Multilink communication method and multilink device

Abstract

The present invention provides a multilink communication method and a multilink device. [Solution] The multilink device receives a first A-MPDU and a second A-MPDU via the first and second links, respectively, the first A-MPDU and the second A-MPDU having the same traffic identifier, and the first A-MPDU is received before the second A-MPDU. The multilink device also determines the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the first link based on the first A-MPDU received via the second link, and based on the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the first link and the received second A-MPDU, the multilink device transmits a first block acknowledgment frame via the first link, which is used to acknowledge the reception status of the second A-MPDU.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] [Technical Field] Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to multi-link communication methods and multi-link devices.

Background Art

[0002] With the development of wireless technologies, multi-link devices can support multi-link communication, for example, communicate simultaneously in frequency bands of 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz, select the optimal frequency band, and ensure the communication quality of the multi-link devices.

[0003] In a multi-link communication scenario, an access point multi-link device can transmit data packets corresponding to the same traffic identifier to a local multi-link device along multiple links. When each link's local maintains a local scoreboard, in the existing block acknowledgment response mechanism, the locals of different links may not be able to correctly feedback the reception status of all MPDUs within the received aggregated medium access control protocol data unit (A-MPDU).

[0004] Therefore, in a multi-link communication scenario, how to ensure that receiving devices on different links can correctly feedback the reception status of all MPDUs within the received A-MPDU is an urgent technical problem to be solved currently.

Summary of the Invention

[0005] Embodiments of the present application provide a multi-link communication method and a multi-link device. In a multi-link communication scenario, when a data transmission end transmits multiple A-MPDUs corresponding to the same TID along multiple links to a data reception end, receiving devices on different links can correctly feedback the reception status of all MPDUs of the received A-MPDU.

[0006] According to the first aspect, a multi-link communication method is provided. The multi-link device receives a second Aggregate Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (A-MPDU) via a first link, receives a first A-MPDU via a second link, the first A-MPDU and the second A-MPDU have the same traffic identifier, and the first A-MPDU is received before the second A-MPDU. The method includes the following. The multi-link device determines a start sequence number or an end sequence number of a scoreboard on the first link based on the first A-MPDU received via the second link, The multi-link device transmits a first block acknowledgment response frame via the first link based on the start sequence number or the end sequence number of the scoreboard on the first link and the received second A-MPDU, and the first block acknowledgment response frame is used to confirm the reception status of the second A-MPDU.

[0007] According to the above method, in an embodiment of the present application, in a multi-link communication scenario, when a data transmission end transmits a plurality of A-MPDUs corresponding to the same TID along a plurality of links to a data reception end, receiving devices on different links can correctly feedback the reception status of all MPDUs of the received A-MPDUs.

[0008] Specifically, in this embodiment of the present application, the scoreboard of the first receiving device keeps synchronization with the scoreboards of receiving devices on other links without using the information in the reorder buffer. Therefore, the first receiving device processes the received A-MPDU according to the existing scoreboard context update rule, and can correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs in the A-MPDU based on the newly determined start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard, and the information will not be reported incorrectly.

[0009] Referring to the first embodiment, in some possible implementations of the first embodiment, the method further includes: The multilink device determines the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the second link based on the first A-MPDU received via the second link; The multilink device transmits a second block acknowledgment frame over the second link based on the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the second link and the received first A-MPDU, and the second block acknowledgment frame is used to acknowledge the reception status of the first A-MPDU.

[0010] Referring to the first embodiment, in some possible implementations of the first embodiment, the window size of the scoreboard on the first link is the same as the window size of the scoreboard on the second link.

[0011] Referring to the first embodiment, in some possible implementations of the first embodiment, the multilink device includes a first receiver on the first link and a second receiver on the second link. The multilink device determining the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the first link based on the first A-MPDU received on the second link includes: The first receiving device determines the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device, and the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device corresponds to the 1A-MPDU.

[0012] The first receiving device obtains the updated start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device (or the second receiving device synchronizes with the scoreboard of the first receiving device), so that in this embodiment of the present application, the scoreboard of the first receiving device can be synchronized with the scoreboard of the second receiving device. In this way, in this embodiment of the present application, the first receiving device can process the A-MPDU received in accordance with the existing scoreboard context control update rules and correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs within the A-MPDU based on the newly determined start or end sequence number of the scoreboard, so that information is not reported incorrectly.

[0013] Referring to the first embodiment, in some possible implementations of the first embodiment, the multilink device includes a first receiver on the first link and a second receiver on the second link. The multilink device determining the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the first link based on the first A-MPDU received on the second link includes: The first receiving device determines the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the common scoreboard of the multilink device, and the start sequence number or end sequence number of the common scoreboard of the multilink device is determined based on the first A-MPDU.

[0014] The second receiving device records the updated start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard in the common scoreboard, so the first receiving device can synchronize with the scoreboard of the first receiving device by obtaining the start sequence number or end sequence number of the common scoreboard. Thus, in this embodiment of the present application, the first receiving device can process the A-MPDU received in accordance with the existing scoreboard context update rules and correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs within the A-MPDU based on the newly determined start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard, so that information is not reported incorrectly.

[0015] Referring to the first embodiment, in some possible implementations of the first embodiment, the multilink device includes a first receiver on the first link and a second receiver on the second link. The multilink device determining the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the first link based on the first A-MPDU received via the second link includes: The first receiving device receives a start sequence number transmitted by the transmitting device on the first link, the start sequence number is coupled to the first A-MPDU, and the first receiving device determines the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device based on the start sequence number.

[0016] According to the aforementioned technical solution, in this embodiment of the present application, the first receiving device can update or synchronize with the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device by receiving the start sequence number transmitted by the first transmitting device, so that the received A-MPDU can be processed according to the scoreboard context update rules, and the reception status of all MPDUs within the A-MPDU can be correctly recorded based on the newly determined start or end sequence number of the scoreboard, so that the information is not reported incorrectly.

[0017] Referring to the first aspect, in some possible implementations of the first aspect, the start sequence number is transmitted in an additional block acknowledgment request frame or a block acknowledgment request frame.

[0018] Referring to the first embodiment, in some possible implementations of the first embodiment, the multilink device includes a second receiving device on the second link. The method further includes: the multilink device transmits instruction information over the second link, the instruction information indicating that the second receiving device cannot synchronize with the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of any receiving device on any link.

[0019] According to the aforementioned technical solution, in this embodiment of the present application, the first receiving device can update or synchronize with the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device by receiving the start sequence number transmitted by the first transmitting device, so that the received A-MPDU can be processed according to the scoreboard context update rules, and the reception status of all MPDUs within the A-MPDU can be correctly recorded based on the newly determined start or end sequence number of the scoreboard, so that the information is not reported incorrectly.

[0020] Referring to the first embodiment, in some possible implementations of the first embodiment, the first block acknowledgment frame of the first A-MPDU is transmitted before the second A-MPDU is received.

[0021] According to a second embodiment, a multilink device is provided. The multilink device receives a second aggregated medium access control protocol data unit (A-MPDU) via a first link and a first A-MPDU via a second link, wherein the first A-MPDU and the second A-MPDU have the same traffic identifier, and the first A-MPDU is received before the second A-MPDU. The multilink device, The processing unit is configured to determine a start sequence number or end sequence number of a scoreboard on the first link based on the first A-MPDU received via the second link, and the processing unit is further configured to determine a first block acknowledgment frame based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the first link and the received second A-MPDU, the first block acknowledgment frame being used to acknowledge the reception status of the second A-MPDU, and the processing unit is configured to determine a start sequence number or end sequence number of a scoreboard on the first link and the received second A-MPDU, and the processing unit is configured to determine a first block acknowledgment frame is used to acknowledge the reception status of the second A-MPDU, A transceiver unit configured to transmit the first block acknowledgment frame via the first link, Includes.

[0022] With respect to the second aspect, in some possible embodiments of the second aspect, the processing unit is configured to determine a start or end sequence number of a scoreboard on the second link based on the first A-MPDU received via the second link. The processing unit is configured to determine a second block acknowledgment frame based on the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the second link and the received first A-MPDU, the second block acknowledgment frame being used to acknowledge the reception status of the first A-MPDU. The transceiver unit is configured to transmit the second block acknowledgment frame via the second link.

[0023] Referring to the second aspect, in some possible implementations of the second aspect, the window size of the scoreboard on the first link is the same as the window size of the scoreboard on the second link.

[0024] Referring to the second aspect, in some possible implementations of the second aspect, the multilink device includes a first communication device on the first link and a second communication device on the second link, the first communication device including a processing module. The processing module is configured to determine the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first communication device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second communication device. The start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second communication device corresponds to the first A-MPDU.

[0025] Referring to the second aspect, in some possible implementations of the second aspect, the multilink device includes a first communication device on the first link and a second communication device on the second link, the first communication device including a processing module. The processing module is configured to determine the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first communication device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the common scoreboard of the multilink device. The start sequence number or end sequence number of the common scoreboard of the multilink device corresponds to the first A-MPDU.

[0026] Referring to the second aspect, in some possible implementations of the second aspect, the multilink device includes a first communication device on the first link and a second communication device on the second link, the first communication device including a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module is configured to receive a start sequence number transmitted by a transmitter on the first link, the start sequence number being coupled to the first A-MPDU. The processing module is configured to determine a start sequence number or an end sequence number for the scoreboard of the first communication device based on the start sequence number, the start sequence number being coupled to the first A-MPDU.

[0027] Referring to the second aspect, in some possible implementations of the second aspect, the start sequence number is transmitted in an additional block acknowledgment request frame or a block acknowledgment request frame.

[0028] Referring to a second embodiment, in some possible implementations of the second embodiment, the multilink device includes a second communication device on the second link. The transceiver unit transmits instruction information over the second link, which indicates that the second communication device cannot synchronize with the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of any communication device on any link.

[0029] Referring to the second aspect, in some possible implementations of the second aspect, the first block acknowledgment frame of the first A-MPDU is sent before the second A-MPDU is received.

[0030] According to a third embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. The computer storage medium stores program instructions, and when the program instructions are executed by a computer, the computer is made capable of executing any one of the first embodiment and any possible implementations thereof.

[0031] According to a fourth aspect, a computer program product including instructions is provided. When the instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is made capable of executing any one of the first aspects and any possible implementations thereof. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0032] [Figure 1] This is a schematic diagram of an application scenario according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0033] [Figure 2] This is a schematic diagram of the relationship between multilink devices according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0034] [Figure 3]This is a schematic diagram of the scoreboard context control operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0035] [Figure 4] This is a schematic diagram showing how a receiving device receives and feeds back an aggregated media access control protocol data unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0036] [Figure 5] This is a schematic flowchart of a multilink communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0037] [Figure 6] This is a schematic flowchart of yet another multilink communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0038] [Figure 7] This is a schematic flowchart of another multilink communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0039] [Figure 8A] This is a schematic flowchart of yet another multilink communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8B] This is a schematic flowchart of yet another multilink communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0040] [Figure 9] This is a schematic diagram of the frame structure of instruction information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0041] [Figure 10] This is a schematic block diagram of a multilink device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0042] [Figure 11] This is a schematic block diagram of another multilink device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0043] The following describes the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application with reference to the attached drawings.

[0044] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are applicable to wireless local area network (WLAN) scenarios. For example, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are applicable to IEEE 802.11 system standards, such as 802.11a / b / g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, or next-generation standards, such as 802.11be or further next-generation standards.

[0045] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are applicable to wireless local area network (WLAN) scenarios. For example, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are applicable to IEEE 802.11 system standards, such as 802.11a / b / g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, or next-generation standards, such as 802.11be or further next-generation standards.

[0046] While embodiments of this application are primarily described using examples where WLAN networks, particularly networks to which the IEEE 802.11 system standard applies, those skilled in the art will readily understand that various aspects of the embodiments of this application are extendable to other networks using various standards or protocols, such as Bluetooth, high-performance radio local area networks (HIPERLAN), wide area networks (WANs), personal area networks (PANs), and other known or future-developed networks. Accordingly, regardless of the coverage area used and the radio access protocol used, various aspects provided in the embodiments of this application can be applied to any suitable radio network.

[0047] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application are applicable to various communication systems, such as global systems for mobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) systems, general packet radio service (GPRS), long-term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, universal mobile telecommunication systems (UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, 5th generation (5G) systems or new radio (NR) systems, 6th generation (6G) systems, and Internet of Things (IoT) networks or Vehicle to X (Vehicle to X). It may be further applied to wireless local area network systems such as V2X.

[0048] The communication systems used in this application are merely illustrative examples and are not limiting. A unified explanation is provided here, and further details are not provided below.

[0049] In embodiments of the present application, a terminal may be user equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user device. Alternatively, a terminal may be a cellular phone, a cordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) telephone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device, another processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, a terminal in a 5G network, a terminal in a future 6G network, a terminal in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), etc. This is not limited to embodiments of the present application.

[0050] The network device in the embodiments of this application may be a device configured to communicate with a terminal. The network device may be a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, or a NodeB (NodeB, NB) in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, or an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, or a radio control unit in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario. Alternatively, the network device may be a relay station, access point, in-vehicle device, wearable device, network device in a 5G network, terminal in a future 6G network, network device in a PLMN network, etc. This is not limited to the embodiments of this application.

[0051] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario according to the present application. In Figure 1, the access point (AP) may be a communication server, router, or switch, or any of the above network devices. The station (STA) may be a mobile phone or computer, or any of the above terminals. This is not limited to the embodiments of the present application.

[0052] It should be understood that the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application are applicable to communication between an AP and one or more STAs, to communication between APs, and to communication between STAs. For the sake of clarity, the embodiments of this application are described using only an example in which an AP communicates with one or more STAs. However, this method of explanation does not limit the actual scope of application of the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application. A unified explanation is provided here, and further details are not described below.

[0053] An access point may be an access point used by a terminal (e.g., a mobile phone) to access a wired (or wireless) network, and is primarily deployed in homes, buildings, or campuses. Typical coverage radii are tens of meters or greater than 100 meters. Of course, alternatively, access points may be deployed outdoors. An access point is equivalent to a bridge connecting a wired network and a wireless network. The main function of an access point is to connect various wireless network clients and connect wireless networks to Ethernet. Specifically, an access point may be a terminal (such as a mobile phone) or network device (such as a router) equipped with a Wi-Fi chip. An access point may be a device that supports the 802.11be standard. Alternatively, an access point may be a device that supports multiple WLAN standards in the 802.11 family, such as 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a, and the next-generation 802.11be. The access point of this application may be an HE AP or an EHT AP, or an access point applicable to future generations of Wi-Fi standards.

[0054] A station may be a wireless communication chip, wireless sensor, wireless communication terminal, etc., and may also be called a user. For example, a station may be a mobile phone, tablet computer, set-top box, smart TV set, smart wearable device, in-vehicle communication device, computer, etc. that supports Wi-Fi communication functionality. Optionally, a station may support the 802.11be standard. Alternatively, a station may support WLAN standards in the 802.11 family, such as 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a, and the next generation 802.11be.

[0055] For example, access points and stations may be vehicle internet, Internet of Things nodes, or similar devices within the Internet of Things (IoT), smart cameras, smart remotes, smart water meters or electricity meters, or similar devices in smart homes, or sensors in smart cities.

[0056] The wireless communication system provided in the embodiments of this application may be a WLAN or a cellular network. The method may be implemented by a communication device within the wireless communication system or by a chip or processor within the communication device. The communication device may be a wireless communication device that supports parallel transmission of multiple links, for example, a multi-link device (MLD). Compared to a device that supports only single-link transmission, a multi-link device has higher transmission efficiency and higher throughput. A multi-link device includes one or more affiliated stations (STAs). An affiliated STA is a logical station and may operate on one link. An affiliated STA may be an AP or a non-AP STA. For ease of explanation, in this application, a multi-link device with an AP as the affiliated station may be referred to as a multi-link AP, a multi-link AP device, or an AP multi-link device (AP MLD). A multi-link device in which the affiliated station is a non-AP STA may be referred to as a multi-link STA, a multi-link STA device, or an STA multi-link device (non-AP MLD).

[0057] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the association relationships between multilink devices according to an embodiment of the present invention. The AP MLD shown in Figure 2 can contain multiple APs, and the STA MLD can contain multiple STAs. When an AP MLD needs to communicate with an STA MLD, each AP in the AP MLD needs to be associated with a corresponding STA in the STA MLD. As shown in Figure 2, AP1 in the AP MLD is associated with STA1 in the STA MLD and operates on link 1. AP2 in the AP MLD is associated with STA2 in the STA MLD and operates on link 2. APn in the AP MLD is associated with STAn in the STA MLD and operates on link n. In this way, each AP in the AP MLD establishes a connection to a corresponding STA in the STA MLD on its respective link, enabling multilink communication between the two MLDs.

[0058] To better understand the technical solutions disclosed in the embodiments of this application, some technical terms used in the embodiments are briefly explained below.

[0059] Firstly, there is the block acknowledgment (BA) mechanism.

[0060] The 802.11n protocol defines a BA mechanism, which aggregates multiple "acknowledgments" into a single frame to improve channel efficiency.

[0061] The BA mechanism is initiated by exchanging an Add Block Acknowledgment (ADDBA) request frame and an ADDBA response frame. For example, the data sender (originator) (hereinafter referred to as "sender") sends an ADDBA request frame to the data receiver (receiver), and the receiver returns an ADDBA response frame to the sender. Through these steps, the BA mechanism (or "BA session") is successfully established between the sender and receiver. Next, the sender sends multiple Mac Protocol data units (MPDUs) to the receiver. The multiple MPDUs sent by the sender to the receiver are aggregated into a single aggregated Mac Protocol data unit (A-MPDU). The sender sends a BA request (BAR) frame to the receiver. The receiver returns a BA frame to the sender, acknowledging the reception status of all MPDUs within the A-MPDU sent by the sender.

[0062] In the aggregation procedure, the transmitting end assigns a window, i.e., (WinStart) to each receiver address (RA) or traffic identifier (TID). O WinSize O It should be understood that a limit should be established to control the amount of MPDUs contained in a single A-MPDU. A single A-MPDU can contain a maximum of 1024 MPDUs. However, the maximum amount of MPDUs contained in a single A-MPDU may change according to future standards.

[0063] Currently, there are two BA mechanisms: the full-state BA mechanism and the partial-state BA mechanism. The former requires maintaining the scoreboard state throughout the entire BA session. Therefore, the receiving end must maintain the state of all active BA sessions, increasing the load on the receiving end. The latter only requires buffering the state of the most recently activated BA session. This allows another BA session to repeatedly use the memory used to store the BA session state, enabling backward compatibility with the full-state BA mechanism.

[0064] The second is scoreboard context control.

[0065] A receiver implementing the full-state operation of high-throughput immediate block ack agreement (which is a non-AP in a downlink scenario or an AP in an uplink scenario) needs to understand that it maintains the protocol's block acknowledgment record (BA record) according to the following rules.

[0066] The receiving end maintains one block acknowledgment record. This record is used to indicate the starting sequence number, a 12-bit unsigned integer, which is used to indicate the minimum sequence number position within a bitmap indexed by a sequence number, i.e., WinStart. R , used to indicate the maximum sequence number within the current send window, WinEnd R The maximum window size, i.e., WinSize, is set to a small value for the bitmap length (802.11ax protocol). R This includes the buffer size field of the ADDBA response frame for establishing a block acknowledgment protocol.

[0067] For ease of explanation, in the embodiments of the present application, the scoreboard of the receiving device uses three parameters, WinStart R , WinSize R , and WinEnd R for the examples described. WinStart R indicates the start sequence number of the scorecard, WinSize R indicates the window size of the scorecard, and WinEnd R indicates the end sequence number of the scorecard.

[0068] After receiving the A-MPDU sent by the sending end, the receiving end performs de-aggregation control on the A-MPDU to obtain a plurality of MPDUs. Each MPDU in the A-MPDU has a sequence number (SN), and the SN indicates the sequence of each MPDU in the A-MPDU. Specifically, when fragmentation and reconstruction are not used, the SN is the value of the sequence number subfield of the received data frame. When fragmentation and reconstruction are used, the SN is the value of the MPDU sequence number subfield of the received data frame.

[0069] The receiving end performs a scoreboard context control operation on each MPDU. After scoring, the received MPDUs are delivered to a receive reordering buffer, sorted based on the SN sequence, and the correctly received MPDUs are delivered to the upper layer. If an MPDU that was not received correctly appears during the reordering process, the SN corresponding to the MPDU is shown as WinStart B , and all MPDUs that were received correctly in order before the SN are delivered to the upper layer. For MPDUs after the SN, the receiving end can only deliver the MPDU and the MPDUs received correctly in order to the upper layer after receiving the MPDU corresponding to the SN.

[0070] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the scoreboard context control operation according to an embodiment of the present invention. Details are shown in Figure 3.

[0071] For example, the receiving end deaggregates one A-MPDU and obtains four MPDUs with SNs of 102, 103, 105, and 100 respectively. The receiving end marks a 1 at the bit position corresponding to the SN in the scoreboard, where "1" indicates that the MPDU corresponding to the SN was correctly received. Based on the score result, it forms a bitmap and places the bitmap in the BA frame as an acknowledgment of the corresponding A-MPDU. In Figure 3, WinStart R =98, WinSize R =11, and WinEnd R = 109.

[0072] It's important to understand that a single sequence number space can contain 4096 SNs, and that the scoreboard window can move within that sequence number space.

[0073] Once a BA session is established, the scoreboard is initialized. WinStart R This can be set to the start sequence number (SSN) provided by the ADDBA request frame. When the MPDU arrives, if the MPDU's SN is within the interval indicated by the scoreboard, the receiving end uses the SN to index the scoreboard and records that the MPDU was received correctly. If the SN is outside the space indicated by the scoreboard, WinEnd R From WinStart R +2 11 If it is within the range (half the range of the sequence number space), the receiving end moves the scorecard window to the right until the new SN is included at the far right end of the scorecard window (this can be understood as: the receiving end is WinEnd R Change WinEnd R(Make sure that it is equal to SN). When the BAR frame arrives, the scoreboard window moves to the right, and WinStart R The value is set to be equal to the SSN provided by the BAR frame, and a BA frame is returned that transmits the recorded content of the scoreboard.

[0074] Specifically, upon receiving an MPDU that transmits an SN, the receiving end checks whether the MPDU has a scoreboard record for the corresponding BA session. A BA session is identified by its transmitter address (TA) and TID. If there is no scoreboard record, the receiving end can create a scoreboard for the BA session and reuse memory from another session. If there is a scoreboard record, the receiving end can use one of three cases (which can be understood as scoreboard context control rules) to determine whether it is necessary to move the scoreboard window (see Chapter 802.11 REVme_D1.010.25.6 HT-immediate block ack extensions of the standard for details).

number

[0075] In the first case, the receiving end marks a 1 at the bit position corresponding to SN to indicate that the MPDU was received correctly. In the second case, the receiving end moves the scoreboard window to the right so that SN is included at the far right of the scoreboard window, and then WinEnd R Mark all bit positions between and the MPDU's SN as "0", and set the MPDU's SN to the WinEnd of the scoreboard. R Assigned to [this]. In the third case, the receiving end does no action, that is, it does not feed back the MPDU's reception status.

[0076] In the multilink communication scenario shown in Figure 2, it should be understood that each link maintains its own scoreboard context control. This can be understood as each receiving device having its own scoreboard context control. For ease of explanation, the scoreboard context control of each receiving device will be collectively referred to as the receiving device scoreboard, and there is a common scoreboard for the MLD. The receiving device of each link uses its own scoreboard context control to feed back the reception status of the MPDU received by the receiving device. The common scoreboard can be used to record parameter information for the scoreboards of other receiving devices, such as the start and / or end sequence numbers of each receiving device's scoreboard, or information to record the scoreboards of all receiving devices. In this embodiment of the present application, the common scoreboard is maintained by some or all of the receiving devices of the MLD, and each receiving device can record information about its receiving device's scoreboard in the common scoreboard.

[0077] In the multilink communication scenario shown in Figure 2, the AP MLD can transmit multiple A-MPDUs corresponding to the same TID to the STA MLD along multiple links. This means that the receiving device (the receiving device is the STA in the downlink scenario and the receiving device is the AP in the uplink scenario) may not be able to correctly feed back the reception status of all MPDUs within the received A-MPDU.

[0078] For example, the same TID corresponds to four A-MPDUs, and the aggregate length of each A-MPDU is 1024, in other words, each A-MPDU contains 1024 MPDUs, and the acknowledgment policy for each A-MPDU is immediate block acknowledgment. The first STA receives the first A-MPDU, the second STA receives the second and third A-MPDUs, and the first STA receives the fourth A-MPDU. The SN of the first A-MPDU is from 0 to 1023, the SN of the second A-MPDU is from 1024 to 2047, the SN of the third A-MPDU is from 2048 to 3071, and the SN of the fourth A-MPDU is from 3072 to 4095. After the first STA sends the BA frame corresponding to the first A-MPDU, the WinStart of the first STA's scoreboard... R This is equal to 0, WinEnd R is equal to 1023. The SNs of the 4th A-MPDU range from 3072 to 4095, and the SN is equal to 3072, WinEnd R The value is greater than (1023) and within the range of 0 + 2048 ≤ SN < 0. As a result, the first STA cannot correctly feed back the reception status of all MPDUs within the fourth A-MPDU. See Figure 4A for details.

[0079] Alternatively, the same TID corresponds to five A-MPDUs, each A-MPDU has an aggregate length of 1024, and the acknowledgment policy for each A-MPDU is immediate block acknowledgment. The first STA receives the first A-MPDU, the second STA receives the second, third, and fourth A-MPDUs, and the first STA receives the fifth A-MPDU. The SN for the first A-MPDU is 0 to 1023, the SN for the second A-MPDU is 1024 to 2047, the SN for the third A-MPDU is 2048 to 3071, the SN for the fourth A-MPDU is 3072 to 4095, and the SN for the fifth A-MPDU is 0 to 1023. After the first STA sends the BA frame corresponding to the first A-MPDU, the first STA's scoreboard WinStart R This is equal to 0, WinEnd RThis is equal to 1023. If all MPDUs in the 1st A-MPDU are received successfully, the SN of the 5th A-MPDU remains between 0 and 1023, and the SN of the 5th A-MPDU actually belongs to a new record cycle. If the 1st STA records the reception status of all MPDUs in the 1st A-MPDU, and all MPDUs are received successfully, the corresponding bit positions on the 1st STA's scoreboard are all 1. Some MPDUs in the 5th A-MPDU are received incorrectly. Since the bit position record on the BA corresponding to the SN of some MPDUs is still 1, the 1st STA cannot correctly feed back some of the incorrectly received MPDUs. See Figure 4B for details.

[0080] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating how a receiving device receives and feeds back an aggregated media access control protocol data unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. For specific details, please refer to Figure 4.

[0081] As defined in prior art, the first STA can update its scoreboard using information from the reorder buffer. The first STA receives the A-MPDU and records the reception status of the A-MPDU, and the SN of the A-MPDU is WinStart R +2 11 ≦SN <WinStart R It is within the range of WinStart B +2 11 ≦SN <WinStart B If the conditions are not met (see Chapter 802.11 REVme_D1.010.25.6.6 Receive reordering buffer control operation of the standard for details), the scoreboard of the first STA will be WinEnd R <SN<WinStart R +2 11It is maintained according to the scoreboard context control update rules obtained when it is within the range. If the first STA cannot update its scoreboard using the information in the reorder buffer, the first STA must use the partial state BA mechanism to record the buffered scoreboard at the following point in time, discard the buffered scoreboard, and release the occupied resources. 1) After the transmission of the BA frame, before the scoreboard context control of the next received A-MPDU belonging to the same transmitting end and the same TID as the BA frame is processed, and 2) Scoreboard context control for the next received A-MPDU that is not transmitted at the end of the current TXOP and belongs to the same sender and TID as the BA frame is processed at the end of the current transmission opportunity (TXOP) and before it is processed in the new TXOP.

[0082] However, conventional technology had a problem in that when the first STA received the fifth A-MPDU, it could not correctly feed back the reception status of the fifth A-MPDU. Furthermore, conventional technology required the first STA to have a function to update its scoreboard context control using information from the reorder buffer. This increased the processing load on the station.

[0083] In view of the above technical challenges, embodiments of the present invention provide a multilink communication method and a communication device that, in a multilink communication scenario, when a data transmitting end transmits multiple A-MPDUs corresponding to the same TID along multiple links to the same data receiving end, ensure that receiving devices on different links can correctly feed back the reception status of all MPDUs of the received A-MPDUs.

[0084] The technical solutions disclosed in the embodiments of this application are applicable to uplink and downlink communication scenarios. For ease of explanation, in the embodiments of this application, the receiving device is the data receiving end and may be an AP in an AP MLD or an STA (non-AP) in an STA MLD. In the embodiments of this application, the transmitting device is the data transmitting end and may be an AP in an AP MLD or an STA (non-AP) in an STA MLD. Furthermore, the first receiving device and the first transmitting device operate on a first link, and the second receiving device and the second transmitting device operate on a second link. For the first and second links, please refer to the above description.

[0085] It should be noted that the movement of the receiver's scoreboard window corresponds to a change in the receiver's scoreboard's start and end sequence numbers. Both expressions will be used simultaneously below, but they mean the same thing. A unified explanation is provided here, and further details will not be explained again below.

[0086] Furthermore, even if the scoreboard window moves or the start and end sequence numbers change, the receiving party basically records the reception status of all MPDUs within the received A-MPDU according to the above rules. For the sake of clarity, the embodiments of this application use two methods of representation: moving the scoreboard window or changing the start and end sequence numbers. However, other methods of representation that are essentially the same but different in form are not excluded.

[0087] Referring to Figures 5 to 8B, the following describes the multilink communication method provided in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0088] Figure 5 is a schematic flowchart of a multilink communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Further details are shown in Figure 5.

[0089] S510: The multilink device determines the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the first link based on the first A-MPDU received via the second link.

[0090] The multilink device receives the second A-MPDU via the first link and the first A-MPDU via the second link. The first A-MPDU and the second A-MPDU have the same traffic identifier, and the first A-MPDU is received before the second A-MPDU. The multilink device may be an AP MLD or an STA MLD as shown in Figure 2. The multilink device includes a first receiver on the first link and a second receiver on the second link.

[0091] Specifically, the multilink device determines the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiver based on the first A-MPDU received by the second receiver, and the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiver corresponds to the first A-MPDU received via the second link.

[0092] The first A-MPDU is transmitted to the second receiver of the first MLD via the second link by the second transmitter of the second MLD, and the second A-MPDU is transmitted to the first receiver of the first MLD via the first link by the first transmitter of the second MLD. The first A-MPDU and the second A-MPDU are two A-MPDUs that have the same TID and are transmitted to the first MLD by the second MLD via different links.

[0093] Note that the first A-MPDU is initially transmitted to the second receiver by the second transmitter, and the transmission time of the first BA frame of the first A-MPDU is before the reception time of the second A-MPDU. It should be understood that the reception time can be understood as the "reception start time".

[0094] Specifically, after the second receiver receives the first A-MPDU transmitted by the second transmitter, the second receiver completes recording the reception status of all MPDUs in the first A-MPDU in accordance with existing scoreboard context control operation rules.

[0095] Furthermore, the process by which the first receiving device determines the start or end sequence number of its scoreboard can be understood as the process by which the second receiving device synchronizes its scoreboard with that of the first receiving device based on the scoreboard of the second receiving device. The specific synchronization method is described below.

[0096] For the sake of clarity, this embodiment of the present application will be described using an example in which the first receiving device determines the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device. However, the determination of the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device by the first receiving device can also be considered as the second receiving device synchronizing with the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device. A unified explanation is provided here, and further details will not be described again below.

[0097] For example, in the scenario shown in Figure 4(a), the first A-MPDU is A-MPDU3 and the second A-MPDU is A-MPDU4. If the first receiver cannot complete the mapping between the start or end sequence number of its scoreboard and A-MPDU3 before receiving A-MPDU4, the first receiver will not be able to correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs within A-MPDU4.

[0098] The first receiving device may obtain the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device, or the start or end sequence number of the common scoreboard of the first MLD, or it may receive the SSN transmitted from the first transmitting device, and complete the mapping between the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device and the first A-MPDU. The SSN is associated with the first A-MPDU, which will be described later.

[0099] Furthermore, the first receiving device and the second receiving device belong to the first MLD, and the first transmitting device and the second transmitting device belong to the second MLD.

[0100] Furthermore, the first A-MPDU may move the window of the scoreboard of the second receiver, that is, the first A-MPDU may change the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiver.

[0101] In possible implementations, the first A-MPDU does not move the scoreboard window of the second receiver, but the first receiver's scoreboard remains synchronized with the second receiver's scoreboard.

[0102] S520: The multilink device transmits a first block acknowledgment frame via the first link based on the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the first link and the received second A-MPDU, and uses the first block acknowledgment frame to acknowledge the reception status of the second A-MPDU.

[0103] Specifically, the first receiving device of the multilink device records the reception status of all MPDUs of the second A-MPDU received by the first receiving device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number determined by the scoreboard of the first receiving device. After recording is complete, it sends a second block acknowledgment frame to the transmitting device via the first link and uses the second block acknowledgment frame to acknowledge the reception status of the second A-MPDU.

[0104] Furthermore, the first receiving device can process the second A-MPDU based on the start sequence number or end sequence number determined by the scoreboard, and correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs in the second A-MPDU.

[0105] It should be understood that the first A-MPDU is the A-MPDU preceding the second A-MPDU, or that the first A-MPDU is received before the second A-MPDU and that the first A-MPDU and the second A-MPDU have the same TID. The first receiver does not receive the first A-MPDU, but the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiver corresponds to the first A-MPDU. In this way, the first receiver can correctly feed back the reception status of all MPDUs of the second A-MPDU according to the existing scoreboard context control update rules.

[0106] Note that the window size of the scoreboard on the first receiver is the same as the window size of the scoreboard on the second receiver.

[0107] The first receiving device is one of the receiving devices within the first MLD, and the second receiving device is one of the receiving devices within the first MLD. The first transmitting device is one of the transmitting devices within the second MLD, and the second transmitting device is also one of the transmitting devices within the second MLD. The first receiving device and the first transmitting device operate on the first link, and the second receiving device and the second transmitting device operate on the second link.

[0108] Alternatively, the first receiving device needs to determine the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard corresponding to the first A-MPDU before receiving the second A-MPDU.

[0109] According to the method described above, in the embodiments of the present invention, in a multilink communication scenario, when a data transmitting end transmits multiple A-MPDUs corresponding to the same TID along multiple links to a data receiving end, the receiving devices on different links can correctly feed back the reception status of all MPDUs of the received A-MPDUs.

[0110] Specifically, in this embodiment of the present application, the scoreboard of the first receiver maintains synchronization with the scoreboards of receivers on other links without using information in the reorder buffer. Therefore, the first receiver can process the received A-MPDU according to existing scoreboard context update rules and correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs within the A-MPDU based on the newly determined start or end sequence number of the scoreboard, and no information is reported incorrectly.

[0111] The technical solution shown in Figure 5 will be further explained below with reference to Figures 6 to 8B.

[0112] Figure 6 is a schematic flowchart of yet another multilink communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method includes the following steps:

[0113] S610: The second transmitting device transmits the first A-MPDU to the second receiving device.

[0114] In response, the second receiving device receives the first A-MPDU transmitted by the second transmitting device.

[0115] The second receiver belongs to the first MLD, and the second transmitter belongs to the second MLD. The second receiver and the second transmitter operate on the second link between the first MLD and the second MLD.

[0116] The first A-MPDU may be any A-MPDU transmitted from the second transmitter to the second receiver, or it may be one of several A-MPDUs transmitted from the second transmitter to the second receiver.

[0117] S620: The second receiver determines the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiver, and the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiver corresponds to the first A-MPDU.

[0118] Specifically, the second receiver receives the first A-MPDU, deaggregates the first A-MPDU, and obtains multiple MPDUs, each with a single SN. The second receiver then performs scoreboard context control operations on these MPDUs. The SNs of these MPDUs are determined by WinStart. R ≤SN≦WinEnd R If it belongs to this category, the scoreboard window of the second receiver does not need to move, and the second receiver only needs to maintain its scoreboard according to the first rule of the scoreboard context control update rules. The SN of these MPDUs is WinEnd R <SN<WinStart R +2 11 If it belongs to this category, the window on the scoreboard of the second receiver gradually moves during the receiving process until the reception status of all MPDUs of the first A-MPDU is recorded.

[0119] Furthermore, the start sequence number or end sequence number on the scoreboard of the second receiver corresponds to the first A-MPDU, indicating that the scoreboard of the second receiver can correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs of the first A-MPDU.

[0120] Furthermore, the correspondence between the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiver and the first A-MPDU is understood as follows: the SN of all MPDUs in the first A-MPDU is WinEnd R <SN<WinStart R +2 11 It belongs to [this category]. Therefore, the second receiving device can correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs of the first A-MPDU.

[0121] It should be understood that the window size of the scoreboard of the second receiver can cover all MPDUs contained within one A-MPDU. Therefore, the end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiver must be equal to the SN of the last MPDU of the first A-MPDU, and it is not limited whether the start sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiver must be equal to the first MPDU of the first A-MPDU.

[0122] Optionally, the second receiver transmits a first block acknowledgment frame to the second transmitter, which is used to acknowledge the reception status of the first A-MPDU.

[0123] S630: The second receiver transmits the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiver to the first receiver.

[0124] In response, the first receiving device receives the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device transmitted by the second receiving device.

[0125] For example, the first A-MPDU may move the window of the scoreboard of the second receiver, that is, the first A-MPDU may change the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiver. Of course, the window of the scoreboard of the second receiver does not have to be moved.

[0126] For example, before the first A-MPDU is received, the second receiver's scoreboard displays WinStart. R This is SN#A, WinEnd R This is SN#B. After the first A-MPDU is received, the second receiver's scoreboard displays WinStart. R This is SN#C and WinEnd R SN#D is greater than SN#C is greater than SN#A, and SN#D is greater than SN#B. Therefore, the first A-MPDU moves the window of the scoreboard of the second receiver.

[0127] In another example, the signal-to-noise ratio (SN) of the first A-MPDU ranges from 1024 to 2047. Before the first A-MPDU is received, the WinStart signal on the second receiver's scoreboard is generated. R This is equal to 0, WinEnd R It is equal to 1023. The first A-MPDU causes the window of the second receiver's scoreboard to move or change. For example, after the first A-MPDU is received, the WinStart window of the second receiver's scoreboard is changed. R This is equal to 1024, WinEnd R It is equal to 2047.

[0128] Furthermore, since the first A-MPDU moves the scoreboard window of the second receiver, the second receiver synchronizes the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard corresponding to the first A-MPDU with the receivers on other links, or with the MLD, for example, the common scoreboard of the first receiver, so that receivers on other links can correctly feed back the reception status of the A-MPDU received by the receiver.

[0129] It should be understood that the second receiver may transmit the start or end sequence number of its scoreboard to the first receiver before the second receiver transmits the first BA frame to the second transmitter, or after the first BA frame has been transmitted but before processing the scoreboard context control for the next received A-MPDU belonging to the same transmitter end and the same TID as the first BA frame, or at the end of the current TXOP and in the new TXOP, before the second receiver processes the next received A-MPDU belonging to the same transmitter end and the same TID as the first BA frame, which is not transmitted at the end of the current TXOP. The first BA frame is transmitted from the second receiver to the second transmitter and is used to acknowledge the reception status of all MPDUs in the first A-MPDU. In this embodiment of the present application, the acknowledgment policy for each A-MPDU is an immediate block acknowledgment. A unified explanation is provided here, and further details are not described below.

[0130] Furthermore, both the second receiver and the first receiver belong to the first MLD, and the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiver that the second receiver transmits to the first receiver is not transmitted via the wireless interface, but rather using an internal information exchange method between the first receiver and the second receiver, for example, between the low MAC of the first receiver and the low MAC of the second receiver, or between the low MAC and high MAC of the first receiver.

[0131] Furthermore, the first A-MPDU is transmitted from the second MLD to the first MLD along the second link, and the second A-MPDU is transmitted from the second MLD to the first MLD along the first link. The transmission time of the first BA frame of the first A-MPDU is before the reception time of the second A-MPDU.

[0132] Furthermore, the process by which the second receiving device transmits the start or end sequence number of its scoreboard to the first receiving device can be understood as the process by which the second receiving device synchronizes with the scoreboard of the first receiving device.

[0133] S640: The first receiving device determines the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device.

[0134] Furthermore, the first receiving device synchronizes with the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device, based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device.

[0135] For example, if the second receiver transmits the start sequence number of the second receiver's scoreboard to the first receiver, the first receiver will change the start sequence number of the first receiver's scoreboard and then use WinStart R =WinEnd R -WinSize RThe end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiver is determined according to +1. If the second receiver transmits the end sequence number of its scoreboard to the first receiver, the first receiver changes the end sequence number of its scoreboard and then determines the start sequence number of its scoreboard according to the formula above.

[0136] In the example of S630, the second receiver transmits the start and end sequence numbers of the second receiver's scoreboard to the first receiver. In this way, the first receiver can directly determine the start and end sequence numbers of its own scoreboard based on the start and end sequence numbers of the second receiver's scoreboard transmitted by the second receiver.

[0137] The window size of the scoreboard of the first receiver is the same as the window size of the scoreboard of the second receiver. In this way, the second receiver transmits the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard to the first receiver, but the first receiver may synchronize with the scoreboard of the second receiver.

[0138] When the first transmitter transmits the second A-MPDU to the first receiver, it should be understood that the first receiver must obtain the start or end sequence number of the second receiver's scoreboard transmitted by the second receiver before the first receiver receives the second A-MPDU. In other words, the first receiver must update or synchronize with the start or end sequence number of its scoreboard before the first receiver receives the second A-MPDU. That is, the start time of reception of the second A-MPDU is later than the transmission time of the first BA frame of the first A-MPDU.

[0139] S650: The first transmitting device transmits the second A-MPDU to the first receiving device.

[0140] In response, the first receiving device receives the second A-MPDU transmitted by the first transmitting device.

[0141] S660: The first receiving device transmits a second block acknowledgment frame to the first transmitting device based on the start or end sequence number of the first receiving device's scoreboard and the second A-MPDU, and uses the second block acknowledgment frame to acknowledge the reception status of the second A-MPDU.

[0142] Specifically, the first receiver records the reception status of all MPDUs in the second A-MPDU based on the newly determined start or end sequence number of the scoreboard. The first A-MPDU and the second A-MPDU are two adjacent A-MPDUs with the same TID, transmitted over different links. Before the first receiver receives the second A-MPDU, the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the first receiver corresponds to the first A-MPDU. In this way, the first receiver can correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs in the second A-MPDU.

[0143] Specifically, the first receiving device records the reception status of all MPDUs in the second A-MPDU using the newly determined start sequence number or end sequence number on the scoreboard, then sends a second block acknowledgment frame to the first transmitting device, and uses the second block acknowledgment frame to acknowledge the reception status of the second A-MPDU.

[0144] Thus, the first receiving device records the reception status of all MPDUs in the A-MPDU that it has received, based on the newly determined start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard. In this embodiment of the present application, the first receiving device correctly records the reception status of all MPDUs in the A-MPDU and transmits a corresponding block acknowledgment response frame to the first transmitting device, thereby enabling the first transmitting device to determine the reception status of all MPDUs in the second A-MPDU that it has transmitted.

[0145] In response, the first transmitting device receives the second block acknowledgment frame (which can be understood as an acknowledgment frame) transmitted by the first receiving device.

[0146] It should be understood that the second A-MPDU and the first A-MPDU have the same TID, and the first A-MPDU is the A-MPDU preceding the second A-MPDU. However, the first A-MPDU is transmitted on the second link, and the second A-MPDU is transmitted on the first link. The reception start time of the second A-MPDU is later than the transmission time of the first BA frame of the first A-MPDU.

[0147] Since the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiver corresponds to the first A-MPDU, the first receiver executes the second rule of the aforementioned scoreboard context control update rule, namely WinEnd. R <SN<WinStart R +2 11 Accordingly, it should be understood that the reception status of all MPDUs in the 2A-MPDU can be correctly recorded.

[0148] Specifically, the first receiving device determines (or synchronizes with) the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device based on the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device corresponding to the first A-MPDU transmitted from the second receiving device. Therefore, the first receiving device can correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs of the second A-MPDU transmitted from the first transmitting device.

[0149] Furthermore, it can be understood that the process of the first receiving device synchronizing with its scoreboard is completed by the second receiving device.

[0150] According to the method described above, in the embodiments of the present invention, in a multilink communication scenario, when a data transmitting end transmits multiple A-MPDUs corresponding to the same TID along multiple links to a data receiving end, the receiving devices on different links can correctly feed back the reception status of all MPDUs of the received A-MPDUs.

[0151] The first receiving device obtains the updated start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device (or the second receiving device synchronizes with the scoreboard of the first receiving device), so that in this embodiment of the present application, the scoreboard of the first receiving device can be synchronized with the scoreboard of the second receiving device. In this way, in this embodiment of the present application, the first receiving device can process the A-MPDU received in accordance with the existing scoreboard context control update rules and correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs within the A-MPDU based on the newly determined start or end sequence number of the scoreboard, so that information is not reported incorrectly.

[0152] Figure 7 is a schematic flowchart of another multilink communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method includes the following steps:

[0153] Steps S710 and S720 are the same as steps S610 and S620 described above.

[0154] S730: The second receiver determines the start sequence number or end sequence number of the common scoreboard of the first multilink device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiver.

[0155] Furthermore, since the first A-MPDU moves the window of the second receiver's scoreboard (or the first A-MPDU does not move the window of the second receiver's scoreboard, or the second receiver synchronizes with the common scoreboard of the first multilink device), the second receiver synchronizes the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard corresponding to the first A-MPDU with the common scoreboard of the first MLD so that receivers on other links can correctly record the reception status of the A-MPDU received by the receiver. For example, the second receiver records the new start sequence number or end sequence number of its scoreboard on the common scoreboard.

[0156] It should be understood that the second receiver may determine the common scoreboard start or end sequence number based on the start or end sequence number of the second receiver's scoreboard before the second receiver transmits the first BA frame to the second transmitter, or after the first BA frame has been transmitted and before processing the scoreboard context control for the next received A-MPDU belonging to the same transmit end and the same TID as the first BA frame, or at the end of the current TXOP and in the new TXOP, before processing the next received A-MPDU that was not transmitted at the end of the current TXOP and belongs to the same transmit end and the same TID as the first BA frame.

[0157] The common scoreboard of the first MLD may be maintained by all receivers of the first MLD, or by receivers whose scoreboard transmission window changes. For example, after determining that the scoreboard transmission window has moved or changed, the second receiver may synchronize the start or end sequence number of the common scoreboard (this can be understood as determining, changing, or adjusting). Receivers on other links may obtain the start or end sequence number of the common scoreboard to synchronize their own scoreboards (this can be understood as changing or determining). For example, a receiver may obtain the start or end sequence number of the high MAC layer common scoreboard.

[0158] The common scoreboard may be configured to record common information used by all receiving devices, such as the updated start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device described above, or it may record other information.

[0159] For example, the initial state of the common scoreboard of the first MLD may be blank, or it may contain the start or end sequence numbers of the scoreboards of all receivers. However, some receivers may actively change or synchronize the start or end sequence numbers of the common scoreboard based on whether the start or end sequence numbers of their own scoreboards change. This allows receivers on other links to synchronize with their own scoreboards using the common scoreboard.

[0160] Furthermore, the process by which the second receiving device synchronizes with the common scoreboard of the first multilink device can be understood as the process by which the second receiving device synchronizes with the scoreboard of the first receiving device using the common scoreboard of the first multilink device.

[0161] According to the solution described above, in this embodiment of the present application, any receiving device for any link can correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs within the received A-MPDU in accordance with the second rule of the scoreboard context control update rule, without using information in the reorder buffer. This reduces the load on the receiving device.

[0162] S740: The first receiving device determines the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the common scoreboard of the first multilink device.

[0163] Furthermore, the first receiving device synchronizes with the scoreboard of the first receiving device based on the common scoreboard.

[0164] For example, if the start sequence number is recorded on the common scoreboard, the first receiving device changes the start sequence number on the first receiving device's scoreboard and then executes WinStart. R =WinEnd R -WinSize R The end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiver is determined according to +1. If the end sequence number is recorded on the common scoreboard, the first receiver changes the end sequence number of its scoreboard and then determines the start sequence number of its scoreboard according to the formula above.

[0165] The first receiving device may also check whether the common scoreboard has been changed before receiving the A-MPDU. If it determines that the start or end sequence number of the common scoreboard has changed, the first receiving device may synchronize its own scoreboard with the common scoreboard.

[0166] For example, the first receiving device may synchronize directly with the scoreboard of the first receiving device based on the common scoreboard of the first multilink device. Alternatively, the first receiving device may synchronize with the scoreboard of the first receiving device based on the common scoreboard at specific times or frequencies. Alternatively, the first multilink device may synchronize directly with the scoreboard of the first receiving device based on the common scoreboard.

[0167] In the example of S730, the second receiving device determines the start and end sequence numbers of the common scoreboard of the first MLD based on the start and end sequence numbers of the scoreboard of the second receiving device. In this way, the first receiving device may determine (synchronize) the start and end sequence numbers of its own scoreboard based on the start and end sequence numbers of the common scoreboard.

[0168] When the first transmitter transmits the second A-MPDU to the first receiver, it should be understood that the first receiver must obtain the start or end sequence number of the second receiver's scoreboard transmitted by the second receiver before the first receiver receives the second A-MPDU. In other words, the first receiver must update or synchronize with the start or end sequence number of its scoreboard before the first receiver receives the second A-MPDU. The transmission time of the first BA frame of the first A-MPDU is earlier than the reception time of the second A-MPDU.

[0169] The first receiving device may obtain the start or end sequence number of the common scoreboard in the following way: the first receiving device sends request information to the first MLD (for example, at the high MAC layer), and the first MLD sends the start or end sequence number of the common scoreboard to the first receiving device. Alternatively, the first MLD may, after determining that the start or end sequence number of the common scoreboard has changed, directly send the start or end sequence number of the common scoreboard to the first receiving device.

[0170] Steps S750 and S760 are the same as steps S650 and S660 described above.

[0171] According to the method described above, in the embodiments of the present invention, in a multilink communication scenario, when a data transmitting end transmits multiple A-MPDUs corresponding to the same TID along multiple links to a data receiving end, the receiving devices on different links can correctly feed back the reception status of all MPDUs of the received A-MPDUs.

[0172] The second receiving device records the updated start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard in the common scoreboard, so that the first receiving device can synchronize with the scoreboard of the first receiving device by obtaining the start sequence number or end sequence number of the common scoreboard. Thus, in this embodiment of the present application, the first receiving device can process the A-MPDU received in accordance with the existing scoreboard context update rules and correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs within the A-MPDU based on the newly determined start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard, so that information is not reported incorrectly.

[0173] Figures 8A and 8B are schematic flowcharts of yet another multilink communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method includes the following steps:

[0174] Steps S810 and S820 are the same as steps S610 and S620 described above.

[0175] S830: The second receiving device transmits instruction information to the second transmitting device, indicating that the second receiving device cannot synchronize with the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of any receiving device.

[0176] In response, the second transmitting device receives the instruction information transmitted by the second receiving device.

[0177] Specifically, if the second receiving device determines that the first A-MPDU has been received and the scoreboard window has moved, the second receiving device may transmit instruction information to the second transmitting device. Here, the instruction information indicates that the second receiving device cannot synchronize with the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of any of the receiving devices. Note that any of the receiving devices includes the first receiving device.

[0178] Furthermore, the process by which the second receiving device transmits instruction information to the second transmitting device may also be understood as the process by which the second receiving device synchronizes with the scoreboard of the first receiving device using the second transmitting device.

[0179] S840: The second transmitting device communicates information with the first transmitting device.

[0180] Specifically, the first and second transmitters belong to the second MLD. Therefore, the second transmitter may instruct the first transmitter via an internal information exchange scheme that the first transmitter needs to send a start sequence number (SSN) to the first receiver in order to synchronize with the first receiver's scoreboard (this can be understood as helping the second receiver synchronize with the first receiver's scoreboard).

[0181] S850: The first transmitting device transmits the start sequence number to the first receiving device.

[0182] In response, the first receiving device receives the start sequence number transmitted by the first transmitting device.

[0183] It should be understood that the SSN is coupled to the first A-MPDU. Specifically, after the second receiver receives the first A-MPDU, it determines the start or end sequence number of its scoreboard and sends instruction information to the second transmitter, indicating that the second receiver cannot synchronize with the scoreboard of either receiver. After communicating with the second transmitter based on internal information, the first transmitter decides to send the SSN to the first receiver.

[0184] It should be understood that the coupling relationship may be realized as follows: The SSN may be the sequence number of the first MPDU that needs to record the reception status within the first A-MPDU, or it may not be the sequence number of the first MPDU that needs to record the reception status within the first A-MPDU. However, the SSN is transmitted from the first transmitter to the first receiver after the second receiver has transmitted instruction information to the second transmitter. Therefore, the SSN is coupled to the first A-MPDU. S860: The first receiver determines the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiver based on the start sequence number.

[0185] Specifically, the first receiving device acquires the SSN transmitted from the first transmitting device, sets the start sequence number of the first receiving device's scoreboard as the SSN, changes the end sequence number of the first receiving device's scoreboard accordingly, and determines the end sequence number of the first receiving device's scoreboard.

[0186] Therefore, the first receiving device can correctly record the reception status of all MPDUs within the second A-MPDU by synchronizing or changing the start sequence number or end sequence number of the first receiving device's scoreboard based on the SSN.

[0187] The time at which the first transmitter transmits the SSN to the first receiver may be after the second receiver transmits the first BA frame corresponding to the first A-MPDU and before the second receiver receives the next A-MPDU, or it may be at the end of the current TXOP and before the second receiver processes the scoreboard context of the next received A-MPDU that was not transmitted at the end of the current TXOP and belongs to the same transmitting end and the same TID as the first BA frame in the new TXOP. Furthermore, the first transmitter must transmit the SSN to the first receiver before transmitting the second A-MPDU to the first receiver.

[0188] The SSN transmitted by the first transmitting device to the first receiving device may be transmitted in a BAR frame, an ADDBA request frame, or other information.

[0189] Steps S870 and S880 are the same as steps S650 and S660 described above.

[0190] According to the method described above, in the embodiments of the present invention, in a multilink communication scenario, when a data transmitting end transmits multiple A-MPDUs corresponding to the same TID along multiple links to a data receiving end, the receiving devices on different links can correctly feed back the reception status of all MPDUs of the received A-MPDUs.

[0191] According to the aforementioned technical solution, in this embodiment of the present application, the first receiving device can update or synchronize with the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device by receiving the start sequence number transmitted by the first transmitting device, so that the received A-MPDU can be processed according to the scoreboard context update rules, and the reception status of all MPDUs within the A-MPDU can be correctly recorded based on the newly determined start or end sequence number of the scoreboard, so that the information is not reported incorrectly.

[0192] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the instruction information frame structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. Details are shown in Figure 9.

[0193] Instruction information transmitted from the second receiver to the second transmitter is conveyed in an extreme high throughput MAC capabilities information field. This field includes subfields for supported near-end signaling point priority access, EHT operation mode control support, triggered TXOP sharing mode 1 support, triggered TXOP sharing mode 2 support, restricted target wake time support, subcarrier space traffic description support, maximum MPDU length, scoreboard context assisted, and Reserved.

[0194] The scoreboard context support subfield within the field described above is instructional information indicating that the second receiver cannot synchronize with the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of either receiver. In Figure 9, B represents a bit. For example, B2 represents the second bit, and B8 represents the eighth bit. The following row shows the bits occupied by each subfield.

[0195] In this embodiment of the present application, the SN of the MPDU is WinStart B +2 11 ≦SN <WinStart B If it belongs to the WinEnd, the scoreboard of the receiving device will have a SN of WinEnd.R <SN<WinStart R +2 11 Based on the above technical solution, the reception status of the MPDU corresponding to the SN is correctly recorded according to the scoreboard context control update rules obtained when within the range.

[0196] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of a multilink device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The multilink device includes a processor 1001, a memory 1002, and a communication interface 1003. The processor 1001, the memory 1002, and the communication interface 1003 are connected to each other via a bus 1004.

[0197] Please understand that the multilink device shown in Figure 10 may be a transmitter, a first receiver, or a second receiver.

[0198] Memory 1002 may include, but is not limited to, Random Access Memory (RAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), or Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM). Memory 1002 is configured to store related instructions and related data.

[0199] The processor 1001 may be one or more central processing units (CPUs). If the processor 1001 is a single CPU, the CPU may be a single-core CPU or a multi-core CPU.

[0200] If the multilink device is a transmitting device (which may include a first transmitting device and a second transmitting device), the processor 1001 of the multilink device is configured to read program code stored in memory 1002 and perform the following operations.

[0201] The transmitting device is configured to transmit an A-MPDU to the receiving device and to receive a block acknowledgment frame. Alternatively, the second transmitting device receives instruction information transmitted by the second receiving device, which indicates that the second receiving device cannot synchronize with the start or end sequence number of any receiving device's scoreboard. Alternatively, the first transmitting device transmits an SSN to the first receiving device.

[0202] It should be understood that the transmitting device may be configured to perform steps or methods related to the transmitting device in the embodiments of the method described above. This is merely an example for illustrative purposes herein. For specific details, refer to the contents of the embodiments of the method described above.

[0203] If the multilink device is the second receiving device, the processor 1001 of the multilink device is configured to read the program code stored in the memory 1002 and perform the following operations: receive the first A-MPDU, determine the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device, and the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device corresponds to the first A-MPDU.

[0204] It should be understood that the second receiving device may be configured to perform steps or methods related to the second receiving device in the embodiments of the method described above. This is merely an example for illustrative purposes herein. For specific details, refer to the contents of the embodiments of the method described above.

[0205] If the multilink device is the first receiving device, the processor 1001 of the multilink device is configured to read the program code stored in the memory 1002 and perform the following operations: determine the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device, and receive the second A-MPDU transmitted by the first transmitting device, with the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device corresponding to the first A-MPDU transmitted to the second receiving device by the second access point.

[0206] It should be understood that the first receiving device may be configured to perform steps or methods related to the first receiving device in the embodiments of the method described above. This is merely an example for illustrative purposes. For specific details, refer to the contents of the embodiments of the method described above.

[0207] Furthermore, for instructions on performing each action in Figure 10, please refer to the corresponding explanations in Figures 5 to 8B. The explanations provided here are merely examples, and detailed explanations are omitted.

[0208] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of yet another multilink device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The multilink device may be used in a transmitting device or a receiving device and may be configured to carry out the method of the above embodiment. The multilink device includes a transceiver unit 1101 and a processing unit 1102. The transceiver unit 1101 and the processing unit 1102 will be described below using examples.

[0209] If the multilink device is the transmitting device, the transceiver unit 1101 is configured to receive block acknowledgment frames transmitted by the receiving device. The processing unit 1102 is configured to perform steps or methods related to the BA session.

[0210] If the multilink device is the second receiver, the transceiver unit 1101 is configured to receive the first A-MPDU and transmit the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiver to the first receiver. The processing unit 1102 is configured to determine the corresponding start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiver based on the first A-MPDU.

[0211] If the multilink device is the first receiving device, the transceiver unit 1101 is configured to receive the second A-MPDU and the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device transmitted by the second receiving device. The processing unit 1102 is configured to determine the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device.

[0212] Furthermore, for details on how to perform each operation shown in Figure 11, please refer to the corresponding explanations of the methods shown in the embodiments described above. Further details will not be explained again here.

[0213] The multilink device described above may include a first communication device (e.g., the first receiving device described above) and a second communication device (e.g., the second receiving device described above). The first communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The processing module is configured to perform the aforementioned operations or steps related to the first communication device, and the transceiver module is configured to perform the aforementioned operations or steps related to the first communication device. These descriptions are also applicable to the second communication device. Further details will not be described again here.

[0214] Embodiments of the present invention further provide a chip comprising a processor configured to retrieve and execute instructions stored in memory, enabling a communication device on which the chip is mounted to perform the method of the above example. The chip may be the multilink device described above. For example, the chip is an AP MLD or an STA MLD.

[0215] Embodiments of the present invention further provide another chip including an input interface, an output interface, a processor, and memory. The input interface, output interface, processor, and memory are connected using an internal connection path. The processor is configured to execute code in memory. Once the code is executed, the processor is configured to perform the method of the example described above.

[0216] Embodiments of the present invention further provide a processor configured to be coupled to memory and to perform methods and functions related to any of the receiving or transmitting devices of the embodiments described above.

[0217] In another embodiment of the present application, a computer program product is provided. When the computer program product is executed on a computer, the method of the above-described embodiment is carried out.

[0218] According to another embodiment of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a computer, the method of the above-described embodiment is carried out.

[0219] In the description of embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified, the term “multiple” means two or more. “At least one of the following items” or similar expressions mean any combination of these items, representing a single item (piece) or any combination of multiple items (pieces). For example, “At least one item (piece) of a, b, or c” may refer to 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. Furthermore, in order to clearly illustrate the technical solutions of embodiments of this application, terms such as “first” and “second” are used in embodiments of this application to distinguish between the same or similar items that provide essentially the same function or purpose. Those skilled in the art will understand that terms such as “first” and “second” do not limit the number or order of execution, and that terms such as “first” and “second” do not indicate a clear difference. Furthermore, in embodiments of this application, expressions such as “example” or “for example” are used to represent an example, illustration, or descriptive.

[0220] Any embodiment or design scheme described as “example” or “for example” in the embodiments of this application should not be described as having more advantages than another embodiment or design scheme. More precisely, the use of expressions such as “example” and “for example” is intended to present concepts that are relevant in a particular way for the sake of clarity.

[0221] Unless otherwise specified, the " / " in the description of embodiments of this application represents an "or" relationship between related objects. For example, A / B may represent A or B. In this application, "and / or" represents only the association relationship that describes the related objects, and indicates that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may represent the following three cases: only A exists, both A and B exist, and only B exists. A and B may be singular or plural.

[0222] It should be understood that any “Embodiment” or “Embodiment” referred to throughout the specification means that certain characteristics, structures, or features related to the embodiment are included in at least one embodiment of the present application.

[0223] Accordingly, the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in one embodiment" appearing in the specification do not refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, these particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in one or more embodiments by any suitable method. The sequence numbers of the processes described above do not imply the order of execution in the various embodiments of the present application. The order of execution of the processes should be determined based on the function and internal logic of the processes and should not be considered as a limitation on the implementation processes of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0224] Throughout this specification, any reference to “one embodiment” or “embodiment” is understood to mean that certain features, structures, or characteristics relating to an embodiment are included in at least one embodiment of the present application.

[0225] Accordingly, embodiments within the entire specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, these particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined within one or more embodiments by any suitable method. It should be understood that the sequence numbers of the processes described above do not represent the execution order in the various embodiments of the present application. The execution order of the processes should be determined based on the function and internal logic of the processes and should not be considered as a limitation on the implementation processes of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0226] A person skilled in the art will recognize, in combination with the examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein, that the units and algorithms can be implemented by electronic hardware or by a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether the functions are performed by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. A person skilled in the art may use different methods to perform the described functions for each specific application, but the implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the Application.

[0227] For convenience and for the sake of concise explanation, the detailed operating processes of the aforementioned systems, devices, and units will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art, with reference to the corresponding processes in the embodiments of the methods described above, and the details will not be described again here. It should be understood that in some embodiments provided herein, the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other ways. For example, the embodiments of the devices described are merely examples. For example, the division into units is merely a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, other divisions may be used. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some functions may be ignored or not performed.

[0228] Furthermore, the mutual coupling, direct coupling, or communication connection shown or discussed may be implemented through several interfaces. Indirect coupling or communication connection between devices or units may be implemented electronically, mechanically, or in other forms.

[0229] Units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate. Parts shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected based on actual requirements to achieve the objectives of the solution of the embodiment. Furthermore, the functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processing unit, each unit may exist physically independently, or two or more units may be integrated into a single unit.

[0230] When a function is implemented in the form of a software function unit and sold or used as an independent product, the function may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the portion that contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be implemented in the form of a computer software product. The computer software product includes several instructions stored in a storage medium for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in the embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes any medium capable of storing program code, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0231] The foregoing description is merely a specific implementation of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application. Any modifications or substitutions that can be readily conceived by a person skilled in the art, within the scope of the technical scope disclosed herein, should be included within the scope of protection of the present application. Accordingly, the scope of protection of the present application should be subject to the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A multilink communication method, A multilink device transmits a first block acknowledgment frame over the first link based on the start or end sequence number of a scoreboard on the first link and the received second A-MPDU, wherein the first block acknowledgment frame is used to acknowledge the reception status of the second A-MPDU. Includes, The multilink device includes a second receiving device on the second link, and the method is A method further comprising the step of transmitting instruction information via the second link using the multilink device, wherein the instruction information indicates that the second receiving device cannot synchronize with the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of any of the receiving devices on the link.

2. The aforementioned method, The multilink device determines the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the second link based on the first A-MPDU received via the second link, The multilink device transmits a second block acknowledgment frame via the second link based on the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the second link and the received first A-MPDU, wherein the second block acknowledgment frame is used to acknowledge the reception status of the first A-MPDU. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the window size of the scoreboard on the first link is the same as the window size of the scoreboard on the second link.

4. The multilink device includes a first receiving device on the first link, and the method is The first receiving device further includes the step of determining the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device, The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second receiving device corresponds to the first A-MPDU received via the second link by the multilink device.

5. The multilink device includes a first receiving device on the first link, and the method is The first receiving device further includes the step of determining the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the common scoreboard of the multilink device, The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the start sequence number or end sequence number of the common scoreboard of the multilink device is determined by the multilink device based on the first A-MPDU received via the second link.

6. The multilink device includes a first receiving device on the first link, The aforementioned method, The first receiving device receives a start sequence number transmitted by a transmitting device on the first link, wherein the start sequence number is associated with a first A-MPDU received by the multilink device via the second link. The first receiving device determines the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first receiving device based on the start sequence number, The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the start sequence number is transmitted in an additional block acknowledgment request frame or a block acknowledgment request frame.

8. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first block acknowledgment frame of the first A-MPDU is transmitted before the second A-MPDU is received.

9. A multilink device, A processing unit configured to determine a first block acknowledgment frame based on the start or end sequence number of a scoreboard on a first link and a received second A-MPDU, wherein the first block acknowledgment frame is used to acknowledge the reception status of the second A-MPDU. A transceiver unit configured to transmit the first block acknowledgment frame via the first link, Includes, The multilink device includes a second communication device on the second link. A multilink device wherein the transceiver unit is configured to transmit instruction information via the second link, the instruction information indicating that the second communication device cannot synchronize with the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard of any of the communication devices on the links.

10. The processing unit is configured to determine the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the second link based on the first A-MPDU received via the second link. The processing unit is configured to determine a second block acknowledgment frame based on the start or end sequence number of the scoreboard on the second link and the received first A-MPDU, and the second block acknowledgment frame is used to acknowledge the reception status of the first A-MPDU. The transceiver unit is configured to transmit the second block acknowledgment frame via the second link. The multilink device according to claim 9.

11. The multilink device according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the window size of the scoreboard on the first link is the same as the window size of the scoreboard on the second link.

12. The multilink device includes a first communication device on the first link, and the first communication device includes a processing module. The processing module is configured to determine the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first communication device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second communication device. The multilink device according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the second communication device corresponds to the first A-MPDU received by the multilink device via the second link.

13. The multilink device includes a first communication device on the first link, and the first communication device includes a processing module. The processing module is configured to determine the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first communication device based on the start sequence number or end sequence number of the common scoreboard of the multilink device. The multilink device according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the start sequence number or end sequence number of the common scoreboard of the multilink device corresponds to the first A-MPDU received by the multilink device via the second link.

14. The multilink device includes a first communication device on the first link, and the first communication device includes a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module is further configured to receive a start sequence number transmitted by the transmitter on the first link, the start sequence number being associated with a first A-MPDU received via the second link by the multilink device. The multilink device according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the processing module is further configured to determine the start sequence number or end sequence number of the scoreboard of the first communication device based on the start sequence number.

15. The multilink device according to claim 14, wherein the start sequence number is transmitted in an additional block acknowledgment request frame or a block acknowledgment request frame.

16. The multilink device according to claim 10, wherein the first block acknowledgment frame of the first A-MPDU is transmitted before the second A-MPDU is received.

17. A computer-readable storage medium containing a computer program or instruction, wherein when the computer program or instruction is executed on the computer, the computer is enabled to perform the method according to claim 1 or 2.

18. A computer program wherein, when the computer program is executed on a computer, the computer is enabled to perform the method according to claim 1 or 2.

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