Information indication method and device

Abstract

This application provides an information indication method and apparatus. The method includes: generating a first frame containing address information of a station operating in the 6GHz band; and transmitting the first frame in the 2.4GHz and / or 5GHz bands. The information indication method and apparatus provided in this application enable a sending station to accurately indicate the address of a sending station operating in the 6GHz band. This allows an unassociated station or a roaming station acting as a receiver to accurately associate and communicate with the sending station operating in the 6GHz band after learning its address.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application. The original application has the application number 201810891859.4 and the original application date is August 7, 2018. The entire contents of the original application are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communications, and particularly to information indication methods and apparatus in the field of communications. Background Technology

[0003] The newly opened 6GHz band has a frequency range of over 1GHz. Unassociated non-access points (NAP stations) or roaming NAP stations need to actively scan this 1GHz band to obtain information about surrounding access points (APs). This is done by continuously switching to each channel on this 1GHz band and broadcasting Probe Request frames to obtain probe response frames from surrounding APs, and then selecting a suitable AP to associate with. However, this method is time-consuming, energy-intensive, and causes unnecessary congestion on the 6GHz band. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The information indication method and apparatus provided in this application embodiment enable the sending station to accurately indicate the address of the sending station operating in the 6GHz band, so that the receiving station, whether unassociated or roaming, can accurately associate and communicate with the sending station operating in the 6GHz band after learning the address of the sending station.

[0005] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide an information indication method, including: Generate a first frame, which contains address information of stations operating in the 6GHz band; The first frame is transmitted on the 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz bands.

[0006] It should be understood that the sending site transmits the first frame on the 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz bands, and the first frame contains the address information of the sending site operating on the 6 GHz band.

[0007] In this embodiment of the application, the sending station can accurately indicate the address of the sending station operating in the 6GHz band, so that after the receiving station or the station in a roaming state knows the address of the sending station operating in the 6GHz band, it can accurately associate and communicate with the sending station operating in the 6GHz band.

[0008] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the address information is located in the 6GHz operation information field of the HE operation element of the first frame.

[0009] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the HE operation parameter field of the HE operation element of the first frame includes indication information for indicating whether the address information appears; when the indication information is a first value, the address information appears, indicating that the address information of the station operating in the 6GHz band is the address information in the first frame; when the indication information is a second value, the address information does not appear, indicating that the address of the station operating in the 6GHz band is the sending address of the frame containing the 6GHz operation information field or the BSSID of the sending station of the frame containing the 6GHz operation information field.

[0010] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the HE operation parameter field of the HE operation element of the first frame includes indication information for indicating whether the address information appears; when the indication information is a first value, the address information appears in the 6GHz operation information field, indicating that the address of the station operating in the 6GHz band is the MAC address of the station operating in the 6GHz band or the BSSID of the BSS where the station operating in the 6GHz band is located; when the indication information is a second value, the address information does not appear in the 6GHz operation information field, indicating that the address of the station operating in the 6GHz band is the sending address of the frame containing the 6GHz operation information field or the BSSID of the sending station of the frame containing the 6GHz operation information field.

[0011] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the address information is the MAC address of a site operating in the 6GHz band or the BSSID of the BSS where the site operating in the 6GHz band is located.

[0012] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, when the BSSID of the BSS where the site operates in the 6GHz band is located is a BSSID in a set of BSSIDs, the address information is the transmission BSSID in the set of BSSIDs.

[0013] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the 6GHz operation information field also includes TSF information and beacon frame information.

[0014] It should be understood that the 6GHz Operational Information field of the first frame transmitted by the sending site on the 2.4GHz and / or 5GHz bands also contains TSF information and beacon frame information.

[0015] In this embodiment of the application, the sending station further indicates TSF information and beacon frame information, so that the receiving station's unassociated station or station in a roaming state can know the TSF information and beacon frame information of the sending station operating in the 6GHz band, and can then calculate the time when the sending station operating in the 6GHz band sends the beacon frame, thereby obtaining the relevant BSS information, which is beneficial for passive scanning.

[0016] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the TSF information includes TSF difference information or TSF value, wherein the TSF difference information represents the difference between the clock stamp of the access point operating on the 6 GHz band and the clock stamp of the access point transmitting the first frame on the 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz band, and the TSF value represents the clock stamp of the access point operating on the 6 GHz band.

[0017] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the beacon frame information includes a beacon frame interval or a beacon frame target transmission time, wherein the beacon frame interval represents the interval at which the AP transmits beacon frames on the 6 GHz band, and the beacon frame target transmission time represents the most recent beacon frame transmission time of the AP on the 6 GHz band.

[0018] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the 6GHz operation information field of the first frame further includes at least one of three parameters: main channel, channel bandwidth, and channel center frequency.

[0019] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the station operating in the 6GHz band and the station that sent the first frame are colocation devices or belong to the same multi-band device.

[0020] Secondly, embodiments of this application provide an information indication method, including: The first frame is received on the 2.5 GHz and / or 4 GHz bands, and the first frame contains address information of the site operating on the 6 GHz band. The second frame is transmitted on the 6GHz band, and the receiving address of the second frame is the address in the address information.

[0021] It should be understood that the receiving station receives the first frame on the 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz band, and the first frame contains the address information of the sending station operating on the 6 GHz band; after obtaining the address information of the sending station operating on the 6 GHz band from the first frame, the receiving station generates and sends a second frame with the address in the address information as the receiving address.

[0022] In this embodiment of the application, after an unassociated site or a roaming site of the receiving party learns the address of the sending site operating in the 6GHz band, it can accurately associate and communicate with the sending site operating in the 6GHz band.

[0023] The details of the information indication method of the second aspect of this application are the same as those of the first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0024] It is understood that the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, and the method described in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, can be implemented alone or in combination, and the embodiments of this application are not limited thereto.

[0025] Thirdly, embodiments of this application provide an information indicating device for performing the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, and / or the method described in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0026] Fourthly, embodiments of this application provide an information indicating device, including: a transceiver / transceiver pin and a processor, optionally further including a memory. The transceiver / transceiver pin, the processor, and the memory communicate with each other via internal interconnection paths; the processor is used to execute instructions to control the transceiver / transceiver pin to send or receive signals; the memory is used to store instructions. When the processor executes instructions, the processor performs the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, and / or the method described in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0027] Fifthly, embodiments of this application provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, the computer program including instructions for performing the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, and / or instructions for performing the method described in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0028] Sixthly, embodiments of this application provide a computer program product comprising: computer program code, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof, and / or the method described in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof. Attached Figure Description

[0029] Figure 1 This illustrates one possible application scenario of an embodiment of this application.

[0030] Figure 2A flowchart of an information indication method according to an embodiment of this application is shown.

[0031] Figure 3 The HE operation elements of an embodiment of this application are shown.

[0032] Figure 4 An example of a possible 6GHz operation information field according to an embodiment of this application is shown.

[0033] Figure 5 The HE operation parameter field of an embodiment of this application is shown.

[0034] Figure 6 Another possible 6GHz operation information field is shown in an embodiment of this application.

[0035] Figure 7 Another possible 6GHz operation information field is shown in an embodiment of this application.

[0036] Figure 8 The neighbor reporting element of an embodiment of this application is shown.

[0037] Figure 9a The BSSID information field of an embodiment of this application is shown.

[0038] Figure 9b Another embodiment of the BSSID information field of this application is shown.

[0039] Figure 10 Multiple BSSID elements according to an embodiment of this application are shown.

[0040] Figure 11 The multiple BSSID serial number elements of an embodiment of this application are shown.

[0041] Figure 12 A block diagram of an information indication device on the AP side according to an embodiment of this application is shown.

[0042] Figure 13 A block diagram of an information indication device on the STA side according to an embodiment of this application is shown.

[0043] Figure 14 The diagram shows a possible form of the product 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] It should be understood that the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: WIFI wireless communication systems, Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) systems, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) systems, Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication systems, future 5G communication systems, or other various wireless communication systems that adopt wireless access technologies, etc.

[0046] Figure 1 This illustration shows a possible application scenario of an embodiment of this application. It should be understood that the stations described in this embodiment include access points (APs) and non-access point stations (STAs), meaning that the application scenarios of this embodiment include AP sending to STA, STA sending to AP, AP sending to AP, and STA sending to STA. Figure 1 This is merely an example and does not represent all application scenarios of the embodiments in this application.

[0047] The newly opened 6GHz band has a frequency range of over 1GHz. Unassociated sites or roaming STAs need to actively scan this 1GHz band to obtain information about surrounding APs. This is done by continuously switching to each channel on this 1GHz band and broadcasting Probe Request frames to obtain probe response frames from surrounding APs, thus selecting a suitable AP for association. However, this method is time-consuming, energy-intensive, and causes unnecessary congestion on the 6GHz band. For example, 1) prohibiting unassociated sites or roaming sites from broadcasting Probe Request frames; 2) prohibiting sites from sending 802.11n HT PPDU packets and 802.11ac VHT PPDU packets on 6GHz; 3) broadcasting BSS information – 6GHz operation information fields, including BSS bandwidth, primary channel, and channel access mechanism – on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Unassociated sites or roaming sites can then associate and communicate with APs on the 6GHz band by receiving the BSS information on the 6GHz band on 2.4 / 5GHz.

[0048] The following describes the scheme of this application embodiment, taking the AP sending the first frame to the STA in the 2.4GHz and / or 5GHz band as an example.

[0049] Figure 2 A flowchart of an information indication method according to an embodiment of this application is shown, such as... Figure 2 As shown: S101, the AP generates a first frame, which contains the address information of the AP operating in the 6GHz band.

[0050] In S101, specifically, the first frame generated by the AP can be a beacon frame, a probe response frame, a neighbor report frame, or other management frames. For example... Figure 3As shown, a 6GHz operation information field is added to the HE Operation Element contained in the beacon frame, probe response frame, neighbor reporting frame, and other management frames. The address information is located in the 6GHz operation information field. Other fields in the HE Operation Element are the same as those in the HE Operation Element in 802.11ax, including, for example, an element ID field, a length field, an element ID extension field, a HE operation parameter field, a BSS (basic service set) color information field, a basic HE-MCS (high efficiency-modulation and coding scheme) and NSS (number of spatial streams) set field, a VHT (very high throughput) operation information field, and a Max Co-Located BSSID (BSS identifier) ​​field.

[0051] 6 GHz Operation Information Fields, such as Figure 4 As shown, the 6 GHz operation information fields include the main channel field, the channel control field, the channel center frequency segment 0 field, the channel center frequency segment 1 field, and the address information of the stations operating in the 6 GHz band.

[0052] In one possible implementation, the address information is the MAC address of the site operating in the 6GHz band or the BSSID of the BSS where the site operating in the 6GHz band is located. In another possible implementation, when the BSSID of the BSS where the site operating in the 6GHz band is located is a BSSID in a set of BSSIDs, the address information is a transmitted BSSID in the set of BSSIDs, rather than a non-transmitted BSSID. In this case, only one BSSID in the set of BSSIDs is a transmitted BSSID, and the rest are non-transmitted BSSIDs. The AP corresponding to the transmitted BSSID needs to transmit a beacon frame, which includes multiple BSSID elements, indicating which BSSIDs are in the set of multiple BSSIDs, and the BSS information of the corresponding AP. The AP corresponding to the non-transmitted BSSIDs may transmit a beacon frame, but the beacon frame will not contain multiple BSSID elements.

[0053] In this embodiment of the application, the AP can accurately indicate the address of the AP operating in the 6GHz band through the address information of the AP operating in the 6GHz band in the first frame. This enables unassociated STAs or STAs in roaming to accurately associate and communicate with the AP operating in the 6GHz band after knowing its address.

[0054] The channel control field includes a 4-bit channel bandwidth field (values ​​0-3 correspond to 20, 40, 80, and 160MHz channel bandwidths respectively, and values ​​4-15 are reserved and unused), and a 4-bit channel access field (a value of 0 indicates that EDCA preemption is prohibited on the 6GHz channel, a value of 1 indicates that EDCA preemption is allowed on the 6GHz channel, and values ​​2-15 are reserved and unused). It is worth noting that the channel access field mentioned in this embodiment may not exist. In this case, the STA is always allowed to compete for the channel on the 6GHz band via EDCA, and after preemption, it sends frames to other STAs.

[0055] Among them, the main channel is the main channel of the AP operating at 6GHz. The joint channel bandwidth field, the channel center frequency segment 0 field and the channel center frequency segment 1 field together indicate the channel information of the BSS established by the AP at 6GHz, including the channel start frequency, the channel center frequency, the BSS bandwidth and the frequency position of the main channel.

[0056] Among them, the channel center frequency segment 0 field and the channel center frequency segment 1 field are called the channel center frequency. In the next generation of 802.11ax, such as EHT, the bandwidth will be further increased, and the number of frequency segments will also be further increased. The corresponding channel center frequency may include two or more, and the setting method is similar.

[0057] For BSS bandwidths of 20MHz, 40MHz, and 80MHz, channel center frequency segment 0 is set to the center frequency number of its BSS bandwidth. For a 160MHz BSS bandwidth, channel center frequency segment 0 is set to the center frequency number of the main 80MHz of its 160MHz BSS bandwidth. For a BSS bandwidth of 80MHz+80MHz, channel center frequency segment 0 is set to the center frequency number of the main 80MHz.

[0058] For BSS bandwidths of 20MHz, 40MHz, and 80MHz, the channel center frequency segment 1 field is reserved as 0. For a BSS bandwidth of 160MHz, the channel center frequency segment 1 is set to the center frequency number of the 160MHz BSS bandwidth. For a BSS bandwidth of 80MHz+80MHz, the channel center frequency segment 1 is set to the center frequency number of the next 80MHz.

[0059] The values ​​of the channel bandwidth field and the channel center frequency 1 field jointly indicate the BSS bandwidth, as shown in Table 1.

[0060]

[0061] The aforementioned 6 GHz operation information field can be applied not only to 802.11ax but also to 802.1ax next generation. In 802.1ax next generation, the channel bandwidth field in channel control indicates that the bandwidth needs to be expanded to a wider range of bandwidths, such as 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and 320 MHz; in 802.1ax next generation, the 6 GHz operation information field can be included in the EHT operation element.

[0062] Returning to the HE operation element in the first frame, the specific structure of the HE operation parameter field in the HE operation element is as follows: Figure 5 As shown: The HE operation parameter field contains indication information to indicate whether the address information appears. One bit or one subfield is used in the HE operation parameter field to indicate whether the address information appears in the 6GHz operation information field. When the indication information is a first value, such as 1, the address information of the AP operating in the 6GHz band appears in the 6GHz operation information field, indicating that the address information of the AP operating in the 6GHz band is the address information located in the 6GHz operation information field, for example, the MAC address of the AP operating in the 6GHz band or the BSSID of the BSS where the AP operating in the 6GHz band is located. When the indication information is a second value, such as 0, the address information of the AP operating in the 6GHz band does not appear in the 6GHz operation information field, indicating that the address information of the AP operating in the 6GHz band is the sending address of the frame that sent the 6GHz operation information field (excluding neighbor report frames or frames containing neighbor elements) or the BSSID of the AP that sent the 6GHz operation information field. When the first frame is a neighbor report frame or a frame containing neighbor elements, if the indication information used to indicate whether the address information appears is a second value, such as 0, then the address information of the AP operating on the 6GHz band does not appear in the 6GHz operation information field. The address information of the AP operating on the 6GHz band is the BSSID in the neighbor element of the neighbor report frame or the frame containing the neighbor element that sent the 6GHz operation information field.

[0063] In another implementation, if the address information field of the HE operation parameter field is missing, then the "address information of the site operating in the 6 GHz band" field of the 6 GHz operation information field will always appear.

[0064] like Figure 5 As shown, the HE operation parameter field also includes a 6 GHz operation information occurrence field, indicating whether the 6 GHz operation information field appears. When the 6 GHz operation information field value is set to the first value, such as 1, it means that the 6 GHz operation information field appears in the HE operation element, implicitly indicating that the AP has also established a BSS on 6 GHz; when the 6 GHz operation information field value is set to the second value, such as 0, it means that the 6 GHz operation information field does not appear in the HE operation element, implicitly indicating that the AP has not established a BSS on 6 GHz.

[0065] like Figure 5 As shown, the other indicator bits in the HE operation parameter field are the same as those in the HE operation parameter field in 802.11ax, including the default PE (packet extension) duration, TWT (target wake up time) request, TXOP (transmission of opportunity) duration, RTS (require to send) threshold, VHT operation information appearance, basic service set co-Located BSS, ERSU (extended range single user) prohibition, and 6 GHz operation information appearance indicator bits, etc.

[0066] Furthermore, the 6GHz operation information field also includes TSF information and beacon frame information. The TSF information includes TSF difference information or TSF value, and the beacon frame information includes beacon frame interval or beacon frame target transmission time. The TSF difference information refers to the difference in clock stamps between the AP on the 6GHz network and the AP transmitting this 6GHz information field on 2.4 / 5GHz. The TSF value refers to the clock stamp of the AP on the 6GHz network. The beacon frame interval refers to the interval between beacon frame transmissions by the AP on the 6GHz network, and the beacon frame target transmission time refers to the most recent beacon frame transmission time of the AP on the 6GHz network. The 6GHz operation information field adds TSF (time stamp field) difference information / TSF value and beacon frame interval / beacon frame target transmission time. Of these four parameters, the first two are TSF parameters, and the last two are beacon frame parameters. Any one of the first two parameters can be combined with any one of the last two parameters, for example, as shown below. Figure 6 As shown, the 6GHz operation information field has added TSF difference information and beacon frame interval, such as... Figure 7 As shown, the 6GHz operation information field has added the TSF value and the beacon frame target transmission time.

[0067] In another implementation, the 6GHz operation information field needs to be supplemented with a target beacon frame transmission time difference value, which refers to the difference between the target beacon frame transmission time of the AP on 6GHz and the AP that transmits the 6GHz operation information field on 2.4 / 5GHz.

[0068] It is worth noting that the number of bytes occupied by each of the newly added parameters in the above figure can also be other numbers of bytes, such as TSF difference information occupying 1 byte.

[0069] In this embodiment, the AP adds TSF information and beacon frame information to the 6GHz operation information field. After an unassociated STA or a roaming STA learns the TSF information and beacon frame information of the AP operating in the 6GHz band, it can deduce the time when the AP operating in the 6GHz band sends beacon frames. It can effectively listen to the beacon frames sent by the AP operating in the 6GHz band on the corresponding 6GHz band channel, and thus learn the relevant BSS information and the clock synchronization information of the AP operating in the 6GHz band, which is beneficial for passive scanning.

[0070] S102, AP transmits the first frame on the 2.4GHz and / or 5GHz frequency band.

[0071] S201 and STA receive a first frame on the 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz band, the first frame containing address information of the AP operating on the 6 GHz band.

[0072] In S201, the STA receives the first frame described in S101 on the 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz band. The first frame contains a 6 GHz operation information field, which includes the main channel, channel bandwidth, channel center frequency, and address information of the AP operating on the 6 GHz band.

[0073] After receiving the 6GHz Operation Information field, if the value of the Channel Access field in the 6GHz Operation Information field is set to allow EDCA (enhanced distributed channel access) to preempt the channel on the 6GHz band, the STA will send a probe request frame to the AP on the primary channel indicated by the BSS information on the 6GHz band, and then obtain the probe response frame from the AP. It will then further associate with the AP through subsequent authentication request frames / authentication response frames, association request frames / association response frames, and other exchange processes.

[0074] S202, STA transmits the second frame on the 6GHz band. The receiving address of the second frame is the address in the address information or the sending address of the first frame / the BSSID field of the first frame.

[0075] In S202, as described in S201, the STA sends a second frame to the AP on the main channel indicated by the BSS information in the 6GHz band. The receiving address of the second frame is the address in the address information. For example, the STA performs active or passive scanning on the main channel indicated by the BSS information in the 6GHz band, such as sending a probe request frame to the AP. The receiving address of the probe request frame is set to the address information of the station operating in the 6GHz band in the 6GHz operation information field, such as the MAC address of the station operating in the 6GHz band or the BSSID of the BSS where the station operating in the 6GHz band is located.

[0076] In the second frame, the BSSID field is set to either the BSSID field in the 6GHz Operation Information field or the MAC address field of the AP.

[0077] Another possible way to set the receiving address of the probe request frame is as follows: when the indication information used to indicate whether the address information has appeared is a first value, such as 1, then the receiving address of the request frame is set to the address information of the AP working on the 6GHz band in the 6GHz operation information field, for example, the BSSID of the AP working on the 6GHz band or the MAC address of the AP working on the 6GHz band in the 6GHz operation information field. In the second frame, the BSSID field is set to either the BSSID field in the 6GHz Operation Information field or the MAC address field of the AP. When the indication information used to indicate whether the address information appears is a second value, such as 0, the receiving address of the request frame is set to the sending address of the frame that sent the 6GHz Operation Information field (excluding neighbor report frames or frames containing neighbor elements) or the BSSID of the AP that sent the 6GHz Operation Information field. When the first frame is a neighbor report frame or a frame containing neighbor elements, if the indication information used to indicate whether the address information appears is a second value, such as 0, then the address information of the AP operating on the 6GHz band does not appear in the 6GHz operation information field, indicating that the address information of the AP operating on the 6GHz band is, and the receiving address of the second frame is set to the BSSID in the neighbor element of the neighbor report frame or frame containing neighbor elements that sent the 6GHz operation information field.

[0078] The BSSID field in the second frame is set to the BSSID field of the frame that sends the HE Operation Element (except for neighbor reporting frames or frames containing neighbor elements), or the BSSID in the neighbor element of the neighbor reporting frame or frame containing the neighbor element that sends the 6GHz operation information field.

[0079] Another possible way to set the receive address for the probe request frame is as follows: When the AP operating on the 6GHz band is one of the BSSID sets (i.e., the AP is operating in virtual BSS state), the STA sends a probe request frame on the 6GHz band with the transmit BSSID as the receive address. In this case, the AP transmitting the BSSID will respond with a probe response frame containing multiple BSSID elements and other information not related to the transmit BSSID. After receiving the probe response frame from the AP transmitting the BSSID, the STA can further select a suitable virtual AP for association based on information about each AP, such as BSS load.

[0080] It is worth noting that if the channel access field in the 6GHz operation information field is set to not allow EDCA to preempt channels on the 6GHz band, the STA cannot actively preempt channels and send data packets to the AP using the EDCA method on the 6GHz band. It can only passively scan and associate with the AP, such as listening to beacon frames and then associating with the AP based on the information contained in the acquired beacon frames, or waiting for the AP to send a trigger frame. The STA then associates with the AP by sending an association request information frame in response to the trigger frame. The association request information frame includes frames such as probe request frame, authentication request frame, and association request frame.

[0081] The above-mentioned probe request frame / probe response frame, authentication request frame / authentication response frame, and association request frame / association response frame exchange process all involve a two-way handshake. That is, the STA first sends a request frame, then receives an acknowledgment frame from the AP, then the AP sends a response frame, and finally the STA replies with an acknowledgment frame.

[0082] When a neighboring AP operates in the 6GHz band and the BSSID of the BSS where the neighboring AP is located is a BSSID in a set of BSSIDs, i.e., the neighboring AP is operating in a virtual BSS state, the embodiments of this application also provide the following solutions: The AP transmits management frames (such as neighbor reporting frames) in frequency bands such as 2.4GHz / 5GHz / 6GHz (or other frequency bands). These management frames contain neighbor reporting elements, such as... Figure 8 As shown, it includes element ID, length, BSSID, BSSID information, operation set, channel number, PHY type, and optional sub-elements.

[0083] The operation set and the channel number jointly indicate the frequency band in which the neighboring AP operates, and the channel number is the primary channel in which the neighboring AP operates. Among them, such as Figure 9aAs shown, a co-location AP field is added to the BSSID information. Setting the co-location AP field to the first value, such as "1", indicates that the neighbor AP corresponding to the BSSID in the neighbor reporting element and the AP that sent the neighbor reporting element are co-located, that is, they share the same antenna connector (or the two APs are multi-band devices). Setting the co-location AP field to the second value, such as "0", indicates that the neighbor AP corresponding to the BSSID in the neighbor reporting element and the AP that sent the neighbor reporting element are not co-located, that is, they do not share the same antenna connector (or the two APs are not multi-band devices). Specifically, when the colocation AP field in the BSSID information is set to the first value, and when the neighboring AP is operating on the 6GHz band and the BSSID of the neighboring AP's BSS is a BSSID in the BSSID set, i.e., the neighboring AP is operating in virtual BSS state, Figure 8 The optional child elements within the neighbor reporting element contain multiple BSSID elements. Multiple BSSID elements, such as... Figure 10 As shown, it includes element ID, length, maximum BSSID indicator, and optional sub-elements, where the maximum BSSID indicates that the maximum number of BSSIDs contained in this multi-BSSID set is n, and the optional sub-elements include information about each non-transmitted BSSID. At this time... Figure 8 The BSSID in the neighbor reporting element shown is the reference BSSID for calculating the values ​​of each BSSID in the BSSID set. The receiving STA can calculate the value of each BSSID in the multi-BSSID set based on the reference BSSID and the maximum BSSID indication. The high 48-n bits of each BSSID in the multi-BSSID set are the same as the high 48-n bits of the reference BSSID, and the low n bits of each BSSID in the multi-BSSID set are the sum of the low n bits of the reference BSSID and the BSSID's sequence number n, multiplied by 2. n For the modulus calculation, please refer to the 802.11-2016 standard protocol for specific calculation methods.

[0084] Specifically, when the colocation AP field in the BSSID information is set to the first value, and when the neighboring AP is operating on the 6GHz band and the BSSID of the neighboring AP's BSS is a BSSID in the BSSID set, i.e., the neighboring AP is operating in virtual BSS state, Figure 8 The optional sub-elements of the neighbor reporting element that include multiple BSSID elements also need to include information indicating the transmission of BSSIDs. Alternatively, the neighbor reporting element may also include multiple BSSID sequence number elements, such as... Figure 11As shown, a multi-BSSID sequence element includes element ID, length, BSSID sequence number, DTIM period (optional), and DITM count (optional), where the BSSID sequence number indicates the position n of the BSSID in the multi-BSSID set. Figure 11 The BSSID sequence number in the data is the sequence number of the transmitted BSSID.

[0085] Another approach is to directly add a 1-byte BSSID sequence number or a 6-byte transport BSSID field to the neighbor reporting element.

[0086] In one possible implementation, Figure 9a In this context, the co-location AP can be extended to a field called the co-location multi-band AP field. The first value of this co-location multi-band AP field, such as 0, indicates that the reported AP is not a multi-band AP; the second value, such as 1, indicates that the reported AP is the first reported multi-band AP; the third value, such as 2, indicates that the reported AP is the last reported multi-band AP; the fourth value, such as 3, indicates that the reported AP is an intermediate reported multi-band AP (there may be multiple intermediate reported APs); and the fifth value, such as 4, indicates that the reported AP and the reporting AP are co-located.

[0087] In another possible implementation, Figure 9a In this context, "co-location AP" simply indicates whether the neighbor AP corresponding to the BSSID in the neighbor report element is co-located with the AP that sent the neighbor report element.

[0088] exist Figure 9b In the middle, a multi-band field is added to indicate whether the neighbor AP indicated by the BSSID in the neighbor reporting element supports multi-band devices, or whether it additionally supports 6GHz.

[0089] The AP being reported can also be called the neighbor AP or the AP indicated by the BSSID in the neighbor element. The reporting AP is the AP that transmits the neighbor reporting element.

[0090]

[0091] On the STA side, the STA receives a management frame (such as a neighbor reporting frame) sent by the AP, which contains a neighbor reporting element. If the co-located AP in the BSSID information field of the neighbor reporting element is set to 1, it indicates that the neighbor AP corresponding to the BSSID field is operating in the 6GHz band. The STA sends a unicast association request information frame on the channel indicated by the corresponding channel number in the 6GHz band using the BSSID, operation set, and channel number to the neighbor AP operating in the 6GHz band for association and communication. The association request information frame includes probe request frames, authentication request frames, association request frames, etc. If the co-located AP in the BSSID information field is set to 0, the STA continues to listen to the channel.

[0092] The methods described above are all based on prohibiting unassociated sites or sites in a roaming state from sending broadcast probe request frames. Another implementation prohibits unassociated sites or sites in a roaming state from sending broadcast probe request frames with the BSSID field being "wildcard BSSID" and / or the SSID element being "wildcard SSID". However, it allows unassociated sites or sites in a roaming state to send broadcast probe request frames with the SSID element being "BSSID field not being 'wildcard BSSID'" or "not 'wildcard SSID'". In this case, after surrounding APs receive the broadcast probe request frame, only APs that meet certain conditions will respond with a probe response frame, instead of all surrounding APs responding. These conditions are: 1. The AP's Extended Service Set (ESS) SSID matches the SSID of the received probe request frame; 2. The AP's BBSID matches the BSSID of the received probe request frame.

[0093] On the AP side: The AP's MAC address or BSSID is carried in frames containing the 6GHz information field, or the neighbor AP's MAC address or BSSID is carried in frames containing the neighbor reporting element. Alternatively, the SSID of the ESS where the neighbor AP is located can be carried in frames containing the neighbor reporting element, with the SSID element or SSID list element serving as a sub-element of the neighbor element.

[0094] On the STA side: The BSSID field in the probe request frame broadcast by the station must be set to the BSSID in the 6GHz information field, or the transmission address or BSSID field in the frame sending the 6GHz information field, or the BSSID in the neighbor reporting element, or the transmission BSSID indicated in the neighbor reporting element. And / or the SSID element in the broadcast probe request frame is set to the specified SSID, not the wildcard SSID, optionally further carrying an SSID list element, the specified SSID being derived from the SSID element or SSID list element included in the received frame carrying the neighbor reporting element.

[0095] The above embodiments of this application provide an information indication method; the following embodiments of this application provide an information indication device. It should be understood that the information indication device described in the embodiments of this application has any of the functions of the information indication device in the above method.

[0096] like Figure 12 As shown, an information indicating device includes: Processing unit 101 is used to generate a first frame, the first frame containing address information of a station operating on the 6GHz frequency band; transceiver unit 102 is used to transmit the first frame on the 2.4GHz and / or 5GHz frequency bands.

[0097] Figure 12 The information indicating device shown has any of the functions of the sending station (e.g., AP) in the above method, which will not be repeated here. For details, please refer to the description of the above method.

[0098] like Figure 13 As shown, an information indicating device includes: The transceiver unit 201 is configured to receive a first frame on the 2.5 GHz and / or 4 GHz band, the first frame containing address information of a station operating on the 6 GHz band; and to transmit a second frame on the 6 GHz band. Processing unit 202 is used to generate a second frame, wherein the receiving address of the second frame is the address in the address information; and to control transceiver unit 201 to transmit the second frame on the 6GHz frequency band.

[0099] Figure 13 The information indicating device shown has any of the functions of the receiving station (e.g., STA) in the above method, which will not be repeated here. For details, please refer to the description of the above method.

[0100] The information indicating device provided in the above-described embodiments of this application can be implemented in various product forms. For example, the information indicating device can be configured as a general-purpose processing system; for example, the information indicating device can be implemented using a general bus architecture; for example, the information indicating device can be implemented using an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit), etc. The following provides several possible product forms of the information indicating device according to the embodiments of this application. It should be understood that the following are merely examples and do not limit the possible product forms of the embodiments of this application to these.

[0101] Figure 14 This is a structural diagram of a possible product form of the information indication device described in the embodiments of this application.

[0102] As a possible product form, the information indicating device can be an information indicating equipment, which includes a processor 1402 and a transceiver 1404; optionally, the information indicating device may also include a storage medium 1403.

[0103] As another possible product form, the information indication device is also implemented by a general-purpose processor, commonly known as a chip. The general-purpose processor includes: a processor 1402 and a transceiver interface 1404 / transceiver pin 1404; optionally, the general-purpose processor may also include a storage medium 1403.

[0104] As another possible product form, the information indication device may also be implemented using one or more FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), controllers, state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware components, any other suitable circuits, or any combination of circuits capable of performing the various functions described throughout this application.

[0105] It should be understood that the term "and / or" in this article is merely a description of 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 article generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship.

[0106] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the method steps and units described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software, the steps and components of each embodiment have been generally described in terms of functionality in the foregoing description. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0107] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0108] In the embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the couplings or direct couplings or communication connections shown or discussed may be indirect couplings or communication connections through some interfaces, apparatuses, or units, or they may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms of connection.

[0109] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of the embodiments of this application, depending on actual needs.

[0110] Furthermore, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be implemented in hardware or as a software functional unit.

[0111] If the integrated unit is implemented as a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0112] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of various equivalent modifications or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this application, and these modifications or substitutions should all be covered within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A chip, characterized in that, The chip includes a processing circuit and a data interface. The processing circuit reads program instructions stored in the memory through the data interface to cause the chip to execute the following method: Generate a first frame, which includes a neighbor reporting element. The neighbor reporting element includes a BSSID field and a BSSID information field. The BSSID field indicates the neighboring AP. The BSSID information field includes a multi-band sub-field, which indicates whether the neighboring AP coexists with a 6GHz AP in a multi-band device. The first frame is transmitted on the 2.4 GHz band or the 5 GHz band.

2. The chip according to claim 1, characterized in that, The BSSID information field also includes a co-location AP subfield, which is used to indicate whether the neighboring AP co-located with the chip.

3. The chip according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The neighbor element also includes: element ID field, length field, operation set field, channel number field, and PHY type field.

4. The chip according to claim 3, characterized in that, The operation set field and the channel number field together indicate the channel on which the neighboring AP is operating.

5. The chip according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that, The channel number field indicates the primary channel on which the neighboring AP is operating.

6. The chip according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, The multi-band subfield facilitates the detection of the 6GHz AP by the receiving device.

7. A chip, characterized in that, The chip includes a processing circuit and a data interface. The processing circuit reads program instructions stored in the memory through the data interface to cause the chip to execute the following method: Receive a first frame, the first frame includes a neighbor reporting element, the neighbor reporting element includes a BSSID field and a BSSID information field, the BSSID field indicates the neighboring AP, the BSSID information field includes a multi-band sub-field, the multi-band field indicates whether the neighboring AP coexists with a 6GHz AP in a multi-band device; Determine whether the neighboring AP is co-located with a 6GHz AP in a multi-band device.

8. The chip according to claim 7, characterized in that, The BSSID information field also includes a co-location AP subfield, which is used to indicate whether the neighboring AP is co-located with the chip that sent the first frame.

9. The chip according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that, The neighbor element also includes: element ID field, length field, operation set field, channel number field, and PHY type field.

10. The chip according to claim 9, characterized in that, The operation set field and the channel number field together indicate the channel on which the neighboring AP is operating.

11. The chip according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that, The channel number field indicates the primary channel on which the neighboring AP is operating.

12. The chip according to any one of claims 7-11, characterized in that, The 6GHz AP was found based on the multi-band subfield.

Images