Communication method and device

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and device. The communication method comprises: a first station (STA) sends a trigger frame, the trigger frame is used for establishing cooperative transmission among multiple STAs. The application provides a scheme for efficiently establishing multi-STA cooperation.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of patent application filed on April 8, 2022, with application number 202280094529.7 and title "Communication Method and Apparatus". Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a communication method and apparatus. Background Technology

[0003] In wireless communication, the triggered transmission opportunity sharing (TXOP) mechanism allows an access point (AP) to share a portion of its acquired transmission opportunity (TXOP) with local stations (STAs). However, how to efficiently enable cooperative transmission among multiple STAs is a problem that needs to be considered. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a communication method and device.

[0005] This application provides a communication method, including: a first station (STA) sending a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs.

[0006] This application provides a communication method, including: a second station STA receiving a trigger frame sent by a first STA, the trigger frame being used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs.

[0007] This application provides a communication method, including: a third station STA receiving a trigger frame sent by a first STA, the trigger frame being used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs; the third STA being associated with the first STA.

[0008] This application provides a communication method, including: a fourth STA receiving a trigger frame sent by a first STA, the trigger frame being used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs; the fourth STA is not associated with the first STA.

[0009] This application provides a first STA, including: a first communication unit for sending a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs.

[0010] This application provides a second STA, including: a second communication unit, used to receive a trigger frame sent by a first STA, the trigger frame being used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs.

[0011] This application provides a third STA, including: a third communication unit for receiving a trigger frame sent by a first STA, the trigger frame being used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs; the third STA is associated with the first STA.

[0012] This application provides a fourth STA, including: a fourth communication unit, used to receive a trigger frame sent by a first STA, the trigger frame being used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs; the fourth STA is not associated with the first STA.

[0013] This application provides a communication device, including a processor and a memory. The memory stores a computer program, and the processor calls and runs the computer program stored in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of any embodiment of this application.

[0014] This application provides a chip for implementing the above-described method. Specifically, the chip includes a processor for retrieving and running a computer program from a memory, causing a device equipped with the chip to execute the method of any embodiment of this application.

[0015] This application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program that, when run by a device, causes the device to perform the method of any embodiment of this application.

[0016] This application provides a computer program product, including computer program instructions that cause a computer to perform the method of any embodiment of this application.

[0017] This application provides a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any embodiment of this application.

[0018] In this embodiment of the application, a trigger frame is sent by the first STA, which can trigger the establishment of cooperative transmission between multiple STAs, thus providing an efficient solution for establishing multi-STA cooperation. Attached Figure Description

[0019] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of an application scenario according to an embodiment of this application.

[0020] Figure 2 This is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of this application.

[0021] Figures 3-9 These are various schematic diagrams illustrating the format of the trigger frame according to this application.

[0022] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the processing flow during the preparation phase of multi-STA interactive transmission.

[0023] Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of the processing flow during the exploration phase of multi-STA interactive transmission.

[0024] Figure 12 and Figure 13 This is a schematic diagram of a scenario for triggering multi-STA synchronous uplink transmission according to this embodiment.

[0025] Figure 14 and Figure 15 This is a schematic diagram of another scenario for triggering multi-STA synchronous uplink transmission according to this embodiment.

[0026] Figure 16 and Figure 17 This is a schematic diagram of another scenario for triggering multi-STA synchronous uplink transmission according to this embodiment.

[0027] Figure 18 This is a schematic diagram of another scenario for triggering multi-STA synchronous uplink transmission according to this embodiment.

[0028] Figure 19 and Figure 20 This is a schematic diagram of a scenario for triggering multi-STA synchronous downlink transmission according to this embodiment.

[0029] Figure 21 and Figure 22 This is a schematic diagram of another scenario for triggering multi-STA synchronous downlink transmission according to this embodiment.

[0030] Figure 23 and Figure 24 This is a schematic diagram of another scenario for triggering multi-STA synchronous downlink transmission according to this embodiment.

[0031] Figure 25 and Figure 26 This is a schematic diagram of a scenario for triggering downlink transmission of multiple STAs in joint transmission mode according to this embodiment.

[0032] Figure 27 and Figure 28 This is a schematic diagram of a scenario for triggering multi-STA synchronous downlink and downlink transmission according to this embodiment.

[0033] Figure 29 This is another illustrative flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of this application.

[0034] Figure 30 This is another illustrative flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of this application.

[0035] Figure 31 This is another illustrative flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of this application.

[0036] Figures 32-38 These are various exemplary flowcharts of multi-STA cooperative transmission of a communication method according to embodiments of this application.

[0037] Figure 39 This is a schematic block diagram of the first STA according to an embodiment of this application.

[0038] Figure 40 This is a schematic block diagram of a second STA according to an embodiment of this application.

[0039] Figure 41 This is a schematic block diagram of a third STA according to an embodiment of this application.

[0040] Figure 42 This is a schematic block diagram of the fourth STA according to an embodiment of this application.

[0041] Figure 43 This is a schematic block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of this application.

[0042] Figure 44 This is a schematic block diagram of a chip according to an embodiment of this application.

[0043] Figure 45 This is a schematic block diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0044] The technical solutions in the embodiments of this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0045] The technical solutions of this application embodiment can be applied to various communication systems, such as wireless local area networks (WLAN), wireless Fidelity (WiFi), or other communication systems.

[0046] For example, the communication system 100 used in the embodiments of this application is as follows: Figure 1 As shown. The communication system 100 may include an access point (AP) 110 and a station (STA) 120 that accesses the network through the access point 110. In some scenarios, an AP is also called an AP STA, meaning that in a sense, an AP is also a type of STA. In other scenarios, a STA is also called a non-AP STA.

[0047] The communication in communication system 100 can be between an AP and a non-AP STA, between two non-AP STAs, or between a STA and a peer STA. A peer STA can refer to a device communicating with the STA; for example, a peer STA could be an AP or a non-AP STA. An AP acts as a bridge connecting wired and wireless networks, its main function being to connect various wireless network clients together and then connect the wireless network to the Ethernet. An AP device can be a terminal device (such as a mobile phone) or a network device (such as a router). This terminal device or network device has a chip that implements communication functions, such as a WLAN or WiFi chip.

[0048] It should be understood that the role of a STA in a communication system is not absolute. For example, in some scenarios, when a mobile phone connects to a router, it acts as a non-AP STA; when the phone serves as a hotspot for other mobile phones, it acts as an AP. APs and non-AP STAs can be devices used in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) networks, IoT nodes and sensors in the Internet of Things (IoT), smart cameras, smart remote controls, smart water and electricity meters in smart homes, and sensors in smart cities. In some embodiments, non-AP STAs can support the 802.11be standard. Non-AP STAs can also support various current and future 802.11 family of wireless local area networks (WLAN) standards, such as 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a. In some embodiments, an AP can be a device that supports the 802.11be standard. The AP can also be a device that supports various current and future 802.11 family WLAN standards, such as 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a. In the embodiments of this application, the STA can be a mobile phone, tablet, computer, virtual reality (VR) device, augmented reality (AR) device, wireless device in industrial control, set-top box, wireless device in self-driving, vehicle communication device, wireless device in remote medical care, wireless device in smart grid, wireless device in transportation safety, wireless device in smart city, or wireless device in smart home, wireless communication chip / ASIC / SOC, etc.

[0049] WLAN technology can support frequency bands including but not limited to: low frequency bands (e.g., 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz) and high frequency bands (e.g., 60GHz). Figure 1 An exemplary embodiment shows one AP STA and two non-AP STAs. Optionally, the communication system 100 may include multiple AP STAs and other numbers of non-AP STAs, which is not limited in this application embodiment.

[0050] It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably in this document. The term "and / or" in this document merely describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A existing alone, A and B existing simultaneously, or B existing alone. Additionally, the character " / " in this document generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship. It should be understood that the term "instruction" mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be a direct instruction, an indirect instruction, or an indication of a related relationship. For example, A instructing B can mean that A directly instructs B, for example, B can be obtained through A; it can also mean that A indirectly instructs B, for example, A instructs C, B can be obtained through C; or it can mean that there is a related relationship between A and B. In the description of the embodiments of this application, the term "correspondence" can indicate a direct or indirect correspondence between two things, or an related relationship between two things, or a relationship of instruction and being instructed, configuration and being configured, etc.

[0051] To facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the relevant technologies of the embodiments of this application are described below. The following relevant technologies are optional solutions and can be combined with the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application in any way, and they all fall within the protection scope of the embodiments of this application.

[0052] Wireless LANs (WLANs) are widely used in enterprise and home environments due to their low cost, flexibility, and scalability. Multi-AP operation, identified as a candidate technology by the EHT (Extremely High Throughput) research group, primarily studies cooperative transmission methods between APs. Some implementations only support data transmission between a single AP and STA, and spatial multiplexing between APs via power control; the APs are independent of each other. Therefore, the flexibility of time, frequency, and spatial resources in this system is severely limited. To improve this, TXOP (transmission opportunity) sharing technology among multiple APs is further supported. This involves exchanging control information between APs via wireless links to achieve time-domain, frequency-domain, and spatial-domain resource sharing, increasing peak throughput and reducing latency. In a multi-AP scenario, if an AP acquires a TXOP and decides to share it with other APs for simultaneous use, the sharing AP is called a sharing AP, and the AP being shared with is called a shared AP. Here, TXOP sharing among multiple APs differs from the traditional TXOP sharing concept. The multi-AP TXOP sharing mechanism (hereinafter referred to as multi-AP TXOP sharing) allows APs to share TXOPs, and each AP can still use this TXOP for transmission after sharing. Based on different cooperation complexities and practical application scenarios, the cooperation methods after multi-AP TXOP sharing can be divided into five transmission modes: Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (COFDMA / C-OFDMA), Coordinated Spatial Reuse (CSR / C-SR), Coordinated Beamforming (C-BF / CBF) / Zeroing, Coordinated Uplink Multiple User Multiple Input Multiple Output (C-UL MU-MIMO), and Joint Transmission (J-TX / JTX). Let's discuss each of these:

[0053] 1. Cooperative Beamforming / Nulling: A C-BF / CBF / nulling scheme based on parameterized spatial reuse (PSR) can be adopted. Specifically, during the preparation phase, AP1 actively broadcasts a cooperation request (Crequest) upon receiving a TXOP. During the CSI collection phase, AP1 instructs the nodes participating in subsequent coordinated transmissions via a Null Data PPDU Announcement frame (NDPA). After AP1 sends a TF, STA11, STA12, AP2, and STA21, upon receiving the TF, send Null Data PPDUs (NDPs). AP2 then sends a TF to AP1, STA11, STA12, and STA21. During the cooperative transmission phase, AP1 and AP2 perform nulling operations. After receiving data from their respective STAs, AP1 and AP2 send ACKs. 2. C-UL MU-MIMO: After the sharing AP obtains the TXOP, it sends the M-AP (Multi-AP) TF. The shared AP1 and shared AP2 that receive the M-AP TF simultaneously send the coordinated UL trigger frame. The STA1 associated with shared AP1 and the STA2 associated with shared AP2 respectively transmit the Multiple User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) High Efficient Long Training Field (HE-LTF) and the data frame. Then, shared AP1 and shared AP2 send block acknowledgments (B-ACK) to STA1 and STA2 respectively. 3. COFDMA: It is divided into three stages: (1) The AP collects reports from the associated STAs to determine the candidate STAs and identifies the applicable frequency resources. (2) AP2 and AP1 exchange the frequency domain resource information they want to obtain through AP-to-AP frames. (3) During COFDMA transmission, AP2 (i.e., sharing AP) transmits a multi-AP trigger frame to AP1 (i.e., shared AP) to allocate the most suitable time and frequency resources to AP1; AP1 and AP2 send basic trigger frames to their respective associated STAs, and then STA1 transmits uplink data carried by UL PPDU to AP1 and receives acknowledgment (ACK) frames from AP1. Similarly, STA2 transmits uplink data carried by UL PPDU to AP2 and receives acknowledgment (ACK) frames from AP2.4. Cooperative Space Reuse: AP1 (Sharing AP) is associated with STA11, and AP2 (Shared AP) is associated with STA21. AP1 first sends a C-SR / CSR announcement to AP2, and then AP1 and AP2 synchronously send trigger frames to their respective associated STAs. STA11 sends a trigger-based (TB) PPDU to AP1, and AP1 sends a block acknowledgment (BA) to STA11. STA21 synchronously sends a trigger-based (TB) PPDU to AP2, and AP2 sends a BA to STA21. Alternatively, in a related technology, a first wireless local area network (WLAN) device can win a contention-based process to become the owner of a TXOP, and the first WLAN device can share the mTXOP allocation resources with other WLAN devices. During the first part of the mTXOP, the first WLAN device allocates subordinate transmission opportunities (or sub-TXOPs) for other WLAN devices to use during the second part of the mTXOP. The allocation of sub-TXOPs can be prepared based on fairness considerations, latency considerations, or both.

[0054] Figure 2 This is a schematic flowchart of a communication method 200 according to an embodiment of the first aspect of this application. The method can optionally be applied to... Figure 1 The system shown is not limited to this. The method includes at least a portion of the following:

[0055] S210, The first station STA sends a trigger frame, which is used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs.

[0056] In this embodiment, the first STA can be an AP, specifically a sharing AP. Before executing S210, the first STA can pre-obtain its own Association Identifier (AID) and / or Virtual Association Identifier (VAID), as well as the AIDs and / or VAIDs of other STAs; other STAs may include a second STA (Shared AP), a third STA associated with the first STA, and a fourth STA associated with the second STA. The AID and / or VAID of the first STA are configured for the target device. Specifically, the configuration occurs before executing the aforementioned S210, such as during or before the preparation phase. That is, before executing S210, the method further includes: the first STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID configured for itself by the target device. The first STA obtains the VAID configured (or assigned) for itself by the target device. The VAID of the first STA is mainly used for STAs in multi-STA (or multi-AP) TXOP (transmission opportunity) sharing operations. In addition, the VAID of the first STA may only be valid in the multi-AP cooperation set (hereinafter referred to as the cooperation set). In another example, the first STA can obtain the AID and VAID configured (or assigned) by the target device for itself; that is, the first STA can store its own two IDs, namely the AID and the VAID. Another example is possible where the first STA obtains the AID configured (or assigned) by the target device for itself.

[0057] Before executing S210, the method may further include: the first STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID of the second STA. The second STA can be a shared AP. The number of the second STA can be one or more, and this embodiment does not limit this. Specifically, the first STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID of the second STA can be: the first STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID of the second STA from the target device. The timing of the first STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID of the second STA can be before the preparation phase. The first STA obtains the VAID of the second STA from the target device. This VAID of the second STA is mainly used for STAs in multi-STA (or multi-AP) TXOP sharing operations. Additionally, the VAID of the second STA may only be valid within a multi-AP collaboration set (hereinafter referred to as the collaboration set). In another example, the first STA can obtain the AID and VAID of the second STA from the target device; that is, the first STA can store two IDs of the second STA, namely the AID and VAID of the second STA. Another example may exist where the first STA obtains the AID of the second STA from the target device.

[0058] Before executing S210, the method may further include: the first STA configuring (or assigning) AID and / or VAID to the third STA. The third STA is specifically a STA (i.e., a non-AP STA) associated with the first STA (i.e., the Sharing AP). The number of third STAs can be one or more, and this embodiment does not limit this. Specifically, configuring (or assigning) AID and / or VAID to the third STA by the first STA includes: the first STA configuring AID and / or VAID to the third STA based on a first range of identifier values; the first range of identifier values ​​is configured for the target device, and the third STA is associated with the first STA. The first range of identifier values ​​is within at least one of the following: 1-2007, 2008-2044, 2047-4096. The timing of the first STA assigning AID and / or VAID to the third STA may be before the preparation phase. The method by which the first STA obtains the first range of identifier values ​​from the target device can be as follows: the target device sends identifier indication information to the first STA. This identifier indication information instructs the first STA, when associated with any third STA, to allocate a first range of identifier values ​​for the third STA's AID and / or VAID. In other words, the identifier indication information can carry a first range of identifier values. The first STA can be associated with one or more third STAs, and the first range of identifier values ​​can be different for different third STAs. Accordingly, the target device can send one or more identifier indication messages to the first STA, where each identifier indication message contains a first range of identifier values. For example, if the Sharing AP (i.e., the first STA) is associated with two third STAs, STA11 and STA12, the first range of identifier values ​​for STA11 can be 1-20, and the first range of identifier values ​​for STA12 can be 21-30. The first STA allocates the VAID of the third STA based on the first range of identifier values. The VAID of the third STA is mainly used for STAs in multi-STA (or multi-AP) TXOP shared operations. In another example, the first STA assigns the AID and VAID of the third STA based on a first range of identifier values. Another example may exist where the first STA assigns the AID of the third STA based on a first range of identifier values.

[0059] Before executing S210, the method may further include: the first STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID of the fourth STA from the second STA. Specifically, the second STA may be a shared AP. The fourth STA is the STA associated with the second STA, i.e., the shared AP (specifically, a non-AP STA). The number of second STAs (i.e., shared APs) may be one or more, and the number of fourth STAs associated with any one second STA may be one or more. The AID and / or VAID of the fourth STA associated with the second STA is configured (or assigned) by the second STA to the fourth STA based on a second range of identifier values ​​allocated by the target device. The timing of the first STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID of the fourth STA from the second STA may be before the preparation phase, during the preparation phase, or before the detection phase is completed, etc., and this embodiment does not limit this. In one example, the first STA obtains the VAID of the fourth STA from the second STA. This VAID of the fourth STA is mainly used for multi-STA (or multi-AP) TXOP sharing operations. In another example, the first STA obtains the AID and VAID of the fourth STA from the second STA. Another possible example is that the first STA obtains the AID of the fourth STA from the second STA. The first STA then retrieves and saves the AIDs and / or VAIDs of other STAs associated with it that can receive its signals from the other STAs in its own collaboration set. For example, the first STA is a sharing AP, and the same collaboration set also includes a second STA, i.e., a shared AP. The shared AP (second STA) requests a list of other APs in its associated fourth STA that are listening to the beacon. If the list of other APs includes other APs in the same collaboration set as the shared AP (second STA), such as the sharing AP (first STA), then the shared AP (second STA) sends the AID and / or VAID of its associated fourth STA to the sharing AP (first STA). Correspondingly, the sharing AP (first STA) receives and saves the AID and / or VAID of the fourth STA associated with the shared AP (second STA). The first STA can save the AID and / or VAID of the fourth STA in its STA list. In other words, each AP in a cooperative set can obtain STA information from other APs (or neighboring APs) that can receive its own signal and store it in the STA list.

[0060] As can be seen from the above implementation method, the first STA can obtain the AID and / or VAID of each STA before executing S210. The AID and / or VAID of each STA are directly or indirectly assigned by the target device.

[0061] Specifically, the target device can be a coordinating device. The coordinating device is an access point (AP); or, the coordinating device can be any AP in one or more cooperative sets; or, the coordinating device can be any device other than all APs in one or more cooperative sets, such as a server or an electronic device, etc. The possible types are not exhaustively listed here. The coordinating device can be connected to one or more APs in the cooperative set it manages or controls via wired or wireless connections. Its main function is to assign a globally unique identifier (AID and / or VAID) to all devices (APs and STAs) in a network composed of multiple APs, to distinguish different devices and achieve multi-AP TXOP sharing. It should be noted that "coordinating device" is only an exemplary name; it could also be called a coordinator, etc. The names are not exhaustively listed here. Any device that can directly or indirectly assign AID and / or VAID to one or more STAs is within the scope of protection of this embodiment.

[0062] More specifically, the aforementioned target device can be used to assign AID and / or VAID to each AP in each of one or more collaboration sets. It should be understood that each collaboration set can contain one or more APs (i.e., it can include one Sharing AP and one or more Shared APs), and each AP in these one or more APs can be associated with one or more STAs (i.e., Non-AP STAs); and different collaboration sets contain different APs, and different APs are associated with different STAs. The aforementioned first STA, i.e., the Sharing AP, and the second STA, i.e., the Shared AP, can be APs in the same collaboration set. That is to say, the aforementioned target device can specifically assign AID to each AP in each collaboration set, or assign VAID to each AP in each collaboration set, or assign both AID and VAID to each AP in each collaboration set.

[0063] An example is provided where the target device directly assigns AIDs and / or VAIDs to each AP in each cooperative set: The target device uniformly assigns AIDs and / or VAIDs to each AP in the cooperative set, where the AID and / or VAID of each AP takes one of the following values: 2008-2044, 2047-4096. Here, 2008-2044 and 2047-4096 can be reserved values ​​in the system. In conjunction with the aforementioned implementation, the first STA (Sharing AP) can obtain the AID and / or VAID assigned to it by the target device. Similarly, the second STA (Shared AP) can also obtain the AID and / or VAID assigned to it by the target device. In addition, each AP can also obtain and save the AID or VAID values ​​of other APs from the target device and update them dynamically. For example, in conjunction with the aforementioned implementation, the first STA (Sharing AP) can obtain and save the AID and / or VAID of the second STA (Shared AP) from the target device; similarly, the second STA (Shared AP) can also obtain and save the AID and / or VAID of the first STA (Sharing AP) from the target device. It should be understood that the above description of the target device directly assigning AID and / or VAID to each AP in each collaboration set is only an example. In actual processing, there may be other allocation methods, which are not exhaustively listed in this embodiment. In this way, by uniformly assigning AID and / or VAID to APs by the target device, it can be ensured that each AP has a unique AID and / or VAID in a collaboration set controlled by the target device. An exemplary description is given of the target device indirectly assigning AID and / or VAID to STAs associated with each AP in each collaboration set: the target device indicates to each AP in the collaboration set the range of AID or VAID values ​​that the AP should assign to the STA when the STA is to be associated. For example, a collaborative set managed or controlled by a target device may contain 10 APs, including one Sharing AP (i.e., the first STA) and nine Shared APs (i.e., the second STAs). The target device can instruct the first STA (Sharing AP) in the collaborative set to assign an AID or VAID of 1-200 (i.e., the first range of identifier values) to a third STA when associating with it, and a Shared AP (a second STA) to assign an AID or VAID of 201-400 (i.e., the second range of identifier values) to a fourth STA when associating with it, and so on. In this way, the 10 APs can assign a globally unique AID or VAID when associating with their respective STAs.

[0064] It should also be noted that the corresponding identifier value range assigned by the target device to each AP, such as the first identifier value range assigned to the first STA, is preferably selected from 1-2007. If the number of STAs is large (e.g., exceeding a first quantity threshold, which can be set according to actual conditions, such as 2000), the identifier value range assigned by the target device to each AP, such as the first identifier value range assigned to the first STA, can be further increased to ranges such as 2008-2044 and 2047-4096. In this way, it can be ensured that each STA has a unique AID or VAID in a cooperative set controlled by the target device.

[0065] It should be understood that the above method of the target device indirectly assigning AID and / or VAID to the STA associated with each AP in each cooperative set is only an exemplary method. In actual processing, there may be other methods, such as the target device directly assigning AID and / or VAID to each STA, etc., which will not be exhaustively listed here.

[0066] As can be seen from the above explanation, in a multi-STA or multi-AP environment, in order to support collaborative transmission between multiple STAs or APs, the AID or VAID of each STA needs to be uniformly assigned by the target device directly or indirectly, rather than each STA assigning its own AID or VAID. This ensures that each STA has a unique AID and VAID within a collaborative set controlled by the target device.

[0067] The foregoing has provided a detailed explanation of how the first STA obtains the AID and / or VAID of the second, third, and fourth STAs, as well as the processing by the target device. The following section will explain the fields and subfields that the trigger frame may contain.

[0068] In one implementation, the trigger frame may specifically be called a MAP TXS (Multi-AP TXOP sharing) trigger frame. This trigger frame can be used in all embodiments to establish cooperative transmission between multiple STAs, specifically to trigger multi-STA TXOP sharing. Multiple multi-AP cooperative modes can be achieved by using a single multi-AP trigger frame. The trigger frame may include a common info field and / or a user info list field; wherein the user info list field may include one or more user info subfields.

[0069] The common information field of the trigger frame includes at least one of the following: a trigger type subfield, the value of which indicates the type of the trigger frame; a transmission mode subfield, the value of which indicates the cooperative transmission mode used by the multiple STAs for TXOP sharing, and / or whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode; an uplink / downlink indicator subfield, the value of which indicates whether TXOP is used for synchronous uplink transmission or synchronous downlink transmission; and a shared transmission indicator subfield, the value of which indicates whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode.

[0070] The trigger type subfield takes a first specified value, indicating that the trigger frame is used to establish cooperative transmission between multiple STAs. Specifically, the trigger type subfield can be represented as a "Trigger Type" subfield, which is used to indicate a variant of the trigger frame. When the trigger type subfield takes a first specified value, it can be used to indicate that the trigger frame is used to establish cooperative transmission between multiple STAs. The first specified value can be any one of 8-15 (inclusive). This is because the relevant standards have defined the types of trigger frame variants corresponding to trigger type subfield values ​​of 0-7, so this embodiment uses any one of the reserved 8-15 as the first specified value. For example, the first specified value is 8, that is, when the trigger type subfield takes a value of 8, it is used to indicate that the trigger frame is used to establish cooperative transmission between multiple STAs, that is, to identify a MAP TXS trigger frame (or a new MAP TXS trigger frame). It should be understood that this is only an illustrative example. In actual processing, the first specified value can also be 9, 10 or other values, as long as they are within the range of 8-15 mentioned above, which is within the protection scope of this embodiment. However, no exhaustive list is provided.

[0071] The transmission mode subfield can be represented as a "MAP TXS Mode" subfield. The transmission mode subfield occupies at least a portion of the bits in the first reserved subfield of the public information field. Specifically, the transmission mode subfield occupying at least a portion of the bits in the first reserved subfield can be one or more consecutive bits, or one or more non-consecutive bits. In a preferred example, the transmission mode subfield occupies at least 3 bits. That is, the transmission mode subfield occupies 3 consecutive bits (or 3 non-consecutive bits) in the first reserved subfield of the public information field. It should be understood that this is only an illustrative example, and the actual number of bits occupied by the transmission mode subfield can be adjusted according to the actual situation, such as 4 bits, 5 bits, or more or fewer. Not all possible cases are exhaustively listed here. The first reserved subfield can be any reserved subfield in the public information field. It should be understood that the number of reserved bits (or remaining bits) contained in the first reserved subfield needs to be greater than or equal to the first number. For example, if the first quantity of at least some bits is 3 bits, then the first reserved subfield contains at least 3 reserved bits (or remaining bits) (at least 3 consecutive bits or at least 3 non-consecutive bits). For instance, the first reserved subfield can be an EHT reserved subfield. This EHT reserved subfield contains 7 reserved bits, of which 3 consecutive bits (e.g., the first 3 bits) can be used as a transmission mode subfield.

[0072] The value of the transmission mode subfield is used to indicate the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the multiple STAs, and / or whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode. In other words, based on the value of the transmission mode subfield, it can be determined whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode. If it is determined that the multiple STAs have not enabled TXOP sharing mode, it can be determined that a traditional transmission method is used, which will not be elaborated here. Otherwise, if it is determined that the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode, the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the multiple STAs in this transmission can be determined based on the value of the transmission mode subfield. Specifically, the different values ​​of the transmission mode subfield and their specific meanings are explained as follows: A first value indicates that the multiple STAs do not enable TXOP sharing mode; and / or, a second value indicates that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the multiple STAs is CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode; and / or, a third value indicates that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the multiple STAs is COFDMA and / or CSR; and / or, a fourth value indicates that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the multiple STAs is a combined transmission mode; and / or, a fifth value indicates that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the multiple STAs is a traditional uplink TXOP sharing mode.

[0073] Any two of the aforementioned first, second, third, fourth, and fifth values ​​are different. For example, the first value can be 1, the second value can be 2, the third value can be 3, the fourth value can be 4, and the fifth value can be 5. For example, the first value can be 0, the second value can be 1, the third value can be 2, the fourth value can be 3, and the fifth value can be 4. For example, the first value can be 3, the second value can be 1, the third value can be 2, the fourth value can be 4, and the fifth value can be 5, and so on. It should be noted that as long as the aforementioned first, second, third, fourth, and fifth values ​​are all different, they are within the protection scope of this embodiment; however, not all possible values ​​are exhaustively listed here.

[0074] It should also be noted that the aforementioned transmission mode subfield occupies at least a portion of the bits in the first reserved subfield of the public information field. In cases where the transmission mode subfield occupies multiple bits, only the values ​​from the first to the fifth have been defined above; therefore, some remaining values ​​may remain undefined. These remaining values ​​can be reserved for future expansion and definition of new transmission modes. For example, referring to Table 1 below, assuming the transmission mode subfield occupies 3 bits, the transmission mode subfield is predefined to have the following values: First value 0 (e.g., binary representation 000), indicating that the multiple STAs do not enable TXOP sharing mode, i.e., do not use multi-AP TXOP sharing mode; Second value 1 (e.g., binary representation 001), indicating that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the multiple STAs is CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode; Third value 2 (e.g., binary representation 010), indicating that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the multiple STAs is COFDMA and / or CSR; Fourth value 3 (e.g., binary representation 011), indicating that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the multiple STAs is joint transmission mode; Fifth value 4 (e.g., binary representation 100), indicating that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the multiple STAs is traditional uplink TXOP sharing mode (or traditional uplink multi-AP TXOP sharing mode). In addition, there are remaining values ​​5 (e.g., 101 in binary) to 7 (e.g., 111 in binary). These remaining values ​​5 to 7 can be reserved (or called reserved values) for future expansion to define new transmission modes.

[0075] 0 Multiple STAs without enabling TXOP sharing mode 1 CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode 2 COFDMA and / or CSR 3 Joint transmission mode 4 Traditional uplink TXOP sharing mode 5-7 reserve

[0076] Table 1

[0077] The uplink / downlink indicator subfield can be represented as the "UL / DL Indication" subfield. The uplink / downlink indicator subfield occupies at least a portion of the bits in the second reserved subfield of the public information field. Specifically, the at least a portion of the bits occupied by the uplink / downlink indicator subfield can be one or more consecutive bits, or one or more non-consecutive bits. In a preferred example, the second number of the at least a portion of the bits occupied by the uplink / downlink indicator subfield can be 1 bit. That is, the uplink / downlink indicator subfield occupies 1 bit in the second reserved subfield of the public information field. It should be understood that this is only an illustrative example, and the actual second number of the at least a portion of the bits occupied by the uplink / downlink indicator subfield can be adjusted according to the actual situation, such as 2 bits, 3 bits, or more or less; not all possible cases are exhaustively listed here. The second reserved subfield can be any reserved subfield in the public information field. It should be noted that the number of reserved bits (or remaining bits) contained in the second reserved subfield needs to be greater than or equal to the second number. For example, if the second quantity is 1 bit, the second reserved subfield contains at least 1 reserved bit (or remaining bit). The second reserved subfield can be the same as or different from the first reserved field. In one example, the second reserved subfield can be the same as the first reserved field, that is, the second reserved subfield can be an EHT reserved subfield. This EHT reserved subfield contains 7 reserved bits. In this case, the uplink / downlink indicator subfield can be located after the aforementioned transmission mode subfield, or the uplink / downlink indicator subfield can be located before the transmission mode subfield, both of which are within the scope of protection of this embodiment. In another example, the second reserved subfield can be different from the first reserved field, that is, the second reserved subfield can be another reserved subfield other than the EHT reserved subfield in the public information field. For example, if there is a 1-bit reserved subfield before the HE / EHT P160 subfield in the public information field, then this reserved subfield can be used as the aforementioned second reserved subfield. It should be understood that this is merely an illustrative example, and the possible locations of the second reserved subfield are not exhaustively listed here. As long as any reserved subfield in the public information field contains a number of reserved bits (or remaining bits) greater than or equal to the second number, it is within the protection scope of this embodiment.

[0078] The value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield is used to indicate whether TXOP is used for synchronous uplink transmission or synchronous downlink transmission. Specifically, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield is the sixth value, used to instruct multiple STAs to perform synchronous uplink transmission; and / or, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield is the seventh value, used to instruct multiple STAs to perform synchronous downlink transmission. In actual processing, only the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield being configured or set to the sixth value can be used to instruct multiple STAs to perform synchronous uplink transmission, that is, when the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield is other than the specified value, it can be used to instruct multiple STAs to perform synchronous downlink transmission. Alternatively, only the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield being configured or set to the seventh value can be used to instruct multiple STAs to perform synchronous downlink transmission, that is, when the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield is other than the specified value, it can be used to instruct multiple STAs to perform synchronous uplink transmission. Furthermore, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield being configured or set to the sixth value can be used to instruct multiple STAs to perform synchronous uplink transmission, and the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield being the seventh value can be used to instruct multiple STAs to perform synchronous downlink transmission. Here, the sixth value and the seventh value are not the same. Furthermore, the sixth value can be the same as or different from any of the aforementioned first specified value or any of the first to fifth values. Similarly, the seventh value can be the same as or different from any of the aforementioned first specified value or any of the first to fifth values. For example, the sixth value can be 0 and the seventh value can be 1; or, the sixth value can be 1 and the seventh value can be 0; or, the sixth value can be 1 and the seventh value can be 2. As long as the sixth value and the seventh value are different, they are all within the protection scope of this embodiment.

[0079] The shared transmission indication subfield can be represented as a "MAP TXS Indication" subfield. The shared transmission indication subfield occupies at least a portion of the bits in the third reserved subfield of the public information field. Specifically, the at least a portion of the bits occupied by the shared transmission indication subfield can be one or more consecutive bits, or one or more non-consecutive bits. In a preferred example, the third number of bits occupied by the shared transmission indication subfield can be 1 bit. That is, the shared transmission indication subfield occupies 1 bit in the third reserved subfield of the public information field. It should be understood that this is only an illustrative example, and the actual third number of bits occupied by the shared transmission indication subfield can be adjusted according to the actual situation, such as 2 bits, 3 bits, or more or less; not all possible cases are exhaustively listed here. The third reserved subfield can be any reserved subfield in the public information field. It must be ensured that the number of reserved bits (or remaining bits) contained in the third reserved subfield is greater than or equal to the third number. For example, if the aforementioned third quantity of at least some bits is 1 bit, the number of reserved bits (or remaining bits) contained in the third reserved subfield is at least 1 bit. The third reserved subfield may be the same as or different from the aforementioned first reserved subfield, and / or the third reserved subfield may be the same as or different from the aforementioned second reserved subfield. In one example, the third reserved subfield is different from both the aforementioned first and second reserved subfields. The third reserved field is the reserved subfield preceding the HE / EHT-LTF symbol quantity subfield in the public information field. Further, in the reserved subfield preceding the HE / EHT-LTF symbol quantity subfield, the number of reserved bits is 1 bit; therefore, the shared transmission indicator subfield occupies all the bits of the reserved subfield preceding the HE / EHT-LTF symbol quantity subfield. In another example, the third reserved subfield can be the same as the aforementioned first reserved subfield, that is, both are EHT reserved subfields; of course, in this example, if the second reserved subfield is also an EHT reserved subfield, the third reserved subfield is also the same as the second reserved subfield. It should be understood that the above is only an illustrative example, and the possible locations of the third reserved subfield are not exhaustively listed here. As long as any reserved subfield in the public information field contains a number of reserved bits (or remaining bits) greater than or equal to the third number of bits required by the shared transmission indication subfield, it is within the protection scope of this embodiment.

[0080] The value of the shared transmission indication subfield is used to indicate whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode. Specifically, the shared transmission indication subfield can be set to the eighth value to indicate that the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode; and / or, the shared transmission indication subfield can be set to the ninth value to indicate that the multiple STAs have not enabled TXOP sharing mode. In actual processing, the shared transmission indication subfield can be configured or set to the eighth value only to indicate that the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode, that is, if the shared transmission indication subfield is set to other values, it can be used to indicate that the multiple STAs have not enabled TXOP sharing mode. Alternatively, the shared transmission indication subfield can be configured or set to the ninth value only to indicate that the multiple STAs have not enabled TXOP sharing mode, that is, if the uplink / downlink indication subfield is set to other values, it can be used to indicate that the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode. Alternatively, the shared transmission indicator subfield can be configured or set to an eighth value to instruct the multiple STAs to enable TXOP sharing mode, and the shared transmission indicator subfield can be set to a ninth value to instruct the multiple STAs not to enable TXOP sharing mode. Here, the eighth value and the ninth value are different. Furthermore, the eighth value can be the same as or different from any of the aforementioned first specified value, first to fifth values, sixth value, and seventh value. The ninth value can be the same as or different from any of the aforementioned first specified value, first to fifth values, sixth value, and seventh value. For example, the eighth value can be 0 and the ninth value can be 1; or, the eighth value can be 1 and the ninth value can be 0. As long as the eighth value and the ninth value are different, they are all within the protection scope of this embodiment.

[0081] The trigger frame includes one or more user information subfields; the i-th user information subfield in the one or more user information subfields is the user information subfield of the i-th STA; i is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and the i-th STA is one of the plurality of STAs; the i-th user information subfield includes at least one of the following: an identification subfield of the i-th STA, which is used to carry the identification information of the i-th STA; a transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA, the value of which is used to indicate the cooperative transmission mode used by the i-th STA for TXOP sharing, and / or whether the i-th STA has enabled TXOP sharing mode; a transmit power subfield of the i-th STA, which is used to indicate the maximum transmit power used by the i-th STA; and an uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the i-th STA, which is used to indicate whether the cooperative transmission of the i-th STA is synchronous uplink transmission or synchronous downlink transmission.

[0082] First, it should be noted that the i-th user information subfield refers to any one of one or more user information subfields. The content that each of these one or more user information subfields can contain can be at least one of the contents contained in the aforementioned i-th user information subfield; however, each user information subfield will not be described in detail.

[0083] The identification information of the i-th STA consists of the 12 least significant bits of the association identifier AID of the i-th STA, and / or the 12-bit virtual association identifier VAID. The i-th STA can be any STA, and the method by which the first STA obtains the AID and / or VAID of each different STA has been described in detail in the foregoing embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0084] The transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA can specifically be referred to as the MAP TXS Mode subfield of the i-th STA. The transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA occupies at least a portion of the bits in the trigger-dependent user information subfield of the i-th user information subfield. The trigger-dependent user information subfield can be represented as the "Triggerdependent User Info" subfield. The at least a portion of the bits occupied by the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA can specifically be one or more consecutive bits, or one or more non-consecutive bits. In a preferred example, the fourth number of bits occupied by the at least a portion of the bits in the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA can be 3 bits. That is, the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA occupies 3 consecutive or non-consecutive bits in the trigger-dependent user information subfield of the i-th user information subfield. It should be understood that this is only an illustrative example. The number of bits actually occupied by the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA can be adjusted according to the actual situation. For example, it can be 4 bits, 5 bits, or more or less. Not all possible cases are exhaustively listed here.

[0085] The value of the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA indicates the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing of the j-th STA's transmission opportunity, and / or whether the j-th STA has enabled TXOP sharing mode. In other words, based on the value of the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA, it can be determined whether the i-th STA has enabled TXOP sharing mode. If it is determined that the i-th STA has not enabled TXOP sharing mode, it can be determined that a traditional transmission method is used, which will not be elaborated here. Otherwise, if it is determined that the i-th STA has enabled TXOP sharing mode, the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing of the i-th STA's transmission opportunity can be determined based on the value of the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA.

[0086] Specifically, the different values ​​of the transmission mode subfield for the i-th STA and their respective meanings are explained as follows: A first value for the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA indicates that the i-th STA does not enable TXOP sharing mode; and / or, a second value for the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA indicates that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the i-th STA is CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode; and / or, a third value for the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA indicates that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the i-th STA is COFDMA and / or CSR mode; and / or, a fourth value for the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA indicates that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the i-th STA is a combined transmission mode; and / or, a fifth value for the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA indicates that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the i-th STA is a traditional uplink TXOP sharing mode. Here, the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth values ​​have the same meaning as those in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated.

[0087] The transmit power subfield of the i-th STA can be represented as the "Max TX power" subfield of the i-th STA. The transmit power subfield of the i-th STA occupies at least a portion of the bits in the trigger-dependent user information subfield of the i-th user information subfield. Specifically, the at least a portion of the bits occupied by the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA can be one or more consecutive bits. In a preferred example, the fifth number of the at least a portion of the bits occupied by the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA can be 6 bits. That is, the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA occupies 6 bits in the trigger-dependent user information subfield of the i-th user information subfield. It should be understood that this is only an illustrative example; the actual fifth number of the at least a portion of the bits occupied by the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA can be adjusted according to the actual situation, such as 6 bits, 7 bits, or more or fewer. Not all possible cases are exhaustively listed here.

[0088] The transmit power subfield of the i-th STA is specifically used by the sharing AP (i.e., the aforementioned first STA) to indicate the maximum transmit power (or maximum transmission power) used by the i-th STA when subsequently transmitting data after receiving the trigger frame. For example, this maximum transmit power can be determined by the sharing AP (i.e., the aforementioned first STA) based on information collected during the preparation and probe phases. Correspondingly, the i-th STA can determine its transmit power based on the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA using the following formula: PTX = FVal – 20; where PTX is the transmit power used by the i-th STA, and FVal is the maximum transmit power contained in the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA. It should be noted that if the maximum transmit power contained in the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA is equal to a preset value, it indicates that the first STA does not limit the transmit power of the i-th STA. This preset value can be 63, meaning that if the value of the Max TX power subfield in the i-th STA (or the i-th user information subfield) is 63, it indicates that the sharing AP does not limit the maximum transmission power of the i-th STA. It should be understood that this is merely an illustrative example and does not represent a limitation on the method for determining the transmit power used by the i-th STA, nor is it a limitation on the method for determining the maximum transmit power. In actual processing, any calculation method that can determine the transmit power used by the i-th STA and the maximum transmit power is within the scope of protection of this embodiment.

[0089] The uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the i-th STA can be the "UL / DL Indication subfield" of the user information subfield of the i-th STA. The uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the i-th STA occupies at least a portion of the bits in the trigger-dependent user information subfield of the i-th user information subfield. Specifically, the at least a portion of the bits occupied by the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the i-th STA can be one or more consecutive bits. In a preferred example, the at least a portion of the bits occupied by the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the i-th STA is a sixth number, which can be 1 bit. That is, the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the i-th STA occupies 1 bit in the trigger-dependent user information subfield of the i-th user information subfield. It should be understood that this is only an illustrative example; the actual sixth number of bits occupied by the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the i-th STA can be adjusted according to the actual situation, for example, it can be 2 bits, 3 bits, or more or fewer. Not all possible cases are exhaustively listed here.

[0090] The uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the i-th STA takes the value of a sixth value, used to instruct the i-th STA to perform synchronous uplink transmission; and / or, the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the i-th STA takes the value of a seventh value, used to instruct the i-th STA to perform synchronous downlink transmission. Here, the sixth value and the seventh value are not the same. Furthermore, the sixth value can be the same as or different from any of the aforementioned first specified value or any of the first to fifth values. The seventh value can be the same as or different from any of the aforementioned first specified value or any of the first to fifth values. For example, the sixth value can be 0 and the seventh value can be 1; or, the sixth value can be 1 and the seventh value can be 0. As long as the sixth value and the seventh value are different, they are all within the protection scope of this embodiment.

[0091] The above embodiments describe the various subfields that each user information subfield may contain in the trigger frame, as well as the various subfields that the public information field may contain.

[0092] In actual use of the trigger frame, the common information field of the trigger frame can be designed to include some of the aforementioned sub-fields, and any user information sub-field can also be designed to include some of the aforementioned sub-fields. For example, the common information field of the trigger frame may include a transmission mode sub-field, while the corresponding STA's transmission mode sub-field may not be included in each user information sub-field, or vice versa; another example is that the common information field of the trigger frame may include an uplink / downlink indicator sub-field, then the corresponding STA's uplink / downlink indicator sub-field may not be included in each user information sub-field, or vice versa; yet another example is that the common information field of the trigger frame may not include a shared transmission indicator sub-field; yet another example is that the common information field of the trigger frame may include a shared transmission indicator sub-field and not a transmission mode sub-field, while one or more user information sub-fields of the trigger frame may include the corresponding STA's transmission mode sub-field.

[0093] Specifically, the frame format of the trigger frame is as follows: Figure 3 As shown, this can include a 2-octet FrameControl field, a 2-octet Duration field, a 6-octet RA field, a 6-octet TA field, a Common info field, a User info List field, a Padding field, and a 4-octet FCS field. The lengths of the Common info field, the User info List field, and the Padding field are all variable.

[0094] The public information field of the trigger frame includes a trigger type subfield, such as... Figure 4 , Figure 6 , Figure 9 The TriggerType subfield in the trigger frame; any user information subfield in the trigger frame, such as the i-th user information subfield, may include the identifier subfield of the i-th STA, such as... Figure 5 , Figure 7 , Figure 8 The AID12 subfield is used in the trigger frame. Based on the above, the trigger frame may include a transmission mode subfield; this transmission mode subfield may be in the common information field of the trigger frame, or it may be in one or more user information subfields of the trigger frame. For example, the common information field of the trigger frame may include a transmission mode subfield, in which case the user information subfield may not include the STA's transmission mode subfield. Alternatively, the common information field of the trigger frame may not include a transmission mode subfield, but one or more user information subfields may include the STA's transmission mode subfield; for example, the ith user information subfield may include the ith STA's transmission mode subfield.

[0095] Optionally, the trigger frame may also include an uplink / downlink indicator subfield, which may be included in the common information field of the trigger frame, or in one or more user information subfields of the trigger frame. For example, if the common information field of the trigger frame includes an uplink / downlink indicator subfield, the user information subfield may not include the STA's uplink / downlink indicator subfield. Alternatively, the common information field of the trigger frame may not include an uplink / downlink indicator subfield, but one or more user information subfields may include it, such as including the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA in the i-th user information subfield. Optionally, one or more user information subfields in the trigger frame may also include the STA's transmit power subfield, such as including the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA in the i-th user information subfield. Optionally, the common information field of the trigger frame may also include a shared transmission indicator subfield.

[0096] See Figure 4 and Figure 5 The Common info field of the trigger frame contains a 4-bit trigger type subfield (i.e. Figure 4 The Trigger Type subfield (in the `triggerType` property) identifies variants of the trigger frame. Assuming trigger frame variants 0-7 are already defined, values ​​between 8-15 are reserved for defining new trigger frame variants. For example, the trigger type subfield (i.e., ...) can be used to define variants of the trigger frame. Figure 4 The Trigger Type subfield is set to 8 to indicate that the trigger frame is used to establish cooperative transmission between multiple STAs, that is, to identify a new MAP TXS trigger frame.

[0097] The Common info field of the trigger frame contains a transport mode subfield, namely... Figure 4 The MAP TXS Mode subfield. In this example, the first reserved subfield is... Figure 4 The EHT reserved subfield shown has 7 reserved bits; correspondingly, the transmission mode subfield, i.e. Figure 4 The MAPTXS Mode subfield can occupy the first 3 bits of the EHT reserved subfield. The value of this transmission mode subfield indicates the cooperative transmission mode used by the multiple STAs for TXOP sharing, and / or whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode. The different contents corresponding to different values ​​of the transmission mode subfield are the same as those in Table 1 above, and will not be repeated here. It should be understood that in actual processing, the position of the transmission mode subfield is not limited to... Figure 4 The diagram illustrates the use of the first 3 bits in the EHT reserved subfield, which can be any 3 reserved bits in the common info. These 3 reserved bits can be 3 consecutive reserved bits or 3 non-consecutive reserved bits. For example, it can use... Figure 4 The reserved subfield preceding the HE / EHT P160 subfield, and the two reserved bits in the EHT reserved subfield, etc., are not listed here.

[0098] The trigger frame may include one or more user info subfields, which may be included in, for example, Figure 3 The User info List field in the trigger frame shown above. Each of the aforementioned one or more User info subfields can be used to indicate a target TXOP sharing device, i.e., a Shared AP, a third STA, or a fourth STA. Any user info subfield is represented as the i-th user info subfield as follows:

[0099] The i-th User info subfield contains an identifier subfield for the i-th STA, which is as follows: Figure 5 The AID12 subfield (which can occupy 12 bits) carries the 12 least significant bits or 12-bit VAID of the AID of the i-th STA participating in the TXOP sharing device. The method for obtaining or configuring the AID and / or VAID of any STA has been described in the previous embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0100] Optionally, the i-th User info subfield may also include: the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA (e.g., ... Figure 5 The Max TX Power subfield shown in the figure indicates the maximum transmit power used by the i-th STA. The User Info subfield of the trigger frame may include a Trigger dependent User Info subfield, which can be used to carry additional information. In this example trigger frame, the Trigger dependent User Info subfield includes a 6-bit transmit power subfield. Figure 5 The MaxTX power subfield shown can be 6 bits long. This refers to the transmit power subfield for the i-th STA. Figure 7 The Max TXpower subfield in the trigger frame is used by the sharing AP (first STA) to indicate the maximum transmission power used by the device receiving the trigger frame (i-th STA) when subsequently transmitting data. This value is determined by the sharing AP (first STA) based on information collected during the preparation and probe phases. The method for determining the maximum transmission power, and the method for the i-th STA to determine its own transmission power, are the same as in the previous embodiments and will not be repeated here. In other words, the common information field of the trigger frame includes the aforementioned trigger type subfield and transmission mode subfield, and any user information subfield includes the STA's identification information subfield and the STA's transmission power subfield.

[0101] See Figure 6 and Figure 7 The Common info field of the trigger frame contains a 4-bit trigger type subfield (i.e. Figure 6 The Trigger Type subfield in the trigger frame is described in the same way as in the previous embodiment and will not be repeated here. The Commoninfo field of this trigger frame also includes a shared transmission indication subfield, which can be represented as a MAP TXS Indication (Multi-Access Point Transmission Opportunity Sharing Indication) subfield, occupying at least a portion of the bits in the third reserved subfield of the common information field. In this example, the third reserved field is specifically as follows: Figure 6The Common info field shown has a reserved subfield before the Number of HE / EHT-LTF symbols subfield, meaning the MAP TXSIndication subfield occupies this reserved subfield. The value of the shared transmission indicator subfield is used to indicate whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode; that is, it's used by the sharing AP to indicate to the devices participating in multi-AP TXOP sharing whether multi-AP TXOP sharing mode is enabled. For example, a value of 1 for the shared transmission indicator subfield indicates that multi-AP TXOP sharing mode is enabled; conversely, a value of 0 indicates that multi-AP TXOP sharing mode is enabled; conversely, a value of 0 indicates that multi-AP TXOP sharing mode is not enabled. Of course, there can be many other possible values, as described in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated here. It should be understood that this is only an illustrative example. The third reserved field occupied by the MAP TXS Indication subfield can also be set to any 1 reserved bit in the common info. For example, it can occupy the 1 reserved subfield before the HE / EHT P160 subfield, or it can occupy 1 reserved bit in the EHT reserved subfield, etc. This is not an exhaustive list.

[0102] The i-th User info subfield contains an identifier subfield for the i-th STA, which is as follows: Figure 7 The AID12 subfield (which can occupy 12 bits) is described in the same way as in the previous embodiment, and will not be repeated here. The Trigger dependent User Info subfield in the i-th User info subfield also contains the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA. Figure 7 This is represented as the MAP TXS Mode subfield, which is 3 bits long. Furthermore, the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA can precede the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA, such as... Figure 7 As shown, the Max TX power subfield (occupying 3 bits) precedes the Max TX power subfield (occupying 6 bits). The transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA within the i-th User info subfield (i.e.,...) Figure 7The MAP TXS Mode subfield indicates the cooperative transmission mode used by the i-th STA to participate in multi-AP TXOP sharing after receiving a trigger frame with a value of 1 in the MAP TXS Indication subfield. The different contents corresponding to different values ​​of the transmission mode subfield for the i-th STA are the same as those in Table 1 above, and will not be repeated here. Optionally, the i-th User info subfield may include a Trigger-dependent User Info subfield depending on the different trigger frame variant types, which can be used to carry additional information. The Trigger-dependent User Info subfield includes a 6-bit transmit power subfield. Figure 7 The Max TX power subfield shown can be 6 bits long. The explanation regarding the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA is the same as in the previous embodiment and will not be repeated here. It should be noted that the transmission mode subfield of the i-th STA can also indicate whether the i-th STA has enabled TXOP sharing mode. Therefore, in the scheme provided in this example, the shared transmission indication subfield may not be included in the common information field of the trigger frame. That is, this example can also indicate whether the i-th STA has enabled or disabled TXOP sharing mode, and the specific cooperative transmission mode used when enabled, using only the i-th user information subfield of the trigger frame, and indicate the maximum transmit power that the i-th STA can use through the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA.

[0103] See Figure 4 and Figure 8 The Common info field of the trigger frame contains a 4-bit trigger type subfield (i.e. Figure 4 The Trigger Type subfield in the trigger frame is described in the same way as in the previous embodiment and will not be repeated here. The Commoninfo field of the trigger frame contains a transmission mode subfield, namely... Figure 4 The MAP TXS Mode subfield is described in detail in the previous embodiment. The specific explanation is the same and will not be repeated here.

[0104] The i-th User info subfield contains an identifier subfield for the i-th STA, which is as follows: Figure 8The AID12 subfield (which can occupy 12 bits) carries the 12 least significant bits or 12-bit VAID of the AID of the participating TXOP sharing device, i.e., the i-th STA. The specific description is the same as in the previous embodiment and will not be repeated. The Trigger dependent User Info subfield within the i-th User info subfield also includes the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the i-th STA. This uplink / downlink indicator subfield indicates whether the cooperative transmission of the i-th STA is a synchronous uplink transmission or a synchronous downlink transmission; that is, whether the i-th STA is performing uplink or downlink transmission in the allocated TXOP. If the value of this field is 0, it indicates uplink transmission; if the value of this field is 1, it indicates downlink transmission. Figure 8 The uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the i-th STA is represented as the UL / DL Indication subfield, which is 1 bit long. Furthermore, this uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the i-th STA can precede the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA, such as... Figure 8 As shown, the UL / DL Indication subfield (occupying 1 bit) precedes the Max TX power subfield (occupying 6 bits). It should be noted that the position of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield, i.e., the UL / DL Indication subfield, of the i-th STA is not limited to the description in this example; for example... Figure 8 The 1-bit reserved subfield after the UL EHT-MCS shown can also be used as the uplink / downlink indicator subfield (UL / DL Indication) of the i-th STA. We will not exhaustively list all possible positions for this subfield. It should also be understood that the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield (UL / DL Indication) of the i-th STA is not limited to the setting in this example. For example, a value of 1 could indicate uplink transmission, and a value of 0 could indicate downlink transmission. We will not exhaustively list these options. Optionally, the i-th User info subfield can include a Trigger dependent User Info subfield depending on the trigger frame variant type. This can be used to carry additional information. In this example's trigger frame, the Trigger dependent User Info subfield includes a 6-bit transmit power subfield. Figure 8 The Max TX power subfield shown can have a length of 6 bits. The specific details are the same as in the previous embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0105] See Figure 9 and Figure 5The Common info field of the trigger frame contains a 4-bit trigger type subfield (i.e. Figure 9 The Trigger Type subfield in the trigger frame identifies a variant of the trigger frame. The specific description is the same as in the previous embodiment and will not be repeated. The Common info field of the trigger frame contains a transmission mode subfield, namely... Figure 9 The MAP TXS Mode subfield in the trigger frame is described in the same way as in the previous embodiment and will not be repeated. The Common info field of this trigger frame also includes an uplink / downlink indicator subfield. This subfield indicates whether the cooperative transmission of multiple STAs is synchronous uplink or synchronous downlink transmission, that is, whether the allocated TXOP is used for uplink or downlink transmission. If the value of this field is 0, it indicates uplink transmission; if the value of this field is 1, it indicates downlink transmission. Figure 9 The uplink / downlink indicator subfield is represented as the UL / DL Indication subfield, which is 1 bit long. Furthermore, this uplink / downlink indicator subfield can follow the transmission mode subfield, such as... Figure 9 As shown, the UL / DL Indication subfield (occupying 1 bit) follows the Max TX Mode subfield (occupying 3 bits). It should be noted that the position of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield, i.e., the UL / DL Indication subfield, is not limited to the description in this example; for example... Figure 9 The 1-bit reserved subfield after UL spatial reuse shown can also be used as the uplink / downlink indicator subfield, i.e., the UL / DL Indication subfield. We will not exhaustively list all possible positions for this subfield. It should also be understood that the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield (UL / DL Indication subfield) is not limited to the setting shown in the current example. For example, a value of 1 could indicate uplink transmission, and a value of 0 could indicate downlink transmission. We will not exhaustively list these options. It is important to note that if the uplink / downlink indicator subfield (UL / DL Indication subfield) is placed in the Common info field, this trigger frame will not be applicable to situations where one BSS (i.e., one STA) triggers uplink and another BSS (another STA) triggers downlink. The i-th Userinfo subfield contains an identifier subfield for the i-th STA, which is as follows... Figure 5The AID12 subfield (which can occupy 12 bits) carries the 12 least significant bits of the AID or the 12-bit VAID of the i-th STA participating in the TXOP sharing. The method for obtaining or configuring the AID and / or VAID of any STA has been described in the previous embodiments and will not be repeated here. The i-th User info subfield may also include: the transmit power subfield of the i-th STA (e.g., ...). Figure 5 The MaxTX Power subfield shown in the figure indicates the maximum transmit power used by the i-th STA. The specific description is the same as in the previous embodiment and will not be repeated.

[0106] It should be understood that the common information field of the trigger frame also includes other subfields specified in the protocol, such as... Figure 4 The diagram illustrates the following subfields: UL Length (12 bits), More Trigger Frame (TF), Carrier Sense Required (CS), UL (Uplink) BW (Bandwidth), GI And HE / EHT-LTF Type / Trigger TXOP Sharing (Guard interval and High Efficiency / HE Long Training field type / Trigger Transmission Opportunity Sharing), Number of HE / EHT-LTF Symbols, LDPC Extra Symbol Segment, AT Px Power, Pre-FEC Padding Factor, PE Disambiguity, and UL Spatial. The subfields include the Reuse subfield, HE / EHTP160 subfield, Special UserInfo Field Flag subfield, Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield, etc., and the number of bits occupied by each subfield is as follows: Figure 4As shown, the functions or definitions of each subfield will not be elaborated upon here. Similarly, a user information subfield in the trigger frame also contains other subfields specified in the protocol, such as... Figure 5 The diagram illustrates subfields such as RU Allocation, UL FEC Coding Type (uplink forward error correction coding type), SS Allocation / RA-RU Information (SS allocation / RA-RU information), UL Target Received Power, PS160, UL EHT MCS, etc., with the number of bits occupied by each subfield as shown below. Figure 5 As shown below, the functions or definitions of each subfield will not be described in detail here.

[0107] The foregoing is merely illustrative and does not imply that the trigger frame can only have the above-mentioned design methods. Other design methods are also possible. For example, the trigger frame may not indicate the maximum transmit power to the STA. It can simply set the trigger type subfield, uplink / downlink indicator subfield, and transmission mode subfield in the public information field to notify multiple STAs that receive the trigger frame to establish cooperative transmission. For instance, the trigger frame can simply set the identification information of one or more STAs, the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of one or more STAs, and the transmission mode subfield of one or more STAs in one or more user information subfields to notify one or more STAs that receive the trigger frame to establish cooperative transmission. It should be understood that in this case, the STAs that receive the trigger frame can default to the trigger type as a MAP TXS trigger frame, that is, it is used by default to establish cooperative transmission between multiple STAs. It should be noted that the foregoing is merely illustrative and does not imply that the trigger frame provided in this embodiment can only exist in the above-mentioned formats. In actual processing, there can be more formats. As long as the format enables the STAs that receive the trigger frame to establish cooperative transmission, it is within the protection scope of this embodiment, but it is not exhaustively listed here.

[0108] Building upon the foregoing explanation of the various subfields that a trigger frame may contain, the following further explanation concerns the method of carrying this trigger frame:

[0109] The trigger frame is carried by a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU); wherein the first indicator bit in the preamble of the first PPDU is set to a second specified value. Specifically, the first PPDU can be an EHT PPDU. The first indicator bit can be a MAP TXS indicator bit. It should be understood that the first PPDU can also be other types of PPDUs, but in a preferred example, the first PPDU is an EHT PPDU; similarly, the first indicator bit can also be other indicator bits in the preamble of the first PPDU, but in a preferred example, the first indicator bit is a MAP TXS indicator bit, but this embodiment does not exhaustively list them.

[0110] The length and specific value of the second specified value can be set according to the actual situation. For example, the length of the second specified value can be 1 bit, and its specific value can be set to 1 or 0; or the length of the second specified value can be 2 bits, and its specific value can be 01 or 10, etc. Not all of the possibilities are exhaustively listed here.

[0111] For example, the first PPDU is an EHT PPDU; the specific position of the first indicator bit (i.e., the MAP TXS indicator bit) is the 25th bit of the U-SIG-1 field of the EHT PPDU preamble. Assuming the second specification value is 1, if the MAP TXS indicator bit of the preamble of the first PPDU is 1, it indicates that the first PPDU contains the trigger frame (i.e., the trigger frame used to instruct multiple STAs to establish cooperative transmission, or called the MAP TXS trigger frame). Accordingly, the STA that receives the first PPDU will not discard the first PPDU, and can thus parse the trigger frame carried in the first PPDU.

[0112] Alternatively, the existing PPDU can be left unmodified. That is, no new indicator bit is added to the PPDU preamble, but all STAs that receive the PPDU are configured not to discard it. In this implementation, no modification is needed to the existing PPDU (specifically, an EHT PPDU); instead, the STA is configured to ignore the UL / DL identifier in the PPDU's preamble U-SIG-1 and will not discard the PPDU.

[0113] Based on the foregoing description of the trigger frame and the first PPDU carrying the trigger frame, the transmission interaction process of the first STA is described below. To achieve multi-AP TXOP sharing, it can be divided into three stages: the preparation stage, the detection stage, and the trigger transmission stage. S210 mentioned above mainly describes the processing performed in the trigger transmission stage, that is, the part where the sharing AP (first STA) triggers the shared AP (second STA) or the STA associated with the shared AP (second STA) (fourth STA) to cooperate in transmission. The preparation stage and the measurement stage before the trigger transmission stage are also important. The information exchanged in these two stages is the basis for completing multi-STA cooperative transmission. Therefore, the processing of the preparation stage and the measurement stage will be described first:

[0114] During the preparation phase, the first STA executes the EDCA (Enhanced Distributed Channel Access) mechanism, decrementing the backoff counter to zero and gaining a transmission opportunity. At this point, the first STA is the sharing AP. If the first STA has a TXOP sharing intention, it will exchange information with the second STA (Shared AP) within the transmission range during the preparation phase. The information exchanged between the first and second STA includes, but is not limited to, MAP TXS Announcement and MAP TXS Response. Figure 10 In other words, the first STA is Figure 10 AP1, the second STA Figure 10AP2 is in the network. AP1 executes the EDCA mechanism, decrementing its backoff counter to zero, and gains a transmission opportunity. At this time, AP1 is the sharing AP. If AP1 has the intention to share TXOP, it will interact with AP2 (the shared AP) within the transmission range during the preparation phase. The information exchanged between AP1 and AP2 includes, but is not limited to, MAP TXS Announcement and MAP TXS Response. The MAP TXS Announcement (or MAP TXA announcement frame) includes at least one of the following: the cooperative transmission mode that the first STA (i.e., the sharing AP) wishes to perform, the STA information (e.g., AID and / or VAID) participating in the transmission in the sharing BSS (basic service set), and the RSSI measured by the participating STA for the second STA (i.e., the shared AP). The RSSI measured by the STA participating in the transmission for the second STA (i.e., the shared AP) is optional. This is because the STA participating in the transmission can decide whether to share the RSSI based on the RSSI measurement method (i.e., the STA participating in the transmission can determine whether to upload the RSSI to the first STA based on the RSSI measurement method). RSSI is mainly used for power control in CSR, and the RSSI measurement method is not limited in this embodiment. If the STA participating in the transmission decides to share the RSSI, the STA participating in the transmission can complete the RSSI exchange by default during the preparation phase. The MAP TXS Response (or MAP TXS Response frame) includes at least one of the following: the second STA, i.e., the shared AP's willingness to participate in uplink and downlink cooperative transmission and the supported cooperative transmission mode; information of STAs in the shared BSS that can hear the sharing AP (first STA) and wish to participate in the transmission (i.e., information of STAs associated with the second STA that wish to participate in the transmission); time and frequency resources that the shared BSS wishes to obtain; and the RSSI of AP1 measured by the STA participating in the transmission in the shared BSS (i.e., the STA associated with the second STA participating in the transmission) (optional).

[0115] It should be understood that the above preparation phase, the first STA (i.e., Sharing AP), Figure 10 AP1 needs to send the information of the STA associated with the first STA (e.g., the third STA) to the second STA (i.e., the Shared AP, such as AP1) that will participate in the transmission to the second STA (i.e., the Shared AP). Figure 10 AP2 in the middle); similarly, the second STA (i.e., Shared AP, such as Figure 10AP2 will also send information about STAs associated with the second STA (e.g., the fourth STA) to the first STA. This is so that during the detection phase, the first and second STAs can send NDPA, NDP, and beamforming report poll (BFRP) trigger frames to these associated or unassociated STAs. STAs receiving the BFRP trigger will send CSI reports back to the AP that sent the BFRP trigger. In other words, STAs can send CSI reports back to associated or unassociated APs. In this way, each AP can calculate its own steering matrix. In the subsequent data transmission phase, AP1 and AP2, based on this steering matrix, determine which STAs' CSI reports they have received and perform beam nulling operations on those STAs.

[0116] During the probe phase, the first STA can perform probes based on the following probe sequence: NDPA + NDP + BFRP TF (Trigger Frame) + CSI Report. Specifically, the first STA can send NDPA, NDP, and BFRP TF to one or more associated third STAs and one or more unassociated fourth STAs, and receive CSI reports from one or more third and fourth STAs. The processing of the second STA is similar to that of the first STA and will not be elaborated here. Furthermore, in the multi-AP sequential probe sequence, the NDPA frame and BFRP TF can contain the identification information of the OBSS STA (e.g., AID or VAID). For example, the first STA can send NDPA, NDP, and BFRP frames to one or more third and fourth STAs; one or more third and fourth STAs can process the received NDPA and BFRP Trigger frames from the first STA. Each STA that receives the BFRP trigger frame from the first STA can report the corresponding Channel State Information (CSI) back to the first STA and its associated second STAs. It should be understood that the aforementioned probe sequence is fixed. Regardless of which STA performs the probe, the order of the probe sequence is always followed: NDPA must be sent first, then NDP, then the BFRP trigger frame, and finally the CSI report from the STA is received. It should be noted that either the first or second STA can be the master AP, and the other STAs can be slave APs.

[0117] by Figure 11 Let's take an example to illustrate. Figure 11 STA11-STA1N are associated with AP1 (AP1 is assumed to be the first STA), and STA21-STA2N are associated with AP2 (AP1 is assumed to be the second STA). In a multi-AP scenario, any AP collects CSI from in-BSS and OBSS STAs during the detection process, and the detection sequence of any AP is NDPA + NDP + BFRPTF + CSI report; for example... Figure 11 In the process, AP1 sends NDPA1, NDP1, and BFPR TF1 to STA11-STA1N and STA21-STA2N according to the detection sequence, and then AP1 receives the CSI reports fed back by STA11-STA1N and STA21-STA2N; similarly, AP2 sends NDPA2, NDP2, and BFPR TF2 to STA11-STA1N and STA21-STA2N according to the detection sequence, and then AP2 receives the CSI reports fed back by STA11-STA1N and STA21-STA2N. Furthermore, in a multi-AP sequential probe sequence, the NDPA frame and BFRP trigger frame will contain the identification information of the OBSS STAs (e.g., AID or VAID). For example, AP1 can send NDPA, NDPA, and BFRP frames to STA11-STA1N and STA21-STA2N. Each STA can process the NDPA and BFRP trigger frames received from the OBSS AP. Each STA that receives the BFRP trigger frame from the OBSS AP can report the corresponding Channel State Information (CSI) back to OBSS AP1 and its associated AP2. Additionally, as... Figure 11 As shown, there can be a certain time interval between the NDPA, NDP, BFRP TF, and CSI report contained in the detection sequence. This time interval is called SIFS.

[0118] After completing the above processing, the first STA can execute the trigger transmission phase processing. The following explanation, in conjunction with different procedures, details the specific subfields included in the trigger frame and their values, as well as the execution of the trigger transmission phase processing by the first STA in different procedures:

[0119] Uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO transmission mode: The trigger frame is a first trigger frame; the first STA sends the trigger frame, including: the first STA sends the first trigger frame, which is used by the plurality of STAs to perform synchronous uplink cooperative transmission. The plurality of STAs includes at least one of the following: a third STA and a fourth STA; the third STA is associated with the first STA, the fourth STA is associated with a second STA, and the second STA is different from the first STA.

[0120] The first STA sends the first trigger frame, which can be done by broadcasting or multicasting the first trigger frame. The receiving address of the first trigger frame is set to the broadcast or multicast address. Specifically, the first STA refers to the Sharing AP, the second STA refers to the Shared AP, the third STA refers to the STA associated with the Sharing AP (i.e., non-AP STA), and the fourth STA refers to the STA associated with the Shared AP (i.e., non-AP STA). It should be understood that the number of the aforementioned Shared APs (i.e., second STAs) can be one or more, the number of the aforementioned third STAs can also be one or more, and the number of the aforementioned fourth STAs can also be one or more. It should also be noted that the first STA and one or more second STAs can be APs in the same cooperation set; specifically, one or more second STAs can be Shared APs located within the transmission range of the first STA.

[0121] The first STA (i.e., the sharing AP) enables uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO transmission modes. In this transmission mode, because the first STA (i.e., the sharing AP) has information about the fourth STA in the OBSS reported by the second STA (i.e., the shared AP) (e.g., information reported by the second STA during the preparation phase), and CSI reports fed back by the fourth STA in the OBSS (e.g., information reported by the fourth STA to the first STA during the measurement phase), the first STA (i.e., the sharing AP) can send a first trigger frame to its associated third STA and the fourth STA associated with the second STA. That is, after completing the aforementioned preparation and probe phases, the first STA can interact with the second STA (i.e., other shared APs), the third STA, and the fourth STA in the same cooperative set. Therefore, the first STA can know that one or more third STAs and / or one or more fourth STAs have uplink data to send, and can know the AID and / or VAID corresponding to one or more third STAs and / or one or more fourth STAs respectively.

[0122] In this embodiment, the method further includes: the first STA receiving uplink data sent by the third STA after a first duration of sending the first trigger frame; the first STA sending a block acknowledgment (BA, Block ACK) to the third STA. More specifically, the first STA receiving uplink data sent by the third STA after a first duration of sending the first trigger frame includes: when the first STA has uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode enabled, after a first duration of sending the first trigger frame, performing beam nulling on the fourth STA and receiving the uplink data sent by the third STA. Here, "after a first duration of sending the first trigger frame" refers to a delay of SIFS from the time the first trigger frame was sent. The first STA sending a block acknowledgment (BA, Block ACK) to the third STA can be: the first STA sending a block acknowledgment (BA, Block ACK) to the third STA after completing a first duration of receiving the uplink data sent by the third STA. The method for determining whether the uplink data sent by the third STA has been received can be to detect the indication information indicating the completion of transmission in the received uplink data from the third STA, thereby determining that the uplink data sent by the third STA has been received. Of course, there may be other determination methods, which will not be exhaustively listed in this embodiment.

[0123] Here, the first duration can refer to SIFS (Short interframe space). It should be noted that, as explained above, the plurality of STAs includes at least one of the following: a third STA and a fourth STA; correspondingly, in this embodiment, the uplink data transmission time of the third STA can be the same as the uplink data transmission time of the fourth STA. That is, the third STA and the fourth STA perform synchronous uplink transmission.

[0124] Combination Figure 12 and Figure 13 In other words, Figure 12 and Figure 13 In this context, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). After completing interactions with other devices in the collaboration set during the preparation and probing phases, AP1 learns about STA2 in BSS2 (e.g., ...). Figure 13If STA2 (as shown in BSS2, associated with AP2) needs to send uplink data and obtains STA2's AID or VAID information, then AP1 generates a MAPTXS trigger frame (the first trigger frame) to trigger synchronized uplink transmission between STA1 (associated with AP1) and STA2 (associated with AP2). This first trigger frame contains the User info subfield of STA1 and the User info subfield of STA2. Continuing with... Figure 13 In AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the first trigger frame), it performs beam nulling operation on the non-associated STA2, receives the uplink data sent by STA1, and after receiving the uplink data sent by STA1, it sends BA to STA1 after the SIFS time.

[0125] In uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode: The first STA (i.e., sharing AP) enables uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode. The first STA (i.e., sharing AP) can actively obtain information from the second STA (shared AP) about OBSS STAs within its coverage area that can participate in uplink cooperative transmission (that is, information about the fourth STA associated with the second STA, specifically the AID and / or VAID of the fourth STA). Then, the first STA (i.e., sharing AP) can send a MAP TXS trigger frame, i.e., the first trigger frame, to the OBSS STAs within its coverage area.

[0126] The method further includes: after the first STA has transmitted the first trigger frame for a first duration, receiving uplink data transmitted by the third STA; the first STA sending a block acknowledgment (BA) to the third STA. Specifically, the first STA sending the BA to the third STA can be done by the first STA sending the BA to the third STA after completing the first duration of receiving the uplink data transmitted by the third STA.

[0127] Combination Figure 14 and Figure 15 In other words, Figure 14 and Figure 15This diagram illustrates enabling CSR mode for a STA. AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). After AP1 completes its interactions with other devices in the multi-AP collaboration group during the preparation and probe phases (the need for the probe phase depends on the RSSI measurement method), AP1 learns that STA2 in BSS2 has uplink data to send and obtains STA2's AID or VAID information. AP1 then generates a MAP TXS trigger frame (first trigger frame) to trigger synchronized uplink transmission between STA1 and STA2. This first trigger frame contains the User info subfield for STA1 and the User info subfield for STA2. Continuing with... Figure 15 In AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the first trigger frame), it receives the uplink data sent by STA1. After receiving the uplink data sent by STA1, it sends BA to STA1 after the SIFS time.

[0128] Specifically, after the first STA sends the first trigger frame for a first duration, it receives the uplink data sent by the third STA, including: when the first STA has uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode enabled, it receives the uplink data from the third STA on the first resource unit (RU) after sending the first trigger frame for a first duration. Here, the first RU is the resource corresponding to the third STA. The first STA sends a BA to the third STA, including: the first STA sends the BA to the third STA on the first RU. Specifically, the first STA sending the BA on the first RU can be: after the first STA has completed receiving the uplink data sent by the third STA for a first duration, it sends the BA to the third STA on the first RU. The determination of whether the uplink data reception from the third STA is complete can be made by detecting a completion indication information in the received uplink data from the third STA, thus determining that the reception of the uplink data sent by the third STA is complete. Of course, there can be other determination methods, which are not exhaustively listed in this embodiment.

[0129] Combination Figure 16 and Figure 17 In other words, Figure 16 and Figure 17 A diagram illustrating the activation of COFDMA mode for the first STA. Figure 16 and Figure 17In this diagram, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA11 and STA12 are two third STAs associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA21 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). After completing the interaction with other devices in the multi-AP cooperative set during the preparation and probe phases (COFDMA may not require a probe phase), AP1 learns that STA21 in BSS2 has uplink data to send and obtains STA21's AID or VAID information. AP1 then generates a MAP TXS trigger frame (first trigger frame) to trigger synchronized uplink transmission between STA11, STA12, and STA21. The first trigger frame contains the User info subfields corresponding to STA11, STA12, and STA21 respectively. Further details are then provided. Figure 17 In other words, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame at SIFS time, it prepares to receive uplink data associated with STA11 and STA12 on the first RUs corresponding to STA11 and STA12 respectively. Upon receiving the uplink data sent by STA11 and STA12, AP1 sends a BA to STA11 and STA12 on the first RUs corresponding to STA11 and STA12 respectively. For example, the first RU corresponding to STA11 is... Figure 17 The first RU in the list, the first RU corresponding to STA12 is Figure 17 The second RU in the series.

[0130] Further, the various fields that may be included in the first trigger frame are explained as follows: In the case of uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO transmission mode, the common information field of the first trigger frame includes a first transmission mode sub-field; the value of the first transmission mode sub-field is a second value. The specific meaning of this second value is the same as in the previous embodiment, indicating that the cooperative transmission mode used for sharing the transmission opportunities (TXOP) of the multiple STAs is CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode. Alternatively, the common information field of the first trigger frame does not include the first transmission mode sub-field. The user information sub-field of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes: the transmission mode sub-field of the third STA; the value of the transmission mode sub-field of the third STA is a second value; and / or, the user information sub-field of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame includes: the transmission mode sub-field of the fourth STA; the value of the transmission mode sub-field of the fourth STA is a second value. The specific meaning of this second value is the same as in the previous embodiment, indicating that the cooperative transmission mode used for sharing the transmission opportunities (TXOP) of the multiple STAs is CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode. In a preferred example, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes a transmission mode subfield of the third STA; and the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame includes a transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA. This is because the first STA needs to provide separate instructions to the STAs performing uplink transmissions, therefore each STA needs to be able to determine the processing it needs to perform based on its own user information subfield.

[0131] In the case of uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode, the common information field of the first trigger frame includes a first transmission mode subfield; the value of the first transmission mode subfield is a third value. The specific meaning of this third value is the same as in the previous embodiment, used to indicate that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing of the multiple STAs is COFDMA and / or CSR mode, which will not be repeated below. Alternatively, the common information field of the first trigger frame does not include the first transmission mode subfield. Accordingly, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes: the transmission mode subfield of the third STA; the value of the transmission mode subfield of the third STA is a third value; and / or, the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame includes: the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA; the value of the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA is a third value. In a preferred example, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes: the transmission mode subfield of the third STA; and the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame includes: the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA. This is because the first STA needs to give separate instructions to the STAs performing uplink transmissions, so each STA needs to be able to determine the processing it needs to perform based on its own user information subfield.

[0132] In the case of uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO transmission mode, or uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes an identifier subfield of the third STA to carry the identification information of the third STA; and / or, the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame includes an identifier subfield of the fourth STA to carry the identification information of the fourth STA. In a preferred example, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes an identifier subfield of the third STA to carry the identification information of the third STA; and the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame includes an identifier subfield of the fourth STA to carry the identification information of the fourth STA. This is because the first STA needs to provide separate instructions to the STAs performing uplink transmission, therefore each STA needs to be able to identify its corresponding user information subfield based on its own identifier subfield.

[0133] In the case of uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO transmission mode, or uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode, the first trigger frame, in addition to the above, may further include a first uplink / downlink indicator subfield in its common information field. The value of the first uplink / downlink indicator subfield is a sixth value. The specific meaning of this sixth value is the same as in the previous embodiment, and it is used to indicate that the plurality of STAs are performing synchronous uplink transmission.

[0134] Optionally, in the case of uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO transmission mode, or uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode, the common information field of the first trigger frame does not include the first uplink / downlink indicator subfield. Correspondingly, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame further includes: the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA, wherein the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA is a sixth value; and / or, the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame further includes: the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA, wherein the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA is a sixth value. The specific meaning of this sixth value is the same as in the aforementioned embodiments, used to indicate that the plurality of STAs perform synchronous uplink transmission. In a preferred example, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes: the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA; and the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame includes the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA. This is because the first STA needs to give separate instructions to the STAs that perform uplink transmissions. Therefore, each STA needs to be able to determine whether the transmission it needs to perform is uplink or downlink based on its own user information subfield.

[0135] Optionally, in the case of uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO transmission mode, or uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame further includes: the transmit power subfield of the third STA; and / or, the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame further includes: the transmit power subfield of the fourth STA. Optionally, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes: the transmit power subfield of the third STA, while the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame may not include the transmit power subfield of the fourth STA, that is, the fourth STA can determine its own transmit power according to its own situation. Alternatively, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame does not include the transmit power subfield of the third STA, while the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame may include the transmit power subfield of the fourth STA, that is, the third STA can determine its own transmit power according to its own situation. Alternatively, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes a transmit power subfield of the third STA, and the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame includes a transmit power subfield of the fourth STA. That is, both the third STA and the fourth STA determine their respective transmit power based on their corresponding transmit power subfields. The method by which the third STA and the fourth STA determine their respective transmit power based on their corresponding transmit power subfields has been explained in the foregoing embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0136] Optionally, in the case of uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO transmission mode, or uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode, the common information field of the first trigger frame further includes: a first shared transmission indication subfield; the value of the first shared transmission indication subfield is an eighth value. The specific meaning of this eighth value is the same as in the aforementioned embodiment, used to instruct the plurality of STAs to enable TXOP sharing mode, and will not be repeated below. It should be noted that if the common information field of the first trigger frame includes a first transmission mode subfield, the aforementioned first shared transmission indication subfield may not be included. That is, in this example, the first shared transmission indication subfield may not be included. If the value of the first shared transmission indication subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is an eighth value, it means that the STA receiving the first trigger frame can identify the identifier subfield (i.e., the AID12 subfield) in its own user information subfield based on VAID. If the common information field of the first trigger frame further includes: the value of the first shared transmission indication subfield being a ninth value, it means that the STA receiving the first trigger frame can identify the identifier subfield (i.e., the AID12 subfield) in its own user information subfield based on AID.

[0137] Optionally, in uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO transmission mode, or uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes an identifier subfield of the third STA to carry the identifier information of the third STA; and / or, the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame includes an identifier subfield of the fourth STA to carry the identifier information of the fourth STA. In a preferred example, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes an identifier subfield of the third STA to carry the identifier information of the third STA; and the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame includes an identifier subfield of the fourth STA to carry the identifier information of the fourth STA. This is because the first STA needs to provide separate instructions to the STAs performing uplink transmission, therefore each STA needs to be able to identify its corresponding user information subfield based on its own identifier subfield.

[0138] In other words, the first trigger frame can indicate the transmission mode through the common information field, specifically through the first transmission mode subfield of the common information field; alternatively, it can indicate the transmission mode through the user information subfields of the third STA and the user information subfields of the fourth STA, respectively. The first trigger frame can also indicate uplink / downlink transmission through the common information field, specifically through the first uplink / downlink indication subfield of the common information field; or, it can indicate uplink / downlink transmission through the user information subfields of the third STA and the user information subfields of the fourth STA, respectively. Furthermore, the first trigger frame can carry the identification information of the third and fourth STAs, as well as the transmit power subfields of the third and fourth STAs.

[0139] Optionally, when the first STA (i.e., sharing AP) enables uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO transmission mode, or enables uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode, the first trigger frame may further include a user information subfield of the second STA. This allows the second STA to determine that its associated fourth STA needs to perform uplink transmission, thereby entering the corresponding mode and preparing to receive uplink data. The user information subfield of the second STA in the first trigger frame further includes: an uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA, where the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield is a sixth value; the specific definition of the sixth value is the same as in the aforementioned embodiments and will not be repeated. The user information subfield of the second STA in the first trigger frame includes an identification subfield of the second STA, used to carry the identification information of the second STA. In addition, the user information subfield of the second STA may also include the transmission mode subfield of the second STA. Specifically, when the first STA (i.e., sharing AP) enables uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO transmission mode, the transmission mode subfield of the second STA takes the second value; when the uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode is enabled, the transmission mode subfield of the second STA takes the third value.

[0140] Furthermore, based on the content contained in the first trigger frame as described in the aforementioned examples, the public information field of the first trigger frame may also contain a trigger type sub-field, and the value of the trigger type sub-field is a first specified value (for example, it can be 8).

[0141] Traditional uplink multi-AP TXOP sharing mode: The trigger frame is the second trigger frame; the first STA sends the trigger frame, including: the first STA sends the second trigger frame, the second trigger frame is used to trigger the multiple STAs to synchronously send the first frame, and the first frame is used to trigger the STAs associated with the multiple STAs to perform synchronous uplink cooperative transmission. The multiple STAs include: the first STA and the second STA. Specifically, the first STA refers to the Sharing AP, and the second STA refers to the Shared AP. It should be understood that the number of the aforementioned Shared APs, i.e., the second STAs, can be one or more. In one case, the specific processing of the first STA sending the second trigger frame may differ depending on the number of second STAs. For example, if there are two or more second STAs, the first STA sends the second trigger frame in a broadcast or multicast manner; the receiving address of the second trigger frame is set to the broadcast or multicast address. For example, if there is only one second STA, the first STA sends the second trigger frame in a unicast manner; the receiving address of the second trigger frame is set to the address of the second STA. In another case, the specific processing of the first STA sending the second trigger frame may differ depending on the specific format of the second trigger frame. For example, if the public information field of the second trigger frame includes a transmission mode subfield, an uplink / downlink indicator subfield, and a trigger type subfield, the first STA sends the second trigger frame in the form of broadcast or multicast; the receiving address of the second trigger frame is set to the broadcast or multicast address.

[0142] The method further includes: when the first STA is in the traditional uplink TXOP sharing mode, after sending the second trigger frame for a second duration, it sends the first frame to the third STA; the third STA is associated with the first STA. Specifically, the method further includes: after sending the first frame to the third STA, the first STA receives uplink data sent by the third STA; the first STA sends a BA to the third STA. The first STA sending the BA to the third STA can be: the first STA sends the BA to the third STA after completing the second duration of receiving the uplink data sent by the third STA. The determination of completing the reception of the uplink data sent by the third STA can be made by detecting a completion indication information in the received uplink data from the third STA, thus determining that the reception of the uplink data sent by the third STA is complete. Of course, there can be other determination methods, which are not exhaustively listed in this embodiment. Here, the second duration can be the same as or different from the aforementioned first duration. In one example, the second duration can refer to SIFS. It should be noted that, as explained above, the plurality of STAs includes at least one of the following: the first STA and the second STA; correspondingly, in this embodiment, the first STA and the second STA should send the first frame at the same time. The uplink data transmission time of the third STA can be the same as that of the fourth STA. In other words, the third STA and the fourth STA perform synchronous uplink transmission.

[0143] Combination Figure 14 and Figure 18 In other words, Figure 14 and Figure 18 In this setup, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). After completing interactions with other devices in the cooperative set during the preparation and probing phases, AP1 learns that STA2 in BSS2 has uplink data to send and wishes to use the traditional uplink TXOP sharing mode. Therefore, AP1 generates a MAP TXS trigger frame, i.e., the second trigger frame. This second trigger frame contains the User info subfield of AP2. Continuing with... Figure 18 In AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the second trigger frame), it sends the basic trigger frame to STA1. After the SIFS time of sending the basic trigger frame, AP1 receives the uplink data sent by STA1, and after receiving the uplink data sent by STA1, it sends BA to STA1 after the SIFS time.

[0144] Furthermore, the various fields that may be included in the second trigger frame are explained as follows: The user information subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame includes the identifier subfield of the second STA, which is used to carry the identifier information of the second STA.

[0145] The common information field of the second trigger frame includes a second transmission mode subfield, which takes the value of a fifth value. The specific meaning of this fifth value is the same as in the previous embodiment, indicating that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the i-th STA is the traditional uplink TXOP sharing mode, which will not be repeated below. Alternatively, the common information field of the second trigger frame may not include the second transmission mode subfield. The user information subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame includes: the transmission mode subfield of the second STA, which takes the value of a fifth value.

[0146] Optionally, the common information field of the second trigger frame includes a second uplink / downlink indicator subfield, and the value of the second uplink / downlink indicator subfield is a sixth value. The specific meaning of this sixth value is the same as in the previous embodiment, used to indicate that the plurality of STAs perform synchronous uplink transmission, and will not be repeated below. Alternatively, the common information field of the second trigger frame does not include the second uplink / downlink indicator subfield; the user information subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame further includes: the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA, and the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA is a sixth value.

[0147] Optionally, the user information subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame may also include the transmit power subfield of the second STA.

[0148] Optionally, the public information field of the second trigger frame further includes: a second shared transmission indicator subfield; the value of the second shared transmission indicator subfield is an eighth value.

[0149] Downlink CBF mode: The trigger frame is a third trigger frame; the first STA sends the trigger frame, including: the first STA sends the third trigger frame, which is used by the plurality of STAs to perform synchronous downlink cooperative transmission. The plurality of STAs includes: the first STA and the second STA; the second STA is different from the first STA.

[0150] In this implementation, the method further includes: the first STA sending downlink data to the third STA after a third duration of sending the third trigger frame; the third STA being associated with the first STA; and the first STA receiving a block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the third STA. The first STA sending downlink data to the third STA after a third duration of sending the third trigger frame includes: if downlink CBF mode is enabled, the first STA performing beam nulling on the fourth STA after sending the third trigger frame for a third duration, and then sending downlink data to the third STA; the fourth STA being associated with the second STA. The first STA receiving the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the third STA may include: the first STA receiving the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the third STA after completing a third duration of sending downlink data.

[0151] Combination Figure 19 and Figure 20 In other words, Figure 19 and Figure 20 In this setup, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). After completing the interaction with other devices in the cooperative set during the preparation and probe phases, AP1 learns that AP2 in BSS2 has downlink data to send. Therefore, AP1 generates a MAP TXS trigger frame (third trigger frame) to trigger downlink transmission synchronized with AP2. This third trigger frame contains the User info subfield of AP2. Continuing with... Figure 20 In AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it performs beam nulling on the unassociated STA2, sends downlink data to STA1, and receives the BA sent by STA1 after the SIFS duration. It should be understood that... Figure 20 For clarity, the illustrative dashed arrows for both are not completely overlapping, but... Figure 20 This does not mean that AP1 and AP2 must perform beam nulling operations at different times. In actual operation, AP1 and AP2 can perform beam nulling operations at the same time. Furthermore, if there is only one AP2, the MAP TXS trigger frame, i.e., the third trigger frame, is sent in unicast format, and its receiving address is set to the address of AP2.

[0152] Downlink COFDMA and / or CSR mode: The trigger frame is a third trigger frame; the first STA sends the trigger frame, including: the first STA sends the third trigger frame, which is used by the plurality of STAs to perform synchronous downlink cooperative transmission. The plurality of STAs includes: the first STA and the second STA; the second STA is different from the first STA. The method of sending the third trigger frame is the same as in the previous embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

[0153] Optionally, the method further includes: when the first STA is in downlink COFDMA and / or CSR mode, after a third duration of sending the third trigger frame, sending downlink data to the third STA; the third STA is associated with the first STA; and the first STA receives the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the third STA.

[0154] After the first STA transmits downlink data to the third STA for a third duration following the transmission of the third trigger frame, the first STA transmits downlink data to the third STA on a first resource unit (RU) after the third duration following the transmission of the third trigger frame, provided that downlink COFDMA and / or CSR modes are enabled. The first STA receives a block acknowledgment (BA) from the third STA on the first RU. Specifically, after the first STA completes the transmission of downlink data for a third duration, the first STA receives the block acknowledgment (BA) from the third STA on the first RU.

[0155] Combination Figure 21 and Figure 22 In other words, Figure 21 and Figure 22 This diagram illustrates enabling downlink CSR mode for a STA. AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). After AP1 completes its interactions with other devices in the multi-AP collaboration group during the preparation and probe phases (the need for a probe phase depends on the different RSSI measurement methods), AP1 learns that AP2 in BSS2 has downlink data to send. Therefore, AP1 generates a MAPTXS trigger frame (third trigger frame) to trigger synchronized downlink transmission between AP1 and AP2. This third trigger frame contains at least the User info subfield of AP2. Continuing with... Figure 22In AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it sends downlink data to STA1, and after completing the SIFS time of sending downlink data to STA1, it receives the BA sent by STA1.

[0156] Combination Figure 23 and Figure 24 In other words, Figure 23 and Figure 24 A diagram illustrating the activation of COFDMA mode for the first STA. Figure 23 and Figure 24 In this setup, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), while AP2 and AP3 are both Shared APs (second STAs). After completing the interaction with other devices in the multi-AP cooperative group during the preparation and probe phases (COFDMA may not require a probe phase), AP1 learns that AP2 in BSS2 and AP3 in BSS3 have downlink data to send. Therefore, AP1 generates a MAP TXS trigger frame (third trigger frame) to trigger downlink transmission synchronized with AP2 and AP3. This third trigger frame contains the User info subfields for both AP2 and AP3. Further integration... Figure 24 In AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it sends downlink data on the first RU corresponding to its own STA (i.e., the sub-TXOP of AP1 shown in the figure).

[0157] Joint transmission mode: The trigger frame is a third trigger frame; the first STA sends the trigger frame, including: the first STA sends the third trigger frame, which is used by the multiple STAs for synchronous downlink cooperative transmission. The multiple STAs include: the first STA and the second STA; the second STA is different from the first STA. The first STA can determine one or more second STAs in the following way: after completing the interaction with other devices in the cooperative set during the preparation and detection phases, the first STA selects one or more shared APs as cooperative second STAs for joint transmission.

[0158] Additionally, it may include: the first STA may also obtain CSI information feedback from the third STA (i.e., the third STA associated with the first STA) from the second STA, the first STA calculates the downlink transmission precoding matrix of the second STA based on the CSI information, and sends the precoding information and the data information to be sent to the third STA to the second STA.

[0159] In this implementation, the method further includes: the first STA sending downlink data to the third STA after a third duration of sending the third trigger frame; the third STA being associated with the first STA; and the first STA receiving a block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the third STA. The first STA sending downlink data to the third STA after a third duration of sending the third trigger frame includes: when the joint transmission mode is enabled, the first STA, after sending the third trigger frame for a third duration, processes the data to be transmitted according to precoding to obtain downlink data, and then sends the downlink data to the third STA. The first STA receiving the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the third STA may include: the first STA receiving the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the third STA after completing a third duration of sending downlink data. In this implementation, the downlink data transmission time of the first STA can be the same as the downlink data transmission time of the second STA. That is, the first STA and the second STA perform synchronous downlink transmission. Furthermore, it should be noted that in this implementation, both the first STA and the second STA send downlink data to the third STA, while the third STA only sends the BA to its associated first STA.

[0160] Combination Figure 25 and Figure 26 In other words, Figure 25 and Figure 26 This diagram illustrates enabling downlink CSR mode for a STA. AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), and STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA). After completing interactions with other devices in the multi-AP collaboration set during the preparation and probe phases, AP1 selects one or more shared APs as cooperating APs for joint transmission (e.g., ...). Figure 25 and Figure 26 AP2 is one of them. AP1 can also obtain CSI feedback from STA1 from AP2. AP1 calculates the downlink transmission precoding matrix of AP2 based on the CSI information and sends the precoding information and the data information to be sent to STA1 to AP2. If downlink data needs to be sent, AP1 generates a MAP TXS trigger frame, i.e., the third trigger frame, to trigger the synchronous downlink transmission of AP1 and AP2. This third trigger frame contains at least the Userinfo subfield of AP2. Continuing to combine... Figure 26 In AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it sends downlink data to STA1, and after completing the SIFS time of sending downlink data to STA1, it receives the BA sent by STA1.

[0161] Furthermore, the various fields that may be included in the third trigger frame are explained as follows:

[0162] In downlink CBF mode, the common information field of the third trigger frame includes a third transmission mode sub-field, and the value of the third transmission mode sub-field is a second value. Alternatively, the common information field of the third trigger frame may not include the third transmission mode sub-field; the user information sub-field of the second STA in the third trigger frame may include the transmission mode sub-field of the second STA; and the value of the transmission mode sub-field of the second STA may be a second value. The specific meaning of this second value is the same as in the aforementioned embodiments and will not be repeated below.

[0163] In downlink COFDMA and / or CSR modes, the common information field of the third trigger frame includes a third transmission mode sub-field, and the value of the third transmission mode sub-field is a third value. Alternatively, the common information field of the third trigger frame does not include the third transmission mode sub-field; the user information sub-field of the second STA in the third trigger frame includes the transmission mode sub-field of the second STA; and the value of the transmission mode sub-field of the second STA is a third value. The specific meaning of this third value is the same as in the aforementioned embodiments and will not be repeated below.

[0164] In the joint transmission mode, the common information field of the third trigger frame includes a third transmission mode sub-field, and the value of the third transmission mode sub-field is a fourth value. Alternatively, the common information field of the third trigger frame does not include the third transmission mode sub-field; the user information sub-field of the second STA in the third trigger frame includes the transmission mode sub-field of the second STA; and the value of the transmission mode sub-field of the second STA is a fourth value. The specific meaning of this fourth value is the same as in the aforementioned embodiments, and will not be repeated below.

[0165] Optionally, based on the foregoing, regardless of downlink CBF mode, downlink COFDMA and / or CSR mode, or joint transmission mode, the third trigger frame may also include the following fields:

[0166] The user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame includes: an identifier subfield of the second STA, used to carry the identifier information of the second STA. Optionally, the user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame also includes: a transmit power subfield of the second STA. The method by which the second STA determines its transmit power based on the corresponding transmit power subfield has been explained in the previous embodiments and will not be repeated here. Optionally, the common information field of the third trigger frame includes a third uplink / downlink indicator subfield, and the value of the third uplink / downlink indicator subfield is a seventh value. Alternatively, the common information field of the third trigger frame does not include a third uplink / downlink indicator subfield, but the user information subfield of the third trigger frame includes the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA, and the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA is a seventh value. The specific meaning of this seventh value is the same as in the previous embodiments, used to indicate that the multiple STAs perform synchronous downlink transmission. Optionally, the common information field of the third trigger frame may also include: a third shared transmission indicator subfield; the value of the third shared transmission indicator subfield is an eighth value. The specific meaning of the eighth value is the same as in the aforementioned embodiment, used to instruct the multiple STAs to enable TXOP sharing mode, and will not be repeated below. It should be noted that if the public information field of the third trigger frame contains the third transmission mode subfield, the aforementioned third shared transmission indication subfield may not be included. That is, in this example, the third shared transmission indication subfield may not be included. In addition, it should also be noted that if the public information field of the third trigger frame contains the third shared transmission indication subfield and its value is the eighth value, it means that the STA receiving the third trigger frame (such as the second STA) can identify the identifier subfield (i.e., the AID12 subfield) in its own user information subfield based on VAID.

[0167] Building upon the foregoing, the third trigger frame may not include the user information subfields of the third STA and the fourth STA. Alternatively, the third trigger frame may include the user information subfields of the third STA and / or the fourth STA. In other words, although the third STA receiving the third trigger frame does not need to prepare to send uplink data, if the third trigger frame contains user information subfields specific to that third STA, it can still instruct the third STA to prepare to receive downlink data. The fourth STA is similar to the third STA and will not be described in detail. The third STA is associated with the first STA, and the fourth STA is associated with the second STA, which is different from the first STA. The number of the aforementioned third STAs can also be one or more, and the number of the aforementioned fourth STAs can also be one or more.

[0168] Optionally, the user information subfield of the third STA in the third trigger frame includes at least one of the following: an identifier subfield of the third STA, used to carry the identifier information of the third STA; and an uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA, wherein the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA is the seventh value. The description of the identifier information of the third STA is the same as that of the identifier information of the i-th STA mentioned above, and therefore will not be repeated. The description of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA is also similar to that of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA mentioned above, and will not be repeated. It should be understood that the user information subfield of the third STA may only contain the identifier subfield of the third STA. In this case, if the third STA detects that the identifier subfield in the user information subfield of the third STA is the same as its own identifier, it can default to waiting to receive downlink data. Alternatively, the user information subfield of the third STA may contain both the identifier subfield of the third STA and the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA. In this case, if the third STA detects that the identifier subfield in the user information subfield of the third STA is the same as its own identifier, it will wait to receive downlink data if the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA is the seventh value.

[0169] Optionally, the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the third trigger frame includes at least one of the following: an identifier subfield of the fourth STA, used to carry the identifier information of the fourth STA; and an uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA, wherein the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA is the seventh value. The description of the identifier information of the fourth STA is the same as that of the identifier information of the i-th STA mentioned above, and therefore will not be repeated. The description of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA is also similar to that of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA mentioned above, and will not be repeated. It should be understood that the user information subfield of the fourth STA may only contain the identifier subfield of the fourth STA. In this case, if the fourth STA detects that the identifier subfield in the user information subfield of the fourth STA is the same as its own identifier, it can default to waiting to receive downlink data. Alternatively, the user information subfield of the fourth STA may contain both the identifier subfield of the fourth STA and the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA. In this case, if the fourth STA detects that the identifier subfield in the user information subfield of the fourth STA is the same as its own identifier, it will wait to receive downlink data if the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA is the seventh value.

[0170] Optionally, based on the content contained in the third trigger frame described in the foregoing examples, the public information field of the third trigger frame may also include a trigger type sub-field, and the value of the trigger type sub-field is a first specified value (e.g., 8).

[0171] The trigger frame is a fourth trigger frame; the first STA sending the trigger frame includes: the first STA sending the fourth trigger frame, which is used by the plurality of STAs for synchronous cooperative transmission. The plurality of STAs includes: a third STA and a second STA; the third STA is associated with the first STA. In this embodiment, the first STA can be in CSR mode. The fourth trigger frame is used to trigger the third STA to perform synchronous uplink cooperative transmission and to trigger the second STA to perform synchronous downlink cooperative transmission. The first STA sends the fourth trigger frame in a broadcast or multicast manner; the receiving address of the fourth trigger frame is set to a broadcast or multicast address.

[0172] The method further includes: after the first STA has transmitted the fourth trigger frame for a fourth duration, receiving uplink data transmitted by the third STA; and the first STA sending a Block Acknowledgment (BA) to the third STA. Additionally, the second STA can also be used to transmit downlink data to the fourth STA and receive the BA sent by the fourth STA after receiving the fourth trigger frame for a fourth duration. The first STA sending the BA to the third STA can be done by the first STA sending the BA to the third STA after completing the transmission of downlink data for a fourth duration. Here, the fourth duration can be the same as or different from any of the aforementioned first, second, and third durations. In one example, the fourth duration can refer to SIFS.

[0173] Specifically, the first STA refers to the Sharing AP, the second STA refers to the Shared AP, the third STA refers to the STA associated with the Sharing AP (i.e., a non-AP STA), and the fourth STA refers to the STA associated with the Shared AP (i.e., a non-AP STA). It should be understood that the number of the aforementioned Shared APs (i.e., second STAs) can be one or more, the number of the aforementioned third STAs can also be one or more, and the number of the aforementioned fourth STAs can also be one or more. It should also be noted that the first STA and one or more second STAs can be APs in the same cooperation set; specifically, one or more second STAs can be Shared APs located within the transmission range of the first STA.

[0174] In this embodiment, the transmission time of the uplink data sent by the third STA to the first STA is the same as the transmission time of the downlink data sent by the second STA to the fourth STA. That is to say, the third STA and the second STA perform synchronous cooperative transmission.

[0175] Combination Figure 27 and Figure 28 In other words, Figure 27and Figure 28 This diagram illustrates enabling downlink CSR mode for a STA. AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). After completing interactions with other devices in the multi-AP collaboration group during the preparation and probe phases (the probe phase may or may not be necessary depending on the RSSI measurement method), AP1 learns that AP2 in BSS2 has downlink data to send, and AP1 also learns that STA1 has uplink data to send. AP1 then generates a MAP TXS trigger frame (fourth trigger frame) to trigger synchronized transmission between STA1 and AP2. This fourth trigger frame contains at least the User info subfields for both STA1 and AP2. Further... Figure 28 Within AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAPTXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the fourth trigger frame), AP1 receives the uplink data sent by STA1 to AP1, and after completing the SIFS time of receiving the uplink data sent by STA1, AP1 sends BA to STA1. At the same time, within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 receives the MAPTXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the fourth trigger frame) sent by AP1, AP2 sends downlink data to STA2, and after completing the SIFS time of sending downlink data, AP2 receives BA sent by STA2.

[0176] Further, the fields that may be included in the fourth trigger frame are described as follows: The fourth trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the third STA containing the identification information of the third STA. Optionally, the user information subfield for the third STA in the fourth trigger frame further includes: a transmit power subfield for the third STA. Optionally, the user information subfield for the third STA in the fourth trigger frame further includes: an uplink / downlink indicator subfield for the third STA, the value of which is a sixth value; this sixth value is used to instruct the third STA to perform synchronous uplink transmission. Optionally, the user information subfield for the second STA in the fourth trigger frame includes an identification subfield for the second STA, used to carry the identification information of the second STA. Optionally, the user information subfield for the second STA in the fourth trigger frame further includes: a transmit power subfield for the second STA. Optionally, the user information subfield for the second STA in the fourth trigger frame further includes: an uplink / downlink indicator subfield for the second STA, the value of which is a seventh value. This seventh value is used to instruct the second STA to perform synchronous downlink transmission. Optionally, the user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame further includes a transmission mode subfield of the second STA, wherein the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA is a third value. The third value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA indicates that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing by the second STA is COFDMA and / or CSR mode. Optionally, the user information subfield of the third STA in the fourth trigger frame may also include a transmission mode subfield of the third STA, and the value of the transmission mode subfield of the third STA may also be a third value.

[0177] In other words, the fourth trigger frame needs to carry user information subfields for both the third STA and the second STA. The third STA's user information subfield indicates its maximum transmit power and instructs it to perform uplink transmission (or its transmission mode subfield can indicate the transmission mode used). The second STA's user information subfield indicates its maximum transmit power and instructs it to perform synchronous downlink transmission, as well as the transmission mode it uses. Furthermore, it can also include user information subfields for the fourth STA associated with the second STA. These subfields inform the fourth STA that downlink transmission is currently in progress, allowing it to wait to receive downlink data from its associated second STA.

[0178] Finally, the effects of this embodiment are explained in conjunction with relevant technologies. Before multi-AP cooperative transmission, multi-AP TXOP sharing technology is required. During the standardization process, various multi-AP cooperative methods were proposed, and each multi-AP cooperative transmission technology was discussed separately. Furthermore, the multi-AP TXOP sharing technology for each cooperative transmission scheme is not standardized, and multi-AP TXOP sharing is divided into downlink and uplink operations. When downlink multi-AP TXOP sharing is required, the sharing AP sends a trigger frame to the shared AP, triggering downlink synchronous transmission among multiple APs. When uplink multi-AP TXOP sharing is required, the sharing AP first sends a trigger frame to the shared AP, and then the shared AP sends a trigger frame to its associated STA, triggering uplink synchronous transmission among multiple STAs within the BSS. Although existing mechanisms can achieve multi-AP TXOP sharing, the trigger frame used to trigger multi-AP TXOP sharing lacks a complete frame format design, and the uplink multi-AP TXOP sharing mechanism is relatively cumbersome. The solution provided in this embodiment, which uses a trigger frame sent by the first STA to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs, provides an efficient method for establishing multi-STA cooperation. Specifically, the solution provided in this embodiment can control multiple STAs to cooperate in synchronous uplink and / or synchronous downlink transmission by sending only a single trigger frame. This simplifies the sharing process, reduces the signaling overhead used to establish cooperative transmission, and thus achieves efficient establishment of multi-STA cooperation.

[0179] Figure 29 This is a schematic flowchart of a communication method 2900 according to a second aspect embodiment of this application. The method can optionally be applied to... Figure 1 The system shown is not limited to this. The method includes at least a portion of the following:

[0180] S2910, the second STA receives the trigger frame sent by the first STA, the trigger frame being used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs.

[0181] In this embodiment, the first STA can be an AP, specifically a sharing AP. The second STA can be an AP, specifically a shared AP. It should be understood that a network composed of actual STAs can contain one or more second STAs. This embodiment describes any one of the second STAs in detail, and the processing of other second STAs is the same as in this embodiment, but will not be described in detail.

[0182] In one possible implementation, before performing S2910, the method further includes: the second STA acquiring its own AID and / or VAID.

[0183] Specifically, the second STA obtaining its own AID and / or VAID can be achieved by: the second STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID configured for it by the target device. The timing of the second STA obtaining its own AID and / or VAID can be before the preparation phase. The second STA obtains the VAID configured (or assigned) for it by the target device. This VAID of the second STA is primarily used for STAs in multi-STA (or multi-AP) TXOP shared operations. Additionally, the VAID of the second STA may only be valid within a multi-AP collaboration set (hereinafter referred to as the collaboration set). In another example, the second STA can obtain the AID and VAID configured (or assigned) for it by the target device; that is, the second STA can store two IDs, namely the AID and the VAID. Another example may exist where the second STA obtains the AID configured (or assigned) for it by the target device.

[0184] Before executing S2910, the method may further include: the second STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID of the first STA. The number of first STAs can be one. Specifically, the second STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID of the first STA can be done by the second STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID of the first STA from the target device. This processing can occur before the preparation phase. The second STA obtains the VAID of the first STA from the target device. This VAID of the first STA is primarily used for STAs involved in multi-STA (or multi-AP) TXOP shared operations. Additionally, the VAID of the first STA may only be valid within a multi-AP collaboration set (hereinafter referred to as the collaboration set). In another example, the second STA can obtain the AID and VAID of the first STA from the target device; that is, the second STA can store two IDs of the first STA, namely the AID and VAID of the first STA. Another example may exist where the second STA obtains the AID of the first STA from the target device.

[0185] Additionally, the second STA can also obtain the AID and / or VAID of other Shared APs. The number of these other Shared APs can be zero, or it can be one or more; this is not limited here. Similarly, the second STA obtains the AID and / or VAID of other Shared APs from the target device. This processing can occur before the preparation phase.

[0186] The method may further include: the second STA configuring (or assigning) AID and / or VAID to the fourth STA. The fourth STA is specifically a STA associated with the second STA (i.e., a non-AP STA). The number of fourth STAs can be one or more, and this embodiment does not limit this. Specifically, configuring (or assigning) AID and / or VAID to the fourth STA by the second STA includes: the second STA assigning AID and / or VAID to the fourth STA based on a second range of identifier values. The second range of identifier values ​​is configured by the target device for the second STA. The second range of identifier values ​​is within at least one of the following: 1-2007, 2008-2044, 2047-4096. The timing of the second STA assigning AID and / or VAID to the fourth STA may be before the preparation phase. In this embodiment, the second range of identifier values ​​may be different from the first range of identifier values ​​in the aforementioned embodiments.

[0187] The method by which the second STA obtains the second range of identifier values ​​from the target device can be as follows: the target device sends identifier indication information to the second STA. This identifier indication information instructs the second STA, when associated with any fourth STA, to assign a second range of identifier values ​​for AID and / or VAID to that fourth STA. In other words, the identifier indication information can carry a second range of identifier values. The second STA can be associated with one or more fourth STAs, and the second range of identifier values ​​can be different for different fourth STAs. Accordingly, the target device can send one or more identifier indication messages to the second STA, where each identifier indication message contains a second range of identifier values. For example, if the second STA is associated with two fourth STAs, STA21 and STA22, the second range of identifier values ​​for STA21 can be 100-150, and the second range of identifier values ​​for STA22 can be 200-300.

[0188] The second STA assigns the VAID of the fourth STA based on a second range of identifier values. The VAID of the fourth STA is primarily used for STAs sharing TXOP operations across multiple STAs (or multiple APs). In another example, the second STA assigns both the AID and VAID of the fourth STA based on a second range of identifier values. Yet another example exists where the second STA assigns the AID of the fourth STA based on a second range of identifier values.

[0189] The method may further include: the second STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID of the third STA from the first STA. The third STA is the STA associated with the first STA, specifically a non-AP STA. The AID and / or VAID of the third STA associated with the first STA are configured (or assigned) by the first STA based on a first range of identifier values ​​allocated by the first STA to the target device. The number of third STAs associated with the first STA can be one or more. The timing of the second STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID of the third STA from the first STA may be before the preparation phase, during the preparation phase, or before the detection phase is completed, etc., and this embodiment does not limit this. In one example, the second STA obtains the VAID of the third STA from the first STA. This VAID of the third STA is mainly used for multi-STA (or multi-AP) TXOP sharing operations. In another example, the second STA obtains the AID and VAID of the third STA from the first STA. There may also be an example where the second STA obtains the AID of the third STA from the first STA.

[0190] In addition, the second STA can also obtain the AID and / or VAID of STAs associated with other STAs (i.e., other Shared APs). The number of other STAs (i.e., other Shared APs) can be zero, or it can be one or more; the number of STAs associated with any one of the other STAs (i.e., other Shared APs) can also be one or more, without limitation on the number. The method by which the second STA obtains the AID and / or VAID of STAs associated with other STAs (i.e., other Shared APs) is similar to the aforementioned method by which the second STA obtains the AID and / or VAID of the third STA from the first STA, and therefore will not be elaborated upon.

[0191] The second STA obtains and saves the AID and / or VAID of the STAs associated with other STAs in its own collaboration set that can receive its signal. For example, the second STA's collaboration set may also include other STAs (other Shared APs) and the first STA (Sharing AP). These other Shared APs and the first STA (Sharing AP) request a list of other APs that are listening to the beacon from their associated STAs. If the list includes the second STA in the same collaboration set, the other Shared APs and the first STA (Sharing AP) send the AID and / or VAID of their associated STAs to the second STA. The second STA receives and saves the AID and / or VAID of the other Shared APs and the STAs associated with the first STA (Sharing AP). In other words, each AP in a collaboration set can obtain and save information about STAs that can receive its signal from other APs (or neighboring APs).

[0192] As can be seen from the above implementation, the second STA can obtain the AID and / or VAID of each STA before executing S2910. The AID and / or VAID of each STA are directly or indirectly assigned by the target device. Specifically, the target device can be a coordinating device. The coordinating device is an access point (AP); or, the coordinating device is a device other than an AP. The relevant descriptions of the target device have been detailed in the aforementioned first aspect embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0193] The following section explains the fields and subfields that the trigger frame may contain.

[0194] In one implementation, the trigger frame may specifically be referred to as a MAP TXS trigger frame. The trigger frame may include a common info field and / or a user info list field; wherein the user info list field may include one or more user info subfields. The content that may be included in the common info field of the trigger frame is the same as in the aforementioned embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0195] The trigger frame includes one or more user information subfields; the j-th user information subfield in the one or more user information subfields is the user information subfield of the j-th STA; j is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and the j-th STA is one of the plurality of STAs; the j-th user information subfield includes at least one of the following: an identifier subfield of the j-th STA, which is used to carry the identifier information of the j-th STA; a transmission mode subfield of the j-th STA, the value of which is used to indicate the cooperative transmission mode used by the j-th STA for TXOP sharing, and / or whether the j-th STA has enabled TXOP sharing mode; a transmit power subfield of the j-th STA, which is used to indicate the maximum transmit power used by the j-th STA; and an uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the j-th STA, which is used to indicate whether the cooperative transmission of the j-th STA is synchronous uplink transmission or synchronous downlink transmission.

[0196] The j-th user information subfield refers to any one of one or more user information subfields. In this embodiment, the content description of the j-th user information subfield can be the same as that of the i-th user information subfield in the previous embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0197] In practical use of the trigger frame, the common information field of the trigger frame can be designed to include some of the aforementioned sub-fields, and any user information sub-field can also be designed to include some of the aforementioned sub-fields. For example, the common information field of the trigger frame may include a transmission mode sub-field, while the corresponding STA's transmission mode sub-field may not be included in each user information sub-field, or vice versa; another example is that the common information field of the trigger frame may include an uplink / downlink indicator sub-field, then the corresponding STA's uplink / downlink indicator sub-field may not be included in each user information sub-field, or vice versa; yet another example is that the common information field of the trigger frame may not include a shared transmission indicator sub-field; yet another example is that the common information field of the trigger frame may include a shared transmission indicator sub-field and not a transmission mode sub-field, while one or more user information sub-fields of the trigger frame may include the corresponding STA's transmission mode sub-field. The sub-fields that the trigger frame may include are the same as in the aforementioned embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0198] Building upon the foregoing description of the various subfields that the trigger frame may contain, the method of carrying the trigger frame is further explained: In one embodiment, the trigger frame is carried by a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU); wherein the first indicator bit in the preamble of the first PPDU is set to a second specified value. Specifically, the first PPDU can be an EHT PPDU. The first indicator bit can be a MAP TXS indicator bit. In another embodiment, the existing PPDU is not modified. That is, no new indicator bit is added to the preamble of the PPDU, but all STAs that receive the PPDU are configured not to discard it.

[0199] Based on the foregoing description of the trigger frame and the first PPDU carrying the trigger frame, the transmission interaction process of the second STA is described below. To achieve multi-AP TXOP sharing, it can be divided into three stages: the preparation stage, the detection stage, and the trigger transmission stage. S2910 mentioned above mainly describes the processing performed during the trigger transmission stage. The preparation and measurement stages preceding the trigger transmission stage are also important. The information exchanged in these two stages is the basis for completing multi-STA cooperative transmission. The processing of the preparation and measurement stages is the same as in the aforementioned embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0200] After completing the above processing, the second STA can execute the trigger transmission phase processing. The following explanation, in conjunction with different procedures, details the specific subfields included in the trigger frame and their values, as well as the execution of the trigger transmission phase processing by the second STA in different procedures:

[0201] In one implementation, the trigger frame is a first trigger frame; the second STA receiving the trigger frame sent by the first STA includes: the second STA receiving the first trigger frame sent by the first STA, the first trigger frame being used for synchronous uplink cooperative transmission by the plurality of STAs. The plurality of STAs includes at least one of the following: a third STA and a fourth STA; the third STA is associated with the first STA, the fourth STA is associated with the second STA, and the second STA is different from the first STA.

[0202] Specifically, the first STA refers to the Sharing AP, the second STA refers to the Shared AP, the third STA refers to the STA associated with the Sharing AP (i.e., a non-AP STA), and the fourth STA refers to the STA associated with the Shared AP (i.e., a non-AP STA). It should be understood that the number of the aforementioned Shared APs (i.e., second STAs) can be one or more, the number of the aforementioned third STAs can also be one or more, and the number of the aforementioned fourth STAs can also be one or more. It should also be noted that the first STA and one or more second STAs can be APs in the same cooperation set; specifically, one or more second STAs can be Shared APs located within the transmission range of the first STA.

[0203] Optionally, the method further includes: the second STA parses the first trigger frame when it determines that the value of the first indicator bit in the preamble of the first PPDU carrying the first trigger frame is a second specified value. For example, when the second STA receives the first PPDU, it first reads the first indicator bit in the preamble of the first PPDU. If the first indicator bit is the second specified value, it determines to extract the first trigger frame from the first PPDU and parse it; otherwise, it can discard the first PPDU. The first PPDU can specifically be an EHT PPDU. Of course, the protocol may not modify the indicator bits contained in the PPDU, in which case the second STA will not discard the first PPDU by default and will directly parse the first trigger frame.

[0204] Optionally, the method further includes: receiving uplink data from the fourth STA when the first trigger frame satisfies the first condition; and the second STA sending a Block Acknowledgment (BA) to the fourth STA. More specifically, it may include: when the first trigger frame satisfies the first condition, the second STA activating uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode to receive uplink data sent by the fourth STA. Additionally, if the second STA determines that the aforementioned first trigger frame does not satisfy the first condition, it can discard the first trigger frame without further processing. Specifically, when the first trigger frame meets the first condition, the second STA enables uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode to receive uplink data transmitted by the fourth STA. This can be achieved by: when the first trigger frame meets the first condition, the second STA determines the cooperative transmission mode to be Cooperative Beamforming (CBF) and / or Cooperative Uplink C-UL Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO) mode based on the first trigger frame, enables uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode, performs beam nulling operation on STAs other than the third STA, and receives uplink data transmitted by the fourth STA after a first duration following the receipt of the first trigger frame. Here, STAs other than the third STA can refer to non-AP STAs other than their associated third STA.

[0205] Specifically, after determining that the first trigger frame meets the first condition, the second STA, upon determining that the value of the first transmission mode subfield of the common information field of the first trigger frame is the second value, determines to enable Cooperative Beamforming (CBF) and / or Cooperative Uplink C-UL (Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output) MU-MIMO mode; then, it performs beam nulling operation on STAs other than the third STA, and after receiving the first duration of the first trigger frame, it receives the uplink data sent by the fourth STA. Alternatively, after determining that the first trigger frame satisfies the first condition, the second STA, upon determining that the value of the first transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is the second value, determines to enable Cooperative Beamforming (CBF) and / or Cooperative Uplink C-UL (Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) MU-MIMO mode; and, based on the value of the first uplink / downlink indicator subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame being the sixth value, or based on the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield in the user information subfield of the fourth STA being the sixth value, determines that it needs to wait to receive uplink data; then, beam nulling is performed on STAs other than the third STA, and after the first duration of receiving the first trigger frame, the uplink data sent by the fourth STA is received. The second STA sending a Block Acknowledgment (BA) to the fourth STA can be: the second STA sends a Block Acknowledgment (BA) to the fourth STA after completing the first duration of receiving the uplink data sent by the fourth STA. The method for determining whether the uplink data received from the fourth STA has been completed can be by detecting a completion indication message in the received uplink data from the fourth STA, thus confirming that the uplink data received from the fourth STA has been completed. Of course, there can be other determination methods, which will not be exhaustively listed in this embodiment. Here, the first duration can refer to SIFS.

[0206] It should be noted that, as explained above, the plurality of STAs includes at least one of the following: a third STA and a fourth STA; correspondingly, in this embodiment, the uplink data transmission time of the third STA can be the same as the uplink data transmission time of the fourth STA. That is to say, the third STA and the fourth STA perform synchronous uplink transmission.

[0207] Combination Figure 12 and Figure 13 In other words, Figure 12 and Figure 13 In this context, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). Figure 13Within AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the first trigger frame) for SIFS time, it performs beam nulling on the unassociated STA2, receives uplink data from STA1, and, upon receiving the uplink data from STA1, sends a BA to STA1 after the SIFS time. Within AP1's TXOP, upon receiving the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the first trigger frame) and determining that the first trigger frame meets the first condition, AP2 enables uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode, and after receiving the first trigger frame for SIFS time, performs beam nulling on the unassociated STA1, receives uplink data from STA2, and, upon receiving the uplink data from STA2, sends a BA to STA2 after the SIFS time. It should be understood that... Figure 13 For clarity, the illustrative dashed arrows for both are not completely overlapping, but... Figure 13 This does not mean that AP1 and AP2 must perform beam nulling operations at different times. In actual operation, AP1 and AP2 can perform beam nulling operations at the same time.

[0208] It should be understood that the method may further include: if it is determined that the first trigger frame does not meet the first condition, the first trigger frame may be discarded without further processing.

[0209] Optionally, the method further includes: receiving uplink data from the fourth STA if the first trigger frame satisfies the first condition; and the second STA sending a block acknowledgment (BA) to the fourth STA. Alternatively, if the second STA determines that the aforementioned first trigger frame does not satisfy the first condition, it can discard the first trigger frame without further processing.

[0210] When the first trigger frame satisfies the first condition, receiving uplink data from the fourth STA includes: when the first trigger frame satisfies the first condition, the second STA enables uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode, and after a first duration of receiving the first trigger frame, receives uplink data from the fourth STA on the second resource unit RU; wherein the second RU is the resource corresponding to the fourth STA.

[0211] More specifically, after determining that the first trigger frame satisfies the first condition, the second STA, upon determining that the value of the first transmission mode subfield of the common information field of the first trigger frame is a third value, determines to enable uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode; then, after receiving the first duration of the first trigger frame, it receives uplink data from the fourth STA on the second resource unit RU. Alternatively, after determining that the first trigger frame satisfies the first condition, the second STA, upon determining that the value of the first transmission mode subfield of the common information field of the first trigger frame is a third value, determines to enable uplink COFDMA and / or CSR mode; and, based on the value of the first uplink / downlink indicator subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame being a sixth value, or based on the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the user information subfield of the fourth STA being a sixth value, determines that it is currently necessary to wait to receive uplink data; then, after receiving the first duration of the first trigger frame, it receives uplink data from the fourth STA on the second resource unit RU.

[0212] The second STA sending a block acknowledgment (BA) to the fourth STA includes: the second STA sending a block acknowledgment (BA) to the fourth STA on the second RU. Specifically, the second STA sending the block acknowledgment (BA) to the fourth STA on the second RU can be: after completing a first period of receiving uplink data sent by the fourth STA, the second STA sends a block acknowledgment (BA) to the fourth STA on the second RU.

[0213] It should be noted that, as explained above, the plurality of STAs includes at least one of the following: a third STA and a fourth STA; correspondingly, in this embodiment, the uplink data transmission time of the third STA can be the same as the uplink data transmission time of the fourth STA. That is to say, the third STA and the fourth STA perform synchronous uplink transmission.

[0214] Combination Figure 14 and Figure 15 In other words, Figure 14 and Figure 15 This diagram illustrates enabling CSR mode for a STA. AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). (Combined with...) Figure 15Within AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the first trigger frame) for SIFS time, it receives uplink data sent by STA1. Upon receiving the uplink data from STA1, it sends a BA to STA1 after the SIFS time. Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 receives the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the first trigger frame) and determines that the first trigger frame meets the first condition, it starts uplink CSR mode. After receiving the first trigger frame for SIFS time, it receives uplink data sent by STA2. Upon receiving the uplink data from STA2, it sends a BA to STA2 after the SIFS time.

[0215] Combination Figure 16 and Figure 17 In other words, Figure 16 and Figure 17 A diagram illustrating the activation of COFDMA mode for the first STA. Figure 16 and Figure 17 In this diagram, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA11 and STA12 are two third STAs associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA21 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). Figure 17 In other words, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame at SIFS time, it prepares to receive uplink data associated with STA11 and STA12 on the first RUs corresponding to STA11 and STA12 respectively. Upon receiving the uplink data sent by STA11 and STA12, AP1 sends a BA to STA11 and STA12 on the first RUs corresponding to STA11 and STA12 respectively. For example, the first RU corresponding to STA11 is... Figure 17 The first RU in the list, the first RU corresponding to STA12 is Figure 17 The second RU in AP21. Within AP1's TXOP, when AP2 receives the MAPTXS trigger frame (the first trigger frame) and determines that the first trigger frame meets the first condition, it enables uplink COFDMA mode, preparing to receive uplink data associated with STA21 on the second RU corresponding to STA21. Upon receiving uplink data sent by STA21, AP2 sends a BA to STA21 from the second RU corresponding to STA21. For example, the second RU corresponding to STA21 is... Figure 17 The third and fourth RUs in the series.

[0216] It should also be noted that the aforementioned first condition may vary in some aspects depending on the transmission mode. For example, in the case of cooperative transmission mode CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode, the first condition may include the transmission mode sub-field having a second value. Specifically, the first condition may include at least one of the following: the first transmission mode sub-field in the common information field of the first trigger frame is not a first value; the first transmission mode sub-field in the common information field of the first trigger frame has a second value; the first shared transmission indication sub-field in the common information field of the first trigger frame has an eighth value; the first uplink / downlink indication sub-field in the common information field of the first trigger frame has a sixth value; and the transmission mode sub-field of the fourth STA in the user information sub-field of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame is not a first value. In the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame, the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA takes the second value; in the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame, the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA takes the sixth value; the first trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the fourth STA with identification information; the user information subfield of the first trigger frame does not include identification information of the second STA; the first trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information; in the user information subfield of the second STA in the first trigger frame, the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA takes the sixth value.

[0217] When the cooperative transport mode is COFDMA and / or CSR, the first condition may include a third value for the transport mode subfield. Specifically, the first condition may include at least one of the following: the value of the first transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is not a first value; the value of the first transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is a third value; the value of the first shared transmission indication subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is an eighth value; the value of the first uplink / downlink indication subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is a sixth value; the value of the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA in the user information subfield of the first trigger frame is not a first value; the value of the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA in the user information subfield of the first trigger frame is a third value; the value of the uplink / downlink indication subfield of the fourth STA in the user information subfield of the first trigger frame is a sixth value; the first trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the fourth STA with identification information of the fourth STA; the user information subfield of the first trigger frame does not include identification information of the second STA; the first trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information of the second STA; the value of the uplink / downlink indication subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the first trigger frame is a sixth value.

[0218] It should be noted that the method for determining whether the first trigger frame contains the identification information of the fourth STA can be: checking whether the identification information in the identification subfield of the user information field of the first trigger frame is the same as the 12 least significant bits of the AID of the fourth STA; if they are the same, then the identification information of the fourth STA is determined to be included; and / or checking whether the identification information in the identification subfield of the user information field of the first trigger frame is the same as the 12-bit VAID of the fourth STA; if they are the same, then the identification information of the fourth STA is determined to be included. Similarly, the method for determining whether the first trigger frame contains the identification information of the second STA can be: checking whether the identification information in the identification subfield of the user information field of the first trigger frame is the same as the 12 least significant bits of the AID of the second STA; if they are the same, then the identification information of the second STA is determined to be included; and / or checking whether the identification information in the identification subfield of the user information field of the first trigger frame is the same as the 12-bit VAID of the second STA; if they are the same, then the identification information of the second STA is determined to be included.

[0219] It should be understood that the first condition mentioned above must at least include the user information subfield of the fourth STA, which contains the identification information of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame. This is because although the first trigger frame is used to trigger synchronous uplink transmission, meaning the second STA only needs to receive uplink data, the second STA must at least know the relevant information of the first trigger frame used to trigger its associated STA in order to wait to receive uplink data from its associated STA (i.e., the fourth STA).

[0220] Based on this, the first condition may include either the first trigger frame's user information subfield not containing the second STA's identification information, or the first trigger frame containing the second STA's user information subfield with the second STA's identification information. In other words, the first trigger frame may or may not contain the second STA's own user information subfield. This is because, regardless of whether it contains the second STA's own user information subfield, as long as the second STA can parse the user information of its associated fourth STA in the first trigger frame, it can determine that it needs to receive uplink data.

[0221] The specific content of the first condition used by the second STA may also differ depending on the format of the first trigger frame. This will be explained below:

[0222] The first trigger frame includes a first transmission mode subfield. The value of the first transmission mode subfield is a second value, indicating that the cooperative transmission mode used for sharing the TXOP of the multiple STAs is Cooperative Beamforming (CBF) and / or Cooperative Uplink C-UL Multiple User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) mode; or, the value of the first transmission mode subfield is a third value, indicating that the cooperative transmission mode used for sharing the TXOP of the multiple STAs is COFDMA and / or CSR. Furthermore, the first trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the fourth STA, meaning that the first trigger frame contains a user information subfield for the fourth STA that includes the identification information of the fourth STA. Optionally, neither the common information field nor the user information subfield of the first trigger frame may include an uplink / downlink indicator subfield. Optionally, the common information field of the first trigger frame may not include a shared transmission indicator subfield. For example, the common information field of the first trigger frame may use the aforementioned... Figure 4 The format of the fourth STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 5 The format.

[0223] The first condition may include: the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the public information field of the first trigger frame is not a first value; the first trigger frame contains a user information sub-field of the fourth STA with identification information of the fourth STA. The condition that the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the public information field of the first trigger frame is not a first value can also be replaced by the condition that the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the public information field of the first trigger frame is a second value or a third value. For example, the second STA determines whether the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the first trigger frame is a first value, and checks whether there is identification information of the fourth STA associated with itself in each user information sub-field. If the value of the first transmission mode sub-field is not a first value, and the user information sub-field contains identification information of the fourth STA associated with itself, then it can be determined that the first trigger frame satisfies the first condition.

[0224] Optionally, the first trigger frame may not include the user information subfield of the second STA. In this case, the first condition may include: the value of the first transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is not a first value; the first trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the fourth STA with identification information of the fourth STA; and the user information subfield of the first trigger frame does not include the identification information of the second STA. Similarly, the condition that the value of the first transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is not a first value can be replaced by the condition that the value of the first transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is a second value.

[0225] Optionally, the common information field of the first trigger frame does not include a transmission mode subfield; the common information field of the first trigger frame includes a first shared transmission indication subfield, and the value of the first shared transmission indication subfield is the eighth value. The first trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the fourth STA, which includes an identifier subfield for the fourth STA, used to carry the identification information of the fourth STA; the user information subfield for the fourth STA also includes a transmission mode subfield for the fourth STA. For example, the common information field of the first trigger frame can adopt the aforementioned... Figure 6 The format of the fourth STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 7 The format. About Figure 6 and Figure 7 The meanings of each subfield are the same as in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated.

[0226] The first condition includes: the first shared transmission indication subfield in the public information field of the first trigger frame is an eighth value; the first trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the fourth STA with identification information of the fourth STA; and the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA in the user information subfield of the first trigger frame is not a first value. The condition that the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA in the user information subfield of the first trigger frame is not a first value can also be replaced by the condition that the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA in the user information subfield of the first trigger frame is a second or third value. For example, the second STA determines whether the value of the first shared transmission indication subfield in the public information field of the first trigger frame is the eighth value, and detects whether there is identification information of the fourth STA associated with itself in each user information subfield; if the value of the first shared transmission indication subfield in the public information field of the first trigger frame is the eighth value, and there is identification information of the fourth STA associated with itself in the user information subfield, then the second STA further determines whether the value of the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame is not the first value (or whether it is the second value, or whether it is the third value); if the value of the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA is not the first value (or whether it is the second value, or whether it is the third value), then the second STA can determine that the first trigger frame satisfies the first condition.

[0227] Optionally, the first trigger frame may not include the user information subfield of the second STA. The first condition includes: the first shared transmission indication subfield in the public information field of the first trigger frame has an eighth value; the first trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the fourth STA with identification information; the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA in the user information subfield of the first trigger frame does not have a first value; and the user information subfield of the first trigger frame does not include the identification information of the second STA. Similarly, the condition that the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA in the user information subfield of the first trigger frame does not have a first value can also be replaced by the condition that the transmission mode subfield of the fourth STA in the user information subfield of the first trigger frame has a second or third value.

[0228] Optionally, the first trigger frame includes a first transmission mode subfield, the value of which is a second or third value. Furthermore, the first trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the fourth STA, meaning the first trigger frame contains a user information subfield for the fourth STA that includes the identification information of the fourth STA. Optionally, the common information field of the first trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the second STA. Optionally, the common information field of the first trigger frame includes a first uplink / downlink indicator subfield, and the value of the first uplink / downlink indicator subfield is a sixth value. And / or, the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the first trigger frame includes the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA, and the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA is a sixth value. And / or, the user information subfield of the second STA in the first trigger frame includes the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA, and the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA is a sixth value. Optionally, the common information field of the first trigger frame does not include a shared transmission indicator subfield. For example, the common information field of the first trigger frame can use the aforementioned... Figure 9 The format of the fourth STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 5 The format is as described above. Alternatively, the common information field of the first trigger frame can adopt the aforementioned format. Figure 4 The format of the fourth STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 8 The format. About Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 8 and Figure 9 The meanings of each subfield are the same as in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated.

[0229] The first condition includes: the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the public information field of the first trigger frame is not a first value; the first trigger frame contains a user information sub-field of the second STA with identification information of the second STA; in the user information sub-field of the second STA in the first trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indication sub-field of the second STA is a sixth value; the first trigger frame contains a user information sub-field of the fourth STA with identification information of the fourth STA. The condition that the value of the first transmission mode sub-field of the first trigger frame is not a first value can also be replaced by the condition that the value of the first transmission mode sub-field of the first trigger frame is a second value or a third value. The processing of the second STA after determining that the first trigger frame satisfies the first condition can be the same as described above and will not be repeated. For example, the second STA determines whether the value of the first transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is the first value (or whether it is the second value or the third value), and checks whether there is identification information of the fourth STA associated with itself in each user information subfield, and whether there is its own identification information in each user information subfield; if the value of the first transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is not the first value (or is the second value or the third value), the user information subfield contains identification information of the fourth STA associated with itself, and the user information subfield contains its own identification information, then it determines whether the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the first trigger frame is the sixth value; if the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA is the sixth value, then the second STA can determine that the first trigger frame satisfies the first condition.

[0230] Alternatively, the first condition may include: the value of the first transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is not a first value; the value of the first uplink / downlink indicator subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is a sixth value; and the first trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the fourth STA with identification information of the fourth STA. The condition that the first uplink / downlink indicator subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is a sixth value can also be replaced by the condition that the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA in the user information subfield of the fourth STA is a sixth value. Alternatively, the first condition may include: the value of the first transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is not a first value; the value of the first uplink / downlink indicator subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is a sixth value; the first trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the fourth STA with identification information of the fourth STA; and the first trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information of the second STA.

[0231] It should be noted that the foregoing is merely an illustrative description of the possible formats of the first trigger frame and the possible situations of the first condition. In actual processing, the contents that the first trigger frame may contain have been described in the foregoing embodiments. As long as it contains at least one of the foregoing contents, it is within the protection scope of this embodiment. Correspondingly, the contents that the first condition may contain have also been described. As long as it contains at least one of the first conditions, it is within the protection scope of this embodiment. However, we will not exhaustively list them here.

[0232] In one implementation, the trigger frame is a second trigger frame; the second STA receiving the trigger frame sent by the first STA includes: the second STA receiving the second trigger frame sent by the first STA, the second trigger frame being used to trigger the plurality of STAs to synchronously send a first frame, the first frame being used to trigger the STAs associated with the plurality of STAs to perform synchronous uplink cooperative transmission. The plurality of STAs includes: the first STA and the second STA. Specifically, the first STA refers to the SharingAP, and the second STA refers to the Shared AP. It should be understood that the number of the aforementioned Shared APs, i.e., the second STAs, can be one or more. The aforementioned second trigger frame may at least include a common information field and a user information subfield of the second STA. The first frame may specifically be a Basic Trigger frame.

[0233] In this embodiment, the method further includes: the second STA parses the first trigger frame when it determines that the value of the first indicator bit in the preamble of the first PPDU carrying the first trigger frame is a second specified value. For example, when the second STA receives the first PPDU, it first reads the first indicator bit in the preamble of the first PPDU. If the first indicator bit is the second specified value, it determines to extract the first trigger frame from the first PPDU and parse it; otherwise, it can discard the first PPDU. Specifically, the first PPDU can be an EHT PPDU. Of course, the protocol may not modify the indicator bits contained in the PPDU, in which case the second STA will not discard the first PPDU by default.

[0234] In this embodiment, the method further includes: when the second trigger frame satisfies the second condition, the second STA enables the traditional uplink TXOP sharing mode, and after receiving the second trigger frame for a second duration, sends the first frame to the fourth STA; the fourth STA is associated with the second STA; the second STA receives the uplink data from the fourth STA, and the second STA sends a block acknowledgment (BA) to the fourth STA.

[0235] The second STA sending a Block Acknowledgment (BA) to the fourth STA can be done as follows: the second STA sends the BA to the fourth STA after a second duration of receiving uplink data sent by the fourth STA. The determination of completion of receiving uplink data sent by the fourth STA can be made by detecting a completion indication in the received uplink data from the fourth STA, thus confirming completion of receiving uplink data sent by the third STA. Other determination methods are also possible, but this embodiment does not exhaustively list them. Here, the second duration can be the same as or different from the aforementioned first duration. In one example, the second duration can refer to SIFS. It should be noted that, as previously explained, the plurality of STAs includes at least one of the following: a first STA and a second STA; correspondingly, in this embodiment, the first STA and the second STA should each send the first frame at the same time. The uplink data transmission time of the third STA can be the same as that of the fourth STA. That is, the third STA and the fourth STA perform synchronous uplink transmission.

[0236] Combination Figure 14 and Figure 18 In other words, Figure 14 and Figure 18 In this context, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). Figure 18 Within AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the second trigger frame) for SIFS time, it sends the basic trigger frame to STA1. After the SIFS time of sending the basic trigger frame, AP1 receives uplink data sent by STA1, and upon receiving the uplink data sent by STA1, it sends a BA to STA1 after the SIFS time. Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 receives the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the second trigger frame) and determines that the second trigger frame meets the second condition, it starts the traditional uplink TXOP sharing mode, and after the SIFS time of receiving the second trigger frame, it sends the basic trigger frame to STA2. After the SIFS time of sending the basic trigger frame (i.e., the first frame), AP2 receives uplink data sent by STA2, and upon receiving the uplink data sent by STA2, it sends a BA to STA2 after the SIFS time.

[0237] It should be understood that the method may further include: if it is determined that the second trigger frame does not meet the second condition, the second trigger frame may be discarded without further processing.

[0238] Further, regarding the second condition, a detailed description is provided. The second condition may include at least one of the following: the value of the second transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the second trigger frame is not a first value; the value of the second transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the second trigger frame is a fifth value; the value of the second shared transmission indication subfield in the common information field of the second trigger frame is an eighth value; the value of the second uplink / downlink indication subfield in the common information field of the second trigger frame is a sixth value; the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame is not a first value; the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame is a second value; the second trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information of the second STA; the value of the uplink / downlink indication subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second trigger frame is a sixth value.

[0239] The method for determining whether the second trigger frame contains the identification information of the second STA is the same as in the aforementioned implementation method and will not be repeated. Similarly, the specific content of the second condition used by the second STA may differ depending on the format of the second trigger frame, which will be explained below:

[0240] The second trigger frame includes a second transmission mode subfield, where the value of the second transmission mode subfield is the fifth value, indicating that the cooperative transmission mode used for TXOP sharing among the multiple STAs is enabled in the conventional uplink TXOP sharing mode. Furthermore, the second trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the second STA, meaning the second trigger frame contains a user information subfield for the second STA that includes the second STA's identification information. Optionally, neither the common information field nor the user information subfield of the second trigger frame may include an uplink / downlink indicator subfield. Since, in the conventional uplink TXOP sharing mode, the second STA defaults to receiving uplink data sent by its associated fourth STA, the uplink / downlink indicator subfield may not be included in the second trigger frame. Optionally, the common information field of the second trigger frame may not include a shared transmission indicator subfield. For example, the common information field of the second trigger frame can use the aforementioned... Figure 4 The format of the fourth STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 5 The format.

[0241] The second condition includes: the value of the second transmission mode subfield in the public information field of the second trigger frame is not the first value; and the user information subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame contains the identification information of the second STA. The condition that the value of the second transmission mode subfield in the public information field of the second trigger frame is not the first value can also be replaced by the condition that the value of the second transmission mode subfield in the public information field of the second trigger frame is the fifth value.

[0242] In other words, the second STA determines whether the value of the second transmission mode subfield in the second trigger frame is the first value, and checks whether its own identification information is present in each user information subfield. If the value of the second transmission mode subfield is not the first value, and the user information subfield contains the identification information of the second STA, then the second trigger frame can be determined to satisfy the second condition. After determining that the second trigger frame satisfies the second condition, the second STA determines that the value of the second transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the second trigger frame is the fifth value, and determines to enable the traditional uplink TXOP sharing mode; after receiving the second duration of the second trigger frame, the second STA sends the first frame to the fourth STA; the second STA receives the uplink data from the fourth STA, and the second STA sends a block acknowledgment (BA) to the fourth STA.

[0243] Optionally, the common information field of the second trigger frame does not include a transmission mode subfield; the common information field of the second trigger frame includes a second shared transmission indication subfield, and the value of the second shared transmission indication subfield is the eighth value. The second trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the second STA, which includes an identifier subfield for the second STA, used to carry the identifier information of the second STA; the user information subfield for the second STA also includes a transmission mode subfield for the second STA, and the value of the transmission mode subfield for the second STA is the fifth value. It should be understood that, based on the foregoing, the common information field and user information subfield of the second trigger frame may both omit the uplink / downlink indication subfield. Alternatively, the common information field of the second trigger frame includes a second uplink / downlink indication subfield, and the value of the second uplink / downlink indication subfield is the sixth value. Alternatively, the user information subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame includes the uplink / downlink indication subfield of the second STA, and the value of the uplink / downlink indication subfield for the second STA is the sixth value. For example, the common information field of the second trigger frame can adopt the aforementioned... Figure 6 The format for the user information subfields of the fourth STA and the second STA can be the aforementioned. Figure 7 The format. About Figure 6 and Figure 7 The meanings of each subfield are the same as in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated.

[0244] The second condition includes: the value of the second shared transmission indication subfield in the public information field of the second trigger frame is the eighth value; the second trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the second STA with the identification information of the second STA; and the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame is not the first value. The condition that the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame is not the first value can also be replaced by the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame being the fifth value. That is, the second STA determines whether the value of the second shared transmission indication subfield in the second trigger frame is the eighth value, and checks whether its own identification information is present in each user information subfield, and whether the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA is the first value; if the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA is not the first value, and the user information subfield contains its own identification information, and the value of the second shared transmission indication subfield is the eighth value, then it can be determined that the second trigger frame satisfies the second condition. Therefore, the processing of the second STA after satisfying the second condition is the same as in the previous example, and will not be repeated here.

[0245] Optionally, the second trigger frame includes a second transmission mode subfield, and the value of the second transmission mode subfield is the fifth value. Furthermore, the second trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the second STA, meaning the second trigger frame contains a user information subfield for the second STA that includes the identification information of the second STA. Optionally, the common information field of the second trigger frame includes a second uplink / downlink indicator subfield, and the value of the second uplink / downlink indicator subfield is the sixth value. And / or, the user information subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame includes the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA, and the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA is the sixth value. Optionally, the common information field of the second trigger frame does not include a shared transmission indicator subfield. For example, the common information field of the second trigger frame can adopt the aforementioned... Figure 9 The format of the fourth STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 5 The format is as described above. Alternatively, the common information field of the second trigger frame can adopt the aforementioned format. Figure 4 The format of the fourth STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 8 The format. About Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 8 and Figure 9 The meanings of each subfield are the same as in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated.

[0246] The second condition includes: the value of the second transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the second trigger frame is not the first value; the second trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information of the second STA; and the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame is the sixth value. The condition that the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame is not the first value can also be replaced by the condition that the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the second trigger frame is the fifth value. Subsequent processing will not be repeated. The condition that the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second trigger frame is the sixth value can also be replaced by the condition that the value of the second uplink / downlink indicator subfield in the common information field of the second trigger frame is the sixth value. In other words, the second STA determines whether the value of the second transmission mode subfield in the second trigger frame is the first value, and checks whether there is identification information matching itself in each user information subfield; if the value of the second transmission mode subfield is not the first value, and the user information subfield contains its own identification information, then it further determines whether the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield is the sixth value; if the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA is the sixth value, then it can be determined that the second trigger frame satisfies the second condition.

[0247] It should be noted that the foregoing is merely an illustrative description of the possible formats of the second trigger frame and the possible situations of the second condition. In actual processing, the contents that the second trigger frame may contain have been described in the foregoing embodiments. As long as it contains at least one of the foregoing contents, it is within the protection scope of this embodiment. Correspondingly, the contents that the second condition may contain have also been described. As long as it contains at least one of the second conditions, it is also within the protection scope of this embodiment. However, we will not exhaustively list them here.

[0248] In one implementation, the trigger frame is a third trigger frame; the second STA receiving the trigger frame sent by the first STA includes: the second STA receiving the third trigger frame sent by the first STA, the third trigger frame being used for synchronous downlink cooperative transmission by the plurality of STAs. The plurality of STAs includes: the first STA and the second STA; the second STA is different from the first STA.

[0249] Optionally, the method further includes: the second STA parses the third trigger frame when it determines that the value of the first indicator bit in the first PPDU carrying the third trigger frame is a second specified value. For example, when the second STA receives the first PPDU, it first reads the first indicator bit in the preamble of the first PPDU. If the first indicator bit is the second specified value, it determines to extract the third trigger frame from the first PPDU and parse it; otherwise, it can discard the first PPDU. The first PPDU can specifically be an EHT PPDU. Of course, the protocol may not modify the indicator bits contained in the PPDU, in which case the second STA will not discard the first PPDU by default.

[0250] Optionally, the method further includes: if the third trigger frame satisfies the third condition, sending downlink data to the fourth STA; and the second STA receiving a block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the fourth STA. Alternatively, if the second STA determines that the aforementioned third trigger frame does not satisfy the third condition, it can discard the third trigger frame without further processing.

[0251] Sending downlink data to the fourth STA can specifically involve: the second STA activating downlink CBF mode, performing beam nulling operations on multiple other STAs, and sending downlink data to the fourth STA after a third duration following the receipt of the third trigger frame; wherein, the multiple other STAs are not associated with the second STA. The second STA receiving the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the fourth STA can include: the second STA receiving the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the fourth STA after a third duration following the completion of downlink data transmission.

[0252] Specifically, after determining that the third trigger frame meets the third condition, the second STA can determine that CBF mode needs to be enabled based on the second value of the third transmission mode subfield (or the transmission mode subfield of the second STA); alternatively, it can determine the current downlink transmission based solely on the value of the third uplink / downlink indicator subfield (or the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA); perform beam nulling operations on multiple other STAs, and send downlink data to the fourth STA after the third duration of receiving the third trigger frame. Furthermore, the second STA further determines the currently used transmit power based on its transmit power subfield, and accordingly sends downlink data to the fourth STA; specifically, it can refer to sending downlink data to the fourth STA using the aforementioned determined transmit power. The method for determining the currently used transmit power has been described in the previous embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0253] Here, the third duration can be the same as or different from either the first or second duration mentioned above. In one example, the third duration may refer to SIFS.

[0254] The aforementioned first STA refers to the Sharing AP, the second STA refers to the Shared AP, the third STA refers to the STA associated with the Sharing AP (i.e., a non-AP STA), and the fourth STA refers to the STA associated with the second STA (i.e., a non-AP STA). It should be understood that the number of the aforementioned Shared APs (i.e., second STAs) can be one or more, the number of the aforementioned third STAs can also be one or more, and the number of the aforementioned fourth STAs can also be one or more. It should also be noted that the first STA and one or more second STAs can be APs within the same cooperation set; specifically, one or more second STAs can be Shared APs located within the transmission range of the first STA.

[0255] Combination Figure 19 and Figure 20 In other words, Figure 19 and Figure 20 In this context, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). Figure 20 Within AP1's TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it performs beam nulling on the unassociated STA2, sends downlink data to STA1, and receives the BA sent by STA1 after the SIFS time. Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 receives the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it performs beam nulling on the unassociated STA1, sends downlink data to STA2, and receives the BA sent by STA2 after the SIFS time.

[0256] It should be understood that the method may further include: if it is determined that the third trigger frame does not meet the third condition, the third trigger frame may be discarded without further processing.

[0257] Optionally, the aforementioned transmission of downlink data to the fourth STA can specifically be as follows: the second STA enables downlink COFDMA and / or CSR mode, and after a third duration following the transmission of the third trigger frame, transmits downlink data to the fourth STA on the second resource unit (RU); wherein the second RU is the resource corresponding to the fourth STA. The second STA receiving the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the fourth STA can include: the second STA receiving the BA sent by the fourth STA on the second RU.

[0258] Specifically, after determining that the third trigger frame meets the third condition, the second STA can determine whether COFDMA and / or CSR mode needs to be enabled based on the value of the third transmission mode subfield (or the transmission mode subfield of the second STA). Alternatively, it can determine whether to perform downlink transmission based solely on the value of the third uplink / downlink indicator subfield (or the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA). Furthermore, it determines the current transmit power based on the transmit power subfield of the second STA. After receiving the third duration of the third trigger frame, the second STA transmits downlink data to the fourth STA on the second resource unit RU using the determined transmit power. The method for determining the current transmit power has been described in the aforementioned embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0259] The downlink data transmission time of the first STA can be the same as that of the second STA. In other words, the first STA and the second STA perform synchronous downlink transmission.

[0260] Combination Figure 21 and Figure 22 In other words, Figure 21 and Figure 22 This diagram illustrates enabling downlink CSR mode for a STA. AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). (Combined with...) Figure 22 Within AP1's TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it sends downlink data to STA1. After completing the SIFS time of sending downlink data to STA1, it receives the BA sent by STA1. Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 receives the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it sends downlink data to STA2. After completing the SIFS time of sending downlink data to STA2, it receives the BA sent by STA2.

[0261] Combination Figure 23 and Figure 24 In other words, Figure 23 and Figure 24 A diagram illustrating the activation of COFDMA mode for the first STA. Figure 23 and Figure 24 In this context, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), while AP2 and AP3 are both Shared APs, i.e., the second STA. (Combined...) Figure 24Within AP1's TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it transmits downlink data on its own STA's corresponding first RU (i.e., AP1's TXOP as shown in the diagram). Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 and AP3 receive the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), they transmit downlink data on their own STA's corresponding second RU (i.e., AP2's TXOP and AP3's sub-TXOP as shown in the diagram).

[0262] Optionally, the method further includes: the second STA, upon the third trigger frame satisfying the third condition, initiating a joint transmission mode; the second STA, after receiving the third trigger frame for a third duration, processing the data to be transmitted according to precoding to obtain downlink data, and sending the downlink data to the third STA; the third STA is associated with the first STA. The precoding can be sent from the first STA to the second STA. Alternatively, if the second STA determines that the aforementioned third trigger frame does not satisfy the third condition, it can discard the third trigger frame without further processing.

[0263] Specifically, after determining that the third trigger frame meets the third condition, the second STA can determine that joint transmission is required based on the value of the third transmission mode subfield being the fourth value. The second STA can further detect whether the third trigger frame contains the identification information of a third STA that is not associated with it. If the identification information of the third STA is obtained, the second STA can determine to perform joint downlink transmission with the first STA to the third STA. After receiving the third duration of the third trigger frame, the second STA processes the data to be transmitted according to the precoding to obtain downlink data and sends the downlink data to the third STA. The precoding can be sent from the first STA to the second STA.

[0264] It should also be understood that the third duration is mentioned in the aforementioned multiple embodiments. In different embodiments, the third duration may be the same or different, and may be related to the actual transmission mode used. This is not limited here.

[0265] The downlink data transmission time of the first STA can be the same as that of the second STA. That is, the first and second STAs perform synchronous downlink transmission. Furthermore, it should be noted that in this embodiment, both the first and second STAs transmit downlink data to the third STA, while the third STA only transmits BAs to its associated first STA.

[0266] Combination Figure 25 and Figure 26 In other words, Figure 25 and Figure 26This diagram illustrates enabling downlink CSR mode for a STA. AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), and STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA). (Combined with...) Figure 26 Within AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it sends downlink data to STA1, and after the SIFS time of completing the downlink data transmission to STA1, it receives the BA sent by STA1. Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it sends downlink data to STA1.

[0267] It should also be noted that the aforementioned third condition may vary in some aspects depending on the transmission mode. For example, in the case of a downlink CBF cooperative transmission mode, the third condition may include a second value for the transmission mode sub-field. Specifically, the third condition may include at least one of the following: the value of the third transmission mode sub-field in the common information field of the third trigger frame is not the first value; the value of the third transmission mode sub-field in the common information field of the third trigger frame is the second value; the value of the third shared transmission indication sub-field in the common information field of the third trigger frame is the eighth value; the value of the third uplink / downlink indication sub-field in the common information field of the third trigger frame is the seventh value; the value of the third trigger frame's third... In the user information subfield of the second STA, the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA is not the first value; in the user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame, the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA is the second value; in the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the third trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA is the seventh value; the third trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the fourth STA with identification information of the fourth STA; the third trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information of the second STA; in the user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA is the seventh value.

[0268] In downlink COFDMA and / or CSR modes, the third condition may include a third value for the transmission mode subfield; specifically, the third condition may include at least one of the following: the value of the third transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the third trigger frame is not a first value; the value of the third transmission mode subfield in the common information field of the third trigger frame is a third value; the value of the third shared transmission indication subfield in the common information field of the third trigger frame is an eighth value; the value of the third uplink / downlink indication subfield in the common information field of the third trigger frame is a seventh value; in the user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame, the second STA... The value of the transmission mode subfield of the TA is not the first value; in the user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame, the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA is the third value; in the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the third trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA is the seventh value; the third trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the fourth STA with identification information of the fourth STA; the third trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information of the second STA; in the user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA is the seventh value.

[0269] In the case of joint transmission mode, the third condition may include a fourth value for the transmission mode sub-field; specifically, the third condition may include at least one of the following: the value of the third transmission mode sub-field in the common information field of the third trigger frame is not a first value; the value of the third transmission mode sub-field in the common information field of the third trigger frame is a fourth value; the value of the third shared transmission indication sub-field in the common information field of the third trigger frame is an eighth value; the value of the third uplink / downlink indication sub-field in the common information field of the third trigger frame is a seventh value; and the transmission of the second STA in the user information sub-field of the second STA in the third trigger frame... The value of the mode subfield is not the first value; in the user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame, the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA is the fourth value; in the user information subfield of the third STA in the third trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA is the seventh value; the third trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the third STA with identification information of the third STA; the third trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information of the second STA; in the user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA is the seventh value.

[0270] It should be noted that the method for determining whether the third trigger frame contains the identification information of the third STA can be as follows: determine whether the identification information in the identification subfield of the user information field of the third trigger frame is the same as the 12 least significant bits of the third STA's AID; if they are the same, then it is determined that the third STA's identification information is included; and / or determine whether the identification information in the identification subfield of the user information field of the third trigger frame is the same as the 12-bit VAID of the third STA; if they are the same, then it is determined that the third STA's identification information is included. Regarding the method by which the second STA can obtain the AID and / or VAID of other STAs associated with it in advance, this has been explained in the foregoing embodiments. Therefore, here, the second STA can obtain the AID and / or VAID of the third STA associated with the first STA in advance.

[0271] It should be understood that at least one of the above third conditions must be met: the third trigger frame must contain a user information subfield of the second STA with the identification information of the second STA. This is because the third trigger frame is used to trigger synchronous downlink transmission, that is, the second STA needs to know that the first trigger frame is used to trigger itself to perform synchronous downlink transmission before it will perform subsequent processing. Therefore, the third trigger frame must at least contain a user information subfield of the second STA with the identification information of the second STA in order to prepare for triggering itself to send downlink data based on the third trigger frame.

[0272] It should also be noted that the examples of the aforementioned third conditions differ only in some aspects depending on the transmission mode. For example, in the case of cooperative transmission mode CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode, the first condition may include the transmission mode sub-field taking the second value; in the case of cooperative transmission mode COFDMA and / or CSR, the first condition may include the transmission mode sub-field taking the third value.

[0273] Depending on the format of the third trigger frame, the specific content of the third condition used by the second STA may also differ, as explained below:

[0274] The third trigger frame includes a third transmission mode subfield. Furthermore, the third trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the second STA, meaning it contains the second STA's identification information. Optionally, the common information field of the third trigger frame does not include a shared transmission indication subfield. For example, the common information field of the third trigger frame can use the aforementioned... Figure 4 The format of the second STA's user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 5 The format.

[0275] The third condition includes: the value of the third transmission mode sub-field in the public information field of the third trigger frame is not the first value; and the third trigger frame contains a user information sub-field of the second STA with the identification information of the second STA. That is, the second STA determines whether the value of the third transmission mode sub-field in the third trigger frame is the first value, and checks whether its own identification information is present in each user information sub-field. If the value of the third transmission mode sub-field is not the first value, and the user information sub-field contains the identification information of the second STA, then the third trigger frame can be determined to satisfy the third condition. Alternatively, the third condition includes: the value of the third transmission mode sub-field in the public information field of the third trigger frame is the second value (or the third value, or the fourth value); and the user information sub-field of the second STA in the third trigger frame contains the identification information of the second STA.

[0276] Optionally, the common information field of the third trigger frame does not include a transmission mode subfield; the common information field of the third trigger frame includes a third shared transmission indication subfield, and the value of the third shared transmission indication subfield is the eighth value. The third trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the second STA, which includes an identifier subfield of the second STA to carry the identification information of the second STA; the user information subfield of the second STA also includes a transmission mode subfield of the second STA. The third trigger frame also includes a user information subfield of the third STA, which includes an identifier subfield of the third STA to carry the identification information of the third STA. Optionally, the user information subfield of the third STA also includes a transmission mode subfield of the third STA. For example, the common information field of the third trigger frame can adopt the aforementioned... Figure 6 The user information subfields of the third STA and the second STA can adopt the aforementioned format. Figure 7 The format. About Figure 6 and Figure 7 The meanings of each subfield are the same as in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated.

[0277] The third condition includes: the value of the third shared transmission indication subfield in the public information field of the third trigger frame is the eighth value; the third trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information of the second STA; and the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame is not the first value. In the above third condition, the condition that the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame is not the first value can be replaced by the condition that the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame is the second value, or the third value, or the fourth value.

[0278] Optionally, the third trigger frame includes a third transmission mode subfield. Furthermore, the third trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the third STA, meaning the third trigger frame contains a user information subfield for the third STA that includes the identification information of the third STA. Optionally, the common information field of the third trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the second STA. It should be understood that, based on the foregoing, the common information field of the third trigger frame may include a third uplink / downlink indicator subfield, and the value of the third uplink / downlink indicator subfield is the sixth value. And / or, the user information subfield for the second STA in the third trigger frame includes the uplink / downlink indicator subfield for the second STA, and the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield for the second STA is the seventh value. And / or, in the user information subfield for the third STA in the third trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield for the third STA is the seventh value. Optionally, the common information field of the first trigger frame does not include a shared transmission indicator subfield. For example, the common information field of the first trigger frame may adopt the aforementioned... Figure 9 The format of the fourth STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 5 The format is as described above. Alternatively, the common information field of the first trigger frame can adopt the aforementioned format. Figure 4 The format of the fourth STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 8 The format. About Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 8 and Figure 9 The meanings of each subfield are the same as in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated.

[0279] The third condition includes: the value of the third transmission mode subfield in the public information field of the third trigger frame is not the first value; the third trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information of the second STA; in the user information subfield of the second STA in the third trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA is the seventh value; in the user information subfield of the third STA in the third trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA is the seventh value; and the third trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the third STA with identification information of the third STA.

[0280] The condition described above, where the value of the third transmission mode sub-field in the common information field of the third trigger frame is not the first value, can be replaced by the condition where the value of the third transmission mode sub-field in the common information field of the third trigger frame is the second, third, or fourth value. Alternatively, in the third condition, where the user information sub-field of the second STA does not include the third trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator sub-field of the second STA is the seventh value. And / or, in the third condition, where the uplink / downlink indicator sub-field of the third STA does not include the seventh value. And / or, in the third condition, replacing the conditions "the user information sub-field of the second STA in the third trigger frame has the seventh value; the user information sub-field of the third STA in the third trigger frame has the seventh value" with "the third uplink / downlink indicator sub-field in the common information field of the third trigger frame has the seventh value."

[0281] It should be noted that the foregoing is merely an illustrative description of the possible formats of the third trigger frame and the possible situations of the third condition. In actual processing, the contents that the third trigger frame may contain have been described in the foregoing embodiments. As long as it contains at least one of the foregoing contents, it is within the protection scope of this embodiment. Correspondingly, the contents that the third condition may contain have also been described. As long as it contains at least one of the third conditions, it is also within the protection scope of this embodiment. However, we will not exhaustively list them here.

[0282] In one implementation, the trigger frame is a fourth trigger frame; the second STA receiving the trigger frame sent by the first STA includes: the second STA receiving the fourth trigger frame sent by the first STA, the fourth trigger frame being used for synchronous cooperative transmission by the plurality of STAs. The plurality of STAs includes: a third STA and a second STA; the third STA is associated with the first STA.

[0283] In this implementation, the method further includes: the second STA parses the fourth trigger frame when it determines that the value of the first indicator bit in the first PPDU carrying the fourth trigger frame is a second specified value. For example, when the second STA receives the first PPDU, it first reads the first indicator bit in the preamble of the first PPDU. If the first indicator bit is the second specified value, it determines to extract the fourth trigger frame from the first PPDU and parse it; otherwise, it can discard the first PPDU. Specifically, the first PPDU can be an EHT PPDU. Of course, the protocol may not modify the indicator bits contained in the PPDU, in which case the second STA will not discard the first PPDU by default and will directly parse the fourth trigger frame.

[0284] The method further includes: when the fourth trigger frame satisfies the fourth condition, the second STA enables downlink COFDMA and / or CSR, and sends downlink data to the fourth STA on the second RU; the second STA receives a block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the fourth STA on the second RU. Here, the second RU is the resource corresponding to the fourth STA. Alternatively, if the second STA determines that the aforementioned fourth trigger frame does not satisfy the fourth condition, it can discard the fourth trigger frame without further processing. Sending downlink data to the fourth STA on the second RU can specifically be done by sending downlink data to the fourth STA on the second RU after the fourth duration of receiving the fourth trigger frame. Specifically, after determining that the fourth trigger frame satisfies the fourth condition, the second STA can determine that downlink data needs to be sent to the fourth STA based on the identification information of the fourth STA contained in the fourth trigger frame and based on the value of the seventh value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA; then, based on the transmission mode subfield of the second STA, it determines to enable downlink COFDMA and / or CSR, and sends downlink data to the fourth STA on the second RU; the second STA receives a block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the fourth STA after the fourth duration of sending downlink data. It should be understood that the transmit power of the second STA in sending downlink data can be determined based on the transmit power subfield in the user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame; for example, the transmit power subfield of the second STA contains the maximum transmit power, and the second STA can determine the transmit power to be used this time based on the maximum transmit power. The specific determination method is the same as the aforementioned embodiment and will not be repeated.

[0285] The second STA, on the second RU, receives the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the fourth STA. This can be achieved by the second STA receiving the BA sent by the fourth STA after completing a fourth duration of downlink data transmission. Here, the fourth duration can be the same as or different from any of the aforementioned first, second, and third durations. In one example, the fourth duration can refer to SIFS.

[0286] Specifically, the first STA refers to the Sharing AP, the second STA refers to the Shared AP, the third STA refers to the STA associated with the Sharing AP (i.e., a non-AP STA), and the fourth STA refers to the STA associated with the Shared AP (i.e., a non-AP STA). It should be understood that the number of the aforementioned Shared APs (i.e., second STAs) can be one or more, the number of the aforementioned third STAs can also be one or more, and the number of the aforementioned fourth STAs can also be one or more. It should also be noted that the first STA and one or more second STAs can be APs in the same cooperation set; specifically, one or more second STAs can be Shared APs located within the transmission range of the first STA.

[0287] In this embodiment, the transmission time of the uplink data sent by the third STA to the first STA is the same as the transmission time of the downlink data sent by the second STA to the fourth STA. That is to say, the third STA and the second STA perform synchronous cooperative transmission.

[0288] Combination Figure 27 and Figure 28 In other words, Figure 27 and Figure 28 This diagram illustrates enabling downlink CSR mode for a STA. AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). (Combined with...) Figure 28 Within AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the fourth trigger frame), AP1 receives the uplink data sent by STA1 to AP1, and after completing the SIFS time of receiving the uplink data sent by STA1, AP1 sends BA to STA1. At the same time, within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 receives the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the fourth trigger frame) sent by AP1, AP2 sends downlink data to STA2, and after completing the SIFS time of sending downlink data, AP2 receives BA sent by STA2.

[0289] It should be understood that the method may further include: if it is determined that the fourth trigger frame does not meet the fourth condition, the fourth trigger frame may be discarded without further processing.

[0290] Furthermore, the fourth condition is described in detail below, and may include at least one of the following: the value of the fourth shared transmission indication subfield in the public information field of the fourth trigger frame is an eighth value; the fourth trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the second STA that has identification information of the second STA; the value of the uplink / downlink indication subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame is a seventh value; the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame is not a first value; the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame is a third value; the value of the uplink / downlink indication subfield of the fourth STA in the user information subfield of the fourth trigger frame is a seventh value; the fourth trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the fourth STA that has identification information of the fourth STA.

[0291] It should be understood that at least one of the above fourth conditions must be met: the fourth trigger frame must contain a user information subfield of the second STA with the identification information of the second STA. This is because the fourth trigger frame is used to trigger synchronous downlink and downlink transmission, that is, the second STA needs to know that the fourth trigger frame is used to trigger itself to perform synchronous downlink transmission before it will perform subsequent processing. Therefore, the fourth trigger frame must at least contain a user information subfield of the second STA with the identification information of the second STA in order to prepare for triggering itself to send downlink data based on the fourth trigger frame.

[0292] It should be noted that the method for determining whether the fourth trigger frame contains the identification information of the second STA and the identification information of the fourth STA is the same as in the previous example, and will not be repeated here.

[0293] For example, the common information field of the fourth trigger frame does not include a transmission mode subfield; the common information field of the fourth trigger frame includes a fourth shared transmission indication subfield, and its value is the eighth value. The fourth trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the second STA, which includes an identification subfield for the second STA, used to carry the identification information of the second STA; the user information subfield for the second STA also includes a transmission mode subfield for the second STA, and its value is the third value. Based on the above, the common information field of the fourth trigger frame may not include an uplink / downlink indication subfield. The user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame includes the uplink / downlink indication subfield of the second STA, and its value is the seventh value. Based on the above, the user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame may also include a transmit power subfield of the second STA. For example, the common information field of the fourth trigger frame may adopt the aforementioned... Figure 6 The format of the second STA's user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 7 The format. About Figure 6 and Figure 7 The meanings of each subfield are the same as in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated.

[0294] The fourth condition includes: the fourth shared transmission indication subfield in the public information field of the fourth trigger frame is an eighth value; the fourth trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information of the second STA; and the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame is not a first value. Alternatively, the fourth condition includes: the fourth shared transmission indication subfield in the public information field of the fourth trigger frame is an eighth value; the fourth trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information of the second STA; and the transmission mode subfield of the second STA in the user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame is a third value. In other words, the second STA checks whether its own identification information is present in each user information subfield of the fourth trigger frame, determines whether the value of the second STA's transmission mode subfield in the fourth trigger frame is the first value, and whether the value of the third shared transmission indication subfield in the fourth trigger frame is the eighth value. If the user information subfield contains the second STA's identification information, the value of the second STA's transmission mode subfield is not the first value (or is the third value), and the value of the third shared transmission indication subfield is the eighth value, then it can be determined that the fourth trigger frame satisfies the fourth condition.

[0295] It should be understood that the above is only an illustrative example, and a fourth condition can be set according to the actual situation. For example, the fourth condition includes: in the user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame, the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA is not the first value; the fourth trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information of the second STA; in the user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA is the seventh value; in the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the fourth trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA is the seventh value; the fourth trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the fourth STA with identification information of the fourth STA.

[0296] Alternatively, the fourth condition includes: in the user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame, the value of the transmission mode subfield of the second STA is a third value; the fourth trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the second STA with identification information; in the user information subfield of the second STA in the fourth trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the second STA is a seventh value; in the user information subfield of the fourth STA in the fourth trigger frame, the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA is a seventh value; and the fourth trigger frame includes a user information subfield of the fourth STA with identification information.

[0297] It should be noted that the descriptions of the first, second, third, and fourth conditions provided in this embodiment are all exemplary descriptions and do not represent that there can only be the above-mentioned exemplary implementation methods. This embodiment simply does not exhaustively list them.

[0298] It should be understood that the communication method provided in this embodiment can be used in combination with the communication method provided in the first aspect embodiment above, and both are within the protection scope of this application.

[0299] The scheme provided in this embodiment, which uses a trigger frame sent by the first STA to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs, provides an efficient method for establishing multi-STA cooperation. Specifically, the scheme provided in this embodiment can control multiple STAs to cooperate in synchronous uplink and / or synchronous downlink transmission by sending only a single trigger frame. This simplifies the sharing process, reduces the signaling overhead used to establish cooperative transmission, and thus achieves efficient establishment of multi-STA cooperation.

[0300] Figure 30 This is a schematic flowchart of a communication method 3000 according to an embodiment of a third aspect of this application. The method can optionally be applied to... Figure 1 The system shown is not limited to this. The method includes at least a portion of the following:

[0301] S3010, the third station STA receives a trigger frame sent by the first STA, the trigger frame being used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs; the third STA is associated with the first STA.

[0302] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the first STA can be an AP, specifically, the first STA is a sharing AP. The third STA can be a STA associated with the first STA (non-AP STA).

[0303] Before executing S3010, the method further includes: the third STA obtaining its own AID and / or VAID. The third STA's AID and / or VAID are configured by the first STA based on a first range of identifier values, and the third STA is associated with the first STA. Specifically, the third STA obtaining its own AID and / or VAID can be: the third STA obtaining the AID and / or VAID configured by the first STA for itself. Regarding the method by which the first STA assigns the AID and / or VAID to the third STA, it can be that the first STA configures the third STA based on a first range of identifier values. The first range of identifier values ​​is at least one of the following: 1-2007, 2008-2044, 2047-4096; the first range of identifier values ​​is configured by the target device for the first STA. The target device is a coordinating device; the coordinating device is an access point (AP); or, the coordinating device is a device other than an AP. The processing of the first STA and the related explanations of the target device have been described in the foregoing embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0304] The trigger frame may specifically be referred to as a MAP TXS trigger frame. The trigger frame may include a common info field and / or a user info list field; wherein the user info list field may include one or more user info subfields.

[0305] The common information field of the trigger frame includes at least one of the following: a trigger type subfield, the value of which indicates the type of the trigger frame; a transmission mode subfield, the value of which indicates the cooperative transmission mode used by the multiple STAs for TXOP sharing, and / or whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode; an uplink / downlink indicator subfield, the value of which indicates whether TXOP is used for synchronous uplink transmission or synchronous downlink transmission; and a shared transmission indicator subfield, the value of which indicates whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode.

[0306] The various subfields that may be included in the public information field of the trigger frame are the same as those in the aforementioned embodiments, and will not be described again here.

[0307] The trigger frame includes one or more user information subfields; the k-th user information subfield is the user information subfield of the k-th STA, where k is an integer greater than or equal to 1; the k-th user information subfield includes at least one of the following: an identifier subfield of the k-th STA, which carries the identifier information of the k-th STA; k is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and the k-th STA is one of the plurality of STAs; a transmission mode subfield of the k-th STA, the value of which indicates the cooperative transmission mode used by the k-th STA for TXOP sharing, and / or whether the k-th STA has enabled TXOP sharing mode; a transmit power subfield of the k-th STA, which indicates the maximum transmit power used by the k-th STA; and an uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the k-th STA, which indicates whether the cooperative transmission of the k-th STA is synchronous uplink transmission or synchronous downlink transmission. Here, the k-th user information sub-field refers to any one of one or more user information sub-fields. The specific description of the k-th user information sub-field in this embodiment, compared to the i-th and / or j-th user information sub-fields in the previous embodiments, can be the same as in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated here. Based on the foregoing description of the various sub-fields that the trigger frame may contain, the method of carrying the trigger frame is the same as in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated.

[0308] Building upon the foregoing description of the various subfields that the trigger frame may contain, the method of carrying the trigger frame is further explained: In one embodiment, the trigger frame is carried by a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU); wherein the first indicator bit in the preamble of the first PPDU is set to a second specified value. Specifically, the first PPDU can be an EHT PPDU. The first indicator bit can be a MAP TXS indicator bit. In another embodiment, the existing PPDU is not modified. That is, no new indicator bit is added to the preamble of the PPDU, but all STAs that receive the PPDU are configured not to discard it.

[0309] Based on the foregoing description of the trigger frame and the first PPDU carrying the trigger frame, the transmission interaction process of the third STA is described below. To achieve multi-AP TXOP sharing, it can be divided into three stages: preparation stage, detection stage, and trigger transmission stage. The information exchanged in the preparation and measurement stages is the foundation for completing multi-STA cooperative transmission. The processing of the preparation and measurement stages is the same as in the aforementioned embodiment, and therefore will not be repeated. After completing the above processing, the third STA can execute the trigger transmission stage processing. Specifically, it can execute S3010, where the third STA receives the trigger frame sent by the first STA. The trigger frame is used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs; the third STA is associated with the first STA. The following description, in conjunction with the specific sub-fields contained in the trigger frame and their values, and the processing by the third STA, will be explained:

[0310] In one implementation, the trigger frame is a first trigger frame; the third station STA receiving the trigger frame sent by the first STA includes: the third STA receiving the first trigger frame sent by the first STA, the first trigger frame being used for synchronous uplink cooperative transmission by the plurality of STAs. The plurality of STAs includes at least one of the following: a third STA and a fourth STA; the third STA is associated with the first STA, the fourth STA is associated with a second STA, and the second STA is different from the first STA.

[0311] Specifically, the first STA refers to the Sharing AP, the second STA refers to the Shared AP, the third STA refers to the STA associated with the Sharing AP (i.e., a non-AP STA), and the fourth STA refers to the STA associated with the Shared AP (i.e., a non-AP STA). It should be understood that the number of the aforementioned Shared APs (i.e., second STAs) can be one or more, the number of the aforementioned third STAs can also be one or more, and the number of the aforementioned fourth STAs can also be one or more. It should also be noted that the first STA and one or more second STAs can be APs in the same cooperation set; specifically, one or more second STAs can be Shared APs located within the transmission range of the first STA.

[0312] Optionally, the method further includes: the third STA, upon determining that the fifth condition is met based on the first trigger frame, sends uplink data to the first STA after a first duration following the receipt of the first trigger frame; the third STA receives a block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the first STA. Specifically, the third STA receiving the BA sent by the first STA may mean that the third STA receives the BA sent by the first STA after completing the first duration of uplink data transmission.

[0313] Specifically, after determining that the first trigger frame satisfies the fifth condition, the third STA, upon determining that the value of the first transmission mode subfield of the common information field of the first trigger frame is the second value, determines that after receiving the first trigger frame for a first duration, it will send uplink data to the first STA associated with it; after the third STA completes the first duration of sending uplink data, it receives the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the first STA.

[0314] It should be understood that the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame may or may not include the transmit power subfield of the third STA. If the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes the transmit power subfield, the third STA can also determine its own transmit power based on this transmit power subfield. The method by which the STA determines its own transmit power has been explained in the foregoing embodiments and will not be repeated here. Alternatively, if the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame does not include the transmit power subfield, since the AP has pre-performed beam nulling operations on its unassociated STAs in this scenario, the transmit power of the third STA can be selected by itself based on the actual situation, and will not be repeated here. Here, the first duration may refer to SIFS. It should be noted that, as explained above, the plurality of STAs includes at least one of the following: a third STA and a fourth STA; correspondingly, in this embodiment, the transmission time of the uplink data of the third STA can be the same as the transmission time of the uplink data of the fourth STA. That is, the third STA and the fourth STA perform synchronous uplink transmission.

[0315] Combination Figure 12 and Figure 13 In other words, Figure 12 and Figure 13 In this context, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). Figure 13Within AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the first trigger frame) for SIFS time, it performs beam nulling on the unassociated STA2, receives uplink data sent by STA1, and sends a BA to STA1 after SIFS time upon receiving the uplink data. Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 receives the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the first trigger frame) and determines that the first trigger frame meets the first condition, it enables uplink CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode. After receiving the first trigger frame for SIFS time, it performs beam nulling on the unassociated STA1, receives uplink data sent by STA2, and sends a BA to STA2 after SIFS time upon receiving the uplink data.

[0316] Optionally, the method further includes: the third STA, upon determining that a fifth condition is met based on the first trigger frame, sends uplink data to the first STA after receiving the first trigger frame for a first duration; the third STA receives a block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the first STA. Sending uplink data to the first STA includes: the third STA, on the first RU, sending the uplink data to the first STA using a first transmit power; the first transmit power is determined based on the maximum transmit power indicated by the transmit power subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame. The third STA receiving the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the first STA includes: the third STA, on the first RU, receiving the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the first STA. Specifically, after determining that the first trigger frame meets the fifth condition, the third STA, upon determining that the value of the first transmission mode subfield of the common information field of the first trigger frame is a third value, determines that after receiving the first trigger frame for a first duration, it will send uplink data to the first STA associated with it on the first RU; after the third STA completes the first duration of sending uplink data, it receives the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the first STA on the first RU.

[0317] It should be understood that the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame may include the transmit power subfield of the third STA. The method for determining the first transmit power may specifically include: calculating it based on the maximum transmit power in the transmit power subfield of the third STA and a preset formula; or, if no limit is imposed on the transmit power, the third STA may use any power value less than or equal to the maximum transmit power as the first transmit power.

[0318] The preset formula may include: PTX = FVal – 20; where PTX is the transmit power used by the third STA, and FVal is the maximum transmit power contained in the transmit power subfield of the third STA. It should be noted that if the maximum transmit power contained in the transmit power subfield of the third STA is equal to the preset value, it means that the first STA does not limit the transmit power of the third STA. This preset value can be 63, meaning that if the value of the Max TX power subfield in the user information subfield of the third STA is 63, it indicates that the sharing AP does not limit the maximum transmit power of the third STA.

[0319] Combination Figure 14 and Figure 15 In other words, Figure 14 and Figure 15 This diagram illustrates enabling CSR mode for a STA. AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). (Combined with...) Figure 15 Within AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the first trigger frame) for SIFS time, it receives uplink data sent by STA1. Upon receiving the uplink data from STA1, it sends a BA to STA1 after the SIFS time. Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 receives the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the first trigger frame) and determines that the first trigger frame meets the first condition, it starts uplink CSR mode. After receiving the first trigger frame for SIFS time, it receives uplink data sent by STA2. Upon receiving the uplink data from STA2, it sends a BA to STA2 after the SIFS time.

[0320] Combination Figure 16 and Figure 17 In other words, Figure 16 and Figure 17 A diagram illustrating the activation of COFDMA mode for the first STA. Figure 16 and Figure 17 In this diagram, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA11 and STA12 are two third STAs associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA21 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). Figure 17In other words, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame at SIFS time, it prepares to receive uplink data associated with STA11 and STA12 on the first RUs corresponding to STA11 and STA12 respectively. Upon receiving the uplink data sent by STA11 and STA12, AP1 sends a BA to STA11 and STA12 on the first RUs corresponding to STA11 and STA12 respectively. For example, the first RU corresponding to STA11 is... Figure 17 The first RU in the list, the first RU corresponding to STA12 is Figure 17 The second RU in AP21. Within AP1's TXOP, when AP2 receives the MAPTXS trigger frame (the first trigger frame) and determines that the first trigger frame meets the first condition, it enables uplink COFDMA mode, preparing to receive uplink data associated with STA21 on the second RU corresponding to STA21. Upon receiving uplink data sent by STA21, AP2 sends a BA to STA21 from the second RU corresponding to STA21. For example, the second RU corresponding to STA21 is... Figure 17 The third and fourth RUs in the series.

[0321] It should also be noted that the aforementioned fifth condition may vary in some aspects depending on the transmission mode. For example, in the case of cooperative transmission mode CBF and / or C-UL MU-MIMO mode, the fifth condition may include a second value for the transmission mode sub-field. Specifically, the fifth condition may include at least one of the following: the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the common information field of the first trigger frame is not the first value; the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the common information field of the first trigger frame is the second value; the value of the first shared transmission indication sub-field in the common information field of the first trigger frame is the eighth value; the value of the first uplink / downlink indication sub-field in the common information field of the first trigger frame is the sixth value; the first trigger frame includes a user information sub-field of the third STA with identification information of the third STA; the uplink / downlink indication sub-field of the third STA in the user information sub-field of the third STA in the first trigger frame is the sixth value; the transmission mode sub-field of the third STA in the user information sub-field of the third STA in the first trigger frame is the second value; the value of the transmission mode sub-field of the third STA in the user information sub-field of the third STA in the first trigger frame is not the first value.

[0322] When the cooperative transmission mode is COFDMA and / or CSR, the fifth condition may include a value of the transmission mode sub-field being a third value. Specifically, the fifth condition includes at least one of the following: the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the common information field of the first triggering frame is not a first value; the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the common information field of the first triggering frame is a third value; the value of the first shared transmission indication sub-field in the common information field of the first triggering frame is an eighth value; the value of the first uplink / downlink indication sub-field in the common information field of the first triggering frame is a sixth value; the first triggering frame includes a user information sub-field of the third STA with identification information of the third STA; in the user information sub-field of the third STA in the first triggering frame, the uplink / downlink indication sub-field of the third STA is a sixth value; in the user information sub-field of the third STA in the first triggering frame, the transmission mode sub-field of the third STA is a third value; in the user information sub-field of the third STA in the first triggering frame, the value of the transmission mode sub-field of the third STA is not a first value.

[0323] It should be noted that the method for determining whether the first trigger frame contains the identification information of the third STA can be as follows: determine whether the identification information in the identification subfield of the user information field of the first trigger frame is the same as the 12 least significant bits of the AID of the third STA. If they are the same, then it is determined that the identification information of the third STA is included; and / or determine whether the identification information in the identification subfield of the user information field of the first trigger frame is the same as the 12-bit VAID of the third STA. If they are the same, then it is determined that the identification information of the third STA is included.

[0324] The aforementioned fifth condition may at least include the first trigger frame containing a user information subfield of the third STA with its identification information. That is, if the first trigger frame does not contain a user information subfield with the third STA's identification information, the third STA can discard the trigger frame. In other words, if the third STA receives the first trigger frame and none of its User Info subfields contain an AID12 subfield (identifier subfield) that matches the 12 least significant bits of its own AID or VAID, then the third STA cannot send uplink data to its associated AP (first STA) nor is it prepared to receive downlink data; in some scenarios, it may enter sleep mode.

[0325] It should also be noted that the format of the first trigger frame can be preset for all STAs in the network, meaning that all STAs in the network use the same format for the first trigger frame. However, the specific content of the fifth condition may differ depending on the format of the first trigger frame, which will be explained below:

[0326] The first trigger frame includes a first transmission mode subfield. Furthermore, the first trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the third STA, meaning the first trigger frame contains a user information subfield for the third STA that includes the identification information of the fourth STA. Optionally, neither the common information field nor the user information subfield of the first trigger frame may include uplink / downlink indicator subfields. Optionally, the common information field of the first trigger frame may not include a shared transmission indicator subfield. For example, the common information field of the first trigger frame may use the aforementioned... Figure 4 The format of the third STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 5 The format.

[0327] The fifth condition includes: the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the public information field of the first trigger frame is not a first value; the first trigger frame contains a user information sub-field of the third STA with identification information of the third STA. That is, it is determined whether the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the first trigger frame is a first value, and whether its own identification information is detected in each user information sub-field. If the value of the first transmission mode sub-field is not a first value, and its own identification information is present in the user information sub-field, then the first trigger frame can be determined to satisfy the fifth condition. Alternatively, the fifth condition includes: the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the public information field of the first trigger frame is a second value (or a third value); the first trigger frame contains a user information sub-field of the third STA with identification information of the third STA.

[0328] Optionally, the common information field of the first trigger frame does not include a transmission mode subfield; the common information field of the first trigger frame includes a first shared transmission indication subfield, and the value of the first shared transmission indication subfield is the eighth value. The first trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the third STA, which includes an identifier subfield for the third STA, used to carry the identifier information of the third STA; the user information subfield for the third STA also includes a transmission mode subfield for the third STA. For example, the common information field of the first trigger frame can adopt the aforementioned... Figure 6 The format of the third STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 7 The format. About Figure 6 and Figure 7 The meanings of each subfield are the same as in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated.

[0329] The fifth condition includes: the value of the first shared transmission indication subfield in the public information field of the first trigger frame is the eighth value; and the first trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the third STA with the identification information of the third STA. In other words, it is determined whether the value of the first shared transmission indication subfield in the public information field of the first trigger frame is the eighth value, and whether its own identification information is detected in each user information subfield. If the value of the first shared transmission indication subfield in the public information field is the eighth value, and the user information subfield contains its own identification information, then the first trigger frame satisfies the fifth condition.

[0330] Optionally, the first trigger frame includes a first transmission mode subfield. Furthermore, the first trigger frame includes a user information subfield for the third STA, meaning the first trigger frame contains a user information subfield for the third STA that includes the identification information of the fourth STA. Optionally, the common information field of the first trigger frame includes a first uplink / downlink indicator subfield, and the value of the first uplink / downlink indicator subfield is the sixth value. And / or, the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame includes the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA, and the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA is the sixth value. Optionally, the common information field of the first trigger frame does not include a shared transmission indicator subfield. For example, the common information field of the first trigger frame can adopt the aforementioned... Figure 9 The format of the third STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 5 The format is as described above. Alternatively, the common information field of the first trigger frame can adopt the aforementioned format. Figure 4 The format of the third STA user information subfield can be as described above. Figure 8 The format. About Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 8 and Figure 9 The meanings of each subfield are the same as in the previous embodiments, and will not be repeated.

[0331] The fifth condition includes: the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the public information field of the first trigger frame is not a first value; the first trigger frame contains a user information sub-field of the third STA with identification information of the third STA; and the value of the uplink / downlink indicator sub-field of the third STA in the user information sub-field of the third STA in the first trigger frame is a sixth value. Alternatively, the fifth condition includes: the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the public information field of the first trigger frame is a second value (or a third value); the first trigger frame contains a user information sub-field of the third STA with identification information of the third STA; and the value of the uplink / downlink indicator sub-field of the third STA in the user information sub-field of the third STA in the first trigger frame is a sixth value. Or, the fifth condition includes: the value of the first transmission mode sub-field in the public information field of the first trigger frame is not a first value (or is a second value, or is a third value); the value of the first uplink / downlink indicator sub-field in the public information field of the first trigger frame is a sixth value; and the first trigger frame contains a user information sub-field of the third STA with identification information of the third STA.

[0332] In other words, it is determined whether the value of the first transmission mode subfield in the first trigger frame is the first value, and whether there is its own identification information in each user information subfield, and whether the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA in the user information subfield of the third STA is the sixth value; if the value of the first transmission mode subfield is not the first value (or is determined to be the second value, or is determined to be the third value), and the user information subfield contains its own identification information, and the value of the uplink / downlink indicator subfield of the third STA in the user information field is the sixth value, then it can be determined that the first trigger frame satisfies the fifth condition. Alternatively, the fifth condition includes: the value of the transmission mode subfield of the third STA in the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame is the second value (or the third value); the value of the first uplink / downlink indicator subfield in the common information field of the first trigger frame is the sixth value; the first trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the third STA with the identification information of the third STA. Alternatively, the fifth condition includes: the value of the transmission mode subfield of the third STA in the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame is not the first value; the value of the first uplink / downlink indication subfield in the public information field of the first trigger frame is the sixth value; and the first trigger frame contains a user information subfield of the third STA with identification information of the third STA.

[0333] In other words, the third STA can detect whether its own identification information exists in each user information subfield, and determine whether the value of the third STA's transmission mode subfield in the user information subfield of the third STA in the first trigger frame is the first value and whether the value of the first uplink / downlink indicator subfield is the sixth value; if the value of the third STA's transmission mode subfield in the user information subfield of the third STA is not the first value, and the user information subfield contains its own identification information, and the value of the first uplink / downlink indicator subfield is the sixth value, then it can be determined that the first trigger frame satisfies the fifth condition.

[0334] It should be understood that the above is only an exemplary description of the fifth condition. In actual processing, there may be other combinations, which are not exhaustive here. As long as at least one of the aforementioned fifth conditions is included, they are all within the protection scope of this embodiment.

[0335] In one implementation, the trigger frame is a second trigger frame; the method further includes: the third STA receiving a first frame sent by the first STA, the first frame being sent by the first STA after sending the second trigger frame, the first frame being used to trigger the third STA to perform synchronous uplink cooperative transmission. The first STA refers to a Sharing AP, and the second STA refers to a Shared AP. It should be understood that the number of the aforementioned Shared APs, i.e., the second STAs, can be one or more. The aforementioned second trigger frame may at least include a common information field and a user information subfield of the second STA. The first frame may specifically be a Basic Trigger frame.

[0336] In this embodiment, the method further includes: after receiving the first frame, the third STA sends uplink data to the first STA; the third STA receives the BA sent by the first STA. Specifically, the third STA sends uplink data to the first STA after a second duration following the receipt of the first frame; the third STA receives the BA sent by the first STA after a second duration following the completion of sending the uplink data. Here, the second duration can be the same as or different from the aforementioned first duration. In one example, the second duration can refer to SIFS.

[0337] Combination Figure 14 and Figure 18 In other words, Figure 14 and Figure 18 In this context, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). Figure 18Within AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the second trigger frame) for SIFS time, it sends the basic trigger frame to STA1. After the SIFS time of sending the basic trigger frame, AP1 receives uplink data sent by STA1, and upon receiving the uplink data from STA1, sends a BA to STA1 after the SIFS time. Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 receives the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the second trigger frame) and determines that the second trigger frame meets the second condition, it starts the traditional uplink TXOP sharing mode, and after the SIFS time of receiving the second trigger frame, it sends the basic trigger frame to STA2. After the SIFS time of sending the basic trigger frame, AP2 receives uplink data sent by STA2, and upon receiving the uplink data from STA2, sends a BA to STA2 after the SIFS time.

[0338] In one implementation, the trigger frame is a third trigger frame; the third station (STA) receiving the trigger frame sent by the first STA includes: the third STA receiving the third trigger frame sent by the first STA, the third trigger frame being used by the plurality of STAs for synchronous downlink cooperative transmission. The plurality of STAs includes: the first STA and the second STA; the second STA is different from the first STA.

[0339] In this implementation, the method further includes: the third STA receiving downlink data sent by the first STA when the third trigger frame satisfies the sixth condition; and the third STA sending a block acknowledgment (BA) to the first STA.

[0340] In other words, the third STA determines whether the third trigger frame satisfies the sixth condition. If it does, based on the specific content contained in the third trigger frame, it can be determined that the third trigger frame is used to instruct the third STA to wait for receiving downlink data for synchronous downlink transmission. Then, the downlink data sent by the first STA can be received after a third duration following the receipt of the third trigger frame. The third STA sending a Block Acknowledgment (BA) to the first STA can include: the third STA sending a BA to the first STA after completing a third duration of receiving downlink data. The specific content contained in the third trigger frame may include uplink / downlink indication subfields (e.g., in the user information subfield of the third STA, or in the public information subfield). Here, the third duration can be the same as or different from any of the aforementioned first or second durations. In one example, the third duration may refer to SIFS.

[0341] The aforementioned first STA refers to the Sharing AP, the second STA refers to the Shared AP, the third STA refers to the STA associated with the Sharing AP (i.e., a non-AP STA), and the fourth STA refers to the STA associated with the second STA (i.e., a non-AP STA). It should be understood that the number of the aforementioned Shared APs (i.e., second STAs) can be one or more, the number of the aforementioned third STAs can also be one or more, and the number of the aforementioned fourth STAs can also be one or more. It should also be noted that the first STA and one or more second STAs can be APs within the same cooperation set; specifically, one or more second STAs can be Shared APs located within the transmission range of the first STA.

[0342] Combination Figure 19 and Figure 20 In other words, Figure 19 and Figure 20 In this context, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). Figure 20 Within AP1's TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it performs beam nulling on the unassociated STA2, sends downlink data to STA1, and receives the BA sent by STA1 after the SIFS time. Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 receives the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it performs beam nulling on the unassociated STA1, sends downlink data to STA2, and receives the BA sent by STA2 after the SIFS time.

[0343] Optionally, receiving downlink data sent by the first STA can specifically involve: after receiving the third duration of the third trigger frame, receiving downlink data sent by the first STA on the corresponding RU; wherein the corresponding first RU is the resource corresponding to the third STA. Sending a Block Acknowledgment (BA) to the first STA can include: sending a BA to the first STA on the corresponding first RU. In this embodiment, the transmission time of the downlink data of the first STA can be the same as the transmission time of the downlink data of the second STA. That is, the first STA and the second STA perform synchronous downlink transmission.

[0344] Combination Figure 21 and Figure 22 In other words, Figure 21 and Figure 22This diagram illustrates enabling downlink CSR mode for a STA. AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA), and STA2 is the fourth STA associated with the Shared AP (second STA). (Combined with...) Figure 22 Within AP1's TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it sends downlink data to STA1. After completing the SIFS time of sending downlink data to STA1, it receives the BA sent by STA1. Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 receives the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it sends downlink data to STA2. After completing the SIFS time of sending downlink data to STA2, it receives the BA sent by STA2.

[0345] Combination Figure 23 and Figure 24 In other words, Figure 23 and Figure 24 A diagram illustrating the activation of COFDMA mode for the first STA. Figure 23 and Figure 24 In this context, AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), while AP2 and AP3 are both Shared APs, i.e., the second STA. (Combined...) Figure 24 Within AP1's TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it transmits downlink data on its own STA's corresponding first RU (i.e., AP1's TXOP as shown in the diagram). Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 and AP3 receive the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), they transmit downlink data on their own STA's corresponding second RU (i.e., AP2's TXOP and AP3's sub-TXOP as shown in the diagram).

[0346] Optionally, if the third STA receives downlink data sent by the first STA when the sixth condition is met in the third trigger frame, the third STA sends a Block Acknowledgment (BA) to the first STA. The third STA receiving downlink data sent by the first STA when the sixth condition is met in the third trigger frame further includes: the third STA receiving downlink data sent by the first STA and receiving downlink data sent by the second STA when the sixth condition is met in the third trigger frame.

[0347] In this embodiment, the downlink data transmission time of the first STA can be the same as that of the second STA. That is, the first STA and the second STA perform synchronous downlink transmission. Furthermore, it should be noted that in this embodiment, both the first STA and the second STA transmit downlink data to the third STA, while the third STA only transmits BA to its associated first STA.

[0348] Combination Figure 25 and Figure 26 In other words, Figure 25 and Figure 26 This diagram illustrates enabling downlink CSR mode for a STA. AP1 is the Sharing AP (first STA), AP2 is the Shared AP (second STA), and STA1 is the third STA associated with the Sharing AP (first STA). (Combined with...) Figure 26 Within AP1's own TXOP, after AP1 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it sends downlink data to STA1. After completing the SIFS time of sending downlink data to STA1, it receives the BA sent by STA1. Within AP1's TXOP, after AP2 sends the MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the SIFS time of the third trigger frame), it sends downlink data to STA1. That is, STA1 can receive downlink data synchronously transmitted by AP1 and AP2, but STA1 only sends BAs to AP1.

[0349] It should also be noted that the aforementioned sixth condition may vary in some aspects depending on the transmission mode. For exampl...

Claims

1. A communication method, comprising: The first STA sends a trigger frame, which is used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs; The public information field of the trigger frame includes at least one of the following: A trigger type subfield, the value of which is used to indicate the type of the trigger frame; The transmission mode subfield, the value of which is used to indicate the cooperative transmission mode used by the multiple STAs for TXOP sharing, and / or whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode; Uplink / downlink indicator subfield, the value of which is used to indicate whether TXOP is used for synchronous uplink transmission or synchronous downlink transmission; A shared transmission indicator subfield, the value of which is used to indicate whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode; The trigger type subfield is set to a first specified value, indicating that the trigger frame is used to establish cooperative transmission between multiple STAs. The first STA is a shared Sharing Access Point (AP).

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The AID and / or VAID of the first STA are configured for the target device.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The trigger frame is the third trigger frame; The first STA sends a trigger frame, including: the first STA sends a third trigger frame, the third trigger frame being used by the plurality of STAs to perform synchronous downlink cooperative transmission; the plurality of STAs includes: the first STA and the second STA; the second STA is different from the first STA; The second STA is a Shared AP.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein, The method further includes: After the first STA has transmitted the third trigger frame for a third duration, it transmits downlink data to the third STA; the third STA is associated with the first STA. The first STA receives the block acknowledgment (BA) sent by the third STA.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein, After the first STA has transmitted the third trigger frame for a third duration, it transmits downlink data to the third STA, including: When the first STA is in downlink CBF mode, after the third duration of the third trigger frame is sent, it performs beam nulling operation on the fourth STA and sends downlink data to the third STA; the fourth STA is associated with the second STA.

6. The method according to any one of claims 3-5, wherein, The user information subfield of the third STA in the third trigger frame includes at least one of the following: The identifier subfield of the third STA is used to carry the identifier information of the third STA; The uplink and downlink indicator subfield of the third STA.

7. The method according to any one of claims 3-6, wherein, The user information subfield of the fourth STA in the third trigger frame includes at least one of the following: The identifier subfield of the fourth STA is used to carry the identifier information of the fourth STA; The uplink and downlink indicator subfield of the fourth STA.

8. A communication method, comprising: The second station (STA) receives a trigger frame sent by the first STA. The trigger frame is used to establish cooperative transmission among multiple STAs. The public information field of the trigger frame includes at least one of the following: A trigger type subfield, the value of which is used to indicate the type of the trigger frame; The transmission mode subfield, the value of which is used to indicate the cooperative transmission mode used by the multiple STAs for TXOP sharing, and / or whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode; Uplink / downlink indicator subfield, the value of which is used to indicate whether TXOP is used for synchronous uplink transmission or synchronous downlink transmission; A shared transmission indicator subfield, the value of which is used to indicate whether the multiple STAs have enabled TXOP sharing mode; The trigger type subfield is set to a first specified value, indicating that the trigger frame is used to establish cooperative transmission between multiple STAs. The first STA is a shared Sharing Access Point (AP).

9. A first station STA, comprising: A processor and a memory for storing computer programs, the processor for calling and running the computer programs stored in the memory to cause the first STA to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-7.

10. A second site STA, comprising: A processor and a memory for storing computer programs, the processor for calling and running the computer programs stored in the memory to cause the second STA to perform the method as described in claim 8.

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