Channel access method and communication apparatus

Abstract

To provide a channel access method and a communication apparatus in the field of wireless fidelity technologies.SOLUTION: A method includes a step of sending, by a first access point, a management frame to a first device. The management frame includes first indication information. The first indication information indicates a first reserved resource to which first traffic is allowed to make contention-based access, and the first reserved resource includes only a time-frequency resource reserved for the first traffic. The method also includes the first device initiating channel access on the first reserved resource and transmitting the first traffic. Because the first reserved resource is specially reserved for the first traffic, traffic other than the first traffic does not make contention-based access to the first reserved resource. In this way, an opportunity for the first traffic to access a channel is increased.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Cross - reference to Related Applications This application claims priority based on Chinese Patent Application No. 202010820393.6, entitled "CHANNEL ACCESS METHOD AND COMMUNICATION APPARATUS", filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration on August 14, 2020, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] This application relates to the field of wireless fidelity technology, and in particular, to a channel access method and a communication apparatus.

Background Art

[0003] WLAN operates in an unlicensed frequency band. In other words, any device that meets the wireless specifications can transmit or receive data on this frequency band. To reduce collisions between devices within a WLAN, it is stipulated that all devices within the WLAN can communicate by using a carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) mechanism. Specifically, before transmitting data, all devices within the WLAN can actively initiate a channel access procedure, and then monitor the channel state by using the CSMA / CA mechanism to determine whether the channel is idle. The channel is used to transmit data only when the channel is idle. If the channel is not idle, this indicates that the channel is being used by other devices and is not being used to transmit data. To shorten the transmission delay of traffic, enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) technology has been further introduced. However, this causes more serious traffic collisions and longer traffic delays.

[0004] Therefore, currently, methods for reducing traffic collisions have been proposed. In one method, an access point (AP) can send quiet time period setup frames to all terminals. Each terminal can determine whether to back off after receiving the frame. However, if the terminal does not actively back off, traffic collisions still exist and traffic delay still cannot be shortened. In another method, the channel is used based on user priority. For example, in the case of a slot designated for a specific user, only the specific user is permitted to access the channel, and in the case of a slot not designated for the user, all users can compete. This can ensure that high-priority users obtain more opportunities to access the channel, and the traffic transmission delay of high-priority users is shortened. Thus, when a user is set to high priority, the low-priority traffic of the user has more opportunities than the high-priority traffic of other users. This is unfair to the high-priority traffic of other users and cannot meet the traffic with high delay requirements.

Summary of the Invention

[0005] This application provides a channel access method and a communication device for shortening channel access delay and meeting low-delay traffic requirements.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] According to a first aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a channel access method. The method can be performed by a first communication device. The first communication device can be a communication device or a communication device that supports a communication device to implement the functions required by the method, for example, a chip system. Hereinafter, an example in which the communication device is a first device will be described. The first device can be an AP or an STA. The method includes the following steps.

[0007] The first device receives a management frame from the first AP, the management frame includes first indication information, the first indication information indicates at least one first reserved resource for which the first traffic is permitted contention-based access, and the at least one first reserved resource includes only time-frequency resources reserved for the first traffic. Then, the first device starts channel access on the at least one first reserved resource and transmits the first traffic.

[0008] In this embodiment of the present application, the at least one first reserved resource includes only time-frequency resources reserved for the first traffic. The time-frequency resources are reserved by the first AP for the first traffic for contention-based access. Since the at least one first reserved resource is specially reserved for the first traffic, it can be considered that traffic other than the first traffic does not access the at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis. In other words, traffic other than the first traffic is quiet on the at least one first reserved resource. In this way, traffic other than the first traffic does not contend with the first traffic for the at least one first reserved resource. Therefore, the opportunity for the first traffic to access the channel can be increased. In addition, after each access to the channel, the first device can continue to transmit or schedule the first traffic on the at least one first reserved resource, thereby reducing the transmission delay of the first traffic.

[0009] In a possible implementation form, at least one first reserved resource is several time-frequency resources during a target beacon transmission time (TBTT). For example, at least one first reserved resource can be a time period of the entire channel, or can be a time period of several resource units (RUs) of the channel.

[0010] In a possible implementation form, the AP is an AP within a multi-link device (MLD) AP. The first AP operates on multiple links. The first indication information indicates the time-frequency resources of one of the multiple links, or the first indication information indicates some of the time-frequency resources of the first link among the multiple links. This solution can minimize the impact of resource reservation on the channel usage of other traffic.

[0011] In a possible implementation form, the interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources r is determined based on the delay requirement of the first traffic, and the duration occupied by each first reserved resource is determined based on the traffic volume of the first traffic. Since the multiple first reserved resources are determined based on the actual delay requirement and the actual traffic volume of the first traffic, the multiple first reserved resources can meet the delay requirement of the first traffic and can guarantee the appropriate transmission of the first traffic.

[0012] In a possible implementation form, the management frame includes second indication information. The second indication information indicates at least one second reserved resource for which second traffic is permitted contention-based access. The at least one second reserved resource includes only time-frequency resources reserved for the second traffic. The at least one second reserved resource does not overlap with the at least one first reserved resource. Since multiple types of low-latency traffic may exist on the network, the AP can reserve resources for each type of traffic in order to meet the latency requirements of each type of low-latency traffic.

[0013] In a possible implementation form, T r is such that T r ≤ t delay / 2 is satisfied, where t delay is the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic. In this solution, the interval between two adjacent first reserved resources is determined based on the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic. Even when the first traffic is non-periodic burst traffic and a small amount of resources are reserved for the first traffic, the latency requirements of the burst first traffic can be met. Since it is not necessary to reserve a large amount of reserved resources for the first traffic, waste of resources can also be avoided.

[0014] In a possible implementation form, the method includes a step in which a first device receives an action frame from a first AP, where the action frame indicates a third reserved resource and instructs the first device to continue first traffic on the third reserved resource. The start time of the third reserved resource is after the end time of the first reserved resource within at least one first reserved resource. The action frame is transmitted before the end time of the first reserved resource, and the transmission duration of the traffic volume of the first traffic is longer than the duration occupied by the first reserved resource. Since the first traffic may have other interferences on the first reserved resource, the first traffic cannot be transmitted during the duration occupied by the first reserved resource. In this solution, the first AP triggers a temporary reserved resource for the first traffic on the first reserved resource, that is, the third reserved resource, so that the first traffic can continue to be transmitted on the third reserved resource to ensure that the transmission of the first traffic can be completed.

[0015] In a possible implementation form, the first indication information further indicates that the first traffic is allowed to access the partial frequency domain resource within at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first indication information further indicates that the partial frequency domain resource within at least one first reserved resource is used for scheduling or transmitting the first traffic. Since the first AP occupies a wide channel and the resources reserved for the first traffic are all the frequency domain resources of the channel, there may be a waste of resources. In this solution, it is stipulated that the first traffic and the remaining traffic can reuse the time domain resources of the reserved resources and use the frequency domain resources of the reserved resources separately. This can improve the resource utilization rate and also improve the traffic transmission efficiency of the entire system. For example, when transmitting the first downlink traffic, the AP may simultaneously transmit other traffic in the same physical frame by using different RUs.

[0016] In a possible implementation form, the management frame is a beacon frame, an association response frame, a probe response frame, or an action frame. The specific implementation form of the management frame is not limited to this embodiment of the present application and is flexible.

[0017] In a possible implementation form, the first indication information is carried in the first element field and / or the quiet element field included in the management frame. In this solution, the first indication information is carried within the quiet element field and is applicable to terminals prior to 802.11be (which may also be referred to as legacy terminals). The first indication information is carried in the first element field. The first element field may be a newly defined field and is applicable to 802.11be terminals or 802.11be next-generation terminals (collectively referred to as non-legacy terminals). The first indication information is carried within the first element field and the quiet element field and may be applicable to scenarios such as terminals prior to 802.11be and 802.11be terminals.

[0018] In a possible implementation form, there are N quiet element fields, and the N quiet element fields correspond one-to-one to N first reserved resources. In this solution, a quiet interval corresponding to the N first reserved resources reserved for the first traffic is set by using the quiet element fields so that the legacy terminal is quiet in the resources reserved for the first traffic, interference to non-legacy terminals caused by the legacy terminal is avoided, and the low-latency requirement for transmitting the first traffic by the non-legacy terminal is guaranteed.

[0019] In a possible implementation form, the management frame includes a resource reservation element field and a quiet element field. When the first device is a legacy terminal, the first device is silent based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field, or when the first device is a non-legacy terminal, the first device sets at least one first reserved resource based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field. The legacy terminal cannot identify the resource reservation element field. In this solution, the first indication information is carried within the resource reservation element field and the quiet element field. Therefore, the quiet element field can be set so that the legacy terminal maintains quiet on the resources reserved for the traffic of the non-legacy terminal. In other words, the resources are reserved for the traffic of the non-legacy terminal by using one signal, and the legacy terminal is quiet on the reserved resources.

[0020] In a possible implementation form, the first device is a second AP located within the same AP cooperation group as the first AP. The first traffic includes the traffic between the first AP and the second AP. In this case, the time point when the first device transmits the management frame is T B +m×T r where T B is the transmission time point when the first AP transmits the management frame, m is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and / or the resource reservation period of the cell served by the first device is T rIt is set to this. This solution may be applicable to communication between APs. Any AP within the cooperation group can adjust the resources that can be reserved by the AP based on the management frame transmitted by the first AP (primary AP), that is, based on the resources reserved by the primary AP for the first traffic. In this way, the reserved resources of the APs within the cooperation group can be aligned, and the AP will recognize the resource position to back off. This avoids mutual interference between APs and shortens the traffic transmission delay between APs.

[0021] In a possible implementation form, the method further includes a step in which the first device transmits a first request message to the first AP, and the first request message is used to request the first AP to reserve resources for the first traffic of the first device. This solution can avoid the waste of resources caused by reserving fixed resources for the first traffic.

[0022] In a possible implementation form, when the first device determines that the status of the network for transmitting the first traffic meets a preset trigger condition, the first device transmits the first request message to the first AP, and the preset trigger condition is that the transmission delay of a plurality of data packets exceeds a preset threshold. This solution provides an opportunity for the first device to apply for reserved resources, that is, an opportunity for the first device to apply for reserved resources only when the status of the network is poor. This avoids applying unnecessary reserved resources.

[0023] For example, the plurality of data packets are L consecutive data packets. In this solution, the network status is determined based on the transmission delay of the L consecutive data packets. If the transmission delay of the L consecutive data packets exceeds a delay threshold, it indicates that the transmission delay of each of the L data packets exceeds the delay requirement, and the network status may be considered poor.

[0024] For example, the plurality of data packets are L consecutive data packets among P data packets. In this solution, the network status is determined based on the transmission delay of the L consecutive data packets within the P data packets. If the transmission delay of the L consecutive data packets within the P data packets exceeds a delay threshold, it indicates that the transmission delay of some of the data packets within the P data packets exceeds the delay threshold and the transmission delay of some data packets does not exceed the delay threshold. The network status may be considered unstable. Overall, the network status is poor.

[0025] For example, exceeding a preset threshold further includes reaching K times the preset threshold. In this solution, the network status is determined based on the delay in transmitting data on the time-frequency resource. For example, it is assumed that the STA needs to transmit 10 data packets. After continuously transmitting 3 data packets on the same time-frequency resource, due to the delay, the STA does not have an opportunity to transmit the remaining data packets. In this case, the network status may be considered poor. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the fact that the transmission delay of a data packet exceeds a delay threshold may be considered as the transmission delay of the data packet reaching K times the delay threshold.

[0026] According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a channel access method. The method can be performed by a second communication device. The second communication device can be a communication device or a communication apparatus, such as a chip system, that supports a communication device to implement functions required for the method. Hereinafter, an example in which the communication device is a first AP will be described. The method includes the following steps.

[0027] The first AP generates a management frame and transmits the management frame to a first device. The management frame includes first indication information. The first indication information indicates at least one first reserved resource for which first traffic is permitted to perform contention-based access. The at least one first reserved resource includes only time-frequency resources reserved for the first traffic.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the reserved time-frequency resources are some time-frequency resources during a TBTT. For example, the at least one first reserved resource may be a time period of the entire channel or a time period of some RUs of the channel.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the first AP is an AP within a multi-link device (MLD AP). The first AP operates on a plurality of links. The first indication information indicates the time-frequency resources of one of the plurality of links, or the first indication information indicates some time-frequency resources of the first link among the plurality of links.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources r is determined based on the delay requirement of the first traffic, and the duration occupied by each first reserved resource is determined based on the traffic volume of the first traffic.

[0031] In a possible implementation, T r is T r ≦t delaySatisfies / 2, and t delay is the maximum delay allowed by the first traffic.

[0032] In a possible implementation, the method includes a step where a first AP sends an action frame to a first device, the action frame indicates a third reserved resource, and indicates to the first device to continue the first traffic on the third reserved resource. The start time of the third reserved resource is after the end time of the first reserved resource within at least one first reserved resource. The action frame is sent before the end time of the first reserved resource, and the transmission duration of the traffic volume of the first traffic is longer than the duration occupied by the first reserved resource.

[0033] In a possible implementation, the first indication information further indicates that the first traffic is permitted to access a partial frequency region resource within at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first indication information further indicates that a partial frequency region resource within at least one first reserved resource is used for scheduling or transmitting the first traffic.

[0034] In a possible implementation, the management frame is a Beacon frame, an association response frame, a probe response frame, or an action frame.

[0035] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is carried in a first element field and / or a quiet element field included in the management frame.

[0036] In a possible implementation, there are N quiet element fields, and the N quiet element fields correspond one-to-one to N first reserved resources.

[0037] In a possible implementation form, the management frame includes a resource reservation element field and a quiet element field. When the first device is a legacy terminal, the first device performs silence based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field, or when the first device is a non-legacy terminal, the first device sets at least one first reserved resource based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field.

[0038] In a possible implementation form, the first device is a second AP located within the same AP cooperation group as the first AP. The first traffic includes the traffic between the first AP and the second AP. When the second AP is the primary AP, the time when the first AP transmits the management frame is T B +m×T r where T B is the transmission time when the primary AP transmits the management frame, m is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and / or the resource reservation period of the cell served by the first device is set to T r

[0039] For the technical effects brought about by the second aspect or possible implementation forms of the second aspect, please refer to the description of the technical effects of the first aspect or possible implementation forms of the first aspect.

[0040] According to a third aspect, a communication device is provided. For example, the communication device is the aforementioned first device or a device arranged in the first device. The communication device may be configured to perform the method according to any one of the first aspect or possible implementation forms of the first aspect. Specifically, the communication device may include a module configured to perform the method according to any one of the first aspect or possible implementation forms of the first aspect. For example, it includes a processing module and a transceiver module coupled to each other. For example, the communication device is the aforementioned first device.

[0041] ​The transmission / reception module is configured to receive a management frame from a first AP, the management frame includes first indication information, the first indication information indicates at least one first reserved resource for which first traffic is permitted contention-based access, and the at least one first reserved resource includes only time-frequency resources reserved for the first traffic.

[0042] The transmission / reception module is further configured to start channel access on at least one first reserved resource determined by the processing module and transmit the first traffic.

[0043] In a possible implementation form, the at least one first reserved resource is some time-frequency resources during the TBTT. For example, the at least one first reserved resource may be a channel of the entire bandwidth, or some RUs of the channel.

[0044] In a possible implementation form, the AP is an AP within the MLD AP. The first AP operates on a plurality of links. The first indication information indicates the time-frequency resources of one of the plurality of links, or the first indication information indicates some time-frequency resources of the first link among the plurality of links.

[0045] In a possible implementation form, the interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources r is determined based on the delay requirement of the first traffic, and the duration occupied by each first reserved resource is determined based on the traffic volume of the first traffic.

[0046] In a possible implementation form, the management frame includes second indication information. The second indication information indicates at least one second reserved resource for which second traffic is permitted to perform contention-based access. The at least one second reserved resource includes only time-frequency resources reserved for the second traffic. The at least one second reserved resource does not overlap with the at least one first reserved resource.

[0047] In a possible implementation form, T r is such that T r ≤ t delay / 2, where t delay is the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic.

[0048] In a possible implementation form, the transceiver module is further configured to receive an action frame from the first AP. The action frame indicates a third reserved resource and indicates to the first device to continue the first traffic on the third reserved resource. The start time of the third reserved resource is after the end time of the first reserved resource within the at least one first reserved resource. The action frame is transmitted before the end time of the first reserved resource, and the transmission duration of the traffic volume of the first traffic is longer than the duration occupied by the first reserved resource.

[0049] In a possible implementation form, the first indication information further indicates that the first traffic is permitted to access the partial frequency domain resource within the at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first indication information further indicates that the partial frequency domain resource within the at least one first reserved resource is used for scheduling or transmitting the first traffic.

[0050] In a possible implementation form, the management frame is a Beacon frame, an association response frame, a probe response frame, or an action frame.

[0051] In a possible implementation form, the first indication information is carried in the first element field and / or the quiet element field included in the management frame.

[0052] In a possible implementation form, there are N quiet element fields, and the N quiet element fields correspond one-to-one to N first reserved resources.

[0053] In a possible implementation form, the management frame includes a resource reservation element field and a quiet element field. When the communication device is a legacy terminal, the processing module is configured to perform silence based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field, or when the communication device is a non-legacy terminal, the processing module is configured to set at least one first reserved resource based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field.

[0054] In a possible implementation form, the communication device is a second AP located in the same AP cooperation group as the first AP. The first traffic includes the traffic between the first AP and the second AP. The processing module is further configured to determine that the time when the communication device transmits the management frame is T B +m×T r and T B is the time when the first AP transmits the management frame, m is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and / or the processing module is further configured to determine that the resource reservation period of the cell served by the communication device is set to T r

[0055] ​In a possible implementation form, the transceiver module is further configured to transmit a first request message to the first AP by the first device, and the first request message is used to request the first AP to reserve resources for the first traffic of the communication device.

[0056] In a possible implementation form, when the processing module determines that the status of the network for transmitting the first traffic meets a preset trigger condition, the transceiver module transmits the first request message to the first AP, and the preset trigger condition is that the transmission delay of a plurality of data packets exceeds a preset threshold.

[0057] For example, the plurality of data packets are L consecutive data packets.

[0058] For example, the plurality of data packets are L consecutive data packets among P data packets.

[0059] For example, exceeding the preset threshold further includes reaching K times the preset threshold.

[0060] For the technical effects brought about by the third aspect or possible implementation forms of the third aspect, please refer to the description of the technical effects of the first aspect or possible implementation forms of the first aspect.

[0061] According to a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided. For example, the communication device is the aforementioned first AP or a device disposed on the first AP. The communication device may be configured to perform the method according to any one of the second aspect or possible implementation forms of the second aspect. Specifically, the communication device may include a module configured to perform the method according to any one of the second aspect or possible implementation forms of the second aspect. For example, the communication device includes a processing module and a transceiver module coupled to each other. For example, the communication device is the aforementioned first device.

[0062] The processing module is configured to generate a management frame. The transceiver module is configured to transmit the management frame to a first device. The management frame includes first indication information. The first indication information indicates at least one first reserved resource for which first traffic is permitted contention-based access. The at least one first reserved resource includes only time-frequency resources reserved for the first traffic.

[0063] In a possible implementation, the reserved time-frequency resources are some time-frequency resources at a TBTT. For example, the at least one first reserved resource may be a time period for the entire channel, or may be a time period for some resource units (RUs) of the channel.

[0064] In a possible implementation, the first AP is an AP within a multi-link device (MLD AP). The first AP operates on a plurality of links. The first indication information indicates the time-frequency resources of one of the plurality of links, or the first indication information indicates some of the time-frequency resources of a first link among the plurality of links.

[0065] In a possible implementation, the interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources r is determined based on the delay requirement of the first traffic, and the duration occupied by each first reserved resource is determined based on the traffic volume of the first traffic.

[0066] In a possible implementation, T r is such that T r ≦t delay / 2, where t delay is the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic.

[0067] In a possible implementation form, the transmission and reception module is further configured to transmit an action frame to a first device, the action frame indicates a third reserved resource, indicates to the first device to continue first traffic on the third reserved resource, the start time of the third reserved resource is after the end time of the first reserved resource in at least one first reserved resource, the action frame is transmitted before the end time of the first reserved resource, and the transmission duration of the traffic volume of the first traffic is longer than the duration occupied by the first reserved resource.

[0068] In a possible implementation form, the first indication information further indicates that the first traffic is permitted to access a partial frequency region resource in at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first indication information further indicates that a partial frequency region resource in at least one first reserved resource is used for scheduling or transmitting the first traffic.

[0069] In a possible implementation form, the management frame is a Beacon frame, an association response frame, a probe response frame, or an action frame.

[0070] In a possible implementation form, the first indication information is carried in a first element field and / or a quiet element field included in the management frame.

[0071] In a possible implementation form, there are N quiet element fields, and the N quiet element fields correspond one-to-one to N first reserved resources.

[0072] In a possible implementation form, the management frame includes a resource reservation element field and a quiet element field. When the first device is a legacy terminal, the processing module is configured to be silent based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field, or when the first device is a non-legacy terminal, the processing module is configured to set at least one first reserved resource based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field.

[0073] In a possible implementation form, the communication device is the first AP located within the AP cooperation group. The first traffic includes the traffic between the communication device and the second AP. When the second AP is the primary AP, the processing module is further configured to determine that the time when the communication device transmits the management frame is T B +m×T r where T B is the time when the second AP transmits the management frame, m is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and / or the processing module is further configured to determine that the resource reservation period of the cell served by the communication device is set to T r

[0074] Regarding the technical effects achieved by the fourth aspect or possible implementation forms of the fourth aspect, please refer to the description of the technical effects of the second aspect or possible implementation forms of the second aspect.

[0075] ​According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device may be the communication device in the third aspect or the fourth aspect in the embodiment, or a chip disposed in the communication device in the third aspect or the fourth aspect. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor, and optionally further includes a memory. The memory is configured to store a computer program, instructions, or data. The processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads a computer program, instructions, or data, the communication device is enabled to perform the method performed by the first device or the first AP in the method embodiment in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0076] It should be understood that the communication interface can be implemented by using an antenna, a feeder, a codec, etc. within the communication device. Alternatively, when the communication device is a chip disposed in the first AP, the communication interface may be an input / output interface of the chip, for example, an input / output pin. The communication device may further include a transceiver configured to communicate between the communication device and other devices. For example, when the communication device is the first device, the other device is the first AP, or when the communication device is the first AP, the other device is the first device.

[0077] According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system. The chip system includes a processor, and may further include a memory, and is configured to implement the method performed by the communication device in the third aspect or the fourth aspect. In a possible implementation form, the chip system further includes a memory configured to store program instructions and / or data. The chip system may include a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0078] According to a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system. The communication system includes the communication device in the third aspect and the communication device in the fourth aspect.

[0079] According to an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed, the method performed by the first device in the foregoing aspect is implemented, or the method performed by the first AP in the foregoing aspect is implemented.

[0080] According to a ninth aspect, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product includes computer program code. When the computer program code is executed, the method performed by the first device in the foregoing aspect is performed, or the method performed by the first AP in the foregoing aspect is performed.

[0081] For the beneficial effects of the fifth aspect to the ninth aspect and the implementation forms of the fifth aspect to the ninth aspect, please refer to the description of the beneficial effects of the method in the first aspect or the second aspect and the implementation forms of the first aspect or the second aspect.

Brief Description of the Drawings

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Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0083] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0084] Embodiments of the present application may be applicable to a wireless local area network (WLAN) scenario and may also be applicable to IEEE 802.11 system standards, such as 802.11a / b / g standards, 802.11n standards, 802.11ac standards, 802.11ax standards, or next-generation standards, such as 802.11be standards or further next-generation standards. Alternatively, embodiments of the present application may be applied to a wireless local area network system, such as an internet of things (IoT) network or a vehicle to X (V2X) network. Certainly, embodiments of the present application may be further applied to other possible communication systems, such as a long term evolution (LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (TDD), a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, and future 5G communication systems.

[0085] For example, FIG. 1 is a diagram of a WLAN network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable. In FIG. 1, for example, the WLAN includes two wireless access points (APs) (AP 1 and AP 2, respectively). Each of AP 1 and AP 2 can be associated with one or more stations (STAs). As shown in FIG. 1, for example, each of AP 1 and AP 2 is associated with two STAs. For example, the STAs associated with AP 1 include STA 1 and STA 2, and the STAs associated with AP 2 include STA 3 and STA 4. Any AP can schedule wireless resources for associated STAs and / or non-associated STAs, and transmit data for the STAs on the scheduled wireless resources. For example, AP 1 can schedule wireless resources for STA 1 and STA 2, and transmit data including uplink data information and / or downlink data information for STA 1 and STA 2 on the scheduled wireless resources. AP 2 can schedule wireless resources for STA 3 and STA 4, and transmit data including uplink data information and / or downlink data information for STA 3 and STA 4 on the scheduled wireless resources. In addition, this embodiment of the present application can be applicable to communication between APs. For example, APs can communicate with each other through possible data links. This embodiment of the present application is also applicable to communication between STAs. In addition, the APs and STAs in this embodiment of the present application may be wireless transmission devices that support simultaneous transmission on multiple links, and are, for example, referred to as multi-link devices (MLDs) or multi-band devices (MBDs), and have higher transmission efficiency and higher throughput.In this specification, an AP that supports communication on multiple links may be referred to as an MLD AP, and an STA that supports communication on multiple links, that is, a multi-link STA, may be referred to as a non-Access Point Station (non-AP STA). It should be understood that the number of APs and STAs in FIG. 1 is only an example, and there may be more or fewer.

[0086] FIG. 2 is a diagram of a network architecture for multi-link communication according to an embodiment of the present application. In a wireless local area network, a multi-link device communicates with other devices on multiple links. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of communication between a multi-link AP device 101 and a multi-link STA device 102. The multi-link AP device 101 includes the affiliated AP 101-1 and the affiliated AP 101-2. The multi-link STA device 102 includes the affiliated STA 102-1 and the affiliated STA 102-2. The multi-link AP device 101 and the multi-link STA device 102 communicate simultaneously on Link 1 and Link 2.

[0087] The multi-link device in the embodiment of the present application may be a single-antenna device or a multi-antenna device. For example, the multi-link device may be a device having more than two antennas. The number of antennas included in the multi-link device is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment of the present application, the multi-link device may enable the same type of access traffic to be transmitted on different links, or even enable the same data packet to be transmitted on different links. Alternatively, the multi-link device may not enable the same type of access traffic to be transmitted on different links, but may enable different types of access traffic to be transmitted on different links. The multi-link device may operate on frequency bands of sub-1 GHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, and high-frequency 60 GHz.

[0088] The STA in this embodiment of the present application can be a user terminal, user device, access device, subscriber station, subscriber unit, mobile station, user agent, user device, or other device with a wireless communication function. The user terminal can be a device with a wireless communication function, for example, a handheld device, in-vehicle device, wearable device, computing device, and other processing devices connected to a wireless modem. Alternatively, the user terminal can be a user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), terminal, terminal equipment, portable communication device, handheld device, portable computing device, entertainment device, game device or game system, global positioning system device, or any other suitable device in various forms configured to perform network communication via a wireless medium. For example, the STA can be a router, switch, bridge, etc. In this specification, for simplicity of description, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as a station or STA.

[0089] The AP in this embodiment of the present application is a device that is arranged in a wireless communication network and provides a wireless communication function to the STA associated with the AP. The AP can be used as a hub of the communication system and can also be a communication device such as a base station, router, gateway, repeater, communication server, switch, or bridge. The base station can include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, etc. In this specification, for simplicity of description, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as AP.

[0090] WLAN operates in a license-free frequency band. In other words, any device that meets the wireless specifications can transmit or receive data on this frequency band. However, there are multiple devices in a WLAN. When multiple devices use the same channel to transmit data during the same time period, collisions are clearly caused, and the multiple devices cannot transmit data. To reduce collisions between devices within a WLAN, it is stipulated that all devices within the WLAN can communicate by using the carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) mechanism. Specifically, before transmitting data, all devices within the WLAN can actively initiate the channel access procedure, and then monitor the channel state by using the CSMA / CA mechanism to determine whether the channel is idle. The channel is used to transmit data only when the channel is idle. If the channel is not idle, it indicates that the channel is being used by other devices and the channel is not being used to transmit data.

[0091] Specifically, when a device in a WLAN detects that the channel is in an idle state, the device does not immediately transmit data but starts transmitting data after a certain time period. For example, after the channel idle time exceeds the distributed inter-frame space (DIFS), the device can randomly select a value (which can be abbreviated as a random number) from the contention window (CW), that is, [0, CW]. The random number is decreased by 1 for each slot time of the channel idle time. When the random number is decreased to 0, the device starts transmitting data. The possible values of CW include 31, 63, 127, 255, 511, and 1023. The corresponding backoff times are 279 microseconds, 567 microseconds, 1143 microseconds, 2295 microseconds, 4599 microseconds, and 9207 microseconds, respectively.

[0092] However, when a large number of users exist in a WLAN, multiple users may start the CSMA / CA-based channel access procedure simultaneously, and collisions may still occur. For example, when multiple users simultaneously detect that the channel is idle and multiple users select the same random number from the contention window, multiple users will select to transmit data at the same time. Obviously, the collision causes the failure of data transmission. In this case, if any one of the multiple users determines a data transmission failure, the user may be considered to collide with other users, and the user may choose to increase the maximum value in the CW, as a result, the probability of collision during the next channel access is reduced. For example, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the relationship between the contention window and retransmission in a WLAN in the CSMA / CA mechanism. For example, when there is no retransmission, that is, before the user starts to transmit data, the random number selected from the CW can be 31. When the user fails to transmit data for the first time, the user may increase the maximum value in the CW. In other words, the user can expand the CW. For example, the maximum value in the CW can be increased to 63. In this case, the range of the random number selected by the user from the CW is large, and the probability of collision during the next channel access can be reduced. If a data transmission failure still occurs after the user expands the contention window, that is, when retransmission is required, it should be understood that the user can continue to expand the CW. For example, the maximum value of the CW can be increased to 127. Similarly, when the user fails in retransmission more than 5 times, the maximum value of the CW can be increased to 1023.

[0093] It should be understood that when there are more users within a WLAN, the collision probability is higher. Correspondingly, it can be seen from FIG. 3 that a larger average CW indicates a longer time for a user to access the channel. In particular, in an indoor environment such as an office or home, there are usually two or more WLANs, and there is a competitive relationship between the in-band WLANs. This causes a longer channel access delay for users. When each user within a WLAN competes for the channel, each user randomly selects a random number from the CW, and the user can further adjust the range of the CW. Therefore, the delay for each user to access the channel to send data is random. In other words, the delay is indefinite. In other words, the channel access delay of the data packets transmitted by each user within a WLAN at the WLAN air interface exhibits a long-tail distribution. Generally, the access delay of most data packets is smaller than the average delay, and the access delay of a small number of data packets is very long. In the case of traffic that requires low latency, the delay of the data packets cannot meet the traffic with higher latency requirements. This causes unstable traffic delay and insufficient user experience.

[0094] To provide better quality of service (QoS) guarantees for traffic with higher latency requirements (which may be referred to as high-priority traffic in this application), IEEE 802.11 introduces an EDCA contention queue. EDCA increases the maximum value that can be taken in the CW. For example, the maximum value of the CW may be 7 or 15. That is, EDCA narrows the range of the maximum and minimum values of the CW. This can increase the probability that high-priority traffic competes for the channel and shorten the latency of high-priority traffic. For example, the range of CW values for the highest-priority voice queue may be defined as [7,15]. The range of CW values for the second-highest-priority video queue may be defined as [15,31]. Although EDCA can increase the probability that high-priority traffic accesses the channel and shorten the latency of high-priority traffic, contention and collisions of high-priority traffic still exist. In addition, the decrease in CW causes more frequent collisions of high-priority traffic. Specifically, with the emergence of more and more types of high-priority traffic, for example, in the IEEE 802.11 Real Time Application (RTA) interest group, multiple low-latency scenarios such as real-time online games, real-time video, industrial wireless, and unmanned aircraft control are defined. The latency requirement range for these traffics is 1 ms to 100 ms, which far exceeds the latency requirement (300 ms) of the highest-priority traffic voice in the EDCA mechanism. The EDCA mechanism is still used, and collisions between high-priority traffics are more serious.

[0095] Therefore, in 802.11ax, a method for reducing collisions at the granularity of a single transmission has been proposed. For example, a method for reducing point-to-point communication collisions has been proposed. The point-to-point communication in this specification refers to communication between a plurality of terminals without an AP or a central control node, for example, point-to-point (P2P) communication, and also includes ad-hoc communication. Compared with P2P communication, in this specification, a network including an AP or a central control node can be referred to as an AP-STA network (communication). When both an AP-STA network and a P2P network exist, some terminals are within the two networks and are referred to as P2P terminals. Other terminals are within the AP-STA network and are referred to as non-P2P terminals. When a P2P terminal notifies a non-P2P terminal within the AP-STA network that P2P communication may exist in a future period, the non-P2P terminal may choose to back off the channel used for point-to-point transmission. This can shorten the channel access delay of the P2P terminal in point-to-point communication. Hereinafter, an example of point-to-point communication (P2P communication) will be described. Regardless of whether it is a P2P network or an AP-STA network, the terminal is a terminal in the 802.11ax standard (abbreviated as a HE terminal, that is, it can be referred to as a Wi-Fi 6 device or an 802.11be terminal). Similarly, the AP in the 802.11ax standard can also be referred to as a HE AP. In contrast, a terminal prior to the 802.11ax standard can be referred to as a legacy terminal.

[0096] Since non-P2P terminals cannot understand P2P scheduling information, there may be interference between two different systems (i.e., the point-to-point network and the AP-STA network). In 802.11ax, it is specified that before starting P2P communication, a terminal may send a quiet time period (QTP) request to the HE AP. After receiving the request, the HE AP may send a quiet time period setup frame to all other terminals. The HE terminal that receives the frame may choose to back off in the subsequent time period to avoid collisions in P2P communication.

[0097] For ease of understanding, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of P2P communication based on quiet time period protection according to an embodiment of the present application. For example, FIG. 4 shows four STAs, namely, STA 1, STA 2, STA 3, and STA 4. STA 1, STA 2, and STA 3 are all HE terminals. STA 1 and STA 3 are located in the P2P network, STA 2 is not located in the P2P network, and STA 4 is a legacy terminal.

[0098] As can be seen from FIG. 4, before starting P2P communication, STA 1 sends a quiet time period request to the AP. After receiving the quiet time period request, the AP sends a quiet time period response message, i.e., a QTP response, to STA 1. Also, the AP sends a quiet time period setup (QTP Setup) frame to all terminals (STA 1 to STA 4). Since STA 1 requests to perform P2P communication with STA 3, STA 1 can receive the QTP response and the QTP setup frame and send a P2P frame to STA 3. After receiving the P2P frame, STA 3 may send a block acknowledge (BA) frame to STA 1 in the quiet time period.

[0099] STA 2 can receive the QTP setup frame and recognize the existence of P2P traffic in QTP. STA 2 can choose to back off in QTP and release the channel. Of course, STA 2 can alternatively choose to continue using the channel. In other words, STA 2 decides whether to continue using the channel, and the AP does not force STA 2 to release the channel in QTP. For example, if the traffic transmitted by STA 2 has low latency requirements, STA 2 can choose to be quiet in QTP and actively release the channel. This can avoid the increased energy consumption of STA 2 caused when STA 2 can retransmit traffic due to collisions. However, when STA 2 actively backs off, the STA has a long channel access delay. Therefore, in most cases, STA 2 does not choose to actively back off. In this way, STA 2 may still compete for the channel with SAT 1 or STA 3 and still cause collisions in P2P communication.

[0100] STA 4 receives the QTP setup frame. Since STA 4 is a legacy terminal, STA 4 cannot identify the QTP setup frame. Therefore, STA 4 still continues to access the channel in QTP and may still cause collisions in P2P communication.

[0101] In addition, in the method shown in FIG. 4, the terminal can only send a QTP request after accessing the channel based on the CSMA mechanism, and the terminal needs to send a QTP request, that is, a temporary QTP request, every time it starts P2P communication. Therefore, when the network quality is poor, there is still a delay when the QTP request is sent. In the case of P2P traffic, the delay still cannot be determined.

[0102] Therefore, a technical solution is proposed in which the channel is divided into slots of different granularities according to the granularity of user priorities, and some slots are assigned to specific users based on user priorities. As shown in FIG. 5, the channel may be divided into 12 slots, and the slots with different shaded parts are assigned to different users. This method can distinguish user priorities so that some users have more opportunities to access the channel than other users. For example, in the case of the slots designated for a specific user, only the specific user is permitted to access the channel, and in the case of the slots not designated for a user, all users may compete. In this way, it can be guaranteed that high-priority users obtain more opportunities to access the channel, and the traffic transmission delay of high-priority users is shortened.

[0103] However, this requires synchronization among users so that the users can recognize from which slot to start backing off. However, WLAN is an asynchronous network, and it is difficult to maintain slot synchronization among devices. In addition, this method assigns slots based on user priorities. This is unfair to traffic. For example, a user has both high-priority traffic and low-priority traffic. If the user is set to high priority, the user's low-priority traffic has more opportunities than the high-priority traffic of other users. This is unfair to the high-priority traffic of other users.

[0104] In consideration of this, one embodiment of the present application provides a channel access method. In the method, the AP can reserve time-frequency resources for traffic (for example, the first traffic) for contention and use. In other words, only the first traffic is permitted to access the time-frequency resources on a contention basis, and the traffic other than the first traffic is quiet on the time-frequency resources. Since only the first traffic is permitted to access the reserved time-frequency resources on a contention basis, the opportunity for the first traffic to access the channel can be increased, and the transmission delay of the first traffic can be shortened.

[0105] Referring to the accompanying drawings, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application will be described below.

[0106] FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a channel access method according to an embodiment of the present application. Hereinafter, an example in which the method provided in this embodiment of the present application is applied to the application scenario shown in FIG. 1 will be described. For example, the method provided in this embodiment of the present application may be applicable to communication between APs, or may be applicable to communication between an AP and a STA. Certainly, this embodiment of the present application may also be applied to other possible communication scenarios or communication systems. The traffic transmission delay can be shortened by using the method provided in this embodiment of the present application in all scenarios having high traffic delay requirements. In addition, the method can be performed by two communication devices. The two communication devices are, for example, a first access point (hereinafter referred to as AP 1) and a first device. It should be understood that when this embodiment of the present application is applied to communication between APs, the first device is an AP, for example, a second AP (hereinafter referred to as AP 2). When this embodiment of the present application is applied to communication between an AP and a STA, the first device is a STA.

[0107] Specifically, the procedure of the channel access method according to this embodiment of the present application is described as follows.

[0108] S601: The first AP sends a management frame to the first device, the first device receives the management frame, the management frame includes first indication information, the first indication information indicates at least one first reserved resource for which the first traffic is permitted to perform contention-based access, and the at least one first reserved resource includes only the resources reserved for the first traffic.

[0109] S602: The first device starts channel access on at least one first reserved resource and transmits the first traffic.

[0110] This embodiment of the present application is intended to shorten the transmission delay of traffic with high delay requirements. In this specification, traffic with high delay requirements is collectively referred to as first traffic. In other words, the first traffic in this specification is a certain type of traffic, and this type of traffic has high requirements regarding transmission delay. For example, the first traffic may be online game traffic, real-time video traffic, industrial wireless traffic, or unmanned aircraft control traffic.

[0111] In this embodiment of the present application, the first AP can reserve time-frequency resources for contention and use, for example, N first reserved resources for the first traffic, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1. Since the N first reserved resources are reserved for the first traffic, the N first reserved resources can be considered to include only the resources reserved for the first traffic. In this case, traffic other than the first traffic does not access the N first reserved resources on a contention basis. In other words, traffic other than the first traffic is quiet on the N first reserved resources. Traffic other than the first traffic does not contend with the first traffic for the N first reserved resources. Therefore, the opportunity for the first traffic to access the channel can be increased. Further, after accessing the channel each time, the first device can continue to transmit or schedule the first traffic on the N first reserved resources, as a result, the transmission delay of the first traffic is further shortened. In addition, even when network congestion occurs, since the N first reserved resources are reserved for the first traffic, that is, the first traffic can use the N first reserved resources before other traffic, the delay requirement of low-latency traffic can still be satisfied. In addition, in this embodiment of the present application, resources are reserved for the first traffic (that is, specific traffic). In other words, resources are reserved at the traffic granularity. Compared with the case of reserving resources at the user granularity, in this case, since the user has both common traffic and specific traffic, it is possible to avoid the common traffic obtaining an inappropriate priority.

[0112] In the current WLAN protocol, the AP cannot distinguish between low-latency traffic and common traffic. Therefore, the first AP does not recognize that the first traffic transmitted by the first device is low-latency traffic different from common traffic, or the first AP does not recognize that the latency priority of the first traffic is higher than that of other traffic. Therefore, considering the fairness of various types of traffic, the first AP does not actively reserve resources for the first traffic. When the first device needs to transmit the first traffic, the first device may request an AP that reserves N first reserved resources for the first traffic. For example, the first device can send a first request message to the first AP, and the first request message can be used to request an AP that reserves resources for the first traffic.

[0113] Of course, the first device may alternatively notify the first AP that the first traffic is low-latency traffic, that is, traffic for which resources need to be reserved. In this way, if the first AP determines that the traffic transmitted by the first device is the first traffic, the first AP can actively reserve N first reserved resources for the first traffic. Alternatively, the first AP can determine that resources need to be reserved for the first traffic and actively reserve N first reserved resources for the first traffic.

[0114] In one example, one or more low-latency traffic queues may be newly defined, and the low latency within the low-latency traffic queue has a higher channel access priority. For example, in addition to the existing four EDCA contention queues, one or more low-latency traffic queues may be newly defined. The first device may notify the first AP of the low-latency traffic queue, or the protocol may pre-define the low-latency traffic queue. When the first AP determines that the traffic transmitted by the first device is the first traffic and the first traffic is within the low-latency traffic queue, the first AP believes that resources need to be reserved for the first traffic, and the first AP can also actively reserve N first reserved resources for the first traffic.

[0115] In other examples, the first device can send the traffic identifier of the first traffic to the first AP to notify the first AP that the traffic to be transmitted is low-latency traffic. For example, the traffic identifier may be a traffic stream identifier (TSID). Correspondingly, when reserving resources for the first traffic, the first AP can indicate that the reserved resources belong to the first traffic by using the specified TSID. In other words, only the traffic corresponding to the TSID is permitted to access the channel.

[0116] In some embodiments, the N first reserved resources may be some time-frequency resources during the TBTT. It should be noted that the TBTT in this specification can be considered as the time interval at which the first AP transmits management frames continuously twice. For example, the TBTT can be the time interval at which two Beacon frames are transmitted continuously, or the TBTT can be the time interval at which two association response frames, two probe response frames, etc. are transmitted continuously. The N first reserved resources may be aperiodic resources or may be periodic resources as shown in FIG. 7. This is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. Hereinafter, an example where the N first reserved resources are periodic resources is used.

[0117] In one example, the N first reserved resources can be one channel reserved within a plurality of channels during the TBTT, or several RUs reserved on one channel. In another example, when the first AP has a dual-link function, that is, the first AP is the AP in the MLD AP and the first AP operates on a plurality of links, the N first reserved resources can be all of the plurality of links, for example, the frequency domain resources of Link 1 and Link 2 in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the N first reserved resources can be one of the plurality of links, for example, the frequency domain resources of Link 1 or Link 2 in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the N first reserved resources can be a partial frequency domain resource of one of the plurality of links, for example, the partial frequency domain resources of Link 1 or Link 2 in FIG. 2.

[0118] In other examples, the N first reserved resources may be time domain resources corresponding to the entire spectrum during the TBTT, or may be time domain resources corresponding to a channel, or may be time domain resources corresponding to several RUs on a channel.

[0119] Specifically, the N first reserved resources can be determined based on the delay requirement of the first traffic and the traffic volume of the first traffic. It should be understood that when different traffics have different traffic volumes, the durations required to transmit different traffics are also different. If each of the N first reserved resources occupies a small amount of resources, for example, it cannot be guaranteed that the first traffic is transmitted on the reserved resources, and the proper transmission of the first traffic cannot be guaranteed. As a result, the user experience is insufficient. In addition, when the interval (denoted as T in this specification) between two adjacent first reserved resources within a plurality of first reserved resources is long, the first traffic competes for and uses the N reserved resources, so the delay requirement of the first traffic may not be met. For example, the first traffic requires low latency. When the interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources is long, the first traffic is transmitted on the current first reserved resource at a long interval after the transmission on the previous first reserved resource is completed. This causes a long delay. r and represented) is long, the first traffic competes for the N reserved resources and uses them, so the delay requirement of the first traffic may not be met. For example, the first traffic requires low latency. When the interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources r is long, the first traffic is transmitted on the current first reserved resource at a long interval after the transmission on the previous first reserved resource is completed. This causes a long delay.

[0120] Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources r may be determined based on the delay requirement of the first traffic, and the duration occupied by each reserved resource, that is, the duration of each reserved resource, is determined based on the traffic volume of the first traffic. Since the N first reserved resources are determined based on the actual delay requirement and the actual traffic volume of the first traffic, the N first reserved resources can meet the delay requirement of the first traffic and can guarantee the proper transmission of the first traffic.

[0121] Furthermore, the first traffic is permitted to access N first reserved resources on a contention basis. In other words, in this embodiment of the present application, the resources reserved for traffic are restricted to be used in a contention manner. When there are multiple traffics, the probability that the multiple traffics are transmitted simultaneously may be high or low. If the first AP, by default, considers that the probability of simultaneous transmission of multiple traffics is high, surely, a large amount of resources will be reserved for the multiple traffics. However, in reality, since the probability of simultaneous transmission of multiple traffics is low, when resources are reserved for traffic based on the high probability of simultaneous transmission of multiple traffics, obvious waste of resources will be caused. In this case, in this embodiment of the present application, the first AP can determine the N first reserved resources reserved for the first traffic based on the probability of simultaneous transmission of specific traffic (for example, the first traffic) of different users. For example, when the probability of simultaneous transmission of the first traffic of 10 users is 20%, the first AP can reserve 2N first reserved resources for the first traffic. Compared with reserving 10N first reserved resources, the resource consumption can be obviously reduced.

[0122] In some embodiments, the first AP can alternatively reserve different time-frequency resources for different traffic. For example, the first AP may reserve M second reserved resources for the second traffic. The M second reserved resources are similar to the N first reserved resources. For example, the M second reserved resources may be periodic resources or aperiodic resources. The M second reserved resources may be one or more channels of the entire bandwidth, or some RUs on the channel. Alternatively, if the first AP is the AP in the MLD AP and the first AP operates on multiple links, the M second reserved resources may be all the time-frequency resources of the multiple links, or the time-frequency resources of one of the multiple links, or the M second reserved resources may be some time-frequency resources of one of the multiple links. The duration occupied by each of the M second reserved resources may be the same as or different from the duration occupied by each first reserved resource. The interval between two adjacent second reserved resources may be the same as or different from the interval between two adjacent first reserved resources. Specifically, the duration occupied by each of the M second reserved resources may be determined based on the traffic volume of the second traffic, and the interval between two adjacent second reserved resources may be determined based on the delay requirement of the second traffic.

[0123] In one example, refer further to FIG. 6. S603: The first AP can send second indication information to the first device, and the second indication information can indicate M second reserved resources for which the second traffic is permitted contention-based access. Note that S603 is not essential, and thus it should be noted that it is shown by using a dashed line in FIG. 6. Also, S603 may be performed before S601 or S602, or after S601 or S602.

[0124] As shown in FIG. 8, it should be understood that the M second reserved resources include only the time-frequency resources reserved for the second traffic, and the M second reserved resources do not overlap with the N first reserved resources. FIG. 8 shows an example where the first traffic is national security / emergency preparedness (NS / EP) traffic and the second traffic is real-time application traffic.

[0125] In some embodiments, the second indication information and the first indication information may be transmitted together. In other words, the second indication information and the first indication information are carried in the same management frame. In some other embodiments, the second indication information and the first indication information may be transmitted separately. In other words, the second indication information is carried in one management frame, and the first indication information is carried in another management frame. This is not limited to this embodiment of the present application.

[0126] It should be understood that when the traffic is burst traffic, that is, non-periodic traffic, and the resources reserved for the traffic are periodic resources, a large number of reserved resources will cause waste of resources. However, when a small amount of resources are reserved for the traffic, for example, when the interval between two adjacent resources is long, the delay requirement of the traffic may not be met. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, when reserving resources for the first traffic, the first AP can select the necessary resources corresponding to the average traffic volume of the first traffic or the average traffic volume multiplied by m, where m is a real number greater than 0. In addition, the first AP can determine the interval between two adjacent resources reserved for the traffic based on the maximum delay tolerated by the traffic.

[0127] For example, the N first reserved resources are reserved for the first traffic. The interval T between two adjacent first reserved resourcesr is T r ≤ t delay / 2, where t delay is the maximum delay (delay upper bound) allowed for the first traffic as shown in FIG. 9. R1 to R4 are N first reserved resources, and the maximum delay t delay allowed for the first traffic is from the start time t2 of R2 to the start time of R4. Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the interval T r ≤ t delay / 2 satisfies the requirements of low-latency traffic as much as possible. Even when the amount of N first reserved resources is small, for non-periodic traffic, the delay requirements of non-periodic traffic can be guaranteed. In this way, a large amount of reserved resources do not need to be reserved for the first traffic, and waste of resources can also be avoided.

[0128] Furthermore, since bursts can occur in the first traffic, for example, since the first traffic has other interferences on the first reserved resources, the first traffic cannot be transmitted during the duration occupied by the first reserved resources. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the first AP may trigger a temporary reserved resource for the first traffic, for example, a third reserved resource. The first traffic may continue to be transmitted on the third reserved resource to ensure that the first traffic can be transmitted. It should be understood that the start time of the third reserved resource is after the end time of the first reserved resource within the N first reserved resources.

[0129] In one example, refer further to FIG. 6. S604: The first AP transmits an action frame to the first device, where the action frame indicates a third reserved resource and indicates to the first device to continue the first traffic on the third reserved resource. Note that the first AP triggers a temporarily reserved resource only when the first traffic is not transmitted on the first reserved resource. Therefore, S504 is not essential and is shown using a dashed line in FIG. 6.

[0130] It should be understood that the first AP determines that the transmission of the first traffic on the first reserved resource has not been completed. In other words, the transmission duration of the traffic volume of the first traffic is longer than the duration occupied by the first reserved resource. In this case, the first AP can transmit an action frame to the first device before the end point of the first reserved resource to trigger a temporarily reserved resource for the first traffic, that is, the third reserved resource. It should be understood that the start point of the third reserved resource is after the end point of the first reserved resource. In this way, after the first traffic is transmitted on the first reserved resource, the first traffic continues to be transmitted on the third reserved resource.

[0131] For ease of understanding, FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of triggering temporarily reserved resources for first traffic. R1 to R4 are N first reserved resources reserved for first traffic, and the duration occupied by any one of R1 to R4 is determined based on the traffic volume of the first traffic. The first traffic arrives at the start time t2 of R2, and then the first traffic is transmitted on R2. A burst occurs in the first traffic on R3. For example, during the duration occupied by R3, the first traffic may have other interferences. As a result, the transmission of the first traffic cannot be completed within the duration occupied by R3. In other words, before the end time t3 of R3, the transmission of the first traffic is not completed. The first AP may perform a resource reservation setup before the end time t3 of R3. For example, the first AP sends an action frame to the first device before t3 to temporarily reserve a third reserved resource (e.g., temporary R3 in FIG. 10) for the first traffic. In other words, the start time of the third reserved resource is later than the end time of R3. Then, the first traffic continues to be transmitted on temporary R3.

[0132] It should be understood that if the first AP occupies a wide channel and the resources reserved for the first traffic are all the frequency domain resources of the channel, there may be resource waste. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the first traffic and the common traffic are permitted to reuse N first reserved resources. In other words, the first traffic and the common traffic are enabled to be transmitted in a hybrid manner on the N first reserved resources to improve resource utilization. For example, when the first AP occupies a wide channel, the first AP may choose to reserve partial frequency domain resources of the channel for the first traffic for contention-based access, and other terminals or traffic may be enabled to use the frequency domain resources other than the partial frequency domain resources of the channel. This can improve the resource utilization and traffic transmission efficiency of the entire system. It should be noted that the first traffic here may be considered as specific traffic, for example, traffic with high delay requirements. Correspondingly, the common traffic is traffic with low delay requirements.

[0133] In one example, the first indication information further indicates that the first traffic is permitted to access a part of the N first reserved resources in a contention-based manner. The first device receives the first indication information and contends for partial frequency domain resources within the N first reserved resources to access the channel. The frequency domain resources within the N first reserved resources other than the partial frequency domain resources (which may be simply referred to as the remaining frequency domain resources) may be contended by other traffic to access the channel, or may be used to transmit other traffic.

[0134] Similarly, the first indication information further indicates that some of the N first reserved resources are used for scheduling or transmitting the first traffic. The first device receives the first indication information and transmits the first traffic on some of the N first reserved resources. The first AP may schedule the first traffic on some of the N first reserved resources. The remaining frequency domain resources within the N first reserved resources may be used for transmitting other traffic. Regarding the first AP, the first traffic may be scheduled on some of the N first reserved resources, and other traffic may be scheduled on the remaining frequency domain resources. For example, when there is a large amount of downlink low-latency traffic, the first AP may choose to transmit the downlink low-latency traffic on the remaining frequency domain resources within the N first reserved resources. If some of the remaining frequency domain resources are idle, the first AP may choose to transmit common traffic on the idle frequency domain resources. This can further improve resource utilization and traffic transmission efficiency. In other examples, when there is a small amount of downlink low-latency traffic, the first AP may choose to transmit low-latency traffic and common traffic on the N first reserved resources and transmit common traffic on resources other than the N first reserved resources.

[0135] In this embodiment of the present application, the management frame may be a Beacon frame, an association response frame, a probe response frame, or an action frame, etc. The first indication information, the second indication information, or the first request message may be carried in a defined field within the management frame, or may be carried in a newly added field within the management frame, or may be carried in both a defined field and a newly added field within the management frame. This is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0136] In a communication network, it should be understood that there can be various types of terminals, for example, terminals that support a version prior to the Wi-Fi 6 protocol (which can be abbreviated as legacy terminals), and terminals that support the IEEE 802.11ax next-generation WLAN protocol (EHT, extremely high throughput) (which can be abbreviated as EHT terminals or EHT+ terminals).

[0137] Generally, legacy terminals support common traffic, and EHT terminals support low-latency traffic. However, to shorten the transmission delay between legacy terminals, an AP usually indicates that the legacy terminals are quiet on some time-frequency resources. Similarly, in this embodiment of the present application, to shorten the transmission delay of the first traffic, other traffic can also be quiet on the time-frequency resources reserved for the first traffic. In this case, the current management frame format can be compatible, and the first indication information is carried within a defined field of the management frame. For example, the first indication information can be carried within a quiet element field in the management frame.

[0138] In the case of an EHT terminal or an EHT+ terminal, a new field, for example, a first element field, can be added to the management frame. The first indication information can be carried within the first element field. The first indication information carried within the first element field can indicate the time-frequency resources reserved for the first traffic. Therefore, the first element field can be referred to as a resource reservation element field. Of course, the specific name of the first element field is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0139] However, when both legacy terminals and EHT terminals or EHT+ terminals are present in the network, when the first indication information is carried only within the first element field, the legacy terminals cannot identify the newly added field in the management frame, so the legacy terminals cannot be quiet on the time-frequency resources reserved for the EHT terminals or EHT+ terminals. In this case, the common traffic of the legacy terminals may collide with the low-latency traffic of the EHT terminals or EHT+ terminals. In this case, the first indication information may be carried within the Resource Reservation element field and at least one Quiet Element field. For example, when the Resource Reservation element field indicates N first reserved resources, the first indication information may be further carried in the N Quiet Element fields, and the N Quiet Element fields correspond one-to-one to the N first reserved resources. Upon receiving the first indication information, the EHT terminal or EHT+ terminal accesses the channel by competing on the N first reserved resources to transmit the first traffic. When the legacy terminal receives the first indication information, the legacy terminal maintains silence on the N first reserved resources. In this way, when both legacy terminals and EHT terminals or EHT+ terminals are present in the network, the common traffic of the legacy terminals does not collide with the low-latency traffic of the EHT terminals or EHT+ terminals, and the latency requirements of the low-latency traffic of the EHT terminals or EHT+ terminals are met.

[0140] In one example, FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the format of a resource reservation element. The resource reservation element may include an Element ID field, a Length field, an Element ID Extension field, and a Resource Reservation info field. The values of the Element ID field and the Element ID Extension field are one of the values reserved by the standard. For example, Element ID = 255 and Element ID Extension = 12.

[0141] It should be understood that the specific implementation form of the Resource Reservation element field may alternatively be different for different management frames, instruction contents, etc. In this embodiment of the present application, the Resource Reservation element field may include multiple subtypes. The subtypes in this specification are possible implementation forms of the Resource Reservation element field. In a specific implementation process, the subtype corresponding to the Resource Reservation element field may be indicated by the control shown in FIG. 11.

[0142] In one example, Table 1 illustrates an example of the subclasses included in the Resource Reservation element field. The Resource Reservation element field may include three subtypes. The three subtypes are periodic resource reservation, aperiodic resource reservation, and reserved resource release. The specific implementation forms of different subtypes of the Resource Reservation element field may alternatively be different. Below, with reference to Table 1, the specific implementation form of the Resource Reservation element field will be described in detail.

[0143]

Table 1

[0144] The normal resource reservation fields in Table 1 can be used to reserve periodic resources. The format of the Regular Resource reservation element field can be shown in FIG. 12. The Regular Resource reservation element field can include an Element ID field, a Length field, an Element ID extension field, a Control field, a Resource Reservation count field, a Resource Reservation period field, a resource reservation offset field, a resource reservation interval field, a resource reservation duration field, and a resource reservation mode field.

[0145] The Resource Reservation Count field may indicate the start time of the next Beacon interval including resource reservation (in units of TBTT), i.e., the amount of TBTT after which one Beacon interval including resource reservation appears. The Resource Reservation Period field can indicate the period including resource reservation (in units of TBTT), i.e., the amount of TBTT after which one Beacon interval including resource reservation appears. The Resource Reservation Offset field may indicate the offset of the TBTT closest to the first reserved resource. The Resource Reservation Interval field may indicate the interval duration of the resource reservation. The Resource Reservation Duration field may indicate the duration of the resource reservation. The Resource Reservation mode field may indicate the resource reservation mode, e.g., free competition, waiting for AP scheduling, low-latency reservation, AP-AP communication, and dual-link operation mode. Low-latency reservation may further include NS / EP traffic reservation, real-time traffic reservation, wireless control traffic reservation, etc. The dual-link operation mode further includes a reservation mode only on the current link and a reservation mode on multiple links.

[0146] The short regular resource reservation fields in Table 1 can also be used to reserve periodic resources. The format of the Short Regular Resource Reservation element field can be shown in FIG. 13. The content indicated by each field included in the Short Regular Resource Reservation element field is the same as that in FIG. 12. Details are not described again here.

[0147] Note that the Short Regular Resource Reservation element field can also be used in cooperation with the existing Quiet element in the 802.11 standard to periodically reserve resources. Compared with the Regular Resource reservation field shown in FIG. 12, the signaling overhead is low and the signaling can be reduced.

[0148] The Temp Resource Reservation setup in Table 1 can be used to reserve aperiodic resources. The format of the Temp Resource Reservation setup field can be shown in FIG. 14. The content indicated by each field included in the Temp Resource Reservation setup field is the same as that in FIG. 12. Details are not described again here.

[0149] The above are multiple implementation forms for implementing periodic resource reservation and aperiodic resource reservation by using the Resource Reservation element field. Regardless of the specific form, the Resource Reservation element field can be carried in management frames such as beacon frames, probe response frames, or association request frames. Hereinafter, an implementation form of resource reservation release by using the Resource Reservation element field will be described.

[0150] In this embodiment of the present application, two types of resource reservation releases are included, for example, normal resource reservation release and temporary resource reservation release. FIG. 15 shows the format of the Resource Reservation release field. The content indicated by each field included in the Resource Reservation setup field is the same as that in FIG. 12. Details will not be described again here. The Regular Resource Reservation release field may indicate the release of the periodicity reserved by using the Regular Resource Reservation field. The Regular Resource Reservation release field is normally carried in the Beacon frame and paired with the Regular Resource Reservation field. The Temp Resource Reservation release field may indicate the release of the aperiodic reserved resources reserved by using the Temporary Resource Reservation setup field. The Temp Resource Reservation release field is normally carried in the action frame and paired with the Temporary Resource Reservation Setup field.

[0151] In this embodiment of the present application, the mechanism in which N first reserved resources are reserved for the first traffic for contention-based access can be further used for communication between APs. In the communication between an AP and an STA, it should be understood that the N first reserved resources reserved for the first traffic are AP-STA dedicated resources. In the communication between APs, the resources allocated for AP-AP communication are usually AP-AP dedicated resources, for example, a backhaul channel. However, in this embodiment of the present application, the first traffic may be traffic between an AP and an STA, or may be traffic between APs. For example, the first traffic is traffic between a first AP and a second AP. In this case, the N first reserved resources (reserved AP-STA dedicated resources) reserved by the first AP for the first traffic can be used for communication between APs. In other words, in this embodiment of the present application, AP-AP communication can use AP-STA dedicated resources. This improves resource utilization and reduces reserved resource consumption.

[0152] It should be understood that multiple in-band APs can form a cooperation group, and the APs in the cooperation group can communicate with each other. One of the APs in the cooperation group can be referred to as a primary AP. The primary AP has a cooperation control function and can cooperate with the communication of other APs. For example, the primary AP may allocate resources to other APs. All APs within the AP cooperation group access the same resources on a contention basis. To avoid collisions between multiple APs, the backoff mechanism in the P2P communication of FIG. 3 can be used. However, when two adjacent APs are close to each other and the resources of the two APs are not aligned (in other words, the two APs do not recognize the start time and end time of the resources), the two APs do not recognize the resource location to be backed off, and thus, mutual interference may still exist.

[0153] Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the AP can adjust the reserved resources of the AP based on the N first reserved resources reserved for the first AP. In this way, the reserved resources of the AP can be aligned with the reserved resources of the first AP. According to this method, the reserved resources of multiple APs in the network can be aligned. In this way, the AP recognizes the resource position to be backed off. This avoids collisions between multiple APs and improves the reliability of communication between APs.

[0154] For example, FIGS. 16 and 17 respectively show schematic diagrams of the architecture of an AP cooperation group. FIG. 16 shows an example where the network includes an access controller (AC) and three APs. The three APs are AP 1, AP 2, and AP 3, respectively. AP 1 has a cooperation control function. When the AC or coordinator, for example, AP 1 exists in the network, the AC or coordinator configures the three APs (AP 1, AP 2, and AP 3) of the network to form a cooperation group, and may designate one of the APs (for example, AP 1) as the primary AP. It should be understood that when the AC forms a cooperation group, AP 1 does not need to form a cooperation group. Therefore, FIG. 16 uses a dashed line to show that AP 1 forms a cooperation group.

[0155] FIG. 17 shows an example where the network includes three APs. The three APs are AP 1, AP 2, and AP 3, respectively. All three APs have a cooperative control function. Any AP having a cooperative control function within the network can actively initiate negotiation between APs based on the positions and configuration parameters of the APs to form an AP cooperation group. The AP that constructs the cooperation group can designate an AP within the network as the primary AP. Note that any AP having a cooperative control function can form a cooperation group, and all three APs in FIG. 17 can form a cooperation group. In FIG. 17, for example, AP 1 forms a cooperation group. Therefore, in FIG. 17, a dashed line is used for illustration purposes. After AP 1 and AP 2 cooperate, AP 1 and AP 2 can exchange information necessary for cooperation, such as received signal strength indication (RSSI) information of adjacent cell STAs, channel state information (CSI), user buffer information, and time-frequency synchronization information between APs.

[0156] The primary AP can reserve resources for the first traffic. For example, the primary AP may transmit the aforementioned first indication information. For example, the primary AP periodically transmits a beacon frame. The first indication information may be carried in a resource reservation element field newly added to the beacon frame. The first indication information may indicate N first reserved resources reserved for the first traffic, and the N first reserved resources may be periodic resources. The interval between any two of the N first reserved resources is T r is assumed to be.

[0157] To avoid interference caused by the traffic of STAs to the traffic between APs, the primary AP can quiet all the STAs in the cell served by the primary AP on N first reserved resources. In other words, the primary AP can quiet the STAs associated with the primary AP on N first reserved resources. However, the primary AP can only quiet the STAs associated with the primary AP and cannot quiet the remaining APs in the cooperation group. Therefore, to avoid interference between APs within the cooperation group, the remaining APs within the cooperation group other than the primary AP can adjust the resources that can be reserved by the remaining APs based on the N first reserved resources reserved by the primary AP for the first traffic. For example, the remaining APs within the cooperation group can monitor the beacon frame of the primary AP via the air interface to obtain the TBTT T B and the resource reservation period T r . Each AP within the remaining APs adjusts the transmission time of the TBTT of the cell served by the AP to T B +m×T r , sets the resource reservation period of the cell served by the AP to T r , where m is an integer greater than or equal to 0. In this way, the reserved resources of the APs within the cooperation group can be coordinated. When AP1 and AP2 exchange cooperation information regarding R1~R3, the P2P backoff mechanism shown in Figure 3 can be used. This avoids mutual interference between APs and shortens the traffic transmission delay between APs. Similarly, the remaining APs can also quiet the STAs associated with the remaining APs on the N first reserved resources. In this way, all the STAs associated with all the APs within the cooperation group maintain silence on the N first reserved resources and do not participate in channel contention. As a result, the communication between APs is not interfered with by STAs.

[0158] In one example, the first device is a second AP that is in the same AP coordination group as the first AP. After receiving the management frame, the second AP determines the time point T at which the management frame was transmitted B and the interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources r Based on this, the second AP further adjusts the time point at which it transmits the management frame to T B +m×T r and can set the resource reservation period of the cell served by the second AP to T r , where m is an integer greater than or equal to 0. In this way, all APs within the entire AP coordination group transmit management frames at the same time, and the resource reservation periods of the cells served by the APs are also the same. In this way, the APs within the AP cooperation group can recognize the start and end time points of each other's reserved resources and can perform a backoff at an appropriate time. This avoids collisions between APs.

[0159] For ease of understanding, FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of AP coordination group communication based on quiet time period protection according to an embodiment of the present application. FIG. 18 shows an example of two APs (AP 1 and AP 2) and two STAs (STA 1 and STA 2). AP 1 and AP 2 are located within the same coordination group. For example, AP 1 is the primary AP. AP 1 can periodically transmit beacon frames. The newly added reserved resource field in the beacon frame contains information about N first reserved resources (e.g., R1, R2, and R3) reserved for the first traffic, such as the duration occupied by each first reserved resource, and the interval T r between two adjacent first reserved resources. AP 2 monitors the beacon frame transmitted by AP 1, determines the N first reserved resources reserved by AP 1, and then adjusts the transmission time point of the TBTT of the cell served by AP 2 to T B +m×T r and sets the resource reservation period of the cell served by AP 2 to T rIt can be set to this. In this way, AP 2 can adjust its reserved resources to match those of AP 1, or it can be considered that the reserved resources of AP 2 are aligned with those of AP 1 (as shown by the dashed line in Fig. 18). Since the reserved resources of AP 1 and AP 2 are aligned, the P2P backoff mechanism shown in Fig. 3 can be used. In other words, AP 2 can clearly recognize the resource position to be backed off, and as a result, the collision between AP 2 and AP 1 can be avoided, and the reliability of communication between AP 1 and AP 2 can be improved.

[0160] In R1 to R3, STA 1 and STA 2 are quiet. In other words, STA 1 and STA 1 do not perform contention-based access from R1 to R3, and as a result, the access delays of AP 1 and AP 2 on R1 to R3 can be shortened. STA 1 and STA 2 perform contention-based access to time-frequency resources other than R1 and R3 to transmit traffic (as shown by the thick arrows in Fig. 17). In R1 to R3, AP 1 and AP 2 can access the channel and further exchange the first traffic (as shown by the thin arrows in Fig. 17). After accessing the channel, AP 1 and AP 2 continue to transmit the first traffic. For example, AP 1 and AP 2 compete for time-frequency resources after R1 to transmit the first traffic. In addition, in the network, the N first reserved resources reserved by AP 1 for the first traffic do not necessarily have to be time-frequency resources dedicated to communication between APs. For example, the time-frequency resources dedicated to communication between an AP and a STA can be reused, and as a result, resource consumption can be reduced.

[0161] Generally, the duration occupied by each reserved resource is long, for example, larger than a transmit opportunity (TXOP). This is because the reserved resource can be used to transmit the traffic of multiple terminals. Although the traffic volume of each terminal is small, multiple traffic can be transmitted only after being transmitted multiple times. Therefore, generally, the duration occupied by the reserved resource is long. However, in the communication between APs, the traffic volume of the traffic between APs is usually large and the data can be transmitted at one time. If the duration occupied by the resource reserved for the first traffic is long, the channel utilization efficiency will be significantly reduced. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the duration occupied by each reserved resource may be less than the TXOP or even shorter. For example, the duration occupied by R1 is several tens of microseconds or several hundreds of microseconds. Regarding AP 1 or AP 2, AP 1 or AP 2 only needs to complete the channel contention during the resource reservation duration to obtain the channel access opportunity. After obtaining the channel access opportunity, AP 1 or AP 2 can reset the TXOP by using a control frame. For example, AP 1 or AP 2 can reset the TXOP by using a Trigger frame or a control frame (Request to Send / Clear to send, RTS / CTS) frame. This solution can meet the delay requirements of the traffic between APs and also improve the channel utilization efficiency.

[0162] Furthermore, since multiple types of low-latency traffic may exist on the network, the AP can reserve resources for each type of traffic in order to meet the latency requirements of each type of low-latency traffic. For example, there are two types of low-latency traffic on the network, such as NS / EP traffic and real-time traffic. The AP may add two Regular resource Reservation fields to the Beacon frame. The two Regular resource Reservation fields correspond one-to-one to the two aforementioned types of low-latency traffic. Alternatively, the AP can transmit two Beacon frames continuously, where one Beacon frame is used to reserve resources for a certain type of traffic and the other Beacon frame is used to reserve resources for another type of traffic.

[0163] In addition, if the first AP always reserves resources for the first traffic, that is, even if the network status is improved after the first AP reserves resources for the first traffic for the first time, the first AP still reserves resources for the first traffic. Obviously, this is unfair to other traffic and causes waste of resources. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, after the first AP reserves N first reserved resources for the first traffic, if it is determined that the network status has improved or the first traffic has ended, the first AP can release the resources reserved for the first traffic to balance the latency requirements of multiple traffics as much as possible.

[0164] The first AP's determination that the network status has improved may be that the first AP actively detects the network status, or the first device may notify the first AP that the network status has improved. If the first device determines that the network status has improved or the first traffic has ended, the first device may request the first AP to release N first reserved resources. For example, the first device can send a second request message to the first AP, and the second request message is used to request the first AP to release N first reserved resources. The first AP receives the second request message and sends a management frame to the first device to release the N first reserved resources, instructing the first device to release the N first reserved resources. Certainly, if the first AP determines that the network status has improved, the first AP actively sends a management frame to the first device to release the N first reserved resources, indicating to the first device to cancel the N first reserved resources reserved for the first traffic. Similarly, for the temporarily reserved resources triggered by the first AP for the first traffic, when the first traffic ends, the first device may also request the first AP to release the temporarily reserved resources. As shown in FIG. 10, the first AP can send a management frame for temporarily releasing resource reservation before the end of the temporarily reserved resource R3.

[0165] Hereinafter, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail with reference to specific scenarios.

[0166] FIG. 19 is a diagram of a network architecture for communication between an AP and STAs according to an embodiment of the present application. In FIG. 19, an example of one AP (AP 1) and three STAs is shown. The three STAs are STA 1, STA 2, and STA 3, respectively. AP 1 can communicate with the three STAs. AP 1 and the three STAs can establish a Basic Service Set (BSS). In FIG. 18, for example, low-latency traffic and common traffic coexist within one BSS. When low-latency traffic and common traffic coexist, a method for reserving resources for the first traffic (low-latency traffic) in this embodiment of the present application can shorten the channel access delay of the first traffic and shorten the transmission delay of the first traffic. Hereinafter, using examples of uplink transmission and downlink transmission separately, how to reserve resources for the first traffic and how to perform channel access for the first traffic on the reserved resources in this embodiment of the present application will be described.

[0167] FIG. 20 is a flowchart of steps for a STA to trigger resource reservation for uplink low-latency traffic. When a STA needs to transmit uplink low-latency traffic (e.g., the first traffic), the STA may request an AP that reserves resources for the first traffic. The resources are reserved for the first traffic. The AP may not distinguish whether the first traffic is low-latency traffic. Therefore, the STA needs to notify the AP that the first traffic is low-latency traffic, that is, resources need to be reserved.

[0168] The first traffic is traffic with high latency requirements. However, it should be understood that when the network status is good, the latency requirements of the first traffic can still be met. In this case, when the network status is good, if the first AP still reserves resources for the first traffic, obvious waste of resources will be caused. To avoid waste of resources, in this embodiment of the present application, before the STA requests the AP that reserves resources for the first traffic, the STA can determine whether the current network status meets the latency requirements of the first traffic. For example, when the network status is good, the status is more likely to meet the latency requirements of the first traffic, and when the network status is bad, the status is less likely to meet the latency requirements of the first traffic.

[0169] In one example, the STA triggers uplink low-latency traffic, and the STA can notify the AP whether the current network status meets the latency requirements of the first traffic.

[0170] S2001: The STA determines that the network status meets the trigger condition, and the trigger condition is that the transmission delay of a plurality of data packets exceeds a preset threshold.

[0171] In this embodiment of the present application, the trigger condition may be set based on the probability that the traffic latency requirement is met. When the network status meets the trigger condition, the network status is bad and does not meet the latency requirements of the first traffic. The trigger condition is that the transmission delay of a plurality of data packets exceeds a preset threshold, and the preset threshold can be obtained through experimental measurement or based on historical data.

[0172] For example, a plurality of data packets are L consecutive data packets, where L is an integer greater than or equal to 1. If the transmission delay of L consecutive data packets exceeds a delay threshold, it indicates that the transmission delay of each of the L data packets exceeds a delay requirement, and the network status may be considered poor.

[0173] In another example, a plurality of data packets are L data packets within P data packets, where L is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and P is greater than L. If the transmission delay of L consecutive data packets within P data packets exceeds a delay threshold, it indicates that the transmission delay of some of the data packets within the P data packets exceeds the delay threshold, and the transmission delay of some data packets does not exceed the delay threshold. The network state may be considered unstable. Overall, the network state is poor.

[0174] In addition, assume that the STA needs to transmit 10 data packets. After continuously transmitting 3 data packets on the same time-frequency resource, due to the delay, the STA does not have an opportunity to transmit the remaining data packets. In this case, the network status may be considered poor. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the fact that the transmission delay of a data packet exceeds a delay threshold can also be considered as the transmission delay of the data packet reaching K times the delay threshold. For example, the transmission delay of K consecutive data packets reaches p times the delay threshold, where K is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and p is a real number greater than 1.

[0175] S2002: The STA transmits a first request message to the AP, and the AP receives the request message. The first request message can be used to request the AP to reserve resources for the first traffic.

[0176] The first request message can be carried in any one of the aforementioned management frames or other possible management frames. This is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0177] S2003: The AP transmits a management frame to the STA, the STA receives the management frame, and the management frame may carry the foregoing first indication information to reserve N first reserved resources for the first traffic.

[0178] After receiving the first request message, the AP can determine N first reserved resources that need to be reserved for the first traffic based on the delay requirement and traffic volume of the first traffic. For example, the AP determines the interval T r between two adjacent first reserved resources based on the delay requirement of the first traffic, and may determine the duration occupied by each first reserved resource. Then, the AP transmits a management frame to the STA to reserve N first reserved resources for the first traffic, and the management frame may carry the foregoing first indication information. For example, the foregoing resource reservation element field may be newly added to the management frame to carry the first indication information.

[0179] After reserving N first reserved resources for the first traffic, the AP may obtain uplink and downlink low-latency traffic of the STA on the N first reserved resources through scheduling by using the Trigger frame. Since only the first traffic is permitted to access the N first reserved resources on a contention basis, all STAs within the cell served by the AP may be considered quiet with respect to traffic other than the first traffic on the N first reserved resources. Since all STAs within the cell served by the AP are quiet with respect to traffic other than the first traffic on the N first reserved resources, traffic other than the first traffic does not compete with the first traffic with respect to the N first reserved resources. This increases the opportunity for the first traffic to access the channel and shortens the channel access delay of the first traffic. After the first traffic accesses the channel, the first traffic can continue to be transmitted on the reserved resources, resulting in further shortening of the transmission delay of the first traffic.

[0180] In this embodiment of the present application, the resources reserved for traffic are restricted to be used in a contention-based manner. When there are multiple low-latency traffics, the probability that multiple low-latency traffics are transmitted simultaneously may be high or low. By default, when it is considered that the probability of simultaneous transmission of multiple low-latency traffics is high, it is necessary to ensure that a large amount of resources are reserved for multiple low-latency traffics. However, in reality, the probability that multiple low-latency traffics are transmitted simultaneously is low, and obvious waste of resources occurs. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the AP can determine N first reserved resources reserved for the first traffic based on the probability of simultaneous transmission of specific traffic (for example, the first traffic) of different users. For example, when the probability of simultaneous transmission of the first traffic of 10 users is 20%, the first AP can reserve 2N first reserved resources for the first traffic. Compared with reserving 10N first reserved resources, the resource consumption can be significantly reduced.

[0181] It should be understood that when the network status is subsequently improved, the AP still reserves resources for the first traffic. Obviously, this is unfair to other traffics. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, after the AP reserves N first reserved resources for the first traffic, if it is determined that the network status has improved or the first traffic has ended, the AP can cancel (release) the resources reserved for the first traffic to balance the delay requirements of multiple traffics as much as possible.

[0182] S2004: The STA determines that the network status does not meet the trigger condition or the first traffic has ended.

[0183] S2005: The STA sends a second request message to the AP, and the second request message is used to request the AP to release N first reserved resources.

[0184] If the STA determines that the network status has improved or the first traffic has ended, the STA may request the AP to release N first reserved resources.

[0185] S2006: The AP sends a management frame to the STA to release N first reserved resources.

[0186] The AP receives the second request message and sends a management frame to the STA to release N first reserved resources. For example, the AP may cancel the resources reserved for the first traffic by sending a management frame (e.g., Beacon frame). The aforementioned resource reservation release field may be newly added to the Beacon frame to indicate releasing the resources reserved for the first traffic. After receiving the Beacon frame, the STA may determine that the resources previously reserved for the first traffic have been canceled.

[0187] Alternatively, it should be understood that the AP may actively detect the network status. If the AP determines that the network status has improved, the AP actively sends a Beacon frame to the STA to release N first reserved resources.

[0188] FIG. 21 is a flowchart of steps for triggering resource reservation for downlink low-latency traffic by an AP. The AP can schedule downlink low-latency traffic (e.g., first traffic). Before scheduling the first traffic, the AP may determine the current status of the network. If the current status of the network does not meet the aforementioned trigger conditions, the current status of the network is poor. In this case, the AP can reserve resources, e.g., N first reserved resources, for the first traffic for contention-based access. The procedure for the AP to trigger resource reservation for downlink low-latency traffic is as follows.

[0189] S2101: The AP determines that the status of the network meets the trigger conditions.

[0190] S2102: The AP sends a management frame to the STA, the STA receives the management frame, and the management frame may carry the aforementioned first indication information to reserve N first reserved resources for the first traffic.

[0191] S2103: The STA determines that the status of the network does not meet the trigger conditions or the first traffic has ended.

[0192] S2104: The AP sends a management frame to the STA to release the N first reserved resources.

[0193] Specifically, for the implementation form in which the AP reserves N first reserved resources for the first traffic, refer to the relevant description in the embodiment of FIG. 20. Details will not be described again here. After reserving N first reserved resources for the first traffic, the AP may obtain the uplink and downlink low-latency traffic of the STA on the N first reserved resources through scheduling by using a trigger frame. Similar to the embodiment of FIG. 20, the AP always reserves resources for the first traffic. Obviously, this is unfair to other traffic. Therefore, after the AP reserves N first reserved resources for the first traffic and it is determined that the network status has improved or the first traffic has ended, the AP can cancel the resources reserved for the first traffic to balance the delay requirements of multiple traffics as much as possible. Specifically, for the implementation form in which the AP cancels the N first reserved resources reserved for the first traffic, refer to the relevant description in the embodiment of FIG. 20. Details will not be described again here.

[0194] In this embodiment of the present application, the specific implementation form of reserving resources for the first traffic varies depending on the attributes of the traffic, for example, whether the traffic is burst traffic or whether the terminals in the network are legacy terminals or EHT terminals. Specific examples will be described in detail below.

[0195] Example 1: When the first traffic is burst traffic, the AP can further trigger temporarily reserved resources for the first traffic to ensure that the first traffic can be properly transmitted and improve the reliability of communication between the AP and the STA. For the specific method by which the AP reserves N first reserved resources and temporarily reserved resources for the first traffic, refer to the description in the foregoing embodiments. Details are not described again here. Note that when the STA completes the transmission of the first traffic, the STA can request the AP to release the temporarily reserved resources. The example shown in FIG. 10 is still used. When the STA completes the transmission of the first traffic from time point t2 to time point t3, the temporarily reserved resources are released, and more resources can be reserved for other traffic for contention-based access. As a result, the transmission delay of each traffic is reduced.

[0196] Example 2: Both legacy terminals and EHT terminals coexist in the network. The AP can reserve N first reserved resources for the first traffic and can further set a quiet interval corresponding to each first reserved resource for each legacy terminal. In this way, it can be guaranteed that the legacy terminal is quiet in the resources reserved for the first traffic, interference caused to the EHT terminal by the legacy terminal is avoided, and the low-latency requirement for transmitting the first traffic by the EHT terminal is guaranteed.

[0197] In the network shown in FIG. 19, STA 1 is a legacy terminal, STA 2 is an EHT terminal, and STA 3 is also an EHT terminal. When the first instruction information transmitted by the AP is carried in a newly added field of the management frame, that is, within the Resource Reservation element field, the legacy terminal clearly cannot identify the Resource Reservation element field, and thus cannot be quiet on the time-frequency resources reserved for the EHT terminal. In this case, there is a possibility that the common traffic of the legacy terminal and the low-latency traffic of the EHT terminal collide. In this case, the management frame carrying the first instruction information may include a resource reservation element field and a quiet element field. When the STA is a legacy terminal, the STA performs silence based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field, or when the STA is a non-legacy terminal, the AP sets N first reserved resources based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field.

[0198] For example, FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an existing Quiet element in the existing 802.11 standard. The Quiet Count field can indicate the start time (in units of TBTT) of the next quiet interval. The Quiet Period field can indicate the Quiet Period (in units of TBTT), that is, the amount of TBTT after which one quiet period appears. The Quiet Duration field can indicate the length of the quiet interval. The Quiet Offset field can indicate the offset of the TBTT closest to the quiet interval.

[0199] In this embodiment of the present application, N Quiet Element fields and Resource Reservation element fields can be set within the management frame. As shown in FIG. 23(a), the Resource Reservation element field uses the Regular Resource Reservation element field to reserve N first reserved resources for the first traffic. The N Quiet Element fields correspond one-to-one to the N first reserved resources. Each Quiet Element field sets one quiet interval for legacy terminals. In other words, each quiet interval corresponds to one of the N reserved resources set by the Regular Resource Reservation element field as shown in FIG. 23(b). When the management frame transmitted by the AP includes both the Quiet element field and the Regular Resource Reservation element field, the EHT terminal receives the management frame, ignores the Quiet element field, and competes for the reserved resources indicated by the Regular Resource Reservation element field. After receiving the management frame, the legacy terminal is quiet during the quiet interval indicated by the Quiet element field. In this embodiment of the present application, the quiet intervals set by the N Quiet element fields are exactly the same as the N first reserved resources corresponding to the Regular Resource Reservation element field. Therefore, the legacy terminal can be quiet on the resources reserved for the first traffic (EHT terminal), and the transmission of the first traffic by the EHT terminal is not affected.

[0200] Furthermore, in order to reduce signaling overhead, when the management frame includes N Quiet Element fields, the Resource Reservation element field may use the Short Regular Resource Reservation element field. In this case, the legacy terminal is quiet during the quiet interval indicated by the Quiet Element field, and the EHT terminal sets resource reservation based on the quiet interval indicated by the Quiet Element field.

[0201] Similar to Example 1, in this embodiment, when the first traffic is burst traffic and the transmission of the first traffic has not been completed in the reserved resources, the AP sends an action frame on the reserved resources to trigger temporarily reserved resources for the first traffic. Different from Example 1, in this embodiment, considering the legacy terminal, the network allocation vector (NAV) of the legacy terminal can be set by using the Duration field of the media access control (MAC) frame to set the temporarily reserved resources.

[0202] It should be understood that if the AP still has temporarily reserved resources after sending the first traffic, the AP may send an action frame for reservation release. For example, the action frame carries a Resource Reservation release element field. The EHT terminal receives the action frame and releases the reserved resources. The legacy terminal cannot identify the Resource Reservation release element field and thus remains quiet.

[0203] Example 3: Both a sleeping terminal (generally, a low power consumption terminal) and an EHT terminal coexist in the network. The sleeping terminal does not monitor each management frame. Therefore, the sleeping terminal may miss the information of the AP for reserving resources for the first traffic, and thus does not back off for the first traffic. In this case, the delay requirement of the first traffic cannot be guaranteed.

[0204] Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the N first reserved resources can be reserved for the first traffic in a manner of reserving resources for the first traffic in the second scenario. For example, the AP sets N first reserved resources for the first traffic between two TBTTs, and the interval between any two first reserved resources is less than or equal to half of the maximum delay allowed by the first traffic.

[0205] For a STA in the general Power save mode, it should be understood that the STA wakes up periodically to receive each Beacon frame of the AP to detect whether the AP is buffering the downlink data to be transmitted. When the AP sets the reserved resources for the first traffic, the STA can update the reserved resource information in a timely manner and does not transmit a PS-Poll frame on the reserved resources.

[0206] However, a terminal in WNM sleep mode may miss the information of the AP for reserving resources for the first traffic without monitoring each Beacon frame. Therefore, the AP can include a Resource Reservation element field in the Beacon frame corresponding to the TBTT at which the terminal in WNM sleep mode wakes up. In this way, the terminal in WNM sleep mode can receive the Beacon frame and determine the resources reserved by the AP for the first traffic based on the Resource Reservation element field in the Beacon frame. As a result, the terminal in WNM sleep mode cannot occupy the resources reserved for the first traffic to transmit an uplink frame.

[0207] It should be understood that if a terminal in WNM sleep mode sleeps before the AP sets the reserved resources for the first traffic, wakes up at a non-TBTT time point after the AP sets the reserved resources, and attempts to transmit an uplink frame to change the PS mode, the reserved resources may be interfered with. In this case, the interference caused by the terminal in WNM sleep mode to the first traffic (EHT terminal) can be considered as system - to - system interference. If the transmission of the first traffic on the reserved resources cannot be completed, the EHT terminal can request temporarily reserved resources from the AP by using the temporary Resource Reservation element field.

[0208] In the case of a terminal in TWT mode, the AP and the terminal in TWT mode establish Trigger-enabled TWT. The terminal waits for the AP to send a trigger frame and does not start uplink transmission. If the terminal does not support Trigger-enabled TWT, the terminal may actively compete for the channel. In this case, the interference caused by the TWT mode terminal to the first traffic (EHT terminal) is inter-system interference. If the transmission of the first traffic cannot be completed on the reserved resources, the EHT terminal can request temporarily reserved resources from the AP by using the temporary Resource Reservation element field.

[0209] The AP sends an action frame carrying the Temporary Resource Reservation setup element field on the reserved resources to trigger the temporarily reserved resources. For example, FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of the format of the Temporary Resource Reservation setup element field. The Resource Reservation offset field may indicate the time offset between the temporarily reserved resources and the current frame. The Resource Reservation Duration field may indicate the resource reservation duration. The Resource Reservation mode field can indicate the resource reservation mode. In the case of a low-power consumption terminal during sleep, the AP can offset the start time of the temporarily reserved resources by the current resource reservation by using the Resource Reservation offset field in the Temporary Resource Reservation setup element field. As a result, after the terminal during sleep completes the transmission, a time period for the terminal during sleep to enter the sleep state again is reserved.

[0210] Example 4: In this embodiment of the present application, specific traffic (for example, traffic with high latency requirements, also referred to as low-latency traffic) and common traffic (for example, traffic with low latency requirements) are permitted to reuse N first reserved resources. In other words, specific traffic and common traffic are enabled to be transmitted in a hybrid manner on N first reserved resources. That is, this embodiment of the present application supports OFDMA transmission. This can improve resource utilization and also improve the traffic transmission efficiency of the entire system.

[0211] In one example, the first indication information further indicates that low-latency traffic is permitted to access a partial frequency region resource within the reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first indication information further indicates that the partial frequency region resource within the reserved resource is used for scheduling or transmitting low-latency traffic. For example, when an AP occupies a wide channel, the AP can choose to reserve a partial frequency region resource of the channel for low-latency traffic for contention-based access, and other terminals or traffic can be permitted to use frequency region resources other than the partial frequency region resource of the channel.

[0212] Specifically, when setting the reserved resource, the AP can clearly reserve specific frequency resources for low-latency traffic during a duration (for example, the first duration). The STA remains quiet on all frequencies during the first duration on the reserved resource and does not actively initiate uplink transmission. However, if the STA transmits data before the start time of the first duration on the reserved resource, it should be guaranteed that the transmission is completed before the start time.

[0213] During the first duration, the AP may preferentially schedule low-latency traffic by using a Trigger frame. In the case of downlink low-latency traffic, the AP transmits downlink low-latency traffic to a plurality of terminals on a first portion of the frequency domain resources within the reserved resources. When there is a large amount of downlink low-latency traffic, the AP may choose to transmit downlink low-latency traffic on the remaining frequency domain resources within the reserved resources other than the first portion of the frequency domain resources. If some of the remaining frequency domain resources are idle, the AP may choose to transmit common traffic on the remaining frequency domain resources. When there is a small amount of downlink low-latency traffic, the AP may choose to transmit low-latency traffic and common traffic on a first portion of the frequency domain resources within the reserved resources. The AP can transmit common traffic on the remaining frequency domain resources within the reserved resources other than the first portion of the frequency domain resources. For uplink traffic, the AP obtains the uplink traffic information (including low-latency traffic and other uplink traffic) of the STA through an inquiry, and schedules the low-latency traffic and common traffic of the STA by using a Trigger frame based on the uplink traffic information.

[0214] It should be understood that in the case of OFDMA based on CMSA contention, the AP can only perform transmission after contending for the TXOP. However, when network congestion occurs, the delay for the AP to contend for the TXOP may become long, and the delay requirement of the low-latency traffic cannot be met. However, in this embodiment of the present application, since the OFDMA transmission is performed on the reserved resources, there is a determined channel access delay, and the delay requirement of the low-latency traffic can be met.

[0215] Example 5: It should be understood that 802.11be has low-latency traffic and terminals prior to Wi-Fi 6 have normal traffic. When 802.11be terminals (e.g., EHT terminals) and terminals prior to Wi-Fi 6 (e.g., legacy terminals) are present in the network, in this embodiment of the present application, the Quiet element field can be used to reserve resources so that the determined latency of the low-latency traffic in 802.11be can still be guaranteed.

[0216] Specifically, the AP adds a Quiet Element field to a management frame, e.g., a beacon frame, and by using the beacon frame, periodically quiets all STAs within the cell served by the AP. When multiple in-band APs are present in the network and the multiple in-band APs belong to the same AP coordination group, other APs within the coordination group monitor the beacon frame of the primary AP via the air interface to obtain the TBTT of the primary AP, and adjust the TBTT of the cells served by the other APs to be the same as the TBTT of the primary AP. For the specific implementation form in which the AP reserves resources for low-latency traffic by using the management frame, please refer to the foregoing method. In other words, the interval T r between two adjacent reserved resources is determined based on the latency requirement of the low-latency traffic, and the duration occupied by each reserved resource (i.e., the duration of the reserved resource) is determined based on the traffic volume of the low-latency traffic.

[0217] Since the Quiet Element field can silence common traffic, the AP schedules 802.11be low-latency traffic by using Trigger frames. It should be understood that in reserved resources, when low-latency traffic is transmitted, the AP can also schedule common traffic. In addition, when transmitting low-latency traffic, the AP can use EDCA parameters with a low priority to compete for channels so that common traffic within the local BSS does not affect the transmission of low-latency traffic in other BSSs.

[0218] In the channel access method provided in this embodiment of the present application, the AP can reserve time-frequency resources for competing and using for the first traffic. In other words, only the first traffic is permitted to access the time-frequency resources on a contention basis, and traffic other than the first traffic is quiet on the time-frequency resources. Since only the first traffic is permitted to access the reserved time-frequency resources on a contention basis, the opportunity for the first traffic to access the channel can be increased, and the transmission delay of the first traffic can be shortened.

[0219] In the foregoing embodiments provided in the present application, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application is separately described from the perspective of the interaction between the first AP and the first device (AP or STA). To implement the functions in the method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the AP and the STA may include a hardware structure, a software module, or a combination of a hardware structure and a software module to implement the foregoing functions by using a hardware structure and / or a software module. Whether a certain function among the foregoing functions is executed by using a hardware structure, a software module, or a combination of a hardware structure and a software module depends on the specific application example and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0220] Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, a communication device for implementing the above-described method in the embodiments of the present application will be described. Accordingly, all of the above-described content can be used in the following embodiments. Repeated content will not be described again.

[0221] FIG. 25 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 2500 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 2500 can correspondingly implement functions or steps implemented by the first AP or the first device in the embodiment of the above method. The communication device may include a processing module 2510 and a transceiver module 2520. Optionally, the communication device may further include a storage unit. The storage unit may be configured to store instructions (codes or programs) and / or data. The processing module 2510 and the transceiver module 2520 may be coupled to the storage unit. For example, the processing module 2510 can read instructions (codes or programs) and / or data in the storage unit to implement the corresponding method. The above-described units may be arranged independently, or may be partially or fully integrated.

[0222] In some possible implementations, the communication device 2500 can correspondingly implement the behaviors and functions of the first device in the method embodiments. For example, the communication device 2500 may be an AP or an STA, or may be a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) used in an AP or an STA. The transceiver module 2520 is configured to perform all receiving or transmitting operations performed by the first device in the embodiments shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 20, or FIG. 21, such as S601 to S604 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and / or other processes used to support the technologies described herein, such as S2002, S2003, S2005, and S2006 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 20, and / or other processes used to support the technologies described herein, and in other examples, S2102 and S2104 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 21, and / or other processes used to support the technologies described herein. The processing module 2510 is configured to perform all operations other than the transmitting and receiving operations performed by the first device in the embodiments shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 20, or FIG. 21, such as determining N first reserved resources, and / or other processes used to support the technologies described herein, such as S2001 and S2004 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 20, and / or other processes used to support the technologies described herein.

[0223] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 2520 is configured to receive a management frame from the first AP, the management frame includes first indication information, the first indication information indicates at least one first reserved resource for which the first traffic is permitted to perform contention-based access, and the at least one first reserved resource includes only time-frequency resources reserved for the first traffic. The transceiver module 2520 is further configured to start channel access on at least one first reserved resource determined by the processing module and transmit the first traffic.

[0224] In an optional implementation form, at least one first reserved resource is some time-frequency resources during a target beacon transmission time (TBTT). For example, at least one first reserved resource may be a channel of the entire bandwidth, or may be some resource units (RUs) of the channel.

[0225] In a possible implementation form, the AP is an AP within a Multi-link device (MLD) AP. The first AP operates on multiple links. The first indication information indicates the time-frequency resources of one of the multiple links, or the first indication information indicates some time-frequency resources of the first link among the multiple links.

[0226] In an optional implementation form, the interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources r is determined based on the delay requirement of the first traffic, and the duration occupied by each first reserved resource is determined based on the traffic volume of the first traffic.

[0227] In an optional implementation form, the management frame includes second indication information. The second indication information indicates at least one second reserved resource for which the second traffic is permitted contention-based access. At least one second reserved resource includes only the time-frequency resources reserved for the second traffic. At least one second reserved resource does not overlap with at least one first reserved resource.

[0228] In an optional implementation form, T r is such that T r ≦t delay / 2 is satisfied, where t delay is the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic.

[0229] In an optional implementation form, the transceiver module 2520 is further configured to receive an action frame from the first AP, the action frame indicates a third reserved resource, indicates to the first device to continue the first traffic on the third reserved resource, the start time of the third reserved resource is after the end time of the first reserved resource within at least one first reserved resource, the action frame is transmitted before the end time of the first reserved resource, and the transmission duration of the traffic volume of the first traffic is longer than the duration occupied by the first reserved resource.

[0230] In an optional implementation form, the first indication information further indicates that the first traffic is permitted to access a partial frequency domain resource within at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first indication information further indicates that a partial frequency domain resource within at least one first reserved resource is used for scheduling or transmitting the first traffic.

[0231] In an optional implementation form, the management frame is a Beacon frame, an association response frame, a probe response frame, or an action frame.

[0232] In an optional implementation form, the first indication information is carried in the first element field and / or the quiet element field included in the management frame.

[0233] In an optional implementation form, there are N quiet element fields, and the N quiet element fields correspond one-to-one to N first reserved resources.

[0234] In an optional implementation form, the management frame includes a resource reservation element field and a quiet element field. When the communication device 2500 is a legacy terminal, the processing module 2510 is configured to be silent based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field, or when the communication device 2500 is a non-legacy terminal, the processing module 2510 is configured to set at least one first reserved resource based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field.

[0235] In an optional implementation form, the communication device 2500 is a second AP located in the same AP cooperation group as the first AP. The first traffic includes the traffic between the first AP and the second AP. The processing module 2510 is further configured to determine that the time when the management frame is transmitted is T B +m×T r where T B is the transmission time when the first AP transmits the management frame, m is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and / or the processing module 2510 is further configured to determine that the resource reservation period of the cell served by the communication device 2500 is set to T r

[0236] In an optional implementation form, the transceiver module 2520 is further configured to transmit a first request message to the first AP by the first device, and the first request message is used to request the first AP to reserve resources for the first traffic of the communication device.

[0237] In an optional implementation form, when the processing module 2510 determines that the status of the network for transmitting the first traffic meets a preset trigger condition, the transceiver module 2520 transmits the first request message to the first AP, and the preset trigger condition is that the transmission delay of a plurality of data packets exceeds a preset threshold.

[0238] ​In an optional implementation form, the plurality of data packets are L consecutive data packets.

[0239] In an optional implementation form, the plurality of data packets are L of the P data packets.

[0240] In an optional implementation form, exceeding a pre-set threshold further includes reaching K times the pre-set threshold.

[0241] It should be understood that the processing module 2510 in this embodiment of the present application may be implemented by using a processor or a circuit component associated with the processor, and the transceiver module 2520 may be implemented by using a transceiver, a circuit component associated with the transceiver, or a communication interface.

[0242] In some possible implementations, the communication device 2500 can be implemented to correspond to the behavior and functions of the first AP in the method embodiments. For example, the communication device 2500 may be an AP, or may be a component (such as a chip or a circuit) used in an AP. The transceiver module 2520 can be configured to perform all the receiving or transmitting operations performed by the first AP in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 6, 20, or 21, such as S601 - S604 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and / or other processes used to support the technologies described herein, such as S2002, S2003, S2005, and S2006 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 20, and / or other processes used to support the technologies described herein, and in other examples, S2102 and S2104 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 21, and / or other processes used to support the technologies described herein. The processing module 2510 can be configured to perform all the operations other than the transmitting and receiving operations performed by the first AP in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 6, 20, or 21, such as generating the aforementioned management frame, and / or other processes used to support the technologies described herein, such as S2101 and S2103 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 21, and / or other processes used to support the technologies described herein.

[0243] In one example, the processing module 2510 is configured to generate a management frame. The transceiver module 2520 is configured to transmit the management frame to the first device. The management frame includes first indication information. The first indication information indicates at least one first reserved resource for which the first traffic is permitted contention - based access. The at least one first reserved resource includes only the time - frequency resources reserved for the first traffic.

[0244] In an optional implementation form, the reserved time-frequency resource is some time-frequency resources between TBTTs.

[0245] In an optional implementation form, the first AP is an AP within a multi-link device MLD AP. The first AP operates on multiple links. The first indication information indicates the time-frequency resource of one of the multiple links, or the first indication information indicates some time-frequency resources of the first link among the multiple links.

[0246] In an optional implementation form, the interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources r is determined based on the delay requirement of the first traffic, and the duration occupied by each first reserved resource is determined based on the traffic volume of the first traffic.

[0247] In an optional implementation form, T r is such that T r ≤ t delay / 2, where t delay is the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic.

[0248] In an optional implementation form, the transceiver module 2520 is further configured to send an action frame to the first device. The action frame indicates a third reserved resource and indicates to the first device to continue the first traffic on the third reserved resource. The start time of the third reserved resource is after the end time of the first reserved resource within at least one first reserved resource. The action frame is sent before the end time of the first reserved resource, and the transmission duration of the traffic volume of the first traffic is longer than the duration occupied by the first reserved resource.

[0249] In an optional implementation form, the first indication information further indicates that the first traffic is permitted to access a partial frequency region resource within at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first indication information further indicates that a partial frequency region resource within at least one first reserved resource is used for scheduling or transmitting the first traffic.

[0250] In an optional implementation form, the management frame is a Beacon frame, an association response frame, a probe response frame, or an action frame.

[0251] In an optional implementation form, the first indication information is carried in a first element field and / or a quiet element field included in the management frame.

[0252] In an optional implementation form, there are N quiet element fields, and the N quiet element fields correspond one-to-one to N first reserved resources.

[0253] In an optional implementation form, the management frame includes a resource reservation element field and a quiet element field. When the first device is a legacy terminal, the processing module 2510 is configured to be silent based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field, or when the first device is a non-legacy terminal, the processing module 2510 is configured to set at least one first reserved resource based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field.

[0254] In an optional implementation form, the communication device is an AP located within an AP cooperation group. The first traffic includes traffic between the communication device and the primary AP. The processing module 2510 determines that the time when the management frame is transmitted is T B +m×T rand is further configured to determine that it is, T B is the time when the primary AP transmits a management frame, m is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and / or the processing module 2520 determines that the resource reservation period of the cell served by the communication device is T r and is further configured to determine that it is set to.

[0255] It should be understood that the processing module 2510 in this embodiment of the present application may be implemented by using a processor or a circuit component associated with the processor, and the transceiver module 2520 may be implemented by using a transceiver, a circuit component associated with the transceiver, or a communication interface.

[0256] FIG. 26 shows a communication device 2600 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 2600 may be an AP and can implement the functions of the first AP in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. Alternatively, the communication device 2600 may be an AP or an STA and can implement the functions of the first device in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. Alternatively, the communication device 2600 may be a device that can support the first AP to implement the corresponding functions in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, or a device that can support the first device to implement the corresponding functions in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The communication device 2600 may be a chip or a chip system. In this embodiment of the present application, the chip system may include a chip or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0257] In a hardware implementation form, the transceiver module 2520 may be a transceiver 2610.

[0258] The communication device 2600 includes at least one processor 2620 configured to implement or support the communication device 2600 to implement the function of the first device or the first AP in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, for example, generating the aforementioned management frame. The processor may include a management frame identification component. The management frame identification component may further include a quiet element field identification component and / or a resource reservation element identification field. When the management frame includes only the resource reservation element field, the communication device 2600 competes for the reserved resources indicated by the resource reservation element field. When the management frame includes both the resource reservation element field and the quiet element field, if the communication device 2600 is an EHT terminal, the communication device 2600 competes for the reserved resources indicated by the resource reservation element field, or if the communication device is a legacy terminal, the communication device is quiet during the period indicated by the quiet element field. Specifically, the management frame identification component may be configured to use the channel access method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0259] The communication device 2600 may further include at least one memory 2630 configured to store program instructions and / or data. The memory 2630 is coupled to the processor 2620. The coupling in this embodiment of the present application may be an indirect coupling or a communication connection between devices, units, or modules in an electrical form, a mechanical form, or other forms, and is used for information exchange between devices, units, or modules. The processor 2620 can cooperate with the memory 2630. The processor 2620 may execute the program instructions and / or data stored in the memory 2630 so that the communication device 2600 implements the corresponding method. At least one of the at least one memory may be located within the processor.

[0260] The communication device 2600 may further include a transceiver 2610 configured to communicate with other devices by using a transmission medium so that devices within the communication device 2600 can communicate with other devices. For example, when the communication device is a terminal, the other device is a network device. Alternatively, when the communication device is a network device, the other device is a terminal. The processor 2620 may transmit and receive data by using the transceiver 2610. The transceiver 2610 may specifically be a transceiver. The communication device 2600 may further include a radio frequency unit. The radio frequency unit may be independent of the communication device 2600 or integrated into the communication device 2600. Of course, the transceiver 2610 may further include an antenna, for example, a remote antenna independent of the communication device 2600 or an antenna incorporated in the communication device 2600.

[0261] The specific connection medium between the transceiver 2610, the processor 2620, and the memory 2630 is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment of the present application, the memory 2630, the processor 2620, and the transceiver 2610 are connected via the bus 2640 in FIG. 26. In FIG. 26, a thick line is used to represent the bus. The connection method between other components is only an example for explanation and does not impose any limitations. The bus may be classified into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, only a thick line is used to represent the bus in FIG. 26, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0262] In this embodiment of the present application, the processor 2620 can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field-programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, an individual gate or transistor logic device, or an individual hardware component, and can implement or execute the methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc. The steps of the methods disclosed with reference to the embodiments of the present application may be directly executed and completed by a hardware processor, or may be executed and completed by using a combination of hardware modules and software modules within the processor.

[0263] In this embodiment of the present application, the memory 2630 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), or may be a volatile memory, such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory can carry or store program code expected in the form of instructions or data structures, and is any other medium that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory in this embodiment of the present application may alternatively be a circuit or any other device capable of implementing a storage function, and is configured to store program instructions and / or data.

[0264] Note that the communication device in the foregoing embodiments can be a terminal, a circuit, a chip used in the terminal, or other combined components, parts, etc. having the functions of the terminal. When the communication device is a terminal, the transceiver module may be a transceiver, and may include an antenna, a radio frequency circuit, etc. The processing module may be a processor, for example, a central processing unit (CPU). When the communication device is a component having the functions of the terminal, the transceiver module may be a radio frequency unit, and the processing module may be a processor. When the communication device is a chip or a chip system, the transceiver module may be the input / output interface of the chip or the chip system, and the processing module may be the processor of the chip or the chip system.

[0265] As a possible product form, the AP or STA described in this embodiment of the present application can be further implemented by using the following components, that is, one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), controllers, state machines, gate logics, discrete hardware components, any other suitable circuits, or any combination of circuits capable of performing various functions described in the present application.

[0266] It should be understood that APs in various product forms have any functions of the APs in the foregoing method embodiments. Details are not described again here. STAs in various forms have any functions of the STAs in the foregoing method embodiments. Details are not described again here.

[0267] One embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system. Specifically, the communication system may include an STA and an AP, or may further include more APs and access network devices. For example, the communication system includes an STA and an AP configured to implement the related functions of FIG. 1, FIG. 15, or FIG. 16.

[0268] The AP is separately configured to implement the functions of the network part related to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 16, or FIG. 17. The STA is configured to implement the functions of the STA related to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 16, or FIG. 17. For example, the STA can perform S601 to S604 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6. The AP can perform S601 to S604 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6. As another example, the STA can perform S2001 to S2006 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 20, for example. The AP can perform S2003, S2004, S2005, and S2006 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 20. As another example, the STA can perform S2002 and S2004 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 21, for example. The AP can perform S2001 and S2003 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 21.

[0269] One embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium including instructions. When the instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is enabled to perform the methods performed by the AP or STA in FIG. 6, FIG. 20, or FIG. 21.

[0270] One embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product including computer program code. When the computer program code is executed on a computer, the computer is enabled to perform the methods performed by the AP or STA in FIG. 16, FIG. 20, or FIG. 21.

[0271] One embodiment of the present application provides a chip system. The chip system includes a processor and may further include a memory, and is configured to implement the functions of the AP or STA in the foregoing method. The chip system may include a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0272] One embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device including a processor and an interface. The processor is configured to perform the information processing method in any one of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0273] It should be understood that the communication device may be a chip. The processor may be implemented by hardware or by software. When the processor is implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, etc. When the processor is implemented by software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor. The general-purpose processor is implemented by reading software code stored in a memory. The memory may be integrated with the processor or may be located outside the processor and exist independently.

[0274] It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" may be used interchangeably in the embodiments of the present application. "At least one" means one or more, and "a plurality of" means two or more. And / or describes the relationship between related objects and indicates that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may indicate the following three cases, that is, the case where A exists alone, the case where both A and B exist, and the case where B exists alone, where A and B may be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between related objects. At least one of the following items (parts) or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of a single item (part) or multiple items (parts). For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b, and c, where a, b, and c may be singular or plural.

[0275] In addition, unless otherwise specified, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" in the embodiments of the present application are for distinguishing a plurality of objects, but are not intended to limit the order, time sequence, priority, or importance of the plurality of objects. For example, the first information and the second information are used only for distinguishing different instruction information, and do not indicate different priorities, importance, etc. of the two types of information.

[0276] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the execution sequence. The execution order of the processes should be determined based on the functions and internal logics of the processes, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation processes of the embodiments of the present application.

[0277] In addition, the term "for example" in the embodiments of the present application is used to represent an example or an explanation. Any embodiment or implementation solution described as an "example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be described as being more preferable than other embodiments or implementation solutions. That is, the use of the word "example" is intended to specifically illustrate a certain concept.

[0278] All or part of the method in the embodiments of this application can be implemented by using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When software is used to implement the embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present invention are generated. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from a website, a computer, a server, or a data center to another website, a computer, a server, or a data center in a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, or digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, or microwave) manner. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium accessible to a computer or a data storage device such as a server or a data center that integrates one or more available media. The available media may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., digital video disc (DVD)), a semiconductor medium (e.g., SSD), etc.

[0279] It is obvious that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and deformations to this application without departing from the scope of this application. This application is intended to include these modifications and deformations of this application on the condition that it falls within the scope of protection defined by the following claims and their equivalent technologies.

Description of the Reference Signs

[0280] 101 Multi-link AP Device 102 Multi-link STA Device 101-1 Associated AP 101-2 Associated AP 102-1 Belonging STA 102-2 Belonging STA 2500 Communication Device 2510 Processing Module 2520 Transceiver Module 2600 Communication Device 2610 Transceiver 2620 Processor 2630 Memory 2640 Bus

Claims

1. 1. A channel access method, comprising: receiving, by a first device, a management frame from a first access point AP, the management frame including first indication information, the first indication information indicating at least one first reserved resource to which a first traffic is granted contention-based access, the at least one first reserved resource including only time domain resources reserved for the first traffic; initiating, by the first device, channel access on the at least one first reserved resource to transmit the first traffic; A channel access method comprising:

2. 1. A channel access method, comprising: generating, by a first access point (AP), a management frame, the management frame including first indication information, the first indication information indicating at least one first reserved resource to which a first traffic is granted contention-based access, the at least one first reserved resource including only time domain resources reserved for the first traffic; transmitting, by the first AP, the management frame to a first device; A channel access method comprising:

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the reserved time domain resource is a partial time domain resource during a target beacon transmission time TBTT.

4. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first AP is an AP belonging to a multi-link device (MLD AP), the first AP operates on a plurality of links, and the first indication information indicates a time domain resource of one link of the plurality of links, or the first indication information indicates a partial time domain resource of a first link of the plurality of links.

5. The interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources r The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first reserved resource is determined based on a delay requirement of the first traffic, and the duration occupied by each first reserved resource is determined based on a traffic volume of the first traffic.

6. T r is T r ≦t delay / 2, t delay The method of claim 5 , wherein: Δt is the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic.

7. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication further indicates that the first traffic is allowed to access partial frequency domain resources within the at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis and / or the first indication further indicates that the frequency domain resources within the at least one first reserved resource are used for scheduling or transmitting the first traffic.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the management frame is a beacon frame, an association response frame, a probe response frame, or an action frame.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the management frame includes a first element field and a quiet element field.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first indication is carried in the first element field.

11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein the number of quiet factor fields is N, and the N quiet factor fields correspond one-to-one to the at least one first reserved resource.

12. The method comprises: receiving, by the first device, an action frame from the first AP, the action frame indicating a third reserved resource and indicating to the first device to continue the first traffic on the third reserved resource, a start time of the third reserved resource being later than an end time of a first reserved resource in the at least one first reserved resource, the action frame being transmitted before the end time of the first reserved resource, and a transmission duration of the traffic volume of the first traffic being longer than a duration occupied by the first reserved resource; 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

13. The method comprises: sending, by the first AP, an action frame to the first device, the action frame indicating a third reserved resource and indicating to the first device to continue the first traffic on the third reserved resource, a start time of the third reserved resource being later than an end time of a first reserved resource in the at least one first reserved resource, the action frame being sent before the end time of the first reserved resource, and a transmission duration of the traffic volume of the first traffic being longer than a duration occupied by the first reserved resource; 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

14. 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the management frame includes a first element field and a quiet element field, and if the first device is a legacy terminal, the first device maintains silence based on a quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field, or if the first device is a non-legacy terminal, the first device ignores the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field and configures the at least one first reserved resource based on the first indication information indicated by the first element field.

15. The first device is a second AP that belongs to the same AP cooperation group as the first AP, the first traffic includes traffic between the first AP and the second AP, and the time when the first device transmits a management frame is T B +m×T r and T B is the time point of transmission of the management frame, m is an integer equal to or greater than 0, and / or The resource reservation period of the cell served by the first device is T r is set to 15. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 14.

16. A communication device, the communication device including a transceiver module and a processing module; The transceiver module is configured to receive a management frame from a first access point AP, the management frame including first instruction information, the first instruction information indicating at least one first reserved resource to which a first traffic is allowed contention-based access, the at least one first reserved resource including only time domain resources reserved for the first traffic; the transceiver module is further configured to initiate channel access on the at least one first reserved resource determined by the processing module to transmit the first traffic. Communications equipment.

17. A communication device, the communication device including a transceiver module and a processing module; The processing module is configured to generate a management frame, the management frame including first indication information, the first indication information indicating at least one first reserved resource to which a first traffic is granted contention-based access, the at least one first reserved resource including only time domain resources reserved for the first traffic; the transceiver module is configured to transmit the management frame to a first device; Communications equipment.

18. 18. The communication device according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the reserved time domain resource is a partial time domain resource during a target beacon transmission time TBTT.

19. 19. The communication device according to claim 16, wherein the first AP is an AP belonging to a multi-link device MLD AP, the first AP operates on a plurality of links, and the first indication information indicates a time domain resource of one link among the plurality of links, or the first indication information indicates a partial time domain resource of a first link among the plurality of links.

20. The interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources r 20. The communication device of claim 16, wherein the duration occupied by each first reserved resource is determined based on a delay requirement of the first traffic, and the duration occupied by each first reserved resource is determined based on a traffic volume of the first traffic.

21. T r ≦t delay / 2, and t delay The communication device of claim 20, wherein: t is a maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic.

22. 22. The communication device according to claim 16, wherein the first indication further indicates that the first traffic is allowed to access a partial frequency domain resource within the at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis and / or the first indication further indicates that the partial frequency domain resource within the at least one first reserved resource is used for scheduling or transmitting the first traffic.

23. 23. The communication device according to claim 16, wherein the management frame is a beacon frame, an association response frame, a probe response frame, or an action frame.

24. 24. The communications device of claim 16, wherein the management frame includes a first element field and a quiet element field.

25. The communication device of claim 24 , wherein the first indication information is carried in the first element field.

26. 26. The communications device of claim 24 or 25, wherein the number of quiet element fields is N, and the N quiet element fields correspond one-to-one to the at least one first reserved resource.

27. The transceiver module includes: receiving an action frame from the first AP, the action frame indicating a third reserved resource and indicating to the first device to continue the first traffic on the third reserved resource, a start time of the third reserved resource being later than an end time of a first reserved resource in the at least one first reserved resource, the action frame being transmitted before the end time of the first reserved resource, and a transmission duration of the traffic volume of the first traffic being longer than a duration occupied by the first reserved resource; 27. The communication device of any one of claims 16 to 26, further configured to:

28. The transceiver module includes: Send an action frame to the first device, the action frame indicating a third reserved resource and indicating to the first device to continue the first traffic on the third reserved resource, a start time of the third reserved resource being later than an end time of a first reserved resource in the at least one first reserved resource, the action frame being sent before the end time of the first reserved resource, and a transmission duration of the traffic volume of the first traffic being longer than a duration occupied by the first reserved resource.

27. The communication device of any one of claims 16 to 26, further configured to:

29. 29. The communication device of claim 16, wherein the management frame includes a resource reservation element field and a quiet element field, and wherein if the first device is a legacy terminal, the processing module is configured to perform silence based on a quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field, or if the first device is a non-legacy terminal, the processing module is configured to set the at least one first reserved resource based on a quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field.

30. The communication device is a second AP belonging to the same AP cooperation group as the first AP, the first traffic includes traffic between the first AP and the communication device, and the processing module detects that the time when the management frame is transmitted is T B +m×T r It is determined that T B is a transmission time of the management frame, and m is an integer equal to or greater than 0; and / or The processing module is configured to determine whether a resource reservation period for a cell served by the communication device is T r Determines that it is set to 30. The communication device of any one of claims 20 to 29, further configured to:

31. A communication device, the communication device comprising a transceiver and a processor configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 15.

32. A communication device, comprising: a memory configured to store a computer program; a processor configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory to enable the communication device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15; 23. A communication device comprising:

33. A chip comprising at least one processor and an interface, the processor configured to read and execute instructions stored in a memory, the execution of the instructions enabling the chip to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 15.

34. 16. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program comprising program instructions which, when executed by a computer, enable the computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15.

35. 16. A computer program product comprising computer program code, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to implement a method according to any one of claims 1 to 15.

36. An apparatus configured to implement a method according to any one of claims 1 to 15.

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