current SSID is a network key, or the encryption key of the current SSID is a key derived from the network key.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein: The STA locally stores the encryption key of the current SSID, or the encryption key of the current SSID is the network key input by the STA when accessing the AP by manually inputting the SSID.

54. The method according to any one of claims 44, 45, 49 to 53, wherein The STA locally maintains a fifth list, where the fifth list includes initial SSIDs and current SSIDs of multiple APs supporting the SSID privacy enhancement function, where the multiple APs include the AP.

55. The method according to any one of claims 36 to 54, wherein The STA locally maintains a sixth list, which includes multiple SSIDs of APs that do not support the SSID privacy enhancement function. The number of SSIDs in the sixth list is equal to the number of APs that the STA accesses that do not support the SSID privacy enhancement function.

56. The method according to any one of claims 36 to 55, wherein The method further comprises: The STA receives a first management frame sent by the AP, wherein the first management frame is a protected management frame and includes a new SSID and a new BSSID, the new SSID is updated by the current SSID of the AP, and the new BSSID is updated by the current BSSID of the AP.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein: The first management frame includes a control field, a new SSID field, a new BSSID field, and an update time field; wherein the control field includes a new SSID existence field, a new BSSID existence field, and an update time existence field, the value of the new SSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new SSID field, the value of the new BSSID existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the new BSSID field, and the value of the update time existence field is used to indicate that the first management frame includes the update time field; wherein the new SSID field carries the new SSID, the new BSSID field carries the new BSSID, and the update time field carries a first duration; The method further comprises: The STA updates a currently used over-the-air media access control (OTA) MAC address within the first duration, and after updating the OTA MAC address, the STA uses the updated OTA MAC address and the new BSSID to communicate with the AP, and the STA uses the new SSID to discover the AP.

58. The method according to any one of claims 36 to 57, wherein The method further comprises: The STA receives a second management frame sent by the AP; The control field in the second management frame includes an initial SSID existence field, and the initial SSID existence field is used to indicate whether there is an initial SSID field in the second management frame, and the initial SSID field carries the initial SSID of the AP.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein In a case where the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field does not exist in the second management frame; or In a case where the SSID used by the STA when establishing an association with the AP is not the initial SSID, the initial SSID presence field is used to indicate that the initial SSID field exists in the second management frame.

60. An access point AP, characterized in that: include: A processing unit, configured to autonomously update its service set identifier SSID and basic service set identifier BSSID; The AP locally maintains a first list and a second list, the first list includes M SSIDs, the second list includes N BSSIDs, the M SSIDs include the AP's current SSID and at least one SSID used previously, the N BSSIDs include the AP's current BSSID and at least one BSSID used previously, and M and N are both positive integers.

61. A station STA, characterized in that: include: A communication unit, configured to send a probe request frame to an access point AP; The service set identifier SSID in the probe request frame belongs to the preferred network list PNL, and the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has accessed, or the PNL includes at least one SSID selected from the obfuscation library, at least one AP initial SSID, and the SSIDs of one or more APs that the STA has accessed; wherein the SSID included in the obfuscation library does not involve the privacy information of the user corresponding to the STA.

62. An AP, characterized in that: include: A processor and a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program, the processor being used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, so that the AP performs the method according to any one of claims 1 to 35.

63. A STA, characterized in that include: A processor and a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program, the processor being used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, so that the STA performs the method according to any one of claims 36 to 59.

64. A chip, characterized in that include: A processor, configured to call and execute a computer program from a memory, so that a device equipped with the chip executes a method according to any one of claims 1 to 35.

65. A chip, characterized in that include: A processor, configured to call and execute a computer program from a memory, so that a device equipped with the chip executes a method as claimed in any one of claims 36 to 59.

66. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that Used to store a computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 35.

67. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that Used to store a computer program, said computer program causing a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 36 to 59.

68. A computer program product, characterized in that The method comprises computer program instructions for causing a computer to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 35.

69. A computer program product, characterized in that Comprising computer program instructions causing a computer to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 36 to 59.

70. A computer program, characterized in that The computer program causes a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 35.

71. A computer program, characterized in that The computer program causes a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 36 to 59.

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