Channel access method and communication device

Abstract

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

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202010820393.6, entitled "CHANNEL ACCESS METHOD AND COMMUNICATION APPARATUS," filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on August 14, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] The present application relates to the field of wireless fidelity technology, and in particular to a channel access method and a communication device. [Background technology]

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

[0004] Therefore, methods have been proposed to reduce traffic collisions. In one method, an access point (AP) may transmit a quiet time period setup frame to all terminals. Each terminal may decide whether to back off after receiving the frame. However, if the terminals do not actively back off, traffic collisions still exist, and traffic delays cannot be shortened. In another method, channels are used based on user priority. For example, in slots designated for a specific user, only the specific user is allowed to access the channel, while in slots not designated for the user, all users may compete. This can ensure that high-priority users have more opportunities to access the channel, thereby shortening the traffic transmission delay for high-priority users. In this way, when a user is set to high priority, the user's low-priority traffic has more opportunities than other users' high-priority traffic. This is unfair to other users' high-priority traffic and cannot satisfy traffic with high delay requirements. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present application provides a channel access method and a communication device for shortening the channel access delay and meeting the low-delay traffic requirements. [Means for solving the problem]

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

[0007] The first device receives a management frame from the first AP, the management frame including first instruction information, the first instruction information indicating at least one first reserved resource to which the first traffic is granted contention-based access, the at least one first reserved resource including only time-frequency resources reserved for the first traffic, and then the first device initiates channel access on the at least one first reserved resource to transmit the first traffic.

[0008] In this embodiment of the present application, the at least one first reserved resource includes only time-frequency resources reserved for the first traffic. The time-frequency resources are reserved by the first AP for the first traffic for contention-based access. Because the at least one first reserved resource is specifically reserved for the first traffic, it can be assumed that no traffic other than the first traffic accesses the at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis. In other words, traffic other than the first traffic is quiet on the at least one first reserved resource. In this way, traffic other than the first traffic does not compete with the first traffic for the at least one first reserved resource. Therefore, the first traffic has an increased opportunity to access the channel. In addition, after each access to the channel, the first device can continue to transmit or schedule the first traffic on the at least one first reserved resource, thereby shortening the transmission delay of the first traffic.

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

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

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

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

[0013] In a possible implementation, T r is T r ≦t delay / 2, and t delay is the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic. In this solution, the interval between two adjacent first reserved resources is determined based on the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic. Even if the first traffic is aperiodic burst traffic, the delay requirement of the bursty first traffic can be met if a small amount of resources is reserved for the first traffic. Since a large amount of reserved resources does not need to be reserved for the first traffic, resource waste can also be avoided.

[0014] In a possible implementation, the method further includes the step of: the first device receiving an action frame from the first AP, the action frame indicating a third reserved resource and indicating to the first device to continue the first traffic on the third reserved resource, a start time of the third reserved resource being after an end time of a first reserved resource in the at least one first reserved resource, the action frame being transmitted before the end time of the first reserved resource, and a transmission duration of a traffic amount of the first traffic being longer than a duration occupied by the first reserved resource. Because the first traffic may have other interference on the first reserved resource, the first traffic cannot be transmitted during the duration occupied by the first reserved resource. In this solution, the first AP triggers a temporary reserved resource for the first traffic on the first reserved resource, i.e., a third reserved resource, so that the first traffic can continue to be transmitted on the third reserved resource to ensure that the transmission of the first traffic can be completed.

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

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

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

[0018] In a possible implementation, there are N quiet element fields, and the N quiet element fields correspond one-to-one to the N first reserved resources. In this solution, the quiet element fields are used to set corresponding quiet intervals for the N first reserved resources reserved for the first traffic, such that legacy terminals are quiet in the resources reserved for the first traffic, interference caused by the legacy terminals to non-legacy terminals is avoided, and low delay requirements for transmitting the first traffic by the non-legacy terminals are guaranteed.

[0019] In a possible implementation, the management frame includes a resource reservation element field and a quiet element field. If the first device is a legacy terminal, the first device goes silent based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field. Alternatively, if the first device is a non-legacy terminal, the first device sets at least one first reserved resource based on the quiet interval indicated by the quiet element field. Legacy terminals cannot identify the resource reservation element field. In this solution, first indication information is carried in the resource reservation element field and the quiet element field. Therefore, the quiet element field can be set so that legacy terminals maintain quiet on resources reserved for traffic of non-legacy terminals. In other words, resources are reserved for traffic of non-legacy terminals by using one signal, and legacy terminals are quiet on the reserved resources.

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

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

[0022] In one possible implementation, when the first device determines that the network status for transmitting the first traffic satisfies a preset trigger condition, the first device sends a first request message to the first AP, where the preset trigger condition is that the transmission delay of multiple data packets exceeds a preset threshold. This solution provides the first device with an opportunity to request reserved resources, i.e., the first device requests reserved resources only when the network status is poor, thereby avoiding unnecessary application of reserved resources.

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

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

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

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

[0027] The first AP generates a management frame and transmits the management frame to the first device, the management frame including first instruction information, the first instruction information indicating at least one first reserved resource to which the first traffic is granted contention-based access, the at least one first reserved resource including only time-frequency resources reserved for the first traffic.

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

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

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

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

[0032] In a possible implementation, the method further includes a step in which the first AP sends an action frame to the first device, the action frame indicating a third reserved resource and instructing the first device to continue the first traffic on the third reserved resource, the start time of the third reserved resource being later than the end time of a first reserved resource in the at least one first reserved resource, the action frame being sent before the end time of the first reserved resource, and the transmission duration of the traffic volume of the first traffic being longer than the duration occupied by the first reserved resource.

[0033] In a possible implementation, the first indication information further indicates that the first traffic is allowed to access partial frequency domain resources within the at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first indication information further indicates that partial frequency domain resources within the at least one first reserved resource are used to schedule or transmit the first traffic.

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

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

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

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

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

[0039] For technical effects provided by the second aspect or possible implementations of the second aspect, please refer to the description of the technical effects of the first aspect or possible implementations of the first aspect.

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

[0041] The transceiver module is configured to receive a management frame from a first AP, the management frame including first instruction information, the first instruction information indicating at least one first reserved resource to which the first traffic is granted contention-based access, the at least one first reserved resource including only time-frequency resources reserved for the first traffic.

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

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

[0044] In a possible implementation, the AP is an AP in an MLD AP. The first AP operates on multiple links. The first indication information indicates a time-frequency resource of one link among the multiple links, or the first indication information indicates several time-frequency resources of a first link among the multiple links.

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

[0046] In a possible implementation, the management frame includes second indication information, the second indication information indicating at least one second reserved resource to which the second traffic is granted contention-based access, the at least one second reserved resource including only time-frequency resources reserved for the second traffic, and the at least one second reserved resource not overlapping with the at least one first reserved resource.

[0047] In a possible implementation, T r is T r ≦t delay / 2, and t delay is the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic.

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

[0049] In a possible implementation, the first indication information further indicates that the first traffic is allowed to access partial frequency domain resources within the at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first indication information further indicates that partial frequency domain resources within the at least one first reserved resource are used to schedule or transmit the first traffic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0060] For technical effects provided by the third aspect or possible implementations of the third aspect, please refer to the description of the technical effects of the first aspect or possible implementations of the first aspect.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0068] In a possible implementation, the first indication information further indicates that the first traffic is allowed to access partial frequency domain resources within the at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first indication information further indicates that partial frequency domain resources within the at least one first reserved resource are used to schedule or transmit the first traffic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0079] According to an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium that stores a computer program, which, when executed, implements the method performed by the first device in the aforementioned aspect or the method performed by the first AP in the aforementioned aspect.

[0080] According to a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer program product, the computer program product including computer program code, which, when executed, performs the method performed by the first device in the aforementioned aspect or the method performed by the first AP in the aforementioned aspect.

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

[0082] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram of a network architecture of a WLAN to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable; [Figure 2] 1 is a diagram of a network architecture applicable to a multi-link communication AP. [Figure 3] 1 is a schematic diagram of the relationship between contention window and retransmissions in a WLAN in a CSMA / CA mechanism. [Figure 4] 1 is a schematic diagram of P2P communication based on quiet time period protection according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 5] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of allocating channels separately to different users according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 6] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a channel access method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of resources reserved for one type of traffic according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of resources reserved for two types of traffic according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 9] 2 is a schematic diagram of the spacing between two adjacent reserved resources reserved for traffic according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of intervals triggering temporary reserved resources for traffic according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 11] 2 is a schematic diagram of a format of a resource reservation element according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 12] 2 is a schematic diagram of a format of a periodic resource reservation element according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 13] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a format of a short-term resource reservation element according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 14] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a format of a temporary resource reservation setup field according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 15] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a resource reservation release field format according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 16] 1 is a diagram of a network architecture of an AP cooperation group according to one embodiment of the present application; [Figure 17] FIG. 10 is a diagram of another AP cooperation group network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 18] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of AP cooperative group communication based on quiet time period protection according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 19] 1 is a diagram of a network architecture for communication between an AP and a STA according to one embodiment of the present application; [Figure 20]4 is a flowchart of the steps of triggering resource reservation for uplink low latency traffic by a STA according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 21] 3 is a flowchart of the steps of triggering resource reservation for downlink low latency traffic by an AP according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 22] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an existing quiet element in the existing 802.11 standard. [Figure 23] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of implementing resource reservation by using a quiet element field and a resource reservation element field according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 24] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a format of a temporary resource reservation setup element according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 25] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 26] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of another structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

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

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

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

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

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

[0088] The STA in this embodiment of the present application may be a user terminal, user equipment, access device, subscriber station, subscriber unit, mobile station, user agent, user device, or other device having wireless communication capabilities. A user terminal may be a device having wireless communication capabilities, such as a handheld device, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, a computing device, and other processing devices connected to a wireless modem. A user terminal may alternatively be a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a terminal, terminal equipment, a portable communication device, a handheld device, a portable computing device, an entertainment device, a gaming device or system, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device of various forms configured to conduct network communications over a wireless medium. For example, a STA may be a router, a switch, a bridge, etc. For ease of explanation, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to herein as stations or STAs.

[0089] An AP in this embodiment of the present application is a device located in a wireless communication network and providing wireless communication capabilities to STAs associated with the AP. The AP may be used as a hub of a communication system and may be a communication device such as a base station, a router, a gateway, a repeater, a communication server, a switch, or a bridge. The base station may include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, etc. In this specification, for ease of explanation, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as APs.

[0090] A WLAN operates in an unlicensed frequency band. In other words, any device that meets the wireless specifications can transmit or receive data on this frequency band. However, multiple devices exist in a WLAN. If multiple devices use the same channel to transmit data during the same time period, collisions will obviously occur, and multiple devices will not be able to transmit data. To reduce collisions between devices in a WLAN, it is specified that all devices in a WLAN can communicate by using a carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) mechanism. Specifically, before transmitting data, all devices in a WLAN can actively initiate a channel access procedure and then monitor the channel status by using the CSMA / CA mechanism to determine whether the channel is idle. A channel is used to transmit data only when the channel is idle. If the channel is not idle, it indicates that the channel is being used by other devices and is not being used to transmit data.

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

[0092] However, when there are a large number of users in a WLAN, multiple users may simultaneously initiate a CSMA / CA-based channel access procedure, and collisions may still occur. For example, if multiple users simultaneously detect that the channel is idle and select the same random number from the contention window, the multiple users will choose to transmit data at the same time. Clearly, collisions will cause data transmission failures. In this case, if any one of the multiple users decides to fail to transmit data, the user may be considered to be colliding with another user, and the user may choose to increase the maximum value in the CW, thereby reducing the probability of collision during the next channel access. For example, Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the relationship between the contention window and retransmissions in a WLAN under the CSMA / CA mechanism. For example, when there are no retransmissions, i.e., before a user begins to transmit data, the random number selected from the CW may be 31. When a user fails to transmit data for the first time, the user may increase the maximum value in the CW. In other words, the user can extend the CW. For example, the maximum value in the CW can be increased to 63. In this case, the range of random numbers selected by the user from the CW is large, and the probability of collision during the next channel access can be reduced. It should be understood that if data transmission failures still occur after the user expands the contention window, i.e., if retransmissions are required, the user can continue to expand the CW, for example, increasing the maximum value of CW to 127. Similarly, if the user fails to retransmit five or more times, the maximum value of CW can be increased to 1023.

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

[0094] To provide better quality of service (QoS) guarantees for traffic with higher delay requirements (which may be referred to as high-priority traffic in this application), IEEE 802.11 introduces EDCA contention queues. EDCA increases the maximum possible value of the CW. For example, the maximum CW value may be 7 or 15. That is, EDCA narrows the range of maximum and minimum CW values. This can increase the probability that high-priority traffic will compete for the channel and shorten the delay for high-priority traffic. For example, the value range of CW for the highest-priority voice queue may be defined as [7, 15]. The value range of CW for the second-highest-priority video queue may be defined as [15, 31]. Although EDCA can increase the probability that high-priority traffic will access the channel and shorten the delay for high-priority traffic, contention and collisions for high-priority traffic still exist. In addition, the reduction in CW causes more frequent collisions for high-priority traffic. Specifically, with the emergence of more and more types of high-priority traffic, the IEEE 802.11 Real-Time Applications (RTA) Interest Group has defined multiple low-latency scenarios, such as real-time online gaming, real-time video, industrial wireless, and unmanned aerial vehicle control. The latency requirements for these traffic types range from 1 ms to 100 ms, far exceeding the latency requirement of the highest priority traffic, voice (300 ms), under the EDCA mechanism. While the EDCA mechanism is still in use, collisions between high-priority traffic types are becoming more severe.

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

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

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

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

[0099] STA 2 receives the QTP setup frame and can recognize that P2P traffic exists in QTP. STA 2 can choose to back off in QTP and release the channel. Alternatively, STA 2 may choose to continue using the channel. In other words, STA 2 decides whether to continue using the channel, and the AP does not force STA 2 to release the channel in QTP. For example, if the traffic transmitted by STA 2 has low latency requirements, STA 2 may choose to be quiet in QTP and actively release the channel. This can avoid an increase in STA 2's energy consumption, which would occur if STA 2 were to retransmit traffic due to a collision. However, if STA 2 actively backs off, the STA will have a long channel access delay. Therefore, in most cases, STA 2 does not choose to actively back off. In this way, STA 2 may still compete for the channel with SAT 1 or STA 3, still causing collisions in P2P communication.

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

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

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

[0103] However, this requires synchronization between users so that they know which slot to start backoff from. However, WLAN is an asynchronous network, and it is difficult to maintain slot synchronization between devices. In addition, this method allocates slots based on user priority, which is unfair to traffic. For example, a user may have both high-priority and low-priority traffic. If a user is set to high priority, the user's low-priority traffic has more opportunities than other users' high-priority traffic. This is unfair to other users' high-priority traffic.

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

[0105] With reference to the accompanying drawings, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are described below.

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

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

[0108] S601: A first AP transmits a management frame to a first device, the first device receives the management frame, the management frame includes first instruction information, the first instruction information indicates at least one first reserved resource to which the first traffic is granted contention-based access, and the at least one first reserved resource includes only resources reserved for the first traffic.

[0109] S602: A first device initiates channel access on at least one first reserved resource and transmits first traffic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0116] In some embodiments, the N first reserved resources may be several time-frequency resources between TBTT. Note that the TBTT in this specification may be considered as the time interval during which the first AP transmits a management frame twice in succession. For example, the TBTT may be the time interval during which two beacon frames are transmitted in succession, or the TBTT may be the time interval during which two association response frames, two probe response frames, etc. are transmitted in succession. The N first reserved resources may be aperiodic resources or may be periodic resources as shown in FIG. 7. This is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The following uses an example in which the N first reserved resources are periodic resources.

[0117] In one example, the N first reserved resources may be one channel reserved among multiple channels during the TBTT, or several RUs reserved on one channel. In another example, if the first AP has dual-link capability, i.e., if the first AP is an AP in an MLD AP and operates on multiple links, the N first reserved resources may be frequency domain resources of all of the multiple links, e.g., Link 1 and Link 2 in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the N first reserved resources may be frequency domain resources of one of the multiple links, e.g., Link 1 or Link 2 in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the N first reserved resources may be partial frequency domain resources of one of the multiple links, e.g., partial frequency domain resources of Link 1 or Link 2 in FIG. 2.

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

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

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

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

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

[0123] In one example, further refer to Figure 6. S603: The first AP may send second instruction information to the first device, and the second instruction information may indicate M second reserved resources to which the second traffic is allowed contention-based access. Note that S603 is not required and is therefore indicated by using a dashed line in Figure 6. Note that S603 may be performed before S601 or S602, or may be performed after S601 or S602.

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

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

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

[0127] For example, N first reserved resources are reserved for the first traffic. The interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources isr is T r ≦t delay / 2, where t delay is the maximum delay (delay upperbound) tolerated by the first traffic, as shown in Figure 9. R1 to R4 are N first reserved resources, and are the maximum delay t tolerated by the first traffic. delay is from the start time t2 of R2 to the start time t3 of R4. Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the interval T r ≦t delay / 2 satisfies the requirements of low-latency traffic as much as possible. Even if the amount of N first reserved resources is small, the delay requirements of aperiodic traffic can be guaranteed for the aperiodic traffic. In this way, a large amount of reserved resources does not need to be reserved for the first traffic, and resource waste can be avoided.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0136] It should be understood that there may be various types of terminals within a communication network, for example, terminals that support versions earlier than the Wi-Fi 6 protocol (which may be referred to as legacy terminals for short) and terminals that support the IEEE 802.11ax next-generation WLAN protocol (EHT, extreme high throughput) (which may be referred to as EHT terminals or EHT+ terminals for short).

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0143] [Table 1]

[0144] The regular resource reservation field in Table 1 may be used to reserve periodic resources. The format of the regular resource reservation element field may be shown in Figure 12. The regular resource reservation element field may include an Element ID field, a Length field, an Element ID extension field, a Control field, a resource reservation count field, a resource reservation period field, a resource reservation offset field, a resource reservation interval field, a resource reservation duration field, and a resource reservation mode field.

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

[0146] The Short Regular Resource Reservation field in Table 1 can also be used to reserve periodic resources. The format of the Short Regular Resource Reservation element field can be shown in Figure 13. The contents of each field included in the Short Regular Resource Reservation element field are the same as those in Figure 12. The details will not be described again here.

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

[0148] The Temp Resource Reservation setup in Table 1 can be used to reserve aperiodic resources. The format of the Temp Resource Reservation setup field can be shown in Figure 14. The contents indicated by each field included in the Temp Resource Reservation setup field are the same as those in Figure 12. The details will not be described again here.

[0149] The above are several implementations of implementing periodic and aperiodic resource reservations by using the Resource Reservation element field. Regardless of the specific form, the Resource Reservation element field may be carried in a management frame such as a beacon frame, a probe response frame, or an association request frame. The following describes an implementation of resource reservation release by using the Resource Reservation element field.

[0150] In this embodiment of the present application, two types of resource reservation release are included, for example, normal resource reservation release and temporary resource reservation release. Figure 15 shows the format of the Resource Reservation release field. The contents indicated by each field included in the Resource Reservation setup field are the same as those in Figure 12. The details will not be described again here. The Regular Resource Reservation release field may indicate releasing the periodicity reserved by using the Regular Resource Reservation field. The Regular Resource Reservation release field is usually carried in a Beacon frame and paired with the Regular Resource Reservation field. The Temporary Resource Reservation release field may indicate releasing the aperiodic reserved resource reserved by using the Temporary Resource Reservation setup field. The Temporary Resource Reservation release field is usually carried in an action frame and paired with the Temporary Resource Reservation Setup field.

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

[0152] It should be understood that multiple intra-frequency APs may form a cooperative group, and the APs in the cooperative group may communicate with each other. One AP in the cooperative group may be referred to as a primary AP. The primary AP has a cooperative control function and can coordinate the communications of other APs. For example, the primary AP may allocate resources to other APs. All APs in an AP cooperative group access the same resources on a contention basis. To avoid collisions between multiple APs, the backoff mechanism in the P2P communication of FIG. 3 may be used. However, when two neighboring APs are close to each other and the resources of the two APs are not aligned (in other words, the two APs do not know the start and end points of the resources), the two APs do not know which resource location to back off, and therefore mutual interference may still exist.

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

[0154] For example, Figures 16 and 17 each show a schematic diagram of an AP cooperation group architecture. Figure 16 shows an example in which a network includes an access controller (AC) and three APs. The three APs are AP 1, AP 2, and AP 3, respectively. AP 1 has cooperation control functionality. When an AC or coordinator, for example, AP 1, exists in the network, the AC or coordinator may configure the three APs (AP 1, AP 2, and AP 3) of the network to form a cooperation group and designate one of the APs (e.g., AP 1) as the primary AP. It should be understood that when the AC forms a cooperation group, AP 1 does not need to form the cooperation group. Therefore, Figure 16 uses dashed lines to indicate that AP 1 forms the cooperation group.

[0155] FIG. 17 shows an example of a network including three APs. The three APs are AP1, AP2, and AP3. All three APs have a coordination function. Any AP in the network with a coordination function can actively initiate negotiation between APs based on the AP's location and configuration parameters to form an AP coordination group. The AP that establishes the coordination group can designate an AP in the network as the primary AP. Note that any AP with a coordination function can form a coordination group, and all three APs in FIG. 17 can form a coordination group. In FIG. 17, for example, AP1 forms the coordination group. Therefore, dashed lines are used in FIG. 17 for illustration purposes. After AP1 and AP2 coordinate, they can exchange information required for coordination, such as received signal strength indication (RSSI) information of neighboring cell STAs, channel state information (CSI), user buffer information, and time-frequency synchronization information between the APs.

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

[0157] To avoid interference caused by the STA's traffic to the traffic between APs, the primary AP may quiet all STAs in the cell served by the primary AP on the N first reserved resources. In other words, the primary AP quiets the STAs associated with the primary AP on the N first reserved resources. However, the primary AP can only quiet the STAs associated with the primary AP, and cannot quiet the remaining APs in the cooperative group. Therefore, to avoid interference between APs in the cooperative group, the remaining APs in the cooperative group other than the primary AP may adjust the resources that can be reserved by the remaining APs based on the N first reserved resources reserved by the primary AP for the first traffic. For example, the remaining APs in the cooperative group may monitor the beacon frames of the primary AP over the air interface to monitor the TBTT T of the primary AP. B and resource reservation period T r Each AP in the remaining APs determines the transmission time of the TBTT of the cell served by the AP as T B +m×T r and adjust the resource reservation period of the cell served by the AP to T r where m is an integer greater than or equal to 0. In this way, the reserved resources of APs in the cooperative group can be coordinated. When AP1 and AP2 exchange coordination information regarding R1 to R3, the P2P backoff mechanism shown in FIG. 3 can be used. This avoids mutual interference between APs and shortens traffic transmission delays between APs. Similarly, the remaining APs can also quiet the STAs associated with the remaining APs on the N first reserved resources. In this way, all STAs associated with all APs in the cooperative group maintain silence on the N first reserved resources and do not participate in channel contention, so that communication between APs is not interfered with by the STAs.

[0158] In one example, the first device is a second AP in the same AP cooperation group as the first AP. After receiving the management frame, the second AP transmits the management frame at a transmission time T B and the interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources r Based on this, the time when the second AP transmits the management frame is determined as T B +m×T r and further adjust the resource reservation period of the cell served by the second AP to T r m can be set to m, where m is an integer equal to or greater than 0. In this way, all APs in the entire AP cooperation group transmit management frames at the same time, and the resource reservation periods for the cells served by the APs are also the same. In this way, APs in the AP cooperation group can recognize the start and end times of each other's reserved resources and can back off at the appropriate time. This avoids collisions between APs.

[0159] For ease of understanding, Figure 18 is a schematic diagram of AP cooperative group communication based on quiet time period protection according to one embodiment of the present application. Figure 18 shows an example of two APs (AP 1 and AP 2) and two STAs (STA 1 and STA 2). AP 1 and AP 2 are located in the same cooperative group. For example, AP 1 is the primary AP. AP 1 can periodically transmit a beacon frame. The newly added reserved resource field in the beacon frame contains information about N first reserved resources (e.g., R1, R2, and R3) reserved for the first traffic, such as the duration occupied by each first reserved resource and the interval T between two adjacent first reserved resources. r AP 2 monitors the beacon frame transmitted by AP 1, determines the N first reserved resources reserved by AP 1, and then determines the transmission time of the TBTT of the cell served by AP 2 as T B +m×T r and adjust the resource reservation period of the cell served by AP 2 to T r18 , the reserved resources of AP 2 can be set to match those of AP 1. In this way, AP 2 can adjust its reserved resources to match those of AP 1, or the reserved resources of AP 2 can be considered to be aligned with those of AP 1 (as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 18 ). Because the reserved resources of AP 1 and AP 2 are aligned, the P2P backoff mechanism shown in FIG. 3 can be used. In other words, AP 2 clearly knows the resource location to back off, so that collisions between AP 2 and AP 1 can be avoided and the reliability of communication between AP 1 and AP 2 can be improved.

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

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

[0162] Furthermore, since multiple types of low-latency traffic may exist on a network, the AP may reserve resources for each type of traffic to meet the latency requirements of each type of low-latency traffic. For example, suppose there are two types of low-latency traffic on a network, such as NS / EP traffic and real-time traffic. The AP may add two Regular Resource Reservation fields to a Beacon frame. The two Regular Resource Reservation fields correspond one-to-one to the two types of low-latency traffic. Alternatively, the AP may transmit two Beacon frames consecutively, with one Beacon frame being used to reserve resources for one type of traffic and the other Beacon frame being used to reserve resources for the other type of traffic.

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

[0164] The first AP determining that the network status has improved may be the first AP actively detecting the network status, or the first device notifying the first AP that the network status has improved. When the first device determines that the network status has improved or the first traffic has ended, the first device may request the first AP to release the N first reserved resources. For example, the first device may send a second request message to the first AP, where the second request message is used to request the first AP to release the N first reserved resources. The first AP receives the second request message and transmits a management frame to the first device to release the N first reserved resources, instructing the first device to release the N first reserved resources. Indeed, when the first AP determines that the network status has improved, the first AP actively transmits a management frame to the first device to release the N first reserved resources, indicating to the first device to cancel the N first reserved resources reserved for the first traffic. Similarly, for the temporary reserved resources triggered by the first AP for the first traffic, when the first traffic ends, the first device may also request the first AP to release the temporary reserved resources. As shown in FIG. 10, the first AP may transmit a management frame for temporary resource reservation release before the end time of the temporary reserved resource R3.

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

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

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

[0168] It should be understood that although the first traffic is a traffic with a high delay requirement, if the network status is good, the delay requirement of the first traffic can still be met. In this case, if the first AP still reserves resources for the first traffic when the network status is good, resource waste will obviously be caused. In order to avoid resource waste, in this embodiment of the present application, before the STA requests the AP to reserve resources for the first traffic, the STA can determine whether the current network status meets the delay requirement of the first traffic. For example, if the network status is good, the status is more likely to meet the delay requirement of the first traffic, and if the network status is bad, the status is less likely to meet the delay requirement of the first traffic.

[0169] In one example, the STA may trigger uplink low latency traffic, and the STA may notify the AP whether the current status of the network meets the latency requirement of the first traffic.

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

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

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

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

[0174] In addition, it is assumed that the STA needs to transmit 10 data packets. After consecutively transmitting three data packets on the same time-frequency resource, the STA does not have a chance to transmit the remaining data packets due to delays. In this case, the network status may be considered to be poor. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the transmission delay of the data packets exceeding the delay threshold may also be considered to be K times the delay threshold. For example, the transmission delay of K consecutive data packets reaches p times the delay threshold, where K is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and p is a real number greater than 1.

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

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

[0177] S2003: The AP sends a management frame to the STA, and the STA receives the management frame, and the management frame may carry the above-mentioned first instruction information to reserve N first reserved resources for the first traffic.

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

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

[0180] In this embodiment of the present application, the resources reserved for the traffic are restricted to be used in a contention-based manner. When multiple low-latency traffics exist, the probability that multiple low-latency traffics will be transmitted simultaneously may be high or low. By default, if the probability of multiple low-latency traffics being transmitted simultaneously is considered high, a large amount of resources must be reserved for the multiple low-latency traffics. However, in reality, the probability of multiple low-latency traffics being transmitted simultaneously is low, which obviously results in resource waste. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the AP can determine the N first reserved resources reserved for the first traffic based on the probability of simultaneous transmission of specific traffic (e.g., the first traffic) of different users. For example, if the probability of simultaneous transmission of the first traffic of 10 users is 20%, the first AP can reserve 2N first reserved resources for the first traffic. Compared with reserving 10N first reserved resources, resource consumption can be obviously reduced.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0189] S2101: The AP determines that the status of the network satisfies a trigger condition.

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

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

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

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

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

[0195] Example 1: If the first traffic is burst traffic, the AP may further trigger temporary reserved resources for the first traffic to ensure that the first traffic can be properly transmitted and improve the reliability of communication between the AP and the STA. For a specific manner in which the AP reserves the N first reserved resources and the temporary reserved resources for the first traffic, please refer to the description in the preceding embodiment. The details will not be described again here. Note that when the STA completes the transmission of the first traffic, the STA can request the AP to release the temporary reserved resources. The example shown in FIG. 10 is still used. When the STA completes the transmission of the first traffic from time t2 to time t3, the temporarily reserved resources can be released to reserve more resources for other traffic for contention-based access, thereby shortening the transmission delay of each traffic.

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

[0197] In the network shown in FIG. 19, STA 1 is a legacy terminal, STA 2 is an EHT terminal, and STA 3 is also an EHT terminal. If the first indication information transmitted by the AP is carried in a newly added field, i.e., the Resource Reservation element field, of the management frame, the legacy terminal obviously cannot identify the Resource Reservation element field and therefore cannot become quiet on the time-frequency resources reserved for the EHT terminal. In this case, the common traffic of the legacy terminal and the low-latency traffic of the EHT terminal may collide. In this case, the management frame carrying the first indication information may include the Resource Reservation element field and the Quiet Element field. If the STA is a legacy terminal, the STA becomes silent based on the quiet interval indicated by the Quiet Element field. If the STA is a non-legacy terminal, the AP sets the N first reserved resources based on the quiet interval indicated by the Quiet Element field.

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

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

[0200] Furthermore, to reduce signaling overhead, when a management frame includes N Quiet Element fields, the Resource Reservation element field may use the Short Regular Resource Reservation element field, in which case legacy terminals are quiet during the quiet intervals indicated by the Quiet Element fields, and EHT terminals set resource reservations based on the quiet intervals indicated by the Quiet Element fields.

[0201] Similar to Example 1, in this embodiment, if the first traffic is burst traffic and the transmission of the first traffic is not completed on the reserved resource, the AP transmits an action frame on the reserved resource to trigger a temporary reserved resource for the first traffic. Different from Example 1, in this embodiment, taking legacy terminals into consideration, the network allocation vector (NAV) of the legacy terminal can be set by using a Duration field of a media access control (MAC) frame to set the temporary reserved resource.

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

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

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

[0205] It should be understood that for a STA in a general power save mode, the STA periodically wakes up to receive each Beacon frame of the AP to detect whether the AP has buffered downlink data to be transmitted. If the AP sets a reserved resource for the first traffic, the STA can update the reserved resource information in a timely manner and will not send a PS-Poll frame on the reserved resource.

[0206] However, a terminal in WNM sleep mode does not monitor each Beacon frame and may miss the AP's information for reserving resources for the first traffic. Therefore, the AP can include a Resource Reservation element field in a Beacon frame corresponding to the TBTT at which the terminal in WNM sleep mode wakes up. In this way, a terminal in WNM sleep mode can receive a Beacon frame and determine the resources reserved by the AP for the first traffic based on the Resource Reservation element field in the Beacon frame. As a result, the terminal in WNM sleep mode cannot occupy the resources reserved for the first traffic to transmit an uplink frame.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0218] In the channel access method provided in this embodiment of the present application, an AP can reserve a time-frequency resource for contention and use for a first traffic. In other words, only the first traffic is allowed to access the time-frequency resource on a contention basis, and traffic other than the first traffic is quiet on the time-frequency resource. Because only the first traffic is allowed to access the reserved time-frequency resource on a contention basis, the first traffic's chance of accessing the channel can be increased, and the transmission delay of the first traffic can be shortened.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0228] In an optional implementation, T r is T r ≦t delay / 2, and t delay is the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic.

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

[0230] In optional implementations, the first indication information further indicates that the first traffic is allowed to access partial frequency domain resources within the at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first indication information further indicates that partial frequency domain resources within the at least one first reserved resource are used to schedule or transmit the first traffic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0240] In an optional implementation, exceeding the preset threshold further includes reaching K times the preset threshold.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0247] In an optional implementation, T r is T r ≦t delay / 2, and t delay is the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic.

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

[0249] In optional implementations, the first indication information further indicates that the first traffic is allowed to access partial frequency domain resources within the at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first indication information further indicates that partial frequency domain resources within the at least one first reserved resource are used to schedule or transmit the first traffic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0261] The specific connection medium between the transceiver 2610, the processor 2620, and the memory 2630 is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment of the present application, the memory 2630, the processor 2620, and the transceiver 2610 are connected via a bus 2640 in FIG. 26. In FIG. 26, thick lines are used to represent buses. The connection schemes between other components are merely illustrative examples and do not imply limitations. Buses may be categorized as address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of representation, only thick lines are used to represent buses in FIG. 26, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

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

[0263] In this embodiment of the present application, the memory 2630 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), or a volatile memory, such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory is any other medium capable of carrying or storing expected program code in the form of instructions or data structures and accessible by a computer, without being limited thereto. The memory in this embodiment of the present application may alternatively be a circuit or any other device capable of implementing a storage function and configured to store program instructions and / or data.

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

[0265] As a possible product form, the AP or STA described in this embodiment of the present application may further be implemented using the following components: one or more FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), controllers, state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware components, any other suitable circuitry, or any combination of circuitry capable of performing the various functions described in the present application.

[0266] It should be understood that the AP in various product forms can have any function of the AP in the above-mentioned method embodiment, and the details will not be described again here. The STA in various forms can have any function of the STA in the above-mentioned method embodiment, and the details will not be described again here.

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

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

[0269] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium containing instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the method performed by the AP or STA of Figure 6, Figure 20, or Figure 21.

[0270] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product including computer program code, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to perform the method performed by the AP or STA of Figure 16, Figure 20, or Figure 21.

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

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

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

[0274] It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" may be used interchangeably in the embodiments of this application. "At least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "and / or" describes an association relationship between related objects and indicates that three relationships may exist. For example, "A" and / or "B" may indicate the following three cases: when A exists alone, when both A and B exist, and when B exists alone, where A and B may be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between associated objects. "At least one of the following items (moieties)" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of singular items (moieties) or multiple items (moieties). 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 may be singular or plural.

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

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

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

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

[0279] It is obvious that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to this application without departing from the scope of this application. This application is intended to cover these modifications and variations of this application, provided that they fall within the scope of protection defined by the following claims and their equivalent technologies. [Explanation of symbols]

[0280] 101 Multilink AP Device 102 Multilink STA Device 101-1 Related AP 101-2 Related AP 102-1 Belonging STA 102-2 Belonging STA 2500 Communication Equipment 2510 Processing Module 2520 Transmit / Receive Module 2600 Communication Equipment 2610 Transmitter / Receiver 2620 processor 2630 memory 2640 Bus

Claims

1. A channel access method, comprising: receiving, by a first device, a management frame from a first access point (AP), the management frame including first indication information, the first indication information indicating at least one first reserved resource to which a first traffic is granted contention-based access, the at least one first reserved resource including only time domain resources; initiating, by the first device, channel access to the at least one first reserved resource and transmitting the first traffic; Including, the management frame includes N quiet element fields, and the N quiet periods indicated by the N quiet element fields correspond one-to-one to the at least one first reserved resource, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1; method.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the management frame further includes a first element field.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first instruction information is carried in the first element field.

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

5. A method described in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the time domain resource is a partial time domain resource between a first target beacon transmission time TBTT at which a target beacon is transmitted and a second TBTT at which the next target beacon is transmitted.

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

7. The method of claim 6, wherein T r satisfies T r ≦t delay / 2, where t delay is the maximum delay tolerated by the first traffic.

8. A method as described in claim 6 or 7, wherein the first instruction information further indicates that the first traffic is allowed to access a partial frequency domain resource within the at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first instruction information further indicates that the partial frequency domain resource within the at least one first reserved resource will be used to schedule or transmit the first traffic.

9. A communication device, comprising: a transceiver module and a processing module; The transceiver module is configured to receive a management frame from a first access point (AP), the management frame including first instruction information, the first instruction information indicating at least one first reserved resource to which a first traffic is granted contention-based access, the at least one first reserved resource including only a time domain resource; the transceiver module is further configured to initiate channel access to the at least one first reserved resource and transmit the first traffic; the management frame includes N quiet element fields, and the N quiet periods indicated by the N quiet element fields correspond one-to-one to the at least one first reserved resource, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1; Communication equipment.

10. The communication device of claim 9, wherein the management frame further includes a first element field.

11. The communication device of claim 10, wherein the first instruction information is carried in the first element field.

12. The communication device according to claim 9, wherein the management frame is a beacon frame, an association response frame, a probe response frame, or an action frame.

13. A communication device described in any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein the time domain resource is a partial time domain resource between a first target beacon transmission time TBTT at which a target beacon is transmitted and a second TBTT at which the next target beacon is transmitted.

14. A communication device described in any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein an interval T r between two adjacent first reserved resources is determined based on the delay requirement of the first traffic, and a duration occupied by each first reserved resource is determined based on the traffic volume of the first traffic.

15. The communication device according to claim 14, wherein T r satisfies T r ≦t delay / 2, and t delay is the maximum delay allowed by the first traffic.

16. A communication device as described in claim 14 or 15, wherein the first instruction information further indicates that the first traffic is allowed to access a partial frequency domain resource within the at least one first reserved resource on a contention basis, and / or the first instruction information further indicates that the partial frequency domain resource within the at least one first reserved resource will be used to schedule or transmit the first traffic.

17. A chip, the chip including at least one processor and an interface, the processor configured to read and execute instructions stored in a memory, and when the instructions are executed, the chip is enabled to perform a method described in any one of claims 1 to 8.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program including program instructions, which, when executed by a computer, enable the computer to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

Images