Networking method and device

Abstract

The invention relates to a networking method and equipment, which are used for solving the problem that the service of an STA (Station) accessed to an AP (Access Point) is interrupted once the AP in an intelligent cabin cannot continuously provide a hotspot service in the prior art. In the application, a first AP and m STAs are located in an intelligent cabin, the first AP is used for providing a hotspot service for the m STAs, and m is an integer greater than 1. The method comprises: a first STA receiving operation information of n STAs from a first AP, m STAs including the first STA, n being an integer not less than 1 and not greater than m; and when the first STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide the hotspot service and selects the first STA in the n STAs as a second AP according to the operation information of the n STAs, the first STA provides the hotspot service for one or more second STAs in the m STAs except the first STA.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a networking method and device. Background Art

[0002] The smart cockpit transforms the interior of the car into a digital platform. Compared with the traditional cockpit that can only be used to indicate various driving conditions, the smart cockpit may include one or more on-board screens. Users (i.e. drivers or passengers) can interact with the one or more on-board screens through touch or voice to control windows, air conditioning and other equipment, and can also watch videos on the on-board screens, etc., providing users with a more comfortable experience.

[0003] In the smart cockpit, users can set up a local area network and control the communication between multiple devices in the local area network. For example, the user sets mobile phone 1 to provide hotspot services for the car screen and mobile phone 2, and casts the video on mobile phone 2 to the car screen for playback. Among them, mobile phone 1 is the access point (AP), and the car screen and mobile phone 2 are stations (STA). However, in this method, once mobile phone 1 can no longer provide hotspot services for the car screen and mobile phone 2 (for example, mobile phone 1 is taken out of the smart cockpit by the user midway), the screen projection service between mobile phone 2 and the car screen is interrupted. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present application provides a networking method and device. When the AP in the smart cockpit can no longer provide hotspot services to multiple STAs, one of the multiple STAs can automatically serve as a new AP to provide hotspot services to other STAs to ensure business continuity.

[0005] The first aspect provides a networking method, which is applicable to a smart cockpit, wherein a first AP and m STAs are located in the smart cockpit, and the first AP is used to provide hotspot services for the m STAs, where m is an integer greater than 1. The method includes: the first STA receives operation information of n STAs from the first AP, wherein the m STAs include the first STA, and the m STAs include n STAs, where n is an integer not less than 1 and not greater than m; when the first STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services, and selects the first STA among the n STAs as the second AP based on the operation information of the n STAs, the first STA provides hotspot services for one or more second STAs among the m STAs except the first STA. In the above technical solution, when the first STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services, it can automatically determine itself as a new AP based on the operation information of the n STAs, and provide hotspot services for one or more second STAs among the m STAs except the first STA, which helps to ensure business continuity.

[0006] In a possible implementation, the operation information of the STA includes at least one or more of the following: priority as an AP, remaining power, remaining mobile traffic, mobile traffic consumption, mobile traffic cost, mobile signal strength, device temperature, or processor processing capability. In the above technical solution, the parameters in the operation information of the STA are provided, so that when the first STA selects the second AP from n STAs, it can select the STA that is most suitable as the second AP, further ensuring service continuity.

[0007] In a possible implementation, the first AP also sends the operation information of n STAs to each second STA, and accordingly, each second STA can also receive the operation information of n STAs from the first AP, and when it is determined that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services, the first STA among the n STAs is selected as the second AP according to the operation information of the n STAs. In this way, the m STAs can select the first STA as the second AP. After that, each second STA can send a connection request to the first STA, and the connection request carries the service set identifier (SSID) and password (PWD) when the first STA is the second AP, wherein the SSID and password are obtained by the second STA from the first AP. The first STA receives the connection request from the second STA, and after determining that the connection request is verified according to the SSID and password carried in the connection request, sends a connection success response to the second STA. In this way, each second STA can connect to the first STA (i.e., the second AP), use the hotspot service provided by the first STA, and ensure the business continuity of each second STA.

[0008] In one possible implementation, when the first STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services, specifically, the first STA monitors the hotspot signal strength of the first AP, and when it is determined that the hotspot signal strength is less than a hotspot signal strength threshold, it determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services. Exemplarily, when the first AP is taken out of the smart cockpit by the user, the first AP is farther and farther away from the smart cockpit (i.e., the first STA), then the hotspot signal strength of the first AP monitored by the first STA becomes smaller and smaller, until the monitored hotspot signal strength of the first AP is less than the hotspot signal strength threshold; another exemplary embodiment, when the first AP runs out of power, it can no longer transmit a hotspot signal, so the hotspot signal strength of the first AP monitored by the first STA is less than the hotspot signal strength threshold. In the above technical solution, the first STA monitors the hotspot signal strength of the first AP, and can more sensitively determine that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services.

[0009] In a possible implementation, after the first STA selects the first STA among the n STAs as the second AP, it can also obtain the operation information of each third STA at the current moment from the k third STAs, wherein the k third STAs are the k STAs that the first STA needs to provide hotspot services at the current moment, and k is an integer greater than 1. The first STA selects the fourth STA from the k third STAs as the third AP according to the operation information of the k third STAs at the current moment, and the first STA sends a hotspot start instruction to the fourth STA, and sends a hotspot switch instruction to each third STA among the k third STAs except the fourth STA, so that the fourth STA provides hotspot services for each third STA among the k third STAs except the fourth STA. In the above technical solution, the first STA can also collect the operation information of the k third STAs currently connected to the first STA at the current moment, and determine the new AP (i.e., the third AP) according to the operation information of the k third STAs at the current moment, so as to ensure that the STA as the AP at the current moment is the most suitable, and to ensure business continuity. And avoid the problem that the first STA provides hotspot services to other STAs as an AP for a long time, resulting in the rapid consumption of the power and traffic of the first STA.

[0010] In a possible implementation, before the first STA obtains the operating information of each third STA at the current moment from k third STAs, it can also determine that one or more of the following conditions are met: the duration of the first STA as a second AP reaches the duration threshold; the mobile traffic value consumed by the first STA as a second AP reaches the traffic threshold; the remaining power of the first STA is lower than the power threshold; the mobile signal of the first STA is lower than the mobile signal strength threshold; the device temperature of the first STA reaches the temperature threshold; the first STA receives an instruction from the user to stop providing hotspot services; or, the first STA determines to provide hotspot services to the newly connected STA.

[0011] In a possible implementation, when the first STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services, and selects the fifth STA among the n STAs as the second AP based on the operation information of the n STAs, the first STA sends a connection request to the fifth STA and receives a successful connection response from the fifth STA. Optionally, the first STA obtains the SSID and password of the fifth STA as the second AP from the first AP, and sends a connection request to the fifth STA, the connection request including the SSID and password; accordingly, the fifth STA determines that the connection request is verified based on the SSID and password included in the connection request, and then sends a successful connection response to the first STA. In the above technical solution, when the first STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services, it can determine the fifth STA as the new AP based on the operation information of the n STAs, and request to access the fifth STA, and use the hotspot service provided by the fifth STA, which helps to ensure business continuity.

[0012] In a possible implementation, before the first AP sends the operation information of n STAs to the first STA, it may also first obtain the operation information of m STAs and select the operation information of n STAs from the operation information of m STAs. When the first AP obtains the operation information of m STAs, it may specifically be that when the first AP determines that a new STA has accessed the first AP, it obtains the operation information of the new STA at the current moment, and obtains the operation information of each STA that has previously accessed the first AP at the current moment. Alternatively, the first AP may periodically obtain the operation information of each STA that has accessed the first AP at the current moment.

[0013] The second aspect provides a networking method, which is applicable to a smart cockpit, wherein a first AP and m STAs are located in the smart cockpit, and the first AP is used to provide hotspot services for the m STAs, where m is an integer greater than 1. The method includes: the first STA receives operation information of n STAs from the first AP, wherein the m STAs include the first STA, and the m STAs include n STAs, where n is an integer not less than 1 and not greater than m; the first STA accesses the fifth STA when it is determined that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services and selects the fifth STA among the n STAs as the second AP based on the operation information of the n STAs. The fifth STA is used to provide hotspot services for the first STA.

[0014] In a possible implementation, when the first STA accesses the fifth STA, specifically, the first STA sends a connection request to the fifth STA, and receives a connection success response from the fifth STA.

[0015] In a possible implementation, the connection request includes the SSID and password of the fifth STA when it serves as the second AP. Before the first STA sends the connection request to the fifth STA, it also receives the SSID and password from the first AP.

[0016] In one possible implementation, the operation information of the STA includes at least one or more of the following: priority as an AP, remaining power, remaining mobile traffic, mobile traffic consumption, mobile traffic cost, mobile signal strength, device temperature, or processor processing capability.

[0017] In a possible implementation, the first AP also sends the operation information of n STAs to each second STA other than the first STA among the m STAs, and accordingly, each second STA can also receive the operation information of n STAs from the first AP, and, when it is determined that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services, the fifth STA among the n STAs is selected as the second AP according to the operation information of the n STAs. Exemplarily, the multiple second STAs include the fifth STA, and the fifth STA turns on the hotspot service when determining that it is the second AP; other STAs among the multiple second STAs except the fifth STA can also access the fifth STA.

[0018] In one possible implementation, when the first STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services, the first STA may monitor the hotspot signal strength of the first AP, and when determining that the hotspot signal strength is less than a hotspot signal strength threshold, determine that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services. Exemplarily, when the first AP is taken out of the smart cockpit by the user, the first AP is farther and farther away from the smart cockpit (i.e., the first STA), and the hotspot signal strength of the first AP monitored by the first STA becomes smaller and smaller, until the monitored hotspot signal strength of the first AP is less than the hotspot signal strength threshold; another exemplary example is that when the first AP runs out of power, it can no longer transmit a hotspot signal, and the hotspot signal strength of the first AP monitored by the first STA is less than the hotspot signal strength threshold.

[0019] In one possible implementation, when the first STA determines that the first AP can no longer provide hotspot services and selects the first STA among n STAs as the second AP based on the operating information of the n STAs, the first STA turns on the hotspot service to provide hotspot services to one or more second STAs among the m STAs except the first STA.

[0020] In a possible implementation, before the first AP sends the operation information of n STAs to the first STA, it may also first obtain the operation information of m STAs and select the operation information of n STAs from the operation information of m STAs. When the first AP obtains the operation information of m STAs, it may specifically be that when the first AP determines that a new STA has accessed the first AP, it obtains the operation information of the new STA at the current moment, and obtains the operation information of each STA that has previously accessed the first AP at the current moment. Alternatively, the first AP may periodically obtain the operation information of each STA that has accessed the first AP at the current moment.

[0021] A third aspect provides a device, which may have the function of implementing the first STA in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or have the function of implementing the first STA in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, and the device may be the first STA or a chip included in the first STA. Or,

[0022] The device also has the function of implementing the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or has the function of implementing the first AP in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect. The device can be the first AP or a chip included in the first AP.

[0023] The functions of the above-mentioned devices can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units or means corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the structure of the device includes a processing module and a transceiver module, wherein the processing module is configured to support the device to perform the function corresponding to the first STA in the first aspect or any implementation of the first aspect, or the processing module is configured to support the device to perform the function corresponding to the first AP in the first aspect or any implementation of the first aspect, or the processing module is configured to support the device to perform the function corresponding to the first STA in the second aspect or any implementation of the second aspect, or the processing module is configured to support the device to perform the function corresponding to the first AP in the second aspect or any implementation of the second aspect. The transceiver module is used to support communication between the device and other communication devices. For example, when the device is the first STA, it can receive operation information of n STAs from the first AP. The device may also include a storage module, which is coupled to the processing module and stores program instructions and data necessary for the device. As an example, the processing module may be a processor, the communication module may be a transceiver, and the storage module may be a memory. The memory may be integrated with the processor or may be set separately from the processor.

[0025] In another possible implementation, the structure of the device includes a processor and may also include a memory. The processor is coupled to the memory and may be used to execute program instructions stored in the memory so that the device executes the method of the first STA in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or executes the method of the first AP in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect. Optionally, the device also includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface.

[0026] A fourth aspect provides a chip system, including: a processor and a memory, the processor is coupled to the memory, the memory is used to store programs or instructions, when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, the chip system implements the method of the first STA in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the method of the first AP in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the method of the first STA in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or the method of the first AP in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect. Optionally, the chip system also includes an interface circuit, which is used to interact code instructions to the processor.

[0027] Optionally, there may be one or more processors in the chip system, and the processor may be implemented by hardware or software. When implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, etc. When implemented by software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor implemented by reading software code stored in a memory.

[0028] Optionally, the memory in the chip system may be one or more. The memory may be integrated with the processor or may be separately provided with the processor. Exemplarily, the memory may be a non-transient processor, such as a read-only memory, which may be integrated with the processor on the same chip or may be provided on different chips.

[0029] The fifth aspect provides a readable storage medium, in which a program or instruction is stored. When the program or instruction is executed by a device, the device executes the method of the first STA in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or executes the method of the first AP in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or executes the method of the first STA in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or executes the method of the first AP in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0030] The sixth aspect provides a program product, which includes a program or an instruction. When the program or the instruction is executed by a device, the method of the first STA in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect is executed, or the method of the first AP in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect is executed, or the method of the first STA in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect is executed, or the method of the first AP in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect is executed.

[0031] A seventh aspect provides a networking system, the networking system comprising the first STA and the first AP in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or comprising the first STA and the first AP in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0032] The technical effects that can be achieved in any of the second to seventh aspects mentioned above can refer to the description of the beneficial effects in the first aspect mentioned above, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the architecture of a device provided for this application;

[0034] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a scenario of a smart cockpit to which the present application method is applicable;

[0035] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a process of STA accessing an AP provided as an example in this application;

[0036] Figure 4A schematic diagram of a process of establishing a local area network based on scanning a QR code provided as an example for this application;

[0037] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of another smart cockpit scenario provided as an example in this application;

[0038] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of another smart cockpit scenario provided as an example in this application;

[0039] Figure 7 A flowchart of a networking method provided for this application;

[0040] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of a process for obtaining the operation information of each STA provided in this application;

[0041] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of a process of switching APs provided in this application;

[0042] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the structure of a device provided for this application;

[0043] Fig.11 A schematic diagram of the structure of another device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] To facilitate understanding, descriptions of concepts related to the present application are exemplarily given for reference.

[0045] 1. Station (STA): also known as a wireless workstation, refers to a device connected to a wireless LAN. These devices can communicate with other devices inside the wireless LAN or with other devices outside the wireless LAN through an access point (AP).

[0046] 2. AP: also known as access node, wireless access point or hotspot, etc., used to provide hotspot services for STA.

[0047] 3. Devices, also called electronic devices or terminals, include but are not limited to mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices (such as smart watches, smart bracelets, pedometers, etc.), vehicle-mounted devices (such as vehicle-mounted screens), virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, self-driving devices, etc. For example, devices include but are not limited to devices equipped with Harmony, Or other operating systems. The device can be connected to the AP as a STA, or it can be used as an AP to provide hotspot services for STAs.

[0048] See below Figure 1 , the structure of the equipment to which the method of this application is applicable is introduced.

[0049] It should be understood that the illustrated device 100 is only an example, and the device 100 may have more or fewer components than shown in the figure, may combine two or more components, or may have a different component configuration. The various components shown in the figure may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software including one or more signal processing and / or application specific integrated circuits.

[0050] like Figure 1 As shown, the device 100 may include a processor 110, an external memory interface 120, an internal memory 121, a universal serial bus (USB) interface 130, a charging management module 140, a power management module 141, a battery 142, an antenna 1, an antenna 2, a mobile communication module 150, a wireless communication module 160, an audio module 170, a speaker 170A, a microphone 170B, a display screen 180, etc. Figure 1 Some components in the device 100 are described in detail:

[0051] The processor 110 may include one or more processing units. For example, the processor 110 may include an application processor (AP), a modem processor, a graphics processor (GPU), an image signal processor (ISP), a controller, a memory, a video codec, a digital signal processor (DSP), a baseband processor, and / or a neural-network processing unit (NPU). Among them, different processing units may be independent devices or integrated into one or more processors. Among them, the controller may be the nerve center and command center of the device 100. The controller may generate an operation control signal according to the instruction opcode and the timing signal to complete the control of fetching and executing instructions. A memory may also be set in the processor 110 for storing instructions and data. In some embodiments, the memory in the processor 110 is a high-speed cache memory. The memory may store instructions or data that the processor 110 has just used or circulated. If the processor 110 needs to use the instruction or data again, it can be directly called from the memory, thereby avoiding repeated access, reducing the waiting time of the processor 110, and thus improving the efficiency of the system. The processor 110 can run the networking method provided in the embodiment of the present application. When the processor 110 integrates different devices, such as a CPU and a GPU, the CPU and the GPU can cooperate to execute the networking method provided in the embodiment of the present application, such as part of the algorithm in the networking method is executed by the CPU, and another part of the algorithm is executed by the GPU, so as to obtain faster processing efficiency.

[0052] The wireless communication function of the device 100 can be implemented through antenna 1, antenna 2, mobile communication module 150, wireless communication module 160, modulation and demodulation processor and baseband processor. Antenna 1 and antenna 2 are used to transmit and receive electromagnetic wave signals. Each antenna in the device 100 can be used to cover a single or multiple communication frequency bands. Different antennas can also be reused to improve the utilization of the antenna. In some other embodiments, the antenna can be used in combination with a tuning switch. The mobile communication module 150 can provide a solution for wireless communication including 2G / 3G / 4G / 5G applied to the device 100. The mobile communication module 150 may include at least one filter, switch, power amplifier, low noise amplifier (LNA), etc. The mobile communication module 150 can receive electromagnetic waves from antenna 1, and filter, amplify and process the received electromagnetic waves, and transmit them to the modulation and demodulation processor for demodulation. The mobile communication module 150 can also amplify the signal modulated by the modulation and demodulation processor, and convert it into electromagnetic waves for radiation through antenna 1. In some embodiments, at least some functional modules of the mobile communication module 150 may be arranged in the processor 110. The wireless communication module 160 may provide wireless local area networks (WLAN) (such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks) applied on the device 100. Optionally, the wireless communication module 160 may also provide wireless communication solutions such as Bluetooth (BT), global navigation satellite system (GNSS), frequency modulation (FM), near field communication technology (NFC), infrared technology (IR), etc. The wireless communication module 160 may be one or more devices integrating at least one communication processing module. The wireless communication module 160 receives electromagnetic waves via the antenna 2, modulates the electromagnetic wave signal and performs filtering, and sends the processed signal to the processor 110. The wireless communication module 160 may also receive the signal to be sent from the processor 110, modulate the frequency, amplify it, and convert it into electromagnetic waves for radiation through the antenna 2. In some embodiments, antenna 1 of device 100 is coupled to mobile communication module 150, and antenna 2 is coupled to wireless communication module 160, so that device 100 can communicate with the network and other devices through wireless communication technology.

[0053] The device 100 implements the display function through a GPU, a display screen 180, and an application processor. The GPU is a microprocessor for image processing, which connects the display screen 180 and the application processor. The GPU is used to perform mathematical and geometric calculations for graphics rendering. The processor 110 may include one or more GPUs, which execute program instructions to generate or change display information. The display screen 180 is used to display images, videos, etc.

[0054] The external memory interface 120 can be used to connect an external memory card, such as a Micro SD card, to expand the storage capacity of the device 100. The external memory card communicates with the processor 110 through the external memory interface 120 to implement a data storage function.

[0055] The internal memory 121 can be used to store executable program codes, and the executable program codes include instructions. The internal memory 121 may include a program storage area and a data storage area. Among them, the program storage area may store an operating system, an application required for at least one function (such as a sound playback function, etc.), etc. The data storage area may store data created during the use of the device 100 (such as audio data, a phone book, etc.), etc. In addition, the internal memory 121 may include a high-speed random access memory, and may also include a non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk storage device, a flash memory device, a universal flash storage (UFS), etc. The processor 110 executes various functional applications and data processing of the device 100 by running instructions stored in the internal memory 121, and / or running instructions stored in a memory provided in the processor.

[0056] The device 100 can implement audio functions through an audio module 170, a speaker 170A, a microphone 170B, and an application processor. For example, music playback, recording, etc. The audio module 170 is used to convert digital audio information into analog audio signal output, and is also used to convert analog audio input into digital audio signals. The audio module 170 can also be used to encode and decode audio signals. In some embodiments, the audio module 170 can be arranged in the processor 110, or some functional modules of the audio module 170 can be arranged in the processor 110. The speaker 170A, also known as a "speaker", is used to convert audio electrical signals into sound signals. The device 100 can listen to music or listen to hands-free calls through the speaker 170A. The microphone 170B, also known as a "microphone" or a "microphone", is used to convert sound signals into electrical signals.

[0057] like Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a scenario of a smart cockpit to which the present application method is applicable, such as Figure 2In the shown smart cockpit, the front-row car screens include the instrument screen, the central control screen, and the co-pilot screen, and the rear-row car screens include the rear left screen and the rear right screen. In addition, there are mobile devices such as mobile phone 1 and mobile phone 2 in the smart cockpit. The user (i.e., the driver or passenger) can set up a local area network in the smart cockpit. For example, the passenger sitting in the back row turns on the hotspot function of mobile phone 1, and then connects mobile phone 2, the instrument screen, the central control screen, the co-pilot screen, the rear left screen, and the rear right screen to mobile phone 1. In this way, mobile phone 1, mobile phone 2, the instrument screen, the central control screen, the co-pilot screen, the rear left screen, and the rear right screen form a local area network. The user can perform at least the following operations in the local area network of the smart cockpit: interact with the car screen by touch or voice to control the in-car equipment; use the mobile phone as a remote control to control the in-car equipment; project the video on the mobile phone to the car screen; use the application on the mobile phone (such as map application, chat application, short video application, etc.) through the car screen. Among them, the in-car equipment is such as windows, air conditioning, seats, etc. Here, mobile phone 1 is the AP in the local area network of the smart cockpit, and mobile phone 2, the instrument screen, the central control screen, the co-pilot screen, the rear left screen and the rear right screen are all STAs in the local area network of the smart cockpit.

[0058] In addition, users can also select other devices to enable the hotspot function, such as the central control screen, and then connect mobile phone 1, mobile phone 2, instrument screen, co-pilot screen, rear left screen and rear right screen to the central control screen. In this way, mobile phone 1, mobile phone 2, instrument screen, central control screen, co-pilot screen, rear left screen and rear right screen can also form a local area network. Users can also select some devices in the smart cockpit to form a local area network, such as selecting mobile phone 1, mobile phone 2 and central control screen to form a local area network.

[0059] In a smart cockpit, once an AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services to a STA connected to the AP, the STA will have service interruption. To this end, the present application provides a networking method, which is used for when an AP in a smart cockpit cannot continue to provide hotspot services to multiple STAs, one of the multiple STAs can automatically serve as a new AP to provide hotspot services to other STAs to ensure service continuity.

[0060] Combine as follows Figure 3 The flowchart shown exemplarily explains the process of STA accessing the AP.

[0061] Step 301: A first STA obtains hotspot information of a first AP.

[0062] The first AP is a device selected by the user from among multiple devices included in the smart cockpit according to personal preference when the user sets up a local area network in the smart cockpit, and the first STA is any STA among the multiple devices included in the smart cockpit except the first AP, where m is an integer greater than 1. Figure 2In the middle scenario, the first AP is mobile phone 1, and the first STA is any STA among mobile phone 2, the instrument screen, the central control screen, the co-pilot screen, the rear left screen, and the rear right screen; or, the first AP is the central control screen, and the first STA is any STA among mobile phone 1, mobile phone 2, the instrument screen, the co-pilot screen, the rear left screen, and the rear right screen.

[0063] The hotspot information of the first AP is specifically information used by the first AP to perform security verification on the first STA when the first STA requests to access the first AP. The hotspot information of the first AP may include the SSID and password of the first AP, for example, the SSID and password of the first AP are "aabba" and "12345678" respectively. Optionally, the hotspot information of the first AP also includes the Internet Protocol (IP) address and listening port of the first AP in the networking of the local area network.

[0064] The first STA may obtain the hotspot information of the first AP in the following examples:

[0065] Example 1: The first AP displays the hotspot information of the first AP in the display interface, and then the user can manually input the hotspot information of the first AP into the first STA. Figure 2 Taking the scenario as an example, the user turns on the hotspot function of the central control screen (that is, the central control screen serves as the first AP), and the SSID and password of the central control screen are displayed on the central control screen as "aabba" and "12345678" respectively. Correspondingly, the user can enter "aabba" and "12345678" on mobile phone 1, mobile phone 2, instrument screen, co-pilot screen, rear left screen and rear right screen respectively, so that these devices can obtain the hotspot information of the central control screen.

[0066] Example 2: The first AP displays a QR code in a display interface. The QR code carries the hotspot information of the first AP. Then, the first STA scans the QR code to obtain the hotspot information of the first AP from the QR code. Figure 2 Mid-scene and Figure 4 As shown in the flow chart of LAN networking, the user first turns on the hotspot function of the central control screen (i.e., the central control screen serves as the first AP), and a QR code is displayed on the central control screen. Accordingly, the user can use mobile phone 1 and mobile phone 2 to scan the QR code on the central control screen respectively, so that these devices can obtain the hotspot information of the central control screen.

[0067] Example 3: The first STA touches the first AP, and the first AP transmits the hotspot information of the first AP to the STA via NFC. Figure 2For example, the user turns on the hotspot function of mobile phone 1 (i.e., mobile phone 1 is used as the first AP), and touches the NFC tag of mobile phone 1 to the NFC tags of mobile phone 2, the central control screen, the instrument screen, the co-pilot screen, the rear left screen, and the rear right screen, so that these devices can obtain the hotspot information of mobile phone 1. In addition, if the device on which the user turns on the hotspot function (i.e., the first AP) cannot be moved, the user can select a movable device as the transmission carrier of the hotspot information of the first AP, and transmit it to other devices respectively. Combined with Figure 2 Taking the scenario as an example, when the user turns on the hotspot function of the central control screen (that is, the central control screen serves as the first AP), the user first touches the NFC tag of mobile phone 1 to the NFC tag of the central control screen to obtain the hotspot information of the central control screen. Subsequently, the user touches the NFC tag of mobile phone 1 to the NFC tags of mobile phone 2, the instrument screen, the co-pilot screen, the rear left screen and the rear right screen to transmit the hotspot information of the central control screen to these devices respectively.

[0068] Step 302: The first STA sends a connection request to the first AP, where the connection request carries hotspot information of the first AP.

[0069] Step 303: After the first AP determines that the connection request is verified successfully, it sends a connection success response to the first STA. Specifically, when the first AP determines that the hotspot information carried in the connection request is the hotspot information of the first AP, it determines that the connection request is verified successfully.

[0070] Step 304: The first AP provides a hotspot service for the first STA.

[0071] In one example, the first AP may transmit downlink information from the base station to the first STA, and / or transmit uplink information from the first STA to the base station. Furthermore, the base station may be connected to an application server that the first STA needs to access through the core network. Figure 2 The scene in Figure 5 A schematic diagram of another smart cockpit scenario is provided as an example for the present application, wherein the first AP is mobile phone 1, the first STA is the central control screen, a map application is running on the central control screen, and mobile phone 1 provides a hotspot service for the first STA, so that the first STA can connect to the map server corresponding to the map application through mobile phone 1, base station, and core network to navigate the user.

[0072] Of course, in the present application, the m-1 STAs (which may be called m-1 second STAs) among the m STAs except the first STA can also respectively obtain the hotspot information of the first AP, and connect to the first AP according to the hotspot information of the first AP, and the first AP provides hotspot services for each of the m-1 second STAs. For details, please refer to the description in the above steps 301 to 304.

[0073] Furthermore, the first STA and any second STA can also communicate with each other based on the hotspot service provided by the first AP. Figure 2 In the scene, such as Figure 6 A schematic diagram of another smart cockpit scenario is provided as an example for the present application, wherein the first AP is a central control screen, the first STA is a mobile phone 2, and a second STA is a rear right screen. Mobile phone 2 can send a data stream to the rear right screen based on the hotspot service provided by the central control screen. Correspondingly, the rear right screen receives the data stream from mobile phone 2 based on the hotspot service provided by the central control screen for playback, thereby enabling mobile phone 2 to project the screen to the rear right screen.

[0074] Furthermore, each of the m STAs is configured with the same preset rules and operation information of n STAs, and the m STAs include n STAs. When each STA determines that the first AP can no longer provide hotspot services, it can select the same STA as a new AP (referred to as the second AP) from the n STAs based on the preset rules and the operation information of the n STAs. The second AP can automatically start the hotspot service, and other STAs except the second AP can connect to the second AP, which helps to ensure the stability of the service.

[0075] See also Figure 7 A flowchart of a networking method is exemplarily shown, in which the process is explained by taking the execution of a first AP, a first STA and a second STA as an example. It can be understood that the execution steps of other second STAs except the second STA are similar to those of the second STA.

[0076] Step 701a: The first AP sends the operation information of n STAs to the first STA, and correspondingly, the first STA receives the operation information of n STAs from the first AP, where n is a positive integer not less than 1 and not greater than m.

[0077] The operation information of STA may include at least one or more of the following: priority as AP, remaining power, remaining mobile traffic, mobile traffic consumption, mobile traffic cost, mobile signal strength, device temperature, or processor processing capacity. Among them, the priority of STA as AP can be specified by the user, such as the user specifies that the mobile phone has the highest priority as AP, and the rear right screen has the lowest priority as AP; the device temperature can specifically be the temperature of the processor in the device, and the processor is, for example, a central processing unit (CPU); the mobile signal strength is specifically the signal strength when the STA communicates with the base station, and the signal strength can be obtained by the STA measuring the reference signal of the base station (such as a cell-specific reference signal (CS-RS), a positioning reference signal (PRS), and a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS)).

[0078] In one possible manner, the first AP obtains the operation information of m STAs and sends the operation information of the m STAs to the first STA, that is, n is equal to m. In another possible manner, the first AP obtains the operation information of m STAs currently connected to the first AP, selects the operation information of n STAs from the operation information of the m STAs according to the operation information of the m STAs, and sends the operation information of the n STAs to the first STA, where n is an integer less than m and not less than 1. In an example, n is a preset value, such as n=2, STA1 to STA3 are connected to the first AP, the first AP obtains operation information 1 of STA1 from STA1, obtains operation information 2 of STA2 from STA2, and obtains operation information 3 of STA3 from STA3. Furthermore, the operation information includes remaining power and remaining mobile traffic. The result of the first AP sorting the three STAs based on the remaining power is: STA1, STA2, STA3. The result of the first AP sorting the three STAs based on the remaining mobile traffic is: STA2, STA1, STA3, so the first AP selects operation information 1 of STA1 and operation information 2 of STA2, and sends the operation information 1 of STA1 and operation information 2 of STA2 to the first STA. In another example, the first AP selects the operation information of n STAs that meet the first preset condition from the operation information of the m STAs, for example, the first preset condition is that the remaining power is greater than threshold 1 and the remaining mobile traffic is greater than threshold 2, STA1 to STA3 are connected to the first AP, the first AP obtains operation information 1 of STA1 from STA1, obtains operation information 2 of STA2 from STA2, and obtains operation information 3 of STA3 from STA3, wherein the remaining power in the operation information 1 is greater than threshold 1 and the remaining mobile traffic is greater than threshold 2, the remaining power in the operation information 2 is greater than threshold 1 and the remaining mobile traffic is greater than threshold 2, and the remaining power in the operation information 3 is greater than threshold 1 and the remaining mobile traffic is less than threshold 2, so the first AP selects the operation information 1 of STA1 and the operation information 2 of STA2, and sends the operation information 1 of STA1 and the operation information 2 of STA2 to the first STA.

[0079] When the first AP obtains the operating information of m STAs:

[0080] In one possible way, when the first AP determines that a new STA has accessed the first AP, it obtains the operation information of the new STA at the current moment, and obtains the operation information of each STA that has previously accessed the first AP at the current moment; or it can also be that the first AP periodically obtains the operation information of each STA that has accessed the first AP at the current moment. Optionally, the first AP can send an operation information request to each STA currently connected to the first AP, and the operation information request carries one or more operation parameters requested by the first AP (such as remaining power, mobile signal strength, mobile traffic consumption, device temperature). Accordingly, each STA responds to the operation information request, determines the value corresponding to each operation parameter, and then obtains its own operation information at the current moment, and sends the operation information at the current moment to the first AP.

[0081] In another possible manner, after determining to access the first AP, each of the m STAs can proactively report their current operation information to the first AP at a regular interval, and the operation parameters carried in the operation information can be obtained by the STA from the first AP when the STA accesses the first AP. Figure 2 Mid-scene and Figure 8 The diagram shows the process of the first AP obtaining the operating information of each STA. The central control screen is the first AP, and mobile phone 1, mobile phone 2 and the co-pilot screen are three STAs connected to the central control screen respectively. Mobile phone 1 periodically obtains its own operating information at the current moment and sends the operating information of mobile phone 1 to the central control screen; mobile phone 2 periodically obtains its own operating information at the current moment and sends the operating information of mobile phone 2 to the central control screen; the co-pilot screen periodically obtains its own operating information at the current moment and sends the operating information of the co-pilot screen to the central control screen; wherein the operating information includes the remaining power, the strength of the mobile signal, the mobile traffic consumption and the device temperature. It can be understood that the time when mobile phone 1, mobile phone 2 and the co-pilot screen three STA obtain their respective operating information can be the same or different.

[0082] In the above two possible methods, when the Harmony operating system is installed in the STA, illustratively, the STA can obtain the remaining power of the STA through the battery management module (battery manager), the STA can monitor the strength of the mobile signal through the telephone management module (telephony manager), the STA can monitor the mobile traffic consumption through the network status management module (network statsmanager), and the STA can read the temperature of the CPU core in the STA as the device temperature.

[0083] It can be understood that when the first STA receives the operation information of n STAs from the first AP for the first time, the received operation information of the n STAs can be stored locally; when the first STA does not receive the operation information of n STAs from the first AP for the first time, the operation information of the n STAs received this time can replace the previously received operation information. For example, STA1 (i.e., the first STA) and STA2 are already connected to the first AP, and STA1 records the operation information 1 of STA1 and the operation information 2 of STA2. Further, when a new STA3 is connected, the first AP obtains the operation information 3 of STA3 at the current moment, and re-obtains the operation information 1' of STA1 at the current moment and the operation information 2' of STA2 at the current moment, and sends the operation information of the three STAs to STA1, wherein the operation information 1' is the same as or different from the operation information 1, and the operation information 2' is the same as or different from the operation information 2. For STA1, STA1 replaces the operation information of the two local STAs with the operation information of the three STAs received. In this way, the operation information of other STAs at the latest moment can be recorded in the first STA.

[0084] In addition, the first AP can also obtain the hotspot information of each STA among the m STAs, and send the hotspot information of the m STAs to the first STA, or send the hotspot information of one or more second STAs other than the first STA among the m STAs to the first STA (for the convenience of description, the following description will be based on the latter case). Among them, the hotspot information of the STA is specifically the information used for security verification of other STAs when the STA acts as an AP when other STAs request access to the STA. The hotspot information of the STA may include the SSID and password of the STA when it acts as an AP. For example, the SSID and password of the STA when it acts as an AP are "aabcc" and "13456782", respectively. Optionally, the hotspot information of the STA also includes the IP address and listening port of the STA in the networking of the local area network.

[0085] Exemplarily, when the first AP determines that a new STA has accessed, it obtains the hotspot information of the newly accessed STA from the newly accessed STA, sends the hotspot information of the newly accessed STA to multiple STAs that have previously accessed the first AP, and sends the hotspot information of multiple STAs that have previously accessed the first AP to the newly accessed STA. For example, STA1, STA2, and STA3 access the first AP in sequence. When STA1 accesses the first AP, since STA1 is the first STA to access the first AP, the first AP only needs to obtain hotspot information 1 of STA1; when STA2 accesses the first AP, the first AP obtains hotspot information 2 of STA2, and at this time, hotspot information 1 and hotspot information 2 are recorded in the first AP. Further, the first AP sends hotspot information 2 to STA1, and sends hotspot information 1 to STA2; when STA3 accesses the first AP, the first AP obtains hotspot information 3 of STA3, and at this time, hotspot information 1, hotspot information 2, and hotspot information 3 are recorded in the first AP. Further, the first AP sends hotspot information 3 to STA1 and STA2, respectively, and sends hotspot information 1 and hotspot information 2 to STA3. In this example, the first STA may be any one of STA1, STA2, and STA3.

[0086] Exemplarily, when the first AP obtains the hotspot information of the newly accessed STA, specifically, the first AP sends a first request to the newly accessed STA, and accordingly, the newly accessed STA sends the hotspot information of the STA to the first AP in response to the first request; or, when the newly accessed STA sends a connection request to the first AP, the connection request includes not only the hotspot information of the first AP, but also the hotspot information of the newly accessed STA. Accordingly, the first AP can determine, based on the hotspot information of the first AP included in the connection request, that after the connection request is verified, the newly accessed STA is allowed to use the hotspot service provided by the AP (see the description in steps 302 to 304 above for details), and the first AP can also record the hotspot information of the newly accessed STA included in the connection request.

[0087] In addition, the first AP may not send the hotspot information of all STAs except the first STA among the m STAs to the first STA, but after determining n STAs, send the hotspot information of n STAs to the first STA. Optionally, when the n STAs include the first STA, the first AP may send the hotspot information of other STAs except the first STA among the n STAs to the first STA. Optionally, the first AP may send the hotspot information and operation information of other STAs to the first STA together through one message, or the first AP may send the hotspot information and operation information of other STAs to the first STA in two messages.

[0088] Step 701b: The first AP sends the operation information of n STAs to the second STA, and correspondingly, the second STA receives the operation information of n STAs from the first AP.

[0089] In one possible example, the first AP also sends the hotspot information of m STAs to the second STA, or sends the hotspot information of all STAs among the m STAs except the second STA to the second STA. In another possible example, the first AP also sends the hotspot information of n STAs to the second STA, or the first AP also sends the hotspot information of STAs among the n STAs except the second STA to the second STA.

[0090] For the specific implementation of this step, please refer to the description in the above step 701a, and "first STA" can be replaced with "second STA" for understanding.

[0091] Step 702a: The first STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services.

[0092] In one possible example, the first STA periodically monitors the hotspot signal strength of the first AP, and when it is determined that the hotspot signal strength of the first AP is less than the hotspot signal strength threshold, it is determined that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services, wherein the hotspot signal strength threshold may be pre-set by the user or the device manufacturer. For example, when the first AP is taken out of the smart cockpit by the user, the first AP is getting farther and farther away from the smart cockpit (i.e., the first STA), then the hotspot signal strength of the first AP monitored by the first STA becomes smaller and smaller, until the hotspot signal strength of the first AP monitored is less than the hotspot signal strength threshold; for another example, when the first AP runs out of power, it can no longer transmit a hotspot signal, so the hotspot signal strength of the first AP monitored by the first STA is less than the hotspot signal strength threshold.

[0093] In another possible example, when the first AP determines that it cannot continue to provide hotspot services, it sends a notification to the first STA to stop providing hotspot services. Accordingly, after receiving the notification, the first STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services. Exemplarily, the triggering conditions for the first AP to determine that it cannot continue to provide hotspot services may include one or more of the following: the duration of the hotspot service provided by the first AP reaches a first duration threshold, the mobile traffic value consumed when the first AP provides hotspot services reaches a first traffic threshold, the remaining power of the first AP is lower than the first power threshold, the device temperature of the first AP reaches a first temperature threshold, the mobile signal strength of the first AP is lower than the first mobile signal strength threshold, and the first AP receives an instruction from the user to stop providing hotspot services. Among them, the first duration threshold, the first traffic threshold, the first power threshold, the first temperature threshold, and the first mobile signal strength threshold can all be pre-set by the user or the device manufacturer.

[0094] Step 702b: The second STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services.

[0095] For the specific implementation of this step, please refer to the description in the above step 702a, and "first STA" can be replaced with "second STA" for understanding.

[0096] Step 703a: The first STA selects the first STA among the n STAs as the second AP according to the operation information of the n STAs and a preset rule.

[0097] The preset rule may be one sent by the first AP to the m STAs before step 703, or may be preset by a user or a device manufacturer. Two preset rules are provided as follows:

[0098] Example 1, the preset rule is to screen out n' STAs that meet the second preset condition from n STAs, and then select the STA with the highest priority as the AP from the screened n' STAs, where n' is a positive integer. The second preset condition may include but is not limited to one or more of the following: the remaining power is higher than the second power threshold, the remaining mobile traffic is higher than the second traffic threshold, the strength of the mobile signal is higher than the second mobile signal strength threshold, the device temperature is lower than the second temperature threshold, and the processing power of the processor is higher than the second processing threshold. The second traffic threshold, the second power threshold, the second temperature threshold, and the second mobile signal strength threshold can all be preset by the user or the device manufacturer.

[0099] Example 2, the preset rule is to score each STA according to the operation information of each STA among n STAs, and select the STA with the highest score among n STAs as the second AP. When scoring the STA, the weight of each operation parameter in the operation information can be set, and then the score of each operation parameter can be weighted to obtain a weighted score. For example, the operation information of the STA includes the priority as an AP, the remaining power, the remaining mobile traffic, the strength of the mobile signal, and the device temperature. The weights of the five operation parameters are α1, α2, α3, α4, and α5, respectively. For a STA among the n STAs, the scores of the five operation parameters of the STA are β1, β2, β3, β4, and β5, respectively. The weighted score of the STA is α1×β1+α2×β2+α3×β3+α4×β4+α5×β5.

[0100] The above is only to better explain the embodiments of the present application by illustrating the preset rules by way of example, but does not constitute a limitation on the present application.

[0101] Step 703b: The second STA selects the first STA among the n STAs as the second AP according to the operation information of the n STAs and the preset rule. The specific implementation of this step can refer to the description in the above step 703a.

[0102] Step 704: The first STA starts the hotspot service.

[0103] Step 705: The second STA sends a connection request to the first STA, and correspondingly, the first STA receives the connection request from the second STA.

[0104] The second STA may first receive the hotspot information of the first STA from the first AP. The hotspot information of the first STA includes the SSID and password of the first STA as the second AP. Optionally, the hotspot information of the first STA also includes the IP address and listening port of the first STA in the LAN. For details, please refer to the description of the first AP sending the hotspot information of other STAs except the first STA to the first STA, and "the first STA" can be replaced with "the second STA".

[0105] Furthermore, the connection request sent by the second STA to the first STA includes the hotspot information of the first STA.

[0106] Step 706: After the first STA determines that the connection request is verified successfully, it sends a connection success response to the second STA. Specifically, when the first STA determines that the hotspot information carried in the connection request is the hotspot information of the first STA, it determines that the connection request is verified successfully.

[0107] Step 707: The first STA provides a hotspot service for the second STA. The specific implementation of step 707 can be referred to the description in step 304 above, where "first AP" can be replaced with "first STA" and "first STA" can be replaced with "second STA".

[0108] In order to better explain the embodiments of the present application, Figure 2 Mid-scene and Figure 7The process in the middle is explained with an example. Among them, mobile phone 1 is the first AP, and mobile phone 2, the central control screen, and the co-pilot screen are three STAs connected to mobile phone 1 (that is, m=3). Further, mobile phone 1 can obtain the operating information of mobile phone 2, the central control screen, and the co-pilot screen, and distribute this operating information to mobile phone 2, the central control screen, and the co-pilot screen. Mobile phone 1 also collects the hotspot information of the central control screen and the co-pilot screen and sends it to mobile phone 2. Mobile phone 1 also collects the hotspot information of mobile phone 2 and the co-pilot screen and sends it to the central control screen, and mobile phone 1 also collects the hotspot information of mobile phone 2 and the central control screen and sends it to the co-pilot screen. When mobile phone 1 leaves the smart cockpit, mobile phone 2 can determine that mobile phone 1 can no longer provide hotspot services, so according to the operating information of mobile phone 2, the central control screen, and the co-pilot screen, mobile phone 2 is determined as the second AP to start the hotspot service; similarly, the central control screen and the co-pilot screen can each determine mobile phone 2 as the second AP according to the operating information of mobile phone 2, the central control screen, and the co-pilot screen. Subsequently, the central control screen sends a connection request to mobile phone 2, which includes the hotspot information of mobile phone 2, and mobile phone 2 sends a successful connection response to the central control screen; similarly, the co-pilot screen sends a connection request to mobile phone 2, and mobile phone 2 sends a successful connection response to the co-pilot screen, where the hotspot information of mobile phone 2 includes the SSID and password when mobile phone 2 is used as the second AP. In this way, the central control screen and the co-pilot screen are both connected to mobile phone 2 (i.e., the second AP), completing the re-networking of the LAN in the smart cockpit, and the business continuity of mobile phone 2, the central control screen, and the co-pilot screen is not affected.

[0109] In the above technical solution, the first STA stores the operation information of n STAs. When the first STA determines that the first AP can no longer provide hotspot services, it can select the first STA from the n STAs as the new AP (i.e., the second AP) to provide hotspot services for one or more second STAs based on the operation information of the n STAs. In this way, the normal operation of each STA service in the smart cockpit is guaranteed. And this process does not require user participation, so the user is unaware.

[0110] Optionally, since the first STA increases the rate of power and traffic consumption and the rate of device temperature increase when providing hotspot services for the second STA, in order to avoid affecting the first STA's own business, after step 707, in one possible manner, if the first STA determines that the third preset condition is met, it switches to a new AP (referred to as the third AP) to provide hotspot services. The third preset condition includes one or more of the following: the duration of the first STA as the second AP reaches the third duration threshold; the mobile traffic value consumed by the first STA as the second AP reaches the third traffic threshold; the remaining power of the first STA is lower than the third power threshold; the device temperature of the first STA reaches the third temperature threshold; the first STA receives an instruction from the user to stop providing hotspot services; or, the first STA determines to provide hotspot services for newly connected STAs (for example, providing hotspot services for STAs that have just entered the smart cockpit).

[0111] It is worth mentioning that after step 707, one or more second STAs may stop using the hotspot service provided by the first STA; or one or more new STAs may use the hotspot service provided by the first STA. In this application, when the first STA determines that the third preset condition is met, the k STAs connected to the first STA are recorded as k third STAs, where k is an integer greater than 1.

[0112] When the first STA switches to a new AP to provide hotspot services, it may specifically obtain the operating information of each third STA at the current moment from the currently connected k third STAs (for specific implementation, please refer to the description of the first AP obtaining the operating information of m STAs in step 701 above, and "first AP" can be replaced with "first STA", and "STA" can be replaced with "third STA" for understanding). Subsequently, the first STA selects the fourth STA as the third AP from the k third STAs according to the operating information of the k third STAs at the current moment and the preset rules (for specific implementation, please refer to the description of the first STA selecting the first STA from n STAs in step 703 above, and "n STA" can be replaced with "k third STAs" for understanding). The first STA sends a hotspot-enabling instruction to the fourth STA, and accordingly, the fourth STA turns on the hotspot in response to the hotspot-enabling instruction. In addition, the first STA also sends a hotspot-switching instruction to each third STA except the fourth STA among the k third STAs, and each third STA except the fourth STA can access the fourth STA according to the hotspot-switching instruction, and then the fourth STA provides hotspot services for each third STA except the fourth STA. Optionally, the hotspot switching instruction includes hotspot information of the fourth STA, and the hotspot information of the fourth STA includes the SSID and password of the fourth STA when it serves as the third AP.

[0113] Combination Figure 2 Mid-scene and Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of a process of switching from a second AP to a third AP is shown, in which the central control screen is the second AP, and mobile phone 1, mobile phone 2 and the co-pilot screen are three third STAs connected to the central control screen. The central control screen determines that mobile phone 2 is the third AP based on the operating information of mobile phone 1, mobile phone 2 and the co-pilot screen at the current moment, so the central control screen sends a hotspot-enabling instruction to mobile phone 2, and accordingly, mobile phone 2 responds to the hotspot-enabling instruction to turn on the hotspot. Further, mobile phone 1 sends a hotspot-switching instruction to mobile phone 1 and the co-pilot screen respectively, wherein the hotspot-switching instruction carries the SSID and password of mobile phone 2 when it is the third AP. Accordingly, mobile phone 1 and the co-pilot screen respectively respond to the hotspot-switching instruction, and connect to mobile phone 2 according to the SSID and password of mobile phone 2 when it is the third AP in the hotspot-switching instruction, so that mobile phone 2 provides hotspot services for mobile phone 1 and the co-pilot screen respectively.

[0114] In another possible manner, the first STA may also send a notification to each third STA to stop the hotspot service when determining that the third preset condition is met. Accordingly, each third STA may determine a new AP. For specific implementation, see the above Figure 7 As described in the relevant embodiments, “first AP” may be replaced with “first STA”, and “first STA” may be replaced with “fourth STA”.

[0115] Alternatively, the first STA may also number multiple third STAs, and send the numbering result to each third STA. Then, when the third preset condition is met, the first STA sends a notification to each third STA to stop the hotspot service. Accordingly, each third STA can provide hotspot services to other STAs as a new AP in sequence based on the number. For example, STA0 (i.e., the first STA) has STA1 to STA3 connected to it, and STA1 to STA3 are numbered 1 to 3 respectively. When STA0 determines that the third preset condition is met, it sends a notification to STA1 to STA3 to stop the hotspot service respectively. Accordingly, STA1 starts the hotspot, and STA0, STA2 and STA3 are connected to STA1; further, when STA1 determines that the third preset condition is met, it sends a notification to STA0, STA2 and STA3 to stop the hotspot service respectively. Accordingly, STA2 starts the hotspot, and STA0, STA1 and STA3 are connected to STA2.

[0116] In addition, this application needs to add the following four points:

[0117] First, when the first STA obtains the operation information of n STAs, it may specifically be to obtain the operation information of n STAs at the first moment, and the second moment when the first STA determines that the first AP can no longer provide hotspot services is later than the first moment, so the first STA selected by the first STA may not be the most suitable STA as the second AP at the second moment. For example, at the first moment, the remaining power of the first STA is the STA with the highest remaining power among the n STAs, and at the second moment, the remaining power of a second STA is the STA with the highest remaining power among the n STAs. When the first STA selects the second AP according to the remaining power, the second STA should be selected as the second AP, but the first STA is actually selected as the second AP. To this end, after determining to provide hotspot services for m-1 second STAs, the first STA can also obtain the operation information of each second STA at the current moment from the m-1 second STAs, and then the first STA selects the fourth STA from the m-1 second STAs as the third AP according to the operation information of the m-1 second STAs at the current moment. The first STA sends a hotspot start instruction to the fourth STA, and accordingly, the fourth STA turns on the hotspot in response to the hotspot start instruction. In addition, the first STA also sends a hotspot switching instruction to each second STA except the fourth STA among the m-1 second STAs, and each second STA except the fourth STA can access the fourth STA according to the hotspot switching instruction, so that the fourth STA provides hotspot services for each second STA except the fourth STA. Optionally, the hotspot switching instruction includes the hotspot information of the fourth STA.

[0118] Second, in the above step 703, the first STA can also select the fifth STA among the n STAs as the second AP according to the operation information and preset rules of the n STAs. Here, the first STA can send a connection request to the fifth STA, and the connection request carries the hotspot information of the fifth STA. Accordingly, when the fifth STA determines that the hotspot information carried in the connection request is the hotspot information of the fifth STA, it determines that the connection request verification is passed, wherein the hotspot information of the fifth STA includes the SSID and password when the fifth STA is the second AP. Subsequently, the fifth STA sends a successful connection response to the first STA. In this way, the fifth STA can provide hotspot services for the first STA. For specific implementation, please refer to the description in the above steps 704 to 707, and "first STA" can be replaced with "fifth STA", and "second STA" can be replaced with "first STA" for understanding. In addition, other STAs except the first STA among the m STAs can also select the fifth STA among the n STAs as the second AP according to the operation information and preset rules of the n STAs, and access the fifth STA.

[0119] Third, the fifth STA may also be unable to provide hotspot services (for example, the fifth STA and the first AP are taken out of the smart cockpit by the user at the same time). At this time, after sending a connection request, the first STA may not receive a successful connection response from the fifth STA within the first preset time, or the hotspot signal strength of the fifth STA monitored within the second preset time of accessing the fifth STA is less than the hotspot signal strength threshold. Therefore, the first STA can reselect a STA as the second AP based on the operation information of n STAs. In this way, since the first STA stores the operation information of n STAs (n is greater than 2), when the fifth STA selected by the first STA also cannot provide hotspot services, the first STA can also select other STAs to provide hotspot services, further ensuring the normal operation of each STA service in the smart cockpit.

[0120] Fourth, step 702a and step 702b may be collectively referred to as step 702, and the order of step 702a and step 702b is not limited; step 703a and step 703b may be collectively referred to as step 703, and the order of step 703a and step 703b is not limited.

[0121] The various embodiments described herein may be independent schemes or may be combined according to internal logic, and these schemes all fall within the scope of protection of the present application. It is understandable that in the above-mentioned various method embodiments, the methods and operations implemented by the first STA may also be implemented by components (such as chips or circuits) of the first STA, and the methods and operations implemented by the first AP may also be implemented by components (such as chips or circuits) of the first AP. In the above-mentioned embodiments provided by the present application, the methods provided by the embodiments of the present application are introduced from the perspective of interaction between various devices. In order to implement the various functions in the methods provided by the above-mentioned embodiments of the present application, the first STA and the first AP may include hardware structures and / or software modules, and implement the above-mentioned functions in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or hardware structures plus software modules. Whether one of the above-mentioned functions is executed in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or hardware structures plus software modules depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. The division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is schematic, which is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation. In addition, the various functional modules in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processor, or may exist physically separately, or two or more modules may be integrated in one module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules.

[0122] Based on the above content and the same idea, Fig.101 is a schematic diagram of a possible device 1000 provided in the present application. The device 1000 can be used to implement the functions of the first STA or the first AP in the above method embodiment, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiment. In the present application, the device 1000 can be Figure 2 Any device in the scenario shown.

[0123] The device 1000 is applicable to a smart cockpit, which includes a first AP and m STAs. The first AP is used to provide hotspot services for the m STAs, where m is an integer greater than 1. Fig.10 As shown, the device 1000 includes a processing module 1001 and a transceiver module 1002 .

[0124] When the device 1000 is the first STA in the smart cockpit:

[0125] The transceiver module 1002 is used to receive the operating information of n STAs from the first AP, where the m STAs include the first STA, and n is an integer not less than 1 and not greater than m; when the processing module 1001 determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services, the processing module 1001 selects a second AP from the n STAs based on the operating information of the n STAs.

[0126] In one possible implementation, the STA's operating information includes at least one or more of the following: priority as an AP, remaining power, remaining mobile traffic, mobile traffic consumption, mobile traffic cost, mobile signal strength, device temperature, or processor processing capability.

[0127] In one possible implementation, when the processing module 1001 determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services, it is specifically used to: control the transceiver module 1002 to monitor the hotspot signal strength of the first AP, and when it is determined that the hotspot signal strength is less than the hotspot signal strength threshold, determine that the first AP cannot continue to provide hotspot services.

[0128] In a possible implementation, when the processing module 1001 selects a first STA among n STAs as the second AP according to the operation information of the n STAs, it is further used to provide hotspot services for one or more second STAs among the m STAs except the first STA.

[0129] In one possible implementation, after the processing module 1001 selects the first STA among n STAs as the second AP, it is also used for each second STA: controlling the transceiver module 1002 to receive a connection request from the second STA, where the connection request carries the SSID and password of the first STA as the second AP, and the SSID and password are obtained by the second STA from the first AP; and after determining that the connection request verification is successful based on the SSID and password, controlling the transceiver module 1002 to send a connection success response to the second STA.

[0130] In one possible implementation, after selecting the first STA among n STAs as the second AP, the processing module 1001 is further used to obtain the operating information of each third STA at the current moment from the k third STAs, wherein the k third STAs are the k STAs for which the first STA needs to provide hotspot services at the current moment, and k is an integer greater than 1; according to the operating information of the k third STAs at the current moment, a fourth STA is selected from the k third STAs as the third AP; the transceiver module 1002 is also used to send a hotspot start instruction to the fourth STA, and to send a hotspot switch instruction to each third STA among the k third STAs except the fourth STA, so that the fourth STA provides hotspot services to each third STA among the k third STAs except the fourth STA.

[0131] In one possible implementation, before respectively obtaining the operating information of each third STA at the current moment from k third STAs, the processing module 1001 is also used to determine whether one or more of the following conditions are met: the duration of the device 1000 as the second AP reaches the duration threshold; the mobile traffic value consumed by the device 1000 as the second AP reaches the traffic threshold; the remaining power of the device 1000 is lower than the power threshold; the mobile signal of the device 1000 is lower than the mobile signal strength threshold; the device temperature of the device 1000 reaches the temperature threshold; the device 1000 receives an instruction from the user to stop providing hotspot services; or, the device 1000 determines to provide hotspot services for the newly connected STA.

[0132] In a possible implementation, the processing module 1001 is further configured to access the fifth STA when selecting the fifth STA among the n STAs as the second AP according to the operation information of the n STAs. The fifth STA is configured to provide a hotspot service for the first STA.

[0133] In a possible implementation, when the processing module 1001 accesses the fifth STA, it is specifically used to: control the transceiver module 1002 to send a connection request to the fifth STA, and receive a connection success response from the fifth STA.

[0134] In a possible implementation, the connection request includes the SSID and password of the fifth STA when it serves as the second AP. Before sending the connection request to the fifth STA, the transceiver module 1002 also receives the SSID and password from the first AP.

[0135] When device 1000 is the first AP in the smart cockpit:

[0136] The processing module 1001 is used to obtain the operation information of m STAs, and select the operation information of n STAs from the operation information of m STAs according to the operation information of the m STAs; the transceiver module 1002 is used to send the operation information of n STAs to the first STA. In a possible implementation, when the processing module 1001 obtains the operation information of m STAs, it is specifically used to, when it is determined that a new STA has accessed the first AP, obtain the operation information of the new STA at the current moment, and obtain the operation information of each STA that has previously accessed the first AP at the current moment. Alternatively, it can be to periodically obtain the operation information of each STA that has accessed the first AP at the current moment.

[0137] like Fig.11 The device 1100 provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown. Fig.11 The equipment shown can be Fig.10 A hardware circuit implementation of the device shown in the figure. The device can be used to perform the function of the first STA or the first AP in the above method embodiment.

[0138] For ease of explanation, Fig.11 Only the main components of the device are shown.

[0139] Fig.11 The device 1100 shown includes a communication interface 1110, a processor 1120 and a memory 1130, wherein the memory 1130 is used to store program instructions and / or data. The processor 1120 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1130. The processor 1120 may execute program instructions stored in the memory 1130. When the instructions or programs stored in the memory 1130 are executed, the processor 1120 is used to perform the operations performed by the processing module 1001 in the above embodiment, and the communication interface 1110 is used to perform the operations performed by the transceiver module 1002 in the above embodiment.

[0140] The memory 1130 is coupled to the processor 1120. The coupling in the embodiment of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms, for information exchange between devices, units or modules. At least one of the memories 1130 may be included in the processor 1120.

[0141] In the embodiment of the present application, the communication interface may be a transceiver, a circuit, a bus, a module or other types of communication interfaces. In the embodiment of the present application, when the communication interface is a transceiver, the transceiver may include an independent receiver, an independent transmitter, or a transceiver with integrated transceiver functions or a communication interface.

[0142] The device 1100 may further include a communication line 1140. The communication interface 1110, the processor 1120, and the memory 1130 may be interconnected via the communication line 1140; the communication line 1140 may be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus. The communication line 1140 may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, Fig.11 Only one thick line is used in the diagram, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0143] Based on the above content and the same concept, the present application provides a readable storage medium, which stores a program or instruction. When the program or instruction is executed by a device, the device executes the method of the first STA in the above method embodiment, or executes the method of the first AP in the above method embodiment.

[0144] Based on the above content and the same concept, the present application provides a program product, which includes a program or instruction. When the program or instruction is executed by a device, it implements the method of the first STA in the above method embodiment, or executes the method of the first AP in the above method embodiment.

[0145] Based on the above content and the same concept, an embodiment of the present application provides a networking system, which includes the first STA and the first AP in the above method embodiment.

[0146] In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can be represented by: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", where a, b, c can be single or multiple. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can be represented by: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the text description of the present application, the character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship; in the formula of the present application, the character " / " indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in a "division" relationship.

[0147] It is understood that the various numbers involved in the embodiments of the present application are only for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the sequence number of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic.

[0148] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the scope of protection of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A networking method, characterized in that: Applicable to a smart cockpit, a first access point AP and m stations STA are located in the smart cockpit, the first AP is used to provide a hotspot service for the m STAs, and m is an integer greater than 1; The method comprises: The first STA receives operation information of n STAs from the first AP, where the m STAs include the first STA, and n is an integer not less than 1 and not greater than m; When the first STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide the hotspot service and selects the first STA among the n STAs as the second AP based on the operation information of the n STAs, the first STA provides hotspot service for one or more second STAs among the n STAs except the first STA.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The operation information of the STA includes at least one or more of the following: priority as an AP, remaining power, remaining mobile traffic, mobile traffic consumption, mobile traffic cost, mobile signal strength, device temperature or processor processing capability.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that After the first STA selects the first STA among the n STAs as the second AP, the method further includes: For each of the second STAs, execute: The first STA receives a connection request from the second STA, where the connection request carries a service set identifier SSID and a password when the first STA acts as a second AP, where the SSID and the password are obtained by the second STA from the first AP; After the first STA determines, based on the SSID and the password, that the connection request is authenticated, it sends a connection success response to the second STA.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The first STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide the hotspot service, including: The first STA monitors the hotspot signal strength of the first AP, and when determining that the hotspot signal strength is less than a hotspot signal strength threshold, determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide the hotspot service.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that After the first STA selects the first STA among the n STAs as the second AP, the method further includes: The first STA obtains the operation information of each third STA at the current moment from the k third STAs, wherein the k third STAs are the k STAs for which the first STA needs to provide hotspot services at the current moment, and k is an integer greater than 1; The first STA selects a fourth STA from the k third STAs as a third AP according to the operation information of the k third STAs at the current moment; The first STA sends a hotspot start instruction to the fourth STA, and sends a hotspot switch instruction to each of the k third STAs except the fourth STA, so that the fourth STA provides hotspot services for each of the k third STAs except the fourth STA.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that Before the first STA obtains the operation information of each third STA at the current moment from the k third STAs, the method further includes: The first STA determines that one or more of the following conditions are met: The duration for which the first STA serves as the second AP reaches a duration threshold; A mobile traffic value consumed by the first STA as the second AP reaches a traffic threshold; The remaining power of the first STA is lower than the power threshold; The mobile signal of the first STA is lower than the mobile signal strength threshold; The device temperature of the first STA reaches a temperature threshold; The first STA receives an instruction from a user to stop providing hotspot services; or, The first STA determines to provide a hotspot service for the newly accessed STA.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that Also includes: When the first STA determines that the first AP cannot continue to provide the hotspot service and selects the fifth STA among the n STAs as the second AP based on the operation information of the n STAs, the first STA sends a connection request to the fifth STA and receives a successful connection response from the fifth STA.

8. A readable storage medium, characterized in that: The readable storage medium stores a program or an instruction, and when the program or the instruction is executed by a device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is implemented.

9. A program product, characterized in that The program product includes a program or an instruction, and when the program or the instruction is executed by a device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is implemented.

10. A device, characterized in that: The device comprises a processor, wherein the processor is connected to a memory, the memory is used to store a program, and the processor is used to execute the program stored in the memory, so that the device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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