Terminal roaming method, device, system and program product

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of wireless communication, in particular to a terminal roaming method, device and system and a program product. The method comprises the following steps: a terminal detects that a bound preferred access point has a fault and determines a secondary selected access point trying to be associated, and the secondary selected access point is determined by a first access point set issued to the terminal through a wireless access controller in advance; the terminal sends an association request to the secondarily-selected access point, the association request comprises a customized information element, and the customized information element comprises declaration information ignoring the binding rule, so that the secondarily-selected access point reports the declaration information to the wireless access controller and receives confirmation information issued by the wireless access controller; and the terminal receives association response information issued by the secondary access point to complete association with the secondary access point. Therefore, the terminal can still switch to the secondary access point determined by the wireless access controller under the condition that the hardware is limited, so that the network quality after the terminal is switched can be effectively improved, and the network use experience of a user is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of wireless communication, and in particular, to a terminal roaming method, apparatus, system, and program product. Background Art

[0002] The terminal association policy refers to the rules and mechanisms for terminal devices (such as IoT (Internet of Things) devices, mobile phones, etc.) in a wireless network to select and connect to an access point (AP). When a terminal device supporting 11k / 11v performs a handover, it can actively scan the surrounding available networks through 802.11k to obtain parameters such as signal strength and load, and send instructions to the device through 802.11v for actively guiding the device to switch and optimizing the overall performance.

[0003] However, current IoT devices are limited by hardware reasons and do not support 11k / 11v roaming. During the autonomous handover process, they may connect to an AP with excessive load or poor signal quality, which is likely to cause a poor network experience. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of this, embodiments of this application provide a terminal roaming method, apparatus, system, and program product to solve the problem that existing IoT devices are limited by hardware reasons, do not support 11k / 11v roaming, and may connect to an AP with excessive load or poor signal quality during the autonomous handover process, which is likely to cause a poor network experience.

[0005] The first aspect of the embodiments of this application provides a terminal roaming method, characterized in that the method includes:

[0006] The terminal detects that a preferred access point to which it is bound fails, and determines a secondary access point to attempt to associate with. The secondary access point is determined from a first access point set pre-distributed to the terminal by a wireless access controller;

[0007] The terminal sends an association request to the secondary access point. The association request includes a customized information element, and the customized information element includes a declaration information for ignoring the binding rule, so that the secondary access point reports the declaration information to the wireless access controller and receives a confirmation information sent by the wireless access controller;

[0008] The terminal receives the association response information sent by the secondary access point and completes the association with the secondary access point.

[0009] Combined with the first aspect, in the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, after completing the association with the secondary access point, the method further includes:

[0010] The terminal obtains scan information according to a predetermined scan period. When the scan information indicates that the preferred access point has returned to normal, the terminal reports the scan information to the wireless access controller for confirmation through the secondary access point;

[0011] The terminal receives the latest bound preferred access point issued by the wireless access controller and establishes an association with the preferred access point.

[0012] Combined with the first aspect, in the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, before the terminal detects that the bound preferred access point fails and determines the secondary access point to attempt to associate with, the method further includes:

[0013] The terminal sends a probe request to the access point, causing the access point that receives the probe request to extract the received signal strength of the probe request and send the received signal strength and the load information of the access point to the wireless access controller, and the wireless access controller updates the first access point set;

[0014] The terminal receives the first access point set issued by the wireless access controller.

[0015] Combined with the first aspect, in the third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, before the terminal detects that the bound preferred access point fails and determines the secondary access point to attempt to associate with, the method further includes:

[0016] After the terminal first associates with a random access point, it receives an operation frame sent by the random access point;

[0017] The terminal triggers a full-channel scan according to the operation frame, causing each access point to report the received signal strength of the uplink, the preset access point name, and the received terminal name to the wireless access controller. The wireless access controller determines the preferred access point bound by the terminal according to the terminal name and the access point name, and determines the first access point set according to the received signal strength of the uplink and in combination with the specifications of the terminal and the access point;

[0018] The terminal receives the first access point set and the preferred access point bound by the terminal through a customized operation frame and switches to the preferred access point bound by the terminal.

[0019] Combined with the third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in the fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, determining the first access point set according to the received signal strength of the uplink and in combination with the specifications of the terminal and the access point includes:

[0020] Filtering a second access point set in the basic service set with a received signal strength less than a predetermined threshold according to the received signal strength;

[0021] Determine the equivalent rate of the terminal and the access point according to the received signal strength of the uplink and the specifications of the terminal and each access point in the second access point set;

[0022] Screen the first access point set from the second access point set according to the equivalent rate of each access point.

[0023] Combined with the fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in the fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, screening the first access point set from the second access point set according to the equivalent rate of each access point includes:

[0024] Sort the access points in the second access point set according to the equivalent rate of the access points in the second access point set to obtain an equivalent rate queue;

[0025] Screen the access points in the equivalent rate queue according to the preset load balancing condition, filter out the access points that do not meet the load balancing condition, and obtain the first access point set according to the remaining access points. If all access points are filtered out, determine the first access point set according to the access point with the optimal equivalent rate in the equivalent rate queue.

[0026] Combined with the fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in the sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, determining the equivalent rate of the terminal and the access point according to the received signal strength of the uplink and the specifications of the terminal and each access point in the second access point set includes:

[0027] Determine the equivalent rate of the terminal and the access point according to the access signal strength of the uplink of the terminal, in combination with the radio frequency mode, bandwidth, and number of spatial streams between the terminal and each access point in the second access point set.

[0028] A second aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a terminal roaming device, and the device includes:

[0029] A fault detection unit, configured to determine a secondary access point to be associated when the terminal detects that a bound preferred access point fails, and the secondary access point is determined from the first access point set pre-distributed to the terminal by a wireless access controller;

[0030] An association unit, configured to send an association request from the terminal to the secondary access point, where the association request includes a customized information element, and the customized information element includes a declaration information for ignoring the binding rule, so that the secondary access point reports the declaration information to the wireless access controller and receives a confirmation message sent by the wireless access controller;

[0031] An association completion unit, configured to receive, by the terminal, association response information sent by the secondary access point, and complete the association with the secondary access point.

[0032] In combination with the second aspect, in the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the apparatus further includes:

[0033] A scanning unit, configured to obtain, by the terminal, scanning information according to a predetermined scanning period. When the scanning information includes that the preferred access point returns to normal, the terminal reports the scanning information to the wireless access controller through the secondary access point for confirmation;

[0034] A preferred access point association unit, configured to receive, by the terminal, the latest bound preferred access point sent by the wireless access controller, and establish an association with the preferred access point.

[0035] In combination with the second aspect, in the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the apparatus further includes:

[0036] A detection unit, configured to send, by the terminal, a probe request to an access point, so that the access point that receives the probe request extracts the received signal strength of the probe request, and sends the received signal strength and the load information of the access point to the wireless access controller, and the wireless access controller updates the first access point set;

[0037] A first access point set receiving unit, configured to receive, by the terminal, the first access point set sent by the wireless access controller.

[0038] In combination with the second aspect, in the third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the apparatus further includes:

[0039] An operation frame receiving unit, configured to receive, by the terminal, an operation frame sent by the random access point after the terminal first associates with the random access point;

[0040] A scanning unit, configured to trigger, by the terminal, a full-channel scan according to the operation frame, so that each access point reports the received signal strength of the uplink, a preset access point name, and the received terminal name to the wireless access controller, and the wireless access controller determines the preferred access point bound to the terminal according to the terminal name and the access point name, and determines the first access point set according to the received signal strength of the uplink and in combination with the specifications of the terminal and the access point;

[0041] A switching unit, configured to receive, by the terminal, the first access point set and the preferred access point bound to the terminal through a customized operation frame, and switch to the preferred access point bound to the terminal.

[0042] Combined with the third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in the fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the scanning unit includes:

[0043] A filtering subunit, configured to filter a second access point set in a basic service set with a received signal strength less than a predetermined threshold according to the received signal strength;

[0044] An equivalent rate determination subunit, configured to determine an equivalent rate between the terminal and the access point according to the received signal strength of the uplink and the specifications of the terminal and each access point in the second access point set;

[0045] A first access point set determination subunit, configured to screen out a first access point set from the second access point set according to the equivalent rate of each access point.

[0046] Combined with the fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in the fifth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first access point set determination subunit includes:

[0047] A sorting module, configured to sort the access points in the second access point set according to the equivalent rate of the access points in the second access point set to obtain an equivalent rate queue;

[0048] A load balancing screening module, configured to screen the access points in the equivalent rate queue according to a preset load balancing condition, filter out the access points that do not meet the load balancing condition, and obtain the first access point set according to the remaining access points. If all access points are filtered out, the first access point set is determined according to the access point with the optimal equivalent rate in the equivalent rate queue.

[0049] Combined with the fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in the sixth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the equivalent rate determination subunit is configured to:

[0050] According to the access signal strength of the uplink of the terminal, combined with the radio frequency mode, bandwidth, and number of spatial streams between the terminal and each access point in the second access point set, determine the specifications of the terminal and each access point in the second access point set, and determine the equivalent rate between the terminal and the access point.

[0051] A third aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a terminal roaming system, including a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor. When the processor executes the computer program, the terminal roaming system implements the method according to any one of the first aspect.

[0052] In the fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a computer program product is provided. When it runs on a computer, it causes the computer to execute the methods in the first aspect or its various implementation manners as described above.

[0053] In the fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the method described in any item of the first aspect are implemented.

[0054] In the sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a chip is provided for implementing the methods in the various implementation manners in the first aspect. Specifically, the above chip includes: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, so that a device installed with the above chip executes the methods in the first aspect or its various implementation manners as described above.

[0055] The beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present application compared with the prior art are as follows: When the terminal in the embodiments of the present application detects that a preferred access point to which it is bound fails, it determines a secondary access point in the first access point set pre-distributed by the wireless access controller, and sends an association request to the secondary access point. The association request includes declaration information for ignoring the binding rule. The secondary access point reports the declaration information to the wireless access controller. After receiving the confirmation information from the wireless access controller, the secondary access point sends an association response message to the terminal, and the terminal associates with the secondary access point based on the association response message. Thus, even when the hardware of the terminal is limited, the terminal can still switch to the secondary access point determined by the wireless access controller, effectively improving the network quality after the terminal switches. And by means of the declaration information for ignoring the binding rule, the terminal does not need to keep trying to the preferred access point through autonomous roaming, which can effectively reduce the handover delay and improve the user's network usage experience. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0056] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the following drawings are only some embodiments of the present application. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative efforts.

[0057] Figure 1 FIG. is a schematic diagram of an implementation scenario of a terminal roaming method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] Figure 2 FIG. is a schematic diagram of an implementation process of a terminal roaming method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] Figure 3 FIG. is a schematic diagram of an initial deployment process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of an optimal access point fault handling process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of a terminal roaming device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of a terminal roaming system provided by an embodiment of the present application. Detailed implementation manners

[0063] In the following description, specific details such as specific system architectures and technologies are presented for the purpose of illustration rather than limitation, so as to thoroughly understand the embodiments of the present application. However, those skilled in the art should clearly understand that the present application can also be implemented in other embodiments without these specific details. In other cases, detailed descriptions of well-known systems, devices, circuits, and methods are omitted to avoid unnecessary details from interfering with the description of the present application.

[0064] To illustrate the technical solutions described in the present application, the following will be described through specific embodiments.

[0065] The terminal association policy is the core rule and mechanism for a terminal (such as an IoT device, a mobile phone, etc.) in a wireless network to select and connect to an access point (AP). For terminals that support the 802.11k / 11v protocols, their handover behavior can be optimized in the following ways:

[0066] The 802.11k protocol enables the terminal to actively scan the surrounding APs, obtain key parameters such as received signal strength indication (RSSI) and channel load, and provide data support for handover decisions;

[0067] The 802.11v protocol allows the wireless access controller (AC) or AP to actively issue handover instructions and dynamically guide the terminal to associate with an AP with better load balancing and signal quality, thereby improving the overall network performance.

[0068] However, currently, due to hardware cost and power consumption limitations, IoT devices generally do not support the 11k / 11v protocols, resulting in defects in their autonomous handover capabilities. During the autonomous handover process, they may connect to an AP with excessive load or poor signal quality, which easily causes a poor network experience. Moreover, during the autonomous handover process of the terminal, since the terminal does not know the bound access point and needs to roam autonomously to try, if it tries to connect to an unbound access point, it will be rejected. After each rejection, the terminal has to perform a full-channel scan and will initiate a re-association after a period of time, resulting in a large handover delay.

[0069] In the initial deployment stage, when the user configures the terminal binding, the location of the terminal cannot be obtained. Only each AP can manually confirm the geographical location and then configure the binding rules, which is rather cumbersome. After the terminal is bound, the terminal will be forced to be removed, forcing the terminal to rescan all channels for access. If it is deeply associated with a non-bound AP, the access will be rejected, resulting in a relatively large delay in the entire terminal binding and switching. Additionally, due to the binding rules, it may be rejected multiple times before successful association, leading to a relatively large switching delay. For the topology of a large number of IP cameras, it may cause video jitter, video loss, etc., seriously affecting the user experience. If the failure of the bound AP is eliminated, the terminal usually cannot be actively guided to associate with the original bound AP, resulting in excessive load on other APs and being unfavorable for the full utilization of network resources.

[0070] To solve the above problems, an embodiment of the present application proposes a terminal roaming method. Figure 1 As a schematic diagram of the implementation scenario of this method, in the implementation scenario of terminal roaming, it includes a terminal, a preferred access point, a secondary access point 1, a secondary access point 2, and a wireless access controller.

[0071] Among them, in the initial deployment stage, the terminal can be a wireless communication device directly used by the user, such as a smart phone, a laptop computer, an Internet of Things sensor, a smart wearable device, etc., supporting Wi-Fi, 5G, or other wireless protocols to access the network. Among them, the terminal, the preferred access point, the secondary access point 1, and the secondary access point 2 can set the device names during deployment, including the terminal name and the access point name, and determine the binding relationship between the terminal name and the access point name.

[0072] The terminal can randomly access an access point after initialization, such as the preferred access point, the secondary access point 1, or the secondary access point 2 in the implementation scenario.

[0073] Among them, the first access point set includes the secondary access point 1 and the secondary access point 2.

[0074] The associated access point can trigger the terminal to perform a full-channel scan through an operation frame. Each access point can collect the terminal name, transmit power, and the access signal strength of the uplink, and report them to the wireless access controller AC.

[0075] The wireless access controller can determine the preferred access point to which the terminal is bound according to the terminal name and the access point name. At the same time, the wireless access controller can determine the secondary first access point set according to the uplink access signal strength, and can send it to the terminal through a customized action frame, so that the terminal switches to the bound preferred access point.

[0076] During the fault recovery phase, the terminal performs autonomous scanning through probe requests during association. After each access point receives the probe request sent by the terminal, it extracts the received signal strength of the uplink and the load information and reports them to the wireless access controller. The wireless access controller updates the first access point set (the set of secondary access points) based on the received signal strength of the uplink and the load information, and distributes the first access point set to the terminal for storage by the terminal.

[0077] When a preferred access point fails (such as a radio frequency failure, restart, etc.), the terminal selects the secondary access point with the highest equivalent rate from the first access point set distributed by the wireless access controller and attempts to initiate an association, and carries a customized information element in the association request frame. The customized information element includes a statement information for ignoring the binding rule. The secondary access point reports the received association request including the information element to the wireless access controller. After receiving the association request, the wireless access controller parses and determines that the terminal's association ignores the binding rule.

[0078] During use, if the scanning result of the terminal includes the preferred access point and the preferred access point has been online on the wireless access controller, it can be considered that the preferred access point has returned to normal. The wireless access controller distributes the preferred access point and the first access point set to the terminal, enabling the terminal to re-associate with the preferred access point.

[0079] Figure 2 The following is a schematic diagram of the implementation process of a terminal roaming method proposed in an embodiment of this application:

[0080] In S201, the terminal detects that the bound preferred access point fails and determines the secondary access point to attempt an association. The secondary access point is determined by the first access point set pre-distributed to the terminal by the wireless access controller.

[0081] The terminal in the embodiment of this application may include a smart phone, a laptop computer, an Internet of Things sensor, a smart wearable device, etc.

[0082] Among them, the preferred access point is the access point associated with the terminal before a fault is detected. The preferred access point is the access point bound to the terminal. For example, in a room, there is one access point and multiple terminals located in the room. According to the positional relationship between the access point and the terminals, the access point in the same room can be bound to the terminals. That is, the preferred access point corresponding to the terminals in the room is the access point in the room. To facilitate determining the binding relationship between the terminal and the access point, the associated characteristic information can be carried in the device name. For example, for terminals located in the same building partition, the terminal name can be AP3008 - Building Partition M - APN. For terminals located in this building partition, such as the terminal name of IPC can be IPC642A - Building Partition M - IPCN. The terminals and the access point include the common characteristic information "Building Partition M", and the binding relationship between the terminal and the access point can be established based on this characteristic information to determine the preferred access point corresponding to the terminal.

[0083] The terminal detects the radio frequency status (such as beacon loss, sudden drop in signal strength, etc.) of the preferred access point by periodically scanning or receiving the beacon frames of the AP. For example, if the terminal fails to receive the beacon frames of the preferred access point three consecutive times, it is determined that the preferred access point has failed.

[0084] The secondary access point is one of the first access point sets pre - calculated by the wireless access controller (AC) according to the signal strength of the terminal, load - balancing conditions, etc. For example, the AC will screen out the secondary access point with higher signal strength and lower load based on the uplink RSSI and load information of the terminal. The secondary access point is other access points outside the bound access point. The secondary access point can be the access point with the highest equivalent rate between the terminal and the access point in the first access point set sent by the wireless access controller AC. The first access point set can include more than one access point. When accessing the first access point set sent by the wireless access controller, it can include the order of the access points determined by the wireless access controller, such as the order determined according to the equivalent rate, and the preferred access point is determined according to the order.

[0085] Before detecting that the preferred access point has failed and switching to the secondary access point in the embodiments of the present application, it may further include an initial deployment stage for sending the first access point set and the preferred access point set to the terminal. As Figure 3 shown in the initial deployment interaction schematic diagram, it includes:

[0086] 301. Device Naming. When performing initial deployment for access points (including preferred access points and other access points in the first access point set) and terminals, it is necessary to name the devices, and the device name includes the characteristic information of the device, such as location characteristic information, etc. Based on the characteristic information, the wireless access controller can determine the binding relationship between the terminal and the access point. For example, the access point name can be AP3008 - Building Zone M - APN, and the terminal name of the network camera can be IPC642A - Building Zone M - IPCN. Since both include the location characteristic information "Building Zone M", the wireless access controller can determine the binding relationship according to their names.

[0087] 302. Autonomous Association.

[0088] When the terminal first associates with an access point, it usually associates with the access point (random access point) through random access. For example Figure 3 autonomously associates with other access points in

[0089] 303. Trigger Network Optimization.

[0090] After the terminal first associates with the random access point, it receives the operation frame sent by the random access point. When the terminal first associates with an access point (associated with other APs in the figure), the associated AP can trigger a scan autonomously and send a scan instruction to the terminal through an action frame (such as a custom management frame) in the 802.11 protocol. For example, the operation frame contains the instruction "Trigger full - channel scan".

[0091] 304. Full - Channel Scan and Information Reporting.

[0092] The terminal triggers a full - channel scan according to the operation frame, causing each access point to report the received signal strength of the uplink, the preset access point name, and the received terminal name to the wireless access controller. The terminal triggers a full - channel scan according to the operation frame, and each access point reports information such as the RSSI of each AP, the name (such as AP3008 - Building Zone M - APN), and the terminal name (such as IPC642A - Building Zone M - IPCN) to the AC.

[0093] 305. Determine the Preferred Access Point and the Set of Secondary Access Points.

[0094] The AC determines the preferred access point bound to the terminal according to the terminal name and the access point name, that is, the AC can determine the preferred access point bound to the terminal according to the binding relationship between the terminal name and the AP name.

[0095] The AC can determine the first access point set based on the received signal strength of the uplink and in combination with the specifications of the terminal and the access point. The AC can calculate the equivalent rate by combining the received signal strength RSSI of the uplink and the terminal / AP specifications (such as radio frequency mode, bandwidth, number of spatial streams), and filter out the secondary access point set, that is, the first access point set.

[0096] In the embodiments of the present application, the wireless access controller can filter out the second access point set with a received signal strength less than a predetermined threshold in the basic service set according to the received signal strength; determine the equivalent rate of the terminal and the access point according to the received signal strength of the uplink and the specifications of the terminal and each access point in the second access point set; and filter out the first access point set from the second access point set according to the equivalent rate of each access point.

[0097] For example, the AC filters out the APs with RSSI lower than the threshold (such as 2.4GHz < -85dBm, 5GHz < -87dBm) according to the RSSI value reported by the terminal. If the RSSI of a certain AP is -90dBm (lower than the threshold -85dBm), it will be filtered out.

[0098] When the AC calculates the equivalent rate according to the RSSI value and the terminal / AP specifications (such as radio frequency mode, bandwidth, number of spatial streams), it can determine the equivalent rate of the terminal and each access point according to the pre-statistical correspondence between the specifications, RSSI and the equivalent rate.

[0099] In the embodiments of the present application, when filtering out the first access point set from the second access point set according to the equivalent rate of each access point, it is possible to select the access points in the second access point set with an equivalent rate greater than a predetermined ratio of the equivalent rate of the currently associated access point to determine the third access point set, and then select the access points that meet the predetermined load balancing condition in the third access point set to determine the first access point set.

[0100] For example, the AC can filter out the APs with an equivalent rate higher than 20% of the current AP as the third access point set, and then select the APs with a load lower than the preset threshold (such as 50%) from the third access point set as the first access point set.

[0101] Alternatively, in a possible implementation, according to the equivalent rate of each access point, the access points in the second access point set can be sorted according to the equivalent rate to obtain an equivalent rate queue. For the access points in the equivalent rate queue, the load information of each access point can be determined, and the access points in the equivalent rate queue can be filtered and screened according to the preset load balancing condition, and the access points that do not meet the load balancing condition can be filtered out. The remaining access points are the first access point set. If the load balancing condition filters out all the access points in the equivalent rate queue, the access point with the optimal equivalent rate in the equivalent rate queue can be used as the access point in the first access point set.

[0102] 306. Send the preferred access point and the set of secondary access points.

[0103] The terminal receives the first access point set and the preferred access point bound to the terminal through a customized operation frame.

[0104] 307. Switch to the preferred access point.

[0105] After the terminal receives the information of the preferred access point sent by the AC, it can immediately send an association request to the preferred access point. This preferred access point is the access point bound to the terminal.

[0106] After the initial deployment is completed, before the terminal in the embodiment of the present application detects that the bound preferred access point fails and determines the secondary access point to attempt to associate with, the first access point set can also be dynamically updated.

[0107] The terminal can send a probe request to the access point (the terminal scans independently), so that the access point that receives the probe request extracts the received signal strength of the probe request and sends the received signal strength and the load information of the access point to the wireless access controller. The first access point set is updated through the wireless access controller and the updated first access point set is sent to the terminal for storage, that is, the terminal receives the first access point set sent by the wireless access controller.

[0108] In S202, the terminal sends an association request to the secondary access point. The association request includes a customized information element, and the customized information element includes a declaration information for ignoring the binding rule, so that the secondary access point reports the declaration information to the wireless access controller and receives the confirmation information sent by the wireless access controller.

[0109] The terminal can carry a customized information element (IE) in the Association Request frame, which contains the declaration information of "ignoring the binding rule". This declaration information is used to notify the secondary access point and the AC that the terminal needs to ignore the existing terminal binding rule for association due to the failure of the preferred access point.

[0110] After receiving the association request, the secondary access point parses the customized information element therein and identifies the declaration information of "ignoring the binding rule". The secondary access point reports this declaration information to the wireless access controller (AC) and requests the AC to confirm whether to allow the terminal to associate.

[0111] After receiving the declaration information reported by the secondary access point, the AC verifies whether the request of the terminal is legal (such as whether it is a handover triggered by the failure of the preferred access point). After the AC confirms, it sends a confirmation information to the secondary access point to allow the terminal to associate with the secondary access point.

[0112] In S203, the terminal receives the association response information sent by the secondary access point and completes the association with the secondary access point.

[0113] After receiving the confirmation information from the AC, the secondary access point sends an AssociationResponse frame to the terminal. The AssociationResponse frame may include a status code indicating success or failure of the association, as well as relevant configuration information of the secondary access point (such as SSID, encryption key, etc.).

[0114] The terminal receives the AssociationResponse frame and parses the status code therein. If the status code indicates successful association (such as 0x00), the terminal completes the association with the secondary access point and restores the network connection. If the status code indicates failed association (such as 0x10 indicating association rejection), the terminal may need to re-attempt to associate with other secondary access points in the first access point set.

[0115] In the embodiment of the present application, if the terminal is associated with the secondary access point, the terminal can obtain scan information according to a predetermined scan period. When the scan information includes that the preferred access point has returned to normal, the terminal reports the scan information to the wireless access controller through the secondary access point for confirmation; the terminal receives the latest bound preferred access point sent by the wireless access controller and establishes an association with the preferred access point.

[0116] The terminal performs a full-channel scan according to a preset scan period (such as every 30 seconds) to collect the signal strength and status information of the APs. If the scan result shows that the preferred access point has returned to normal (such as the beacon frame has returned to normal and the signal strength meets the standard), the terminal reports the scan information to the AC through the secondary access point. After the AC confirms that the preferred access point has returned to normal, it sends the latest bound preferred access point information to the terminal. According to the instruction of the AC, the terminal actively associates with the preferred access point, so as to be able to detect the recovery status of the preferred access point in time and actively switch back to the preferred access point.

[0117] For ease of understanding, Figure 4 a schematic diagram of the interaction process for fault handling of a preferred access point is given, as Figure 4 shown, including:

[0118] 401, the terminal performs autonomous scanning.

[0119] To facilitate dealing with emergencies, after the terminal is associated with the preferred access point, the terminal performs autonomous scanning according to a predetermined period, sending probe requests to each access point.

[0120] 402, the wireless access controller notifies each AP to report information.

[0121] The wireless access controller notifies each access point to report information such as the received signal strength of the uplink determined after receiving the probe request from the terminal, the terminal name, and the access point name to the wireless access controller, so as to facilitate the analysis of the ranking of each access point in each first access point set.

[0122] 403, the wireless access controller receives the information reported by each AP.

[0123] The wireless access controller can, based on the information reported by each AP, filter out the second access point set with a received signal strength less than a predetermined threshold in the basic service set according to the received signal strength; determine the equivalent rate of the terminal and the access point according to the received signal strength of the uplink and the specifications of each access point in the second access point set; and screen out the first access point set from the second access point set according to the equivalent rate of each access point.

[0124] 404, the wireless access controller distributes the first access point set to the terminal through the preferred access point.

[0125] When the terminal is in the state of being associated with the preferred access point, the currently updated first access point set is distributed to the terminal, so that the terminal stores the latest first access point set. Since the first access point set is continuously updated in the state of being associated with the preferred access point, when the preferred access point fails, the first access point set used to determine the secondary access point matches the current environmental information, and the current secondary access point can be effectively determined.

[0126] 405, when the preferred access point fails, the terminal determines the secondary access point according to the first access point set and sends an association request to the secondary access point to establish an association with the secondary access point.

[0127] When the terminal sends an association request, the association request includes a customized information element, and the customized information element includes a declaration information for ignoring the binding rule, so that the secondary access point reports the declaration information to the wireless access controller and receives the confirmation information sent by the wireless access controller. This association request carries a customized information element, and the customized information element includes a declaration information for ignoring the binding rule.

[0128] 406, after the preferred access point fails and recovers, the secondary access point distributes the preferred access point and the first access point set to guide the terminal to associate.

[0129] The terminal obtains scan information according to a predetermined scan period. When the scan information includes that the preferred access point returns to normal, the terminal reports the scan information to the wireless access controller through the secondary access point for confirmation.

[0130] 407, the terminal establishes an association with the preferred access point.

[0131] The terminal establishes an association with the preferred access point according to the latest bound preferred access point issued by the wireless access controller.

[0132] In the initial setup phase of the terminal in the embodiments of this application, the terminal scanning is actively triggered through customized operation frames, and the device name is added to the probe request, providing characteristic information such as the terminal geographical location reference for the terminal binding policy, facilitating the execution of the binding policy, and determining the corresponding preferred access point of the terminal. And the decision-making of the first access point set is issued through the reporting of the probe request.

[0133] The wireless access controller actively collects the probe requests of the terminal, obtains information such as the received signal strength and device name of the uplink, thereby completing the determination of the preferred access point and the update of the first access point set. Notifying the terminal of the preferred access point and the first access point set through customized operation frames can provide guidance when the preferred access point fails.

[0134] The terminal accesses the secondary access point by carrying the declaration information of ignoring the binding rule in the association request, which can effectively avoid being rejected when associating with the secondary access point. And after the failure of the preferred access point is restored, the wireless access controller can notify the currently associated secondary access point to actively trigger the terminal to associate back to the preferred access point through a customized operation frame, which can effectively improve the reasonable allocation of network resources.

[0135] In addition, when switching back to the preferred access point in the embodiments of this application, it is not necessary for the terminal to actively disconnect and then re-associate, which can achieve an effect similar to roaming handover and can effectively reduce the handover delay. For example, in the traditional method of disconnecting and re-associating, since the terminal does not know which is the bound access point, it needs to roam autonomously to try. If it tries to a non-bound access point, it may be rejected multiple times. After each rejection, the terminal has to perform a full-channel scan, and the terminal needs to wait for a period of time before trying to re-initiate the association. While in the embodiments of this application, according to the channel and preferred access point issued by the wireless access controller, single-channel scan access can be performed. For a 2G communication network, a full-channel scan needs to scan 13 channels, while a single-channel scan only needs to scan a single channel, and the single-channel scan delay is 1 / 13 of the full-channel scan delay.

[0136] It should be understood that the magnitudes of the sequence numbers of the steps in the above embodiments do not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined according to its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0137] Figure 5 The figure is a schematic diagram of a terminal roaming device provided for the embodiments of this application. The device includes:

[0138] A fault detection unit 501 is configured to determine a secondary access point to be associated when the terminal detects that a bound preferred access point fails. The secondary access point is determined from a first access point set pre - issued to the terminal by a wireless access controller.

[0139] An association unit 502 is configured to send an association request from the terminal to the secondary access point. The association request includes a custom information element, and the custom information element includes a declaration information for ignoring the binding rule, so that the secondary access point reports the declaration information to the wireless access controller and receives a confirmation message issued by the wireless access controller.

[0140] An association completion unit 503 is configured to receive an association response message sent by the secondary access point from the terminal and complete the association with the secondary access point.

[0141] Figure 5 The shown terminal roaming device corresponds to Figure 2 the shown terminal roaming method.

[0142] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of a terminal roaming system provided by an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 6 shown, the terminal roaming system 6 of this embodiment includes: a processor 60, a memory 61, and a computer program 62 stored in the memory 61 and executable on the processor 60, such as a terminal roaming program. When the processor 60 executes the computer program 62, the steps in the above - mentioned various terminal roaming method embodiments are implemented. Or, when the processor 60 executes the computer program 62, the functions of each module / unit in the above - mentioned various device embodiments are implemented.

[0143] Exemplarily, the computer program 62 can be divided into one or more modules / units. The one or more modules / units are stored in the memory 61 and executed by the processor 60 to complete the present application. The one or more modules / units can be a series of computer program instruction segments capable of performing specific functions, and these instruction segments are used to describe the execution process of the computer program 62 in the terminal roaming system 6.

[0144] The terminal roaming system may include, but is not limited to, a processor 60 and a memory 61. Those skilled in the art can understand that Figure 6 this is only an example of a terminal roaming system 6, and does not constitute a limitation on the terminal roaming system 6. It may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or different components. For example, the terminal roaming system may further include input - output devices, network access devices, buses, etc.

[0145] The so-called processor 60 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or may also be other general-purpose processors, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may also be any conventional processor, etc.

[0146] The memory 61 may be an internal storage unit of the terminal roaming system 6, such as the hard disk or memory of the terminal roaming system 6. The memory 61 may also be an external storage device of the terminal roaming system 6, such as a plug-in hard disk equipped on the terminal roaming system 6, a Smart Media Card (SMC), a Secure Digital (SD) card, a Flash Card, etc. Further, the memory 61 may also include both the internal storage unit of the terminal roaming system 6 and the external storage device. The memory 61 is used to store the computer program and other programs and data required by the terminal roaming system. The memory 61 may also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or is to be output.

[0147] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, only the above division of each functional unit and module is used as an example. In actual applications, the above functions can be allocated to different functional units and modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device can be divided into different functional units or modules to complete all or part of the functions described above. Each functional unit and module in the embodiments can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically alone, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. The above integrated unit can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit. In addition, the specific names of each functional unit and module are only for the convenience of mutual distinction and do not limit the protection scope of this application. The specific working processes of the units and modules in the above system can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments and will not be elaborated herein.

[0148] In the above embodiments, the descriptions of the respective embodiments have their own emphases. For parts not detailed or recorded in a certain embodiment, reference can be made to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments.

[0149] Those of ordinary skill in the art can realize that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are executed in a hardware or software manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. A professional technician can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of this application.

[0150] In the embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed device / terminal device and method can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device / terminal device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the modules or units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the displayed or discussed couplings or direct couplings or communication connections to each other can be through some interfaces. The indirect couplings or communication connections of the devices or units can be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0151] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated. The components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they can be located in one place or distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0152] In addition, the functional units in each embodiment of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically alone, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. The above integrated units can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0153] When the integrated module / unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, to implement all or part of the processes in the above-described embodiment methods of this application, it can also be completed by hardware related to computer program instructions. The computer program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the above-described method embodiments can be implemented. Among them, the computer program includes computer program code, and the computer program code can be in the form of source code, object code, executable file, or some intermediate form, etc. The computer-readable medium can include: any entity or device capable of carrying the computer program code, recording medium, USB flash drive, mobile hard disk, magnetic disk, optical disc, computer memory, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), electrical carrier signal, telecommunication signal, and software distribution medium, etc. It should be noted that the content included in the computer-readable medium can be appropriately increased or decreased according to the requirements of legislation and patent practice in the jurisdiction. For example, in some jurisdictions, according to legislation and patent practice, the computer-readable medium does not include electrical carrier signals and telecommunication signals.

[0154] In addition, an embodiment of this application also provides a computer program product. When it runs on a computer, it causes the computer to execute the methods in the above implementation manners.

[0155] The above-described embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of this application, rather than to limit them; although this application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that: they can still modify the technical solutions recorded in the foregoing embodiments, or perform equivalent replacements on some of the technical features; and these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, and should all be included within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A terminal roaming method, characterized in that, The method includes: The terminal detects that a preferred access point bound thereto fails, and determines a secondary access point to attempt to associate with. The secondary access point is determined from a first access point set pre - distributed to the terminal by a wireless access controller. The terminal sends an association request to the secondary access point. The association request includes a customized information element, and the customized information element includes a declaration information for ignoring the binding rule, so that the secondary access point reports the declaration information to the wireless access controller and receives an acknowledgment message sent by the wireless access controller. The terminal receives the association response information sent by the secondary access point and completes the association with the secondary access point.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein After completing the association with the secondary access point, the method further includes: The terminal obtains scan information according to a predetermined scan period. When the scan information indicates that the preferred access point has returned to normal, the terminal reports the scan information to the wireless access controller through the secondary access point for confirmation. The terminal receives the latest bound preferred access point sent by the wireless access controller and establishes an association with the preferred access point.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein Before the terminal detects that a preferred access point bound thereto fails and determines a secondary access point to attempt to associate with, the method further includes: The terminal sends a probe request to an access point, so that the access point that receives the probe request extracts the received signal strength of the probe request and sends the received signal strength and the load information of the access point to the wireless access controller, and the wireless access controller updates the first access point set. The terminal receives the first access point set sent by the wireless access controller.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Before the terminal detects that a preferred access point bound thereto fails and determines a secondary access point to attempt to associate with, the method further includes: After the terminal first associates with a random access point, it receives an operation frame sent by the random access point. The terminal triggers a full - channel scan according to the operation frame, so that each access point reports the received signal strength of the uplink, a preset access point name, and the received terminal name to the wireless access controller. The wireless access controller determines the preferred access point bound to the terminal according to the terminal name and the access point name, and determines the first access point set according to the received signal strength of the uplink and in combination with the specifications of the terminal and the access point. The terminal receives the first access point set and the preferred access point bound to the terminal through a customized operation frame and switches to the preferred access point bound to the terminal.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein Determining the first access point set according to the received signal strength of the uplink and in combination with the specifications of the terminal and the access point includes: Filtering a second access point set in a basic service set with a received signal strength less than a predetermined threshold according to the received signal strength. Determining the equivalent rate between the terminal and the access point according to the received signal strength of the uplink and the specifications of the terminal and each access point in the second access point set. Screening out the first access point set from the second access point set according to the equivalent rate of each access point.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein Screen a first access point set from the second access point set according to the equivalent rate of each access point, including: Sort the access points in the second access point set according to the equivalent rate of the access points in the second access point set to obtain an equivalent rate queue; Screen the access points in the equivalent rate queue according to preset load balancing conditions, filter out the access points that do not meet the load balancing conditions, and obtain the first access point set according to the remaining access points. If all access points are filtered out, determine the first access point set according to the access point with the optimal equivalent rate in the equivalent rate queue.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein Determine the equivalent rate of the terminal and the access point according to the received signal strength of the uplink and the specifications of the terminal and each access point in the second access point set, including: Determine the equivalent rate of the terminal and the access point according to the access signal strength of the uplink of the terminal, in combination with the radio frequency mode, bandwidth, and number of spatial streams between the terminal and each access point in the second access point set.

8. A terminal roaming device, characterized in that, The device includes: A fault detection unit, configured to determine a secondary access point to be associated when a preferred access point bound by the terminal is detected to have a fault. The secondary access point is determined from a first access point set pre-distributed to the terminal by a wireless access controller; An association unit, configured to send an association request from the terminal to the secondary access point. The association request includes a customized information element, and the customized information element includes a statement information for ignoring the binding rule, so that the secondary access point reports the statement information to the wireless access controller and receives a confirmation message sent by the wireless access controller; An association completion unit, configured to complete the association with the secondary access point by receiving an association response message sent by the secondary access point by the terminal.

9. A terminal roaming system, comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that, When the processor executes the computer program, the terminal roaming system implements the method described in any one of claims 1-7.

10. A computer program product, comprising computer program instructions, characterized in that, When the computer program is run, the method described in any one of claims 1-7 is executed.

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