Communication method and device and readable storage medium

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of wireless communication, in particular to a communication method and device and a readable storage medium, the method comprising: transmitting a PPDU according to a carrier plan of a dRU, the carrier plan of the dRU comprising: the number of data subcarriers within any 1 MHz of a 26-toned RU is less than or equal to 2, and the number of subcarriers within any 1 MHz at the location of a pilot subcarrier is 1. According to the invention, the sending power of the communication device can be improved. According to the application, an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) protocol is supported, such as an IEEE 802.11 bn / UHR / Wi-Fi8 protocol, an IEEE 802.11 be / EHT / Wi-Fi7 protocol, an IEEE 802.15 / UWB (Ultra Wideband) protocol or an IEEE 802.11 bf / sensing protocol and the like.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a communication method, apparatus, and readable storage medium. Background Art

[0002] The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has issued regulations on the 6 GHz spectrum, which limit the maximum transmit power to 23 dBm (decibel-milliwatts) and the maximum power spectral density to 10 dBm / MHz (decibel-milliwatts / megahertz). The Federal Communications Commission of the United States has also promulgated regulations on the 6 GHz spectrum, defining a low-power indoor (LPI) communication method and imposing strict restrictions on the maximum transmit power and maximum frequency spectral density. For an access point (AP), the maximum transmit power is limited to 30 dBm, and the maximum power spectral density is 5 dBm / MHz. For a station (STA), the maximum transmit power is limited to 24 dBm, and the maximum power spectral density is -1 dBm / MHz. The transmit power of a device is limited by both the maximum power and the maximum power spectral density, that is, the transmit power cannot exceed the maximum power value, and the power spectral density (PSD) of the transmitted signal cannot exceed the maximum power spectral density. Compared with the maximum power, the limitation of the maximum power spectral density is more stringent, and the allowed maximum transmit power is usually more restricted by the power spectral density. For a station, when the bandwidth is 320 MHz, the transmit power of the station reaches the specified maximum power limit. When the bandwidth is less than 320 MHz, due to the limitation of the maximum power spectral density, the station can only transmit at a lower power (here, lower than the specified maximum power).

[0003] Therefore, taking a 20 MHz bandwidth as an example, the transmit power of a station is mainly limited by the power spectral density. How to increase the transmit power of a device to obtain higher gain has become an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Embodiments of this application provide a communication method, apparatus, and readable storage medium, which can increase the transmit power of a device without increasing the power spectral density.

[0005] The following introduces this application from different aspects. It should be understood that the implementation manners and beneficial effects of the following different aspects can be referred to each other.

[0006] "Transmission" in this application can be understood as "sending" and / or "receiving". It can also be understood that before sending a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), the PPDU can be generated first.

[0007] In a first aspect, this application provides a communication method, which includes: a first communication device generates a PPDU according to the toneplan of a distributed resource unit (dRU) under a 20 MHz bandwidth and sends the PPDU. Among them, the toneplan of the dRU includes: the number of data subcarriers of a 26-tone dRU within any 1 MHz is less than or equal to 2, and the number of subcarriers of a 26-tone dRU within any 1 MHz where the pilot subcarrier is located is 1. Or rather, the toneplan of the dRU includes: the number of subcarriers included within 1 MHz where the pilot subcarrier is located in a 26-tone dRU is less than or equal to the number of subcarriers included within 1 MHz where the data subcarrier is located. Or rather, the toneplan of the dRU includes: the interval between the data subcarrier and the pilot subcarrier in a 26-tone dRU is greater than or equal to 13. Or rather, the toneplan of the dRU includes: the number of dRU subcarriers within any 1 MHz where the data subcarrier of a 26-tone dRU is located is less than or equal to 2, and the number of dRU subcarriers within any 1 MHz where the pilot subcarrier of a 26-tone dRU is located is 1. It can be understood that any 1 MHz here can refer to any 1 MHz within 20 MHz.

[0008] Exemplarily, for the toneplan of the dRU, refer to the description of the following embodiments and will not be elaborated here.

[0009] "Any 1 MHz where the subcarrier is located" in this application can be understood as the 1 MHz containing this subcarrier, or rather, the 13 consecutive subcarriers containing this subcarrier, which will not be elaborated below.

[0010] The dRU in this application includes a plurality of subcarriers that are discrete in the frequency domain. The plurality of discrete subcarriers can be partially discrete or completely discrete. Or rather, the plurality of discrete subcarriers can include a part of subcarriers that are continuous in frequency and a part of subcarriers that are discontinuous in frequency; or, the plurality of discrete subcarriers can also be completely discontinuous in frequency.

[0011] A 26-tone dRU in this application can be understood as a dRU containing 26 subcarriers.

[0012] This application uses dRU for transmission. Compared with the transmission method using continuous RUs, the transmission power can be increased under the condition of meeting the power spectral density requirements. In addition, since the number of pilot subcarriers within any 1 MHz of the 26-tone dRU in the carrier plan (toneplan) of the dRU in this application is half the number of data subcarriers, the potential power of the pilot subcarriers is increased by two times compared with the data subcarriers, that is, the pilot subcarriers can obtain a 3 dB power gain.

[0013] The continuous RU in this application can be understood as an RU composed of a continuous plurality of subcarriers, or a continuous RU is an RU composed of two groups of continuous subcarrier groups, and the plurality of subcarriers included in each group of continuous subcarrier groups are continuous, and only guard subcarriers, empty subcarriers, or DC subcarriers are spaced between the two groups of continuous subcarrier groups.

[0014] In a second aspect, this application provides a communication method, which includes: a second communication device receives and processes a PPDU according to the carrier plan (toneplan) of the dRU under a 20 MHz bandwidth. Wherein, the carrier plan of the dRU includes: the number of data subcarriers of the 26-tone dRU within any 1 MHz is less than or equal to 2, and the number of subcarriers of the 26-tone dRU within any 1 MHz where the pilot subcarrier is located is 1. Or rather, the carrier plan of the dRU includes: the number of subcarriers included within 1 MHz where the pilot subcarrier is located in the 26-tone dRU is less than or equal to the number of subcarriers included within 1 MHz where the data subcarrier is located. Or rather, the carrier plan of the dRU includes: the interval between the data subcarrier and the pilot subcarrier in the 26-tone dRU is greater than or equal to 13. Or rather, the carrier plan of the dRU includes: the number of dRU subcarriers within any 1 MHz where the data subcarrier of the 26-tone dRU is located is less than or equal to 2, and the number of dRU subcarriers within any 1 MHz where the pilot subcarrier of the 26-tone dRU is located is 1. It can be understood that any 1 MHz here can refer to any 1 MHz within 20 MHz.

[0015] Exemplarily, the carrier plan of the dRU can be referred to the description of the following embodiments and will not be elaborated here.

[0016] In a possible implementation manner combining any of the above aspects, the carrier plan of the above dRU includes 9 26-tone dRUs; each 26-tone dRU includes 26 subcarriers, including 24 data subcarriers and 2 pilot subcarriers.

[0017] Exemplarily, the carrier plan of the dRU may include one or more of the 26-tone dRUs in Table 2 below. The pilot subcarrier indices of the 26-tone dRU are as shown in the second row and second column of Table 6 below.

[0018] In a possible implementation manner combining any of the above aspects, the carrier plan of the above dRU further includes 4 52-tone dRUs; each 52-tone dRU includes 52 subcarriers, among which there are 48 data subcarriers and 4 pilot subcarriers.

[0019] Exemplarily, the carrier plan of the dRU may include one or more of the following: the 52-tone dRU with index 1 includes the 26-tone dRUs with indices 1 and 2; the 52-tone dRU with index 2 includes the 26-tone dRUs with indices 3 and 4; the 52-tone dRU with index 3 includes the 26-tone dRUs with indices 6 and 7; the 52-tone dRU with index 4 includes the 26-tone dRUs with indices 8 and 9. For example, the carrier plan of the dRU may include one or more of the 52-tone dRUs in Table 3 below.

[0020] In a possible implementation manner combining any of the above aspects, the carrier plan of the above dRU further includes 2 106-tone dRUs; each 106-tone dRU includes 106 subcarriers, among which there are 102 data subcarriers and 4 pilot subcarriers.

[0021] Exemplarily, the carrier plan of the dRU may include one or more of the following: the 106-tone dRU with index 1 includes the 26-tone dRUs with indices 1, 2, 3, 4, and the subcarriers with subcarrier indices {-122, 122}; the 106-tone dRU with index 2 includes the 26-tone dRUs with indices 6, 7, 8, 9, and the subcarriers with subcarrier indices {-4, 4}. For example, the carrier plan of the dRU may include one or more of the 106-tone dRUs in Table 4 below.

[0022] In a possible implementation manner combining any of the above aspects, the carrier plan of the above dRU further includes 1 242-tone dRU; the 242-tone dRU includes 242 subcarriers, among which there are 234 data subcarriers and 8 pilot subcarriers; the subcarrier indices of the 242-tone dRU are from -122 to -2 and from 2 to 122.

[0023] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which is used to execute the method in the above first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect. The communication device includes a unit configured to execute the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

[0024] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which is used to execute the method in the above first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect. The communication device includes a unit configured to execute the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

[0025] In the third aspect or the third aspect, the above communication device may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. For the specific description of the transceiver unit and the processing unit, reference may also be made to the device embodiments shown below. The beneficial effects of the above second aspect to the above fourth aspect may refer to the relevant descriptions of the foregoing first aspect and second aspect, which will not be elaborated here.

[0026] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which includes a processor configured to execute the method shown in the above first aspect, or the above second aspect, or any possible implementation manner of any one of them. Alternatively, the processor is configured to execute a program stored in a memory, and when the program is executed, the method shown in the above first aspect, or the above second aspect, or any possible implementation manner of any one of them is executed.

[0027] In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the memory is located outside the above communication device.

[0028] In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the memory is located inside the above communication device.

[0029] In the present application, the processor and the memory may also be integrated into one device, that is, the processor and the memory may also be integrated together.

[0030] In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes a transceiver, which is configured to send or receive a PPDU.

[0031] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which may include a processor and an interface circuit, and the processor is connected to the interface circuit. Wherein, the interface circuit is used to interact (or transmit / receive or input / output) information or data, and the processor is used to run program instructions so that the communication device executes the method described in the above first aspect, or the above second aspect, or any possible implementation manner of any one of them. Wherein, the interface circuit may be a communication interface or a transceiver. The transceiver may be a radio frequency module in the communication device, or a combination of a radio frequency module and an antenna, or an input / output interface of a chip or a circuit.

[0032] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a readable storage medium, on which program instructions are stored. When the program instructions are run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method described in any possible implementation manner of the above first aspect, or the above second aspect, or any one of them.

[0033] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a program product containing program instructions. When the program product runs, the method described in any possible implementation manner of the above first aspect, or the above second aspect, or any one of them is caused to be executed.

[0034] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a wireless communication system, which includes a first communication device and a second communication device; the first communication device is used to execute the method described in the above first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, and the second communication device is used to execute the method described in the above second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

[0035] The technical effects achieved by the above aspects can be mutually referred to or referred to the beneficial effects in the method embodiments shown below. Details are not described herein again. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] Figure 1 is a network architecture diagram of the wireless communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] Figure 2a is a schematic structural diagram of an access point provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Figure 2b is a schematic structural diagram of a station provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of subcarrier distribution and RU distribution of 20 MHz provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of subcarrier distribution and RU distribution of 40 MHz provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of subcarrier distribution and RU distribution of 80 MHz provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the process of uplink multi-user transmission provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the division of subcarriers within a 20 MHz bandwidth provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] Figure 8 It is a simulation schematic diagram of subcarrier power allocation in the 26-tone dRU provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] Figure 9 It is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] Figure 10 It is a transmission block diagram of dRU based on BCC coding provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 11 It is a transmission block diagram of dRU based on LDPC coding provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] Figure 12 It is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] Figure 13 It is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] Figure 14 It is yet another schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. Detailed implementation manners

[0051] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0052] In the description of the present application, "first", "second", etc. are only used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order. In addition, unless otherwise specified, " / " means "or", for example, A / B can represent A or B. Herein, "and / or" is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist, for example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone these three situations. In addition, "at least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. "One (or more) of the following items" or its similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item (or more) or plural items (or more). For example, at least one (or more) of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c; a and b; a and c; b and c; or a and b and c. Wherein a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0053] The terms "comprising", "having", and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product, or device, etc. that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally further include steps or units not listed, or may optionally further include other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products, or devices, etc.

[0054] In this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or explanations. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary", "for example", or "for illustration" in this application should not be construed as being more preferred or having more advantages than other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary", "for example", or "for illustration" is intended to present relevant concepts in a specific manner.

[0055] It can be understood that in this application, "when", "if", and "in case" all refer to the device making corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances, not limited to a specific time, and do not require the device to have a judgment action when implemented, nor does it mean there are other limitations. Among them, the device making corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances includes: meeting the objective circumstances, that is, being able to perform the corresponding processing; or meeting the objective circumstances and other circumstances to be able to perform the corresponding processing.

[0056] The "simultaneously" in this application can be understood as "in parallel", or at the same time point, or can also be understood as within a period of time, or can also be understood as within the same cycle, and can be specifically understood in combination with the context.

[0057] In this application, elements represented in the singular are intended to mean "one or more", rather than "one and only one", unless otherwise specified.

[0058] It can be understood that in various embodiments of this application, expressions such as "B corresponding to A", "A corresponding to B", or similar expressions indicate that B is associated with A, and B can be determined according to A. Determining B according to A does not mean determining B only according to A, but can also determine B according to A and / or other information.

[0059] The technical solution of the embodiment of this application can be applicable to the wireless local area network (WLAN) scenario. For example, it supports the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 related standards, such as 802.11a / b / g standards, 802.11n standards, 802.11ac standards, 802.11ax standards, the IEEE 802.11ax next-generation Wi-Fi protocol, such as 802.11be, Wi-Fi 7, Extremely High Throughput (EHT), 802.11ad, 802.11ay, or 802.11bf, and again, such as the next generation of 802.11be, Wi-Fi 8, etc. It can also be applied to a wireless personal area network system based on Ultra Wide Band (UWB), such as the 802.15 series of standards. It can also be applied to a sensing system, such as the 802.11bf series of standards. It can also be applied to the 802.11bn standard or the Ultra-High Reliability (UHR) standard. Among them, the 802.11n standard is called the High Throughput (HT) standard, the 802.11ac standard is called the Very High Throughput (VHT) standard, the 802.11ax standard is called the High Efficient (HE) standard, and the 802.11be standard is called the Extremely High Throughput (EHT) standard. Among them, 802.11bf includes two major categories of standards: low frequency (for example, sub7GHz) and high frequency (for example, 60GHz). The implementation method of sub7GHz mainly relies on standards such as 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be, and the next generation, etc. The implementation method of 60GHz mainly relies on standards such as 802.11ad, 802.11ay, and the next generation, etc. Among them, 802.11ad can also be called the Directional Multi-Gigabit (DMG) standard, and 802.11ay can also be called the Enhanced Directional Multi-Gigabit (EDMG) standard.

[0060] The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the communication scenario between an access point and one or more stations. In the embodiment of the present application, the term "communication" can also be described as "data transmission", "information transmission" or "transmission". In the embodiment of the present application, the term "transmission" can also be described as "send" and / or "receive".

[0061] See Figure 1 , Figure 1 which is a network architecture diagram of a wireless communication system provided by the embodiment of the present application. As Figure 1 shown, the wireless communication system may include one or more access point (AP)-like stations (STA), and one or more non-access point-like stations (none access point station, non-AP STA). For ease of description, in this article, the access point-like station (AP STA) is simply referred to as an access point (AP), and the non-access point-like station (non-AP STA) is simply referred to as a station (STA). The AP and STA support the WLAN communication protocol, and this communication protocol may include 802.11bn (or referred to as UHR), and may also include 802.11be, 802.11ax, 802.11ac and other protocols. Of course, with the continuous evolution and development of communication technologies, this communication protocol may also include the next-generation protocol of 802.11bn, etc. Taking WLAN as an example, the device for implementing the method of the present application may be an AP and / or STA in the WLAN, or a chip or processing system installed in the AP and / or STA.

[0062] It can be understood that Figure 1 taking the example that the wireless communication system includes one AP and six stations (STA 1, STA 2, STA 3, STA 4, STA 5, STA 6) for illustration. In practical applications, the number of APs and STAs included in the wireless communication system may be more or less, and the present application does not limit the number of APs and STAs in the wireless communication system.

[0063] In a possible implementation manner, the access point (such as Figure 1The access point (AP) in this application can be a device with wireless communication capabilities, supporting communication using the WLAN protocol and having the function of communicating with other devices (such as stations or other access points) in the WLAN network. This device with wireless communication capabilities can be a complete device, or it can be a chip or processing system installed in the complete device. The device installed with these chips or processing systems can, under the control of the chip or processing system, implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of this application. The access point can be deployed indoors in homes, buildings, and campuses, with a coverage radius of dozens of meters to hundreds of meters. Of course, it can also be deployed outdoors. The access point can be understood as a bridge connecting the wired network and the wireless network, and its main function is to connect various wireless network clients together and then connect the wireless network to the Ethernet. Exemplarily, the access point can be a terminal device (such as a mobile phone) or a network device (such as communication servers, routers, switches, bridges, and other communication entities) with a wireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip.

[0064] The access point in this application can be a device supporting the 802.11bn standard. Of course, this access point can also support multiple WLAN standards of the 802.11 family, such as 802.11be, 802.11bf, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, and 802.11a.

[0065] In a possible implementation, a station (such as Figure 1 any one of the stations) can be a device with wireless communication capabilities, supporting communication using the WLAN protocol and having the ability to communicate with other stations or access points in the WLAN network. This device with wireless communication capabilities can be a complete device, or it can be a chip or processing system installed in the complete device. The device installed with these chips or processing systems can, under the control of the chip or processing system, implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of this application. The station can also be a wireless communication chip, a wireless sensor, or a wireless communication terminal, etc., and can also be referred to as a user. For example, the station can be a mobile phone supporting Wi-Fi communication, a tablet computer supporting Wi-Fi communication, a set-top box supporting Wi-Fi communication, a smart TV supporting Wi-Fi communication, a smart wearable device supporting Wi-Fi communication, a vehicle-mounted communication device supporting Wi-Fi communication, or a computer supporting Wi-Fi communication, etc.

[0066] The station in this application can also be a device supporting the 802.11bn standard. Of course, the station can also support multiple WLAN standards of the 802.11 family, such as 802.11be, 802.11bf, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, and 802.11a.

[0067] The WLAN system can provide high-speed and low-latency transmission. With the continuous evolution of WLAN application scenarios, the WLAN system will be applied to more scenarios or industries. For example, it can be applied to the Internet of Things industry, the vehicle-to-everything industry, the banking industry, enterprise offices, stadiums and exhibition halls, concert halls, hotel rooms, dormitories, wards, classrooms, shopping malls, squares, streets, production workshops, and warehouses. Of course, devices supporting WLAN communication (such as access points or stations) can be sensor nodes in a smart city (such as smart water meters, smart electricity meters, and smart air detection nodes), smart devices in a smart home (such as smart cameras, projectors, displays, televisions, speakers, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.), nodes in the Internet of Things, entertainment terminals (such as wearable devices like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)), smart devices in smart offices (such as printers, projectors, loudspeakers, speakers, etc.), vehicle-to-everything devices in the vehicle-to-everything industry, infrastructure in daily life scenarios (such as vending machines, self-guided navigation stations in shopping malls, self-checkout devices, and self-ordering machines), and devices in large sports and music venues. In the embodiments of this application, the specific forms of the station and the access point are not limited, and this is only an exemplary illustration here.

[0068] It should be understood that the 802.11 standard focuses on the physical layer (PHY) and the medium access control (MAC) layer parts. In one example, see Figure 2a , Figure 2a is a schematic structural diagram of the access point provided by the embodiments of this application. Among them, the AP can be multi-antenna / multi-radio frequency or single-antenna / single-radio frequency, and the antenna / radio frequency is used to send / receive physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs). In one implementation, the antenna or radio frequency part of the AP can be separated from the main body part of the AP and has a remote layout structure. Figure 2a In, the AP can include a physical layer processing circuit and a medium access control processing circuit. The physical layer processing circuit can be used to process physical layer signals, and the MAC layer processing circuit can be used to process MAC layer signals. In another example, seeFigure 2b , Figure 2b is a schematic structural diagram of a station provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 2b A schematic structural diagram of a single-antenna / single-RF STA is shown. In an actual scenario, the STA can also be a multi-antenna / multi-RF one and can be a device with more than two antennas. The antenna / RF is used to send / receive data packets. In one implementation, the antenna or RF part of the STA can be separated from the main body part of the STA, showing a remote layout structure. Figure 2b In, the STA can include a PHY processing circuit and a MAC processing circuit. The physical layer processing circuit can be used to process physical layer signals, and the MAC layer processing circuit can be used to process MAC layer signals.

[0069] In some embodiments, the aforementioned Figure 1 AP in the shown wireless communication system can be replaced with an access point multi-link device (AP MLD), and the STA can be replaced with a non-access point multi-link device (non-AP MLD). That is to say, the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to the scenario where multi-link devices (MLD) communicate with each other. A multi-link device is a wireless communication device that supports parallel transmission of multiple links. Compared with a device that only supports single-link transmission, the multi-link device has higher transmission efficiency and higher throughput. A multi-link device includes one or more affiliated stations STA (affiliated STA). The affiliated STA is a logical station and can work on one link. Among them, the affiliated station can be an access point (AP) or a non-access point station (non-AP STA). A multi-link device with an affiliated station as an AP can be called an AP MLD, and a multi-link device with an affiliated station as a non-AP STA can be called a non-AP MLD.

[0070] In a possible implementation, the multi-link device (which can be either a non-AP MLD or an AP MLD here) involved in the embodiments of the present application is a device with wireless communication functions. This device can be a whole machine device or can also be a chip or a processing system installed in the whole machine device. The device installed with these chips or processing systems can, under the control of these chips or processing systems, implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0071] Although the embodiments of the present application are mainly described by taking a network deploying Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 as an example, it is easy for those skilled in the art to understand that all aspects involved in the present application can be extended to other networks adopting various standards or protocols. For example, personal area network (PAN), Bluetooth, high performance radio LAN (HIPERLAN) (a wireless standard similar to the IEEE 802.11 standard, mainly used in Europe), wide area network (WAN), or other networks known now or developed in the future. Therefore, regardless of the coverage range and wireless access protocol used, all aspects provided by the present application can be applied to any suitable wireless network.

[0072] Some terms or nouns involved in the present application are briefly described below.

[0073] I. Tone plan based on resource unit (RU)

[0074] The development of wireless local area network (WLAN) has gone through multiple generations so far, including 802.11a / b / g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be, and 802.11bn which is currently under discussion. Among them, 802.11n is also known as high throughput (HT), 802.11ac is also known as very high throughput (VHT), 802.11ax is also known as high efficient (HE), 802.11be is also known as extremely high throughput (EHT), and 802.11bn is also known as Ultra High Reliability (UHR). In terms of bandwidth, 802.11ax currently supports the following bandwidth configurations: 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and 80 + 80 MHz. Among them, the difference between 160 MHz and 80 + 80 MHz is that the former is a continuous frequency band, while the two 80 MHz of the latter can be separated. In 802.11be, only continuous frequency bands are supported, and bandwidths of 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and 320 MHz are supported.

[0075] In 802.11ax and 802.11be, to improve the spectrum utilization rate, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access (OFDMA) transmission mode is defined. In the OFDMA transmission mode, a part of the continuous subcarriers within a bandwidth can be divided into a resource unit (RU). For example, in 802.11ax / be, 9 26-tone RUs are defined within a 20MHz bandwidth, and each 26-tone RU has 26 continuous subcarriers. A 26-tone RU can be allocated to a user. This method can increase the number of user accesses. For the convenience of description in this application, the subcarrier distribution (Tone Plan) currently defined in the 802.11be standard is mainly described. The subcarrier distribution and RU distribution under different bandwidths are described below respectively.

[0076] See Figure 3 , Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the subcarrier distribution and RU distribution of 20MHz provided by an embodiment of this application. As Figure 3 shown, when the bandwidth is 20MHz, the entire bandwidth (i.e., 20MHz) can include a 242-tone RU, or various combinations of 26-tone RUs, 52-tone RUs, and 106-tone RUs. Among them, each RU includes data subcarriers and pilot subcarriers. The data subcarriers can be used to carry data information, and the pilot subcarriers can be used for phase offset and / or frequency offset estimation. In addition to RUs, the 20MHz bandwidth also includes some guard subcarriers, null subcarriers, and / or direct current (DC) subcarriers.

[0077] It can be understood that a 242-tone RU can be understood as an RU containing 242 subcarriers. Similarly, a 26-tone RU can be understood as an RU containing 26 subcarriers, a 52-tone RU can be understood as an RU containing 52 subcarriers, and a 106-tone RU can be understood as an RU containing 106 subcarriers.

[0078] See Figure 4 , Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the subcarrier distribution and RU distribution of 40MHz provided by an embodiment of this application. As Figure 4As shown, when the bandwidth is 40 MHz, the entire bandwidth (ie, 40 MHz) may include a 484-tone RU, or various combinations of 26-tone RU, 52-tone RU, 106-tone RU, and 242-tone RU. Among them, the 484-tone RU may be understood as an RU containing 484 subcarriers.

[0079] See also Figure 5 , Figure 5 80MHz subcarrier distribution and RU distribution diagram provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 As shown, when the bandwidth is 80 MHz, the entire bandwidth (ie, 80 MHz) may include a 996-tone RU, or various combinations of 26-tone RU, 52-tone RU, 106-tone RU, 242-tone RU, and 484-tone RU. Figure 5 As shown, Figure 5 The 484L in the figure represents the left half of the 484-tone RU (i.e., the subcarrier range [-500:-17] or the subcarrier range [17:500]). Figure 5 The 484R in the figure represents the right half of the 484-tone RU. 484L and 484R each contain 242 subcarriers, which is another schematic representation of 484+5DC. Among them, the 996-tone RU can be understood as an RU containing 996 subcarriers. The "left" and "right" here only refer to the relative relationship relative to the center position in the frequency domain. Taking the 484-tone RU [-500:-17] as an example, in the actual frequency domain resources, "484L" is the low-frequency part relative to the frequency domain center of the 484-tone RU, that is, [-500:-259], and "484R" is the high-frequency part relative to the frequency domain center of the 484-tone RU, that is, [-258:-17]. Similarly, taking the 484-tone RU [17:500] as an example, "484L" is [17:258], and "484R" is [259:500].

[0080] When the bandwidth is 160MHz, the entire bandwidth (i.e., 160MHz) can be understood as a copy of two 80MHz subcarrier distributions. The entire bandwidth (i.e., 160MHz) can include 2 996-tone RUs, or various combinations of 26-tone RUs, 52-tone RUs, 106-tone RUs, 242-tone RUs, 484-tone RUs, and 996-tone RUs. When the bandwidth is 320MHz, the entire bandwidth (i.e., 320MHz) can be understood as a copy of four 80MHz subcarrier distributions. I will not go into details here.

[0081] The above-mentioned Figures 3 to 5 For the various subcarrier distributions shown above, taking the 242-tone RU as the unit, assuming Figures 3 to 5 the leftmost RU in [[ ]] is the lowest frequency, Figures 3 to 5 the rightmost RU in [[ ]] is the highest frequency. From left to right, the 242-tone RUs can be numbered: the first (1st), the second (2nd), …, the sixteenth (16th). It can be understood that taking a bandwidth of 320 MHz as an example, the Data field in the radio frame occupies at most 16 242-tone RUs. That is to say, in the data field, at most 16 242-tone RUs correspond one-to-one with 16 20-MHz channels in ascending order of frequency.

[0082] In terms of bandwidth, a 26-tone RU approximately corresponds to 2 MHz, a 52-tone RU approximately corresponds to 4 MHz, a 106-tone RU approximately corresponds to 8 MHz, and a 242-tone RU approximately corresponds to 20 MHz. The bandwidths corresponding to other sizes of RUs can be analogized by addition or multiplication accordingly, which will not be elaborated here.

[0083] It can be understood that since the 802.11be standard allows multiple RUs to be allocated to a STA, that is, multiple RUs are combined and allocated to a STA, the 802.11be standard supports multiple resource units (MRUs). In other words, in addition to the several types of RUs mentioned above, the 802.11be standard also introduces some MRUs. Exemplarily, a 52-tone RU and a 26-tone RU can form a 52+26-tone MRU; a 106-tone RU and a 26-tone RU can form a 106+26-tone MRU. Further exemplarily, a 484-tone RU and a 242-tone RU can form a 484+242-tone MRU, and a 996-tone RU and a 484-tone RU can form a 996+484-tone MRU. Further exemplarily, a 996-tone RU, a 484-tone RU, and a 242-tone RU can form a 996+484+242-tone MRU, two 996-tone RUs and a 484-tone RU can form a 2×996+484-tone MRU, three 996-tone RUs can form a 3×996-tone MRU, three 996-tone RUs and a 484-tone RU can form a 3×996+484-tone MRU, etc. It can be understood that with the continuous evolution and development of communication technologies, the next-generation standard of 802.11be may support more RU or MRU formats, which are not restricted in this application.

[0084] II. Uplink Multi-User Transmission

[0085] Uplink multi-user transmission is an important technology. Refer to Figure 6 , Figure 6 which is a schematic diagram of the uplink multi-user transmission process provided by an embodiment of this application. As Figure 6 shown, the uplink multi-user transmission process may include: The AP sends a trigger frame to trigger uplink multi-user transmission, and the trigger frame carries identifier information and resource allocation information of one or more stations; after each station receives the trigger frame, it sends an uplink data frame on the allocated resource unit (RU) using a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU), and receives an acknowledgment (block acknowledgment, BA) frame sent by the AP after a short inter-frame space (SIFS).

[0086] III. Distributed Resource Unit (dRU)

[0087] Both the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States have promulgated regulations on the 6 GHz spectrum, which limit the maximum transmit power and the maximum power spectral density. Compared with the maximum transmit power, the limitation of the maximum power spectral density is more stringent, and the allowed maximum transmit power is usually more restricted by the power spectral density (PSD). Due to the limitation of the maximum power spectral density, the transmit power of a single continuous RU is restricted. It should be understood that the continuous RU in this application refers to an RU composed of a continuous plurality of subcarriers, or a continuous RU is an RU composed of two groups of continuous subcarrier groups, where each group of continuous subcarrier groups includes a plurality of continuous subcarriers, and there is only a guard subcarrier, an empty subcarrier, or a DC subcarrier interval between the two groups of continuous subcarrier groups. Of course, the continuous RU can also have other names, and this application does not limit the name of the continuous RU.

[0088] The maximum power spectral density can refer to the maximum transmit power within 1 MHz, or rather, the maximum power spectral density is expressed in the form that the transmit power within 1 MHz does not exceed x dBm (dBm = 10lg(mW), where lg represents the logarithm to the base 10). The minimum granularity of the maximum power spectral density is 1 MHz. Therefore, without changing the transmit power within 1 MHz, that is, without changing the power spectral density, the distributed RU technology is proposed to increase the transmit power. Among them, the distributed RU corresponds to the continuous RU. The distributed RU includes a plurality of subcarriers that are discrete in the frequency domain. The plurality of discrete subcarriers can be partially discrete or completely discrete. That is to say, the plurality of discrete subcarriers can include a part of subcarriers that are continuous in frequency and a part of subcarriers that are discontinuous in frequency; or, the plurality of discrete subcarriers can also be completely discontinuous in frequency. It should be understood that "distributed RU" and "dRU" can be used interchangeably in this article. It should also be understood that the distributed RU mentioned in this article refers to an RU with subcarriers that are discrete in the frequency domain, that is, an RU with this characteristic is called a distributed RU in this article, but in practice, an RU with this characteristic can also have other names, and this application does not make a limitation.

[0089] For a dRU and a continuous RU that contain the same number of subcarriers, the bandwidth spanned by the dRU in the frequency domain from the low-frequency starting position to the high-frequency ending position is greater than the frequency-domain bandwidth occupied by the continuous RU. Thus, with the same maximum power spectral density, the total transmission power of the dRU can be higher than that of the continuous RU. That is to say, under the condition of limited power spectral density, dispersing a limited number of subcarriers (such as the 26 subcarriers included in a continuous 26-tone RU) onto a wider bandwidth, i.e., more subcarriers (such as the odd subcarriers of 2 continuous 26-tone RUs), can achieve an increase in transmission power. Therefore, compared with the continuous RU, when using the dRU for data transmission, the transmission power on each subcarrier can be increased, the total transmission power can be improved, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be enhanced.

[0090] In the embodiments of the present application, it can be understood that during one transmission by a user (such as an STA), the transmission power of each subcarrier in the resource unit allocated to the STA is the same. Taking a carrier spacing of 78.125 kHz as an example, there are 12.8 (1000 / 78.125 = 12.8, approximately 13) subcarriers in 1 MHz. Assuming that the transmission power of 1 MHz does not exceed p mW (i.e., the maximum power spectral density). The maximum number of subcarriers carrying signals among any 13 consecutive subcarriers will determine the average power of each subcarrier, and thus determine the transmission power of the signal. Among them, the transmission power of the signal is equal to the product of the average power of each subcarrier and the number of subcarriers. For example, assuming that among any 13 consecutive subcarriers (1 MHz), the maximum number of subcarriers carrying signals is 5, then the average power of each subcarrier within 1 MHz bandwidth is (p / 5) mW. Assuming that among any 13 consecutive subcarriers (1 MHz), the maximum number of subcarriers carrying signals is 2, then the average power of each subcarrier within 1 MHz bandwidth is (p / 2) mW. In other words, when the maximum power spectral density is constant, the more subcarriers carrying signals among any 13 consecutive subcarriers, the smaller the average power of each subcarrier, and the smaller the total transmission power. Thus, it can be known that assuming the resource unit allocated to the STA is a 26-tone dRU, that is, the number of subcarriers carrying signals is 26. If among any 13 consecutive subcarriers of the toneplan, the maximum number of subcarriers carrying signals is 2, such as the bandwidth size occupied by the 26-tone dRU is 26 / 2 = 13 MHz, then the average power of each subcarrier within 1 MHz bandwidth is (p / 2) mW. Then the total transmission power of the 26-tone dRU can be calculated according to the total transmission power of the subcarriers, specifically (p / 2) * 26 mW, or calculated according to the bandwidth occupied by the subcarriers, specifically 13 * p mW. If the resource unit allocated to the STA is a continuous 26-tone RU, since the continuous 26-tone RU includes 26 consecutive subcarriers (2 groups of 13 consecutive subcarriers), that is, the bandwidth size occupied by the continuous 26-tone RU is 2 MHz, then the average power of each subcarrier within 1 MHz bandwidth is (p / 13) mW. Then the total transmission power of the continuous 26-tone RU can be calculated according to the total transmission power of the subcarriers, specifically (p / 13) * 26 mW, or calculated according to the bandwidth occupied by the subcarriers, specifically 2 * p mW. In comparison, under the same maximum power spectral density, the total transmission power of the 26-tone dRU is 6.5 times higher than that of the continuous 26-tone RU.

[0091] In one implementation, the dRU tone plan design can be based on equal subcarrier spacing. For example, the subcarrier spacing in a 26-tone dRU within a 20 MHz bandwidth is 9, the subcarrier spacing in a 26-tone dRU within a 40 MHz bandwidth is 18, and the subcarrier spacing in a 26-tone dRU within an 80 MHz bandwidth is 36. In this dRU tone plan design based on equal subcarrier spacing, the number of subcarriers carrying signals within each 1 MHz frequency domain window is the same. When the power is evenly distributed to each subcarrier, the bandwidth corresponding to the total power is less than the actual signal bandwidth, which means that the dRU does not utilize the potential power gain brought by all the bandwidths. For example, within a 20 MHz bandwidth, there are a total of 242 subcarriers carrying signals, and the subcarrier spacing is 78.125 KHz. The maximum power spectral density is x dBm / MHz. Then each 1 MHz frequency domain window can cover 13 (1000 / 78.125 = 12.8, approximately 13) subcarriers. When designing the dRU based on equal subcarrier spacing, the maximum subcarrier spacing of the subcarriers carrying signals in a 26-tone dRU is 9 (242 / 26 = 9.3, rounded down to 9) subcarriers. In other words, each 1 MHz frequency domain window (i.e., 13 subcarriers) may cover 2 subcarriers carrying signals within a 26-tone dRU. Therefore, every two subcarriers within a 26-tone dRU share x dBm of transmission power. So the average transmission power of each subcarrier within a 26-tone dRU is (x dBm) / 2. At this time, the total transmission power of 26 subcarriers is (x dBm) / 2 * 26 = 13 * (x dBm), and the corresponding bandwidth is 13 MHz. This shows that there is a potential power gain corresponding to a 7 MHz (20 - 13 = 7) bandwidth in this 20 MHz bandwidth implementation method.

[0092] Although dispersing the subcarriers included in the resource unit to a larger bandwidth (larger than the bandwidth occupied by the continuous RU) can increase the transmission power, there is still room for improvement in the power gain of the existing dRU. Therefore, the present application provides a tone plan design for the dRU under a 20 MHz bandwidth, and this tone plan of the dRU can be applied to uplink and / or downlink transmissions. Taking the application of the dRU in uplink (multi-user) transmission as an example, the present application provides a communication method. The STA uses its allocated dRU for transmission. Under the condition of meeting the power spectral density requirement, compared with the transmission method using continuous RUs, the transmission power can be increased. And when the data subcarriers within a 20 MHz bandwidth reach the power improvement limit of the dRU, the available power of the pilot subcarriers in the 26-tone dRU within a 20 MHz bandwidth can be increased, thereby a 3 dB gain improvement can be obtained.

[0093] In this application, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts among various embodiments or implementation manners can be referred to each other. In each embodiment of this application, as well as in each implementation manner / implementation method / realization method in each embodiment, if there is no special description and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions among different embodiments, as well as among the various implementation manners / implementation methods / realization methods in each embodiment, are consistent and can be referenced to each other. The technical features in different embodiments, as well as in the various implementation manners / implementation methods / realization methods in each embodiment, can be combined to form new embodiments, implementation manners, implementation methods, or realization methods according to their internal logical relationships. The implementation manners of this application described below do not constitute a limitation on the protection scope of this application.

[0094] To describe the technical solution of this application more clearly, first, the carrier plan (tone plan) of the dRU under a 20 MHz bandwidth provided by the embodiments of this application will be described in detail. Exemplarily, the dRU in this application can include a plurality of subcarriers that are discrete in the frequency domain. The plurality of discrete subcarriers can be partially discrete or completely discrete. Or rather, the plurality of discrete subcarriers can include a part of the subcarriers that are continuous in frequency and a part of the subcarriers that are discontinuous in frequency; or, the plurality of discrete subcarriers can also be completely discontinuous in frequency.

[0095] It can be understood that the maximum number of subcarriers carrying signals within a 20 MHz bandwidth is 242. In a possible dRU carrier plan, within a 20 MHz bandwidth, it can include 1 242-tone dRU, or 2 106-tone dRUs, or 4 52-tone dRUs, or 9 26-tone dRUs, or various combinations of 26-tone dRUs, 52-tone dRUs, 106-tone dRUs, and 242-tone dRUs.

[0096] Among them, a 26-tone dRU can be understood as a dRU containing 26 subcarriers. Similarly, a 52-tone dRU can be understood as a dRU containing 52 subcarriers, a 106-tone dRU can be understood as a dRU containing 106 subcarriers, and a 242-tone dRU can be understood as a dRU containing 242 subcarriers. This will not be elaborated further below.

[0097] Each 26-tone dRU includes 24 data subcarriers and 2 pilot subcarriers. Each 52-tone dRU includes 48 data subcarriers and 4 pilot subcarriers, which can be understood as being formed by combining 2 26-tone dRUs. Each 106-tone dRU includes 102 data subcarriers and 4 pilot subcarriers, which can be understood as being formed by combining 2 52-tone dRUs and an additional 2 subcarriers. Each 242-tone dRU includes 234 data subcarriers and 8 pilot subcarriers, which can be understood as being formed by combining 2 106-tone dRUs, 1 26-tone dRU, and an additional 4 subcarriers.

[0098] Considering that there is a direct current subcarrier (DC tone) within the 20 MHz bandwidth at the middle position of the 20 MHz carrier plan (toneplan), in the embodiments of the present application, the 242 subcarriers carrying signals within the 20 MHz bandwidth are divided into two parts according to the position of the DC subcarrier, namely the left part and the right part. The left part can be divided into two sub-parts, namely the first sub-part and the second sub-part; the right part can also be divided into two sub-parts, namely the third sub-part and the fourth sub-part. The first sub-part and the third sub-part can each include 117 subcarriers, and the second sub-part and the fourth sub-part can each include 4 subcarriers. It can be understood that the first sub-part to the fourth sub-part are all logical parts, and the actual subcarrier positions corresponding to the first sub-part and the second sub-part can be separated or interspersed with each other; similarly, the actual subcarrier positions corresponding to the third sub-part and the fourth sub-part can be separated or interspersed with each other. See Figure 7 , Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the division of subcarriers within the 20 MHz bandwidth provided by the embodiments of the present application. As Figure 7As shown, the tone of the second sub - part can be located on one side of the first sub - part, and correspondingly, the tone of the fourth sub - part can be located on one side of the third sub - part; or the tone of the second sub - part can be interspersed in the middle of the first sub - part, and correspondingly, the tone of the fourth sub - part can also be interspersed in the middle of the third sub - part. The left part and the right part can have a translation relationship or a symmetry relationship. The first sub - part of the left part and the third sub - part of the right part can have a translation relationship or a symmetry relationship, and correspondingly, the second sub - part of the left part and the fourth sub - part of the right part can have a translation relationship or a symmetry relationship. Among them, the first sub - part and the third sub - part have a total of 2 * 117 = 234 sub - carriers, which can be jointly used to construct 9 26 - tone dRUs, that is: 2 * 117 / 26 = 9; every two of the 8 26 - tone dRUs can be combined to construct 4 52 - tone dRUs. The second sub - part and the fourth sub - part have a total of 2 * 4 = 8 sub - carriers, and these 8 sub - carriers can be used together with 26 - tone dRUs and / or 52 - tone dRUs to construct dRUs with a size not less than 106 - tone dRUs, such as 106 - tone dRUs and 242 - tone dRUs. In this article, the symbol "*" represents multiplication or the multiply operation, which will not be elaborated further below.

[0099] Exemplarily, based on Figure 7 the sub - carrier division within the 20MHz bandwidth shown, the first sub - part and the third sub - part can be jointly used to construct 9 26 - tone dRUs. One 26 - tone dRU can be composed of the combination of 13 sub - carriers of the first sub - part in the left part and 13 sub - carriers of the third sub - part in the right part. The 2 pilot sub - carriers in one 26 - tone dRU are composed of 1 sub - carrier of the first sub - part in the left part and 1 sub - carrier of the third sub - part in the right part, and the 24 data sub - carriers in one 26 - tone dRU are composed of 12 sub - carriers of the first sub - part in the left part and 12 sub - carriers of the third sub - part in the right part. Different 26 - tone dRUs have different sub - carriers. The pilot sub - carriers and data sub - carriers of the same 26 - tone dRU are different.

[0100] One 52-tone dRU can be composed of the combination of two 26-tone dRUs. The pilot subcarriers of the 52-tone dRU can be dispersed across the entire bandwidth (i.e., 20 MHz bandwidth), which can reduce the impact of channel deep fading on the pilot subcarriers. As an example, the pilot subcarriers of the 52-tone dRU are composed of the pilot subcarriers of the two 26-tone dRUs that make up this 52-tone dRU, and the data subcarriers of the 52-tone dRU are composed of the data subcarriers of the two 26-tone dRUs that make up this 52-tone dRU.

[0101] One 106-tone dRU can be composed of the combination of two 52-tone dRUs, one subcarrier in the second sub-part of the left part, and one subcarrier in the fourth sub-part of the right part. The pilot subcarriers of the 106-tone dRU can be composed of some of the pilot subcarriers of the two 52-tone dRUs that make up this 106-tone dRU.

[0102] One 242-tone dRU can be composed of the combination of two 106-tone dRUs, one 26-tone dRU, two subcarriers in the second sub-part of the left part, and two subcarriers in the fourth sub-part of the right part.

[0103] Based on the above Figure 7 Shown in the subcarrier division within the 20 MHz bandwidth, the design concept of the tone plan of the dRU in the embodiments of this application is introduced.

[0104] In a possible implementation, for the 117 subcarriers included in the first sub-part or the third sub-part, these 117 subcarriers can be expressed in the following form:

[0105] {SCdv, SCdu, SCdv, SCpu, SCdv, SCdu, SCdv,

[0106] SCdu, SCdv, SCdu, SCpv, SCdu, SCdv, SCdu}.

[0107] Regarding the meanings of "SCdu", "SCdv", "SCpu", and "SCpv", there are two possible implementation methods respectively.

[0108] Implementation method a:

[0109] One SCdu represents ten consecutive subcarriers in the first sub - part or the third sub - part. Among them, the first five subcarriers and the last five subcarriers of SCdu can be represented as {SCd1, SCd2, SCd3, SCd4, SCd5}. "SCd1" represents two subcarriers, which are the first subcarrier among the first five subcarriers of SCdu and the first subcarrier among the last five subcarriers of SCdu respectively. "SCd2" also represents two subcarriers, which are the second subcarrier among the first five subcarriers of SCdu and the second subcarrier among the last five subcarriers of SCdu respectively. "SCd3" also represents two subcarriers, which are the third subcarrier among the first five subcarriers of SCdu and the third subcarrier among the last five subcarriers of SCdu respectively. "SCd4" also represents two subcarriers, which are the fourth subcarrier among the first five subcarriers of SCdu and the fourth subcarrier among the last five subcarriers of SCdu respectively. "SCd5" also represents two subcarriers, which are the fifth subcarrier among the first five subcarriers of SCdu and the fifth subcarrier among the last five subcarriers of SCdu respectively.

[0110] The first five subcarriers and the last five subcarriers of SCdu can be used for the data subcarriers of five 26 - tone dRUs respectively, and the subcarriers in the same position among the first five subcarriers and the last five subcarriers are used for the same 26 - tone dRU. For example: the two subcarriers represented by SCd1 are used for the same 26 - tone dRU, the two subcarriers represented by SCd2 are used for another 26 - tone dRU, the two subcarriers represented by SCd3 are used for yet another 26 - tone dRU, and so on. {SCd1, SCd2, SCd3, SCd4, SCd5} are used for five 26 - tone dRUs respectively.

[0111] One SCdv represents eight consecutive subcarriers in the first sub - part or the third sub - part. Among them, the first four subcarriers and the last four subcarriers of SCdv can be represented as {SCd6, SCd7, SCd8, SCd9}. "SCd6" represents two subcarriers, which are the first subcarrier among the first four subcarriers of SCdv and the first subcarrier among the last four subcarriers of SCdv respectively. "SCd7" also represents two subcarriers, which are the second subcarrier among the first four subcarriers of SCdv and the second subcarrier among the last four subcarriers of SCdv respectively. "SCd8" also represents two subcarriers, which are the third subcarrier among the first four subcarriers of SCdv and the third subcarrier among the last four subcarriers of SCdv respectively. "SCd9" also represents two subcarriers, which are the fourth subcarrier among the first four subcarriers of SCdv and the fourth subcarrier among the last four subcarriers of SCdv respectively.

[0112] The first 4 subcarriers and the last 4 subcarriers of SCdv can be respectively used as the data subcarriers of another 4 26-tone dRUs, and the subcarriers at the same positions in the first 4 subcarriers and the last 4 subcarriers are used for the same 26-tone dRU.

[0113] One SCpu represents 5 consecutive subcarriers in the first sub-part or the third sub-part. Among them, the 5 subcarriers of SCpu can be expressed as {SCp1, SCp2, SCp3, SCp4, SCp5}. These 5 consecutive subcarriers can be respectively used as the pilot subcarriers of the above 5 26-tone dRUs.

[0114] One SCpv represents 4 consecutive subcarriers in the first sub-part or the third sub-part. Among them, the 4 subcarriers of SCpv can be expressed as {SCp6, SCp7, SCp8, SCp9}. These 4 consecutive subcarriers can be respectively used as the pilot subcarriers of the above another 4 26-tone dRUs.

[0115] Implementation method b:

[0116] One SCdu represents 8 consecutive subcarriers in the first sub-part or the third sub-part. Among them, the first 4 subcarriers and the last 4 subcarriers of SCdu can be expressed as {SCd1, SCd2, SCd3, SCd4}. "SCd1" represents 2 subcarriers, which are respectively the 1st subcarrier in the first 4 subcarriers of SCdu and the 1st subcarrier in the last 4 subcarriers of SCdu. "SCd2" also represents 2 subcarriers, which are respectively the 2nd subcarrier in the first 4 subcarriers of SCdu and the 2nd subcarrier in the last 4 subcarriers of SCdu. "SCd3" also represents 2 subcarriers, which are respectively the 3rd subcarrier in the first 4 subcarriers of SCdu and the 3rd subcarrier in the last 4 subcarriers of SCdu. "SCd4" also represents 2 subcarriers, which are respectively the 4th subcarrier in the first 4 subcarriers of SCdu and the 4th subcarrier in the last 4 subcarriers of SCdu.

[0117] The first 4 subcarriers and the last 4 subcarriers of SCdu can be respectively used as the data subcarriers of 4 26-tone dRUs, and the subcarriers at the same positions in the first 4 subcarriers and the last 4 subcarriers are used for the same 26-tone dRU. For example: the 2 subcarriers represented by SCd1 are used for the same 26-tone dRU, the 2 subcarriers represented by SCd2 are used for another 26-tone dRU, the 2 subcarriers represented by SCd3 are used for yet another 26-tone dRU, and so on. {SCd1, SCd2, SCd3, SCd4} are respectively used for 4 26-tone dRUs.

[0118] One SCdv represents ten consecutive subcarriers in the first sub - part or the third sub - part. Among them, the first five subcarriers and the last five subcarriers of SCdv can be expressed as {SCd5, SCd6, SCd7, SCd8, SCd9}. "SCd5" represents two subcarriers, which are the first sub - carrier among the first five subcarriers of SCdv and the first sub - carrier among the last five subcarriers of SCdv respectively. "SCd6" also represents two subcarriers, which are the second sub - carrier among the first five subcarriers of SCdv and the second sub - carrier among the last five subcarriers of SCdv respectively. "SCd7" also represents two subcarriers, which are the third sub - carrier among the first five subcarriers of SCdv and the third sub - carrier among the last five subcarriers of SCdv respectively. "SCd8" also represents two subcarriers, which are the fourth sub - carrier among the first five subcarriers of SCdv and the fourth sub - carrier among the last five subcarriers of SCdv respectively. "SCd9" also represents two subcarriers, which are the fifth sub - carrier among the first five subcarriers of SCdv and the fifth sub - carrier among the last five subcarriers of SCdv respectively.

[0119] The first five subcarriers and the last five subcarriers of SCdv can be respectively used as the data subcarriers of another five 26 - tone dRUs, and the subcarriers at the same positions in the first five subcarriers and the last five subcarriers are used for the same 26 - tone dRU.

[0120] One SCpu represents four consecutive subcarriers in the first sub - part or the third sub - part. Among them, the four subcarriers of SCpu can be expressed as {SCp1, SCp2, SCp3, SCp4}. These four consecutive subcarriers can be respectively used as the pilot subcarriers of the above - mentioned four 26 - tone dRUs.

[0121] One SCpv represents five consecutive subcarriers in the first sub - part or the third sub - part. Among them, the five subcarriers of SCpv are expressed as {SCp5, SCp6, SCp7, SCp8, SCp9}. These five consecutive subcarriers can be respectively used as the pilot subcarriers of the above - mentioned another five 26 - tone dRUs.

[0122] In the above two implementation manners (i.e., implementation manner a and implementation manner b), for a subcarrier in SCpu or SCpv for a 26-tone dRU, within 1 MHz (or 13 subcarriers) centered on it, there is only 1 subcarrier for this 26-tone dRU. For a subcarrier in SCdu or SCdv for a 26-tone dRU, within 1 MHz (or 13 subcarriers) centered on it, there are 2 subcarriers for this 26-tone dRU. Therefore, when using a subcarrier in SCpu or SCpv as the pilot subcarrier for a 26-tone dRU, since the number of pilot subcarriers per MHz in a 26-tone dRU is half the number of data subcarriers, the transmission power of the pilot subcarrier can be increased by 2 times relative to the transmission power of the data subcarrier, that is: the pilot subcarrier can obtain a 3 dB power gain.

[0123] In the above two implementation manners (i.e., implementation manner a and implementation manner b), SCdu and SCdv represent the data subcarriers for a 26-tone dRU, and the subcarriers represented by SCdu and SCdv are respectively used for 9 different 26-tone dRUs. The subcarriers represented by SCpu and SCpv can all be used as the pilot subcarriers for a 26-tone dRU, and the subcarriers represented by SCpu and SCpv are respectively used for 9 different 26-tone dRUs. The embodiments of the present application will be described below taking implementation manner a as an example.

[0124] In the first sub-part and the third sub-part, a 26-tone dRU has 2 subcarriers belonging to SCpu or SCpv and 24 subcarriers belonging to SCdu or SCdv.

[0125] For the second sub-part and the fourth sub-part, they can be used together with a 26-tone dRU and / or a 52-tone dRU to construct a dRU with a size not less than 106-tone dRU. Exemplarily, the principles for selecting subcarriers from the second sub-part and the fourth sub-part include: for the same dRU, the subcarriers selected from the second sub-part and / or the fourth sub-part cannot make the minimum subcarrier interval of the subcarriers belonging to the first sub-part and the third sub-part included in this dRU become smaller.

[0126] For better illustration Figure 7The relationship between the subcarriers in the left part (including the first sub - part and the second sub - part) and the right part (including the third sub - part and the fourth sub - part) within the 20 MHz bandwidth and the dRU is shown in the following table, as shown in Table 1 below. It can be understood that the relationship between the subcarriers in the left part (including the first sub - part and the second sub - part) and the dRU is the same as that between the subcarriers in the right part (including the third sub - part and the fourth sub - part) and the dRU. In Table 1, "26_1 to 26_9" respectively represent 26 - tone dRUs with indexes from 1 to 9. Similarly, "52_1 to 52_4" respectively represent 52 - tone dRUs with indexes from 1 to 4, "106_1 to 106_2" respectively represent 106 - tone dRUs with indexes from 1 to 2, and "242_1" represents a 242 - tone dRU with index 1. The meanings of SCd1 to SCd9 and SCp1 to SCp9 in Table 1 can be referred to the description in the foregoing implementation manner a, which will not be elaborated here. "tone 1 to tone4" in Table 1 represents the 1st to 4th subcarriers in the second sub - part or the fourth sub - part. The same expression hereinafter represents the same meaning and will not be elaborated again.

[0127] Table 1

[0128]

[0129]

[0130] Based on the design concept of the dRU carrier plan (tone plan) introduced above, various dRUs provided by the embodiments of the present application and the subcarriers they contain are illustrated below with examples.

[0131] It can be understood that within the 20 MHz bandwidth, there are a total of 256 subcarriers. After removing 11 guard subcarriers, there are 245 subcarriers left. The indexes (tone indexes) of these 245 subcarriers can be expressed as [-122:122], that is, -122, -121, -120, …, -1, 0, 1, …, 120, 121, 122. The subcarrier indexes in the embodiments of the present application can be numbered in ascending order of frequency, that is, the subcarrier with the smallest index value has the lowest frequency, and the subcarrier with the largest index value has the highest frequency. Of course, it can also be that the subcarrier indexes are numbered in descending order of frequency, that is, the subcarrier with the smallest index value has the highest frequency, and the subcarrier with the largest index value has the lowest frequency. The embodiments of the present application do not make any restrictions.

[0132] The embodiments of the present application define 9 26 - tone RUs for 20 MHz.

[0133] For example: the foregoing Figure 7The left part and the right part in it are symmetric about the DC tone, and the subcarriers of the second sub - part are interspersed in the middle of the first sub - part, and the subcarriers of the fourth sub - part are interspersed in the middle of the third sub - part. In addition, tones 1 to 4 of the fourth sub - part in the right part respectively correspond to sub - carrier indices 122, 4, 2, 3, and the third sub - part in the right part corresponds to 117 sub - carriers with sub - carrier indices from 5 to 121 in sequence. Then, according to the relationship between sub - carriers and dRUs shown in Table 1 above, the sub - carriers included in 9 26 - tone dRUs under a 20MHz bandwidth are shown in Table 2 below. Among them, the dRU index in the embodiments of this application is the logical index of the predefined dRU, which will not be elaborated hereinafter.

[0134] Table 2

[0135]

[0136] In the carrier planning of dRU, a 20MHz bandwidth can include 4 52 - tone dRUs. Each 52 - tone dRU can be understood as composed of the combination of 2 26 - tone dRUs, and the specific sub - carriers included are shown in Table 3 below.

[0137] Table 3

[0138]

[0139]

[0140] In the carrier planning of dRU, a 20MHz bandwidth can include 2 106 - tone dRUs. One 106 - tone dRU can be understood as composed of the combination of 2 52 - tone dRUs (or 4 26 - tone dRUs) and an additional 2 sub - carriers, and the specific sub - carriers included are shown in Table 4 below.

[0141] Table 4

[0142]

[0143] In a possible implementation, the 106 - tone dRU with index 1 can also be understood as composed of the combination of 52 - tone dRUs with indices 1 and 2 and sub - carriers with sub - carrier indices {-122, 122}. The 106 - tone dRU with index 2 can also be understood as composed of the combination of 52 - tone dRUs with indices 3 and 4 and sub - carriers with sub - carrier indices {-4, 4}.

[0144] In the carrier planning of dRU, a 20 MHz bandwidth can include one 242-tone dRU. One 242-tone dRU can be understood as being composed of two 106-tone dRUs, one 26-tone dRU, and an additional four subcarriers, or one 242-tone dRU can be understood as being composed of nine 26-tone dRUs and an additional eight subcarriers. The specific subcarriers included are shown in Table 5 below. The subcarrier indices [-4:-2, 2:4] in Table 5 represent -4, -3, -2, 2, 3, 4.

[0145] Table 5

[0146]

[0147] The pilot subcarrier indices for achieving pilot power improvement of dRU under a 20 MHz bandwidth are shown in Table 6 below. The symbol " / " in Table 6 indicates that any subcarrier can be used for the pilot. It can be understood that in the case indicated by " / ", there is no power improvement of the pilot subcarrier relative to the data subcarrier.

[0148] Table 6

[0149]

[0150]

[0151] In summary, for any one 26-tone dRU in Table 2 above, there are two subcarriers that exclusively occupy 1 MHz (that is, within the 1 MHz where these two subcarriers are located, only one subcarrier belongs to this 26-tone dRU), and for the remaining 24 subcarriers, at most two subcarriers belong to this 26-tone dRU within 1 MHz. Therefore, when these two subcarriers are used as the pilot subcarriers of the 26-tone dRU (as shown in the second column of Table 6 above), since the number of pilot subcarriers within 1 MHz is half the number of data subcarriers, the potential power of the pilot subcarriers is increased by two times compared to the data subcarriers, that is: the pilot subcarriers can obtain a 3 dB power gain.

[0152] In short, in any of the embodiments of the present application, the number of data subcarriers within any 1 MHz of any 26-tone dRU is less than or equal to 2, and the number of subcarriers within any 1 MHz at the position where the pilot subcarrier is located is 1. In other words, the number of subcarriers within 1 MHz at the position where the pilot subcarrier is located in any 26-tone dRU is less than or equal to the number of subcarriers within 1 MHz at the position where the data subcarriers are located. In other words, the interval between the data subcarriers and the pilot subcarriers in any 26-tone dRU is greater than or equal to 13. Or, the number of dRU subcarriers within any 1 MHz at the position where the data subcarriers of the 26-tone dRU are located is less than or equal to 2, and the number of dRU subcarriers within any 1 MHz at the position where the pilot subcarriers of the 26-tone dRU are located is 1.

[0153] For any one of the 52-tone dRUs in Table 3 above, there are at most 3 subcarriers within 1 MHz at the position of each subcarrier, and there is no power boost for the pilot subcarriers compared to the data subcarriers. For the 106-tone dRU in Table 4 above, there are at most 6 subcarriers within 1 MHz at the position of each subcarrier. For the 242-tone dRU in Table 5 above, there are at most 13 subcarriers within 1 MHz at the position of each subcarrier.

[0154] "1 MHz at the position of the subcarrier" as described in the present application can be understood as "1 MHz containing this subcarrier".

[0155] To better illustrate the performance advantages of the dRU carrier plan (tone plan) under 20 MHz bandwidth provided by the embodiments of the present application, the power gain of the pilot subcarriers in the 26-tone dRU of the embodiments of the present application will be described below with simulation diagrams.

[0156] Exemplarily, assume that the maximum power spectral density is 10 dBm / MHz. Refer to Figure 8 , Figure 8 which is a simulation schematic diagram of the subcarrier power allocation in the 26-tone dRU provided by the embodiments of the present application. Among them, Figure 8 the abscissa of Figure 8 represents the subcarrier index, and Figure 8As shown in the figure, taking the 26-tone dRU1 in Table 2 above as an example, the transmission power (or the maximum available power) of the data subcarriers in the 26-tone dRU1 is 5 mW, and the transmission power (or the maximum available power) of the pilot subcarriers is 10 mW. Since the transmission power of the pilot subcarriers in the 26-tone dRU1 is twice that of the data subcarriers, the pilot subcarriers in the 26-tone dRU1 can obtain a power gain of 3 dB compared to the data subcarriers.

[0157] Those skilled in the art can understand that the standard can adopt any one of the dRU tone plans in the above-mentioned 20 MHz bandwidth or a reasonable replacement of other combinations. It can be understood that any dRU tone plan that satisfies the description in the embodiments of the present application that "the number of data subcarriers of the 26-tone dRU within 1 MHz is less than or equal to 2, and the number of subcarriers of the 26-tone dRU within 1 MHz where the pilot subcarriers are located is 1" is within the protection scope of the present application, and is not limited to the dRU tone plan in the above-mentioned 20 MHz bandwidth.

[0158] Based on the 20 MHz dRU tone plan adopted by the above standard, the access point can schedule any one dRU in the 20 MHz dRU tone plan adopted by the standard, or can also schedule multiple non-conflicting dRUs, and each dRU is allocated to different one or more stations. The above non-conflicting means that there are no identical subcarriers or no overlap. For example, allocate the 106-tone dRU with index 2 to one or more stations, and allocate the 52-tone dRU with index 1 to another one or more stations and allocate the 26-tone dRU with index 3 to other one or more stations, and allocate the 26-tone dRU with index 4 to other one or more stations. Of course, the access point can also use any one dRU in the 20 MHz dRU tone plan adopted by the standard, or multiple non-conflicting dRUs.

[0159] The above content elaborates in detail the carrier plan (tone plan) of the dRU in the 20 MHz bandwidth provided by the embodiments of the present application, and this carrier plan of the dRU can be applied to uplink and / or downlink transmissions. Next, in combination with the carrier plan of the dRU in the 20 MHz bandwidth above, the process of the communication method provided by the present application will be described.

[0160] The communication device in this application can support 802.11 series protocols, such as the 802.11bn standard, or the next-generation standard of 802.11bn, etc. Of course, the communication device in this application can also support various WLAN standards of the 802.11 family, such as 802.11be, 802.11bf, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, and 802.11a. The communication device in this application can also support other standard protocols, such as sensing or ranging standards, etc., which are not listed one by one here.

[0161] In a possible implementation, the first communication device in this application can be the AP or STA mentioned above Figure 1 , and the corresponding second communication device can be the STA or AP mentioned above Figure 1 . Of course, the first communication device in this application can also be an AP MLD or a non-AP MLD. Correspondingly, the second communication device in this application can be a non-AP MLD or an AP MLD, and this application does not make any restrictions.

[0162] See Figure 9 , Figure 9 which is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application. As Figure 9 shown, the communication method includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0163] S101, the first communication device generates a PPDU according to the carrier plan of the dRU. The carrier plan of the dRU includes: the number of data subcarriers of 26-tone dRU within any 1 MHz is less than or equal to 2, and the number of subcarriers of 26-tone dRU within any 1 MHz where the pilot subcarrier is located is 1.

[0164] S102, the first communication device sends the PPDU.

[0165] S103, the second communication device receives the PPDU according to the above carrier plan of the dRU.

[0166] S104, the second communication device processes the PPDU.

[0167] In a possible implementation, the first communication device may be an AP or an AP MLD, and the second communication device may be a STA or a non-AP MLD. The first communication device may generate a PPDU according to the carrier plan (dRU toneplan) of the dRU under the foregoing 20 MHz bandwidth and send the PPDU. It can be understood that the first communication device (AP or AP MLD) may carry information about the dRU it uses (such as: size and / or position) in the signal (SIG) field of the PPDU, and the dRU may be one or more in the carrier plan (dRU tone plan) of the dRU under the foregoing 20 MHz bandwidth. For example: the dRU may be one or more of the dRUs in Table 2 to Table 5 above. Therefore, after receiving (or parsing) the SIG field of the PPDU, the second communication device (STA or non-AP MLD) may receive other parts (such as data) of the PPDU on the dRU.

[0168] In another possible implementation, the first communication device may be a STA or a non-AP MLD, and the second communication device may be an AP or an AP MLD. The second communication device sends a frame for triggering, and the frame for triggering includes dRU indication information for indicating the dRU allocated to the first communication device. The dRU allocated to the first communication device is one or more in the carrier plan (dRU tone plan) of the dRU under the foregoing 20 MHz bandwidth. Exemplarily, the dRU allocated to the first communication device may be one or more of the dRUs in Table 2 to Table 5 above. After receiving the frame for triggering, the first communication device may determine the dRU allocated to itself according to the dRU indication information in the frame for triggering, and may generate and send a PPDU according to the dRU and the foregoing carrier plan of the dRU. The second communication device may then receive and process the PPDU from the first communication device according to the dRU allocated to the first communication device and the foregoing carrier plan of the dRU.

[0169] In a possible implementation, the first communication device sending a PPDU includes: the first communication device sending the data information of the PPDU on the data subcarriers of the dRU and may send the pilot information of the PPDU on the pilot subcarriers of the dRU. The specific subcarriers included in the dRU may be determined by the carrier plan (tone plan) of the dRU under the foregoing 20 MHz bandwidth. For the carrier plan of the dRU under the 20 MHz bandwidth, reference may be made to the foregoing description and will not be elaborated here.

[0170] Exemplarily, taking the dRU transmission encoded based on a binary convolutional code (BCC) as an example, the process of the first communication device sending a PPDU can be as follows Figure 10 as shown. Figure 10 is a block diagram of dRU transmission based on BCC encoding provided by an embodiment of this application. As Figure 10 shown, after the first communication device performs BCC interleaving (BCC interleaver) on the signal, constellation mapping can be performed. During the constellation mapping process, the frequency-domain sequence of the signal can be mapped to multiple subcarriers of the dRU, and then through subsequent processing (for example: performing cyclic shift diversity (CSD) on each stream, spatial and frequency mapping, inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT), inserting a guard interval (GI) and window, etc.), and finally sent out through analog and radio frequency (Analog and RF) operations.

[0171] Exemplarily again, taking the dRU uplink transmission encoded based on a low-density parity check code as an example, the process of the first communication device sending a PPDU can be as follows Figure 11 as shown. Figure 11 is a block diagram of dRU transmission based on LDPC encoding provided by an embodiment of this application. As Figure 11 shown, after the first communication device performs a stream parsing (Stream Parser) operation on the signal, constellation mapping is performed for each stream. During the constellation mapping process, the frequency-domain sequence of the signal can be mapped to multiple subcarriers of the dRU, and then through subsequent processing (for example: performing LDPC subcarrier mapping, cyclic shift diversity (CSD), spatial and frequency mapping, inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT), inserting a guard interval (GI) and window, etc. on each stream after constellation mapping), and finally sent out through analog and radio frequency (Analog and RF) operations.

[0172] Among them, the above Figure 10 and Figure 11 shown block diagrams can be understood as the generation and sending process of the PPDU. It can be understood that for the generation and sending process of the PPDU, reference can also be made to the prior art (such as the existing 802.11be standard), and only a simple description is given here.

[0173] In one possible implementation, the above-mentioned frame for triggering can adopt various possible frame formats. It can be a type of control frame in the MAC frame specified by the standard, called a trigger frame; it can also be other MAC frames with a triggering function, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this. Other MAC frames with a triggering function can also be called MAC frames with a TRS (triggered response scheduling) function, and this function is generally implemented by including a TRS Control subfield in the MAC frame. Exemplarily, the above-mentioned dRU indication information can be carried in the RU / dRU allocation field of the user info field in the trigger frame, or in the RU / dRU allocation field of the TRS Control subfield in other MAC frames. Additionally, it is also possible to add a new field (such as a dRU allocation field) to the user info field in the trigger frame to carry the above-mentioned dRU indication information; similarly, a new field (such as a dRU allocation field) can also be added to the TRS Control subfield in other MAC frames to carry the above-mentioned dRU indication information. At this time, a user info field may simultaneously contain an RU allocation field and a dRU allocation field, so more information may be needed to indicate whether the RU allocation field or the dRU allocation field in this user info field is enabled.

[0174] It can be understood that the embodiments of the present application do not limit the structure of the above-mentioned frame for triggering, nor the carrying manner of the above-mentioned dRU indication information in the above-mentioned frame for triggering and the corresponding frame format.

[0175] In a possible implementation, the above dRU indication information can be used to indicate the dRU allocated to the first communication device (such as an STA). The dRU can be determined by its size and position. The size of the dRU can refer to the number of subcarriers in the dRU, and the position of the dRU can refer to the position of the subcarriers in the dRU in the frequency domain. Generally, the subcarrier index range can be used to represent the position of the subcarriers in the dRU in the frequency domain. In the embodiments of the present application, the size and position of the dRU conform to the size and position defined in the dRU tone plan under the foregoing 20 MHz bandwidth. Exemplarily, the dRU indicated by the above dRU indication information can be one or more dRUs in Table 2 to Table 5 above.

[0176] In a possible implementation, there can be one or more first communication devices (or the station STA) in the embodiments of the present application, and the second communication device (such as an AP) can allocate corresponding dRUs to each of these one or more first communication devices (such as an STA). For example, the second communication device (such as an AP) can determine the dRUs allocated to one or more first communication devices (such as an STA) according to the carrier plan (dRU tone plan) of the dRU under the foregoing 20 MHz bandwidth. The specific determination method can be the internal policy of the second communication device (such as an AP), which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. The second communication device (such as an AP) sends a trigger frame for triggering uplink multi-user transmission. The trigger frame includes one or more dRU indication information. One dRU indication information is used to indicate the dRU allocated to a first communication device (such as an STA). The dRUs allocated to different first communication devices (such as an STA) can be different and non-conflicting. Correspondingly, the second communication device (such as an AP) schedules each first communication device (such as an STA) for uplink multi-user transmission to receive the trigger frame. For the convenience of description in the present application, an example of one first communication device (such as an STA) is used for illustration. The first communication device (such as an STA) determines the dRU allocated to itself based on the dRU indication information in the trigger frame, and can use the dRU allocated to itself to send a PPDU (such as sending a TB PPDU). Among them, the transmission bandwidth of the first communication device (such as an STA) using the dRU for transmission is 20 MHz. Here, the transmission bandwidth can also be understood as the channel bandwidth or operating bandwidth of the uplink transmission of this first communication device (such as an STA).

[0177] It can be understood that since the second communication device (such as an AP) can schedule multiple first communication devices (such as STAs) for uplink transmission simultaneously, the second communication device (such as an AP) can determine which data on the subcarriers belongs to the same first communication device (such as an STA) according to the dRU allocated to each first communication device (such as an STA) and the carrier plan of the dRU under a 20MHz bandwidth, so that the second communication device (such as an AP) can distinguish the uplink data from different first communication devices (such as STAs).

[0178] The first communication device in the embodiments of the present application uses the dRU defined in the aforementioned dRU tone plan under a 20MHz bandwidth for transmission. Compared with the transmission method using continuous RUs, the transmission power can be increased under the condition of meeting the power spectral density requirements. And when the data subcarriers in the 20MHz bandwidth reach the upper limit of the dRU power increase, the available power of the pilot subcarriers in the 26-tone dRU within the 20MHz bandwidth can be increased, so that the pilot subcarriers can obtain a 3dB gain improvement compared with the data subcarriers. In addition, since the pilot subcarriers of the dRU in the embodiments of the present application are scattered throughout the bandwidth, the influence of deep channel fading on pilot transmission can be reduced, such as reducing the possibility that deep channel fading destroys all pilot transmissions.

[0179] The above content elaborates in detail the method provided by the present application. To facilitate the implementation of the above solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the embodiments of the present application also provide corresponding devices or equipment.

[0180] The present application divides the communication device into functional modules according to the above method embodiments. For example, each functional module can be corresponding to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the present application is illustrative, only a logical function division, and there can be other division methods in actual implementation. The following will be combined with Figures 12 to 14 Describe the communication device of the embodiments of the present application in detail.

[0181] See Figure 12 , Figure 12 is a schematic structural diagram of the communication device provided by the embodiments of the present application. As Figure 12 shown, the communication device includes: a transceiver unit 10 and a processing unit 20. The transceiver unit 10 can implement corresponding communication functions, and the processing unit 20 is used for data processing. For example, the transceiver unit 10 can also be called a communication interface or a communication unit, etc.

[0182] In some embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be the first communication device shown above. That is Figure 12The communication device shown can be used to perform the steps or functions, etc., executed by the first communication device in the above method embodiments. Exemplarily, the communication device can be the first communication device or a chip or functional module configured in the first communication device, etc., and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this. The transceiver unit 10 is used to perform the operations related to the transceiver of the first communication device in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 20 is used to perform the operations related to the processing of the first communication device in the above method embodiments.

[0183] Among them, the processing unit 20 is used to generate a PPDU according to the carrier planning of the dRU; the transceiver unit 10 is used to send the PPDU.

[0184] It can be understood that the transceiver unit 10 can send the PPDU to other communication devices, or the transceiver unit 10 outputs the PPDU from the processing unit 20 to other components or other functional modules, etc., in the communication device. The related description of the transceiver unit outputting other information is similar, and will not be elaborated further below.

[0185] In the embodiments of the present application, the description of the carrier planning of the dRU and the PPDU, etc., can refer to the introduction in the above method embodiments, and will not be elaborated one by one here.

[0186] It can be understood that the specific descriptions of the transceiver unit and the processing unit shown in the embodiments of the present application are only examples. For the specific functions or steps executed by the transceiver unit and the processing unit, etc., reference can be made to the above method embodiments, and will not be elaborated here. In addition, for the technical effects of the embodiments of the present application, refer to the technical effects in the foregoing method embodiments. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0187] Multiplexing Figure 12 , in some other embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be the second communication device shown above. That is Figure 12 The communication device shown can be used to perform the steps or functions, etc., executed by the second communication device in the above method embodiments. Exemplarily, the communication device can be the second communication device or a chip or functional module configured in the second communication device, etc., and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this. The transceiver unit 10 is used to perform the operations related to the transceiver of the second communication device in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 20 is used to perform the operations related to the processing of the second communication device in the above method embodiments.

[0188] Among them, the transceiver unit 10 is used to receive a PPDU according to the above carrier planning of the dRU; the processing unit 20 is used to process the PPDU.

[0189] It is understandable that the transceiver unit 10 can receive a PPDU from other communication devices, or the transceiver unit 10 can input the PPDU from other components or other functional modules in the communication device, etc. The relevant descriptions of the transceiver unit inputting other information are similar, and will not be elaborated further below.

[0190] In the embodiments of the present application, the description of the carrier planning of the dRU, the PPDU, etc. can refer to the introduction in the above method embodiments, and will not be elaborated one by one here.

[0191] It is understandable that the specific descriptions of the transceiver unit and the processing unit shown in the embodiments of the present application are only examples. For the specific functions of the transceiver unit and the processing unit, or the steps executed, etc., reference can be made to the above method embodiments, and will not be elaborated here. In addition, for the technical effects of the embodiments of the present application, refer to the technical effects in the foregoing method embodiments. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0192] The communication device of the embodiments of the present application has been introduced above. The following introduces the possible product forms of the communication device. It should be understood that any product form with the functions of the above-mentioned Figure 12 communication device falls within the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application. It should also be understood that the following introduction is only for example, and does not limit the product forms of the communication device of the embodiments of the present application to this.

[0193] In a possible implementation manner, Figure 12 In the shown communication device, the processing unit 20 can be one or more processors, the transceiver unit 10 can be a transceiver, or the transceiver unit 10 can also be a sending unit and a receiving unit. The sending unit can be a transmitter, and the receiving unit can be a receiver. The sending unit and the receiving unit are integrated in one device, such as a transceiver. In the embodiments of the present application, the processor and the transceiver can be coupled, etc. The connection manner between the processor and the transceiver is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In the process of executing the above method, the process of sending information (such as sending a PPDU) in the above method can be understood as the process of the processor outputting the above information. When outputting the above information, the processor outputs the above information to the transceiver for transmission by the transceiver. After the above information is output by the processor, other processing may be required before it reaches the transceiver. Similarly, the process of receiving information (such as receiving a PPDU) in the above method can be understood as the process of the processor receiving the input above information. When the processor receives the input information, the transceiver receives the above information and inputs it to the processor. Further, after the transceiver receives the above information, the above information may need to be processed otherwise before it is input to the processor.

[0194] See Figure 13 , Figure 13It is another schematic structural diagram of the communication device provided by the embodiments of the present application. The communication device may be a first communication device or a second communication device, or a chip therein. Figure 13 Only the main components of the communication device are shown. In addition to the processor 1001, the communication device may further include a transceiver 1002, a memory 1003, and an input / output device (not shown in the figure).

[0195] The processor 1001 is mainly used to process communication protocols and communication data, control the entire communication device, execute software programs, and process the data of software programs. The memory 1003 is mainly used to store software programs and data. The transceiver 1002 may include a control circuit and an antenna. The control circuit is mainly used for the conversion between baseband signals and radio frequency signals and the processing of radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used to transmit and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. The input / output device, such as a touch screen, a display screen, a keyboard, etc., is mainly used to receive data input by the user and output data to the user.

[0196] After the communication device is powered on, the processor 1001 can read the software program in the memory 1003, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be wirelessly transmitted, the processor 1001 performs baseband processing on the data to be transmitted and then outputs a baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit. The radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and then transmits the radio frequency signal outward in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the communication device, the radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 1001. The processor 1001 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0197] In another implementation, the radio frequency circuit and the antenna may be provided independently of the processor performing baseband processing. For example, in a distributed scenario, the radio frequency circuit and the antenna may be independent of the communication device and arranged in a remote manner.

[0198] Among them, the processor 1001, the transceiver 1002, and the memory 1003 may be connected through a communication bus.

[0199] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to execute the steps, methods, or functions performed by the first communication device in the method embodiment shown above Figure 9 the processor 1001 may be used to execute Figure 9 step S101 in Figure 9 and / or used to execute other processes of the technology described herein; the transceiver 1002 may be used to execute

[0200] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to perform the above Figure 9 When the second communication device executes the steps, methods or functions in the method embodiment shown, the processor 1001 can be used to execute Figure 9 Step S104 in, and / or other processes for performing the techniques described herein; the transceiver 1002 may be used to perform Figure 9 Step S103 in, and / or other processes for the technology described herein.

[0201] In any of the above designs, the processor 1001 may include a transceiver for implementing the receiving and sending functions. For example, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit, or an interface, or an interface circuit. The transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit for implementing the receiving and sending functions may be separate or integrated. The above transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit may be used for reading and writing code / data, or the above transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit may be used for transmitting or delivering signals.

[0202] In any of the above designs, the processor 1001 may store instructions, which may be computer programs. The computer programs run on the processor 1001, and may enable the communication device to perform the method described in the above method embodiment. The computer program may be fixed in the processor 1001, in which case the processor 1001 may be implemented by hardware.

[0203] In one implementation, the communication device may include circuitry that can implement the functions of transmitting, receiving, or communicating in the foregoing method embodiments. The processor and transceiver described in this application can be implemented on an integrated circuit (IC), analog IC, radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), mixed-signal IC, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), printed circuit board (PCB), electronic device, etc. The processor and transceiver can also be fabricated using various IC process technologies, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS), P-channel metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS), bipolar junction transistor (BJT), BiCMOS, silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

[0204] It can be understood that the communication device shown in the embodiments of this application may also have more components, etc., which are not limited in the embodiments of this application. The methods executed by the processor and transceiver shown above are only examples, and for the specific steps executed by the processor and transceiver, reference can be made to the description of the method embodiments above. Figure 13 In another possible implementation,

[0205] In the communication device shown, the processing unit 20 may be one or more logic circuits, and the transceiver unit 10 may be an input / output interface, or also referred to as a communication interface, or interface circuit, or interface, etc. Or the transceiver unit 10 may also be a transmitting unit and a receiving unit. The transmitting unit may be an output interface, and the receiving unit may be an input interface. The transmitting unit and the receiving unit are integrated into one unit, such as an input / output interface. Refer to Figure 12 FIG. Figure 14 is another structural schematic diagram of the communication device provided in the embodiments of this application. As shown in Figure 14 FIG. Figure 14 shown, Figure 14The communication device shown includes a logic circuit 901 and an interface 902. That is, the above-mentioned processing unit 20 can be implemented by the logic circuit 901, and the transceiver unit 10 can be implemented by the interface 902. Among them, the logic circuit 901 can be a chip, a processing circuit, an integrated circuit, or a system on chip (SoC) chip, etc., and the interface 902 can be a communication interface, an input / output interface, a pin, etc. Exemplarily, Figure 14 Taking the above communication device as a chip as an example, the chip includes a logic circuit 901 and an interface 902.

[0206] In the embodiments of the present application, the logic circuit and the interface can also be coupled to each other. For the specific connection manner between the logic circuit and the interface, the embodiments of the present application do not make any limitations.

[0207] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to execute the method, function, or step performed by the first communication device in the foregoing method embodiments, the logic circuit 901 is used to generate a PPDU according to the carrier plan of the dRU; the interface 902 is used to output the PPDU.

[0208] Exemplarily, when the communication device is used to execute the method, function, or step performed by the second communication device in the foregoing method embodiments, the interface 902 is used to input a PPDU according to the carrier plan of the dRU; the logic circuit 901 is used to process the PPDU.

[0209] In the embodiments of the present application, for the specific descriptions of the carrier plan of the dRU, the PPDU, etc., reference can be made to the foregoing Figure 9 method embodiments shown, which will not be elaborated here one by one.

[0210] It can be understood that the communication device shown in the embodiments of the present application can implement the method provided in the embodiments of the present application in the form of hardware, or can also implement the method provided in the embodiments of the present application in the form of software, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not make any limitations in this regard.

[0211] For Figure 14 the specific implementation manners of the embodiments shown, reference can also be made to the above-mentioned various embodiments, which will not be elaborated here.

[0212] The embodiments of the present application also provide a wireless communication system, which includes a first communication device and a second communication device, and the first communication device and the second communication device can be used to execute the methods in the foregoing method embodiments.

[0213] In addition, the present application also provides a computer program, which is used to implement the operations and / or processes performed by the first communication device in the method provided by the present application.

[0214] The present application also provides a computer program, which is used to implement the operations and / or processes performed by the second communication device in the method provided by the present application.

[0215] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer code is stored. When the computer code runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the operations and / or processes performed by the first communication device in the method provided by the present application.

[0216] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer code is stored. When the computer code runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the operations and / or processes performed by the second communication device in the method provided by the present application.

[0217] The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes computer code or a computer program. When the computer code or the computer program runs on a computer, the operations and / or processes performed by the first communication device in the method provided by the present application are caused to be executed.

[0218] The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes computer code or a computer program. When the computer code or the computer program runs on a computer, the operations and / or processes performed by the second communication device in the method provided by the present application are caused to be executed.

[0219] In several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the 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. In addition, the displayed or discussed couplings or direct couplings or communication connections to each other can be indirect couplings or communication connections through some interfaces, devices, or units, and can also be electrical, mechanical, or other forms of connection.

[0220] 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 can also be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the technical effects of the solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0221] In addition, in each embodiment of the present application, each functional unit may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically alone, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit.

[0222] If the above-mentioned integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution, may be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a readable storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned readable storage medium includes: various media such as USB flash drives, mobile hard disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), magnetic disks, or optical discs that can store program codes.

[0223] The above is only the specific implementation manner of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the present application can easily think of changes or substitutions, which should all be covered by the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, Including: Transmitting a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) according to the carrier plan of a distributed resource unit (dRU), where the carrier plan of the dRU includes: the number of data subcarriers of a 26-tone dRU within 1 MHz is less than or equal to 2, and the number of subcarriers of a 26-tone dRU within 1 MHz at the position where the pilot subcarrier is located is 1.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The carrier plan of the dRU includes 9 26-tone dRUs; each 26-tone dRU includes 26 subcarriers, among which there are 24 data subcarriers and 2 pilot subcarriers.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein The carrier plan of the dRU includes one or more 26-tone dRUs in Table 2.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The carrier plan of the dRU further includes 4 52-tone dRUs; each 52-tone dRU includes 52 subcarriers, among which there are 48 data subcarriers and 4 pilot subcarriers.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein The carrier plan of the dRU further includes one or more of the following: The 52-tone dRU with index 1 includes 26-tone dRUs with indices 1 and 2; The 52-tone dRU with index 2 includes 26-tone dRUs with indices 3 and 4; The 52-tone dRU with index 3 includes 26-tone dRUs with indices 6 and 7; The 52-tone dRU with index 4 includes 26-tone dRUs with indices 8 and 9.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The carrier plan of the dRU further includes 2 106-tone dRUs; each 106-tone dRU includes 106 subcarriers, among which there are 102 data subcarriers and 4 pilot subcarriers.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein The carrier plan of the dRU further includes one or more of the following: The 106-tone dRU with index 1 includes 26-tone dRUs with indices 1, 2, 3, 4, and subcarriers with subcarrier indices {-122, 122}; The 106-tone dRU with index 2 includes 26-tone dRUs with indices 6, 7, 8, 9, and subcarriers with subcarrier indices {-4, 4}.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The carrier plan of the dRU further includes 1 242-tone dRU; the 242-tone dRU includes 242 subcarriers, among which there are 234 data subcarriers and 8 pilot subcarriers; the subcarrier indices of the 242-tone dRU are from -122 to -2 and from 2 to 122.

9. A communication device, characterized in that, Including a unit or module for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A communication device, characterized in that, Including a processor and an interface circuit, where the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices, and the processor is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 through logic circuits or by executing code instructions.

11. A readable storage medium, characterized in that, For storing a program, where the program is executed by one or more processors, so that a device including the one or more processors executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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