Method and apparatus of handling coordinated association

Abstract

A method and apparatus for handling coordination associations in a wireless network with multiple access points are described. The method includes receiving network parameters, determining multiple AP-STA associations, and transmitting the multiple associations to the multiple STAs. The apparatus includes a control, management, and optimization module that implements the method for handling coordination associations in the wireless network.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention generally relates to the field of wireless communications. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to methods and apparatus for handling coordination and association in a wireless network having multiple access points (APs). Prior Technology

[0002] This invention generally relates to the field of wireless communications. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to methods and apparatus for handling coordination and association in a wireless network having multiple access points (APs).

[0003] In an 802.11 network, a station (STA) first needs to discover a list of available access points (APs), and then the STA needs to decide which AP to associate with. Currently, the 802.11 standard does not specify how the STA selects APs for association, nor does it provide any mechanism or protocol for APs to manage associations for the STA. Essentially, the 802.11 standard simply offloads association decisions to the STA. These decisions are controlled by the association method adopted by the STA. Many STA-controlled association methods exist, relying on various decision metrics. However, currently, only the method using the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) is widely used in practice.

[0004] Since the introduction of correlation methods, all 802.11-based systems have suffered from multiple issues including throughput degradation, high latency, and network load imbalance. It's worth noting that these problems actually stem from the use of existing correlation methods. The main reason behind this is that STA control methods aim to maximize only their own STA performance, while simultaneously degrading network-wise performance. Therefore, in traditional 802.11 systems, it is practically impossible to solve these problems without considering alternative correlation methods. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Therefore, embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and apparatus for processing coordinated association (CA) in a wireless network with multiple access points.

[0006] According to one embodiment, a method for processing coordination association (CA) of devices in a wireless network having multiple access points (APs) is disclosed. The method includes: receiving multiple network parameters; determining multiple associations between multiple stations (STAs) and multiple access points based on the multiple network parameters; and sending the multiple associations to the multiple STAs.

[0007] According to another embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for processing coordinated associations in a wireless network having multiple access points is disclosed. The apparatus includes a control module for receiving multiple network parameters and for sending multiple associations to multiple stations (STAs); and an optimization module, coupled to the control module, for determining multiple associations between the multiple STAs and multiple access points based on the multiple network parameters.

[0008] These and other objects of the invention will undoubtedly become apparent to those skilled in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments shown in the various accompanying drawings.

[0009] The method and apparatus for processing coordinated associations provided in this application enable centralized coordination and management of multiple associations, thereby enabling higher throughput, improved latency, and / or balanced network traffic load. Simple Explanation of the Diagram

[0010] Various embodiments of the invention presented as examples will be described in detail with reference to the following accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like components, wherein: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary wireless network with multiple access points according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 shows a block diagram of an apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary series of steps for performing coordinated association according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary process for STA registration coordination association services according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 5 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary series of steps for managing association requests according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary frame structure for supporting coordinated association according to an embodiment of the present invention. Implementation

[0011] It will be readily understood that, as generally described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the components of the present invention can be arranged and designed in a variety of different configurations. Therefore, the following more detailed description of embodiments of the systems and methods of the present invention illustrated in the drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention, but merely represents selected embodiments of the invention.

[0012] Multiple Access Point (MAP) systems are being considered as the next generation of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) by the 802.11 standard. In such MAP WLANs, higher throughput, improved latency, and balanced network traffic load can be achieved when association requests associated with Access Points (APs) are centrally coordinated and managed. This concept of centralized coordination of AP-STA association requests serves as a niche concept for the methods and apparatus disclosed in this invention.

[0013] The invention disclosed herein provides a method and apparatus for performing association between a STA and an AP in a wireless network with a MAP, wherein association requests are coordinated and centrally managed according to functions implemented within a CA controller. The AP in the MAP communicates with the CA controller according to a predefined backhaul protocol for receiving and sending data and control information. The STA, according to the 802.11 standard, can only communicate with the corresponding AP associated with that STA.

[0014] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary wireless network 10 having multiple access points according to an embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, the wireless network 10, a MAP WLAN, includes a CA controller 100, multiple access points AP1-AP3 representing a MAP connected via backhaul (BHL), and multiple stations STA1-STA6.

[0015] The CA controller 100 may operate within the access point AP3, but it may also operate as a separate device 101 connected to the BHL backhaul. According to an exemplary wireless network 10 and some embodiments of the present invention, the device is implemented within the CA controller 100.

[0016] There exist transmission coverage areas CVA1-CVA3 corresponding to access points AP1-AP3. These areas are defined as geographical areas where stations STA1-STA6 can be associated with their corresponding access points AP1-AP3 and thus successfully transmit and receive data, wherein the successfully transmitted and / or received data supports at least the minimum 802.11 PHY Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS). The exemplary wireless network 10 also illustrates multiple coordination associations 120_1-120_6 between each station STA1-STA6 and its corresponding AP. These coordination associations 120_1-120_6 are coordinated by the CA controller 100 and assigned to each station STA1-STA6. Specifically, Figure 1 shows stations STA1, STA2, and STA6 associated with access point AP1, stations STA3 and STA4 associated with access point AP2, and station STA5 associated with access point AP3. CA controller 100 is periodically invoked to calculate associations for wireless network 10, wherein only STAs that need to associate with a new AP receive association requests from CA controller 100.

[0017] Exemplary wireless network 100 may include user equipment (UE), low-cost devices, device-to-device (D2D) communication devices, narrow-band Internet of Things (NB-IoT), mobile phones, laptops, tablets, portable computer systems, any suitable devices, and combinations thereof. The above are examples and should not limit the scope of the invention.

[0018] Figure 2 shows a block diagram of an apparatus 20 according to another embodiment of the present invention, which can be used to implement the CA controller 100 in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 2, the apparatus 20 may include a control module 200, an optimization module 210, and a management module 220. The control module 200 collects network parameters, distributes multiple calculated association requests to each STA that needs to join a new AP, updates multiple stored network parameters using multiple measurement parameters, and mitigates anomalies, including but not limited to frequent re-associations, incorrect measurement parameters, security errors, and other types of errors that may cause CA system failure. Furthermore, the control module 200, connected to the MAP via a backhaul link 230, sends periodic requests to the APs and multiple STAs in the MAP to prepare them and send network parameters to the CA controller 100. The optimization module 210 calculates the multiple STAs associated with the new AP by performing an optimization of an objective function, wherein the network parameters are used as function variables in the objective function. The optimization module 210 is coupled to the control module 200, which periodically provides the optimization module 210 with new network parameters and requests to calculate optimized correlations. The optimization module 210 is used to pass the calculated correlations to the control module 200. A management module 220, coupled to the control module 200, is used to store, estimate, and manage network parameters. The module can be implemented using integrated circuits, hardware components, software components, firmware, or a combination thereof.

[0019] Figure 3 illustrates a flowchart of a process 30 for performing a coordinated association method using an exemplary series of steps according to an embodiment of the present invention. Process 30 represents various aspects of implementing a CA controller, and specifically, according to the present invention, represents a CA controller 100 operable in the exemplary network 10 shown in Figure 1.

[0020] According to process 30, in step S300, process 30 begins. In step S301, the CA controller sends requests to the APs and multiple STAs in the MAP to request feedback of multiple network parameters to the CA controller. The CA controller first forwards the requests to all APs in the MAP via backhaul. Upon receiving the requests, the APs forward these requests to the multiple STAs associated with these APs via fronthaul, so that the multiple STAs can submit network parameters.

[0021] In step S302, the CA controller receives multiple network parameters for estimating, storing, and calculating AP-STA associations. First, multiple STAs send multiple network parameters to the AP in the MAP via wireless fronthaul. Once the AP has collected all the necessary parameters from all the STAs associated with it, the AP forwards its own measured parameters along with the parameters received from the STAs to the CA controller via backhaul.

[0022] In step S304, the CA controller determines multiple AP-STA associations for multiple STAs, where each association is a pairing between a STA in the multiple STAs and an AP in the MAP. The CA controller calculates the AP-STA associations by performing an optimization of the objective function based on the network parameters collected and processed in step S302.

[0023] In step S306, the CA controller sends the calculated set of AP-STA associations to multiple STAs. First, the CA controller sends the calculated associations to the APs in the MAP via the backbone network. After receiving the calculated associations, the AP checks whether the STAs associated with it need to associate with the new AP. If it is determined that they need to associate, the AP sends a re-association request to the corresponding STAs via wireless fronthaul. In step S308, process 30 ends.

[0024] In one exemplary implementation, network parameters may include a list of STAs registered to the MAP and enabled to support CA capabilities, a list of APs participating in the MAP, and a set of STAs associated with APs in the MAP. Network parameters may also include multiple physical layer (PHY) rate estimates supported on the transmission link between the STAs and APs in the MAP.

[0025] In one exemplary implementation, AP PHY data rate estimation between and STA j It can be done Obtain, where the function This is a mapping from RSSI to data rate estimation, where RSSI represents AP. The measurement of channel quality between STAj and STA. In one exemplary implementation, the function... RSSI can be mapped to rates in a set of three elements. This depends on whether the RSSI value corresponds to a poor channel condition (when...). (When corresponding to the worse channel state), intermediate channel state (when...) Corresponding to the intermediate channel state), or, the better channel state (when... (corresponding to a better channel state), where, and This is the RSSI threshold. Due to channel reciprocity, all Both j and = .

[0026] In one exemplary implementation, network parameters may include estimated parameters related to traffic intensity. APs and STAs in the MAP may have the ability to measure incoming data volume, which is the amount of data requested to be transmitted on the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL). Incoming traffic volume on the DL and UL may be represented by a standardized traffic intensity metric designed to show the arrival rate of incoming traffic and, on average, the frequency at which an AP requests data transmission on the DL or a STA requests data transmission on the UL. The AP performs the traffic intensity metric measurement for DL ​​transmissions against its associated STA, and the STA performs the traffic intensity metric measurement for UL transmissions.

[0027] In one exemplary implementation, network parameters may include neighbor discovery parameters associated with an AP in a STA or MAP. This parameter may be a list of STAs and APs competing on the same channel as the AP in the STA or MAP. Competing STAs and APs can be discovered by examining the 802.11 destination address field of the received frame.

[0028] Other network parameters may include estimation parameters related to frame length. It is understood that an AP in a MAP may have the ability to estimate the expected frame lengths over UL and DL transmissions for all STAs associated with the AP. An exemplary implementation of estimating UL and DL frame length parameters could be the average length of transmitted frames over a period of time.

[0029] Another exemplary implementation may include time parameters related to the time period for calculating and assigning new association requests to STAs, the time period for requesting STAs and APs to provide network parameters to the CA controller, and the time period for updating stored network parameters and calculating new optimized AP-STA parameters. Other parameters may include those related to error handling. The CA controller needs to monitor these parameters to mitigate failures in the CA system. These parameters may be related to frequent AP-STA reassociation, such as when a STA experiences frequent new AP assignments, association rejections, STA arrivals or departures from the MAP WLAN or other suitable control, management, resource configuration, or scheduling parameters used to handle CA capabilities within a short period of time, but are not limited to these.

[0030] According to another exemplary implementation, the DL and UL throughput rates can be estimated as follows:

[0031] (Equation 1)

[0032] as well as

[0033] (Equation 2)

[0034] in, and Is it when with AP During communication STA The expected DL and UL throughput. and It is STA and AP Average frame length over DL and UL transmissions. PHY rate. Indicates in AP The rate at which data is transferred at the PHY layer between STA j and the station. (This refers to the data transfer rate at the PHY layer between the station and STA j in a MAP WLAN.) It may be necessary to consider its neighboring APs (represented as a set of APs). ) and neighboring STAs (represented as STA sets) Competition for access to the channel. These neighboring sites are located at the site. The competitive area, therefore with the site Competition for the same channel. Due to collisions and backoff, channel contention can lead to channel access delays. This channel delay is measured by the function C(.), which depends on the site. The number of sites in the competing regions. Sites in the MAP have different arrival rates for incoming data transmission. Traffic intensity index. and Characterize STA j on DL and UL respectively with AP Traffic volume during communication is scaled based on average frame length. STAs and APs can measure these metrics over a period of time. and To capture business characteristics, and these metrics and This can be used as a standardized value. Finally, M is the number of APs in the MAP WLAN. It is with AP A set of related STAs. The cardinality of a set is determined by | |, | and express.

[0035] item , is AP The average transmission time of AP Employ a frame-based round-robin scheduler for use with APs Associated STA DL transmission. It is worth noting that... It is AP The average transmission rate.

[0036] item It is a website Neighboring STAs in the competitive area Total transmission time required to send UL data.

[0037] The total throughput S in MAP WLAN can be expressed as follows: (Equation 3)

[0038] In one exemplary implementation, the CA controller may perform the following operations to find multiple optimized AP-STA associations: (Equation 4)

[0039] Subject to constraints: (Equation 5) (Equation 6) (Equation 7) (Equation 8)

[0040] The objective function is to maximize the total throughput in the MAP WLAN, but it could also be... or The set of all STAs in the MAP system is denoted by U. It is a binary variable, when STA With AP Related, otherwise when STA Not with AP Related. It is an index function, when If it is equal to the empty set, then it is equal to the universal set.

[0041] The digital solutions to the exemplary implementations presented in Equations 4-8 can be optimal or near-optimal AP-STA associations. Using this solution, the CA controller can maximize total throughput in the MAP WLAN, reduce latency, and distribute service load evenly across the network.

[0042] Figure 4 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary process 40 for STA registration and coordination association services according to an embodiment of the present invention. The CA controller can manage AP-STA associations only for STAs that have registered for CA services. Figure 4 illustrates an exemplary series of steps that a STA in a MAP WLAN can perform to register with the CA controller to enable CA capabilities.

[0043] The prerequisite for CA registration is that the STA can register only with the MAP that supports CA services. The AP can announce CA service support to the STA in a beacon, management frame, or a combination thereof. In one exemplary implementation, the beacon and management frames can include a CA capability field in the 802.11 MAC header. By setting this field, the AP in the MAP can announce CA service support to the STA.

[0044] Regarding Figure 4, the various parts of the CA registration process 40 can be implemented within STA 42, AP 44, and CA controller 46. STA 42 can be one of the sites STA1-STA6, and AP 44 can be one of the access points AP1-AP3, as shown in the exemplary MAP WLAN in Figure 1.

[0045] Before process 40 begins, it is understood that STA 42 has received information about the AP's support for CA services by checking the CA capability field in the 802.11 MAC header of the beacon frame or management frame. It should also be understood that STA 42 has determined to enable CA capability by performing registration process 40.

[0046] In step S400, STA 42 sends an initial CA request to AP 44 over the wireless fronthaul.

[0047] In step S402, AP 44 sends an initial CA request to CA controller 46 via wireless or wired backhaul using a predefined inter-AP communication protocol.

[0048] Upon receiving the initial CA request, in step S404, the CA controller 46 processes the request by: adding STA 42 to the list of STAs registered for CA services, allocating resources for managing network parameters associated with STA 42, updating the CA controller's optimization module with new variables, and testing for critical errors. If STA 42's CA registration process 40 is successful, the CA controller 46 responds to STA 42 by sending an initial CA response. In step S406, the CA controller 46 sends a CA response to AP 44 via a backhaul, and in step S408, AP 44 forwards the response to STA 42 using a fronthaul interface.

[0049] The exemplary steps of process 40 are not limited to those described herein. The following additional exemplary embodiments may be attributed to performing process 40.

[0050] Once STA 42 receives the initial CA response, it can begin measuring network parameters. STA 42 may not need to perform an additional authentication process with the MAP or CA controller, as it has already been authenticated by AP 44, which is an AP member of the MAP. Understandably, during MAP registration, STA 42 can receive an identification number that uniquely identifies it within the MAP WLAN. Using this MAP identification number, STA 42 can also be uniquely identified by the CA controller or other APs in the MAP when performing an AP-STA association request.

[0051] Figure 5 illustrates a process 50 describing an exemplary series of steps for managing coordination associations in a MAP WLAN according to an embodiment of the present invention. To perform coordination associations, the CA controller periodically collects multiple measured network parameters sent by STAs and APs in the MAP. Using these network parameters, the CA controller periodically calculates AP-STA associations and sends the calculated association requests to STAs registered with the CA service that need to associate with a new AP. Process 50 illustrates a series of steps periodically performed by the STA, AP, and CA controller to manage coordination associations in the MAP.

[0052] Regarding Figure 5, the various parts of process 50 can be implemented within STA 52, AP 54, and CA controller 56. STA 52 can be one of sites STA1-STA6, and AP 54 can be one of access points AP1-AP3, as shown in the exemplary MAP WLAN in Figure 1. CA controller 56 can be implemented using the apparatus described in Figure 2.

[0053] In step S500, process 50 begins with the CA controller 56 sending one or more measurement requests to AP 54. Step S500 is an exemplary step, where AP 54 represents one AP in the MAP. Therefore, it can be understood that step S500 represents the transmission of measurement requests between the CA controller and all APs in the MAP. After checking the received request sent by the CA controller, the AP may send the measurement request only to the STA associated with the AP. In step S502, AP 54 sends a measurement request to STA 52 over the wireless fronthaul. Step S502 is an exemplary step, where STA 52 represents one of the STAs associated with AP 54 and registered with CA services. Therefore, step S502 represents the transmission of measurement requests to multiple STAs associated with AP 54.

[0054] In step S504, in response to the received measurement request, STA 52 sends a measurement response with network parameters to AP 54 via wireless fronthaul. It should be understood that step S504 is performed by all STAs that have received the measurement request. AP 54 collects measurement responses from all STAs associated with AP 54, and in step S506, AP forwards the set of measurement responses collected from the STAs along with their own measurement network parameters to CA controller 56 via backhaul.

[0055] In step S508, the CA controller 56 uses the network parameters received from the APs in the STA and MAP according to steps S500-S506 to determine the AP-STA association. In an exemplary embodiment, the CA controller can use (Equations 4)-(Equations 8) to calculate the AP-STA association.

[0056] After the association is determined, in step S510, the CA controller sends multiple calculated AP-STA associations to AP 54 via backhaul, wherein the AP-STA associations are only used for STAs that need to be associated with the new AP.

[0057] In step S512, AP 54 sends a request to STA 52 via wireless fronthaul to request association with the new AP. It can be understood that step S512 represents a transmission of association requests to all STAs associated with AP 54 that need to associate with the new AP in the MAP. In step S512, STA 52 is not allowed to interrupt ongoing service flows. Before STA 52 can initiate association with the new AP, STA 52 needs to complete sending data to or receiving data from AP 54.

[0058] In step S514, the series of steps S510-S512 are repeated and process 50 is performed at time intervals. Then, the series of steps S510-S512 is repeated periodically. In one exemplary embodiment, steps S510-S512 can be repeated when a new STA registers for or unsubscribes from the CA service.

[0059] Figure 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary frame structure 60 for supporting coordination association in a MAP WLAN according to an embodiment of the present invention. Frame structure 60 can be used for data exchange between a CA controller, APs, and STAs in a MAP. Frame structure 60 may include a "Control Element" field 600, a "Direction" field 610, an "Action Type" field 620, a "Length of Information Element" field 630, and an "Information Element" field 640.

[0060] The “Control Element” field 600 may carry an error flag, the number of associations completed, or an association denial request, but is not limited to these. The “Direction” field 610 may be “Backhaul” indicating a transmission on the backhaul or “Access Link” indicating a transmission on the wireless fronthaul. The “Action Type” field 620 may specify the frame type and may be “Initial CA Request,” “Initial CA Response,” “Measurement Request,” “Measurement Response,” “Transition Association Request,” or “Assignment Action Table.” The “Length of Information Element” field 630 may indicate the length of the “Information Element” field 640.

[0061] The length of the "Information Element" field 640 can vary. Depending on the "Action Type" field 620, the "Information Element" field 640 can include information. When the "Action Type" field 620 includes "Initial CA Request" and the "Direction" field 610 includes "Access Link," the "Information Element" field 640 can be empty. When the "Action Type" field 620 includes "Initial CA Request" and the "Direction" field 610 includes "Backhaul," the "Information Element" field 640 can include an AP ID called the BSS ID. The AP ID can be obtained when the STA joins the MAP. When the "Action Type" field 620 includes "Initial CA Response" and the "Direction" field 610 includes both "Access Link" and / or "Backhaul," the "Information Element" field 640 can include both the AP ID and the STA ID. When the "Action Type" field 620 includes "Measurement Request" and the "Direction" field 610 includes both "Access Link" and / or "Backhaul," the "Information Element" field 640 may include the AP ID and STA ID. When the "Action Type" field 620 includes "Measurement Response," the "Information Element" field 640 may include a list of network parameters, as well as the AP ID and STA ID. When the "Action Type" field 620 includes "Transfer Association Request," the "Information Element" field 640 may include a request to associate a site with the STA ID with a new access point with the AP ID. When the "Action Type" field 620 includes an "Action Assignment Table," the "Information Element" field 640 may include multiple AP-STA associations intended for an access point with the AP ID.

[0062] The operation "determine" mentioned above can be replaced by operations such as "calculate," "obtain," "generate," "output," "use," "select," or "decide." "According to" can be changed to "in response to." The word "related" can be replaced with "of" or "corresponding to." The word "through" can be replaced with "on," "in," or "at."

[0063] Detailed embodiments and implementation methods have been described in the specification, and therefore are omitted here for brevity. Please refer to the preceding sections.

[0064] Those skilled in the art will readily observe that many modifications and changes can be made to the apparatus and method while retaining the teachings of the invention. Therefore, the invention described above should be construed as being limited only by the scope and limitations of the appended claims.

[0065] 10: Wireless Network 120_1~120_6: Coordination and Association 20: Device 200: Control Module 210: Optimized Module 220: Management Module 230: Return 30: Process S300, S301, S302, S304, S306, S308: Steps 40: Process 42:STA 44:AP 46: CA Controller S400, S402, S404, S406, S408: Steps 50: Process 52:STA 54:AP 56: CA Controller S500, S502, S504, S506, S508, S510, S512, S514: Steps 60: Frame Structure 600: Control Element 610: Direction 620: Action Type 630: Length of information element 640: Information Elements

Claims

1. A method for processing coordination association (CA) of devices in a wireless network having multiple access points (APs), comprising: Receive multiple network parameters; Based on the aforementioned network parameters, multiple associations between multiple stations (STAs) and multiple access points (APs) are determined; The associations are sent to the plurality of STAs; the associations are calculated by optimizing an objective function based on the plurality of network parameters: wherein the objective function is the total throughput in a wireless network with multiple APs, and the optimization of the objective function includes maximizing the total throughput in the wireless network with multiple APs, wherein the total throughput is based on the expected downlink (DL) throughput and expected uplink (UL) throughput of the STAs associated with each AP, wherein the expected DL throughput of the STAs associated with the AP represents the expected DL throughput of the STA when communicating with AP i, and the expected UL throughput of the STAs associated with the AP represents the expected UL throughput of the STA j when communicating with AP i; wherein the plurality of APs are in a multiple AP (MAP), and wherein the associations of the STAs that need to be associated with a new AP are sent by the APs in the MAP to the STAs that need to be associated with the new AP.

2. The method according to request item 1, wherein, Receiving multiple network parameters includes: receiving the multiple network parameters after sending multiple requests to the multiple APs.

3. The method according to request item 2, wherein, The multiple requests are forwarded via fronthaul to the multiple STAs associated with the multiple APs.

4. The method according to request item 1, wherein, The aforementioned network parameters are received via backhaul.

5. The method according to request item 1, wherein, Each of the plurality of associations is a pairing between a STA in the plurality of STAs and an AP in the MAP.

6. The method according to request item 1, wherein, The total throughput is expressed as: , where M is the number of APs among the multiple APs, and is the set of STAs associated with AP.

7. The method according to request item 1, wherein, The multiple associations are transmitted to the multiple APs in the MAP via the backbone network.

8. The method according to request item 1, wherein, The association is sent from the AP in the MAP to the STA that needs to be associated with the new AP via a fronthaul.

9. An apparatus for processing coordination association (CA) in a wireless network having multiple access points (APs), comprising: The control module is used to receive multiple network parameters and send multiple associations between multiple STAs and multiple APs to the multiple stations (STAs); An optimization module, coupled to the control module, is used to determine the multiple associations based on the multiple network parameters. The optimization module calculates the multiple associations by performing an optimization of an objective function based on the multiple network parameters. The objective function is the total throughput in a wireless network with multiple APs. Optimization of the objective function includes maximizing the total throughput in the wireless network with multiple APs. The total throughput is based on the expected downlink (DL) throughput and expected uplink (UL) throughput of the STA associated with each AP. The expected DL throughput of the STA associated with the AP represents the expected DL throughput of the STA when communicating with AP i, and the expected UL throughput of the STA associated with the AP represents the expected UL throughput of STA j when communicating with AP i. The multiple APs are in a multiple AP (MAP) configuration. The associations of STAs requiring association with a new AP are sent by the APs in the MAP to the STAs requiring association with the new AP.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, The control module is also used to receive the multiple network parameters after sending multiple requests to the multiple APs.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein, The multiple requests are forwarded via fronthaul to the multiple STAs associated with the multiple APs.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, The aforementioned network parameters are received via backhaul.

13. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, Each of the plurality of associations is a pairing between a STA in the plurality of STAs and an AP in the MAP.

14. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, The total throughput is expressed as: , where M is the number of APs among the multiple APs, and is the set of STAs associated with AP.

15. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, The multiple associations are transmitted to the multiple APs in the MAP via the backbone network.

16. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, The associations among the multiple associations are sent by the AP in the MAP via fronthaul to the STA that needs to be associated with the new AP.

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