How Multilink devices communicate with each other

Abstract

To disclose a communication method between multi-link devices and an apparatus to reduce power consumption of a station multi-link device.SOLUTION: A multi-link device includes a plurality of STAs, one STA operates on one of a plurality of links, and the STA determines a primary link in the plurality of links. An STA operating on the primary link in the multi-link device may receive information sent by the AP indicating whether the STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic, and / or information indicating whether an STA operating on a link other than the primary link has downlink traffic. Therefore, the STA operating on the primary link may determine a link on which the STA having downlink traffic operates in the multi-link device.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201911089950.5, entitled "COMMUNICATION METHOD BETWEEN MULTI-LINK DEVICES AND APPARATUS," filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on November 8, 2019, and Chinese Patent Application No. 202010172040.X, entitled "COMMUNICATION METHOD BETWEEN MULTI-LINK DEVICES AND APPARATUS," filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on March 12, 2020, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to a communication method between a multilink device and an apparatus. [Background technology]

[0003] According to the current IEEE 802.11 Next Generation Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) protocol, Extremely High Throughput (EHT) devices support multiple streams, multiple frequency bands (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands), cooperation of multiple channels within the same frequency band, and other methods to improve peak throughput and reduce traffic transmission latency. Multiple frequency bands or multiple channels are sometimes collectively referred to as multilink.

[0004] Multilink operation significantly increases station speed, but requires more power because multiple links must operate simultaneously. Therefore, when improving station speed, it is necessary to consider how to reduce the power consumption of station multilink devices. Summary of the Invention

[0005] An embodiment of the present application provides a communication method between a multilink device and a device, in which each station in the station multilink device does not need to receive information indicating whether downlink traffic exists on each link, thereby reducing the power consumption of the station multilink device.

[0006] In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, the implementation of this application uses the following technical solutions:

[0007] According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a communication method between multi-link devices is provided, and is applied to a first station (STA). The first STA includes a plurality of second STAs, one of which operates on one of the plurality of links. The method includes the first STA determining a primary link, where the plurality of links includes the primary link. The second STA operating on the primary link at the first STA receives downlink traffic indication information transmitted by a first access point (AP). The downlink traffic indication information includes at least one of information used to indicate whether the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic or information used to indicate whether the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic. The secondary link includes a link other than the primary link among the plurality of links. According to this solution, downlink traffic information of the primary link and / or downlink traffic information of the secondary link are transmitted on the primary link, allowing a second STA operating on the primary link to determine whether there is downlink traffic on the primary link and may also determine whether there is downlink traffic on the secondary link. Therefore, all second STAs included in the STA multilink device do not need to receive downlink traffic indications on each link. According to this solution, a second STA operating on the primary link can obtain downlink traffic information of the second STA operating on the primary link and downlink traffic information of the second STA operating on the secondary link only on the primary link. Therefore, a second STA operating on the secondary link does not need to receive information indicating whether there is downlink traffic on the secondary link from the secondary link on which the second STA operates.In other words, when no data is being transmitted, the second STA operating on the secondary link may enter a doze state to reduce the power consumption of the station multilink device.

[0008] Referring to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation, the downlink traffic is downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic. The method further includes, when the second STA operating on the primary link determines, based on the downlink traffic indication information, that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink unicast traffic, transmitting a first frame to the first AP by the second STA operating on the secondary link, the first frame being used to indicate that the second STA operating on the secondary link is in an awake state. Alternatively, when the second STA operating on the primary link determines, based on the downlink traffic indication information, that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink multicast traffic, the second STA operating on the secondary link receives downlink multicast traffic from the first AP. According to this solution, when a second STA operating on the primary link determines that the second STA operating on the secondary link has unicast traffic to be transmitted over the secondary link, the second STA operating on the secondary link enters an awake state and transmits a PS-Poll frame or a multilink PS-Poll frame to the first AP to notify the first AP that the second STA is awake and receives downlink traffic data from the first AP. Alternatively, when the second STA operating on the primary link determines that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink multicast traffic, the second STA operating on the secondary link receives downlink multicast traffic from the first AP.It will be appreciated that because downlink traffic information for the primary link and / or downlink traffic information for the secondary link is transmitted over the primary link, the second STA operating on the primary link may determine whether the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic. The second STA operating on the secondary link may not receive information on the secondary link on which the second STA operates indicating whether there is downlink traffic on the secondary link. Thus, when no data is being transmitted, the second STA operating on the secondary link may enter a doze state, thereby reducing power consumption.

[0009] Referring to the first aspect and the above-mentioned possible implementations, in another possible implementation, the downlink traffic is downlink multicast traffic. The method further includes the second STA operating on the primary link receiving the downlink multicast traffic from the first AP when the second STA operating on the primary link determines, based on the downlink traffic indication information, that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink multicast traffic. Alternatively, the second STA operating on the primary link receives the downlink multicast traffic from the first AP when the second STA operating on the primary link determines, based on the downlink traffic indication information, that the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink multicast traffic. According to this solution, the second STA operating on the primary link may receive the downlink multicast traffic when the second STA operating on the primary link determines that the second STA or the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink multicast traffic transmitted on the primary link. It will be understood that in this solution, when the first AP transmits downlink multicast traffic to the second STA operating on the secondary link via the primary link, the second STA operating on the secondary link may always be in a doze state. After the second STA operating on the primary link receives the downlink multicast traffic transmitted by the first AP on the primary link, the second STA operating on the primary link transmits traffic to the second STA operating on the secondary link. Therefore, the power consumption of the station multilink device can be reduced.

[0010]

[0013] Referring to the first aspect and the above-mentioned possible implementations, in another possible implementation, the method further includes the first STA transmitting an association request frame to the first AP, the association request frame carrying at least one of the number of second STAs to which association identifiers (AIDs) should be assigned or identifier information of links on which the second STAs to which the AIDs should be assigned operate. The first STA receives an association response frame from the first AP, the association response frame carrying AIDs to be assigned to the second STAs to which the AIDs should be assigned, one AID assigned to the second STAs operating on the primary link, and one or two AIDs assigned to the second STAs operating on the secondary link. According to this solution, the association request frame may be used to request the first AP to assign AIDs to the second STAs to which the AIDs should be assigned (all or some of the second STAs included in the first STA). It should be understood that in this solution, the first AP may assign one AID to the second STAs operating on the primary link and one or two AIDs to the second STAs operating on the secondary link. Note that the AIDs of multiple second STAs in one BSS may be different from each other. The second STAs to which AIDs should be assigned may be all second STAs included in the first STA, or may be a portion of the second STAs included in the first STA.

[0011] Referring to the first aspect and the above-mentioned possible implementations, in another possible implementation, the link through which the first STA sends the association request frame to the first AP is the primary link, or the association request frame further carries identifier information of the primary link. According to this solution, when the first STA is not associated with the first AP, the association request frame may be sent to the first AP via the primary link determined by the first STA, and the association request frame carries identifier information of the primary link determined by the first STA to inform the first AP of the primary link determined by the first STA.

[0012] Referring to the first aspect and the above-mentioned possible implementations, in another possible implementation, the method further includes the first STA transmitting a management frame to the first AP, where the management frame carries the identifier information of the primary link. According to this solution, when the first STA and the first AP are already associated, the first STA may notify the first AP of the primary link determined by the first STA. In this implementation, it will be understood that the primary link notified to the first AP using the management frame is the new primary link determined by the first STA, i.e., the identifier information of the primary link carried in the management frame is the identifier information of the new primary link.

[0013] Referring to the first aspect and the possible implementations described above, in another possible implementation, downlink traffic indication information is carried in a TIM element field in a beacon frame or a traffic indication map TIM frame, and the TIM frame further includes at least one of a field indicating link identifier information, a beacon check field, or a field indicating the number of links, where the beacon check field is used to indicate whether key parameters are updated for the link indicated by the link identifier information. According to this solution, the downlink traffic indication information may be carried in a beacon frame or a TIM frame (multilink TIM frame). When the downlink traffic indication information is carried in a beacon frame, it is understood that each second STA has a corresponding AID. This helps to determine which second STA has downlink traffic based on the TIM element in the beacon frame. When the downlink traffic indication information is carried in a multilink TIM frame, since the multilink TIM frame includes a field indicating link identifier information, a specific link having downlink traffic may be determined based on the TIM element and the link identifier information.

[0014] Referring to the first aspect and the possible implementations mentioned above, in another possible implementation, the identifier information includes one or more of the following information: an operating class corresponding to the link, a channel number corresponding to the link, a media access control MAC address (or basic service set identifier (BSS identifier, BSSID)) of the link, or a link identifier. According to this solution, the link identifier information may be indicated by one or more information such as an operating class and channel number corresponding to the link, a media access control MAC address (or BSSID) of the link, or a link identifier.

[0015] Referring to the first aspect and the above-mentioned possible implementations, in another possible implementation, the method further includes the first STA receiving candidate link set information from the first AP, where the candidate link set information includes identifier information of one or more candidate links. Correspondingly, the first STA determining a primary link includes the first STA determining a primary link from the one or more candidate links based on the candidate link set information. According to this solution, the first STA may determine a primary link from the one or more candidate links by receiving the candidate link set information from the first AP.

[0016] Referring to the first aspect and the possible implementations described above, in another possible implementation, one or more candidate links belong to one basic service set BSS, each candidate link belongs to one BSS, and a portion of one or more candidate links belong to one BSS. The AID assigned to one second STA in one BSS is unique. According to this solution, the first AP may establish one BSS for all candidate links in the candidate link set, one BSS for each candidate link in the candidate link set, or one BSS for some candidate links in the candidate link set. It should be noted that when the first AP assigns an AID to the second STA, the AID assigned to one second STA in one BSS is unique.

[0017] According to a second aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a communication method between multi-link devices is provided. The method includes a first access point (AP) acquiring identifier information of a primary link determined by a first station (STA). The first station includes multiple second station (STAs), one of which operates on one of the multiple links, the multiple links including a primary link. The first AP transmits downlink traffic indication information to the second station (STA) operating on the primary link of the first station. The downlink traffic indication information includes at least one of information used to indicate whether the second station operating on the primary link has downlink traffic or information used to indicate whether the second station operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic. The secondary link includes a link other than the primary link among the multiple links. According to this solution, the first AP can acquire identifier information of the primary link determined by the first station and transmit the downlink traffic indication information to the second station operating on the primary link. It will be understood that the downlink traffic indication information transmitted by the first AP to the second STA operating on the primary link includes information indicating whether there is downlink traffic on the primary link and information indicating whether there is downlink traffic on the secondary link. Thus, the downlink traffic information of the primary link and / or the downlink traffic information of the secondary link is transmitted on the primary link so that the second STA operating on the primary link can determine whether there is downlink traffic on the primary link and also determine whether there is downlink traffic on the secondary link. Therefore, all second STAs included in the STA multilink device do not need to receive downlink traffic indications on their respective links.Optionally, a second STA operating on the secondary link may not receive information indicating whether there is downlink traffic on the secondary link on which the second STA operates. In other words, when no data is being transmitted, the second STA operating on the secondary link may enter a doze state. This reduces the power consumption of the station multilink device.

[0018] According to a third aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a communication device is provided, which is applied to a first station (STA). The first STA includes a plurality of second STAs, one of which operates on one of a plurality of links. The first STA includes: a processing unit configured to determine a primary link, the plurality of links including the primary link; and a transceiver unit configured to receive downlink traffic indication information transmitted by a first access point (AP). The downlink traffic indication information includes at least one of information used to indicate whether the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic or information used to indicate whether the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic, the secondary link including a link other than the primary link in the plurality of links.

[0019] According to a fourth aspect of the present application, there is provided a communications device, the communications device including: a processing unit configured to acquire identifier information of a primary link determined by a first station STA, the first station including a plurality of second station STAs, one second station operating on one of the plurality of links, the plurality of links including the primary link; and a transceiver unit configured to transmit downlink traffic indication information at the first station to the second station STA operating on the primary link, the downlink traffic indication information including at least one of information used to indicate whether the second station operating on the primary link has downlink traffic or information used to indicate whether the second station operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic, the secondary link including a link other than the primary link in the plurality of links.

[0020] For the third aspect and various implementations of the third aspect, please refer to the description of the first aspect and the corresponding effects of various implementations of the first aspect. For the fourth aspect and various implementations of the fourth aspect, please refer to the description of the second aspect and the corresponding effects of various implementations of the second aspect. Details will not be described again here.

[0021] The communications device in the third or fourth aspect may be a chip, the processing unit may be processing circuitry of the chip, the transceiver unit may be input / output interface circuitry, the processing circuitry may be configured to process signaling or data information provided by the input / output interface circuitry, and the input / output interface circuitry may be configured to input and output data or signaling information for the chip.

[0022] According to a fifth aspect of an embodiment of the present application, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing computer program code that, when run on a processor, enables the processor to perform a method for communication between multilink devices according to any one of the preceding aspects.

[0023] According to a sixth aspect of an embodiment of the present application, there is provided a computer program product, the program product storing computer software instructions for execution by the processor as described above, the computer software instructions including a program used to implement the solution according to the aforementioned aspect.

[0024] According to a seventh aspect of an embodiment of the present application, there is provided a communication device. The device includes a processor and may further include a transceiver and a memory. The transceiver is configured to transmit and receive information or to communicate with another network element. The memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions. The processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to support the communication device in implementing a method according to any one of the preceding aspects.

[0025] According to an eighth aspect of an embodiment of the present application, there is provided a communication device. The device may exist in the form of a chip product. The structure of the device includes a processor and may further include a memory. The memory is coupled to the processor and configured to store program instructions and data required for the device. The processor is configured to execute the program instructions stored in the memory to support the communication device in performing the method according to any one of the previous aspects.

[0026] According to a ninth aspect of an embodiment of the present application, there is provided a communication device. The device may exist in the form of a chip product. The structure of the device includes a processor and an interface circuit. The processor is configured to communicate with another device via a receiving circuit, and the device performs the method according to any one of the previous aspects. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0027] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] [Figure 2] 1 is a schematic diagram of communication between multilink devices according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0029] [Figure 3] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a multi-link device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] [Figure 4] 1 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] [Figure 5] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method between multilink devices according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] [Figure 6] 1 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a communication method between multilink devices according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure of a multilink TIM frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure of another multilink TIM frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] [Figure 9] 1 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method between multilink devices according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] [Figure 10] 1 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method between multilink devices according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] [Figure 11] 10 is a schematic flowchart of yet another communication method between multilink devices according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0038] [Figure 12] 10 is a schematic flowchart of yet another communication method between multilink devices according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0039] [Figure 13] 10 is a schematic flowchart of yet another communication method between multilink devices according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0040] [Figure 14] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a method for further communication between multilink devices according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] [Figure 15] 1 is a schematic diagram of an application of a communication method between multilink devices according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] [Figure 16] 1 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] [Figure 17] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0044] The following describes technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. "And / or" describes a relationship between related objects and indicates that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may represent the case where A exists alone, the case where both A and B exist, or the case where B exists alone, and A and B are singular or plural. The character " / " usually indicates an "or" relationship between related objects. "Any one of" or similar expressions means any combination of these, including any combination of singular or plural. For example, "at least one of a, b, or c" may represent a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b, and c, where a, b, and c are singular or plural.

[0045] It should be noted that in this application, terms such as "example," "for example," and the like are used to denote serving as an example, illustration, or description. In this application, an embodiment or design described as an "example" or "for example" is not to be described as preferred or as having more advantages over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of terms such as "example" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0046] The descriptions "first", "second", etc. in the embodiments of the present application are merely used to indicate and distinguish the described objects, and do not indicate an order, do not indicate any particular limitation on the number of devices in the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute any limitation on the embodiments of the present application.

[0047] In the embodiments of the present application, the term "connection" refers to various connection methods, such as direct connection and indirect connection, for implementing communication between devices, but is not limited to this in the embodiments of the present application.

[0048] Unless otherwise specified, "transmit" in the embodiments of this application refers to bidirectional transmission and includes sending and / or receiving actions. Specifically, "transmit" in the embodiments of this application includes sending data, receiving data, or sending and receiving data. In other words, data transmission in this specification includes uplink data transmission and / or downlink data transmission. Data may include channels and / or signals. Uplink data transmission is uplink channel transmission and / or uplink signal transmission, and downlink data transmission is downlink channel transmission and / or downlink signal transmission.

[0049] In the embodiment of the present application, "network" and "system" represent the same concept, and a communication system is a communication network.

[0050] One embodiment of the present application provides a communication method between multi-link devices. The method is applied to a wireless communication system. The wireless communication system may be a wireless local area network (WLAN). The WLAN includes at least one access point (AP) and at least one station (STA). The AP is a network element that provides traffic to the station, for example, an access point that can support the 802.11 protocol family. The station STA may be a station that supports the 802.11 protocol family, for example, an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) station or an IEEE 802.11be.

[0051] For example, as shown in Fig. 1, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to the communication system shown in Fig. 1. In the communication system, one access point (AP) may perform data transmission with multiple STAs. For example, the AP in Fig. 1 may transmit uplink data or downlink data with two STAs.

[0052] Currently, IEEE 802.11 Next-Generation Wi-Fi protocol devices can support multiple streams, multiple frequency bands (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz), coordination of multiple channels within the same frequency band, and other methods to improve peak throughput and reduce traffic transmission delay. In other words, the STAs in the communication system shown in FIG. 1 may transmit uplink or downlink data in a multi-band or multi-channel manner. In other words, the STAs may transmit uplink or downlink data over multiple links, and STAs that communicate uplink or downlink data over multiple links are sometimes referred to as STA multilink devices. For example, the STAs in the communication system shown in FIG. 1 may be STA multilink devices, and the APs in the communication system shown in FIG. 1 may be AP multilink devices, i.e., APs that communicate uplink or downlink data over multiple links. The STA multilink device may include one or more STAs, and one or more STAs operate on multiple links. The AP multilink device includes one or more APs, and one or more APs operate on multiple links.

[0053] For example, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of communication between multilink devices, and may be a schematic diagram of communication between an AP multilink device and a STA multilink device in the communication system shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the STA multilink device may communicate with the AP multilink device via two links. The STA multilink device includes STA1 and STA2, and the AP multilink device includes AP1 and AP2. STA1 in the STA multilink device may communicate with AP1 in the AP multilink device via link 1, and STA2 in the STA multilink device may communicate with AP2 in the AP multilink device via link 2. In other words, the STA multilink device can transmit data to the AP multilink device via multiple links, and one STA among the multiple STAs included in the STA multilink device operates on one of the multiple links.

[0054] For example, Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a multilink device structure. The 802.11 standard focuses on the 802.11 physical layer (PHY) and 802.11 media access control (MAC) layer in a multilink device. As shown in Figure 3(a), multiple STAs (or multiple APs) included in a STA multilink device (or AP multilink device) are independent of each other at both the low MAC and low PHY layers and at the high MAC layer. As shown in Figure 3(b), multiple STAs (or multiple APs) included in a STA multilink device (or AP multilink device) are independent of each other at both the low MAC and low PHY layers but share the high MAC layer. Indeed, in the multilink communication process, a STA multilink device may use a structure in which STAs are independent of each other at the high MAC layer, while an AP multilink device uses a structure in which APs share the high MAC layer. Alternatively, the STA multilink device may use a structure in which the STAs share a high MAC layer, and the AP multilink device may use a structure in which the APs are independent of each other at the high MAC layer. Alternatively, the STA multilink device may use a structure in which the STAs share a high MAC layer, and the AP multilink device may also use a structure in which the APs share a high MAC layer. Alternatively, the STA multilink device may use a structure in which the STAs are independent of each other at the high MAC layer, and the AP multilink device may also use a structure in which the APs are independent of each other at the high MAC layer. The schematic diagram of the internal structure of the multilink device is not limited to this embodiment of the present application. Figure 3 is merely an example for explanation.

[0055] For example, the STA multilink device and the AP multilink device in this embodiment of the present application may be single-antenna devices or multi-antenna devices. For example, the devices may have three or more antennas. The number of antennas included in the multilink device is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment of the present application, the STA multilink device and the AP multilink device may allow traffic of the same access type to be transmitted over different links, or may even allow the same data packet to be transmitted over different links. Alternatively, they may not allow traffic of the same access type to be transmitted over different links, but may allow traffic of different access types to be transmitted over different links.

[0056] For example, a multilink device in this embodiment of the present application, such as a station multilink device or another AP multilink device, includes one or more stations in a logical sense, each station operating on a link, allowing one or more stations to operate on the same link, and the link on which a station operates may be changed. A link identifier in this embodiment of the present application is used to identify a link, a BSS, an AP in an AP multilink device, or a STA in a station multilink device, and represents one or a combination of the operating class, channel number, and MAC address on which the link is located.

[0057] For example, the STA multilink device in this embodiment of the present application may be a device that supports the 802.11 protocol family and has wireless transceiver functionality. For example, the STA multilink device may be a web-connected user equipment such as a tablet computer, desktop computer, laptop computer, notebook computer, ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), handheld computer, netbook, personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile phone, or Internet of Things node in the Internet of Things. The AP multilink device in this embodiment of the present application may be a device that supports the 802.11 protocol family and provides traffic to the STA multilink device. For example, the AP multilink device may be a communication entity such as a communication server, router, switch, or bridge. Alternatively, the AP multilink device may include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, etc. The specific forms of the STA multilink device and AP multilink device are not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application and are merely examples for the purposes of explanation herein. The 802.11 protocol may be a protocol that supports 802.11be and is compatible with 802.11be.

[0058] In certain implementations, the devices shown in Figures 1-3 (e.g., APs, STAs, STA multilink devices, and AP multilink devices) may use the component structure shown in Figure 4 or may include the components shown in Figure 4.

[0059] For example, Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a configuration of a communication device 400 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 4, the communication device 400 may include at least one processor 401, a memory 402, a transceiver 403, and a communication bus 404.

[0060] The components of the communication device 400 will now be described in detail with reference to FIG.

[0061] Processor 401 is the control center of communication device 400 and may be a single processor or a collective term for multiple processing elements. For example, processor 401 may be a central processing unit (CPU), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement embodiments of the present application, such as one or more microprocessors (digital processor signal, DSP), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGA).

[0062] The processor 401 may perform various functions of the communication device 400 by running or executing software programs stored in the memory 402 and accessing data stored in the memory 402 .

[0063] In a particular implementation, in an embodiment, the processor 401 may include one or more CPUs, for example, CPU0 and CPU1 shown in FIG.

[0064] In certain implementations, in embodiments, communications device 400 may include multiple processors, such as processor 401 and processor 405 shown in FIG. 4. Each processor may be a single-CPU processor or a multi-CPU processor. A processor herein may be one or more communications devices, circuits, and / or processing cores configured to process data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0065] Memory 402 may be read-only memory (ROM) or another type of static storage and communication device capable of storing static information and instructions, or random access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamic storage and communication device capable of storing information and instructions. Memory 402 may alternatively be, but is not limited to, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other compact disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disc storage media or other magnetic storage and communication devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store program code, expected in the form of instructions or data structures, and that is accessible by a computer. Memory 402 may exist independently or be connected to processor 401 via communication bus 404. Alternatively, the memory 402 may be integrated with the processor 401. The memory 402 is configured to store computer-executable instructions for carrying out the solutions of the present application, and the processor 401 controls the execution of the software program.

[0066] The transceiver 403 is configured to communicate with another device (e.g., an access point or a station). The transceiver 403 may be further configured to communicate with a communication network, such as an Ethernet, a radio access network (RAN), or a wireless local area network (WLAN). The transceiver 403 may include a receiving unit for implementing a receiving function and a transmitting unit for implementing a transmitting function. In this embodiment of the present application, when the communication apparatus 400 is a multilink device, the transceiver 403 may transmit and receive data transmitted on a primary link in the multilink device, and may transmit and receive data transmitted on a secondary link in the multilink device. Optionally, the transceiver 403 may further include multiple transceiver modules. One transceiver module is configured to transmit and receive data transmitted on a primary link in the multilink device, and another transceiver module is configured to transmit and receive data transmitted on a secondary link in the multilink device.

[0067] The communication bus 404 may be an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus may be categorized as an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, only one bold line is used to represent the bus in FIG. 4, but this does not imply that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0068] In general, power saving techniques based on a traffic indication map (TIM), wireless network management (WNM), target wake up time (TWT), or automatic power save delivery (APSD) may be used to reduce power consumption of single-link STAs. This embodiment of the present application is primarily described using TIM-based power saving techniques as an example.

[0069] In the 802.11 protocol, a STA generally has two operating modes: a non-power-save mode and a power-save mode. When a STA operates in a non-power-save mode, the STA is in an active state (the active state is sometimes called an awake state) regardless of whether the STA has data to transmit. When a STA operates in a power-save mode, the STA may be in an active state when transmitting data with the AP. When there is no data transmission between the STA and the AP, the STA may be in a doze state to reduce power consumption. A STA may send a frame to the AP to notify whether the STA is in a power-save mode, and a power-save bit of 1 is used in the frame control field in the MAC header of the frame to indicate that the STA is in a power-save mode, while a power-save bit of 0 is used in the frame control field in the MAC header of the frame to indicate that the STA is in a non-power-save mode.

[0070] To reduce STA power consumption, an AP may buffer the STA's downlink traffic and transmit it to the STA after it wakes up. However, because the AP's buffer space is limited, the AP periodically transmits 802.11 beacon frames carrying a TIM element to inform STAs associated with the AP whether there is downlink traffic to receive. A STA operating in power-save mode periodically wakes up to receive beacon frames from the AP and determine whether the AP will transmit the STA's downlink traffic. If the AP does not transmit the STA's downlink traffic, the STA may switch to a doze state. If the AP transmits the STA's downlink traffic, the STA may choose a time to wake up and send a power-save polling frame (PS-polling frame) to the AP to inform the AP that the STA is in the active state. This time may be the same as or different from the time at which the beacon frame is received.

[0071] For example, 802.11 beacon frames are classified into two types: traffic indication map (TIM) beacon frames and delivery traffic indication map (DTIM) beacon frames. Compared with TIM beacon frames, DTIM beacon frames indicate not only buffered unicast information but also multicast information buffered by the AP. Each beacon frame contains a TIM element field, which is used to indicate the STAs managed by the AP and whose downlink data is buffered in the AP. The frame format of the TIM element field is shown in Table 1 below. [Table 1]

[0072] As shown in Table 1, the Element ID (Identifier) ​​field is used to identify the element as a TIM element. The Length field is used to indicate the length of the TIM element. The DTIM Period field indicates the period for receiving DTIM beacon frames, also known as the interarrival time, expressed in beacon frame periods. The DTIM Count field is used to indicate the number of TIM beacon frames until the next DTIM beacon frame arrives. The DTIM Count field is a variable count value. When the DTIM Count field value is 0, the beacon frame is a DTIM beacon frame; otherwise, the beacon frame is a TIM beacon frame. In other words, when the DTIM Count field value is not 0, the beacon frame is a TIM beacon frame. For example, if the DTIM Period field is set to 1, the DTIM Count field in each TIM element field is equal to 0. Therefore, each beacon frame is a DTIM beacon frame.

[0073] The first bit (bit 0) in the Bitmap Control field in Table 1 indicates whether the DTIM beacon frame sent by the AP contains downlink multicast traffic. Bits 1 through 7 in the Bitmap Control field indicate the offset of the partial virtual bitmap. In other words, the offset is measured in bytes, i.e., 8 bits. Each bit in the partial virtual bitmap field maps to one STA, and a value of 1 indicates that the downlink data of the corresponding STA is buffered at the AP. For example, if the offset is 0, the partial virtual bitmap starts at association identifier (AID) 1. If the offset is 1, the partial virtual bitmap starts at AID 9. The end bit of the partial virtual bitmap is determined by the Length field. Therefore, the maximum length of the partial virtual bitmap is 251 bytes, or 2008 bits.

[0074] For example, the length field is 4 bytes, and bits 1 to 7 in the bitmap control field indicate that the offset of the partial virtual bitmap is 0. In this case, when the partial virtual bitmap field is 0110011, the TIM element field indicates that downlink data for STAs corresponding to AID2, AID3, AID6, and AID7 is buffered at the AP. In another example, the length field is 4 bytes, and bits 1 to 7 in the bitmap control field indicate that the offset of the partial virtual bitmap is 1. In this case, when the partial virtual bitmap field is 01100110, the TIM element field indicates that downlink data for STAs corresponding to AID10, AID11, AID14, and AID15 is buffered at the AP.

[0075] For example, if an AP operates in multiple Basic Service Set identifier (BSSID) mode, the AP includes a Basic Service Set (BSS) identified by a transmitted BSSID and also includes multiple BSSs identified by non-transmitted BSSIDs. n n BSSs are allowed, where n is the value indicated by the MaxBSSID indicator field in the Multi-BSSID element. In this case, bits 1-2 in the Partial Virtual Bitmap field n-1 Bit 2 is used to indicate downlink multicast traffic corresponding to the BSS identified by the BSSID is not transmitted. n indicates whether the STA corresponding to each AID has downlink unicast traffic based on the indication of the offset in the partial virtual bitmap.

[0076] The 802.11-2016 protocol further optimizes the length of the partial virtual bitmap. For example, Methods A and B described in the 802.11-2016 protocol may be used. Method C specified in the subsequent 802.11ah protocol draft may also be used. All of these methods are applicable to embodiments of the present application.

[0077] The TIM-based power saving technique described above only reduces the power consumption of single-link STAs, but does not reduce the power consumption of STA multilink devices. In this regard, to reduce the power consumption of STA multilink devices to some extent, an independent power saving mechanism may be implemented for each link. For example, a TIM-based power saving technique may be used for each link of a STA multilink device. Specifically, each STA in a STA multilink device receives beacon frames on the corresponding link, i.e., wakes up when a beacon frame is transmitted and enters a doze state at other times. However, in this method, the STA multilink device still needs to continuously enable the multiple STAs managed by the STA multilink device, and therefore, the power consumption of the STA multilink device is still relatively high. To avoid the problem of relatively high power consumption of a station multilink device due to the station multilink device needing to continuously enable the multiple stations managed by the station multilink device, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method between multilink devices. In this way, the station multilink device does not need to periodically enable all stations managed by the station multilink device, which further reduces the power consumption of the station multilink device.

[0078] To solve the problem of relatively high power consumption of a station multilink device due to the need for the station multilink device to continuously enable multiple stations managed by the station multilink device, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method between multilink devices. This method is applied to a first station STA, and the first STA includes one or more second STAs, each operating on one of multiple links. Referring to Figures 1 to 4 and 5, this method includes steps S501 to S504, and some steps may not be performed.

[0079] S501: A first STA determines a primary link.

[0080] For example, the first STA may be a STA multilink device, which may operate on multiple links, i.e., the STA multilink device may perform data transmission over multiple links, where the multiple links are on different frequency bands or channels. The STA multilink device may include one or more second STAs, where one second STA operates on one of the multiple links, where the multiple links include a primary link.

[0081] For example, one or more second STAs included in a first STA may be independent of each other in both the low MAC layer and the physical layer, and may share a high MAC layer or may be independent of each other, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0082] For example, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of communication between multilink devices. As shown in FIG. 6, an AP multilink device may communicate with multiple stations (STA1, STA2, and STA3) managed by the AP multilink device, where STA2 and STA3 are STA multilink devices. STA1 operates in the 2.4 GHz frequency band. STA multilink device 2 includes STA2-1 and STA2-2, where STA2-1 operates in the 5 GHz band and STA2-2 operates in the 6 GHz band. STA multilink device 3 includes STA3-1 and STA3-2, where STA3-1 operates in the 2.4 GHz band and STA3-2 operates in the 6 GHz band. AP1, operating in the 2.4 GHz frequency band in the AP multilink device, may transmit uplink or downlink data to STAs operating in the 2.4 GHz frequency band via Link 1. AP2, operating in the 5 GHz frequency band in the AP multilink device, may transmit uplink or downlink data with a STA operating in the 5 GHz frequency band in the STA multilink device via Link 2. AP3, operating in the 6 GHz frequency band in the AP multilink device, may transmit uplink or downlink data with a STA operating in the 6 GHz frequency band in the STA multilink device via Link 3. For example, in FIG. 6, AP1, operating in the 2.4 GHz frequency band in the AP multilink device, may transmit uplink or downlink data with STA1, operating in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, and STA3-1, operating in the 2.4 GHz frequency band in STA multilink device 3, via Link 1. AP2, operating in the 5 GHz frequency band in the AP multilink device, may transmit uplink or downlink data with STA2-1, operating in the 5 GHz frequency band in STA multilink device 2, via Link 2.AP3 operating in the 6 GHz frequency band in the AP multilink device may transmit uplink or downlink data via link 3 with STA2-2 operating in the 6 GHz frequency band in STA multilink device 2 and STA3-2 operating in the 6 GHz frequency band in STA multilink device 3.

[0083] Note that FIG. 6 is described using an example in which the AP multilink device supports three frequency bands, each corresponding to one link, and the AP multilink device may operate on one or more of Link 1, Link 2, and Link 3. On the AP side or STA side, a link in this specification may be further understood as a station operating on a link. In a practical application, the AP multilink device may further support more or fewer frequency bands. That is, the AP multilink device may operate on more or fewer links. This is not limited to this embodiment of the present application.

[0084] For example, the STA multi-link device 2 in Figure 6 is the first STA in step S501, and the first STA may include STA2-1 and STA2-2, and the first STA may operate on multiple links. As shown in Figure 6, STA2-1 included in the first STA may operate on link 2, and the operating frequency band of link 2 may be the 5 GHz frequency band. STA2-2 included in the first STA may operate on link 3, and the operating frequency band of link 3 may be the 6 GHz frequency band. The primary link determined by the first STA is link 2 or link 3.

[0085] For example, determining the primary link by the first STA may include determining the primary link based on channel utilization information corresponding to the link, signal quality parameters of the link, and / or the like. The specific method for determining the primary link by the first STA is not limited to this embodiment of the present application and is merely an example for purposes of illustration herein. In one example, the method for determining the primary link may be combined with the solution of steps S1401 to S1404 of FIG. 14.

[0086] Optionally, the first STA may include only one second STA, and the link on which the second STA operates may be changed and switched. For example, the second STA included in the first STA may operate in the 5 GHz frequency band in some scenarios and in the 6 GHz frequency band in other scenarios.

[0087] S502: The first AP obtains identifier information of the primary link determined by the first STA.

[0088] For example, the first AP may be an AP multilink device and may operate on multiple links, such as the AP multilink device shown in FIG. 6, which may operate on one or more of Link 1, Link 2, or Link 3.

[0089] For example, the primary link identifier information may include one or more of the following information: an operating class and channel number corresponding to the primary link, a MAC address (or BSSID) of the primary link, or an identifier (ID) of the primary link. The specific content included in the primary link identifier information is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. Any information that can uniquely identify the primary link may be the primary link identifier information in this embodiment of the present application. The primary link MAC address may be the MAC address of a STA operating on the primary link or the MAC address of an AP operating on the primary link. When the primary link MAC address is the MAC address of an AP operating on the primary link, the primary link MAC address may also be referred to as a BSSID.

[0090] In some implementations, when the first AP is not associated with the first STA, the first AP obtaining primary link identifier information may include the first AP receiving an association request frame from the first STA. The link on which the first AP receives the association request frame is the primary link determined by the first AP, or the association request frame received by the first AP carries primary link identifier information determined by the first AP. In other words, the first AP may determine the link on which the association request frame is received as the primary link, and the link identifier information is primary link identifier information. Alternatively, the first AP obtains the primary link identifier information carried in the association request frame.

[0091] In another implementation, when the first AP and the first STA are already associated, the first AP's obtaining of the primary link identifier information may include the first AP receiving a management frame from the first STA, where the management frame carries the primary link identifier information determined by the first STA. It will be understood that in this implementation, the management frame is used to notify the AP of the new primary link determined by the first STA, i.e., the primary link identifier information carried in the management frame is the new primary link identifier information. Optionally, the management frame may further include a replacement count used to indicate a countdown of primary link replacement.

[0092] The specific method for the first AP to obtain the primary link identifier information is not limited to this embodiment of the present application and is merely an example for explanation purposes herein. For example, the first AP may alternatively determine the primary link.

[0093] Note that the primary link may alternatively be designated in the protocol. When the primary link is designated in the protocol, steps S501 and S502 above are optional. For example, the protocol may designate a link operating in a frequency band as the primary link.

[0094] S503: The first AP sends downlink traffic indication information to a second STA operating on the primary link at the first STA.

[0095] The downlink traffic indication information includes at least one of information used to indicate whether a second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic or information used to indicate whether a second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic. For example, the downlink traffic indication information includes information used to indicate whether a second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic, the downlink traffic indication information includes information used to indicate whether a second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic, or the downlink traffic indication information includes information used to indicate whether a second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic and information used to indicate whether a second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic.

[0096] A secondary link includes a link other than the primary link in a plurality of links. Downlink traffic includes downlink unicast traffic and downlink multicast traffic. There may be one or more secondary links on which a first STA operates.

[0097] For example, the secondary links may include some or all of the links other than the primary link. For example, a first STA may operate on four links, the four links being Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, and Link 4. If the primary link determined by the first STA is Link 2, the secondary links may include at least one of Link 1, Link 3, or Link 4. For example, the secondary links may include Link 1, Link 3, and Link 4. In another example, the secondary links may include Link 3 and Link 4.

[0098] For example, in step S503, the first AP may transmit to the first STA on the primary link (or the second STA operating on the primary link) information indicating whether the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic, or may transmit to the first STA on the primary link (or the second STA operating on the primary link) information indicating whether the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic. This is not limited to this embodiment of the present application. For example, the second STA operating on the primary link periodically wakes up. The first AP may transmit downlink traffic indication information to the first STA on the primary link (or the second STA operating on the primary link). After entering the awake state, the second STA operating on the primary link may receive downlink traffic indication information from the first AP. It should be noted that there may be one or more secondary links, one or more second STAs operating on the secondary links, and one or more second STAs operating on the primary link. This case is also applicable to the following embodiments. In the following embodiments, details will not be described again.

[0099] For example, the first AP may alternatively transmit downlink traffic indication information on the secondary link. Specifically, the first AP may transmit downlink traffic indication information to the first STA on the secondary link (or the second STA operating on the primary link). For example, when the first AP learns that the second STA operating on the secondary link is in an awake state, the first AP may transmit downlink traffic indication information to the first STA on the secondary link (or the second STA operating on the primary link).

[0100] For example, the downlink traffic indication information may be carried in a TIM element field in a beacon frame or a TIM frame. Optionally, the downlink traffic indication information may be carried in another management frame. In other words, the TIM element field in this embodiment of the present application may specifically include information used to indicate whether a second STA corresponding to each link has downlink traffic.

[0101] In the first case, when the TIM element field in a beacon frame or other management frame carries downlink traffic indication information, the following two implementations may be used to implement that the TIM element field contains information used to indicate whether a second STA corresponding to each link has downlink traffic: Other management frames may include TIM frames, probe response frames, association response frames, etc.

[0102] In a first implementation, a beacon frame or another management frame transmitted by a first AP on a primary link may include multiple TIM element fields, where the multiple TIM element fields correspond to multiple links, and one TIM element field includes downlink traffic indication information for a second STA operating on the link. Optionally, the TIM element field may further include link identifier information. After receiving the beacon frame or another management frame transmitted by the first AP on the primary link, the first STA may know whether multiple stations included in the first STA have downlink traffic.

[0103] In the second implementation, the fields included in the existing TIM element may remain unchanged, and each beacon frame or other management frame includes one TIM element. A bit in the partial virtual bitmap in the TIM element indicates whether a STA has downlink traffic. For example, for each BSS, the first AP assigns an AID to each secondary STA in the STA multilink device within the BSS. That is, the AID corresponds to the secondary STA operating on a link in the station multilink device. In another example, the first AP assigns AIDs to several secondary STAs in the STA multilink device, and the links on which the STAs operate are links in a candidate link set managed by the first AP. Optionally, there are multiple ways for the AP to assign AIDs to STAs. For example, see the description of steps S1301 to S1305 for a method for the AP to assign AIDs to STAs.

[0104] For example, for each BSS, the first AP assigns one AID to each STA operating on the primary link in the STA multilink device within the BSS, and one or two AIDs to each STA operating on each secondary link in the STA multilink device within the BSS.

[0105] For example, in a second implementation, when the first bit in the Bitmap Control field in the TIM element indicates whether a second STA operating on the primary link has downlink multicast traffic, the corresponding bit in the Partial Virtual Bitmap field in the TIM element may be used to indicate whether the second STA operating on the primary link has corresponding downlink unicast traffic in a STA multilink device. The first AP assigns an AID to the second STA operating on the primary link, and whether the bit in the Partial Virtual Bitmap field in the TIM element that corresponds to the AID of the second STA operating on the primary link and is set to 1 is used to indicate whether the second STA has downlink unicast traffic. In an implementation in which a first AP assigns one AID to a second STA operating on the secondary link in a STA multilink device, whether a bit corresponding to the AID of the second STA and set to 1 in the partial virtual bitmap field in the TIM element is used to indicate whether the second STA has downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic. In other words, one AID assigned by the first AP to a second STA operating on the secondary link corresponds to both downlink unicast traffic and downlink multicast traffic. In an implementation in which a first AP assigns two AIDs to a second STA operating on the secondary link in a STA multilink device, one AID is used to indicate whether the second STA corresponding to the AID has downlink unicast traffic, and the other AID is used to indicate whether the second STA corresponding to the AID has downlink multicast traffic.For example, a first AP may assign two AIDs to a second STA operating on the secondary link, and a bit set to 1 in the partial virtual bitmap field in the TIM element corresponding to one AID is used to indicate whether the second STA has downlink unicast traffic, and a bit set to 1 in the partial virtual bitmap field in the TIM element corresponding to the other AID is used to indicate whether the second STA has downlink multicast traffic.

[0106] For example, in the second implementation, when the first bit in the Bitmap Control field in the TIM element is used to indicate whether a first STA has downlink multicast traffic, a value of 1 in the first bit in the Bitmap Control field in the TIM element indicates that the first STA has downlink multicast traffic. The downlink multicast traffic may be transmitted to a second STA operating on the primary link or to a second STA operating on the secondary link. In this case, the downlink multicast traffic may be transmitted after the DTIM beacon frame is transmitted on the primary link. It will be understood that in this implementation, the first bit in the Bitmap Control field in the TIM element works in both cases where the downlink multicast traffic is transmitted to a second STA operating on the primary link and where the downlink multicast traffic is transmitted to a second STA operating on the secondary link. Optionally, the multicast traffic frame may include link identifier information to further inform the first STA of the link on which a second STA operates among multiple second STAs included in the first STA to which the multicast traffic frame is transmitted. In this implementation, the first AP only needs to assign one AID to the second STA operating on the secondary link, and whether the bit corresponding to the AID and in the partial virtual bitmap field in the TIM element is set to 1 is used to indicate whether the second STA has downlink unicast traffic.

[0107] It will be understood that when a first AP assigns one or two AIDs to second STAs operating on a secondary link, the second STAs operating on the secondary link may be some or all of the second STAs included in the first STA, and the first AP allocates one or two AIDs to each of some or all of the second STAs.

[0108] For example, in the second implementation mentioned above, whether there is downlink traffic on each link is indicated by using the correspondence between AIDs and links without changing the structure of the existing TIM element fields, which offers better compatibility and reduces signaling overhead because no additional information is required to identify each link.

[0109] For example, downlink unicast traffic sent by an AP multilink device to a station multilink device may be unicast traffic on any link. In this implementation, for downlink unicast traffic, multiple secondary STAs of the station multilink device may share one AID, and the AID may be the AID of the station multilink device. For example, whether a bit corresponding to the AID and in the partial virtual bitmap field in the TIM element is set to 1 is used to indicate whether the STA multilink device has downlink unicast traffic. When the TIM element indicates that the STA multilink device has downlink unicast traffic, the secondary STA operating on the primary link receives the downlink unicast traffic, or the secondary STA operating on any secondary link receives the downlink unicast traffic. The AP multilink device assigns one AID to each secondary STA operating on the secondary link at the station multilink device, and whether the bit corresponding to the AID and set to 1 in the partial virtual bitmap field in the TIM element is used to indicate whether the second STA has downlink multicast traffic. Alternatively, the first bit in the bitmap control field in the TIM element is used to indicate whether the first STA has downlink multicast traffic without indicating a specific second STA that has downlink multicast traffic from the first STA. Downlink multicast traffic is transmitted after the DTIM beacon frame is transmitted on the primary link. During transmission, multicast traffic optionally carries a link identifier information field.

[0110] Multicast traffic is link-related, and the multicast traffic on a link may be different or the same.

[0111] If the first STA includes only one second STA and the link on which the second STA operates may change and be switched, the first AP may assign multiple AIDs to the second STA, with different AIDs corresponding to the second STA operating on different links. For example, the second STA may correspond to one AID when operating in the 5 GHz frequency band and another AID when operating in the 6 GHz frequency band. Based on the correspondence between the AIDs and the links, the first STA receiving the multicast traffic frame may determine the link corresponding to the downlink multicast traffic.

[0112] Optionally, the TIM element may further include a special field, which may be a multilink identifier bitmap field or one or more link identifier information fields. The multilink bitmap field or one or more link information fields are used to indicate one or more links for receiving downlink traffic of the station multilink device. One bit in the multilink identifier bitmap field may correspond to one link. When the value of one or more bits is a first value, such as 1, it indicates that the one or more links corresponding to the one or more bits are used to receive downlink traffic. When the value of one or more bits is a second value, such as 0, it indicates that the one or more links corresponding to the one or more bits are not used to receive downlink traffic. One or more identifier information fields carry identifier information used to distinguish different links. The downlink traffic includes downlink multicast traffic and / or downlink unicast traffic. In this implementation, the AP multilink device may assign one or more AIDs to the station multilink device.

[0113] In the second case, the downlink traffic indication information may be carried in a TIM element field within the TIM frame. Optionally, the TIM frame includes a Frame Control field, a Duration field, an Address 1 field, an Address 2 field, a BSSID, a Sequence Control field, a Frame Carrier field, and an FCS (Frame Check Sequence) field. The action field of the TIM frame is located in the Frame Carrier field.

[0114] In the WNM-based or TWT-based power saving mechanism, a STA may communicate with an AP regarding the awake period. At the beginning of each awake period, the AP transmits a broadcast TIM frame to multiple corresponding STAs. The TIM frame is much shorter than a beacon frame, and the TIM element contained in the TIM frame is used to notify multiple STAs whether there is a corresponding downlink traffic indication. In this case, the STA can obtain the power saving effect because the TIM frame is much shorter than a beacon frame. In the WNM-based mechanism, the TIM broadcast interval field in the TIM request frame sent by the STA or the TIM response returned by the AP is used to indicate the awake period. Alternatively, in the TWT-based mechanism, the awake period corresponds to the TWT awake period in the TWT-based mechanism, and the TWT awake interval is calculated based on the TWT awake duration fraction field and the TWT awake interval exponent field in the TWT element. Specifically, TWT awake interval = TWT awake duration fraction × 2 (TWTアウェイク間隔指数) .

[0115] Optionally, the frame carrier field in the TIM frame may further include at least one of a type field, an unprotected wireless network management (WNM) action field, a timestamp field, a beacon check field, and a link identifier information field. The unprotected WNM action field is used to indicate different action values. The timestamp field is used to indicate clock information. The beacon check field is used to indicate whether key BSS parameters have been updated in the BSS in which the link indicated by the link identifier information field is located, or whether key parameters have been updated for the link indicated by the link identifier information field. The link identifier information field is used to identify a particular link.

[0116] For example, if a key BSS parameter is updated in the BSS in which the link indicated by the link identifier information field is located, or if a key parameter is updated for the link indicated by the link identifier information field, the value of the beacon check field is incremented by 1. For example, when the first AP determines that a key BSS parameter has been updated in the BSS of the link, the first AP increments the value of the beacon check field in the traffic by 1, and the link identifier information in the traffic indicates the link. BSS parameters may also be understood as link parameters.

[0117] For example, each time a STA Multilink Device maintains a record of the value of the Beacon Check field corresponding to each link it last received traffic from, the STA Multilink Device receives a beacon frame transmitted by the AP Multilink Device on that link if the value of the Beacon Check field corresponding to the link in the most recently received traffic is different from the value of the Beacon Check field corresponding to the link it last received traffic from.

[0118] For example, key BSS parameters include: Inclusion of a Channel Switch Announcement element, Inclusion of an Extended Channel Switch Announcement element, Modification of the EDCA parameters element, Inclusion of a Quiet element, Modification of the DSSS Parameter set, Modification of the CF Parameter Set element, Modification of the HT Operation element, Inclusion of a wide bandwidth channel switch element, Inclusion of a Channel Switch Wrapper element, Inclusion of an Operating Mode Notification element, Inclusion of a Quiet Channel element, Modification of the VHT Operation element, and High Throughput (HE) Operation element. Modification of the HE Operation element, Insertion of a Broadcast TWT element, Inclusion of the BSS Color Change Announcement element, Modification of the MU EDCA Parameter Set elementThe link may also include one or more of the following information: "of the MU EDCA Parameter Set element," "Modification of the Spatial Reuse Parameter Set element," "of the MU EDCA Parameter Set element," "Modification of the Spatial Reuse Parameter Set element," "of the MU EDCA Parameter Set element," "of the MU EDCA Parameter Set element," "Modification of the Spatial Reuse ...

[0119] For example, the action values ​​for the unprotected WNM action field are shown in Table 2. [Table 2]

[0120] For example, as shown in Table 2, the action value is set to one of the reserved values ​​to indicate that the TIM frame is a frame containing the aforementioned downlink traffic indication information. The downlink traffic indication information includes at least one of information used to indicate whether a second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic or information used to indicate whether a second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic. Optionally, the TIM frame may be referred to as a multilink TIM frame. In other words, the reserved value indicates that the TIM frame is a multilink TIM frame. In other words, a reserved value, such as 2, of the unprotected WNM action field in Table 2 may be used to distinguish a multilink TIM frame from a conventional TIM frame. The specific value of the reserved value of the unprotected WNM action field is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. For example, the value may alternatively be another value between 2 and 255. The value 2 is merely an example for purposes of explanation in this specification.

[0121] In this implementation, the frame structure of a Multilink TIM frame is shown in Figure 7. The action field in the Multilink TIM frame is located within a frame carrier, which includes a type field, an unprotected WNM action field, a beacon check field, a TIM element field, and a link identifier information field. Optionally, the frame carrier may further include a timestamp field. The Multilink TIM frame shown in Figure 7 is used to indicate whether multiple stations operating on the link indicated by the link identifier information field have downlink traffic.

[0122] It will be appreciated that because the Multilink TIM frame includes a Link Identifier Information field, when the Multilink TIM frame is used, only one AID is required, even though the STA Multilink Device may include multiple secondary STAs in one BSS. Additionally, based on the AID and identifier information for the link, the stations operating on the link indicated by the Link Identifier Information field and having downlink traffic can be determined.

[0123] For example, the link identifier information field may be a special field used to indicate the links in the station multilink device used to receive downlink traffic. In this implementation, the special field includes a special link identifier. A special MAC address (or BSSID) or a combination of an operating class and a channel number, or a combination thereof, may be used to indicate that all links in the station multilink device (first STA) are used to receive downlink traffic. In another implementation, the special field may alternatively be a multilink identifier bitmap field or one or more link identifier information fields. The multilink identifier bitmap field or one or more link identifier information fields may be used to indicate one or more links for receiving downlink traffic of the station multilink device. For example, if a bit corresponding to the AID of the station multilink device and located in the partial virtual bitmap field in the TIM element has a value of 1, the station multilink device is determined to have downlink traffic. Downlink traffic transmitted by the AP may then be received on one or more links indicated by the multilink identifier bitmap field or the multilink identifier information field. One bit in the multilink identifier bitmap field may correspond to one link, and one or more bits having a value of 1 indicate that one or more links corresponding to the one or more bits are used to receive downlink traffic. Optionally, a PS-Poll may be sent by a station operating on a primary link in a station multilink device, and a PS-Poll may be sent by each of multiple stations operating on secondary links in a station multilink device.

[0124] Optionally, the Multilink TIM frame may not include a link identifier information field. When the Multilink TIM frame does not include a link identifier information field, the Multilink TIM frame may be used to indicate whether the station multilink device (first STA) has downlink traffic.

[0125] For example, the Multilink TIM frame shown in FIG. 7 includes a field indicating link identifier information, which is used to identify a specific link. For example, referring to FIG. 6, the first STA is STA Multilink Device 2, and the primary link determined by STA Multilink Device 2 is Link 2. In this case, the first AP may transmit a Multilink TIM frame to STA Multilink Device 2 via Link 2. If the link indicated by the link identifier information in the Multilink TIM frame is Link 3, which corresponds to the AID of STA Multilink Device 2, and the bit value in the Partial Virtual Bitmap field in the TIM element is 1, this indicates that downlink traffic data of STA2-2 operating on Link 3 in STA Multilink Device 2 is buffered in the first AP.

[0126] In another implementation, the frame structure of a Multilink TIM frame is shown in Figure 8. The action field of the Multilink TIM frame is located within a frame carrier, which further includes a link count field in addition to a type field and an unprotected WNM action field. When the link count field indicates multiple links, each link further includes a beacon check field, a TIM element field, and a link identifier information field. Optionally, the frame carrier may further include one or more timestamp fields. The Multilink TIM frame shown in Figure 8 is used to indicate whether multiple stations operating on the link indicated by the link identifier information field have downlink traffic.

[0127] The beacon check field and link identifier information field included in the TIM frame or multilink TIM frame may alternatively be placed in separate management frames, and multiple fields may be used independently to indicate whether the BSS parameters of the link indicated by the link identifier information field have changed. The aforementioned method may also be used to indicate whether the BSS parameters of multiple links have changed. For example, a frame carrier may include a link number field, n beacon check fields, and n link identifier information fields, where n is indicated by the link number field. As another example, a frame carrier may include a link identifier bitmap and n beacon check fields, and optionally a link identifier bitmap length field, where n is the number of bits in the link identifier bitmap whose value is the first value (e.g., 1). The values ​​of one or more beacon check fields are initialized to 0.

[0128] For example, the Multilink TIM frame shown in FIG. 8 includes a field indicating the number of links and a link identifier information field, where the link identifier information field is used to identify a specific link. Unlike the Multilink TIM frame shown in FIG. 7, which indicates whether multiple stations operating on a link have downlink traffic, the Multilink TIM frame shown in FIG. 8 indicates whether multiple stations operating on multiple links have downlink traffic. For example, referring to FIG. 6, the first STA is STA Multilink Device 2, and the primary link determined by STA Multilink Device 2 is Link 2. In this case, the first AP may transmit a Multilink TIM frame to STA Multilink Device 2 (or STA2-1 operating on Link 2) via Link 2. If the number of links indicated by the Link Number field in the Multilink TIM frame is 2, the links indicated by the Link Identifier Information field are Link 2 and Link 3, which correspond to the AID of STA Multilink Device 2, and the bit value in the Partial Virtual Bitmap field in the TIM element is 1, the TIM element in the Multilink TIM frame indicates that downlink traffic data for both STA2-1 operating on Link 2 and STA2-2 operating on Link 3 in STA Multilink Device 2 is buffered in the first AP. Note that in this specification, STA Multilink Device 2 includes multiple second STAs in one BSS, but only one AID is required. Additionally, based on the AID and identifier information of the link, the station operating on the link indicated by the Link Identifier Information field and having downlink traffic can be determined.

[0129] Note that in this embodiment of the present application, the first AP assigns one or two AIDs to STAs operating on each link in the STA multilink device without changing the frame format of existing beacon frames or management frames. This helps a second STA in the STA multilink device, which has downlink traffic, to determine the link on which it operates. Alternatively, the existing frame format may be changed to a multilink TIM frame, which includes a field indicating link identifier information and, optionally, a field indicating the number of links. This helps to determine the station operating on the link indicated by the link identifier information field and having downlink traffic.

[0130] The power-save or non-power-save mode of a station multilink device (e.g., a first STA) may be set separately by each secondary STA or by the secondary STA operating on the primary link. Specifically, the power-save or non-power-save mode may be set by a power management bit in the frame control field of the MAC header in a MAC frame. When a station multilink device (e.g., a first STA) is in power-save mode, the secondary STAs operating on the primary link of the station multilink device (e.g., a first STA) periodically receive beacon frames, while the secondary STAs operating on the secondary link may not need to periodically receive beacon frames.

[0131] S504: A second STA operating on the primary link receives downlink traffic indication information from the first AP.

[0132] For example, a second STA operating on the primary link may receive a beacon frame, another management frame, or a TIM frame transmitted by the first AP. The second STA operating on the primary link may determine whether the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic or whether the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic based on the downlink traffic indication information.

[0133] For example, referring to FIG. 6 , an example is used in which the first STA is STA Multilink Device 2 and the primary link is Link 2. STA2-1, operating on Link 2 in STA Multilink Device 2, may receive a beacon frame from the first AP and determine, based on the TIM element in the beacon frame, whether STA2-1, operating on Link 2, and STA2-2, operating on Link 3, have downlink traffic. If STA2-1's AID is 1, the AID corresponding to STA2-2's downlink unicast traffic is 2, and the AID corresponding to STA2-2's downlink multicast traffic is 3, STA2-1, operating on Link 2, may determine, based on the beacon frame, that the value of the bit corresponding to AID3 in the partial virtual bitmap field in the TIM element is 1. In other words, STA2-1, operating on Link 2, may determine that STA2-2, operating on Link 3 in STA Multilink Device 2, has downlink multicast traffic.

[0134] It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present application, the second STA operating on the primary link may receive downlink traffic indication information from the first AP and may determine, based on the downlink traffic indication information, whether the second STA operating on the primary link and the second STA operating on the secondary link have downlink traffic. In other words, in this embodiment of the present application, downlink traffic information of the primary link and / or downlink traffic information of the secondary link are transmitted on the primary link, allowing the second STA operating on the primary link to determine whether the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic and whether the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic. Therefore, all second STAs included in the STA multilink device do not need to receive downlink traffic indications on their respective links.

[0135] It will be appreciated that a second STA operating on the primary link may receive information indicating whether the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic and information indicating whether the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic. Thus, the second STA operating on the secondary link may not receive information indicating whether there is downlink traffic on the secondary link on which the second STA operates. In other words, when no data is being transmitted, the second STA operating on the secondary link may enter a doze state. This reduces the power consumption of the station multilink device.

[0136] The AP multilink device can transmit downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic to a second STA operating on the secondary link at the station multilink device over the primary link or the secondary link. Specifically, whether to transmit traffic over the primary link or the secondary link may be negotiated by the AP multilink device and the station multilink device by using management frames or directly in the protocol. Alternatively, a combination of the two is used (downlink unicast traffic and downlink multicast traffic are transmitted in different ways). This is not a limitation of this embodiment of the present application.

[0137] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication method between multi-link devices, which may further include steps S505 to S510 after step S504 when the downlink traffic is downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic transmitted to a second STA operating on a secondary link, as shown in FIG.

[0138] S505: Based on the downlink traffic indication information, the second STA operating on the primary link determines that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic.

[0139] For example, based on the downlink traffic indication information in the TIM element field, a second STA operating on the primary link may determine that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic transmitted on the secondary link.

[0140] For example, referring to FIG. 6, an example is used in which the first STA is STA Multilink Device 2 and the primary link is Link 2. The AID corresponding to the downlink unicast traffic of STA2-1 is 1, the AID corresponding to the downlink unicast traffic of STA2-2 is 2, and the AID corresponding to the downlink multicast traffic of STA2-2 is 3. If the value of the bit corresponding to AID 2 in the Partial Virtual Bitmap field in the TIM element field is 1, STA2-1 operating on Link 2 may determine that STA2-2 operating on Link 3 has downlink unicast traffic.

[0141] Optionally, if the second STA operating on the primary link determines, based on the downlink traffic indication information, that the second STA operating on the secondary link has no downlink traffic, the second STA operating on the secondary link is in an awake state or a doze state.

[0142] For example, in step S505, there may be two cases for determining whether the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic, which are described in detail below.

[0143] In the first case, after it is determined in step S505 that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic that is downlink unicast traffic, steps S506 to S509 are performed after step S505 when the downlink unicast traffic is transmitted by the first AP on the secondary link.

[0144] S506: A second STA operating on the secondary link transmits a first frame to the first AP.

[0145] The first frame is used to indicate that the second STA operating on the secondary link is in an awake state (sometimes referred to as an active state). For example, the first frame may be a PS-Poll frame or a multilink PS-Poll frame. The specific form of the first frame is not limited to this embodiment of the present application and is merely an example for the purposes of explanation in this specification.

[0146] For example, a second STA operating on the primary link and a STA operating on the secondary link may exchange data. Thus, when the second STA operating on the primary link determines that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink unicast traffic, the second STA operating on the primary link and the first STA may indicate to the second STA operating on the secondary link to enter an awake state from a doze state and send a PS-Poll frame or a multilink PS-Poll frame to the first AP to notify the first AP that the second STA operating on the secondary link is in an awake state.

[0147] For example, referring to FIG. 6, an example is used in which the first STA is STA multilink device 2 and the primary link is link 2. When STA2-1 operating on link 2 determines that STA2-2 operating on link 3 has downlink unicast traffic, STA2-2 operating on link 3 enters the awake state from the doze state and transmits a PS-Poll frame or a multilink PS-Poll frame to the AP multilink device to notify the first AP that STA2-2 operating on link 3 is in the awake state.

[0148] For example, the first STA (or a second STA operating on the primary link) may alternatively transmit a first frame (e.g., a PS-Poll frame or a Multilink PS-Poll frame) to the first AP on the primary link. The first frame may carry secondary link identifier information to inform the first AP of the link in an awake state and be used to receive downlink traffic transmitted by the first AP on the secondary link. The first frame is transmitted by a station operating on the secondary link.

[0149] S507: The first AP receives the first frame.

[0150] For example, the first AP may receive a PS-Poll frame or a Multilink PS-Poll frame from a second STA operating on the secondary link and determine that the second STA operating on the secondary link is awake.

[0151] For example, referring to FIG. 6, the AP multilink device may receive a PS-Poll frame or a multilink PS-Poll frame sent by STA2-2 operating on link 3 and determine that STA2-2 operating on link 3 is in an awake state.

[0152] S508: The first AP sends downlink unicast traffic to the second STA operating on the secondary link.

[0153] For example, after receiving a PS-Poll frame or a Multilink PS-Poll frame, the first AP may export buffered data of the second STA operating on the secondary link that was buffered in the buffer of the first AP and transmit downlink unicast traffic to the second STA operating on the secondary link. For example, after receiving a PS-Poll frame or a Multilink PS-Poll frame from the second STA operating on the secondary link, the first AP may transmit the STA's buffered downlink unicast traffic to the second STA operating on the secondary link via the secondary link.

[0154] For example, referring to FIG. 6, the AP multilink device transmits downlink unicast traffic to STA2-2 operating on link 3.

[0155] S509: A second STA operating on the secondary link receives downlink unicast traffic from the first AP.

[0156] For example, a second STA operating on the secondary link in an awake state may receive downlink unicast traffic transmitted by the first AP. Optionally, after the second STA operating on the secondary link receives the downlink unicast traffic from the first AP, if no data is transmitted to the second STA operating on the secondary link, a specific scheme may be implemented: the second STA includes an information bit, for example, a "more data" field in a MAC header in a transmission frame, to inform the second STA operating on the secondary link that it may enter a doze state to reduce power consumption.

[0157] 6, STA2-2 operating on link 3 receives downlink unicast traffic from the AP multilink device. Optionally, after STA2-2 operating on link 3 receives the downlink unicast traffic from the AP multilink device, if no data is transmitted to STA2-2 operating on link 3, STA2-2 operating on link 3 may enter a doze state from an awake state to reduce power consumption.

[0158] In a second case, after it is determined in step S505 that a second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic that is downlink multicast traffic, step S510 is performed after step S505 when the downlink multicast traffic is transmitted by the first AP on the secondary link.

[0159] S510: A second STA operating on the secondary link receives downlink multicast traffic from the first AP.

[0160] For example, before step S510, a second STA operating on the primary link may receive downlink traffic indication information from the first AP and determine, based on the downlink traffic indication information, that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink multicast traffic. Then, in step S510, the second STA operating on the secondary link may receive the downlink multicast traffic from the first AP. Optionally, the downlink traffic indication information may be carried in a DTIM frame.

[0161] Optionally, before step S510, a second STA operating on the secondary link may receive a DTIM frame from the first AP, and then receive downlink multicast traffic sent by the first AP after the DTIM frame is received.

[0162] Optionally, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication method between multi-link devices, where, as shown in FIG. 10 , when the downlink traffic is downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic transmitted to a second STA operating on the secondary link, the method may further include steps S511 to S520 after step S504.

[0163] S511: Based on the downlink traffic indication information, a second STA operating on the primary link determines that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic.

[0164] For example, based on the downlink traffic indication information in the TIM element field, a second STA operating on the primary link may determine that the second STA operating on the second secondary link has downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic transmitted on the primary link.

[0165] For example, referring to FIG. 6, an example is used in which the first STA is STA Multilink Device 2 and the primary link is Link 2. STA2-1's AID is 1, STA2-2's AID corresponding to its downlink unicast traffic is 2, and STA2-2's AID corresponding to its downlink multicast traffic is 3. If the value of the bit corresponding to AID3 in the Partial Virtual Bitmap field in the TIM element field is 1, STA2-1 operating on Link 2 may determine that STA2-2 operating on Link 3 has downlink multicast traffic. The downlink multicast traffic is multicast traffic transmitted on Link 2.

[0166] In step S511, if it is determined that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic, there are three possible cases, which are described in detail below.

[0167] In the first case, after it is determined in step S511 that a second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic that is downlink unicast traffic, steps S512 to S515 are performed after step S511 when the downlink unicast traffic is transmitted by the first AP on the primary link.

[0168] S512: A second STA operating on the primary link transmits a second frame to the first AP.

[0169] The second frame is used to indicate that the second STA operating on the primary link is in an awake state (sometimes referred to as an active state). For example, the second frame may be a PS-Poll frame or a multilink PS-Poll frame. The specific form of the second frame is not limited to this embodiment of the present application and is merely an example for the purposes of explanation in this specification.

[0170] Optionally, the second frame may carry secondary link identifier information.

[0171] S513: The first AP receives the second frame.

[0172] S514: The first AP sends downlink unicast traffic to the second STA operating on the primary link.

[0173] S515: A second STA operating on the primary link receives downlink unicast traffic from the first AP.

[0174] For example, a second STA operating on the primary link receives downlink unicast traffic from the first AP and forwards the downlink unicast traffic to a second STA operating on the secondary link.

[0175] In a second case, after it is determined in step S511 that a second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic that is downlink multicast traffic, step S516 is performed after step S511 when the downlink multicast traffic is transmitted by the first AP on the primary link.

[0176] S516: A second STA operating on the primary link receives downlink multicast traffic from the first AP.

[0177] For example, before step S516, the second STA operating on the primary link receives downlink traffic indication information from the first AP and determines, based on the downlink traffic indication information, that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink multicast traffic. Then, in step S516, the second STA operating on the primary link receives the downlink multicast traffic from the first AP. Optionally, the second STA operating on the primary link may further receive a DTIM frame. After receiving the downlink multicast traffic, the second STA operating on the primary link may forward the downlink multicast traffic to the second STA operating on the secondary link.

[0178] In a third case, after it is determined in step S511 that a second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic that is downlink multicast traffic, steps S517 to S520 are performed after step S511 when the downlink multilink traffic is transmitted by the first AP on the primary link.

[0179] S517: The second STA operating on the primary link transmits a third frame to the first AP.

[0180] The third frame is used to notify the first AP that the second STA operating on the primary link is awake and to request the first AP to transmit downlink multicast traffic in a unicast manner to the second STA operating on the primary link.

[0181] For example, the third frame may be a PS-Poll frame or a Multilink PS-Poll frame. The specific form of the third frame is not limited to this embodiment of the present application and is merely an example for the purposes of explanation in this specification.

[0182] Optionally, the third frame may carry secondary link identifier information.

[0183] S518: The first AP receives the third frame.

[0184] For example, the first AP may receive a PS-Poll frame or a Multilink PS-Poll frame from a second STA operating on the primary link and determine that the second STA operating on the primary link is awake.

[0185] S519: The first AP transmits downlink traffic to the second STA operating on the primary link in a unicast manner.

[0186] Downlink traffic is transmitted in a unicast manner to the second STA operating on the primary link.

[0187] S520: A second STA operating on the primary link receives downlink traffic.

[0188] For example, a second STA operating on the primary link may receive downlink traffic data from the first AP. The second STA operating on the primary link may forward the received downlink traffic data to a second STA operating on the secondary link. It will be appreciated that in this implementation, the second STA operating on the secondary link may always be in a doze state.

[0189] It will be understood that when a first AP transmits downlink unicast traffic to a second STA operating on the secondary link via the secondary link, the second STA operating on the secondary link can receive the downlink unicast traffic transmitted by the first AP on the secondary link only after entering an awake state and transmitting a first frame to the first AP. However, when the first AP transmits downlink unicast traffic for the second STA operating on the secondary link via the primary link, the second STA operating on the secondary link does not need to enter an awake state to receive the traffic. Instead, the second STA operating on the primary link receives the downlink unicast traffic transmitted by the first AP on the primary link and forwards the traffic to the second STA operating on the secondary link.

[0190] For example, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication method between multilink devices, which may further include steps S521 to S526 after step S504 when the downlink traffic is downlink multicast traffic or downlink unicast traffic transmitted to a second STA operating on the primary link, as shown in FIG.

[0191] S521: Based on the downlink traffic indication information, the second STA operating on the primary link determines that the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic.

[0192] For example, based on the downlink traffic indication information in the TIM element field, a second STA operating on a second primary link may determine that the second STA operating on the second primary link has downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic transmitted on the primary link.

[0193] For example, referring to FIG. 6, an example is used in which the first STA is STA Multilink Device 2 and the primary link is Link 2. STA2-1's AID is 1, STA2-2's AID corresponding to downlink unicast traffic is 2, and STA2-2's AID corresponding to downlink multicast traffic is 3. If the value of the bit corresponding to AID3 in the Partial Virtual Bitmap field in the TIM element field is 1, STA2-1 operating on Link 2 may determine that there is downlink unicast traffic on Link 2. The downlink unicast traffic may be downlink unicast traffic transmitted on Link 2.

[0194] For example, in step S521, if it is determined that the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic, there may be two cases, which are described in detail below.

[0195] In the first case, after it is determined in step S521 that the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic that is downlink unicast traffic, steps S522 to S525 are performed after step S521 when the downlink unicast traffic is transmitted by the first AP on the primary link.

[0196] S522: A second STA operating on the primary link transmits a second frame to the first AP.

[0197] S523: The first AP receives the second frame.

[0198] S524: The first AP sends downlink unicast traffic to the second STA operating on the primary link.

[0199] S525: A second STA operating on the primary link receives downlink unicast traffic from the first AP.

[0200] In a second case, after it is determined in step S521 that a second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic that is downlink multicast traffic, step S526 is performed after step S521 when the downlink multicast traffic is transmitted by the first AP on the primary link.

[0201] S526: A second STA operating on the primary link receives downlink multicast traffic from the first AP.

[0202] For example, before step S526, a second STA operating on the primary link may receive downlink traffic indication information from the first AP, determine based on the downlink traffic indication information that the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink multicast traffic, and then receive the downlink multicast traffic transmitted by the first AP. Optionally, the downlink traffic indication information received by the second STA operating on the primary link from the first AP may be carried in a DTIM frame.

[0203] It will be appreciated that in this embodiment of the present application, when a second STA operating on the primary link determines that the STA has downlink multicast traffic to be transmitted on the primary link, the second STA operating on the primary link may receive downlink multicast traffic from the first AP after receiving a DTIM beacon frame.

[0204] For example, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication method between multilink devices, which may further include steps S527 to S536 after step S504 when the downlink traffic is downlink multicast traffic or downlink unicast traffic transmitted to a second STA operating on the primary link, as shown in FIG.

[0205] S527: Based on the downlink traffic indication information, the second STA operating on the primary link determines that the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic.

[0206] For example, based on the downlink traffic indication information in the TIM element field, a second STA operating on the primary link may determine that the second STA operating on the second primary link has downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic transmitted on the secondary link.

[0207] For example, in step S527, when it is determined that the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic, there may be three cases, which are described in detail below.

[0208] In the first case, after it is determined in step S527 that the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic that is downlink unicast traffic, steps S528 to S531 are performed after step S527 when the downlink unicast traffic is transmitted by the first AP on the secondary link.

[0209] S528: A second STA operating on the secondary link transmits a first frame to the first AP.

[0210] S529: The first AP receives the first frame.

[0211] S530: The first AP transmits downlink unicast traffic to the second STA operating on the secondary link.

[0212] S531: A second STA operating on the secondary link receives downlink unicast traffic from the first AP.

[0213] For example, a second STA operating on the secondary link may receive downlink unicast traffic from the first AP and forward the downlink unicast traffic to a second STA operating on the primary link.

[0214] In a second case, after it is determined in step S527 that a second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic that is downlink multicast traffic, step S532 is performed after step S527 when the downlink multicast traffic is transmitted by the first AP on the secondary link.

[0215] S532: A second STA operating on the secondary link receives downlink multicast traffic from the first AP.

[0216] For example, before step S532, a second STA operating on the primary link may receive downlink traffic indication information from the first AP and determine, based on the downlink traffic indication information, that the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink multicast traffic. Then, the second STA operating on the secondary link may receive the downlink multicast traffic from the first AP. After receiving the downlink multicast traffic, the second STA operating on the secondary link may forward the downlink multicast traffic to the second STA operating on the primary link.

[0217] Optionally, before step S532, a second STA operating on the secondary link may receive a DTIM frame from the first AP, and then receive downlink multicast traffic sent by the first AP after the DTIM frame is received.

[0218] In this embodiment of the present application, it will be understood that when a second STA operating on the primary link determines that the STA has downlink multicast traffic to be transmitted on the secondary link, the second STA operating on the secondary link may receive the downlink multicast traffic from the first AP after receiving the DTIM beacon frame and forward the downlink multicast traffic to the second STA operating on the primary link.

[0219] In a third case, after it is determined in step S527 that the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic that is downlink multicast traffic, steps S533 to S536 are performed after step S527 when the downlink multilink traffic is transmitted by the first AP on the secondary link.

[0220] S533: The second STA operating on the secondary link transmits a fourth frame to the first AP.

[0221] The fourth frame is used to notify the first AP that the second STA operating on the secondary link is awake and to request the first AP to transmit downlink multicast traffic to the second STA operating on the secondary link in a unicast manner.

[0222] For example, the fourth frame may be a PS-Poll frame or a Multilink PS-Poll frame. The specific form of the fourth frame is not limited to this embodiment of the present application and is merely an example for the purposes of explanation in this specification.

[0223] Optionally, the fourth frame may carry primary link identifier information.

[0224] S534: The first AP receives the fourth frame.

[0225] For example, the first AP may receive a PS-Poll frame or a Multilink PS-Poll frame from a second STA operating on the secondary link and determine that the second STA operating on the secondary link is awake.

[0226] S535: The first AP transmits downlink traffic to the second STA operating on the secondary link in a unicast manner.

[0227] Downlink traffic is transmitted in a unicast manner to a second STA operating on the secondary link.

[0228] S536: A second STA operating on the secondary link receives downlink traffic.

[0229] For example, a second STA operating on the secondary link may receive downlink traffic data from the first AP, and the second STA operating on the secondary link may forward the received downlink traffic data to a second STA operating on the primary link.

[0230] It will be understood that when the first AP transmits downlink multicast traffic to the second STA operating on the primary link via the secondary link, the second STA operating on the secondary link, after entering an awake state, transmits a fourth frame to the first AP to indicate that the first AP will transmit the downlink multicast traffic to the second STA operating on the secondary link in a unicast manner. The second STA operating on the secondary link then receives the downlink multicast traffic transmitted by the first AP on the secondary link. The second STA operating on the secondary link may forward the received downlink traffic data to the second STA operating on the primary link.

[0231] The embodiment of the present application further provides an association identifier AID allocation method, as shown in Figure 13, the method includes steps S1301 to S1305.

[0232] S1301: A first STA sends an association request frame to a first AP.

[0233] The association request frame carries at least one of the number of second STAs to which the AID should be assigned or the identifier information of the link on which the second STA operates.

[0234] For example, the second STAs to which the AIDs are to be assigned may be some or all of the second STAs in the first STA, and the first STA may add, to the association request frame, the number of second STAs to which the AIDs are to be assigned and / or identifier information of the link on which each second STA to which the AIDs are to be assigned operates.

[0235] Optionally, the association request frame may also carry capability information of the first STA, where the capability information includes identifier information of all second STAs included in the first STA and the links on which each second STA operates. When the association request frame carries the capability information of the first STA, it may be considered that the first STA implicitly indicates to the first AP to assign AIDs to all second STAs.

[0236] For example, the association request frame may carry an element, and the element includes the number of second STAs to which the AID should be assigned and / or identifier information of the link on which each second STA to which the AID should be assigned operates. The link identifier information includes one or more of a link identifier (link ID), a combination of an operating class and a channel number, a MAC address (or BSSID), etc. The element may be obtained by modifying an element (e.g., a multi-band element) in the prior art, or may be a new element. The first three fields of the new element are an element ID field, a length field, and an element ID extension field.

[0237] For example, the link through which the first STA sends the association request frame to the first AP may be the primary link. Optionally, the association request frame may further carry identifier information of the primary link determined by the first STA.

[0238] S1302: The first AP receives an association request frame from the first STA.

[0239] For example, the first AP receives an association request frame from the first STA, and determines, based on the association request frame, the number of second STAs to which AIDs should be assigned and / or identifier information of the links on which the second STAs to which AIDs should be assigned operate.

[0240] S1303: The first AP assigns an AID to the second STA to which the AID is to be assigned.

[0241] For example, in the case where a first AP assigns an AID to a second STA to which the AID is to be assigned, the AID in one BSS is unique.

[0242] For example, the first AP may assign an AID to a second STA operating on the primary link when the value of the first bit in the Bitmap Control field in the TIM element, indicating that the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink multicast traffic, is 1. The AID is used to indicate whether the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink unicast traffic. Additionally, the first AP may assign one or two AIDs to a second STA operating on the secondary link. In an implementation in which the first AP assigns an AID to a second STA operating on the secondary link, whether the bit corresponding to the second STA's AID in the Partial Virtual Bitmap field in the TIM element is set to 1 indicates whether the second STA has downlink unicast traffic or downlink multicast traffic. In other words, the AID assigned by the first AP to a second STA operating on the secondary link corresponds to both downlink unicast traffic and downlink multicast traffic. In an implementation in which the first AP assigns two AIDs to the second STA operating on the secondary link, one AID is used to indicate whether the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink unicast traffic, and the other AID is used to indicate whether the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink multicast traffic.

[0243] For example, when the value of the first bit in the Bitmap Control field in the TIM element, indicating that the first STA has downlink multicast traffic, is 1, downlink multicast traffic may be transmitted to a second STA operating on the primary link or a second STA operating on the secondary link. In this implementation, the first AP may assign an AID to the second STA operating on the primary link, where the AID is used to indicate whether the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink unicast traffic, and the first AP may assign an AID to the second STA operating on the secondary link, where the AID is used to indicate that the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink unicast traffic.

[0244] For example, when the first STA includes one second STA, if the second STA can operate in different frequency bands, the first AP assigns one AID to the second STA for each frequency band, in other words, the AIDs corresponding to the second STAs operating in different frequency bands are different from each other.

[0245] S1304: The first AP sends an association response frame to the first STA.

[0246] The association response frame carries the AID assigned to each second STA to which an AID is to be assigned.

[0247] For example, an association response frame sent by a first AP to a first STA carries an element. The element carries the number of second STAs to which AIDs are to be assigned. The element may further include AIDs to be assigned to each second STA to which the AIDs are to be assigned. Optionally, the element may further include identifier information of a link on which the second STA to which the AIDs are to be assigned operates. The number of AIDs to be assigned to each second STA to which the AIDs are to be assigned is one or two. The number of second STAs to which AIDs are to be assigned may be the number of second STAs other than the second STA operating on the primary link at the first STA, or may be the number of all second STAs at the first STA.

[0248] For example, the elements included in the associated response frame and the elements included in the associated request frame may have the same structure. In this case, one bit is needed in the element to indicate whether the element is used for a request or a response. For example, a first value and a second value may be used to indicate an associated request frame and an associated response frame, respectively. Optionally, the elements included in the associated response frame may be different from the elements included in the associated request frame. This is not limited to this embodiment of the present application.

[0249] S1305: The first STA receives an association response frame from the first AP.

[0250] For example, a first STA receives an association response frame from a first AP and obtains an AID corresponding to a second STA to which the AID should be assigned. Thus, after receiving the beacon frame, the second STA operating on the primary link at the first STA may determine whether the second STA corresponding to the AID has downlink traffic based on the AID indicated in the TIM element field in the beacon frame.

[0251] It should be noted that the AID allocation method in this embodiment of the present application may be applied to or combined with the previous embodiments.

[0252] In this embodiment, the first AP can assign different AIDs to different second STAs in one BSS by determining whether the bits in the virtual bitmap field in the TIM element are set to 1, which correspond to different AIDs, and can determine the second STAs in the station multilink device that have downlink traffic. Therefore, there is no need to change the frame format of beacon frames or other management frames, and compatibility is better.

[0253] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication method between multi-link devices, which may further include steps S1401 to S1404 before step S501, as shown in FIG.

[0254] S1401: A first AP determines one or more candidate links.

[0255] The one or more candidate links may be links among a plurality of links on which the first AP operates. In other words, the first AP may operate on one or more candidate links. For example, when the first AP determines one or more candidate links, the first AP determines some or all of the links on which the first AP can operate as candidate links.

[0256] For example, referring to FIG. 6, a first AP is an AP multilink device, and the AP multilink device may communicate with STA1 via Link 1, with STA multilink device 2 via Link 2 and Link 3, and with STA multilink device 3 via Link 1 and Link 3. If Link 2 and Link 3 do not support simultaneous transmission and reception, the AP multilink device may group Link 1 and Link 2 as a candidate link set. Alternatively, the AP multilink device may group Link 1 and Link 3 as a candidate link set. The example of the AP multilink device grouping Link 1 and Link 2 as a candidate link set is used herein for illustrative purposes only. One or more candidate links include Link 1 and Link 2.

[0257] S1402: The first AP sends candidate link set information to the first STA.

[0258] For example, the candidate link set information may include identifier information for one or more candidate links, and may be carried in a beacon frame or another management frame.

[0259] Optionally, the beacon frame or another management frame may further carry channel utilization information corresponding to the candidate link.

[0260] Optionally, the candidate link set information in step S1402 and the downlink traffic indication information in step S503 may be carried in one beacon frame or in different beacon frames.

[0261] Optionally, the first AP may send capability information of the first AP to the first STA, where the capability information of the first AP includes all links on which the first AP can operate, and the first STA may use all links in the capability information as candidate links to determine a primary link from the links included in the capability information.

[0262] S1403: The first STA receives candidate link set information from the first AP.

[0263] Correspondingly, the first STA determining a primary link in S501 includes the first STA determining a primary link from one or more candidate links based on the candidate link set information.

[0264] 6, for example, the candidate link set information includes identifier information of Link 1 and Link 2. A first STA may determine Link 2 as the primary link based on the channel utilization information corresponding to Link 1 and Link 2.

[0265] Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the first STA may group some or all of the links that the first STA can operate as a candidate link set and transmit information about the candidate link set to the first AP. The first AP then determines a primary link from the candidate link set and transmits identifier information of the primary link determined by the first AP to the first STA. In this implementation, the primary link determined by the first STA in step S501 may be the primary link determined by the first AP and received by the first STA from the first AP. The specific method by which the first STA determines the primary link is not limited to this embodiment of the present application and is merely an example for purposes of illustration herein.

[0266] Optionally, S1404: The first AP establishes a basic service set BSS for one or more candidate links, or the first AP establishes one BSS for each candidate link, or the first AP establishes one BSS for a portion of the one or more candidate links, wherein an AID assigned to one STA in one BSS is unique.

[0267] For example, in an implementation, the first AP may establish one BSS for each candidate link in the candidate link set. For example, referring to FIG. 6, in an example where the candidate links include Link 1, Link 2, and Link 3, the first AP may establish one BSS for each candidate link. For example, BSS 1 is established for Link 1, BSS 2 is established for Link 2, and BSS 3 is established for Link 3.

[0268] For example, in another implementation, the first AP may establish one BSS for some of the candidate links in the candidate link set. For example, referring to FIG. 6, in an example where the candidate links include Link 1, Link 2, and Link 3, the first AP may establish BSS 1 for Link 1 and Link 2.

[0269] For example, in yet another implementation, the first AP may establish one BSS for all candidate links in the candidate link set. For example, referring to FIG. 6, in an example where the candidate links include Link 1, Link 2, and Link 3, the first AP may establish one BSS, denoted as BSS 1, for Link 1, Link 2, and Link 3.

[0270] For example, when the first AP establishes one BSS for each candidate link in the candidate link set, after selecting a primary link, the STA multilink device joins the BSS corresponding to the primary link. For example, referring to Figure 6, the first AP establishes BSS1, BSS2, and BSS3 on Link1, Link2, and Link3, respectively, and the primary link selected by STA multilink device 2 is Link2. In this case, after selecting Link2 as the primary link, STA multilink device 2 joins BSS2.

[0271] For example, when the first AP establishes a BSS for some or all of the candidate links in the candidate link set, both the STA multilink device that selects a link in the candidate link set as the primary link and the conventional STA join the BSS. For example, referring to Figure 6, the first AP establishes BSS 1 on Link 1, Link 2, and Link 3, and the primary link selected by STA multilink device 2 is Link 2. In this case, after selecting Link 2 as the primary link, STA multilink device 2 joins BSS 1.

[0272] It should be noted that when assigning an AID to a second STA, the first AP satisfies that the AIDs of multiple second STAs belonging to one BSS are different from each other, so as to be able to identify different second STAs in one BSS.

[0273] It should be noted that the sequence of performing steps S1402 and S1403 and step S1404 is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. In Figure 13, it is used as an example for explanation that step S1402 and step S1403 are performed before step S1404. Optionally, after determining one or more candidate links, the first AP may establish a BSS for the one or more candidate links.

[0274] In this embodiment of the present application, the first AP transmits candidate link set information to the first STA. After receiving the candidate link set information, the first STA selects a primary link from the multiple links included in the candidate link set. Additionally, the second STA operating on the primary link may receive information indicating whether the second STA operating on the primary link has downlink traffic and information indicating whether the second STA operating on the secondary link has downlink traffic. Therefore, the second STA operating on the secondary link may not receive information indicating whether downlink traffic is present on the secondary link on which the second STA operates. In other words, when no data is being transmitted, the second STA operating on the secondary link may enter a doze state. This reduces the power consumption of the station multilink device.

[0275] Generally, before transmitting data, a station must determine whether the network allocation vector (NAV) is set for the station (called virtual carrier sensing) and sense whether the channel is idle (called physical carrier sensing). When the NAV is not set and the sensed channel is idle, the station senses the channel for X interframe space (XIFS) time and backs off. The station preempts the channel and can transmit data only when the counter backs off to 0.

[0276] The XIFS time here relates to the traffic type to be transmitted. For example, if the frame to be transmitted is a response frame, such as an Acknowledgment (ACK), Block Ack, or Clear to Send (CTS) frame, the XIFS time is the SIFS (short IFS) time. In this case, the station does not need to back off and may directly preempt the channel for transmission. If the frame to be transmitted is a beacon frame and the XIFS time is the PIFS (Point coordination function, PCF) IFS) time, the station does not need to back off and may directly preempt the channel for transmission. If the frame to be transmitted is conventional non-Quality of Service (QoS) data and the XIFS time is the DIFS (Distributed coordination function, DCF) IFS) time, the station backs off and preempts the channel for transmission until the backoff counter backs off to 0 in the conventional manner. If the frame to be transmitted is conventional QoS data and the XIFS time is the arbitration interframe space (IFS, AIFS) time, the station backs off and can obtain a channel transmission opportunity when the backoff counter backs off to 0. QoS data access categories (AC) are further classified as AC_BK (background), AC_BE (best effort), AC_VI (video), and AC_VO (voice). Different data access categories have different backoff counts and different AIFS times. The AIFS times are AIFS[AC_BK], AIFS[AC_BE], AIFS[AC_VI], and AIFS[AC_VO], respectively, and the backoff counts are backoff[AC_BK], backoff[AC_BE], backoff[AC_VI], and backoff[AC_VO], respectively.The length of the time sequence is (SIFS < PIFS < DIFS = AIFS[AC_VO] < AIFS[AC_VI] < AIFS[AC_BE] < AIFS[AC_BK]), indicating the priorities of different traffic.

[0277] A station maintains a contention window (CW) CW[AC] for each access category AC during data transmission, and the window value is within [CW_min[AC],CW_max[AC]]. During initialization, the contention window is CW = CW_min. If data transmission fails, CW = (CW + 1)x2 = -1 until the value of CW reaches CW_max. If data transmission is successful, CW is reset to CW_min. A random number is selected from [0,CW] and used as the backoff counter to perform backoff. If the sensed channel is idle, the backoff counter is decremented by 1. Data frames can be transmitted until the backoff counter reaches 0. If the channel is busy, the backoff counter is suspended. When the channel becomes idle, the suspended backoff counter is used again to perform backoff. Data including MSDUs (MAC Service Data Units), A-MSDUs (Aggregated MAC Service Data Units), and MMPDUs (Management MAC Protocol Data Units) that are not included in the acknowledgement protocol are assumed to be unsuccessful in transmission. If the length of the erroneously transmitted data packet is less than or equal to the RTS (Request to Send) threshold, the short retry counter for the data packet is incremented by one. If the length of the erroneously transmitted data packet is greater than the RTS (Request to Send) threshold, the long retry counter is incremented by one. If the short retry counter or long retry counter reaches a specified upper limit, the transmitting end discards the data transmission. Additionally, the station maintains a Station Short Retry Counter [AC] and a Station Long Retry Counter [AC] for each access category of data. If the short retry counter of a data packet belonging to category [AC] is incremented by 1, the short retry counter [AC] is incremented by 1, and if the long retry counter of a data packet belonging to category [AC] is incremented by 1, the long retry counter [AC] is incremented by 1.In another implementation, the short and long retry counters are combined. A retry counter field is maintained for each data packet. If the retry counter field reaches its limit, the packet retransmission is discarded. A station maintains a station retry counter [AC] field for each category of data.

[0278] A station multilink device is used as an example. As shown in FIG. 15, during data transmission performed by the station multilink device, when the station backoff counter of one link B decreases to 0, if another link A is idle at this time, for example, if link A is idle within a PIFS time, the station multilink device can simultaneously transmit data on two links (link A and link B). Because link A does not obtain a channel transmission opportunity through channel contention, if a channel contention method for a single link is still used in this case, the data transmission success or error on this opportunity will affect the transmission opportunity of another station on link A. This is unfair to other stations on the link. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, if link A does not obtain a channel transmission opportunity through channel contention, and data of a station operating on link A in the station multilink device is successfully transmitted (the data may be classified based on the access category), the contention window does not need to be reset to the minimum contention window and remains the same. In a station multilink device, if a station operating on link A fails to transmit data, the contention window is not doubled and remains unchanged, and the values ​​of the retry counter fields remain unchanged, including the long retry counter field, short retry counter field, station long retry counter field [AC], station short retry counter field [AC], retry counter field, and station retry counter field [AC]. This ensures access fairness for stations on link A.

[0279] After a station operating on link A in a station multilink device completes a data transmission, or after a transmission opportunity (TXOP) preempted by a station operating on link B in a station multilink device is consumed, the station multilink device resets the backoff counter to its previous value or randomly selects a backoff counter from the previous contention window to resume channel contention.

[0280] The foregoing describes the solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application mainly in terms of method steps. It will be understood that to implement the above-described functions, a computer includes corresponding hardware structures and / or software modules for performing the functions. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the present application can be implemented by a combination of hardware and computer software, in combination with the example modules and algorithm steps described in the embodiments disclosed herein. Those skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementations should not be considered to go beyond the scope of the present application.

[0281] In the embodiment of the present application, the division into functional modules may be performed for the first STA and the first AP based on the above-mentioned method example. For example, each functional module may be obtained through a division corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit. It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the division into modules is an example and is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, other division methods may be used.

[0282] In the case where an integrated unit is used, FIG. 16 shows a possible schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device 1600. The communication device 1600 may be a station or a chip used in a station. The communication device 1600 may perform the operations of a first STA, a second STA operating on a primary link, or a second STA operating on a secondary link in the above-described method embodiments. The communication device 1600 includes a processing unit 1601 and a transceiver unit 1602.

[0283] The processing unit 1601 may be configured to control and manage the behavior of the communication device 1600, for example, to determine a primary link. In another example, the processing unit 1601 may be configured to control the operation of the transceiver unit 1602. Optionally, if the communication device 1600 includes a storage unit, the processing unit 1601 may further execute programs or instructions stored in the storage unit to cause the communication device 1600 to implement the methods and functions in any of the aforementioned embodiments.

[0284] For example, the processing unit 1601 may be configured to perform, for example, step S501 of Fig. 5, step S505 of Fig. 9, step S511 of Fig. 10, step S521 of Fig. 11, step S527 of Fig. 12, step S1404 of Fig. 14, and / or other processes used in the techniques described herein. All relevant contents of the steps in the foregoing method embodiments may be cited in the functional descriptions of the corresponding functional modules. The details will not be described again here.

[0285] For example, the transceiver unit 1602 may transmit and receive data of the first STA (communication device 1600) transmitted on a primary link, and may transmit and receive data of the first STA (communication device 1600) transmitted on a secondary link. Optionally, the transceiver unit 1602 may be one transceiver module or may include two transceiver modules. When the transceiver unit 1602 is a transceiver module, the transceiver module may transmit and receive data of the first STA (communication device 1600) transmitted on a primary link, and may transmit and receive data of the first STA (communication device 1600) transmitted on a secondary link. When the transceiver unit 1602 includes two transceiver modules, one transceiver module is configured to transmit and receive data of the first STA (communication device 1600) transmitted on the primary link, and the other transceiver module is configured to transmit and receive data of the first STA (communication device 1600) transmitted on the secondary link.

[0286] For example, the transceiver unit 1602 may be configured to perform, for example, step S504 of FIG. 5, steps S506, S509, and S510 of FIG. 9, steps S512, S515, S516, S517, and S520 of FIG. 10, steps S522, S525, and S526 of FIG. 11, steps S528, S531, S532, S533, and S536 of FIG. 12, steps S1301 and S1305 of FIG. 13, step S1403 of FIG. 14, and / or other processes used in the techniques described herein. All relevant contents of the steps in the foregoing method embodiments may be cited in the functional descriptions of the corresponding functional modules. Details will not be described again here.

[0287] For example, communication device 1600 may be the communication device shown in FIG. 4, processing unit 1601 may be processor 401 shown in FIG. 4, and transceiver unit 1602 may be transceiver 403 shown in FIG. 4. Optionally, communication device 1600 may further include a memory configured to store corresponding program code and data for communication device 1600 to execute any of the communication methods between multilink devices described above. The descriptions of all relevant contents of the components in FIG. 4 may be cited in the functional description of the corresponding components of communication device 1600, and the details will not be described again here.

[0288] In the case where an integrated unit is used, Figure 17 shows a possible schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device 1700. The communication device 1700 may be an access point device or a chip used in an access point device, and the communication device 1700 may perform the operations of the first AP in the above-mentioned method embodiments. The communication device 1700 includes a processing unit 1701 and a transceiver unit 1702.

[0289] The processing unit 1701 may be configured to control and manage the behavior of the communication device 1700. In another example, the processing unit 1701 may be configured to control the operation of the transceiver unit 1702. Optionally, if the communication device 1700 includes a storage unit, the processing unit 1701 further executes programs or instructions stored in the storage unit to cause the communication device 1700 to implement the methods and functions in any of the aforementioned embodiments.

[0290] For example, the processing unit 1701 may be configured to perform, for example, step S502 in Fig. 5, step S1303 in Fig. 13, step S1401 in Fig. 14, and / or other processes used in the techniques described herein. All relevant contents of the steps in the foregoing method embodiments may be cited in the functional descriptions of the corresponding functional modules. The details will not be described again here.

[0291] For example, the transceiver unit 1702 may be configured to perform, for example, step S503 of FIG. 5, steps S507 and S508 of FIG. 9, steps S513, S514, S518, and S519 of FIG. 10, steps S523 and S524 of FIG. 11, steps S529, S530, S534, and S535 of FIG. 12, steps S1302 and S1304 of FIG. 13, step S1402 of FIG. 14, and / or other processes used in the techniques described herein. All relevant contents of the steps in the foregoing method embodiments may be cited in the functional descriptions of the corresponding functional modules. Details will not be described again here.

[0292] For example, communication device 1700 may be the communication device shown in FIG. 4, processing unit 1701 may be processor 401 shown in FIG. 4, and transceiver unit 1702 may be transceiver 403 shown in FIG. 4. Optionally, communication device 1700 may further include a memory configured to store corresponding program code and data for communication device 1700 to execute any of the communication methods between multilink devices described above. The descriptions of all relevant contents of the components in FIG. 4 may be cited in the functional description of the corresponding components of communication device 1700, and the details will not be described again here.

[0293] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device. The communication device includes a processor and may further include a transceiver and a memory. The transceiver is configured to transmit and receive information or to communicate with another network element. The memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions. The processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to support a station in implementing the communication method between multilink devices in any one of the embodiments of Figures 5 and 9 to 14.

[0294] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device. The communication device includes a processor and may further include a transceiver and a memory. The transceiver is configured to transmit and receive information or to communicate with another network element. The memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions. The processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to support an access point device in implementing the communication method between multilink devices in any one of the embodiments of Figures 5 and 9 to 14.

[0295] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer program code, and when the processor executes the computer program code, the electronic device performs the communication method between multilink devices in any one of the embodiments of Figures 5 and 9 to 14.

[0296] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the communication method between multilink devices in any one of the embodiments of Figures 5 and 9 to 14.

[0297] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device. The device may exist in the form of a chip product. The device structure includes a processor and an interface circuit. The processor is configured to communicate with other devices by using the receiving circuit, and the device performs the communication method between multi-link devices in any one of the above-mentioned embodiments of Figures 5 and 9 to 14.

[0298] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system including an access point and a station, wherein the access point and the station may perform the communication method between multilink devices in any one of the above-mentioned embodiments of Figures 5 and 9 to 14.

[0299] The steps of a method or algorithm described with reference to the disclosure herein may be implemented by hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions may include corresponding software modules. The software modules may be stored in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), registers, a hard disk, a removable hard disk, a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), or any other form of storage medium known in the art. For example, the storage medium may be coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from or write information to the storage medium. Indeed, the storage medium may be components of the processor. The processor and the storage medium may be located in an ASIC. Additionally, the ASIC may be located in a core network interface device. Indeed, the processor and the storage medium may alternatively reside as discrete components in a core network interface device.

[0300] Those skilled in the art should recognize that, in one or more of the foregoing examples, the functionality described herein may be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When the functionality is implemented by software, the functionality may be stored on or transmitted as one or more instructions or code in a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes computer-readable storage media and communication media. Communication media includes any medium that facilitates the transmission of a computer program from one place to another. Storage media may be any available medium accessible to a general-purpose or special-purpose computer.

[0301] The objectives, technical solutions and beneficial effects of the present application are described in more detail in the above specific examples. It should be understood that the above description is only a specific embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present application. Any modification, equivalent replacement or improvement made based on the technical solutions of the present application should fall within the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. 1. A method of communication between multilink devices, comprising: generating, by a first access point (AP) multilink device, a management frame for a first station (STA) multilink device, the first STA multilink device including one or more second STAs, the one or more second STAs sharing an association identifier (AID), the first STA multilink device communicating with the first AP multilink device via multiple links, one second STA included in the first STA multilink device operating on one of the multiple links, the management frame including a multilink identifier bitmap field, the multilink identifier bitmap field used to indicate one or more links of the first STA multilink device for receiving downlink traffic; transmitting, by the first AP multilink device, the management frame.

2. a bit in the multilink identifier bitmap field corresponds to one of the plurality of links; 2. The method of claim 1, wherein a value of 1 for the bit indicates that the link corresponding to the bit is used to receive downlink traffic, or a value of 0 for the bit indicates that the link corresponding to the bit is not used to receive downlink traffic.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the management frame further includes downlink traffic indication information indicating whether the first STA multilink device has downlink traffic.

4. before transmitting the management frame by the first AP multilink device; 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, by the first AP multilink device, an association response frame to the first STA multilink device, wherein the association response frame includes the AID assigned by the first AP multilink device to the one or more second STAs.

5. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the downlink traffic indication information is carried in a TIM element field in the management frame, the TIM element field includes a partial virtual bitmap field, the partial virtual bitmap field includes a bit corresponding to the AID, and the bit is used to indicate whether the first STA multilink device has downlink traffic.

6. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first AP multilink device receives a medium access control (MAC) frame, the MAC frame including a frame control field, the frame control field including power management information configured to indicate whether a second STA belonging to the first STA multilink device that transmitted the MAC frame is in a power save mode or a non-power save mode, and the setting of the power save mode or the non-power save mode of the second STA is independent of the setting of other second STAs of the first STA multilink device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the management frame comprises a beacon frame or a TIM frame.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, by the first AP multilink device, the management frame on a primary link or a secondary link.

9. 1. A method of communication between multilink devices, comprising: receiving, by a first station (STA) multilink device, a management frame from a first access point (AP) multilink device, the first STA multilink device including one or more second STAs, the one or more second STAs sharing an association identifier (AID), the first STA multilink device communicating with the first AP multilink device via multiple links, one second STA included in the first STA multilink device operating on one of the multiple links, the management frame including a multilink identifier bitmap field, the multilink identifier bitmap field used to indicate one or more links of the first STA multilink device for receiving downlink traffic; and determining, by the first STA multilink device, based on the management frame, that a second STA among the one or more second STAs needs to receive downlink traffic.

10. a bit in the multilink identifier bitmap field corresponds to one of the plurality of links; 10. The method of claim 9, wherein a value of 1 for the bit indicates that the link corresponding to the bit is used to receive downlink traffic, or a value of 0 for the bit indicates that the link corresponding to the bit is not used to receive downlink traffic.

11. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the management frame further includes downlink traffic indication information indicating whether the first STA multilink device has downlink traffic.

12. before receiving the management frame, 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: receiving, by the first STA multilink device, an association response frame transmitted by the first AP multilink device, the association response frame including the AID assigned by the first AP multilink device to one or more second STAs.

13. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the downlink traffic indication information is carried in a TIM element field in the management frame, the TIM element field including a partial virtual bitmap field, the partial virtual bitmap field including a bit corresponding to the AID, the bit being used to indicate whether the first STA multilink device has downlink traffic.

14. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein a second STA transmits a medium access control (MAC) frame to the first AP multilink device, the MAC frame including a frame control field, the frame control field including power management information configured to indicate whether a second STA belonging to the first STA multilink device is in a power save mode or a non-power save mode, and the setting of the power save mode or the non-power save mode of the second STA is independent of the setting of other second STAs of the first STA multilink device.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the management frame comprises a beacon frame or a TIM frame.

16. 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving, by the first STA multilink device, the management frame on a primary link or a secondary link.

17. A communication apparatus applied to a first access point (AP) multilink device, comprising: a processing unit configured to generate a management frame for a first station (STA) multilink device, the first STA multilink device including one or more second STAs, the one or more second STAs sharing an association identifier (AID), the first STA multilink device communicating with the first AP multilink device via multiple links, one second STA included in the first STA multilink device operating on one of the multiple links, the management frame including a multilink identifier bitmap field, the multilink identifier bitmap field used to indicate one or more links of the first STA multilink device for receiving downlink traffic; a transceiver unit configured to transmit the management frame.

18. a bit in the multilink identifier bitmap field corresponds to one of the plurality of links; 18. The communication device of claim 17, wherein a value of 1 for the bit indicates that the link corresponding to the bit is used to receive downlink traffic, or a value of 0 for the bit indicates that the link corresponding to the bit is not used to receive downlink traffic.

19. The communication apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the management frame further includes downlink traffic indication information indicating whether the first STA multilink device has downlink traffic.

20. before transmitting said management frame, 20. The communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to transmit an association response frame to the first STA multilink device, the association response frame including the AID assigned to the one or more second STAs by the first AP multilink device.

21. 20. The communications apparatus of claim 19, wherein the downlink traffic indication information is carried in a TIM element field in the management frame, the TIM element field including a partial virtual bitmap field, the partial virtual bitmap field including a bit corresponding to the AID, the bit being used to indicate whether the first STA multilink device has downlink traffic.

22. 18. The communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a Medium Access Control (MAC) frame, the MAC frame including a frame control field, the frame control field including power management information configured to indicate whether a second STA belonging to the first STA multilink device that transmitted the MAC frame is in a power save mode or a non-power save mode, and a setting of the power save mode or the non-power save mode of the second STA is independent of a setting of another second STA of the first STA multilink device.

23. The communication device of claim 17 , wherein the management frame comprises a beacon frame or a TIM frame.

24. 20. The communications device of claim 17, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to transmit the management frame on a primary link or a secondary link.

25. A communication apparatus adapted to a first station (STA) multilink device, comprising: a transceiver unit configured to receive a management frame from a first access point (AP) multilink device, the first STA multilink device including one or more second STAs, the one or more second STAs sharing an association identifier (AID), the first STA multilink device communicating with the first AP multilink device via multiple links, one second STA included in the first STA multilink device operating on one of the multiple links, the management frame including a multilink identifier bitmap field, the multilink identifier bitmap field used to indicate one or more links of the first STA multilink device for receiving downlink traffic; a processing unit configured to determine, based on the management frame, that a second STA of the one or more second STAs needs to receive downlink traffic.

26. a bit in the multilink identifier bitmap field corresponds to one of the plurality of links; 26. The communication device of claim 25, wherein a value of 1 for the bit indicates that the link corresponding to the bit is used to receive downlink traffic, or a value of 0 for the bit indicates that the link corresponding to the bit is not used to receive downlink traffic.

27. 26. The communications apparatus of claim 25, wherein the management frame further includes downlink traffic indication information indicating whether the first STA multilink device has downlink traffic.

28. before receiving the management frame, 26. The communications apparatus of claim 25, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to receive an association response frame transmitted by the first AP multilink device, the association response frame including the AID assigned by the first AP multilink device to one or more second STAs.

29. 28. The communications apparatus of claim 27, wherein the downlink traffic indication information is carried in a TIM element field in the management frame, the TIM element field including a partial virtual bitmap field, the partial virtual bitmap field including a bit corresponding to the AID, the bit being used to indicate whether the first STA multilink device has downlink traffic.

30. 26. The communications apparatus of claim 25, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to transmit a Medium Access Control (MAC) frame to the first AP multilink device, the MAC frame including a frame control field, the frame control field including power management information configured to indicate whether a second STA belonging to the first STA multilink device is in a power save mode or a non-power save mode, and a setting of the power save mode or the non-power save mode of the second STA is independent of a setting of another second STA of the first STA multilink device.

31. The communications device of claim 25 , wherein the management frame comprises a beacon frame or a TIM frame.

32. 26. The communications device of claim 25, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to receive the management frame on a primary link or a secondary link.

33. A chip comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the processor configured to communicate with another device by using the interface circuit to implement the method for communication between the multi-link devices according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

34. A chip comprising a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with another device by using the interface circuit to implement the method of communication between the multi-link devices described in any one of claims 9 to 16.

35. A computer-readable storage medium having computer program code thereon, the computer program code, when running on a processor, enabling the processor to perform the method for communication between the multilink devices according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

36. A computer-readable storage medium having computer program code which, when running on a processor, enables the processor to execute a method for communication between the multi-link devices described in any one of claims 9 to 16.

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