Electronic device and control method thereof

Abstract

This invention provides a control method for an electronic device. The control method includes the following steps: establishing a first connection and a second connection with a second electronic device, and communicating with the second electronic device using an enhanced multi-link single radio (EMLSR) mode; wirelessly connecting to a third electronic device, wherein the channel used for communication between the electronic device and the third electronic device is the same as the channel used in the first connection; and after wirelessly connecting to the third electronic device, sending power management information to the second electronic device through the second connection to notify the wireless communication module corresponding to the second connection that it is in sleep mode.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a control method for electronic devices in a wireless local area network in Enhanced Multi-Link Single Radio (EMLSR) mode. Prior Technology

[0002] For next-generation Wi-Fi systems, Enhanced Multi-Link Single-Radio (EMLSR) operation has become a promising feature for improving overall system performance. EMLSR supports dynamic switching between multiple frequency bands, offering low-cost implementation and efficient power consumption. However, when multi-link devices (MLDs) operate in EMLSR mode, they may encounter compatibility issues with other networks.

[0003] Specifically, an access point (AP) and a workstation can establish two connections and operate in EMLSR mode, where the AP acts as the AP MLD and the workstation acts as the non-AP MLD. In this mode, the workstation receives trigger frames through both connections but only uses one connection (the one receiving the trigger frame from the AP) and all its antennas to communicate with the AP. However, problems arise when the workstation also uses one of these connections to communicate with another peer device. This can cause issues for the peer device or the AP. For example, if the AP and workstation are operating in EMLSR mode and have established two connections, and the workstation establishes a new connection with another peer device, where the new connection shares an antenna and hardware with one of the two connections established between the AP and the workstation, the other peer device may encounter packet transmission problems. For instance, while the workstation is communicating with the AP in EMLSR mode, the other peer device will be unable to transmit any packets to the workstation and will not know that it cannot transmit packets, leading to retransmissions and other problems. This is because all of the workstation's antennas and associated hardware are dedicated to the second connection for communication with the AP.

[0004] Due to the aforementioned issues, the MLO EMLSR mode used by the workstation and AP will need to be removed when a new peer device connects to the workstation. In this scenario, the workstation communicates with the peer device using the first connection and relies solely on the second connection to communicate with the AP. However, this approach eliminates the benefits of the EMLSR mode for communicating with the AP. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Therefore, one objective of the present invention is to provide a control method for a workstation that enables communication with peer devices in Enhanced Multi-Link Single Radio (EMLSR) mode, thereby addressing the aforementioned problems.

[0006] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a control method for an electronic device is disclosed. The control method includes the following steps: establishing a first connection and a second connection with a second electronic device and communicating with the second electronic device using EMLSR mode; wirelessly connecting to a third electronic device, wherein the channel used for communication between the electronic device and the third electronic device is the same as the channel used in the first connection; and after wirelessly connecting to the third electronic device, sending power management information to the second electronic device through the second connection to notify the wireless communication module corresponding to the second connection that it is in sleep mode.

[0007] According to one embodiment of the present invention, an electronic device including a first wireless communication module and a second wireless communication module is disclosed. The first wireless communication module establishes a first connection with the second electronic device, and the second wireless communication module establishes a second connection with the second electronic device. The electronic device communicates with the second electronic device using an Enhanced Multi-Link Single Radio (EMLSR) mode. The first wireless communication module is wirelessly connected to a third electronic device, and the channel used for communication between the electronic device and the third electronic device is the same as the channel used in the first connection. After the first wireless communication module wirelessly connects to the third electronic device, the second wireless communication module sends power management information to the second electronic device to notify the second wireless communication module that it is in sleep mode.

[0008] These and other objectives of the present invention will undoubtedly become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art who are reading the preferred embodiments described in the following detailed description and who are illustrating them in various figures and drawings. Simple Explanation of the Diagram

[0009] Figure 1 is a diagram of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a flowchart of a control method for an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Implementation

[0010] Certain terms are used in the following description and claims to refer to specific system elements. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, manufacturers may use different names to refer to an element. This document is not intended to distinguish between components with different names but the same function. In the following discussion and claims, the terms “comprising” and “including” are used in an open-ended manner and should therefore be interpreted as “including, but not limited to…”. The terms “connected” and “connected to” are intended to indicate a direct or indirect electrical connection. Thus, if a first device is connected to a second device, the connection may be through a direct electrical connection or through an indirect electrical connection via other devices and connections.

[0011] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, in the wireless communication system 100, electronic devices communicate with access points (APs) 120 and peer devices 130. In this embodiment, electronic device 110 is a non-AP multi-link device (MLD), which mainly includes a processing circuit 112 and multiple wireless communication modules, such as 114 and 116. AP 120 is a Wi-Fi AP MLD, allowing other wireless devices such as electronic device 110 to connect to a wired network. In this embodiment, electronic device 110 can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, or any other electronic device capable of wireless communication with AP 120. Furthermore, each wireless communication module 114 and 116 includes at least one Media Address Control (MAC) layer circuit and one physical layer circuit, and wireless communication modules 114 and 116 can be arranged on a single chip or on different chips.

[0012] Electronic device 110 and AP 120 can communicate with each other using two or more links, and both devices support Enhanced Multi-Link Single Radio (EMLSR) mode. In this embodiment, electronic device 110 establishes a first connection with AP 120 via wireless communication module 114. This first connection operates on a channel in one of the following frequency bands: 2.4 GHz band (e.g., 2.412 GHz to 2.484 GHz), 5 GHz band (e.g., 4.915 GHz to 5.825 GHz), or 6 GHz band (e.g., 5.925 GHz to 7.125 GHz). Furthermore, electronic device 110 establishes a second connection with AP 120 via wireless communication module 116, which operates on a channel in a different frequency band, selected from the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or 6 GHz band.

[0013] Figure 2 is a flowchart of a control method for an electronic device 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In step 200, the process begins, and the electronic device 110 is powered on. In step 202, the electronic device 110 establishes at least two connections with the AP 120, and the electronic device 110 and the AP 120 operate together in EMLSR mode. Specifically, the electronic device 110 uses wireless communication modules 114 and 116 to establish two connections with the AP 120, respectively, wherein wireless communication modules 114 and 116 may use two channels in the 2.4 GHz band, 5 GHz band, and 6 GHz band, respectively. In EMLSR mode operation, when the electronic device 110 wants to send data packets to the AP 120, the electronic device 110 can select one of the two links (one of the wireless communication modules 114 and 116), switch all antennas to the selected wireless communication module, and send data packets to the AP 120 only using the selected wireless communication module. Furthermore, the electronic device 110 uses both links to listen for trigger frames, indicating whether the AP 120 is ready to send data packets. Specifically, each wireless communication module 114 and 116 may use one antenna to listen for trigger frames. If wireless communication module 114 receives a trigger frame such as a Multi-User Request to Transmit (MU-RTS) trigger frame as defined in the Wi-Fi specification, both antennas are allocated to wireless communication module 114, and wireless communication module 114 sends a Clear Transmit (CTS) signal to AP 120, enabling AP 120 to transmit data packets. Similarly, if wireless communication module 116 receives a trigger frame, both antennas are allocated to wireless communication module 116, and wireless communication module 116 sends a CTS signal to AP 120, enabling AP 120 to transmit data packets.

[0014] In step 204, electronic device 110 begins to establish a connection with peer device 130 using wireless communication module 114. In this embodiment, wireless communication module 114 uses the same channel to communicate with AP 120 and peer device 130.

[0015] It should be noted that the execution order of steps 202 and 204 is merely an example and is not a limitation of the present invention. In another embodiment, electronic device 110 may first establish a connection with peer device 130, and then electronic device 110 may establish two connections with AP 120 and operate in EMLSR mode.

[0016] In step 206, after the peer device 130 establishes a connection with the electronic device 110, the electronic device 110 uses its wireless communication module 116 to send an empty frame containing power management information to the AP 120, notifying it that its wireless communication module 116 is in sleep mode. In this embodiment, the power management information may include a power management bit, which indicates whether the electronic device 110 is in active mode or sleep mode. For example, the wireless communication module 116 can send an empty frame with the power management bit set to "0" (i.e., PS=0) to the AP 120, indicating that the wireless communication module 116 is in active mode. Conversely, the wireless communication module 116 can send an empty frame with the power management bit set to "1" (i.e., PS=1) to the AP 120, indicating that the wireless communication module 116 is in sleep mode.

[0017] In step 208, after receiving notification that the wireless communication module 116 is in sleep mode, the AP 120 will not use the connection corresponding to the wireless communication module 116 to transmit trigger frames. That is, the electronic device 110 only uses the wireless communication module 114 to receive data packets from the AP 120. This prevents the trigger frame retransmission problem described in the background of this invention.

[0018] It should be noted that in step 208, electronic device 110 continues to operate in EMLSR mode. Specifically, AP 120 will always send trigger frames to wireless communication module 114, and electronic device 110 will switch all antennas to wireless communication module 114 to receive data packets from AP 120.

[0019] In one embodiment of step 208, electronic device 110 can determine the type of communication between electronic device 110 and AP 120 to decide whether to use wireless communication module 116 to transmit data packets to AP 120. Specifically, if electronic device 110 and AP 120 need to send data packets to each other (e.g., normal operation between AP and workstation), electronic device 110 will not send any data packets to AP 120 through wireless communication module 116, which AP 120 considers to be in sleep mode. If peer device 130 is replaced by another electronic device such as a Wi-Fi display (WFD), electronic device 110 may choose the wireless communication module 114 or 116 with better signal quality to transmit data packets to AP 120, because WFD (peer device 130) will hardly send any data packets to electronic device 110. In this case, this mechanism is not affected by the TRX problem when peer device 130 or AP 120 coexists with electronic device 110.

[0020] In step 210, the processing circuit 112 or the wireless communication module 114 determines whether the peer device 130 is disconnected from the electronic device 110. If yes, the process proceeds to step 212; otherwise, the process returns to step 208.

[0021] In step 212, electronic device 110 uses wireless communication module 116 to send an empty frame containing power management information to AP 120, notifying it that wireless communication module 116 is in active mode. Therefore, AP 120 can send trigger frames to either wireless communication module 114 or 116, but in step 208, AP 120 can only send trigger frames to wireless communication module 114.

[0022] In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, by sending power management information to AP 120 to notify its wireless communication module 116 to be in sleep mode, when a peer device establishes a connection through the wireless communication module 114 of electronic device 110, electronic device 110 can operate in EMLSR mode without causing transmission failure between AP 120 and peer device 130, as described in the background of the invention. Therefore, wireless communication system 100 can achieve better performance and lower power consumption while supporting coexistence of EMLSR mode with other Wi-Fi networks.

[0023] Those skilled in the art will readily observe that many modifications and alterations can be made to the apparatus and method while retaining the teachings of this invention. Therefore, the above disclosure should be limited to the scope of the appended claims. The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. All equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the claims of the present invention shall be covered by the present invention.

[0024] 100: Wireless Communication System 120: Access Point (AP) 130: Peer-to-peer equipment 110: Electronic Equipment 112: Processing Circuit 114: Wireless Communication Module 116: Wireless communication module 200, 202, 204, 206, 208, 210, 212: Steps

Claims

1. A method for controlling an electronic device, wherein the electronic device is a first electronic device, the method comprising the steps of: establishing a first connection and a second connection with a second electronic device, and communicating with the second electronic device using an enhanced multi-link single radio (EMLSR) mode; wirelessly connecting to a third electronic device, wherein a channel used for communication between the first electronic device and the third electronic device is the same as a channel used in the first connection; and after wirelessly connecting to the third electronic device, sending a blank frame containing power management information having a first setting to the second electronic device via the second connection to notify a wireless communication module corresponding to the second connection that it is in sleep mode.

2. The control method as described in claim 1, further comprising: Disconnect from the third electronic device; And after disconnecting from the third electronic device, power management information with a second setting is sent to the second electronic device to notify the wireless communication module corresponding to the second connection that it is in active mode.

3. The control method as described in claim 1, further comprising: After sending power management information with the first setting to the second electronic device to notify the wireless communication module corresponding to the second connection that it is in sleep mode, the EMLSR mode is used and the first connection is used only to communicate with the second electronic device.

4. The control method as described in claim 1, further comprising: After sending power management information with the first setting to the second electronic device to notify the wireless communication module corresponding to the second connection that it is in sleep mode, the communication type between the first electronic device and the third electronic device is determined to decide whether to use the second connection to communicate with the second electronic device.

5. The control method as described in claim 4, wherein the step of determining the communication type between the first electronic device and the third electronic device to decide whether to use the second connection to communicate with the second electronic device includes: If the third electronic device is a Wi-Fi display, select one of the first and second connections to communicate with the second electronic device.

6. The control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first connection uses a channel corresponding to either the 5 GHz band or the 6 GHz band, and the second connection uses a channel corresponding to the other of the 5 GHz band and the 6 GHz band.

7. An electronic device, comprising: First wireless communication module; The system also includes a second wireless communication module; wherein the first wireless communication module establishes a first connection with a second electronic device, the second wireless communication module establishes a second connection with the second electronic device, and the electronic device communicates with the second electronic device using an enhanced multi-link single radio (EMLSR) mode; wherein the first wireless communication module is wirelessly connected to a third electronic device, and the channel used for communication between the electronic device and the third electronic device is the same as the channel used in the first connection; and after the first wireless communication module is wirelessly connected to the third electronic device, the second wireless communication module sends a blank frame with power management information of a first setting to the second electronic device to notify the second wireless communication module that it is in sleep mode.

8. The electronic device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the first wireless communication module disconnects from the third electronic device; and after disconnecting from the third electronic device, the second wireless communication module sends power management information having a second setting to the second electronic device to notify the second wireless communication module that it is in an active mode.

9. The electronic device as claimed in claim 7, wherein after the second wireless communication module sends power management information having the first setting to the second electronic device to notify the second wireless communication module that it is in sleep mode, the electronic device uses EMLSR mode and communicates with the second electronic device using only the first connection.

10. The electronic device as claimed in claim 7, wherein after the second wireless communication module sends power management information having the first setting to the second electronic device to notify the second wireless communication module that it is in sleep mode, the electronic device determines the communication type between the electronic device and the third electronic device to decide whether to use the second connection to communicate with the second electronic device.

11. The electronic device as claimed in claim 10, wherein if the third electronic device is a Wi-Fi display, the electronic device selects one of the first connection and the second connection to communicate with the second electronic device.

12. The electronic device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the first connection uses a channel corresponding to the 5 GHz band or the 6 GHz band, and the second connection uses a channel corresponding to the other of the 5 GHz band and the 6 GHz band.

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