Communication method and device, and storage medium

Abstract

Disclosed are a communication method and device, and a storage medium, applied to the technical field of communications, the method comprising: a multi-link terminal device obtaining a pre-configured terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier; and the multi-link terminal device sends a first frame to the multi-link network device, the first frame comprising the terminal identifier and / or the at least one link identifier, so that the multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device and / or the link according to the terminal identifier and / or the at least one link identifier. According to the embodiment of the invention, by setting the terminal identifier and / or the at least one link identifier, the multi-link network equipment can identify the multi-link terminal equipment and the link, so that the multi-link connection between the multi-link terminal equipment and the link is realized, the multi-link network equipment can provide corresponding network access service and manage the service, and the network access efficiency is improved. Moreover, the arrangement of the terminal identifier and the link identifier can reduce the sniffing positioning of the third-party equipment, and improves the communication safety.

Description

Technical Field

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

[0002] During the communication process, the terminal device usually uses a unique fixed Media Access Control Address (MAC) address to establish a connection with the network device. The identification and authentication technology based on the fixed MAC of the device has been widely used in the field of wireless transmission. However, the use of a fixed MAC address can easily lead to third-party devices using MAC address sniffing technology to track and locate the connection between the terminal device and the network device. To solve this problem, the relevant technology allows users to use a random MAC address (RMA) before the terminal device accesses the network device. However, the random MAC address technology of the terminal device has caused the failure of the device MAC address-related functions defined by the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) and the Wi-Fi Broadband Alliance (WBA), resulting in the network being unable to manage the device. Summary of the invention

[0003] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, a device, and a storage medium, which can realize network management of the device and improve the security of the communication process.

[0004] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, the method comprising:

[0005] The multi-link terminal device obtains a pre-configured terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier;

[0006] The multi-link terminal device sends a first frame to a multi-link network device, wherein the first frame includes the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, so that the multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device and / or the link according to the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier.

[0007] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, the method comprising:

[0008] The multi-link network device receives a first frame sent by a multi-link terminal device, wherein the first frame includes a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier;

[0009] The multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device and the link according to the terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers.

[0010] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an electronic device, including:

[0011] one or more processors;

[0012] A memory having one or more programs stored thereon, when the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement:

[0013] The communication method as described in the first aspect; or,

[0014] A communication method as described in the second aspect.

[0015] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein when the program is executed by a processor, the following is implemented:

[0016] The communication method as described in the first aspect; or,

[0017] A communication method as described in the second aspect.

[0018] The embodiment of the present application includes: a multi-link terminal device is pre-configured with a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier. When communication is required, the multi-link terminal device sends a first frame carrying the terminal identifier or / at least one link identifier to a multi-link network device. The multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device and the link according to the terminal identifier or / at least one link identifier, thereby establishing a corresponding link with the multi-link terminal device, providing different network access services for the multi-link terminal device, and realizing a multi-link connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device, so that the network corresponding to the multi-link network device can manage the multi-link terminal device and improve the security of the communication process. The embodiment of the present application enables the multi-link network device to identify the multi-link terminal device and the link through the setting of the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, thereby realizing a multi-link connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device, and the multi-link network device can provide corresponding network access services to the multi-link terminal device according to the connection and manage it. In addition, the setting of the terminal identifier and the link identifier can reduce the sniffing positioning of third-party devices and improve the security of communication.

[0019] Additional aspects and advantages of the present application will be given in part in the description below, and in part will become apparent from the description below, or will be learned through the practice of the present application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or related technical descriptions will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0021] Figure 1 It is a system architecture diagram of a system to which the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applied;

[0022] Figure 2 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application at a multi-link terminal device;

[0023] Figure 3 is another flow chart of the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application at a multi-link terminal device;

[0024] Figure 4 It is a structural diagram of the first target field of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0025] Figure 5 is another structural schematic diagram of the first target field of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0026] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the device identification control bitmap field of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0027] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the device identification information field of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the first frame and the fourth frame of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the second target field of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] Fig.10 is another structural schematic diagram of the second target field of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] Fig.11 It is a structural diagram of the IRM control bitmap field of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] Fig.12 It is a flow chart of generating a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier at a multi-link terminal device in a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Fig.13 is a schematic diagram of communication between a multi-link terminal device and a multi-link network device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Fig.14 Another flow chart of generating a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier at a multi-link terminal device in a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] Fig.15 is another schematic diagram of the communication between a multi-link terminal device and a multi-link network device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Fig.16 is a step diagram of the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application at a multi-link network device;

[0037] Fig.17 is another flow chart of the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application at a multi-link network device;

[0038] Fig.18 It is a flow chart of generating a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier at a multi-link network device in a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Fig.19 Another flow chart of generating a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier at a multi-link network device in a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Fig. 20 It is a schematic diagram of an electronic device to which the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application is applied. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention.

[0042] It should be noted that although a logical order is shown in the flowchart, in some cases, the steps shown or described may be performed in a different order than that in the flowchart. The terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification, claims and the above drawings are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence.

[0043] It should also be understood that the references to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" described in the specification of the embodiments of the present application mean that one or more embodiments of the embodiments of the present application include specific features, structures or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment. Thus, the statements "in one embodiment", "in some embodiments", "in some other embodiments", "in some other embodiments", etc. that appear in different places in this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, but mean "one or more but not all embodiments", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in other ways. The terms "including", "comprising", "having" and their variations all mean "including but not limited to", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in other ways.

[0044] In the description of this application, greater than, less than, exceed, etc. are understood to exclude the number itself, and above, below, within, etc. are understood to include the number itself. If there is a description of first and second, it is only for the purpose of distinguishing the technical features, and it cannot be understood as indicating or implying the relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features or implicitly indicating the order of the indicated technical features. It should be understood that the orientation description, such as up, down, front, back, left, right, etc., the orientation or position relationship indicated is based on the orientation or position relationship shown in the drawings, which is only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, and does not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on this application.

[0045] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise clearly defined, terms such as setting, installing, connecting, etc. should be understood in a broad sense, and technicians in the relevant technical field can reasonably determine the specific meanings of the above terms in the embodiments of the present application based on the specific content of the technical solution.

[0046] During the communication process, the terminal device usually uses a unique fixed MAC address to establish a connection with the network device. The identification and authentication technology based on the fixed MAC of the device has been widely used in the field of wireless transmission. However, the use of a fixed MAC address can easily lead to third-party devices using MAC address sniffing technology to track and locate the connection between the terminal device and the network device. For example, wireless network technology introduces multi-link operation (MLO) technology, which divides MAC addresses into link-level MAC addresses (Link MAC address) and MLD-level MAC addresses (Multi-link deviceMAC address). According to the differences in the MAC address information carried, the frames used for multi-link terminal device identification are usually divided into three categories: only carrying link-level MAC addresses; carrying the current link-level MAC address and MLD-level MAC address at the same time; carrying the current link-level MAC address, other link-level MAC addresses and MLD-level MAC addresses at the same time. Third-party devices can track and locate the communication process based on the link-level MAC address and the MLD-level MAC address.

[0047] To solve this problem, related technologies allow users to use a random MAC address (RMA) before the terminal device accesses the network device. However, the random MAC address technology of the terminal device has caused the failure of the device MAC address-related functions defined by the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) and the Wi-Fi Broadband Alliance (WBA), resulting in the network being unable to manage the device.

[0048] Based on this, the present application provides a communication method, device and storage medium. The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application enables a multi-link network device to identify a multi-link terminal device and a link through the setting of a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, thereby realizing a multi-link connection between a multi-link terminal device and a multi-link network device. The multi-link network device can provide corresponding network access services to the multi-link terminal device based on the connection and manage it. In addition, the setting of the terminal identifier and the link identifier can reduce the sniffing positioning of third-party devices and improve the security of communication.

[0049] The present application will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0050] Reference Figure 1 , Figure 1 This is a system architecture diagram of a system to which the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applied. The system architecture includes a multi-link terminal device and a multi-link network device.

[0051] The multi-link network device is a device that receives the first frame sent by the multi-link terminal device, and can identify the multi-link terminal device and the link according to the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier. The multi-link network device communicates with the multi-link terminal device in a wireless manner and exchanges data.

[0052] Multilink network devices are wireless network access devices, also known as wireless access points. They are the core devices of wireless local area networks. Multilink network devices can convert wired networks into wireless networks, allowing multilink terminal devices to connect to the network wirelessly. In addition, multilink network devices can enable multiple terminal devices to connect simultaneously, providing high-speed and stable network services. The working principle of wireless network access devices is to convert wired network signals into wireless signals, and then transmit data through wireless signals. In a wireless network, a wireless network access device plays the role of a transfer station, which receives data from wireless devices and then transmits the data to a wired network. At the same time, a wireless network access device can also receive data from a wired network, and then convert the data into wireless signals and transmit it to wireless devices.

[0053] The multi-link terminal device is a device that obtains a pre-configured terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier and sends a first frame to the multi-link network device. The multi-link terminal device can communicate with the multi-link network device and exchange data, and multiple links can be established between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device as required.

[0054] It should be noted that both the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device include three links at 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz. The multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device can complete the authentication, connection and four-way handshake process on the 2.4 GHz link through the Association Request frame and the Association Response frame, thereby realizing multi-link connection, that is, being able to transmit data on the three links of 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz.

[0055] It should be noted that multi-link terminal devices and multi-link network devices can realize multi-link connections. Figure 1 The application system shown is only a schematic diagram, and the multi-link connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device includes at least one link connection.

[0056] It should be noted that the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device are just a general term. In the actual communication process, the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device can be set to multiple.

[0057] The system architecture and application scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that with the evolution of the system architecture and the emergence of new application scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are equally applicable to similar technical problems.

[0058] It can be understood by those skilled in the art that Figure 1 The system architecture shown in the figure does not constitute a limitation on the embodiments of the present application, and may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or a combination of certain components, or a different arrangement of components.

[0059] exist Figure 1 In the system architecture shown, each unit can call its stored communication program to execute the communication method.

[0060] Based on the structure of the above system architecture, various embodiments of a communication method of the present application are proposed.

[0061] Reference Figure 2 , Figure 2 The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is provided in the multi-link terminal device. The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0062] Step S110: The multi-link terminal device obtains a pre-configured terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier.

[0063] Step S120: The multi-link terminal device sends a first frame to the multi-link network device, where the first frame includes a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, so that the multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device and / or the link according to the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier.

[0064] It should be noted that the multi-link terminal device obtains a pre-configured terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, the terminal identifier corresponds to the multi-link terminal device, the link identifier corresponds to the link one-to-one, the multi-link terminal device sends a first frame to the multi-link network device, the first frame includes the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, the multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device and / or the link through the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, thereby establishing a multi-link connection, that is, transmitting data on multiple links at the same time, and providing corresponding network access services to the multi-link terminal device based on the multi-link connection, and managing the multi-link terminal device. In addition, the setting of the terminal identifier and the link identifier can reduce the sniffing positioning of third-party devices and improve the security of communications.

[0065] In an exemplary embodiment, the multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device and / or the link through the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, and feeds back the identification result information to the multi-link terminal device. If the multi-link terminal device and / or the link of the multi-link terminal device is successfully identified by the multi-link network device, the multi-link network device feeds back to the multi-link terminal device, whereby the multi-link terminal device can send a connection request to the multi-link network device, so that the multi-link network device and the multi-link terminal device establish a multi-link connection, that is, transmit data simultaneously on multiple links, and the establishment of the multi-link connection can provide corresponding network access services for the multi-link terminal device.

[0066] It should be noted that multi-link connection allows multi-link network devices and multi-link terminal devices to transmit data on multiple links simultaneously, thereby improving data transmission throughput, reducing data transmission latency, and thus improving communication efficiency.

[0067] It should be noted that the terminal identifier corresponds to the multi-link terminal device, and the multi-link network device can identify the multi-link terminal device based on the terminal identifier, and the link identifier corresponds one-to-one to the link that the multi-link terminal device can connect to. The multi-link network device can identify the corresponding link based on the link identifier, thereby establishing a connection with the multi-link terminal device.

[0068] It should be noted that in the multi-link operation technology, MAC addresses are divided into link-level MAC addresses and MLD-level MAC addresses. A multi-link terminal device usually includes a unique MLD-level MAC address and at least one link-level MAC address. The MLD-level MAC address uniquely identifies a multi-link terminal device. Therefore, the multi-link terminal device corresponds to the link identifier, and the multi-link network device can identify the unique corresponding multi-link terminal device through the link identifier. In addition, each link-level MAC address of the same multi-link terminal device is different, but one of the link-level MAC addresses of the multi-link terminal device may be the same as the MLD-level MAC address. Therefore, the link identifiers corresponding to multiple links of the same link terminal device are different, and one of the link identifiers may also be the same as the terminal identifier. When the frame used for multi-link terminal device identification only carries the link-level MAC address, the first frame only needs to carry the link identifier, and when the link identifier is the same as the terminal identifier, the first frame only needs to carry the terminal identifier or the link identifier. When the frame used for multi-link terminal device identification carries both the current link-level MAC address and the MLD-level MAC address, the first frame carries the terminal identifier and a link identifier. When a frame used for multi-link terminal device identification carries a MAC address of the current link level, MAC addresses of other link levels, and a MAC address of the MLD level at the same time, the first frame carries a terminal identifier and multiple link identifiers.

[0069] It should be noted that the terminal identifier and the link identifier can be configured through a multi-link terminal device or a multi-link network device.

[0070] It should be noted that the first frame is encrypted and transmitted between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device. Therefore, the terminal identifier and link identifier carried by the first frame cannot be sniffed and tracked by a third-party device, thereby improving the security of communication transmission.

[0071] It should be noted that before the multi-link terminal device sends the first frame to the multi-link network device, the multi-link network device receives the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier sent by the multi-link terminal device, and saves the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier locally or in other multi-link network devices associated with the local area. The terminal identifier and link identifier correspond to those carried in the first frame, so that the multi-link network device can identify the terminal identifier and link identifier later.

[0072] It should be noted that the first frame is a frame sent by the multi-link terminal device to the multi-link network device, and the frame is usually used to request a connection with the multi-link network device, such as an association request frame in the Fast Initial Link Setup (FILS) mode.

[0073] It should be noted that the encrypted transmission of the first frame can be achieved through a key. Specifically, the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device generate a multi-link operation-level pairwise transmission key (PTK) and a link-level group temporary key (GTK) through a four-way handshake on a link, which are used to encrypt and decrypt the transmitted unicast data frames and anchor data frames, respectively, to ensure the security of data transmission.

[0074] It is understandable that, referring to Figure 3 The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application also includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0075] Step S130: The multi-link terminal device receives the fourth frame sent by the multi-link network device, where the fourth frame is a response frame to the first frame.

[0076] It should be noted that after receiving the first frame, the multi-link network device identifies the terminal identifier and the link identifier, that is, determines whether the same terminal identifier and link identifier are stored in the local or the network corresponding to the multi-link network device, generates a fourth frame according to the determination result, and sends the fourth frame to the multi-link terminal device. Thus, the fourth frame is a response frame to the first frame. When the fourth frame indicates that the same terminal identifier and link identifier are stored in the local or the network associated with the multi-link network device, the multi-link terminal device establishes a multi-link connection with the multi-link network device and performs data transmission. Otherwise, the connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device cannot be successfully established.

[0077] It is understandable that, referring to Figure 4 and Figure 5 The first frame and / or the fourth frame includes a first target field, the terminal identifier includes a device identifier, the first target field includes a device identifier information field, and the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier is located in the device identifier information field.

[0078] It should be noted that the terminal identifier of the multi-link terminal device can be set to a device ID, which is the device ID of the multi-link terminal device. The multi-link network device can obtain the ID of the multi-link terminal device by identifying the device ID.

[0079] It should be noted that the link identifier may also be represented by a device identifier, and each link identifier is provided with a corresponding device identifier.

[0080] It should be noted that the first frame and the fourth frame contain the first target field. The structural diagram of the first target field is shown in FIG. Figure 4 or Figure 5 As shown, the first target field includes a device identification information field (device ID info.), and the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier are set in the device identification information field. The device identification information field can contain multiple different device identifiers, and the number of bytes (Octets) of the device identification information field is variable, and its specific value can be set according to the number of terminal identifiers and link identifiers.

[0081] It is understandable that, referring to Figure 4 and Figure 5 The first target field also includes a device identification recognition status field, and the device identification recognition status field is used to indicate whether the device identification of the multi-link terminal device is recognized.

[0082] It should be noted that the first target field also includes a device identification status field (Device ID Status), and the device identification status field is used to indicate whether the device identification of the multi-link terminal device is identified.

[0083] It should be noted that the device identification status field is set to 1 byte. When the device identification status field is 0, the device identification of the multi-link terminal device is not identified. When the device identification status field is 1, the device identification of the multi-link terminal device can be identified.

[0084] It should be noted that the fourth frame received by the multi-link terminal device is a response frame based on the first frame sent by the multi-link network device. When the multi-link network device can identify the terminal identifier of the multi-link terminal device, the device identifier identification status field is 1, and the multi-link network device and the multi-link terminal device can establish a connection. When the multi-link network device cannot identify the terminal identifier of the multi-link terminal device, the device identifier identification status field is 0, and the connection between the multi-link network device and the multi-link terminal device fails to be established.

[0085] It is understandable that, referring to Figures 4 to 6 The first target field also includes a device identification control bitmap field, and the device identification control bitmap field includes one or more of the following fields:

[0086] The device identification status tag is used to indicate whether the first target field includes a device identification status field.

[0087] The device identification tag is used to indicate whether the device identification information field contains the device identification.

[0088] Multiple link tags are respectively used to indicate whether the device identification information field contains a corresponding link identifier.

[0089] The device identifier and the link identifier share an indicator tag, which is used to indicate whether the device identifier and the link identifier have the same value.

[0090] It should be noted that the first target field also includes a device identification control bitmap field (Device ID controlbitmap), which is compatible with the multi-link operation technology. The setting of the device identification control bitmap field provides a basis for the multi-link connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0091] It should be noted that the device identification status tag (Device ID Status) is used to indicate whether the first target field includes the device identification status field. The device identification status tag occupies 1 bit. When the device identification status tag is 0, the first target field does not include the device identification status field. When the device identification status tag is 1, the first target field includes the device identification status field.

[0092] It should be noted that the multi-link terminal device sends the first frame to the multi-link network device. Although the first frame contains a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, the terminal identifier in the first frame is pre-configured, and the device identifier in the terminal identifier is the device identifier of the multi-link terminal device. Therefore, the first target field of the first frame does not include a device identifier recognition field, and the device identifier recognition status label is correspondingly set to 0.

[0093] It should be noted that the fourth frame is a response frame to the first frame. After the multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device according to the terminal identifier in the first frame, it generates a fourth frame and sends the fourth frame to the multi-link terminal device. Therefore, the first target field corresponding to the fourth frame includes a device identification field, and the device identification status tag is 1.

[0094] It should be noted that, refer to Figure 6, the multiple link labels are respectively the first link label (1st.link ID), the second link label (2nd.link ID) and the third link label (3rd.link ID), each link label corresponds to the corresponding link, and can indicate whether the device identification information field contains the link identifier of the corresponding link. When the link label is 1, it means that the corresponding link identifier is included in the subsequent device identification information field, and when the link label is 0, the device identification information field does not contain the corresponding link identifier.

[0095] It should be noted that Figure 6 The device identification control bitmap field shown is provided with three link labels, namely, the first link label, the second link label and the third link label, and each link label occupies 1 bit. The multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device both include three links, namely, the first link, the second link and the third link. The multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device can be connected through any one or more of the three links, and the first link, the second link and the third link are respectively provided with corresponding link identifiers. For the first frame, when the multiple link labels are 1, it indicates that the multi-link terminal device expects to establish a connection with the corresponding link with the multi-link network device. For example, when the first link label and the second link label in the first target field of the first frame are 1 and the third link label is 0, the device identification information field only includes the link identifiers corresponding to the first link and the second link, and the multi-link terminal device expects to establish a connection with the multi-link device on the first link and the second link. For the fourth frame, the values ​​of the multiple link labels in the first target field correspond to the first frame. When the identification status field is 1, the device identification of the multi-link terminal device can be recognized by the multi-link network device.

[0096] It should be noted that if the multi-link network device is identified successfully and the device identifier of the multi-link terminal device can be identified by the multi-link network device, then the identification status field of the fourth frame is 1. Based on this, the multi-link terminal device can send a connection request to the multi-link network device so that the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device can establish a connection between the corresponding links and realize a multi-link connection.

[0097] It should be noted that Figure 6 The device identification control bitmap field is only an example, and the number of link labels can be set to be more or less. The number of link labels in the device identification control bitmap field is determined by the number of links of the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0098] It should be noted that the device identification control bitmap field contains a device identification and link identification sharing indicator tag, which occupies 1 bit and is used to identify whether the device identification and link identification have the same value. In the multi-link operation technology, one of the link-level MAC addresses of the multi-link terminal device may be the same as the MLD-level MAC address. Therefore, the link identifiers corresponding to multiple links of the same link terminal device are different, but one of the link identifiers may also be the same as the terminal identifier. When the device identification and the link identifier are the same, the device identification and link identification sharing indicator tag is 1, otherwise it is 0.

[0099] In an exemplary embodiment, the device identifier and link identifier sharing indicator are implicit. Specifically, the communication protocol stipulates that the terminal identifier and the link identifier are the same. Therefore, the first target field under the protocol does not need to set the device identifier and link identifier sharing indicator separately.

[0100] It should be noted that, refer to Figure 6 The device identification control bitmap field also includes a reserved tag (Reserved), which occupies 2 bits.

[0101] It is understandable that, referring to Figure 7 , the device identification information field includes a length field and a device identification field.

[0102] It should be noted that the device identification information field includes a length field (length) and a device identification field (Device ID). The device identification field is used to store the device identification of the multi-link terminal device, and the length field is used to indicate the length of the device identification of the multi-link terminal device.

[0103] It is understandable that, referring to Figure 8 The first frame and the fourth frame include a media access control MAC header and a frame body respectively, the first target field is located in the MAC header or the frame body, and the first target field is a device identification element field or a device identification key data encapsulation field.

[0104] It should be noted that the first frame and the fourth frame include a media access control MAC header and a frame body (Framebody) respectively, and the first target field is located in the frame body or the MAC header. The first target field is a device identification element field or a device identification key data encapsulation field.

[0105] It should be noted that when the terminal identifier and the link identifier are the same, the terminal identifier is located in the Transmitter Address (TA) or Receiver Address (RA) field of the MAC header. When the terminal identifier and the link identifier are different, the terminal identifier is located in the frame body, and the link identifier is located in the Transmitter Address or Receiver Address field of the MAC header.

[0106] It should be noted that, refer to Figure 4 , the device identification element field includes the element identification field (Element ID), the length information field (Length), the element identification extension field (Element ID Extension), the device identification control bitmap field (Device ID control bitmap), the device identification status field (Device ID Status) and the device identification information field (Device ID info.). Among them, the element identification field, the length information field, the element identification information extension field, the device identification control bitmap field, and the device identification status field are all one byte, and the number of bytes of the device identification information field is set to be variable.

[0107] It should be noted that, refer to Figure 5 During the transmission of the first frame and the fourth frame, in order to improve the security of information transmission, the device identification element field is usually encrypted for transmission. After the device identification element field is encrypted, the device identification key data encapsulation field is obtained, which includes the device identification control bitmap field (Device ID control bitmap), the device identification status field (Device ID Status) and the device identification information field (Device ID info.). Among them, the device identification control bitmap field and the device identification status field are both one byte, and the number of bytes of the device identification information field is set to be variable.

[0108] It should be noted that, refer to Figure 6 and Figure 7 The structure and purpose of the device identification control bitmap field, the device identification identification status field and the device identification information field in the device identification element field and the device identification key data encapsulation field are the same. The device identification control bitmap field includes a device identification identification status tag, a device identification tag, multiple link tags, a device identification and link identification sharing indicator tag and a reserved tag. The device identification information field includes a length field and a device identification field.

[0109] It is understandable that, referring to Fig. 9 and Fig.10The first frame and / or the fourth frame includes a second target field, the terminal identifier includes an identifiable random media access control address IRM, the second target field includes an IRM field, and the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier is located in the IRM field.

[0110] It should be noted that the terminal identifier of the multi-link terminal device can be set to an identifiable random media access control address IRM. The IRM is a media access control address randomly assigned to the multi-link terminal device. The multi-link network device can obtain the media access control address of the multi-link terminal device through the IRM, thereby establishing a connection with the multi-link terminal device.

[0111] It should be noted that the link identifier may also be represented by an identifiable random media access control address IRM, and each link identifier is provided with a corresponding identifiable random media access control address IRM.

[0112] It should be noted that the first frame and the fourth frame contain the second target field. The structural diagram of the second target field is shown in FIG. Fig. 9 or Fig.10 As shown, the second target field includes an IRM field, and the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier are set in the IRM field. The IRM field can contain multiple different IRMs, and the number of bytes (Octets) of the IRM field is 6N, where 6 is the number of bytes of an IRM, and N is the total number of terminal identifiers and link identifiers carried by the first frame and / or the fourth frame, that is, the total number of IRMs. The setting of the number of bytes of the IRM field facilitates the first frame and / or the fourth frame to carry the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier.

[0113] It is understandable that, referring to Fig. 9 and Fig.10 The second target field also includes an IRM identification status field, and the IRM identification status field is used to indicate whether the IRM of the multi-link terminal device is identified.

[0114] It should be noted that the second target field also includes an IRM identification status field (Device ID Status), and the IRM identification status field is used to indicate whether the IRM of the multi-link terminal device is identified.

[0115] It should be noted that the IRM identification status field is set to 1 byte. When the IRM identification status field is 0, the IRM of the multi-link terminal device is not identified. When the device identification identification status field is 1, the IRM of the multi-link terminal device can be identified.

[0116] It should be noted that the fourth frame received by the multi-link terminal device is a response frame based on the first frame sent by the multi-link network device. When the multi-link network device can recognize the IRM of the multi-link terminal device, the IRM identification status field is 1, and when the multi-link network device cannot recognize the IRM of the multi-link terminal device, the IRM identification status field is 0.

[0117] It is understandable that, referring to Figures 9 to 11 The second target field also includes an IRM control bitmap field, and the IRM control bitmap field includes one or more of the following fields:

[0118] The IRM identification status tag is used to indicate whether the second target field contains an IRM identification status field.

[0119] IRM tag, used to indicate whether the IRM field contains IRM.

[0120] Multiple link tags are used to indicate whether the IRM field contains a corresponding link identifier.

[0121] The IRM and link identifier share an indicator tag, which is used to indicate whether the IRM and link identifier have the same value.

[0122] It should be noted that the second target field also includes an IRM control bitmap field (IRM control bitmap). The IRM control bitmap field is adapted to the multi-link operation technology. The setting of the IRM control bitmap field provides a basis for the multi-link connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0123] It should be noted that the IRM identification status tag (IRM ID Status) is used to indicate whether the second target field includes the IRM identification status field. The IRM identification status tag occupies 1 bit. When the IRM identification status tag is 0, the second target field does not include the IRM identification status field. When the IRM identification status tag is 1, the second target field includes the IRM identification status field.

[0124] It should be noted that the multi-link terminal device sends the first frame to the multi-link network device. Although the first frame contains a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, the terminal identifier in the first frame is pre-configured, and the device identifier in the terminal identifier is the device identifier of the multi-link terminal device. Therefore, the second target field of the first frame does not contain the IRM identification field, and the IRM identification status tag is correspondingly set to 0.

[0125] It should be noted that the fourth frame is a response frame to the first frame. After the multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device according to the terminal identifier in the first frame, it generates the fourth frame and sends the fourth frame to the multi-link terminal device. Therefore, the second target field corresponding to the fourth frame contains the IRM identification field, and the IRM identification status tag is 1.

[0126] It should be noted that, refer to Fig.11 , the multiple link labels are respectively the first link label (1st.link ID), the second link label (2nd.link ID) and the third link label (3rd.link ID), each link label corresponds to the corresponding link, and can indicate whether the IRM field contains the link identifier of the corresponding link. When the link label is 1, it means that the corresponding link identifier is included in the subsequent IRM field, and when the link label is 0, the IRM field does not contain the corresponding link identifier.

[0127] It should be noted that Fig.11 The IRM control bitmap field shown is provided with three link tags, namely, the first link tag, the second link tag and the third link tag, and each link tag occupies 1 bit. The multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device both include three links, namely, the first link, the second link and the third link. The multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device can be connected through any one or more of the three links, and the first link, the second link and the third link are respectively provided with corresponding link identifiers. For the first frame, when the multiple link tags are 1, it indicates that the multi-link terminal device expects to establish a connection with the corresponding link with the multi-link network device. For example, when the first link tag and the second link tag in the second target field of the first frame are 1 and the third link tag is 0, the IRM field only includes the link identifiers corresponding to the first link and the second link, and the multi-link terminal device expects to establish a connection with the multi-link device on the first link and the second link. For the fourth frame, the values ​​of the multiple link tags in the second target field correspond to those of the first frame. When the identification status field is 1, the IRM of the multi-link terminal device can be recognized by the multi-link network device.

[0128] It should be noted that if the multi-link network device is identified successfully and the device identifier of the multi-link terminal device can be identified by the multi-link network device, then the identification status field of the fourth frame is 1. Based on this, the multi-link terminal device can send a connection request to the multi-link network device so that the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device can establish a connection between the corresponding links and realize a multi-link connection.

[0129] It should be noted that Fig.11The IRM control bitmap field is just an example. The number of link labels can be set to more or less. The number of link labels in the IRM control bitmap field is determined by the number of links of the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0130] It should be noted that the IRM control bitmap field contains an IRM and link identifier sharing indicator tag, which occupies 1 bit and is used to identify whether the IRM and link identifier have the same value. In the multi-link operation technology, one of the link-level MAC addresses of the multi-link terminal device may be the same as the MLD-level MAC address. Therefore, the link identifiers corresponding to multiple links of the same link terminal device are different, but one of the link identifiers may be the same as the terminal identifier. When the terminal identifier IRM is the same as the IRM corresponding to the link identifier, the IRM and link identifier sharing indicator tag is 1, otherwise it is 0.

[0131] In an exemplary embodiment, the IRM and link identifier sharing indicator are implicit. Specifically, the communication protocol stipulates that the terminal identifier and the link identifier are the same. Therefore, the second target field under the protocol does not need to set the IRM and link identifier sharing indicator separately.

[0132] It should be noted that, refer to Fig.11 The IRM control bitmap field also includes a reserved tag (Reserved), which occupies 2 bits.

[0133] It is understandable that, referring to Figure 8 The first frame and the fourth frame include a media access control MAC header and a frame body respectively, the second target field is located in the MAC header or the frame body, and the second target field is an IRM element field or an IRM key data encapsulation field.

[0134] It should be noted that the first frame and the fourth frame include a media access control MAC header and a frame body respectively, and the second target field is located in the frame body or the MAC header. The second target field is an IRM element field or an IRM key data encapsulation field.

[0135] It should be noted that when the terminal identifier and the link identifier in the second target field are the same, the terminal identifier is located in the Transmitter Address (TA) or Receiver Address (RA) field of the MAC header. When the terminal identifier and the link identifier are different, the terminal identifier is located in the frame body, and the link identifier is located in the Transmitter Address or Receiver Address field of the MAC header.

[0136] It should be noted that, refer to Fig. 9, the IRM element field includes the element identification field (Element ID), the length information field (Length), the element identification extension field (Element ID Extension), the IRM control bitmap field (IRM control bitmap), the IRM identification status field (IRM Status) and the IRM field (IRM info.). Among them, the element identification field, the length information field, the element identification information extension field, the IRM control bitmap field, and the IRM identification status field are all one byte, and the number of bytes of the IRM field is set to 6N, where N is the number of IRMs.

[0137] It should be noted that, refer to Fig.10 During the transmission of the first frame and the fourth frame, in order to improve the security of information transmission, the IRM element field is usually encrypted for transmission. After the IRM element field is encrypted, the IRM key data encapsulation field is obtained, which includes the IRM control bitmap field (IRM control bitmap), the IRM identification status field (IRM Status) and the IRM field (IRM info.). Among them, the IRM control bitmap field and the IRM identification status field are both one byte, and the number of bytes of the IRM field is set to be variable.

[0138] It should be noted that, refer to Fig.11 The structure and purpose of the IRM control bitmap field, IRM identification status field and IRM information field in the IRM element field and the IRM key data encapsulation field are the same. The IRM control bitmap field includes an IRM identification status tag, an IRM tag, multiple link tags, an IRM and link identifier sharing indicator tag and a reservation tag.

[0139] It is understandable that, referring to Fig.12 , the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier is generated by the multi-link terminal device; before step S120, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0140] Step S140: The multi-link terminal device sends a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier to the multi-link network device via a second frame.

[0141] It should be noted that before the multi-link terminal device sends the first frame to the multi-link network device, the multi-link terminal device sends the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier to the multi-link network device through the second frame, and the multi-link network device saves the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier carried by the second frame locally or in other multi-link network devices associated with the local area, so that the multi-link network device can later identify the terminal identifier and the link identifier.

[0142] It can be understood that the second frame includes at least one of the following: the second authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; the fourth authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; the (re)association request frame in the fast initial connection establishment FILS process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; the first authentication frame in the PASN three-way handshake process for security negotiation before connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; the third authentication frame in the PSAN three-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0143] It should be noted that the four-way handshake protocol is used to negotiate unicast keys, and its main purpose is to determine that the keys obtained by the applicant and the authenticator are the same and the latest. The required pairwise transmission key (PTK) can be generated by the four-way handshake, and the specific process is as follows: the multi-link network device sends the first authentication frame in the four-way handshake to the multi-link terminal device. The multi-link terminal device sends the second authentication frame in the four-way handshake to the multi-link network device. When the multi-link network device receives the second authentication frame in the four-way handshake, it generates the PTK on the multi-link network device side and replies to the multi-link terminal device with the third authentication frame in the four-way handshake. When the multi-link terminal device receives the third authentication frame in the four-way handshake, it generates the PTK on the multi-link terminal device side, and the multi-link terminal device replies to the fourth authentication frame in the four-way handshake to the multi-link network device. Therefore, the second frame includes the second authentication frame and the fourth authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0144] It should be noted that the (re)association request frame of the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device in the process of establishing the FILS fast initial connection is also the second frame. The fast initial connection is mainly used to accelerate the connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device. The fast initial connection establishment FILS is defined in 802.11ai, which enables the wireless access point (AP), that is, the multi-link network device to periodically send a discovery frame with a period of 20 milliseconds. Compared with the beacon, its period is shorter, so that the multi-link terminal device can discover the multi-link network device faster. In addition, the (re)association of FILS contains the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) information, which can configure the address at the same time as the association.

[0145] It should be noted that the link terminal device and the multi-link network device are the third authentication frames in the PSAN three-way handshake process.

[0146] It should be noted that, refer to Fig.13In the first connection process, the first terminal device in the multi-link terminal device discovers the multi-link network device supporting the multi-link operation technology by receiving beacon and / or probe response frames; the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device complete the multi-link authentication and connection through the multi-link authentication and association process; in the four-way handshake process, the frame sent by the first terminal device of the multi-link terminal device to the first network device contains a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, and the frame is the second frame. After receiving the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, the first network device of the multi-link network device saves it locally or in other multi-link network devices associated with the local; after the multi-link terminal device completes the communication with the multi-link network device, it disconnects through the disassociation and de-authentication processes. During the second connection process, on the second link, i.e., the link connecting the second network device and the second terminal device, the multi-link terminal device sends an identifiable management frame that may carry a second link identifier to the multi-link network device; on the second link, after receiving the management frame, the multi-link network device generates a corresponding management frame response; on the first link, i.e., the link connecting the first network device and the first terminal device, the multi-link terminal device sends an identifiable management frame that may carry a first link identifier to the multi-link network device; on the first link, after receiving the management frame, the multi-link network device generates a corresponding management frame response. response); on the first or second link, the multi-link terminal device sends an authentication (Authentication) and (re)association ((re)Association) frame carrying the terminal identifier to the multi-link network device; after receiving the authentication and (re)association frame carrying the terminal identifier, the multi-link network device retrieves the corresponding terminal identifier information on the corresponding link and responds; during the four-way handshake process, the multi-link network device indicates whether the multi-link terminal device can be identified by the terminal identifier, and the frame sent by the multi-link terminal device to the multi-link network device includes but is not limited to a new terminal identifier and / or at least one new link identifier.

[0147] It is understandable that, referring to Fig.14, the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier is generated by the multi-link network device; before step S110, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0148] Step S150: The multi-link terminal device receives the third frame sent by the multi-link network device.

[0149] Step S160: The multi-link terminal device obtains a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier from the third frame.

[0150] It should be noted that before the multi-link terminal device obtains the pre-configured terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, the multi-link terminal device receives the third frame sent by the multi-link network device, and obtains the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier from the third frame. The terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier are generated by the multi-link network device. The sending of the third frame enables the multi-link network device and the multi-link terminal device to have the same terminal identifier and link identifier, so that the multi-link network device can later identify the terminal identifier and link identifier.

[0151] It can be understood that the third frame includes at least one of the following: the third authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; the (re)association response frame in the FILS process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; the second authentication frame in the PASN three-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0152] It should be noted that the four-way handshake protocol is used to negotiate unicast keys, and its main purpose is to determine that the keys obtained by the applicant and the authenticator are the same and the latest. The required pairwise transmission key (PTK) can be generated by the four-way handshake, and the specific process is as follows: the multi-link network device sends the first authentication frame in the four-way handshake to the multi-link terminal device. The multi-link terminal device sends the second authentication frame in the four-way handshake to the multi-link network device. When the multi-link network device receives the second authentication frame in the four-way handshake, it generates the PTK on the multi-link network device side and replies to the multi-link terminal device with the third authentication frame in the four-way handshake. When the multi-link terminal device receives the third authentication frame in the four-way handshake, it generates the PTK on the multi-link terminal device side, and the multi-link terminal device replies to the fourth authentication frame in the four-way handshake to the multi-link network device. Therefore, the third frame includes the third authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0153] It should be noted that the (re)association response frame corresponds to the (re)association request frame.

[0154] It should be noted that, refer to Fig.15In the first connection process, the first terminal device in the multi-link terminal device discovers the multi-link network device that supports the multi-link operation technology by receiving beacon and / or probe response frames; the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device complete the multi-link authentication and connection through the multi-link authentication and connection processes; in the four-way handshake process, the frame sent by the first network device of the multi-link network device to the first terminal device contains a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, and the frame is the second frame. After receiving the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, the first terminal device of the multi-link terminal device saves it locally or in other multi-link network devices associated with the local; after the multi-link terminal device completes the communication with the multi-link network device, it disconnects through the disassociation and de-authentication processes. During the second connection process, on the second link, i.e., the link connecting the second network device and the second terminal device, the multi-link terminal device sends an identifiable management frame that may carry a second link identifier to the multi-link network device; on the second link, after receiving the management frame, the multi-link network device generates a corresponding management frame response; on the first link, i.e., the link connecting the first network device and the first terminal device, the multi-link terminal device sends an identifiable management frame that may carry a first link identifier to the multi-link network device; on the first link, after receiving the management frame, the multi-link network device generates a corresponding management frame response. response); on the first or second link, the multi-link terminal device sends an authentication (Authentication) and (re)association ((re)Association) frame carrying the terminal identifier to the multi-link network device; after receiving the authentication and (re)association frame carrying the terminal identifier, the multi-link network device retrieves the corresponding terminal identifier information on the corresponding link and responds; during the four-way handshake process, the multi-link network device indicates whether the multi-link terminal device can be identified by the terminal identifier, and the frame sent by the multi-link network device to the multi-link terminal device includes but is not limited to the new terminal identifier and / or at least one new link identifier.

[0155] It can be understood that the first frame is an access network query protocol ANQP request frame, and the fourth frame includes one or more recommended connection multi-link network device information and link information corresponding to each recommended connection multi-link network device information.

[0156] It should be noted that the multi-link terminal device sends an ANQP request frame (ANQPneighbour query) to the multi-link network device, and the multi-link network device can implement access control (Access Control) based on the terminal identifier or link identifier provided by the multi-link network device. Specifically, the multi-link terminal device sends an ANQP request frame containing a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier to the multi-link network device, and the multi-link network device identifies the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier in the ANQP request frame, thereby implementing a multi-link connection with the multi-link terminal device.

[0157] It can be understood that the first frame is a connection request frame; the fourth frame contains one or more of the following information: link indication information allowing link establishment, the number of links allowed to establish link connections, whether the link requested for connection is allowed to establish a connection, and whether the terminal device requested for connection is allowed to establish a connection.

[0158] It should be noted that the multi-link network device identifies the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier of the first frame, i.e., the connection request frame, determines whether it is the same as the existing terminal identifier and link identifier, and generates a fourth frame, which includes one or more of the following information: link indication information allowing link establishment, the number of links allowed to establish link connections, whether the link requested to be connected is allowed to establish a connection, and whether the terminal device requesting to be connected is allowed to establish a connection.

[0159] In addition, refer to Fig.16 , Fig.16 The flow chart of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application at the multi-link network device is as follows. The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0160] Step S210: The multi-link network device receives a first frame sent by a multi-link terminal device, where the first frame includes a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier.

[0161] Step S220: The multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device and the link according to the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier.

[0162] It should be noted that the first frame sent by the multi-link terminal device and received by the multi-link network device carries a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier. The terminal identifier corresponds to the multi-link terminal device, and the link identifier corresponds to the link one-to-one. The multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device and / or the link based on the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, thereby establishing a multi-link connection, and provides corresponding network access services to the multi-link terminal device based on the multi-link connection, and manages the multi-link terminal device. In addition, the setting of the terminal identifier and the link identifier can reduce the sniffing positioning of third-party devices and improve the security of communications.

[0163] In an exemplary embodiment, the multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device and / or the link through the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, and feeds back the identification result information to the multi-link terminal device. If the multi-link terminal device and / or the link of the multi-link terminal device is successfully identified by the multi-link network device, the multi-link network device feeds back to the multi-link terminal device, whereby the multi-link terminal device can send a connection request to the multi-link network device, so that the multi-link network device and the multi-link terminal device establish a multi-link connection, that is, transmit data simultaneously on multiple links, and the establishment of the multi-link connection can provide corresponding network access services for the multi-link terminal device.

[0164] It should be noted that multi-link connection allows multi-link network devices and multi-link terminal devices to transmit data on multiple links simultaneously, thereby improving data transmission throughput, reducing data transmission latency, and thus improving communication efficiency.

[0165] It should be noted that the terminal identifier corresponds to the multi-link terminal device, and the multi-link network device can identify the multi-link terminal device based on the terminal identifier, and the link identifier corresponds one-to-one to the link that the multi-link terminal device can connect to. The multi-link network device can identify the corresponding link based on the link identifier, thereby establishing a connection with the multi-link terminal device.

[0166] It should be noted that in the multi-link operation technology, MAC addresses are divided into link-level MAC addresses and MLD-level MAC addresses. A multi-link terminal device usually includes a unique MLD-level MAC address and at least one link-level MAC address. The MLD-level MAC address uniquely identifies a multi-link terminal device. Therefore, the multi-link terminal device corresponds to the link identifier, and the multi-link network device can identify the unique corresponding multi-link terminal device through the link identifier. In addition, each link-level MAC address of the same multi-link terminal device is different, but one of the link-level MAC addresses of the multi-link terminal device may be the same as the MLD-level MAC address. Therefore, the link identifiers corresponding to multiple links of the same link terminal device are different, and one of the link identifiers may also be the same as the terminal identifier. When the frame used for multi-link terminal device identification only carries the link-level MAC address, the first frame only needs to carry the link identifier, and when the link identifier is the same as the terminal identifier, the first frame only needs to carry the terminal identifier or the link identifier. When the frame used for multi-link terminal device identification carries both the current link-level MAC address and the MLD-level MAC address, the first frame carries the terminal identifier and a link identifier. When a frame used for multi-link terminal device identification carries a MAC address of the current link level, MAC addresses of other link levels, and a MAC address of the MLD level at the same time, the first frame carries a terminal identifier and multiple link identifiers.

[0167] It should be noted that the terminal identifier and the link identifier can be configured through a multi-link terminal device or a multi-link network device.

[0168] It should be noted that the first frame is encrypted and transmitted between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device. Therefore, the terminal identifier and link identifier carried by the first frame cannot be sniffed and tracked by a third-party device, thereby improving the security of communication transmission.

[0169] It should be noted that the first frame is a frame sent by the multi-link terminal device to the multi-link network device, and the frame is usually used to request a connection with the multi-link network device, such as an association request frame in the FILS mode.

[0170] It should be noted that the encrypted transmission of the first frame can be achieved through a key. Specifically, the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device generate a multi-link operation-level pairwise transmission key (Pairwise Transient, KeyPTK) and a link-level group temporary key (Group Temporal Key, GTK) on a link through a four-way handshake, which are used to encrypt and decrypt the transmitted unicast data frames and anchor data frames, respectively, to ensure the security of data transmission.

[0171] It is understandable that, referring to Fig.17 Step S220 also includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0172] Step S230: The multi-link network device sends a fourth frame to the multi-link terminal device, where the fourth frame is a response frame to the first frame.

[0173] It should be noted that after receiving the first frame, the multi-link network device identifies the terminal identifier and the link identifier, that is, determines whether the same terminal identifier and link identifier are stored in other multi-link network devices locally or associated with the local area, generates a fourth frame based on the determination result, and sends the fourth frame to the multi-link terminal device. Thus, the fourth frame is a response frame to the first frame. When the fourth frame indicates that the same terminal identifier and link identifier are stored in the network locally or associated with the local area of ​​the multi-link network device, the multi-link terminal device establishes a multi-link connection with the multi-link network device and performs data transmission. Otherwise, the connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device cannot be successfully established.

[0174] It is understandable that, referring to Figure 4 and Figure 5 The first frame and / or the fourth frame includes a first target field, the terminal identifier includes a device identifier, the first target field includes a device identifier information field, and the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier is located in the device identifier information field.

[0175] It should be noted that the terminal identifier of the multi-link terminal device can be set to a device ID, which is the device ID of the multi-link terminal device. The multi-link network device can obtain the ID of the multi-link terminal device by identifying the device ID.

[0176] It should be noted that the link identifier may also be represented by a device identifier, and each link identifier is provided with a corresponding device identifier.

[0177] It should be noted that the first frame and the fourth frame contain the first target field. The structural diagram of the first target field is shown in FIG. Figure 4 or Figure 5 As shown, the first target field includes a device identification information field (device ID info.), and the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier are set in the device identification information field. The device identification information field can contain multiple different device identifiers, and the number of bytes (Octets) of the device identification information field is variable, and its specific value can be set according to the number of terminal identifiers and link identifiers.

[0178] It is understandable that, referring to Figure 4 and Figure 5The first target field also includes a device identification recognition status field, and the device identification recognition status field is used to indicate whether the device identification of the multi-link terminal device is recognized.

[0179] It should be noted that the first target field also includes a device identification status field (Device ID Status), and the device identification status field is used to indicate whether the device identification of the multi-link terminal device is identified.

[0180] It should be noted that the device identification status field is set to 1 byte. When the device identification status field is 0, the device identification of the multi-link terminal device is not identified. When the device identification status field is 1, the device identification of the multi-link terminal device can be identified.

[0181] It should be noted that the fourth frame received by the multi-link terminal device is a response frame based on the first frame sent by the multi-link network device. When the multi-link network device can identify the terminal identifier of the multi-link terminal device, the device identifier identification status field is 1, and the multi-link network device and the multi-link terminal device can establish a connection. When the multi-link network device cannot identify the terminal identifier of the multi-link terminal device, the device identifier identification status field is 0, and the connection between the multi-link network device and the multi-link terminal device fails to be established.

[0182] It is understandable that, referring to Figures 4 to 6 The first target field also includes a device identification control bitmap field, and the device identification control bitmap field includes one or more of the following fields:

[0183] The device identification status tag is used to indicate whether the first target field includes a device identification status field.

[0184] The device identification tag is used to indicate whether the device identification information field contains the device identification.

[0185] Multiple link tags are respectively used to indicate whether the device identification information field contains a corresponding link identifier.

[0186] The device identifier and the link identifier share an indicator tag, which is used to indicate whether the device identifier and the link identifier have the same value.

[0187] It should be noted that the first target field also includes a device identification control bitmap field (Device ID controlbitmap), which is compatible with the multi-link operation technology. The setting of the device identification control bitmap field provides a basis for the multi-link connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0188] It should be noted that the device identification status tag (Device ID Status) is used to indicate whether the first target field includes the device identification status field. The device identification status tag occupies 1 bit. When the device identification status tag is 0, the first target field does not include the device identification status field. When the device identification status tag is 1, the first target field includes the device identification status field.

[0189] It should be noted that the multi-link terminal device sends the first frame to the multi-link network device. Although the first frame contains a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, the terminal identifier in the first frame is pre-configured, and the device identifier in the terminal identifier is the device identifier of the multi-link terminal device. Therefore, the first target field of the first frame does not include a device identifier recognition field, and the device identifier recognition status label is correspondingly set to 0.

[0190] It should be noted that the fourth frame is a response frame to the first frame. After the multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device according to the terminal identifier in the first frame, it generates a fourth frame and sends the fourth frame to the multi-link terminal device. Therefore, the first target field corresponding to the fourth frame includes a device identification field, and the device identification status tag is 1.

[0191] It should be noted that, refer to Figure 6 , the multiple link labels are respectively the first link label (1st.link ID), the second link label (2nd.link ID) and the third link label (3rd.link ID), each link label corresponds to the corresponding link, and can indicate whether the device identification information field contains the link identifier of the corresponding link. When the link label is 1, it means that the corresponding link identifier is included in the subsequent device identification information field, and when the link label is 0, the device identification information field does not contain the corresponding link identifier.

[0192] It should be noted that Figure 6The device identification control bitmap field shown is provided with three link labels, namely, the first link label, the second link label and the third link label, and each link label occupies 1 bit. The multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device both include three links, namely, the first link, the second link and the third link. The multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device can be connected through any one or more of the three links, and the first link, the second link and the third link are respectively provided with corresponding link identifiers. For the first frame, when the multiple link labels are 1, it indicates that the multi-link terminal device expects to establish a connection with the corresponding link with the multi-link network device. For example, when the first link label and the second link label in the first target field of the first frame are 1 and the third link label is 0, the device identification information field only includes the link identifiers corresponding to the first link and the second link, and the multi-link terminal device expects to establish a connection with the multi-link device on the first link and the second link. For the fourth frame, the values ​​of the multiple link labels in the first target field correspond to the first frame. When the identification status field is 1, the device identification of the multi-link terminal device can be recognized by the multi-link network device.

[0193] It should be noted that if the multi-link network device is identified successfully and the device identifier of the multi-link terminal device can be identified by the multi-link network device, then the identification status field of the fourth frame is 1. Based on this, the multi-link terminal device can send a connection request to the multi-link network device so that the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device can establish a connection between the corresponding links and realize a multi-link connection.

[0194] It should be noted that Figure 6 The device identification control bitmap field is only an example, and the number of link labels can be set to be more or less. The number of link labels in the device identification control bitmap field is determined by the number of links of the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0195] It should be noted that the device identification control bitmap field contains a device identification and link identification sharing indicator tag, which occupies 1 bit and is used to identify whether the device identification and link identification have the same value. In the multi-link operation technology, one of the link-level MAC addresses of the multi-link terminal device may be the same as the MLD-level MAC address. Therefore, the link identifiers corresponding to multiple links of the same link terminal device are different, but one of the link identifiers may also be the same as the terminal identifier. When the device identification and the link identifier are the same, the device identification and link identification sharing indicator tag is 1, otherwise it is 0.

[0196] In an exemplary embodiment, the device identifier and link identifier sharing indicator are implicit. Specifically, the communication protocol stipulates that the terminal identifier and the link identifier are the same. Therefore, the first target field under the protocol does not need to set the device identifier and link identifier sharing indicator separately.

[0197] It should be noted that, refer to Figure 6 The device identification control bitmap field also includes a reserved tag (Reserved), which occupies 2 bits.

[0198] It is understandable that, referring to Figure 7 , the device identification information field includes a length field and a device identification field.

[0199] It should be noted that the device identification information field includes a length field (length) and a device identification field (Device ID). The device identification field is used to store the device identification of the multi-link terminal device, and the length field is used to indicate the length of the device identification of the multi-link terminal device.

[0200] It is understandable that, referring to Figure 8 The first frame and the fourth frame include a media access control MAC header and a frame body respectively, the first target field is located in the MAC header or the frame body, and the first target field is a device identification element field or a device identification key data encapsulation field.

[0201] It should be noted that the first frame and the fourth frame include a media access control MAC header and a frame body (Framebody) respectively, and the first target field is located in the frame body or the MAC header. The first target field is a device identification element field or a device identification key data encapsulation field.

[0202] It should be noted that when the terminal identifier and the link identifier are the same, the terminal identifier is located in the Transmitter Address (TA) or Receiver Address (RA) field of the MAC header. When the terminal identifier and the link identifier are different, the terminal identifier is located in the frame body, and the link identifier is located in the Transmitter Address or Receiver Address field of the MAC header.

[0203] It should be noted that, refer to Figure 4, the device identification element field includes the element identification field (Element ID), the length information field (Length), the element identification extension field (Element ID Extension), the device identification control bitmap field (Device ID control bitmap), the device identification status field (Device ID Status) and the device identification information field (Device ID info.). Among them, the element identification field, the length information field, the element identification information extension field, the device identification control bitmap field, and the device identification status field are all one byte, and the number of bytes of the device identification information field is set to be variable.

[0204] It should be noted that, refer to Figure 5 During the transmission of the first frame and the fourth frame, in order to improve the security of information transmission, the device identification element field is usually encrypted for transmission. After the device identification element field is encrypted, the device identification key data encapsulation field is obtained, which includes the device identification control bitmap field (Device ID control bitmap), the device identification status field (Device ID Status) and the device identification information field (Device ID info.). Among them, the device identification control bitmap field and the device identification status field are both one byte, and the number of bytes of the device identification information field is set to be variable.

[0205] It should be noted that, refer to Figure 6 and Figure 7 The structure and purpose of the device identification control bitmap field, the device identification identification status field and the device identification information field in the device identification element field and the device identification key data encapsulation field are the same. The device identification control bitmap field includes a device identification identification status tag, a device identification tag, multiple link tags, a device identification and link identification sharing indicator tag and a reserved tag. The device identification information field includes a length field and a device identification field.

[0206] It is understandable that, referring to Fig. 9 and Fig.10 The first frame and / or the fourth frame includes a second target field, the terminal identifier includes an identifiable random media access control address IRM, the second target field includes an IRM field, and the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier is located in the IRM field.

[0207] It should be noted that the terminal identifier of the multi-link terminal device can be set to an identifiable random media access control address IRM. The IRM is a media access control address randomly assigned to the multi-link terminal device. The multi-link network device can obtain the media access control address of the multi-link terminal device through the IRM, thereby establishing a connection with the multi-link terminal device.

[0208] It should be noted that the link identifier may also be represented by an identifiable random media access control address IRM, and each link identifier is provided with a corresponding identifiable random media access control address IRM.

[0209] It should be noted that the first frame and the fourth frame contain the second target field. The structural diagram of the second target field is shown in FIG. Fig. 9 or Fig.10 As shown, the second target field includes an IRM field, and the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier are set in the IRM field. The IRM field can contain multiple different IRMs, and the number of bytes (Octets) of the IRM field is 6N, where 6 is the number of bytes of an IRM, and N is the total number of terminal identifiers and link identifiers carried by the first frame and / or the fourth frame, that is, the total number of IRMs. The setting of the number of bytes of the IRM field facilitates the first frame and / or the fourth frame to carry the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier.

[0210] It is understandable that, referring to Fig. 9 and Fig.10 The second target field also includes an IRM identification status field, and the IRM identification status field is used to indicate whether the IRM of the multi-link terminal device is identified.

[0211] It should be noted that the second target field also includes an IRM identification status field (Device ID Status), and the IRM identification status field is used to indicate whether the IRM of the multi-link terminal device is identified.

[0212] It should be noted that the IRM identification status field is set to 1 byte. When the IRM identification status field is 0, the IRM of the multi-link terminal device is not identified. When the device identification identification status field is 1, the IRM of the multi-link terminal device can be identified.

[0213] It should be noted that the fourth frame received by the multi-link terminal device is a response frame based on the first frame sent by the multi-link network device. When the multi-link network device can recognize the IRM of the multi-link terminal device, the IRM identification status field is 1, and when the multi-link network device cannot recognize the IRM of the multi-link terminal device, the IRM identification status field is 0.

[0214] It is understandable that, referring to Figures 9 to 11The second target field also includes an IRM control bitmap field, and the IRM control bitmap field includes one or more of the following fields:

[0215] The IRM identification status tag is used to indicate whether the second target field contains an IRM identification status field.

[0216] IRM tag, used to indicate whether the IRM field contains IRM.

[0217] Multiple link tags are used to indicate whether the IRM field contains a corresponding link identifier.

[0218] The IRM and link identifier share an indicator tag, which is used to indicate whether the IRM and link identifier have the same value.

[0219] It should be noted that the second target field also includes an IRM control bitmap field (IRM control bitmap). The IRM control bitmap field is adapted to the multi-link operation technology. The setting of the IRM control bitmap field provides a basis for the multi-link connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0220] It should be noted that the IRM identification status tag (IRM ID Status) is used to indicate whether the second target field includes the IRM identification status field. The IRM identification status tag occupies 1 bit. When the IRM identification status tag is 0, the second target field does not include the IRM identification status field. When the IRM identification status tag is 1, the second target field includes the IRM identification status field.

[0221] It should be noted that the multi-link terminal device sends the first frame to the multi-link network device. Although the first frame contains a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, the terminal identifier in the first frame is pre-configured, and the device identifier in the terminal identifier is the device identifier of the multi-link terminal device. Therefore, the second target field of the first frame does not contain the IRM identification field, and the IRM identification status tag is correspondingly set to 0.

[0222] It should be noted that the fourth frame is a response frame to the first frame. After the multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device according to the terminal identifier in the first frame, it generates the fourth frame and sends the fourth frame to the multi-link terminal device. Therefore, the second target field corresponding to the fourth frame contains the IRM identification field, and the IRM identification status tag is 1.

[0223] It should be noted that, refer to Fig.11, the multiple link labels are respectively the first link label (1st.link ID), the second link label (2nd.link ID) and the third link label (3rd.link ID), each link label corresponds to the corresponding link, and can indicate whether the IRM field contains the link identifier of the corresponding link. When the link label is 1, it means that the corresponding link identifier is included in the subsequent IRM field, and when the link label is 0, the IRM field does not contain the corresponding link identifier.

[0224] It should be noted that Fig.11 The IRM control bitmap field shown is provided with three link tags, namely, the first link tag, the second link tag and the third link tag, and each link tag occupies 1 bit. The multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device both include three links, namely, the first link, the second link and the third link. The multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device can be connected through any one or more of the three links, and the first link, the second link and the third link are respectively provided with corresponding link identifiers. For the first frame, when the multiple link tags are 1, it indicates that the multi-link terminal device expects to establish a connection with the corresponding link with the multi-link network device. For example, when the first link tag and the second link tag in the second target field of the first frame are 1 and the third link tag is 0, the IRM field only includes the link identifiers corresponding to the first link and the second link, and the multi-link terminal device expects to establish a connection with the multi-link device on the first link and the second link. For the fourth frame, the values ​​of the multiple link tags in the second target field correspond to those of the first frame. When the identification status field is 1, the IRM of the multi-link terminal device can be recognized by the multi-link network device.

[0225] It should be noted that if the multi-link network device is identified successfully and the device identifier of the multi-link terminal device can be identified by the multi-link network device, then the identification status field of the fourth frame is 1. Based on this, the multi-link terminal device can send a connection request to the multi-link network device so that the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device can establish a connection between the corresponding links and realize a multi-link connection.

[0226] It should be noted that Fig.11 The IRM control bitmap field is just an example. The number of link labels can be set to more or less. The number of link labels in the IRM control bitmap field is determined by the number of links of the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0227] It should be noted that the IRM control bitmap field contains an IRM and link identifier sharing indicator tag, which occupies 1 bit and is used to identify whether the IRM and link identifier have the same value. In the multi-link operation technology, one of the link-level MAC addresses of the multi-link terminal device may be the same as the MLD-level MAC address. Therefore, the link identifiers corresponding to multiple links of the same link terminal device are different, but one of the link identifiers may be the same as the terminal identifier. When the terminal identifier IRM is the same as the IRM corresponding to the link identifier, the IRM and link identifier sharing indicator tag is 1, otherwise it is 0.

[0228] In an exemplary embodiment, the IRM and link identifier sharing indicator are implicit. Specifically, the communication protocol stipulates that the terminal identifier and the link identifier are the same. Therefore, the second target field under the protocol does not need to set the IRM and link identifier sharing indicator separately.

[0229] It should be noted that, refer to Fig.11 The IRM control bitmap field also includes a reserved tag (Reserved), which occupies 2 bits.

[0230] It is understandable that, referring to Figure 8 The first frame and the fourth frame include a media access control MAC header and a frame body respectively, the second target field is located in the MAC header or the frame body, and the second target field is an IRM element field or an IRM key data encapsulation field.

[0231] It should be noted that the first frame and the fourth frame include a media access control MAC header and a frame body respectively, and the second target field is located in the frame body. The second target field is an IRM element field or an IRM key data encapsulation field.

[0232] It should be noted that when the terminal identifier and the link identifier in the second target field are the same, the terminal identifier is located in the Transmitter Address (TA) or Receiver Address (RA) field of the MAC header. When the terminal identifier and the link identifier are different, the terminal identifier is located in the frame body, and the link identifier is located in the Transmitter Address or Receiver Address field of the MAC header.

[0233] It should be noted that, refer to Fig. 9, the IRM element field includes the element identification field (Element ID), the length information field (Length), the element identification extension field (Element ID Extension), the IRM control bitmap field (IRM control bitmap), the IRM identification status field (IRM Status) and the IRM information field (IRM info.). Among them, the element identification field, the length information field, the element identification information extension field, the IRM control bitmap field, and the IRM identification status field are all one byte, and the number of bytes of the IRM field is set to 6N, where N is the number of IRMs.

[0234] It should be noted that, refer to Fig.10 During the transmission of the first frame and the fourth frame, in order to improve the security of information transmission, the IRM element field is usually encrypted for transmission. After the IRM element field is encrypted, the IRM key data encapsulation field is obtained, which includes the IRM control bitmap field (IRM control bitmap), the IRM identification status field (IRM Status) and the IRM field (IRM info.). Among them, the IRM control bitmap field and the IRM identification status field are both one byte, and the number of bytes of the IRM field is set to be variable.

[0235] It should be noted that, refer to Fig.11 The structure and purpose of the IRM control bitmap field, IRM identification status field and IRM information field in the IRM element field and the IRM key data encapsulation field are the same. The IRM control bitmap field includes an IRM identification status tag, an IRM tag, multiple link tags, an IRM and link identifier sharing indicator tag and a reservation tag.

[0236] Reference Fig.18 , the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier is generated by the multi-link terminal device; before step S210, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0237] Step S240: The multi-link network device receives the second frame sent by the multi-link terminal device.

[0238] Step S250: The multi-link network device obtains a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier from the second frame.

[0239] It should be noted that before the multi-link network device receives the first frame sent by the multi-link terminal device, the multi-link network device receives the second frame sent by the multi-link terminal device and obtains the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier from the second frame. The multi-link network device saves the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier carried by the second frame locally or in other multi-link network devices associated with the local device, so that the multi-link network device can later identify the terminal identifier and the link identifier.

[0240] It can be understood that the second frame includes at least one of the following: the second authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; the fourth authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; the (re)association request frame in the fast initial connection establishment FILS process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; the first authentication frame in the PASN three-way handshake process for security negotiation before connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; the third authentication frame in the PSAN three-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0241] It should be noted that the four-way handshake protocol is used to negotiate unicast keys, and its main purpose is to determine that the keys obtained by the applicant and the authenticator are the same and the latest. The required pairwise transmission key (PTK) can be generated by the four-way handshake, and the specific process is as follows: the multi-link network device sends the first authentication frame in the four-way handshake to the multi-link terminal device. The multi-link terminal device sends the second authentication frame in the four-way handshake to the multi-link network device. When the multi-link network device receives the second authentication frame in the four-way handshake, it generates the PTK on the multi-link network device side and replies to the multi-link terminal device with the third authentication frame in the four-way handshake. When the multi-link terminal device receives the third authentication frame in the four-way handshake, it generates the PTK on the multi-link terminal device side, and the multi-link terminal device replies to the fourth authentication frame in the four-way handshake to the multi-link network device. Therefore, the second frame includes the second authentication frame and the fourth authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0242] It should be noted that the (re)association request frame of the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device in the process of establishing the FILS fast initial connection is also the second frame. The fast initial connection is mainly used to accelerate the connection between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device. The fast initial connection establishment FILS is defined in 802.11ai, which enables the wireless access point (AP), that is, the multi-link network device to periodically send a discovery frame with a period of 20 milliseconds. Compared with the beacon, its period is shorter, so that the multi-link terminal device can discover the multi-link network device faster. In addition, the (re)association of FILS contains the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) information, which can configure the address at the same time as the association.

[0243] It should be noted that the link terminal device and the multi-link network device are the third authentication frames in the PSAN three-way handshake process.

[0244] It should be noted that, refer to Fig.13In the first connection process, the first terminal device in the multi-link terminal device discovers the multi-link network device supporting the multi-link operation technology by receiving beacon and / or probe response frames; the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device complete the multi-link authentication and connection through the multi-link authentication and association process; in the four-way handshake process, the frame sent by the first terminal device of the multi-link terminal device to the first network device contains a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, and the frame is the second frame. After receiving the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, the first network device of the multi-link network device saves it locally or in other multi-link network devices associated with the local; after the multi-link terminal device completes the communication with the multi-link network device, it disconnects through the disassociation and de-authentication processes. During the second connection process, on the second link, i.e., the link connecting the second network device and the second terminal device, the multi-link terminal device sends an identifiable management frame that may carry a second link identifier to the multi-link network device; on the second link, after receiving the management frame, the multi-link network device generates a corresponding management frame response; on the first link, i.e., the link connecting the first network device and the first terminal device, the multi-link terminal device sends an identifiable management frame that may carry a first link identifier to the multi-link network device; on the first link, after receiving the management frame, the multi-link network device generates a corresponding management frame response. response); on the first or second link, the multi-link terminal device sends an authentication (Authentication) and (re)association ((re)Association) frame carrying the terminal identifier to the multi-link network device; after receiving the authentication and (re)association frame carrying the terminal identifier, the multi-link network device retrieves the corresponding terminal identifier information on the corresponding link and responds; during the four-way handshake process, the multi-link network device indicates whether the multi-link terminal device can be identified by the terminal identifier, and the frame sent by the multi-link terminal device to the multi-link network device includes but is not limited to a new terminal identifier and / or at least one new link identifier.

[0245] It is understandable that, referring to Fig.19, the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier is generated by the multi-link network device; before step S210, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0246] Step S260: The multi-link network device sends a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier to the multi-link terminal device via a third frame.

[0247] It should be noted that before the multi-link network device receives the first frame sent by the multi-link terminal device, a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier is sent to the multi-link terminal device through a third frame. The terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier are generated by the multi-link network device. The sending of the third frame enables the multi-link network device and the multi-link terminal device to have the same terminal identifier and link identifier, which facilitates the multi-link network device to identify the terminal identifier and link identifier later.

[0248] It can be understood that the third frame includes at least one of the following: the third authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; the (re)association response frame in the FILS process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; the second authentication frame in the PASN three-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0249] It should be noted that the four-way handshake protocol is used to negotiate unicast keys, and its main purpose is to determine that the keys obtained by the applicant and the authenticator are the same and the latest. The required pairwise transmission key (PTK) can be generated by the four-way handshake, and the specific process is as follows: the multi-link network device sends the first authentication frame in the four-way handshake to the multi-link terminal device. The multi-link terminal device sends the second authentication frame in the four-way handshake to the multi-link network device. When the multi-link network device receives the second authentication frame in the four-way handshake, it generates the PTK on the multi-link network device side and replies to the multi-link terminal device with the third authentication frame in the four-way handshake. When the multi-link terminal device receives the third authentication frame in the four-way handshake, it generates the PTK on the multi-link terminal device side, and the multi-link terminal device replies to the fourth authentication frame in the four-way handshake to the multi-link network device. Therefore, the third frame includes the third authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

[0250] It should be noted that the (re)association response frame corresponds to the (re)association request frame.

[0251] It should be noted that, refer to Fig.15 In the first connection process, the first terminal device in the multi-link terminal device discovers the multi-link network device that supports the multi-link operation technology by receiving beacon and / or probe response frames; the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device complete the multi-link authentication and connection through the multi-link authentication and connection processes; in the four-way handshake process, the frame sent by the first network device of the multi-link network device to the first terminal device contains a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, and the frame is the second frame. After receiving the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, the first terminal device of the multi-link terminal device saves it locally or in other multi-link network devices associated with the local; after the multi-link terminal device completes the communication with the multi-link network device, it disconnects through the disassociation and de-authentication processes. During the second connection process, on the second link, i.e., the link connecting the second network device and the second terminal device, the multi-link terminal device sends an identifiable management frame that may carry a second link identifier to the multi-link network device; on the second link, after receiving the management frame, the multi-link network device generates a corresponding management frame response; on the first link, i.e., the link connecting the first network device and the first terminal device, the multi-link terminal device sends an identifiable management frame that may carry a first link identifier to the multi-link network device; on the first link, after receiving the management frame, the multi-link network device generates a corresponding management frame response. response); on the first or second link, the multi-link terminal device sends an authentication (Authentication) and (re)association ((re)Association) frame carrying the terminal identifier to the multi-link network device; after receiving the authentication and (re)association frame carrying the terminal identifier, the multi-link network device retrieves the corresponding terminal identifier information on the corresponding link and responds; during the four-way handshake process, the multi-link network device indicates whether the multi-link terminal device can be identified by the terminal identifier, and the frame sent by the multi-link network device to the multi-link terminal device includes but is not limited to the new terminal identifier and / or at least one new link identifier.

[0252] It can be understood that the first frame is an access network query protocol ANQP request frame, and the fourth frame includes one or more recommended connection multi-link network device information and link information corresponding to each recommended connection multi-link network device information.

[0253] It should be noted that the multi-link terminal device sends an ANQP request frame (ANQPneighbour query) to the multi-link network device, and the multi-link network device can implement access control (Access Control) based on the terminal identifier or link identifier provided by the multi-link network device. Specifically, the multi-link terminal device sends an ANQP request frame containing a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier to the multi-link network device, and the multi-link network device identifies the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier in the ANQP request frame, thereby implementing a multi-link connection with the multi-link terminal device.

[0254] It can be understood that the first frame is a connection request frame; the fourth frame contains one or more of the following information: link indication information allowing link establishment, the number of links allowed to establish link connections, whether the link requested for connection is allowed to establish a connection, and whether the terminal device requested for connection is allowed to establish a connection.

[0255] It should be noted that the multi-link network device identifies the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier of the first frame, i.e., the connection request frame, determines whether it is the same as the existing terminal identifier and link identifier, and generates a fourth frame, which includes one or more of the following information: link indication information allowing link establishment, the number of links allowed to establish link connections, whether the link requested to be connected is allowed to establish a connection, and whether the terminal device requesting to be connected is allowed to establish a connection.

[0256] In addition, refer to Fig. 20 An embodiment of the present application also provides an electronic device, comprising one or more processors; a memory on which one or more programs are stored, and when the one or more programs are executed by one or more processors, the one or more processors implement: the communication method as described in steps S110 to S120, or the communication method as described in steps S210 to S220.

[0257] The processor and the memory may be connected via a bus or other means.

[0258] The memory, as a non-transient computer-readable storage medium, can be used to store non-transient software programs and non-transient computer executable programs. In addition, the memory may include a high-speed random access memory, and may also include a non-transient memory, such as at least one disk storage device, a flash memory device, or other non-transient solid-state storage device. In some embodiments, the memory may optionally include a memory remotely disposed relative to the processor, and these remote memories may be connected to the processor via a network. Examples of the above-mentioned network include, but are not limited to, the Internet, an intranet, a local area network, a mobile communication network, and combinations thereof.

[0259] The non-transient software program and instructions required to implement the communication method of the above embodiment are stored in the memory, and when executed by the processor, the communication method of the above embodiment is executed, for example, the above described Figure 2 The communication method described in steps S110 to S120 of the method, or executing the communication method described above Fig.16 The communication method described in method steps S210 to S220.

[0260] The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative, and the units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0261] In addition, an embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer-executable instructions. The computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor or controller, so that the above-mentioned processor can execute the communication method in the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0262] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that all or some of the steps and systems in the disclosed method above may be implemented as software, firmware, hardware and appropriate combinations thereof. Some physical components or all physical components may be implemented as software executed by a processor, such as a central processing unit, a digital signal processor or a microprocessor, or may be implemented as hardware, or may be implemented as an integrated circuit, such as an application specific integrated circuit. Such software may be distributed on a computer-readable medium, which may include a computer storage medium (or a non-transitory medium) and a communication medium (or a temporary medium). As known to those skilled in the art, the term computer storage medium includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storing information (such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data). Computer storage media include, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technologies, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tapes, disk storage or other magnetic storage media, or any other medium that may be used to store desired information and may be accessed by a computer. Furthermore, it is well known to those skilled in the art that communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and may include any information delivery media.

[0263] The embodiments of the present application are described in detail above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to the above embodiments. Various changes can be made within the knowledge of ordinary technicians in the relevant technical field without departing from the purpose of the present application. In addition, the embodiments of the present application and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict.

Claims

1. A communication method, the method comprising: The multi-link terminal device obtains a pre-configured terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier; The multi-link terminal device sends a first frame to a multi-link network device, wherein the first frame includes the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, so that the multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device and / or the link according to the terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: The multi-link terminal device receives a fourth frame sent by the multi-link network device, where the fourth frame is a response frame to the first frame.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The first frame and / or the fourth frame comprises a first target field, the terminal identifier comprises a device identifier, the first target field comprises a device identifier information field, and the terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers are located in the device identifier information field.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The first target field also includes a device identification recognition status field, and the device identification recognition status field is used to indicate whether the device identification of the multi-link terminal device is recognized.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The first target field also includes a device identification control bitmap field, and the device identification control bitmap field includes one or more of the following fields: A device identification status tag, used to indicate whether the first target field includes the device identification status field; A device identification tag, used to indicate whether the device identification information field contains the device identification; A plurality of link tags, each used to indicate whether the device identification information field contains the corresponding link identifier; The device identifier and the link identifier share an indicator tag, which is used to indicate whether the device identifier and the link identifier have the same value.

6. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The device identification information field includes a length field and a device identification field.

7. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The first frame and the fourth frame include a media access control MAC header and a frame body respectively, the first target field is located in the MAC header or the frame body, and the first target field is a device identification element field or a device identification key data encapsulation field.

8. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The first frame and / or the fourth frame comprises a second target field, the terminal identifier comprises an identifiable random media access control address IRM, the second target field comprises an IRM field, the terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers are located in the IRM field.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The second target field also includes an IRM identification status field, and the IRM identification status field is used to indicate whether the IRM of the multi-link terminal device is identified.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The second target field also includes an IRM control bitmap field, and the IRM control bitmap field includes one or more of the following fields: An IRM identification status tag, used to indicate whether the second target field includes the IRM identification status field; An IRM tag is used to indicate whether the IRM field contains the IRM; A plurality of link tags, each used to indicate whether the IRM field contains the corresponding link identifier; The IRM and the link identifier share an indicator tag, which is used to indicate whether the IRM and the link identifier have the same value.

11. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The first frame and the fourth frame respectively include a media access control MAC header and a frame body, the second target field is located in the MAC header or the frame body, and the second target field is an IRM element field or an IRM key data encapsulation field.

12. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers are generated by the multi-link terminal device; Before the multi-link terminal device sends the first frame to the multi-link network device, the method further includes: The multi-link terminal device sends the terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers to the multi-link network device through a second frame.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The second frame includes at least one of the following: A second authentication frame in a four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; The fourth authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; A (re)association request frame of the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device during the process of establishing a FILS fast initial connection; The multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device securely negotiate the first authentication frame in the PASN three-way handshake process before connection; The third authentication frame in the PSAN three-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

14. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers are generated by the multi-link network device; Before the multi-link terminal device acquires a pre-configured terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier, the method further includes: The multi-link terminal device receives a third frame sent by the multi-link network device; The multi-link terminal device obtains the terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers from the third frame.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The third frame includes at least one of the following: The third authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; (re)association response of the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device in the FILS process association response frame; The second authentication frame between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device in the PASN three-way handshake process.

16. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The first frame is an access network query protocol ANQP request frame, and the fourth frame includes one or more recommended connection multi-link network device information and link information corresponding to each piece of recommended connection multi-link network device information.

17. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The first frame is a connection request frame; The fourth frame includes one or more of the following information: link indication information allowing link establishment, the number of links allowed to establish link connections, whether the link requested to be connected is allowed to establish a connection, and whether the terminal device requesting to be connected is allowed to establish a connection.

18. A communication method, the method comprising: The multi-link network device receives a first frame sent by a multi-link terminal device, wherein the first frame includes a terminal identifier and / or at least one link identifier; The multi-link network device identifies the multi-link terminal device and the link according to the terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The method further comprises: The multi-link network device sends a fourth frame to the multi-link terminal device, where the fourth frame is a response frame to the first frame.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that The first frame and / or the fourth frame comprises a first target field, the terminal identifier comprises a device identifier, the first target field comprises a device identifier information field, and the terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers are located in the device identifier information field.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that The first target field also includes a device identification recognition status field, and the device identification recognition status field is used to indicate whether the device identification of the multi-link terminal device is recognized.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that The first target field also includes a device identification control bitmap field, and the device identification control bitmap field includes one or more of the following fields: A device identification status tag, used to indicate whether the first target field includes the device identification status field; A device identification tag, used to indicate whether the device identification information field contains the device identification; A plurality of link tags, each used to indicate whether the device identification information field contains the corresponding link identifier; The device identifier and the link identifier share an indicator tag, which is used to indicate whether the device identifier and the link identifier have the same value.

23. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that The device identification information field includes a length field and a device identification field.

24. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that The first frame and the fourth frame include a media access control MAC header and a frame body respectively, the first target field is located in the MAC header or the frame body, and the first target field is a device identification element field or a device identification key data encapsulation field.

25. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that The first frame and / or the fourth frame comprises a second target field, the terminal identifier comprises an identifiable random media access control address IRM, the second target field comprises an IRM field, the terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers are located in the IRM field.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that The second target field also includes an IRM identification status field, and the IRM identification status field is used to indicate whether the IRM of the multi-link terminal device is identified.

27. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that The second target field also includes an IRM control bitmap field, and the IRM control bitmap field includes one or more of the following fields: An IRM identification status tag, used to indicate whether the second target field includes the IRM identification status field; An IRM tag is used to indicate whether the IRM field contains the IRM; A plurality of link tags, each used to indicate whether the IRM field contains the corresponding link identifier; The IRM and the link identifier share an indicator tag, which is used to indicate whether the IRM and the link identifier have the same value.

28. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that The first frame and the fourth frame respectively include a media access control MAC header and a frame body, the second target field is located in the MAC header or the frame body, and the second target field is an IRM element field or an IRM key data encapsulation field.

29. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers are generated by the multi-link terminal device; Before the multi-link network device receives a first frame sent by a multi-link terminal device, the method further includes: The multi-link network device receives a second frame sent by the multi-link terminal device; The multi-link network device obtains the terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers from the second frame.

30. The method according to claim 29, characterized in that The second frame includes at least one of the following: A second authentication frame in a four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; The fourth authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; A (re)association request frame of the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device during the process of establishing a FILS fast initial connection; The multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device securely negotiate the first authentication frame in the PASN three-way handshake process before connection; The third authentication frame in the PSAN three-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device.

31. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers are generated by the multi-link network device; Before the multi-link network device receives a first frame sent by a multi-link terminal device, the method further includes: The multi-link network device sends the terminal identifier and / or at least one of the link identifiers to the multi-link terminal device via a third frame.

32. The method according to claim 31, characterized in that The third frame includes at least one of the following: The third authentication frame in the four-way handshake process between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device; (re)association response of the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device in the FILS process association response frame; The second authentication frame between the multi-link terminal device and the multi-link network device in the PASN three-way handshake process.

33. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that The first frame is an access network query protocol ANQP request frame, and the fourth frame includes one or more recommended connection multi-link network device information and link information corresponding to each piece of recommended connection multi-link network device information.

34. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that The first frame is a connection request frame; The fourth frame includes one or more of the following information: link indication information allowing link establishment, the number of links allowed to establish link connections, whether the link requested to be connected is allowed to establish a connection, and whether the terminal device requesting to be connected is allowed to establish a connection.

35. An electronic device comprising: one or more processors; A memory having one or more programs stored thereon, when the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement: The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 17; or, A communication method as described in any one of claims 18 to 34.

36. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein when the program is executed by a processor, the program implements: The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 17; or, A communication method as described in any one of claims 18 to 34.

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