Roam steering method, apparatus, device, storage medium, and system

Abstract

This application discloses a roaming steering method, an apparatus, a device, a storage medium, and a system, belonging to the field of communication technology. In this application, the reference roaming steering conditions are determined by an access control device by performing roaming steering tests multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model, and the reference model is a model of the target terminal. Therefore, the reference roaming steering conditions are similar to the roaming rules within the target terminal. In this case, if a first access point device obtains the reference roaming steering conditions and determines that the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering conditions, even if the target terminal does not unconditionally follow the roaming steering of the first access point device, the target terminal is likely to be successfully steered to roam. In addition, the access control device determines different roaming steering conditions for terminals with different models. Even if the roaming rules within terminals with different models are different, the success rate of roaming steering can be improved by performing roaming steering according to the above method.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202010229128.0, entitled "ROAMING STEERING METHOD, APPARATUS, DEVICE, STORAGE MEDIUM, AND SYSTEM," filed on March 27, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communications technology, and in particular to a roaming steering method, apparatus, device, storage medium, and system. [Background technology]

[0003] A wireless local area network (WLAN) includes two architectures. One of the architectures includes an access controller (AC) and multiple access point devices (APs). The access controller is configured to manage and control multiple access point devices, and the access point devices are configured to serve terminals. One access point device corresponds to one basic service set (BSS), and multiple access point devices may correspond to one extended service set (ESS), that is, an ESS may include multiple BSSs. The process in which a terminal is handed over between different BSSs in an ESS may be called roaming. In order to improve the roaming experience, how to perform roaming steering is currently an urgent problem to be solved.

[0004] A related art provides a roaming steering method, which includes a step in which a first access point device detects a signal strength during communication between the first access point device and a target terminal. The target terminal is a terminal associated with the first access point device, and the first access point device is any one of the above-mentioned multiple access point devices. If the signal strength is equal to or lower than a strength threshold, the first access point device transmits a basic service transition management (BSS transition management, BTM) packet to the target terminal. The BTM packet carries identifiers of one or more reference access point devices. The BTM packet is used to steer the target terminal to roam to any one of the one or more reference access point devices. The one or more reference access point devices are access point devices that have a large signal strength when communicating with the target terminal among the neighboring access point devices of the first access point device.

[0005] However, the target terminal does not unconditionally follow the roaming steering of the first access point device, specifically, the target terminal stores a set of roaming rules to determine whether to accept the roaming steering of the first access point device. In addition, the roaming rules that terminals of different models follow may be different. Therefore, if the roaming steering is performed according to the above method, the success rate of the roaming steering is low. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present application provides a roaming steering method, apparatus, device, storage medium and system, which can improve the success rate of roaming steering. The technical solutions are as follows:

[0007] According to a first aspect, a roaming steering method is provided. In the method, to obtain one or more signal strengths, a first access point device determines signal strengths during communication between a target terminal and each of one or more second access point devices. The one or more second access point devices include the first access point device and / or neighboring access point devices of the first access point device. The target terminal is a terminal associated with the first access point device. If the first access point device determines that the target terminal satisfies a reference roaming steering condition based on the one or more signal strengths, the first access point device transmits a roaming steering command to the target terminal. The roaming steering command carries identifiers of one or more reference access point devices. The roaming steering command is used to steer the target terminal to roam to any one of the one or more reference access point devices. The reference roaming steering condition is determined by an access control device by performing a roaming steering test multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model. The reference model is a model of the target terminal.

[0008] The reference roaming steering condition is determined by the access control device by performing roaming steering test multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to the reference model, and the reference model is the model of the target terminal.Therefore, the reference roaming steering condition is similar to the roaming rule in the target terminal.In this case, if the first access point device obtains the reference roaming steering condition and determines that the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering condition, even if the target terminal does not unconditionally follow the roaming steering of the first access point device, the target terminal is likely to be successfully steered to roam.

[0009] Optionally, before determining that the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering condition based on one or more signal strengths, the first access point device may determine a model identifier of the target terminal and determine the reference roaming steering condition based on the model identifier of the target terminal.

[0010] The first access point device can obtain the reference roaming steering condition from the access control device actively or passively according to the model identifier of the target terminal. Two methods are described below.

[0011] In the first manner, the first access point device receives and stores a first correspondence relationship sent by the access control device. The first correspondence relationship is used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device. In this way, when determining a reference roaming steering condition based on a model identifier, the first access point device can determine a reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of a target terminal.

[0012] That is, in the first manner, after determining that the first correspondence is obtained, the access control device can actively transmit the first correspondence to the first access point device. Then, when the first access point device needs to determine the reference roaming steering condition, the first access point device can determine the reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence based on the model identifier of the target terminal. In this way, in the roaming steering process, the first access point device does not need to interact with the access control device to obtain the reference roaming steering condition, and directly determines the reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence stored locally based on the model identifier of the target terminal. This reduces the number of times that the first access point device interacts with the access control device, thereby reducing overhead.

[0013] In a second scheme, the first access point device sends a first steering condition acquisition request to the access control device. The first steering condition acquisition request carries a model identifier of the target terminal. The first access point device receives the reference roaming steering condition sent by the access control device. The reference roaming steering condition is determined by the access control device from a first correspondence relationship stored in the access control device based on the model identifier of the target terminal. The first correspondence relationship is used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0014] That is, in the second scheme, the access control device does not distribute the first correspondence to the first access point device after determining the first correspondence. Instead, when the first access point device needs to determine a reference roaming steering condition, it sends a first steering condition acquisition request carrying a model identifier of the target terminal to the access control device. Furthermore, the access control device determines the reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence based on the model identifier of the target terminal, and then sends the reference roaming steering condition to the first access point device. In this way, it can be guaranteed that the first access point device can obtain the reference roaming steering condition with high time accuracy after the reference roaming steering condition is updated.

[0015] Optionally, the implementation process of the first access point device determining the model identifier of the target terminal may include a process of the first access point device obtaining the model identifier of the target terminal from an access control device.

[0016] Optionally, there may be two ways for the first access point device to obtain the model identifier of the target terminal from the access control device, namely, the following ways (1) and (2).

[0017] (1) The first access point device sends a model inquiry request to the access control device. The model inquiry request carries a media access control (MAC) address of the target terminal. The first access point device receives the model identifier of the target terminal sent by the access control device.

[0018] That is, in the method (1), the access control device stores the second correspondence relationship in advance. The second correspondence relationship is used to indicate a model identifier corresponding to each MAC address identified by the access control device. Upon receiving a model inquiry request sent by the first access point device, the access control device can determine the model identifier of the target terminal from the second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal carried in the model inquiry request, and further send the model identifier of the target terminal to the first access point device. In this way, the access control device does not need to distribute the second correspondence relationship to the first access point device in advance. In addition, when the access control device updates the model identifier of the target terminal, it can further ensure that the first access point device can obtain the model identifier with high time accuracy.

[0019] (2) The first access point device receives a model identifier of the target terminal sent by the access control device, where the model identifier of the target terminal is determined by the access control device using the MAC address of the target terminal after the access control device obtains the MAC address of the target terminal from a data packet sent by the target terminal.

[0020] That is, in the method (2), after receiving a data packet transmitted by the target terminal, the access control device can directly obtain the MAC address of the target terminal from the data packet, and based on the MAC address of the target terminal, determine the model identifier of the target terminal from the second correspondence relationship, and directly transmit the model identifier to the first access point device. In other words, the access control device can actively determine the model identifier of the target terminal and deliver the model identifier to the first access point device. In this way, when the first access point device performs roaming steering for the target terminal, it is not necessary for the first access point device to request the model identifier of the target terminal from the access control device. Therefore, the interaction between the first access point device and the access control device can be reduced in the process of the first access point device performing roaming steering for the target terminal, and the efficiency of roaming steering can be improved.

[0021] Regarding the second correspondence relationship described in the above-mentioned method (1) and method (2), since a data packet transmitted by a terminal associated with an access point device managed by the access control device to another device passes through the access control device, the access control device can determine the MAC address of the terminal based on the data packet transmitted by the terminal, and further determine the model identifier of the terminal, and create the second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address and model identifier of the terminal. Taking a target terminal as an example, the access control device can obtain the MAC address of the target terminal and the model description information of the target terminal from the data packet transmitted by the target terminal. The access control device determines the model identifier of the target terminal based on the model description information of the target terminal, and stores the MAC address and model identifier of the target terminal in the second correspondence relationship.

[0022] Since terminals with different models have different model description information, the access control device can distinguish terminals with different models based on the difference in the model description information. That is, taking a target terminal as an example, the access control device can directly use the model description information of the target terminal as the model identifier of the target terminal. Of course, the access control device can also distinguish the model of the target terminal based on the model description information of the target terminal instead, and further allocate the corresponding model identifier to the target terminal.

[0023] In the present application, the first access point device can not only determine the reference roaming steering condition in a first manner or a second manner using the model identifier of the target terminal, but can also determine the reference roaming steering condition in another manner instead. For example, the first access point device can determine the reference roaming steering condition based on the MAC address of the target terminal. Specifically, the first access point device sends a second steering condition acquisition request to the access control device. The second steering condition acquisition request carries the MAC address of the target terminal. The first access point device receives the reference roaming steering condition sent by the access control device. The reference roaming steering condition is determined by the access control device from a first correspondence relationship stored in the access control device after the access control device determines the model identifier of the target terminal based on the MAC address of the target terminal. The first correspondence relationship is used to indicate the roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0024] That is, in this way, the first access point device does not need to determine the model identifier of the target terminal, and can directly send a second steering condition acquisition request carrying the MAC address of the target terminal to the access control device. After receiving the second steering condition acquisition request, the access control device determines the model identifier of the target terminal from the second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal, and then determines the reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal. In other words, in the third scheme, the first access point device can obtain the reference roaming steering condition by interacting with the access control device once, and does not need to first interact with the access control device once to determine the reference model identifier, and then does not need to interact with the access control device a second time using the model identifier to obtain the reference roaming steering condition. That is, the number of times the first access point device interacts with the access control device is reduced, so that the overhead is reduced.

[0025] Optionally, the first access point device can further determine identifiers of one or more reference access point devices before sending the roaming steering command to the target terminal. In one example, the first access point device obtains a roaming device list from the access control device. The roaming device list includes identifiers of one or more third access point devices. The one or more third access point devices are neighboring access point devices of the first access point device. The first access point device determines a third access point device as one or more reference access point devices from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list.

[0026] The first access point device can actively or passively obtain the roaming device list from the access control device. Specifically, the first access point device can directly receive the roaming device list sent by the access control device. Alternatively, the first access point device can send a list acquisition request to the access control device. The list acquisition request carries an identifier of the first access point device. The first access point device receives the roaming device list sent by the access control device.

[0027] In the case where the first access point device passively obtains the roaming device list, the access control device can actively transmit the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device to the first access point device, so that when the first access point device subsequently performs roaming steering to the target terminal, the first access point device can obtain the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device. device The identifiers of one or more reference access point devices can be determined directly from the list without the need to interact with the access control device, thus reducing overhead.

[0028] In the case of a manner in which the first access point device actively obtains the roaming device list, the access control device can determine corresponding roaming device lists for various access point devices, and then store the device identifier and the corresponding roaming device list of each access point device in a correspondence relationship between the device identifier and the roaming device list. In this way, when determining the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on the identifier of the first access point device, the first access point device can determine the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device from the stored correspondence relationship between the device identifier and the roaming device list based on the identifier of the first access point device, and send the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device to the first access point device.

[0029] Of course, after determining the identifiers of one or more corresponding third access point devices for various access point devices, the access control device can instead store the device identifier of each access point device and the identifiers of the one or more corresponding third access point devices in a corresponding relationship between the first device identifier and the second device identifier. Specifically, the identifier of each access point device is used as the first device identifier, the identifier of the third access point device corresponding to each access point device is used as the second device identifier, and the device identifier of each access point device and the identifiers of the one or more corresponding third access point devices are stored in a corresponding relationship between the first device identifier and the second device identifier. In this way, when determining a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on the identifier of the first access point device, the first access point device uses the identifier of the first access point device as a first device identifier, determines identifiers of one or more corresponding second device identifiers from the correspondence relationship between the first device identifier and the second device identifier, and further uses the determined identifiers of the one or more second device identifiers as identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device. The access control device then generates a roaming device list including the identifiers of the one or more third access point devices and transmits the roaming device list to the first access point device.

[0030] After determining the identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device, the access control device does not generate a roaming device list and does not deliver the roaming device list to the first access point device, but stores the correspondence between the device identifiers and the roaming device list, or the correspondence between the first device identifier and the second device identifier. Thus, when the first access point device performs roaming steering to a terminal (e.g., a target terminal) and the access control device receives a list acquisition request sent by the first access point device, the access control device can determine a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device in the above-mentioned manner and send the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device to the first access point device. In this way, the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device can be stored in the roaming device list storage unit. device When the list is updated, it can be ensured that the first access point device can obtain the roaming device list with high accuracy.

[0031] Optionally, the one or more second access point devices include one or more third access point devices. In this way, when the first access point device determines a third access point device as one or more reference access point devices from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device, the first access point device can select a third access point device that satisfies a reference roaming steering condition from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list to obtain the one or more reference access point devices.

[0032] According to a second aspect, a roaming steering method is provided, in which an access control device determines a reference roaming steering condition by performing a roaming steering test multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model. The access control device sends the reference roaming steering condition to a first access point device. A model of a target terminal associated with the first access point device is the reference model. The first access point device is an access point device controlled by the access control device.

[0033] That is, the access control device determines different roaming steering conditions for terminals with different models. In this way, even if the roaming rules in the terminals with different models are different during later roaming steering, after the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering condition determined according to the above method, when roaming steering is performed on the target terminal, the success rate of roaming steering can be improved.

[0034] Optionally, the access control device can send the reference roaming steering condition to the first access point device in several manners, some of which are described below.

[0035] In a first manner, the access control device transmits a first correspondence to a first access point device, the first correspondence being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0036] In a second manner, the access control device receives a first steering condition acquisition request sent by a first access point device. The first steering condition acquisition request carries a model identifier of a target terminal. The access control device determines a reference roaming steering condition from a stored first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal. The first correspondence relationship is used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device. The access control device sends the reference roaming steering condition to the first access point device.

[0037] In the above two methods, the first access point device needs to determine the model identifier of the target terminal first to determine the reference roaming steering condition. In one example, the access control device can obtain the MAC address of the target terminal, and determine the model identifier of the target terminal from the stored second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal. The second correspondence relationship is used to indicate the model identifier corresponding to each MAC address identified by the access control device. Then, the access control device sends the model identifier of the target terminal to the first access point device, so that the first access point device can determine the reference roaming steering condition based on the model identifier of the target terminal.

[0038] Optionally, the manner in which the access control device obtains the MAC address of the target terminal may include the access control device receiving a model query request sent by the first access point device, the model query request carrying the MAC address of the target terminal, or the access control device obtaining the MAC address of the target terminal from a data packet sent by the target terminal.

[0039] In a third scheme, the access control device receives a second steering condition acquisition request sent by the first access point device. The second steering condition acquisition request carries a MAC address of the target terminal. The access control device determines a model identifier of the target terminal from the stored second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal. The second correspondence relationship is used to indicate a model identifier corresponding to each MAC address identified by the access control device. The access control device determines a reference roaming steering condition from the stored first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal. The first correspondence relationship is used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device. The access control device transmits the reference roaming steering condition to the first access point device.

[0040] In the above third method, before determining the model identifier of the target terminal from the stored second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal, the access control device can further create a second correspondence relationship. Specifically, the access control device obtains the MAC address of the target terminal and the model description information of the target terminal from the data packet sent by the target terminal. The access control device determines the model identifier of the target terminal based on the model description information of the target terminal. The access control device stores the MAC address and the model identifier of the target terminal in the second correspondence relationship.

[0041] Optionally, in the present application, the access control device can further deliver a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device to the first access point device. Specifically, the access control device receives a list acquisition request sent by the first access point device. The list acquisition request carries an identifier of the first access point device. The access control device determines a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on the identifier of the first access point device. The roaming device list includes identifiers of one or more third access point devices. The one or more third access point devices are neighboring access point devices of the first access point device. The access control device transmits the roaming device list to the first access point device.

[0042] Optionally, before determining a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on the identifier of the first access point device, the access control device can further determine identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device. Specifically, the access control device obtains a plurality of past roaming records and roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record. Each past roaming record includes an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device. All source access point devices in the plurality of past roaming records are first access point devices. The roaming experience indication information is used to indicate whether the signal quality is improved after the terminal associated with the first access point device roams to the destination access point device corresponding to the corresponding past roaming record. The access control device determines identifiers of one or more third access point devices based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record. The access control device stores the identifiers of the one or more third access point devices based on the identifier of the first access point device.

[0043] Based on the foregoing description, the access control device can store a correspondence relationship between the device identifier and the roaming device list, and can further store a correspondence relationship between the first device identifier and the second device identifier. Therefore, the implementation process of the access control device storing the identifiers of one or more third access point devices based on the identifier of the first access point device may be a process in which the access control device uses the identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device to generate a roaming device list, i.e., a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device, and then stores the identifier of the first access point device and the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device in the correspondence relationship between the device identifier and the roaming device list. Alternatively, the access control device may use an identifier of the first access point device as a first device identifier, an identifier of a third access point device corresponding to the first access point device as a second device identifier, and store the identifier of the first access point device and the identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device in a correspondence relationship between the first device identifier and the second device identifier.

[0044] Optionally, the access control device can determine, based on the multiple past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record, in a reinforcement learning manner, identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device. Specifically, based on the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record, the access control device selects a past roaming record whose signal quality is improved after roaming from the multiple past roaming records. The access control device obtains an identifier of a neighboring access point device of the first access point device. The neighboring access point device is not included in the multiple past roaming records. The access control device determines the identifier of the destination access point device included in the selected past roaming record and the obtained identifier of the neighboring access point device as identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device.

[0045] It should be noted that reinforcement learning is one of the AI ​​algorithms and is a goal-oriented algorithm. This learning algorithm can make the determined one or more third access point devices more accurate. Specifically, the one or more third access point devices determined in the reinforcement learning manner are access point devices whose signal quality is improved after the third access point device roams from the first access point device. In addition, the multiple past roaming records include access point devices that have previously undergone roaming steering, but access point devices that have not undergone roaming steering can also be access point devices whose signal quality is improved. As a result, neighboring access point devices that are not included in the multiple past roaming records can also be used as the third access point device.

[0046] Optionally, the access control device determining the reference roaming steering condition by performing the roaming steering test multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to the reference model includes the access control device determining multiple combinations of access point devices and multiple combinations of parameters corresponding to each combination of access point devices. Each combination of access point devices includes an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device. All source access point devices of the multiple combinations of access point devices are first access point devices. The access control device performs the roaming steering test multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to the reference model using various steering test conditions based on the multiple combinations of access point devices and the multiple combinations of parameters corresponding to each combination of access point devices, so as to determine the reference roaming steering condition using a criterion that one or more terminals belonging to the reference model are successfully steered to roam.

[0047] That is, after determining multiple combinations of access point devices, the access control device can not only perform roaming steering tests based on various signal strengths, but also perform roaming steering tests by referring to parameters such as channels, frequency bands, and loads of the access point devices. Specifically, the access point device can perform roaming steering tests multiple times based on any one or more of the characteristics such as signal strengths, channels, frequency bands, and loads of the access point devices, for example, to further determine reference roaming steering conditions.

[0048] Optionally, the combination of multiple parameters is obtained by combining different values ​​of one or more characteristics, the one or more characteristics including any one or more of signal strength, channel, frequency band, and load.

[0049] According to a third aspect, there is provided a roaming steering device having a function for implementing the operation of the roaming steering method of the first aspect. The roaming steering device includes one or more modules, and the one or more modules are configured to implement the roaming steering method provided in the first aspect.

[0050] Specifically, the roaming steering device includes a first determining module and a first sending module.

[0051] The first determining module is configured to determine a signal strength during communication between each of the one or more second access point devices and the target terminal to obtain one or more signal strengths. The one or more second access point devices include the first access point device and / or a neighboring access point device of the first access point device. The target terminal is a terminal associated with the first access point device.

[0052] The first determination module is further configured to determine that the target terminal satisfies a reference roaming steering condition based on the one or more signal strengths.

[0053] The first sending module is configured to send a roaming steering command to the target terminal when the first determining module determines that the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering condition. The roaming steering command carries identifiers of one or more reference access point devices. The roaming steering command is used to steer the target terminal to roam to any one of the one or more reference access point devices. The reference roaming steering condition is determined by the access control device by performing roaming steering tests multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model. The reference model is a model of the target terminal.

[0054] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: a second determination module configured to determine a model identifier of the target terminal; and a third determining module configured to determine a reference roaming steering condition based on the model identifier.

[0055] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: and a first receiving module configured to receive and store a first correspondence relationship transmitted by the access control device, the first correspondence relationship being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0056] The third decision module is configured to determine a reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence relationship based on a model identifier of the target terminal;

[0057] Optionally, the third decision module: a first sending sub-module configured to send a first steering condition acquisition request to the access control device, where the first steering condition acquisition request carries a model identifier of the target terminal; and a first receiving sub-module configured to receive reference roaming steering conditions transmitted by the access control device, where the reference roaming steering conditions are determined by the access control device from a first correspondence stored in the access control device based on a model identifier of the target terminal, and the first correspondence is used to indicate roaming steering conditions corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0058] Optionally, the second decision module: and an acquisition sub-module configured to obtain a model identifier of the target terminal from the access control device.

[0059] Optionally, the acquisition sub-module: a sending unit configured to send a model query request to the access control device, the model query request carrying a medium access control MAC address of the target terminal, the first access point device receiving the model identifier of the target terminal sent by the access control device; or The present invention includes a receiving unit configured to receive a model identifier of the target terminal transmitted by the access control device, wherein the model identifier of the target terminal is determined by the access control device using the MAC address of the target terminal after the access control device obtains a MAC address of the target terminal from a data packet transmitted by the target terminal.

[0060] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: A second sending module configured to send a second steering condition acquisition request to the access control device, where the second steering condition acquisition request carries a MAC address of the target terminal; and a second receiving module configured to receive reference roaming steering conditions transmitted by the access control device, wherein after the access control device determines a model identifier of the target terminal based on the MAC address of the target terminal, the reference roaming steering conditions are determined by the access control device from a first correspondence relationship stored in the access control device, and the first correspondence relationship is used to indicate roaming steering conditions corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0061] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: an acquisition module configured to obtain a roaming device list from the access control device, the roaming device list including identifiers of one or more third access point devices, the one or more third access point devices being neighboring access point devices of the first access point device; and a fourth determination module configured to determine a third access point device as the one or more reference access point devices from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list.

[0062] Optionally, the acquisition module further comprises: a second receiving sub-module configured to receive a roaming device list sent by the access control device; or The system includes a second sending submodule configured to send a list acquisition request to the access control device, where the list acquisition request carries an identifier of the first access point device, and a third receiving submodule configured to receive the roaming device list sent by the access control device.

[0063] Optionally, the one or more second access point devices include one or more third access point devices.

[0064] The fourth decision module is and a selection submodule configured to select a third access point device that satisfies a reference roaming steering condition from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list to obtain one or more reference access point devices.

[0065] According to a fourth aspect, there is provided a roaming steering device having a function for implementing the operation of the roaming steering method of the second aspect. The roaming steering device includes one or more modules, and the one or more modules are configured to implement the roaming steering method provided in the second aspect.

[0066] Specifically, the roaming steering device includes a first determining module and a first sending module.

[0067] The first determination module is configured to determine a reference roaming steering condition by performing roaming steering tests multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to the reference model.

[0068] The first sending module is configured to send the reference roaming steering condition to the first access point device. A model of the target terminal associated with the first access point device is the reference model. The first access point device is an access point device controlled by the access control device.

[0069] Optionally, the first transmitting module comprises: The access control device is configured to transmit a first correspondence to the first access point device, the first correspondence being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0070] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: a first receiving module configured to receive a first steering condition acquisition request sent by a first access point device, the first steering condition acquisition request carrying a model identifier of a target terminal; and a second determination module configured to determine a reference roaming steering condition from the stored first correspondence relationship based on a model identifier of the target terminal, the first correspondence relationship being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0071] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: a first acquisition module configured to acquire a media access control (MAC) address of the target terminal; a third determination module configured to determine a model identifier of the target terminal from the stored second correspondence relationship based on a MAC address of the target terminal, the second correspondence relationship being used to indicate a model identifier corresponding to each MAC address identified by the access control device; and and a second transmitting module configured to transmit the model identifier of the target terminal to the first access point device so as to enable the first access point device to determine a reference roaming steering condition based on the model identifier of the target terminal.

[0072] Optionally, the first acquisition module comprises: a receiving sub-module configured to receive a model query request transmitted by a first access point device, the model query request carrying a MAC address of the target terminal; or and an acquisition sub-module configured to acquire a MAC address of the target terminal from a data packet transmitted by the target terminal.

[0073] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: a second receiving module configured to receive a second steering condition acquisition request sent by the first access point device, where the second steering condition acquisition request carries a MAC address of the target terminal; and a fourth determination module configured to determine a model identifier of the target terminal based on the MAC address of the target terminal from a stored second correspondence relationship used to indicate a model identifier corresponding to each MAC address identified by the access control device, and to determine a reference roaming steering condition from the stored first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal, where the first correspondence relationship is used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0074] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: A second acquisition module configured to acquire a MAC address of the target terminal and model description information of the target terminal from a data packet sent by the target terminal; a fifth determination module configured to determine a model identifier of the target terminal based on the model description information of the target terminal; and a first storage module configured to store the MAC address and the model identifier of the target terminal in a second correspondence relationship.

[0075] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: a third receiving module configured to receive a list acquisition request sent by the first access point device, the list acquisition request carrying an identifier of the first access point device; a sixth determination module configured to determine a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on an identifier of the first access point device, the roaming device list including identifiers of one or more third access point devices, the one or more third access point devices being neighboring access point devices of the first access point device; and a third sending module configured to send the roaming device list to the first access point device.

[0076] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: a third acquisition module configured to obtain a plurality of past roaming records and roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record, where each past roaming record includes an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device, all source access point devices in the plurality of past roaming records are first access point devices, and the roaming experience indication information is used to indicate whether a signal quality is improved after a terminal associated with the first access point device roams to a destination access point device corresponding to the corresponding past roaming record; a seventh determination module configured to determine an identifier of one or more third access point devices based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record; and a second storage module configured to store identifiers of one or more third access point devices based on the identifier of the first access point device.

[0077] Optionally, the seventh decision module: and a determination submodule configured to determine, based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record, identifiers of the one or more third access point devices in a reinforcement learning manner.

[0078] Optionally, the decision submodule: Select a past roaming record in which the signal quality is improved after roaming from the multiple past roaming records according to the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record; Obtaining an identifier of a neighboring access point device of the first access point device, the neighboring access point device not being included in a plurality of past roaming records; and and determining the identifier of the destination access point device included in the selected past roaming record and the obtained identifiers of the neighboring access point devices as identifiers of the one or more third access point devices.

[0079] Optionally, the first determination module: Determine a plurality of combinations of access point devices and a plurality of combinations of parameters corresponding to each combination of the access point devices, each combination of the access point devices including an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device, and all source access point devices of the plurality of combinations of the access point devices are first access point devices; and In order to determine reference roaming steering conditions using a criterion that one or more terminals belonging to the reference model are successfully steered to roam, the system is configured to perform roaming steering tests multiple times for one or more terminals belonging to the reference model using various steering test conditions based on multiple combinations of access point devices and combinations of multiple parameters corresponding to each combination of access point devices.

[0080] Optionally, the combination of multiple parameters is obtained by combining different values ​​of one or more characteristics, the one or more characteristics including any one or more of signal strength, channel, frequency band, and load.

[0081] According to a fifth aspect, an access point device is provided. The access point device includes a processor and a memory. The memory is configured to store a program for performing the roaming steering method provided in the first aspect, and to store data used to implement the roaming steering method provided in the first aspect. The processor is configured to execute the program stored in the memory. Access Control Devices may further include a communication bus configured to establish a connection between the processor and the memory.

[0082] According to a sixth aspect, an access control device is provided. The access control device includes a processor and a memory. The memory is configured to store a program for performing the roaming steering method provided in the second aspect, and to store data used to implement the roaming steering method provided in the second aspect. The processor is configured to execute the program stored in the memory. Access Control Devices may further include a communication bus configured to establish a connection between the processor and the memory.

[0083] According to a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the roam steering method of the first aspect.

[0084] According to an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the roam steering method of the second aspect.

[0085] According to a ninth aspect there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the roam steering method of the first aspect.

[0086] According to a tenth aspect there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the roam steering method of the second aspect.

[0087] According to an eleventh aspect, a roaming steering system is provided. The roaming steering system includes a plurality of access point devices, an access control device, and a target terminal. The plurality of access point devices includes a first access point device. The first access point device is configured to perform the steps of the method of the first aspect, and the access control device is configured to perform the steps of the method of the second aspect.

[0088] The technical effects obtained in the second to eleventh aspects are similar to those obtained by using the corresponding technical means in the first aspect, and the details will not be described again here.

[0089] The technical solutions provided in this application can bring at least the following beneficial effects:

[0090] In this application, the reference roaming steering condition is determined by the access control device by performing roaming steering tests multiple times for one or more terminals belonging to a reference model, and the reference model is the model of the target terminal. Therefore, the reference roaming steering condition is similar to the roaming rule in the target terminal. In this case, if the first access point device obtains the reference roaming steering condition and determines that the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering condition, even if the target terminal does not unconditionally follow the roaming steering of the first access point device, the target terminal is likely to be successfully steered to roam. In addition, the access control device determines different roaming steering conditions for terminals with different models. Even if the roaming rules in terminals with different models are different, if roaming steering is performed according to the above method, the success rate of roaming steering can also be increased. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0091] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a roaming process according to an embodiment of the present application. [Diagram 2] 1 is a schematic diagram of an implementation environment according to one embodiment of the present application; [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another implementation environment according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Diagram 5] 2 is a flowchart of a roaming steering method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a roaming steering device according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another roaming steering device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0092] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the following further describes the implementation of the present application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0093] For ease of understanding, before describing in detail the roaming steering method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the terminology and implementation environment of the embodiments of the present application will be first described or introduced.

[0094] First, the terms used in the embodiments of the present application will be explained.

[0095] BSS: The service provided by a single access point device is called a BSS.

[0096] ESS: An integrated service managed by multiple access point devices using the same access control device and provided using the same service set identifier (SSID) is called an ESS, i.e., one ESS may include multiple BSSs.

[0097] Association: A state in which a communication connection is established between a terminal and an access point device. The terminal is associated with the access point device. Specifically, the terminal can access the access point device and further communicate with the access point device, or the access point device can serve the terminal.

[0098] Roaming: The process in which a terminal is handed over between different BSSs in the same ESS is called roaming. One access point device corresponds to one BSS, and one ESS may include multiple BSSs. In other words, the process in which a terminal is handed over from an association with one access point device to an association with another access point device is called roaming.

[0099] See Figure 1. For example, an ESS includes two BSSs. One BSS corresponds to an access point device 1, and the other BSS corresponds to an access point device 2. A terminal is initially associated with the access point device 1 at a point A. When the terminal moves to a point A', the terminal is associated with the access point device 2. In other words, the terminal roaming is associated with the access point device 1 before roaming, and associated with the access point device 2 after roaming.

[0100] Terminal: A mobile terminal device is also called a mobile terminal. In a WLAN, a terminal is also called a station (STA). For example, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal may be a laptop computer (also called a personal computer (PC)), a game console, a tablet computer, a smartphone, an e-reader, a digital broadcast terminal, a message transceiver device, a personal digital assistant, or a wearable device. The wearable device may be a band, a watch, etc.

[0101] Signal strength: It is the strength of the signal received by the terminal and transmitted by the access point device, and the unit of strength is dbm. Generally, the signal strength is a negative value. The higher the value, the better the signal quality. In most situations, if the signal strength is a value above -50, the signal quality is very good, and if the signal strength is a value below -70, the signal quality is considered to be poor.

[0102] The implementation environment of the embodiment of the present application will be described below.

[0103] 2 is a schematic diagram of an implementation environment related to the roaming steering method according to an embodiment of the present application. The network architecture related to this implementation environment includes: an access control device 201, a plurality of access point devices 202 (in FIG. 2, three access point devices are used as an example to represent a plurality of access point devices), and a target terminal 203.

[0104] The access control device 201 is individually connected to the multiple access point devices 202 using a wireless or wired network to perform communication. The target terminal 203 can be connected to any one of the multiple access point devices 202 using a wireless or wired network to perform communication. That is, the target terminal 203 can be associated with any one of the multiple access point devices 202.

[0105] The access control device 201 can manage multiple access point devices 202. For example, the access control device 201 can uniformly distribute one or more configurations and perform software upgrades to the multiple access point devices 202, and can further control the number of access point devices in operation based on a time period. The access point device associated with the target terminal 203 can serve the target terminal 203. For example, the target terminal 203 can sequentially transmit data packets to another device using the access point device associated with the target terminal 203 and the access control device 201, or can sequentially receive data packets transmitted by another device using the access control device 201 and the access point device associated with the target terminal 203.

[0106] In this embodiment of the present application, in addition to the above-mentioned functions, the access control device 201 may further have functions such as using the MAC address of the target terminal 203 to determine a model identifier of the target terminal 203, determining a reference roaming steering condition by performing steering tests multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model, or determining a roaming device list corresponding to an access point device. The reference model is a model of the target terminal 203, and the one or more terminals belonging to the reference model may include the target terminal 203, and the reference roaming steering condition may also be referred to as a terminal profile of one or more terminals belonging to the reference model.

[0107] In addition to the above functions, the access point device 202 may further have functions such as performing roaming steering for the target terminal 203 or exchanging signal strength with the target terminal 203 .

[0108] Specifically, see Figure 3. The access control device 201 may include a terminal identification module, a steering condition determination module, and a roaming device determination module. The access point device 202 may include a roaming steering control module and a terminal interaction module.

[0109] The terminal identification module is configured to identify a MAC address of the target terminal 203 from a data packet sent by the target terminal 203, and further determine a model identifier of the target terminal 203 using the MAC address of the target terminal 203. The steering condition determination module is configured to determine a reference roaming steering condition by performing steering tests multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model. The roaming device determination module is configured to determine a roaming device list corresponding to the access point device 202. Optionally, the roaming device determination module is configured to periodically determine the roaming device list corresponding to the access point device 202 in a reinforcement learning manner.

[0110] The roaming steering control module is configured to determine when to send a roaming steering command to the target terminal 203 based on the reference roaming steering conditions, and is further configured to determine an access point device that is recommended to the target terminal 203 and can be associated with the target terminal 203 after roaming based on the roaming device list determined by the access control device 201. The terminal interaction module is configured to measure the signal strength received by the target terminal 203.

[0111] It should be noted that the network associated with the implementation environment may be a WLAN.The network architecture associated with the implementation environment may be deployed in multiple areas, such as a shopping mall, a supermarket, an office building, or a parking lot.

[0112] 4 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. The network device may be the access control device 201 shown in FIG. 2 or the access point device 202. The network device may include one or more processors 401, a communication bus 402, a memory 403, and one or more communication interfaces 404.

[0113] The processor 401 may be a general purpose central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), a microprocessor, or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the solutions of the present application, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a generic array logic (GAL), or any combination thereof.

[0114] The communication bus 402 is configured to transmit information between the aforementioned components. The communication bus 402 can be categorized as an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, only one thick line is used to represent a bus in the figure, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0115] The memory 403 may be, but is not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), an optical disk (including a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a compact disk, a laser disk, a digital versatile disk, a Blu-ray disk, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or another magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be configured to carry or store expected program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a network. The memory 403 may exist independently and be connected to the processor 401 using the communication bus 402. Alternatively, the memory 403 may be integrated with the processor 401.

[0116] The communication interface 404 is configured to communicate with other devices or communication networks using a transceiver type device. The communication interface 404 includes a wired communication interface and may further include a wireless communication interface. The wired communication interface may be, for example, an Ethernet interface. The Ethernet interface may be an optical interface, an electrical interface, or a combination thereof. The wireless communication interface may be a wireless local area networks (WLAN) interface, a cellular network communication interface, or a combination thereof, etc.

[0117] In some embodiments, a network device may include multiple processors, such as processor 401 and processor 405 shown in FIG. 4. Each processor may be a single-core processor or a multi-core processor. A processor herein may be one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores configured to process data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0118] In a specific implementation, in one embodiment, the network device may further include an output device 406 and an input device 407. The output device 406 communicates with the processor 401 and can display information in multiple ways. For example, the output device 406 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display device, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device, or a projector. The input device 407 communicates with the processor 401 and can receive user input in multiple ways. For example, the input device 407 may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensing device.

[0119] In some embodiments, the memory 403 is configured to store a program code 410 for implementing the solutions of the present application, and the processor 401 can execute the program code 410 stored in the memory 403. The program code may include one or more software modules. By using the processor 401 and the program code 410 in the memory 403, the network device can implement the roaming steering method provided in the following embodiment of FIG. 5.

[0120] After describing the terminology and implementation environment of the embodiment of the present application, the following describes in detail the roaming steering method provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 is a flow chart of the roaming steering method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method includes the following steps:

[0121] Step 501: A first access point device determines a signal strength during communication between each of one or more second access point devices and a target terminal to obtain one or more signal strengths. The one or more second access point devices include the first access point device and / or a neighboring access point device of the first access point device. The target terminal is a terminal associated with the first access point device.

[0122] In some embodiments, the first access point device can send a strength acquisition request to the target terminal, and after receiving the strength acquisition request, the target terminal can determine signal strengths during communication between the target terminal and each of one or more second access point devices to obtain one or more signal strengths, and then send the one or more signal strengths to the first access point device.

[0123] It should be noted that the access point device usually broadcasts a beacon frame periodically, so that the target terminal can determine the signal strength of the received beacon frame broadcast by one or more second access point devices, and determine the signal strength of the received beacon frame broadcast by one or more second access point devices as the signal strength during communication between the one or more second access point devices and the target terminal, i.e., as the aforementioned one or more signal strengths.

[0124] Of course, using beacon frames to determine signal strength is just one example, since access point devices usually have radio frequency capabilities, the target terminal can instead determine signal strength during communication between the target terminal and one or more second access point devices by using other radio frequency signals transmitted by the one or more second access point devices.

[0125] In some other embodiments, the first access point device can notify one or more second access point devices, and the one or more second access point devices determine signal strengths during communication between the one or more second access point devices and the target terminal to obtain one or more signal strengths, and then the corresponding second access point devices transmit the determined signal strengths to the first access point device.

[0126] It should be noted that the target terminal also typically has radio frequency capabilities to implement the association between the target terminal and the access point device, so that the one or more second access point devices can use the radio frequency signals transmitted by the target terminal to determine the signal strength during communication between the target terminal and the one or more second access point devices.

[0127] Terminals of different models correspond to different roaming steering conditions. For example, some common roaming steering conditions are that the signal strength of the associated access point device is less than value 1, that the signal strength of the neighboring access point device is greater than value 2, or that a value obtained by subtracting the signal strength of the associated access point device from the signal strength of the neighboring access point device is greater than value 3. If the roaming steering conditions are different, the one or more second access point devices are also different. For example, if the roaming steering condition is that the signal strength of the associated access point device is less than value 1, the one or more second access point devices may be the first access point device. If the roaming steering condition is that the signal strength of the neighboring access point device is greater than value 2, the one or more second access point devices may be the neighboring access point device of the first access point device. If the roaming steering condition is that a value obtained by subtracting the signal strength of the associated access point device from the signal strength of the neighboring access point device is greater than value 3, the one or more second access point devices may be the first access point device and the neighboring access point device of the first access point device.

[0128] Therefore, before determining one or more signal strengths, the first access point device can determine based on the reference roaming steering conditions whether the one or more second access point devices are the first access point device, neighboring access point devices of the first access point device, or both the first access point device and the first access point device.

[0129] Of course, determining one or more second access point devices based on the reference roaming steering condition is just one implementation. Alternatively, the first access point device can directly determine the first access point device and the neighboring access point devices of the first access point device as one or more second access point devices to determine one or more signal strengths, and then select the corresponding signal strengths based on the reference roaming steering condition.

[0130] In this embodiment of the present application, the neighboring access point devices of the first access point device may be one or more third access point devices included in a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device, which will be described in detail later and will not be described in detail here.

[0131] Step 502: The first access point device determines a reference roaming steering condition. The reference roaming steering condition is determined by an access control device by performing roaming steering tests multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model. The reference model is a model of a target terminal.

[0132] In some embodiments, the first access point device can determine the model identifier of the target terminal, and determine the reference roaming steering condition according to the model identifier of the target terminal. The first access point device can obtain the reference roaming steering condition from the access control device actively or passively according to the model identifier of the target terminal. Next, the manner in which the first access point device determines the reference roaming steering condition is described in the following two manners.

[0133] First scheme: the first access point device receives and stores a first correspondence relationship sent by the access control device. The first correspondence relationship is used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device. In this way, the first access point device can directly determine the model identifier of the target terminal, and further determine a reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence relationship according to the model identifier of the target terminal.

[0134] That is, in the first manner, after determining that the first correspondence is obtained, the access control device can actively transmit the first correspondence to the first access point device. Then, when the first access point device needs to determine a reference roaming steering condition, the first access point device can first determine the model identifier of the target terminal, and further determine the reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence based on the model identifier of the target terminal. In this way, in the roaming steering process, the first access point device does not need to interact with the access control device to obtain the reference roaming steering condition, and directly determines the reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence stored locally based on the model identifier of the target terminal. This reduces the number of times that the first access point device interacts with the access control device, thereby reducing overhead.

[0135] Based on the foregoing description, the first correspondence is used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device, i.e., different model identifiers may correspond to different roaming steering conditions. In addition, the roaming steering condition may include two parts. One part is a roaming steering rule, and the other part is a steering threshold. In addition, one model may include multiple terminals, i.e., multiple different terminals may belong to the same model. Thus, using one or more terminals belonging to a reference model as an example, the access control device can determine multiple combinations of access point devices. One combination of access point devices includes an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device. All source access point devices included in the multiple combinations of access point devices are first access point devices. In addition, one combination of access point devices may correspond to multiple different combinations of signal strength. One combination of signal strength includes a signal strength of a corresponding source access point device and a signal strength of a corresponding destination access point device. Using a plurality of combinations of access point devices and a combination of signal strengths corresponding to each combination of access point devices, a roaming steering test is performed a plurality of times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model using various steering test conditions, and a reference roaming steering condition is determined using the following criteria: the terminal of this model is successfully steered to roam. Then, the access control device can add the model identifier of the reference model and the corresponding roaming steering condition to a first correspondence relationship.

[0136] It should be noted that the roaming steering condition not only includes a roaming steering rule, but also includes a steering threshold. Thus, the access control device performs a roaming steering test on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model multiple times, so as to determine the roaming steering rule that the one or more terminals belonging to the reference model follow, and also determine the steering threshold.

[0137] For example, the first correspondence relationship sent by the access control device and received and stored by the first access point device may be as shown in the following Table 1. Assuming that the model identifier of the target terminal determined by the first access point device is 146, the first access point device can determine, based on the model identifier of the target terminal, from the following Table 1, that the roaming steering rule of the reference roaming steering condition is rule R3 and the steering threshold is 10.

[0138] [Table 1]

[0139] It should be noted that rule R1 in Table 1 may indicate that the signal strength of the associated access point device is lower than value 1, which may be the corresponding steering threshold value of -75. Rule R2 in Table 1 may indicate that the signal strength of the neighboring access point device is greater than value 2, which may be the corresponding steering threshold value of -60. Rule R3 in Table 1 may indicate that the value obtained by subtracting the signal strength of the associated access point device from the signal strength of the neighboring access point device is greater than value 3, which may be the corresponding steering threshold value of 10. Of course, this is just one example. In some other embodiments, the above rules R1, R2, and R3 may instead refer to other rules.

[0140] In addition, based on the above description, the roaming steering condition includes a roaming steering rule and a steering threshold, and the access control device can determine multiple combinations of access point devices and multiple combinations of signal strengths corresponding to each combination of access point devices to perform multiple roaming steering tests for one or more terminals belonging to the reference model. Although determining the roaming steering condition based on the signal strength is the simplest and most effective manner, in some other embodiments, the roaming steering condition may instead be determined with reference to another characteristic, for example, the channel, the frequency band (2.4 GHz or 5 GHz), or the load of the access point device. These characteristics affect the steering threshold.

[0141] Using channel as an example, the steering threshold is different for different channels. For example, on channel 36, the roaming steering rule is rule R3 and the steering threshold is 10. On channel 149, the roaming steering rule is also rule R3, but the steering threshold is 8.

[0142] Using frequency bands as an example, an access point device generally includes both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands. In this case, there are four roaming scenarios: roaming from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz, roaming from 5 GHz to 2.4 GHz, roaming from 2.4 GHz to 2.4 GHz, and roaming from 5 GHz to 5 GHz. Most terminals support priority access to the 5 GHz frequency band. Therefore, the four scenarios generally affect the steering threshold. For example, in two scenarios, namely, the roaming from 2.4 GHz to 2.4 GHz scenario and the roaming from 5 GHz to 5 GHz scenario, the roaming steering rule is rule R3 and the steering threshold is 10. In the roaming from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz scenario, the roaming steering rule is rule R3 and the steering threshold is 8. In the roaming from 5 GHz to 2.4 GHz scenario, the roaming steering rule is rule R3 and the steering threshold is 12.

[0143] Using loading as an example, in some cases a terminal may preferentially choose to roam to an access point device that is lightly loaded, in which case the steering threshold may be affected.

[0144] Therefore, after determining multiple combinations of access point devices, the access control device can not only perform roaming steering tests based on various signal strengths, but also perform roaming steering tests with reference to parameters such as channels, frequency bands, and loads of the access point devices. Specifically, the access point device can perform roaming steering tests multiple times based on any one or more of the characteristics such as signal strengths, channels, frequency bands, and loads of the access point devices, for example, to further determine reference roaming steering conditions.

[0145] In other words, the access control device can determine a plurality of combinations of access point devices and a plurality of combinations of parameters corresponding to each combination of access point devices. Each combination of access point devices includes an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device. All source access point devices of the plurality of combinations of access point devices are first access point devices. The access control device performs roaming steering tests multiple times for one or more terminals belonging to the reference model using various steering test conditions based on the plurality of combinations of access point devices and a plurality of combinations of parameters corresponding to each combination of access point devices, so as to determine a reference roaming steering condition using a criterion that one or more terminals belonging to the reference model are successfully steered to roam.

[0146] A combination of multiple parameters may be obtained by combining different values ​​of one or more characteristics, including any one or more of signal strength, channel, frequency band, and loading.

[0147] In some embodiments, the access control device selects one or more steering test conditions for successfully steering a terminal of the model to roam after performing roaming steering tests on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model multiple times according to the aforementioned method, and processes the selected steering test conditions to obtain a reference roaming steering condition. If the selected steering test conditions are the same, the selected steering test conditions may be directly used as the reference roaming steering condition. If the selected steering test conditions are different, for example, if the steering test rules are not completely the same and / or the steering test thresholds are not completely the same, the selected steering test conditions are processed to obtain a reference roaming steering condition.

[0148] It should be noted that in different scenarios, the selected steering test condition may be processed in different processing manners. For example, in some embodiments, a steering test rule and a corresponding steering test threshold value of each of the selected steering test conditions may be determined, an occurrence frequency of each steering test rule is determined, an average value of the steering test threshold value corresponding to the steering test rule with the highest occurrence frequency is determined, the steering test rule with the highest occurrence frequency is determined as the roaming steering rule of the reference roaming steering condition, and the average value of the steering test threshold value corresponding to the steering test rule with the highest occurrence frequency is determined as the steering threshold value of the reference roaming steering condition.

[0149] In this embodiment of the present application, the first access point device can determine the model identifier of the target terminal in multiple ways. However, in some embodiments, the model identifier is determined by the access control device. Specifically, when the first access point device wants to know the model identifier of the target terminal, it needs to obtain the model identifier from the access control device. In other words, the first access point device can obtain the model identifier of the target terminal from the access control device. The following describes two ways in which the first access point device can determine the model identifier of the target terminal in this case.

[0150] (1) The first access point device sends a model query request to the access control device. The model query request carries the MAC address of the target terminal. The access control device receives the model query request sent by the first access point device, and determines a model identifier of the target terminal from a stored second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal. The second correspondence relationship is used to indicate a model identifier corresponding to each MAC address identified by the access control device. The access control device then sends the model identifier of the target terminal to the first access point device, and the first access point device receives the model identifier of the target terminal sent by the access control device.

[0151] That is, in method (1), the access control device stores the second correspondence relationship in advance. When the first access point device needs to determine the model identifier of the target terminal, it can transmit a model inquiry request to the access control device. In this way, the access control device can determine the model identifier of the target terminal from the second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal, and further transmit the model identifier of the target terminal to the first access point device. In this way, the access control device does not need to distribute the second correspondence relationship to the first access point device in advance. In addition, when the access control device updates the model identifier of the target terminal, it can further be guaranteed that the first access point device can obtain the model identifier with high time accuracy.

[0152] Based on the above description, a data packet sent by a terminal associated with an access point device managed by the access control device to another device passes through the access control device. Thus, the access control device can determine the MAC address of the terminal based on the data packet sent by the terminal, and further determines the model identifier of the terminal, and creates a second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address and the model identifier of the terminal. Taking a target terminal as an example, the access control device can obtain the MAC address of the target terminal and the model description information of the target terminal from the data packet sent by the target terminal. The access control device determines the model identifier of the target terminal based on the model description information of the target terminal, and stores the MAC address and the model identifier of the target terminal in the second correspondence relationship.

[0153] Generally, the data packet sent by the target terminal carries the MAC address and model description information of the target terminal. For example, if the data packet sent by the target terminal is an HTTP packet, the HTTP packet can carry the MAC address of the target terminal, and the user-agent field of the HTTP packet can carry the model description information of the target terminal. Therefore, the access control device can obtain the MAC address and model description information of the target terminal from the data packet sent by the target terminal. For example, the model description information can be Huawei P30, iPhone 8, etc.

[0154] In addition, because terminals with different models have different model description information, the access control device can distinguish terminals with different models based on the difference in model description information. That is, taking a target terminal as an example, the access control device can directly use the model description information of the target terminal as the model identifier of the target terminal. Of course, the access control device can also distinguish the model of the target terminal based on the model description information of the target terminal instead, and further assign a corresponding model identifier to the target terminal.

[0155] For example, the following Table 2 shows a second correspondence relationship stored in the access control device, and the model identifier in Table 2 is the model identifier assigned to the terminal by the access control device according to the model description information of the terminal. Suppose that after the first access point device sends a model inquiry request to the access control device, the MAC address of the target terminal carried in the model inquiry request is 00:11:22:33:44:55. In this case, the access control device determines from the second correspondence relationship shown in Table 2 that the model identifier of the target terminal is 146 based on the MAC address of the target terminal. Then, the access control device sends the model identifier of the target terminal to the first access point device, and the first access point device receives the model identifier of the target terminal sent by the access control device.

[0156] [Table 2]

[0157] (2) The access control device obtains a MAC address of the target terminal from a data packet sent by the target terminal, determines a model identifier of the target terminal from the stored second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal, and sends the model identifier of the target terminal to the first access point device. Then, the first access point device receives the model identifier of the target terminal sent by the access control device.

[0158] That is, in the method (2), after receiving a data packet transmitted by the target terminal, the access control device can directly obtain the MAC address of the target terminal from the data packet, and based on the MAC address of the target terminal, determine the model identifier of the target terminal from the second correspondence relationship, and directly transmit the model identifier to the first access point device. In other words, the access control device can actively determine the model identifier of the target terminal and deliver the model identifier to the first access point device. In this way, when the first access point device performs roaming steering for the target terminal, it is not necessary for the first access point device to request the model identifier of the target terminal from the access control device. Therefore, the interaction between the first access point device and the access control device can be reduced in the process of the first access point device performing roaming steering for the target terminal, and the efficiency of roaming steering can be improved.

[0159] Second manner: the first access point device can directly determine the model identifier of the target terminal and send a first steering condition acquisition request to the access control device. The first steering condition acquisition request carries the model identifier of the target terminal. The access control device receives the first steering condition acquisition request sent by the first access point device, determines a reference roaming steering condition from the stored first correspondence based on the model identifier of the target terminal, and sends the reference roaming steering condition to the first access point device. Thus, the first access point device can receive the reference roaming steering condition sent by the access control device.

[0160] That is, in the second scheme, the access control device does not distribute the first correspondence to the first access point device after determining the first correspondence. Instead, when the first access point device needs to determine a reference roaming steering condition, it sends a first steering condition acquisition request carrying a model identifier of the target terminal to the access control device. Furthermore, the access control device determines the reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence based on the model identifier of the target terminal, and then sends the reference roaming steering condition to the first access point device. In this way, it can be guaranteed that the first access point device can obtain the reference roaming steering condition with high time accuracy after the reference roaming steering condition is updated.

[0161] Optionally, in the second manner, in the historical process of the first access point device performing roaming steering to another terminal, the first access point device can locally store the correspondence between the model identifier of the terminal and the corresponding roaming steering condition after obtaining the corresponding roaming steering condition from the access control device. In this way, after determining the model identifier of the target terminal, the first access point device can first inquire whether the reference roaming steering condition is locally stored based on the model identifier of the target terminal. If the first access point device does not locally store the reference roaming steering condition, the first access point device can send a first steering condition acquisition request to the access control device. The access control device further determines the reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence based on the model identifier of the target terminal, and then sends the reference roaming steering condition to the first access point device. If the first access point device locally stores the reference roaming steering condition, the first access point device does not need to interact with the access control device, so that the number of interactions can be reduced, and the efficiency of roaming steering is improved.

[0162] For the method of the first access point device determining the model identifier of the target terminal in the second manner, please refer to the method of the first manner, and the details will not be described again in this embodiment of the present application.

[0163] It should be noted that the above-mentioned second manner can not only be used to obtain the reference roaming steering condition when roaming steering is performed to the target terminal, but also can be used to update the reference roaming steering condition stored locally in the first access point device. Specifically, after the access control device updates the reference roaming steering condition in the first correspondence, the first access point device can further obtain the updated roaming steering condition from the access control device in the above-mentioned second manner.

[0164] In this embodiment of the present application, the first access point device can not only use the model identifier of the target terminal to determine the reference roaming steering condition in the above two manners, but also can determine the reference roaming steering condition in another manner in some other embodiments. For example, the first access point device can determine the reference roaming steering condition based on the MAC address of the target terminal. Specifically, the first access point device can determine the MAC address of the target terminal, and determine the reference roaming steering condition from the access control device based on the MAC address of the target terminal. Next, the third manner will be described and described in detail below.

[0165] Third scheme: the first access point device sends a second steering condition acquisition request to the access control device. The second steering condition acquisition request carries the MAC address of the target terminal. The access control device receives the second steering condition acquisition request sent by the first access point device, and determines a model identifier of the target terminal from the stored second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal. The second correspondence relationship is used to indicate the model identifier corresponding to each MAC address identified by the access control device. Then, the access control device determines a reference roaming steering condition from the stored first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal, and sends the reference roaming steering condition to the first access point device. The first access point device receives the reference roaming steering condition sent by the access control device.

[0166] That is, in the third scheme, the first access point device does not need to determine the model identifier of the target terminal, and can directly send the second steering condition acquisition request carrying the MAC address of the target terminal to the access control device. After receiving the second steering condition acquisition request, the access control device determines the model identifier of the target terminal from the second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal, and then determines the reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal. In other words, in the third scheme, the first access point device can obtain the reference roaming steering condition by interacting with the access control device once, and does not need to first interact with the access control device once to determine the reference model identifier, and then does not need to interact with the access control device a second time using the model identifier to obtain the reference roaming steering condition. That is, the number of times the first access point device interacts with the access control device is reduced, so that the overhead is reduced.

[0167] Step 503: If it is determined based on one or more signal strengths that the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering condition, the first access point device sends a roaming steering command to the target terminal, the roaming steering command carrying identifiers of the one or more reference access point devices, and the roaming steering command is used to steer the target terminal to roam to any one of the one or more reference access point devices.

[0168] After determining one or more signal strengths in step 501 and determining a reference roaming steering condition in step 502, the first access point device can determine whether the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering condition based on the one or more signal strengths. If the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering condition, the first access point device can send a roaming steering command to the target terminal.

[0169] The reference roaming steering condition is determined by the access control device by performing roaming steering tests multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model, and the reference model is the model of the target terminal. Therefore, the reference roaming steering condition is similar to the roaming rule in the target terminal. In this case, when the target terminal meets the reference roaming steering condition, a roaming steering command is sent to the target terminal, so that it can be ensured that the target terminal is likely to be successfully steered to roam. In other words, the reference roaming steering condition can be ensured that the target terminal is likely to be successfully steered to roam.

[0170] In this embodiment of the present application, the first access point device can determine identifiers of one or more reference access point devices before sending a roaming steering command to the target terminal. In one example, the first access point device can obtain a roaming device list from an access control device. The roaming device list includes identifiers of one or more third access point devices. The one or more third access point devices are neighboring access point devices of the first access point device. Then, the first access point device can determine a third access point device as one or more reference access point devices from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list.

[0171] In some embodiments, the one or more second access point devices may include one or more third access point devices. Thus, the implementation process in which the first access point device determines a third access point device as one or more reference access point devices from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list may be a process of selecting a third access point device that satisfies a reference roaming steering condition from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list to obtain the one or more reference access point devices.

[0172] The first access point device can actively or passively obtain a roaming device list from the access control device. Thus, the identifier of the third access point device that meets the reference roaming steering condition is selected from the roaming device list, and the identifier of the selected third access point device is used as the identifier of one or more reference access point devices. The implementation process of determining the identifier of one or more reference access point devices is described in detail with reference to the following two methods.

[0173] First scheme: the first access point device receives and stores a roaming device list sent by the access control device. The roaming device list includes identifiers of one or more third access point devices. The one or more third access point devices are neighboring access point devices of the first access point device. In this way, before sending a roaming steering command to the target terminal, the first access point device can select an identifier of a third access point device that satisfies a reference roaming steering condition from the roaming device list, and use the identifier of the selected third access point device as the identifier of one or more reference access point devices.

[0174] In some embodiments, the access control device can determine corresponding roaming device lists of various access point devices and send the roaming device lists to the corresponding access point devices. Using the first access point device as an example, the access control device can send the roaming device list to the first access point device after determining the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device. The roaming device list includes identifiers of all other access point devices to which the first access point device can roam, but some access point devices may not satisfy the reference roaming steering condition. Therefore, the first access point device can select an identifier of a third access point device that satisfies the reference roaming steering condition from the roaming device list as an identifier of one or more reference access point devices before sending a roaming steering command to the target terminal.

[0175] In the above-mentioned first scheme, the access control device can actively send a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device to the first access point device. In this way, the first access point device can actively send a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device to the first access point device when performing roaming steering to the target terminal thereafter. device From the list, the identifiers of one or more reference access point devices can be determined directly without the need to interact with the access control device, thus reducing overhead.

[0176] For example, the roaming device list sent by the access control device and received and stored by the first access point device includes an identifier of the third access point device. Assuming that the first access point device determines that the third access point device in the roaming device list meets the reference roaming steering condition before the first access point device sends a roaming steering command to the target terminal, the first access point device may determine that the third access point device in the roaming device list meets the reference roaming steering condition. device The identifier of the third access point device in the list may be directly used as the identifier of the reference access point device.

[0177] Optionally, when distributing the roaming device list to the first access point device, the access control device can further distribute the number of access point devices included in the roaming device list.

[0178] Second scheme: The first access point device sends a list acquisition request to the access control device. The list acquisition request carries an identifier of the first access point device. The access control device receives the list acquisition request sent by the first access point device, and determines a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on the identifier of the first access point device. The roaming device list includes identifiers of one or more third access point devices. The one or more third access point devices are neighboring access point devices of the first access point device. Then, the access control device sends the roaming device list to the first access point device. The first access point device receives the roaming device list sent by the access control device, selects an identifier of a third access point device that satisfies a reference roaming steering condition from the roaming device list, and uses the identifier of the selected third access point device as an identifier of one or more reference access point devices.

[0179] In some embodiments, the access control device may determine corresponding roaming device lists of various access point devices, and then store the device identifier and the corresponding roaming device list of each access point device in a correspondence relationship between device identifiers and roaming device lists. In this way, when determining the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on the identifier of the first access point device, the first access point device may determine the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device from the stored correspondence relationship between device identifiers and roaming device lists based on the identifier of the first access point device, and transmit the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device to the first access point device.

[0180] In some other embodiments, the access control device can determine, for various access point devices, identifiers of one or more corresponding third access point devices, and then store the device identifier of each access point device and the identifiers of the one or more corresponding third access point devices in a correspondence relationship between the first device identifier and the second device identifier. Specifically, the identifier of each access point device is used as a first device identifier, the identifier of the third access point device corresponding to each access point device is used as a second device identifier, and the device identifier of each access point device and the identifiers of the one or more corresponding third access point devices are stored in a correspondence relationship between the first device identifier and the second device identifier. In this way, when determining a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on the identifier of the first access point device, the first access point device uses the identifier of the first access point device as a first device identifier, determines identifiers of one or more corresponding second device identifiers from the correspondence relationship between the first device identifier and the second device identifier, and further uses the determined identifiers of the one or more second device identifiers as identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device. The access control device then generates a roaming device list including the identifiers of the one or more third access point devices and transmits the roaming device list to the first access point device.

[0181] In the above-mentioned second manner, after determining identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device, the access control device does not generate a roaming device list and does not deliver the roaming device list to the first access point device, but stores the correspondence between the device identifiers and the roaming device list, or the correspondence between the first device identifier and the second device identifier. Thus, when the first access point device performs roaming steering to a terminal (e.g., a target terminal) and the access control device receives a list acquisition request sent by the first access point device, the access control device can determine a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device in the above-mentioned manner and send the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device to the first access point device. In this way, the access control device can determine the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device and send the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device to the first access point device. device When the list is updated, it can be ensured that the first access point device can obtain the roaming device list with high accuracy.

[0182] For example, the first access point device sends a list acquisition request to the access control device. The identifier of the first access point device carried in the list acquisition request is 48f8-db86-3460. The access control device receives the list acquisition request sent by the first access point device, and determines based on the identifier of the first access point device, from the correspondence relationship between device identifiers and roaming device lists shown in Table 3 below, that the corresponding roaming device list includes one third access point device, and the identifier of the third access point device is 48f8-db79-2420. Then, the access control device sends the roaming device list to the first access point device. The first access point device receives the roaming device list sent by the access control device. It is assumed that the third access point device in the roaming device list satisfies the reference roaming steering condition. In this case, the first access point device determines whether the third access point device in the roaming device list satisfies the reference roaming steering condition. device The identifier of the third access point device in the list may be directly used as the identifier of the reference access point device.

[0183] [Table 3]

[0184] In the above-mentioned second manner, before determining a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on the identifier of the first access point device, the access control device can further determine identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device. Specifically, the access control device obtains a plurality of past roaming records and roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record. Each past roaming record includes an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device. All source access point devices in the plurality of past roaming records are the first access point device. The roaming experience indication information is used to indicate whether the signal quality is improved after the terminal associated with the first access point device roams to the destination access point device corresponding to the corresponding past roaming record. The access control device determines identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record. The access control device stores the identifiers of the one or more third access point devices based on the identifier of the first access point device.

[0185] Based on the foregoing description, the access control device can store a correspondence relationship between the device identifier and the roaming device list, and can further store a correspondence relationship between the first device identifier and the second device identifier. Therefore, the implementation process of the access control device storing the identifiers of one or more third access point devices based on the identifier of the first access point device may be a process in which the access control device uses the identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device to generate a roaming device list, i.e., a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device, and then stores the identifier of the first access point device and the roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device in the correspondence relationship between the device identifier and the roaming device list. Alternatively, the access control device may use an identifier of the first access point device as a first device identifier, an identifier of a third access point device corresponding to the first access point device as a second device identifier, and store the identifier of the first access point device and the identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device in a correspondence relationship between the first device identifier and the second device identifier.

[0186] It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present application, the first access point device can report to the access control device the signal strength during communication between the first access point device and the target terminal, and can further report to the access control device information such as the identifiers of one or more reference access point devices and steering times in the roaming steering command delivered by the first access point device to the target terminal. Similarly, another access point device can also report the aforementioned information to the access control device. For example, assume that the target terminal roams to any one of one or more reference access point devices, and the reference access point device can report to the access control device the signal strength during communication between the reference access point device and the target terminal. In this way, the access control device can determine a roaming record based on the information. In the roaming record, the identifier of the source access point device is the identifier of the first access point device, the identifier of the target access point device is the identifier of the reference access point device after roaming, and the roaming experience indication information can be determined based on the signal strength before roaming and the signal strength after roaming.

[0187] Similarly, the access control device can determine a plurality of past roaming records and roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record.

[0188] In some embodiments, the step of the access control device determining, based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record, an identifier of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device includes a step of the access control device selecting, from the plurality of past roaming records, a past roaming record in which the signal quality is improved after roaming, based on the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record, and determining, by the access control device, an identifier of a destination access point device included in the selected past roaming record as an identifier of the one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device.

[0189] In some other embodiments, the access control device can determine, based on the multiple past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record, identifiers of one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device in a reinforcement learning manner. Specifically, the access control device selects, from the multiple past roaming records, a past roaming record in which the signal quality is improved after roaming based on the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record. The access control device obtains an identifier of a neighboring access point device of the first access point device. The neighboring access point device is not included in the multiple past roaming records. The access control device determines the identifier of the destination access point device included in the selected past roaming record and the obtained identifier of the neighboring access point device as identifiers of the one or more third access point devices corresponding to the first access point device.

[0190] It should be noted that reinforcement learning is one of the AI ​​algorithms and is a goal-oriented algorithm. This learning algorithm can make the determined one or more third access point devices more accurate. Specifically, the one or more third access point devices determined in the reinforcement learning manner are access point devices whose signal quality is improved after the third access point device roams from the first access point device. In addition, the multiple past roaming records include access point devices for which roaming steering has been performed before, but access point devices for which roaming steering has not been performed can also be access point devices whose signal quality is improved. As a result, neighboring access point devices that are not included in the multiple past roaming records can also be used as the third access point device. The neighboring access point devices that are not included in the multiple past roaming records can be determined according to a rule.

[0191] In one example, the access control device can determine the number of the first type of access control devices. The first type of access control devices are destination access control devices in the past roaming records whose signal quality is improved after roaming. Then, the access control device can divide the number of the first type of access control devices by a reference ratio to obtain the number of the second type of access point devices. The second type of access point devices are neighboring access point devices that are not included in the multiple past roaming records. The reference ratio is a ratio of the number of the first type of access point devices to the number of the second type of access point devices among the one or more third access point devices. In this way, the access control device can select a neighboring access point device as the third access point device from the neighboring access point devices that are not included in the multiple past roaming records based on the number of the second type of access point devices.

[0192] For example, the reference ratio is 8:2, and the number of the first type access control devices determined by the access control device is 4. In this case, the number of the second type access point devices is 1. Therefore, the access control device can not only use the four first type access point devices as the third access point device, but also select one neighboring access point device from the multiple neighboring access point devices not included in the past roaming records as the third access point device.

[0193] The first type of access point device can ensure a high probability of successful roaming steering, i.e., can ensure the success rate of roaming steering. However, in order to obtain a reinforcement learning effect, some neighboring access point devices that are not included in the past roaming records may be added. However, in general, the number of the first type of access point devices is greater than the number of the second type of access point devices. That is, the number of the first type of access point devices occupies a greater proportion than the number of the second type of access point devices.

[0194] It should be noted that determining the number of the second type of access point devices based on a criteria ratio is just one implementation. In some other embodiments, if the number of the first type of access point devices accounts for a larger percentage than the number of the second type of access point devices, the number of the second type of access point devices may instead be determined in another manner.

[0195] In this embodiment of the present application, reinforcement learning may be performed periodically, and each time reinforcement learning is performed, the determined one or more third access point devices tend to become more accurate.

[0196] Based on the above description of step 501, the neighboring access point devices of the first access point device included in one or more second access point devices can be determined using a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device. The roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device can be obtained based on related implementation of the above two schemes. Specifically, the roaming device list actively pushed by the access control device can be received, or the roaming device list sent by the access control device is received after a list acquisition request is sent to the access control device.

[0197] Step 504: The target terminal receives a roaming steering command sent by the first access point device, and roams based on the identifiers of one or more reference access point devices carried in the roaming steering command.

[0198] The reference roaming steering condition is determined after the access control device performs steering tests for one or more terminals belonging to a reference model multiple times, and the reference model is a model of the target terminal. However, the reference roaming steering condition may not comply with the roaming rules in the target terminal. Therefore, the target terminal can determine whether there is a reference access point device that satisfies the roaming rules in the target terminal in one or more reference access point devices after receiving the roaming steering command sent by the first access point device. If there is a reference access point device that satisfies the roaming rules in the target terminal, the target terminal can roam based on the identifier of the reference access point device that satisfies the roaming rules in the target terminal, that is, it is handed over from association with the first access point device to association with the reference access point device to satisfy the roaming rules in the target terminal.

[0199] However, if there is no reference access point device that satisfies the roaming rules in the target terminal among the one or more reference access point devices, the target terminal will not roam, i.e., the target terminal will maintain its association with the first access point device.

[0200] In short, in this embodiment of the present application, the reference roaming steering condition is determined by the access control device by performing roaming steering test for one or more terminals belonging to the reference model multiple times, and the reference model is the model of the target terminal. Therefore, the reference roaming steering condition is similar to the roaming rule in the target terminal. In this case, if the first access point device obtains the reference roaming steering condition and determines that the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering condition, even if the target terminal does not unconditionally follow the roaming steering of the first access point device, the target terminal is likely to be successfully steered to roam. In addition, the access control device determines different roaming steering conditions for terminals with different models. Even if the roaming rules in terminals with different models are different, if roaming steering is performed according to the above method, the success rate of roaming steering can also be increased.

[0201] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a roaming steering device according to an embodiment of the present application. The device is located in a first access point device. The device may be implemented as part or all of the first access point device by using software, hardware, or a combination thereof. See FIG. 6. The device includes a first determining module 601 and a first sending module 602.

[0202] The first determining module 601 is configured to determine a signal strength during communication between the target terminal and each of one or more second access point devices to obtain one or more signal strengths. The one or more second access point devices include the first access point device and / or a neighboring access point device of the first access point device. The target terminal is a terminal associated with the first access point device.

[0203] The first determining module 601 is further configured to determine that the target terminal satisfies a reference roaming steering condition based on one or more signal strengths.

[0204] The first sending module 602 is configured to send a roaming steering command to the target terminal when the first determining module determines that the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering condition. The roaming steering command carries identifiers of one or more reference access point devices. The roaming steering command is used to steer the target terminal to roam to any one of the one or more reference access point devices. The reference roaming steering condition is determined by the access control device by performing roaming steering tests multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model. The reference model is a model of the target terminal.

[0205] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: a second determination module configured to determine a model identifier of the target terminal; and a third determining module configured to determine a reference roaming steering condition based on the model identifier.

[0206] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: and a first receiving module configured to receive and store a first correspondence relationship transmitted by the access control device, the first correspondence relationship being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0207] The third decision module is configured to determine a reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence relationship based on a model identifier of the target terminal;

[0208] Optionally, the third decision module: a first sending sub-module configured to send a first steering condition acquisition request to the access control device, where the first steering condition acquisition request carries a model identifier of the target terminal; and a first receiving sub-module configured to receive reference roaming steering conditions transmitted by the access control device, where the reference roaming steering conditions are determined by the access control device from a first correspondence stored in the access control device based on a model identifier of the target terminal, and the first correspondence is used to indicate roaming steering conditions corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0209] Optionally, the second decision module: and an acquisition sub-module configured to obtain a model identifier of the target terminal from the access control device.

[0210] Optionally, the acquisition sub-module: a sending unit configured to send a model query request to the access control device, the model query request carrying a medium access control MAC address of the target terminal, the first access point device receiving the model identifier of the target terminal sent by the access control device; or The present invention includes a receiving unit configured to receive a model identifier of the target terminal transmitted by the access control device, wherein the model identifier of the target terminal is determined by the access control device using the MAC address of the target terminal after the access control device obtains a MAC address of the target terminal from a data packet transmitted by the target terminal.

[0211] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: A second sending module configured to send a second steering condition acquisition request to the access control device, where the second steering condition acquisition request carries a MAC address of the target terminal; and a second receiving module configured to receive reference roaming steering conditions transmitted by the access control device, wherein after the access control device determines a model identifier of the target terminal based on the MAC address of the target terminal, the reference roaming steering conditions are determined by the access control device from a first correspondence relationship stored in the access control device, and the first correspondence relationship is used to indicate roaming steering conditions corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0212] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: an acquisition module configured to obtain a roaming device list from the access control device, the roaming device list including identifiers of one or more third access point devices, the one or more third access point devices being neighboring access point devices of the first access point device; and a fourth determination module configured to determine a third access point device as the one or more reference access point devices from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list.

[0213] Optionally, the acquisition module further comprises: a second receiving sub-module configured to receive a roaming device list sent by the access control device; or The system includes a second sending submodule configured to send a list acquisition request to the access control device, where the list acquisition request carries an identifier of the first access point device, and a third receiving submodule configured to receive the roaming device list sent by the access control device.

[0214] Optionally, the one or more second access point devices include one or more third access point devices.

[0215] The fourth decision module is and a selection submodule configured to select a third access point device that satisfies a reference roaming steering condition from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list to obtain one or more reference access point devices.

[0216] In this embodiment of the present application, the reference roaming steering condition is determined by the access control device by performing roaming steering tests multiple times for one or more terminals belonging to a reference model, and the reference model is the model of the target terminal. Therefore, the reference roaming steering condition is similar to the roaming rule in the target terminal. In this case, if the first access point device obtains the reference roaming steering condition and determines that the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering condition, even if the target terminal does not unconditionally follow the roaming steering of the first access point device, the target terminal is likely to be successfully steered to roam. In addition, the access control device determines different roaming steering conditions for terminals with different models. Even if the roaming rules in terminals with different models are different, if roaming steering is performed according to the above method, the success rate of roaming steering can also be increased.

[0217] It should be noted that when the roaming steering device provided by the above embodiment performs roaming steering, the division of the above functional modules is only used as an example for explanation. In practice, the above functions may be assigned to different functional modules for implementation as necessary, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different functional modules to implement all or part of the above functions. In addition, the roaming steering device and the roaming steering method embodiments provided in the above embodiment relate to the same concept. For specific implementation processes, please refer to the method embodiments. Details will not be described again here.

[0218] 7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a roaming steering device according to an embodiment of the present application. The device is located in an access control device. The device may be implemented as a part or whole of the access control device by using software, hardware, or a combination thereof. See FIG. 7. The device includes a first determining module 701 and a first sending module 702.

[0219] The first determination module 701 is configured to determine a reference roaming steering condition by performing roaming steering tests multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model.

[0220] The first sending module 702 is configured to send a reference roaming steering condition to a first access point device. A model of a target terminal associated with the first access point device is a reference model. The first access point device is an access point device controlled by an access control device.

[0221] Optionally, the first transmitting module comprises: The access control device is configured to transmit a first correspondence to the first access point device, the first correspondence being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0222] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: a first receiving module configured to receive a first steering condition acquisition request sent by a first access point device, the first steering condition acquisition request carrying a model identifier of a target terminal; and a second determination module configured to determine a reference roaming steering condition from the stored first correspondence relationship based on a model identifier of the target terminal, the first correspondence relationship being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0223] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: a first acquisition module configured to acquire a media access control (MAC) address of the target terminal; a third determination module configured to determine a model identifier of the target terminal from the stored second correspondence relationship based on a MAC address of the target terminal, the second correspondence relationship being used to indicate a model identifier corresponding to each MAC address identified by the access control device; and and a second transmitting module configured to transmit the model identifier of the target terminal to the first access point device so as to enable the first access point device to determine a reference roaming steering condition based on the model identifier of the target terminal.

[0224] Optionally, the first acquisition module comprises: a receiving sub-module configured to receive a model query request transmitted by a first access point device, the model query request carrying a MAC address of the target terminal; or and an acquisition sub-module configured to acquire a MAC address of the target terminal from a data packet transmitted by the target terminal.

[0225] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: a second receiving module configured to receive a second steering condition acquisition request sent by the first access point device, where the second steering condition acquisition request carries a MAC address of the target terminal; and a fourth determination module configured to determine a model identifier of the target terminal based on the MAC address of the target terminal from a stored second correspondence relationship used to indicate a model identifier corresponding to each MAC address identified by the access control device, and to determine a reference roaming steering condition from the stored first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal, where the first correspondence relationship is used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

[0226] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: A second acquisition module configured to acquire a MAC address of the target terminal and model description information of the target terminal from a data packet sent by the target terminal; a fifth determination module configured to determine a model identifier of the target terminal based on the model description information of the target terminal; and a first storage module configured to store the MAC address and the model identifier of the target terminal in a second correspondence relationship.

[0227] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: a third receiving module configured to receive a list acquisition request sent by the first access point device, the list acquisition request carrying an identifier of the first access point device; a sixth determination module configured to determine a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on an identifier of the first access point device, the roaming device list including identifiers of one or more third access point devices, the one or more third access point devices being neighboring access point devices of the first access point device; and a third sending module configured to send the roaming device list to the first access point device.

[0228] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: a third acquisition module configured to obtain a plurality of past roaming records and roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record, where each past roaming record includes an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device, all source access point devices in the plurality of past roaming records are first access point devices, and the roaming experience indication information is used to indicate whether a signal quality is improved after a terminal associated with the first access point device roams to a destination access point device corresponding to the corresponding past roaming record; a seventh determination module configured to determine an identifier of one or more third access point devices based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record; and a second storage module configured to store identifiers of one or more third access point devices based on the identifier of the first access point device.

[0229] Optionally, the seventh decision module: and a determination submodule configured to determine, based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record, identifiers of the one or more third access point devices in a reinforcement learning manner.

[0230] Optionally, the decision submodule: Select a past roaming record in which the signal quality is improved after roaming from the multiple past roaming records according to the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record; Obtaining an identifier of a neighboring access point device of the first access point device, the neighboring access point device not being included in a plurality of past roaming records; and and determining the identifier of the destination access point device included in the selected past roaming record and the obtained identifiers of the neighboring access point devices as identifiers of the one or more third access point devices.

[0231] Optionally, the first determination module: Determine a plurality of combinations of access point devices and a plurality of combinations of parameters corresponding to each combination of the access point devices, each combination of the access point devices including an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device, and all source access point devices of the plurality of combinations of the access point devices are first access point devices; and In order to determine reference roaming steering conditions using a criterion that one or more terminals belonging to the reference model are successfully steered to roam, the system is configured to perform roaming steering tests multiple times for one or more terminals belonging to the reference model using various steering test conditions based on multiple combinations of access point devices and combinations of multiple parameters corresponding to each combination of access point devices.

[0232] Optionally, the combination of multiple parameters is obtained by combining different values ​​of one or more characteristics, the one or more characteristics including any one or more of signal strength, channel, frequency band, and load.

[0233] In this embodiment of the present application, the reference roaming steering condition is determined by the access control device by performing roaming steering tests multiple times for one or more terminals belonging to a reference model, and the reference model is the model of the target terminal. Therefore, the reference roaming steering condition is similar to the roaming rule in the target terminal. In this case, if the first access point device obtains the reference roaming steering condition and determines that the target terminal satisfies the reference roaming steering condition, even if the target terminal does not unconditionally follow the roaming steering of the first access point device, the target terminal is likely to be successfully steered to roam. In addition, the access control device determines different roaming steering conditions for terminals with different models. Even if the roaming rules in terminals with different models are different, if roaming steering is performed according to the above method, the success rate of roaming steering can also be increased.

[0234] It should be noted that when the roaming steering device provided by the above embodiment performs roaming steering, the division of the above functional modules is only used as an example for explanation. In practice, the above functions may be assigned to different functional modules for implementation as necessary, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different functional modules to implement all or part of the above functions. In addition, the roaming steering device and the roaming steering method embodiments provided in the above embodiment relate to the same concept. For specific implementation processes, please refer to the method embodiments. Details will not be described again here.

[0235] All or part of the above-mentioned embodiments may be implemented by using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implementing the embodiments using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded into a computer and executed, the procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center in a wired manner (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, or digital subscriber line (DSL)) or in a wireless manner (e.g., infrared, radio, or microwave). The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium accessible by a computer, or may be a data storage device integrating one or more available media, for example, a server or a data center. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a digital versatile disc (DVD)), a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid state disk (SSD)), etc. It is noted that the computer-readable storage medium referred to in this application may be a non-volatile storage medium. In other words, the computer-readable storage medium may be a non-transitory storage medium.

[0236] It should be understood that "at least one" referred to in this specification means one or more, and "multiple" means at least two. In the description of this application, " / " means "or" unless otherwise specified. For example, A / B can represent A or B. In this specification, "and / or" describes only the related relationship to describe the related object, and represents that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B represents the following three cases, namely, when only A exists, when both A and B exist, and when only B exists. In addition, in order to clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, terms such as "first" and "second" are used in the embodiments of this application to distinguish the same or similar items that basically provide the same function or purpose. Those skilled in the art can understand that terms such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity or execution order, and terms such as "first" and "second" do not indicate clear differences.

[0237] The above description is only an embodiment of the present application, and is not intended to limit the present application. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made without departing from the spirit and principle of the present application shall fall within the protection scope of the present application. [Explanation of symbols]

[0238] 1. Access Point Device 2. Access Point Device 201 Access Control Devices 202 Access Point Device 203 Target Device 401 Processor 402 Communication Bus 403 Memory 404 Communication Interface 405 Processor 406 Output Device 407 Input Devices 410 Program Code 601 First Decision Module 602 first transmitting module 701 First Decision Module 702 first transmitting module

Claims

1. 1. A roam steering method, the method comprising: determining, by a first access point device, a signal strength during communication between each of one or more second access point devices and a target terminal to obtain one or more signal strengths, the one or more second access point devices including the first access point device and / or neighboring access point devices of the first access point device, and the target terminal is a terminal associated with the first access point device; and a step of transmitting a roaming steering command by the first access point device to the target terminal when the one or more signal strengths of the target terminal satisfy a reference roaming steering condition, the roaming steering command carrying identifiers of one or more reference access point devices, the roaming steering command being used to steer the target terminal to roam to any one of the one or more reference access point devices, the reference roaming steering condition being determined by performing roaming steering tests multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model, the reference model being a model of the target terminal.

2. The method comprises: determining, by the first access point device, a model identifier of the target terminal; and determining, by the first access point device, the reference roaming steering condition based on the model identifier.

3. The method comprises: receiving and storing, by the first access point device, a first correspondence relationship, the first correspondence relationship being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each identified model identifier; The step of determining, by the first access point device, the reference roaming steering condition based on the model identifier, further comprises: The method of claim 2 , comprising determining, by the first access point device, the reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal.

4. The step of determining, by the first access point device, the reference roaming steering condition based on the model identifier, further comprises: sending, by the first access point device, a first steering condition acquisition request, the first steering condition acquisition request carrying the model identifier of the target terminal; 3. The method of claim 2, comprising: receiving the reference roaming steering condition by the first access point device, the reference roaming steering condition being determined from a first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal, the first correspondence relationship being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each identified model identifier.

5. The step of determining, by the first access point device, a model identifier of the target terminal, further comprises: The method of claim 2 , comprising obtaining, by the first access point device, the model identifier of the target terminal.

6. The step of obtaining, by the first access point device, the model identifier of the target terminal, further comprises: sending, by the first access point device, a model query request, the model query request carrying a medium access control MAC address of the target terminal, and receiving, by the first access point device, the model identifier of the target terminal; or 6. The method of claim 5, comprising: receiving, by the first access point device, the model identifier of the target terminal, wherein the model identifier of the target terminal is determined using the MAC address of the target terminal after the MAC address of the target terminal is obtained from a data packet transmitted by the target terminal.

7. The method comprises: sending, by the first access point device, a second steering condition acquisition request, the second steering condition acquisition request carrying a MAC address of the target terminal; 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the first access point device, the reference roaming steering condition, wherein the reference roaming steering condition is determined from a first correspondence relationship after a model identifier of the target terminal is determined based on the MAC address of the target terminal, and the first correspondence relationship is used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each identified model identifier.

8. Prior to the step of transmitting, by the first access point device, a roaming steering command to the target terminal, the method further comprises: obtaining, by the first access point device, a roaming device list, the roaming device list including identifiers of one or more third access point devices, the one or more third access point devices being neighboring access point devices of the first access point device; The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining, by the first access point device, a third access point device from the one or more third access point devices as the one or more reference access point devices based on the roaming device list.

9. The step of obtaining a roaming device list by the first access point device includes: receiving, by the first access point device, the roaming device list; or 9. The method of claim 8, comprising the steps of: sending, by the first access point device, a list acquisition request, the list acquisition request carrying an identifier of the first access point device; and receiving, by the first access point device, the roaming device list.

10. the one or more second access point devices include the one or more third access point devices; The step of determining, by the first access point device, a third access point device as the one or more reference access point devices from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list, includes: The method of claim 8, comprising: selecting, by the first access point device, a third access point device that satisfies the reference roaming steering condition from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list, to obtain one or more reference access point devices.

11. 1. A roam steering method, the method comprising: determining a reference roaming steering condition by performing a roaming steering test multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model by the access control device; A method comprising: a step of transmitting the reference roaming steering condition by the access control device to a first access point device, wherein a model of a target terminal associated with the first access point device is the reference model, and the first access point device is an access point device controlled by the access control device.

12. The step of transmitting the reference roaming steering condition to a first access point device comprises:

12. The method of claim 11, comprising: transmitting a first correspondence to the first access point device, the first correspondence being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each identified model identifier.

13. Prior to the step of transmitting the reference roaming steering condition to a first access point device, the method further comprises: receiving a first steering condition acquisition request sent by the first access point device, the first steering condition acquisition request carrying a model identifier of the target terminal; 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: determining the reference roaming steering condition from a stored first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal, the first correspondence relationship being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each identified model identifier.

14. The method comprises: obtaining a medium access control (MAC) address of the target terminal; determining the model identifier of the target terminal from a stored second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal, the second correspondence relationship being used to indicate a model identifier corresponding to each identified MAC address; and transmitting the model identifier of the target terminal to the first access point device so that the first access point device can determine the reference roaming steering condition based on the model identifier of the target terminal.

15. The step of obtaining a MAC address of the target terminal comprises: receiving a model query request transmitted by the first access point device, the model query request carrying the MAC address of the target terminal; or 15. The method of claim 14, comprising the step of obtaining the MAC address of the target terminal from a data packet transmitted by the target terminal.

16. Prior to the step of transmitting the reference roaming steering condition to a first access point device, the method further comprises: receiving a second steering condition acquisition request sent by the first access point device, the second steering condition acquisition request carrying a MAC address of the target terminal; determining a model identifier of the target terminal from a stored second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal, the second correspondence relationship being used to indicate a model identifier corresponding to each identified MAC address; 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: determining the reference roaming steering condition from a stored first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal, the first correspondence relationship being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each identified model identifier.

17. Prior to the step of determining a model identifier of the target terminal from a stored second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal, the method further comprises: obtaining the MAC address of the target terminal and model description information of the target terminal from a data packet transmitted by the target terminal; determining the model identifier of the target terminal based on the model description information of the target terminal; 20. The method of claim 14, further comprising: storing the MAC address and the model identifier of the target terminal in the second correspondence relationship.

18. The method comprises: receiving a list acquisition request transmitted by the first access point device, the list acquisition request carrying an identifier of the first access point device; determining a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on the identifier of the first access point device, the roaming device list including identifiers of one or more third access point devices, the one or more third access point devices being neighboring access point devices of the first access point device; and transmitting the roaming device list to the first access point device.

19. Prior to the step of determining a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on the identifier of the first access point device, the method further comprises: obtaining a plurality of past roaming records and roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record, each past roaming record including an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device, all source access point devices in the plurality of past roaming records being the first access point device, and the roaming experience indication information being used to indicate whether signal quality is improved after a terminal associated with the first access point device roams to a destination access point device corresponding to a corresponding past roaming record; determining the identifiers of the one or more third access point devices based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record; and storing the identifiers of the one or more third access point devices based on the identifier of the first access point device.

20. The step of determining the identifier of the one or more third access point devices based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record includes:

20. The method of claim 19, comprising determining the identifiers of the one or more third access point devices in a reinforcement learning manner based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record.

21. The step of determining the identifiers of the one or more third access point devices in a reinforcement learning manner based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record includes: selecting, from the plurality of past roaming records, a past roaming record in which signal quality is improved after roaming, according to the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record; obtaining an identifier of a neighboring access point device of the first access point device, the neighboring access point device not included in the plurality of past roaming records; The method of claim 20, further comprising: determining an identifier of a destination access point device included in the selected past roaming record and the obtained identifiers of the neighboring access point devices as the identifiers of the one or more third access point devices.

22. The step of determining a reference roaming steering condition by performing a roaming steering test multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model includes: determining a plurality of combinations of access point devices and a plurality of combinations of parameters corresponding to each combination of access point devices, each combination of access point devices including an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device, and all source access point devices of the plurality of combinations of access point devices are the first access point device; The method of claim 11, comprising: performing the roaming steering test multiple times for the one or more terminals belonging to the reference model using various steering test conditions based on the multiple combinations of access point devices and the multiple combinations of parameters corresponding to each combination of access point devices to determine the reference roaming steering condition using a criterion that the one or more terminals belonging to the reference model are successfully steered to roam.

23. 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the combination of multiple parameters is obtained by combining different values ​​of one or more characteristics, the one or more characteristics including any one or more of signal strength, channel, frequency band, and load.

24. 1. A roaming steering apparatus for use in a first access point device, the apparatus comprising: a determination module configured to determine a signal strength during communication between each of one or more second access point devices and a target terminal to obtain one or more signal strengths, the one or more second access point devices including the first access point device and / or a neighboring access point device of the first access point device, and the target terminal is a terminal associated with the first access point device; and a first transmitting module configured to transmit a roaming steering command to the target terminal when the one or more signal strengths of the target terminal satisfy a reference roaming steering condition, the roaming steering command carrying identifiers of one or more reference access point devices, the roaming steering command being used to steer the target terminal to roam to any one of the one or more reference access point devices, the reference roaming steering condition being determined by performing roaming steering tests multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model, the reference model being a model of the target terminal.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the determination module is further configured to determine a model identifier of the target terminal and determine the reference roaming steering condition based on the model identifier.

26. The apparatus comprises: a first receiving module configured to receive and store a first correspondence relationship, the first correspondence relationship being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each identified model identifier; The decision module: The apparatus of claim 25 , configured to determine the reference roaming steering condition from the first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal.

27. The decision module: a first sending sub-module configured to send a first steering condition acquisition request, the first steering condition acquisition request carrying the model identifier of the target terminal; and a first receiving sub-module configured to receive the reference roaming steering condition, the reference roaming steering condition being determined from a first correspondence based on the model identifier of the target terminal, the first correspondence being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each identified model identifier.

28. The decision module: The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising an acquisition sub-module configured to obtain the model identifier of the target terminal.

29. The acquisition sub-module: a transmission unit configured to transmit a model query request, the model query request carrying a medium access control MAC address of the target terminal, the first access point device receiving the model identifier of the target terminal; or 29. The apparatus of claim 28, comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive the model identifier of the target terminal, the model identifier of the target terminal being determined using a MAC address of the target terminal after the MAC address of the target terminal is obtained from a data packet transmitted by the target terminal.

30. The apparatus comprises: a second transmission module configured to transmit a second steering condition acquisition request, the second steering condition acquisition request carrying a MAC address of the target terminal; and a second receiving module configured to receive the reference roaming steering condition, wherein the reference roaming steering condition is determined from a first correspondence relationship after a model identifier of the target terminal is determined based on the MAC address of the target terminal, and the first correspondence relationship is used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each identified model identifier.

31. The apparatus comprises: an acquisition module configured to acquire a roaming device list, the roaming device list including identifiers of one or more third access point devices, the one or more third access point devices being neighboring access point devices of the first access point device; and the determination module further configured to determine a third access point device as the one or more reference access point devices from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list.

32. The acquisition module includes: a second receiving sub-module configured to receive the roaming device list; or 32. The apparatus of claim 31, comprising: a second transmitting submodule configured to transmit a list acquisition request, the list acquisition request carrying an identifier of the first access point device; and a third receiving submodule configured to receive the transmitted roaming device list.

33. the one or more second access point devices include the one or more third access point devices; The decision module: The apparatus of claim 31 , further comprising: a selection submodule configured to select a third access point device that satisfies the reference roaming steering condition from the one or more third access point devices based on the roaming device list to obtain the one or more reference access point devices.

34. 1. A roam steering device, comprising: A first determination module configured to determine a reference roaming steering condition by performing a roaming steering test multiple times on one or more terminals belonging to a reference model; An apparatus comprising: a first transmitting module configured to transmit the reference roaming steering condition to a first access point device, wherein a model of a target terminal associated with the first access point device is a reference model, and the first access point device is an access point device controlled by an access control device.

35. The first transmission module includes:

35. The apparatus of claim 34, configured to: transmit a first correspondence to the first access point device, the first correspondence being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each identified model identifier.

36. The apparatus comprises: a first receiving module configured to receive a first steering condition acquisition request transmitted by the first access point device, the first steering condition acquisition request carrying a model identifier of the target terminal; and and a second determination module configured to determine the reference roaming steering condition from a stored first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal, the first correspondence relationship being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each identified model identifier.

37. The apparatus comprises: a first acquisition module configured to acquire a media access control (MAC) address of the target terminal; a third determination module configured to determine the model identifier of the target terminal from a stored second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal, the second correspondence relationship being used to indicate a model identifier corresponding to each identified MAC address; and and a second transmitting module configured to transmit the model identifier of the target terminal to the first access point device so as to enable the first access point device to determine the reference roaming steering condition based on the model identifier of the target terminal.

38. The first acquisition module includes: a receiving sub-module configured to receive a model query request transmitted by the first access point device, the model query request carrying the MAC address of the target terminal; or 38. The apparatus of claim 37, comprising an acquisition sub-module configured to obtain the MAC address of the target terminal from a data packet transmitted by the target terminal.

39. The apparatus comprises: a second receiving module configured to receive a second steering condition acquisition request sent by the first access point device, the second steering condition acquisition request carrying a MAC address of the target terminal; and a fourth determination module configured to: determine a model identifier of the target terminal from a stored second correspondence relationship based on the MAC address of the target terminal, the second correspondence relationship being used to indicate a model identifier corresponding to each MAC address identified by the access control device; and determine the reference roaming steering condition from a stored first correspondence relationship based on the model identifier of the target terminal, the first correspondence relationship being used to indicate a roaming steering condition corresponding to each model identifier identified by the access control device.

40. The apparatus comprises: a second acquisition module configured to obtain the MAC address of the target terminal and model description information of the target terminal from a data packet sent by the target terminal; a fifth determination module configured to determine the model identifier of the target terminal based on the model description information of the target terminal; and a first storage module configured to store the MAC address and the model identifier of the target terminal in the second correspondence relationship.

41. The apparatus comprises: a third receiving module configured to receive a list acquisition request transmitted by the first access point device, the list acquisition request carrying an identifier of the first access point device; a sixth determination module configured to determine a roaming device list corresponding to the first access point device based on the identifier of the first access point device, the roaming device list including identifiers of one or more third access point devices, the one or more third access point devices being neighboring access point devices of the first access point device; and and a third transmission module configured to transmit the roaming device list to the first access point device.

42. The apparatus comprises: a third acquisition module configured to obtain a plurality of past roaming records and roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record, each past roaming record including an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device, all source access point devices in the plurality of past roaming records being the first access point device, and the roaming experience indication information being used to indicate whether a signal quality is improved after a terminal associated with the first access point device roams to a destination access point device corresponding to a corresponding past roaming record; a seventh determination module configured to determine the identifier of the one or more third access point devices based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record; and and a second storage module configured to store the identifiers of the one or more third access point devices based on the identifier of the first access point device.

43. The seventh decision module: The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising a determination submodule configured to determine the identifier of the one or more third access point devices in a reinforcement learning manner based on the plurality of past roaming records and the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record.

44. The decision sub-module: Select a past roaming record in which signal quality is improved after roaming from the plurality of past roaming records according to the roaming experience indication information corresponding to each past roaming record; Obtaining an identifier of a neighboring access point device of the first access point device, the neighboring access point device not included in the plurality of past roaming records; and The apparatus of claim 43, configured to determine an identifier of a destination access point device included in the selected past roaming record and the obtained identifiers of the neighboring access point devices as the identifiers of the one or more third access point devices.

45. The first determination module: Determine a plurality of combinations of access point devices and a plurality of combinations of parameters corresponding to each combination of access point devices, each combination of access point devices including an identifier of a source access point device and an identifier of a destination access point device, all source access point devices of the plurality of combinations of access point devices are the first access point device; and The apparatus according to any one of claims 34 to 36, configured to perform the roaming steering test multiple times for the one or more terminals belonging to the reference model using various steering test conditions based on the multiple combinations of access point devices and the multiple combinations of parameters corresponding to each combination of access point devices, to determine the reference roaming steering condition using a criterion that the one or more terminals belonging to the reference model are successfully steered to roam.

46. 46. ​​The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the combination of parameters is obtained by combining different values ​​of one or more characteristics, the one or more characteristics including any one or more of signal strength, channel, frequency band, and load.

47. An access point device including a processor and a memory, the memory is configured to store a computer program, the computer program including program instructions; 11. An access point device, wherein the processor is configured to call the computer program to implement the roaming steering method according to claim 1.

48. A device including a processor and a memory, the memory is configured to store a computer program, the computer program including program instructions; 24. An access control device, wherein the processor is configured to call the computer program to implement the roam steering method according to any one of claims 11 to 23.

49. A computer readable storage medium, the storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, performs the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

50. 24. A computer readable storage medium, the storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, performs the steps of the method according to any one of claims 11 to 23.

51. A roaming steering system including a plurality of access point devices, a device, and a target terminal, the plurality of access point devices including a first access point device, the first access point device configured to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, and the device configured to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 11 to 23.

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