Communication methods and multi-link station equipment

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of communication, a communication device, a computer-readable storage medium, and a communication system. This method comprises: A multi-link access point device that generates a first signal frame carrying group transmission information, wherein the group transmission information is used to indicate the station whose group transmission traffic needs to be received; and a multi-link access point device that sends the first signal frame. A multi-link station device receives the first signal frame; and if the multi-link station device has group transmission traffic needing to be received, it stops the channel collision of the second station that cannot perform sending or receiving when the first station performs receiving or sending. This method can effectively reduce channel access latency by the multi-link device.

Description

Communication method and apparatus based on non-simultaneous transmit and receive multi-link device

[0001] The present application claims priority from the Chinese patent application No. 202010384061.8 filed on May 08, 2020, and entitled "Communication method and apparatus based on non-simultaneous transmit and receive multi-link device", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the technical field of wireless communication, and in particular to a communication method and apparatus based on non-simultaneous transmit and receive multi-link device. BACKGROUND

[0003] With the development of wireless technology, more and more wireless devices support multi-link communication, such as simultaneously communicating in 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz frequency bands, or simultaneously communicating in different channels of the same frequency band, to improve the communication rate between devices. Such devices are usually referred to as multi-link devices (MLD).

[0004] A multi-link device usually contains multiple stations (STA), each of which works in a specific frequency band or channel. The multi-link device can be an access point device or a station device. If it is an access point device, the device contains one or more access points (AP); if it is a station device, the device contains one or more non-AP STAs. One or more non-AP STAs in the station device can communicate after establishing an association relationship with one or more APs in the access point device.

[0005] A non-simultaneous transmit and receive multi-link device (Non-STR MLD) means that the multi-link device cannot receive on another link when transmitting on one link. The reason for not being able to receive is usually that the energy of the multi-link device transmitting on one link will leak to another link, and the self-interference generated will make the device unable to correctly demodulate the data packet to be received on another link.

[0006] For a non-STR MLD, when it transmits data on one link, it can cause interference to the data receiving service on another link due to ignoring the information on the other link. Therefore, the technical problem to be solved by the present application is how the link transmitting data or about to transmit data learns the information of the other link so as to avoid the channel interference to the data receiving on the other link.

[0007] SUMMARY

[0008] Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and device based on a non-simultaneous transceiving multi-link device, to reduce the time delay of the non-simultaneous transceiving link accessing the channel in the multi-link device.

[0009] In a first aspect, a multicast service indication method in a multi-link device is provided, which includes: a multi-link access point device generating a first beacon frame carrying multicast indication information, the multicast indication information being used to indicate a station to receive multicast service; and the multi-link access point device transmitting the first beacon frame.

[0010] In a possible design, the first beacon frame includes a first information element, and a bitmap control field and a part of a virtual bitmap field in the first information element are used to indicate the station to receive multicast service.

[0011] In a possible design, the first beacon frame includes a second information element, and a multicast identification list in the second information element is used to indicate the station to receive multicast service.

[0012] In a possible design, the first beacon frame further includes broadcast indication information, which is used to indicate whether there is broadcast service to be received.

[0013] In a possible design, a broadcast indication field included in the first information element or the second information element is used to indicate whether there is broadcast service to be received.

[0014] In a possible design, the method further includes: a second access point in the multi-link access point device stopping transmitting a first message to a second station, the first message being a message requiring a response from the second station.

[0015] In a possible design, the multi-link access point device generates a second beacon frame, a target wake time (TWT) information element of the second beacon frame carrying TWT type indication information, the TWT type indication information being used to indicate that a service period specified by the TWT information element is used to transmit multicast service and / or broadcast service; and the multi-link access point device transmits the second beacon frame on a first link.

[0016] In a possible design, the TWT information element is included in the first beacon frame.

[0017] In one possible design, the TWT information element sent by the multi-link access point device on the first link is the same as the service period indicated by the TWT information element sent on the second link.

[0018] In one possible design, the TWT information element sent by the multi-link access point device on the first link is further used to determine the service period for transmitting multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic on the second link.

[0019] In a second aspect, a multicast traffic indication method in a multi-link device is provided, which includes: a multi-link station device receiving a first beacon frame; and if the multi-link station device has multicast traffic to receive, stopping channel contention with a second station that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with a first station.

[0020] In one possible design, the first beacon frame includes a first information element, and a bitmap control field and a partial virtual bitmap field in the first information element are used to indicate the station that has multicast traffic to receive.

[0021] In one possible design, the first beacon frame includes a second information element, and a multicast identifier list in the second information element is used to indicate the station that has multicast traffic to receive.

[0022] In one possible design, the first beacon frame further includes broadcast indication information, which is used to indicate whether there is broadcast traffic to receive.

[0023] In one possible design, a broadcast indication field included in the first information element or the second information element is used to indicate whether there is broadcast traffic to receive.

[0024] In one possible design, the multi-link station device receives a second beacon frame, and if a first station in the multi-link station device has multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic to receive in a service period, the second station that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops channel contention.

[0025] In one possible design, the TWT information element is included in the first beacon frame.

[0026] In a third aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which is applied to a first multi-link access point device, and includes:

[0027] a processing unit, configured to generate a first beacon frame carrying multicast indication information, the multicast indication information being used to indicate the station that has multicast traffic to receive;

[0028] a transceiver, configured to send the first beacon frame.

[0029] In a possible design, the processing unit is further configured to stop sending the first message to the second station, the first message being a message requiring a response from the second station.

[0030] In a possible design, the processing unit is further configured to generate a second beacon frame, a target wake time (TWT) information element of the second beacon frame carrying TWT type indication information, the TWT type indication information being used to indicate that a service period designated by the TWT information element is used to transmit multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic.

[0031] The transceiver is further configured to send the second beacon frame on the first link.

[0032] In a fourth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which is applied to a first multi-link station device, and includes:

[0033] The transceiver is configured to receive a first beacon frame, the first beacon frame carrying multicast indication information, the multicast indication information being used to indicate that a station has multicast traffic to receive.

[0034] The processing unit is configured to stop channel contention with a second station that cannot simultaneously communicate with the first station if the multi-link station device has multicast traffic to receive.

[0035] In a possible design, the transceiver is further configured to receive a second beacon frame, and stop channel contention with a second station that cannot simultaneously communicate with the first station if the first station in the multi-link station device has multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic to receive in a service period.

[0036] In a fifth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which includes at least one processor coupled to at least one transceiver:

[0037] The at least one processor is configured to execute computer programs or instructions to cause the apparatus to perform the method in any one of the first aspect, or cause the apparatus to perform the method in any one of the second aspect.

[0038] The transceiver is configured to support the apparatus to perform the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or perform the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0039] In another possible design, the apparatus can further include a memory in its structure. The processor is coupled to the memory, and is configured to execute computer program instructions stored in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method in the first aspect, or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or perform the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0040] The communication device of the fifth aspect can be a chip, wherein the processing unit can be a processing circuit of the chip, and the transceiver unit can be an input / output interface circuit. The processing circuit can be configured to process signaling or data information provided by the input / output. The input / output interface circuit can be configured to input / output data or signaling information for the chip.

[0041] In a sixth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a computer readable storage medium, which stores computer program codes. When the computer program codes are run on a processor, the processor executes the method of the first aspect or any one of the first aspect, or executes the method of the second aspect or any one of the second aspect.

[0042] In a seventh aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product, which stores computer software instructions executed by a processor. The computer software instructions include programs for executing the method of any one of the aspects.

[0043] In an eighth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, which includes a processor, and can further include a transceiver and a memory. The transceiver is configured to transceive information, or to communicate with other network elements. The memory is configured to store computer execution instructions. The processor is configured to execute the computer execution instructions, so as to support the communication device to implement the method of any one of the aspects.

[0044] In a ninth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, which can exist in the form of a chip. The structure of the device includes a processor, and can further include a memory. The memory is configured to be coupled with the processor, and save necessary program instructions and data of the device. The processor is configured to execute the program instructions stored in the memory, so as to support the communication device to execute the method of any one of the aspects.

[0045] In a tenth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, which can exist in the form of a chip. The structure of the device includes a processor and an interface circuit. The processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit, so as to support the device to execute the method of any one of the aspects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0046] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the drawings needed in the embodiments will be briefly introduced as follows.

[0047] FIG. 1A is a wireless local area network communication system provided by the embodiments of the present application;

[0048] FIG. 1B is a multi-link device connection schematic diagram provided by the embodiments of the present application;

[0049] Figure 1C is another diagram illustrating a multi-link device connection according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] Figure 2A is a diagram illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] Figure 2B is a diagram illustrating a beacon frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] Figure 2C is a diagram illustrating a first information element according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] Figure 2D is a diagram illustrating whether a STA has multicast traffic to receive according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] Figure 2E is a diagram illustrating another first information element according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] Figure 2F is a diagram illustrating receiving a multicast frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] Figure 2G is a diagram illustrating receiving a broadcast frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] Figure 2H is a diagram illustrating receiving a multicast frame and a broadcast frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] Figure 3A is a diagram illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] Figure 3B is a diagram illustrating a broadcast TWT element according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] Figure 3C is a diagram illustrating a unicast TWT element according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] Figure 3D is a diagram illustrating communicating according to a TWT information element according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] Figure 3E is a diagram illustrating another communicating according to a TWT information element according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] Figure 3F is a diagram illustrating another communicating according to a TWT information element according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] Figure 3G is a diagram illustrating another communicating according to a TWT information element according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] Figure 4A is a diagram illustrating another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0066] Figure 4B is a diagram illustrating a communication process according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] Figure 4C is a diagram illustrating another communication process according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG. 4D is another communication process diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] FIG. 5A is a communication method flowchart provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0070] FIG. 5B is another communication process diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] FIG. 6 is a composition diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG. 7 is another composition diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0073] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0074] Referring to FIG. 1A, a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication system 100 is shown. The communication system 100 includes an access point device 101, one or more station devices 102 (and station devices 103, 104, 105). The access point device and the station device support a WLAN communication protocol, which can include IEEE 802.11be (or Wi-Fi 7, EHT protocol), and can also include IEEE 802.11ax, IEEE 802.11ac, etc. Of course, with the continuous evolution and development of communication technology, the communication protocol can also include the next generation protocol of IEEE 802.11be, etc. Taking WLAN as an example, the device implementing the method of the present application can be an access point device or a station device in WLAN, or a chip or processing system installed in the access point device or the station device.

[0075] The access point device is a device with wireless communication function, which supports communication by using WLAN protocol, and has the function of communicating with other devices (such as station devices or other access point devices) in the WLAN network, and of course, can also have the function of communicating with other devices. In the WLAN system, the access point device can be referred to as an access point station device. The device can be a whole machine device, or a chip or processing system installed in the whole machine device, and the device installed with the chip or processing system can realize the method and function of the embodiments of the present application under the control of the chip or processing system. The AP in the embodiments of the present application is a device providing services for the STA, and can support 802.11 series protocols. For example, the access point device can be a communication server, a router, a switch, a network bridge and the like; the access point device can include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations and the like, and of course, the access point device can also be a chip and a processing system in these various forms of devices, so as to realize the method and function of the embodiments of the present application.

[0076] The station device is a device with wireless communication function, which supports communication by using WLAN protocol, and has the ability to communicate with other station devices or access point devices in the WLAN network. In the WLAN system, the station device can be referred to as a non-access point station device. For example, the station device is any user communication device allowing the user to communicate with the access point device and then communicate with the WLAN, and the device can be a whole machine device, or a chip or processing system installed in the whole machine device, and the device installed with the chip or processing system can realize the method and function of the embodiments of the present application under the control of the chip or processing system. For example, the station device can be a tablet computer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, an ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), a handheld computer, a netbook, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone and the like, or an Internet of Things node in the Internet of Things, or a vehicle-mounted communication device in the Internet of Vehicles, or an entertainment device, a game device or system, a global positioning system device and the like, and the station device can also be a chip and a processing system in the above terminal.

[0077] The WLAN system can provide high-rate and low-latency transmission. With the continuous evolution of WLAN application scenarios, the WLAN system will be applied to more scenarios or industries, such as the Internet of Things industry, the Internet of Vehicles industry, or the banking industry, enterprise offices, sports venues, exhibition halls, concert halls, hotel rooms, dormitories, classrooms, supermarkets, squares, streets, manufacturing workshops, and warehouses. Of course, the device (such as an access point or a station) supporting WLAN communication can be a sensor node in a smart city (such as a smart water meter, a smart electricity meter, a smart air detection node), a smart device in a smart home (such as a smart camera, a projector, a display screen, a television, a sound system, a refrigerator, a washing machine, etc.), a node in the Internet of Things, an entertainment terminal (such as an AR, VR, etc. wearable device), a smart device in a smart office (such as a printer, a projector, a loudspeaker, a sound system, etc.), a vehicle-to-vehicle device in the Internet of Vehicles, infrastructure in daily life (such as a vending machine, a self-service navigation station in a supermarket, a self-service checkout device, a self-service ordering machine, etc.), and a device in a large sports and music venue, etc. The specific form of the multi-link access point device and the multi-link station device is not specially limited in the embodiments of the present application, and is only exemplarily described herein.

[0078] The device involved in the embodiments of the present application is a multi-link device MLD, including a multi-link station device and a multi-link access point device. Please refer to FIG. 1B, which is a multi-link device connection diagram provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0079] Any station (102, 103, 104, 105) in FIG. 1A is a multi-link station device 102 in FIG. 1B, and the access point 101 in FIG. 1A is a multi-link access point device 101 in FIG. 1B. Among them, the multi-link station device 102 includes one or more stations STA or non-access point stations non-AP STA, and each STA works on a specific frequency band; the multi-link access point device 101 includes one or more access points AP, and each AP works on a specific frequency band. The STA and the AP working on the same frequency band establish association to form a link.

[0080] Further, when the plurality of multi-link station devices communicate with the multi-link access point device, for the AP and STA working in the same frequency band, they can communicate with each other. Referring to FIG. 1C, FIG. 1C is another multi-link device connection diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application, as shown in FIG. 1C, the access point device 101 in FIG. 1A can be a multi-link access point device, and the station device 102, the station device 103 and the station device 104 in FIG. 1A can be multi-link station devices, wherein the AP1 in the access point device 101 communicates with the STA11 in the station device 102 on the link 1, the AP2 communicates with the STA12 on the link 2, in addition, the AP1 communicates with the STA21 in the station device 103 on the link 21, and the AP1 communicates with the STA31 in the station device 104 on the link 31, wherein the link 1, the link 21 and the link 31 are links in the same frequency band.

[0081] The multi-link device includes a non-simultaneous transmit and receive multi-link device (Non-STR MLD) and a simultaneous transmit and receive multi-link device (STR MLD). The STR MLD means that the multi-link device can receive on another link while transmitting on one link. The Non-STR MLD means that the multi-link device cannot receive on another link while transmitting on one link. The reason for not being able to receive is usually that the energy transmitted by the multi-link device on one link leaks to another link, resulting in self-interference that makes the device unable to correctly demodulate the data packet to be received on another link.

[0082] It should be noted that STR and non-STR are for two links. Therefore, when the MLD only supports two links, it can be directly stated that the MLD is an STR MLD or a non-STR MLD; when the MLD supports more than two links, it needs to be stated whether the MLD supports STR between which two links. For example, in FIG. 1C, link 1 and link 2 communicate on the 2.4 GHz frequency band and interfere with each other, so that the multi-link station device 102 cannot simultaneously transmit and receive on the link 1 and the link 2 (non-STR), and the link 1 and the link 2 are non-simultaneous transmission links of the multi-link station device 102. The link 1 communicates on the 2.4 GHz frequency band, and the link 3 communicates on the 6 GHz frequency band and does not interfere with each other, so that the multi-link station device 102 supports STR between the link 1 and the link 3, and the link 1 and the link 3 are simultaneous transmission links of the multi-link station device 102.

[0083] For a non-STR MLD, missing the received information on one link can cause the transmitted data on the non-STR link to interfere with the data reception of the link. To solve this problem, refer to FIG. 2A, which is a multicast service indication method in a multi-link device provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2A, the method comprises the following steps:

[0084] 201. A multi-link access point device generates a first beacon frame carrying multicast indication information, wherein the multicast indication information is used to indicate that there are multicast services to be received by a station.

[0085] 202. The multi-link access point device transmits the first beacon frame.

[0086] 203. The multi-link station device receives the first beacon frame, and if a first station in the multi-link station device is a station that has multicast services to be received, a second station that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops contending for a channel.

[0087] In the embodiment of the present application, the first station and the second station are stations in the multi-link station device, and the first access point and the second access point are access points in the multi-link access point device. For details, refer to FIG. 1C, the first station STA11 and the second station STA12 are located in the multi-link station device 102, and the first access point AP1 and the second access point AP2 are located in the multi-link access point device 101. The AP1-STA11 communicates on the first link (link 1), and the AP2-STA12 communicates on the second link (link 2). The multi-link station device 102 is a non-STR MLD, and the STA11 and the STA12 do not support simultaneous transmission and reception on the link 1 and the link 2, that is, the link 1 and the link 2 are non-simultaneous transmission links of the multi-link station device.

[0088] So when the first access point in the multi-link access point device sends a first beacon frame on the first link, and the first beacon frame indicates that the first station has multicast traffic to receive, the second station stops channel contention during both the first station receiving the first beacon frame and the multicast frame. The second station stopping channel contention on the second link can be uniformly scheduled by the multi-link station device, or the second station can determine whether to stop channel contention and the time of stopping channel contention (and the time of resuming channel contention) according to the multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic to be received on the first link.

[0089] The multi-link access point device can send a beacon frame (Beacon) to the multi-link station device through the first link, where a traffic indication bitmap (TIM) element can be carried, used to indicate whether the first access point has multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic to send on the first link. Referring to FIG. 2B, which is a schematic diagram of a beacon frame provided by an embodiment of the present application, as shown in FIG. 2B, the TIM element in the beacon frame includes a bitmap control (Bitmap Control) field, the corresponding octets (Octets) of which can be 0 or 1. When the number of octets is 1, the bitmap control field includes 8 bits, where 1 bit of traffic indicator (Traffic Indicator) is used to identify whether there is multicast or broadcast traffic to send. If there is one of the multicast traffic or the broadcast traffic to send, it is 1, and if there is no traffic to receive, it is 0. Wherein, the multicast traffic refers to traffic for part of the stations (not all stations) in communication with the access point, and the broadcast traffic refers to traffic for all stations in communication with the access point. The bitmap offset (Bitmap Offset) of the other 7 bits of the bitmap control field is used in combination with the partial virtual bitmap (Partial Virtual Bitmap) field to indicate whether the STA has unicast traffic to receive.

[0090] In this case, because both multicast traffic and broadcast traffic are identified by the traffic identifier field, when the field is 1, it cannot be distinguished whether the first station has broadcast traffic to receive on the first link or multicast traffic to receive. Also, when the traffic identifier field indicates that multicast traffic is to be received, because the first access point can inform all stations in the multi-link station device capable of communicating with it of the multicast traffic to be received, the first station receiving the beacon frame cannot determine from the traffic identifier field whether it is in the group that needs to receive the multicast traffic. For example, in FIG. 1C, AP1 can send the Beacon to STA11, STA21 and STA31 simultaneously, indicating that multicast traffic is to be received, and STA11, after receiving the Beacon, assumes that multicast traffic is to be sent by AP1 from the Traffic Indicator = 1, but cannot determine whether it is multicast traffic for itself. In this case, in order to ensure that it does not interfere with the reception of data on link 1, STA11 can only inform STA12 on link 2 to stop channel contention (the first multi-link station device is non-STR on link 1 and link 2), but in fact the multicast traffic is for STA21 and STA31, so it actually hinders channel contention on link 2 and increases the delay of channel access.

[0091] Optionally, the first beacon frame includes a first information element, and a bitmap control field and a partial virtual bitmap field in the first information element are used to indicate a station that has multicast traffic to receive.

[0092] In the embodiments of the present application, the multi-link access point device sends a first beacon frame to the multi-link station device, and the first beacon frame carries multicast indication information, which is specially used to indicate the station that has multicast service to receive. The first station avoids prompting the second station to stop channel contention because the first station does not participate in the multicast service. The multicast indication information can be carried in a first information element. The first information element can be referred to as a groupcast TIM (Groupcast TIM, GTIM) element or a Multicast TIM (Multicast TIM, MTIM) element. Please refer to FIG. 2C, which is a frame structure diagram of a first information element provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2C, the element identifier in the frame structure and the value of the extension field of the element identifier can be used to indicate that the information unit is a GTIM or MTIM information unit. The partial virtual bitmap includes a plurality of bits, and each bit is used to indicate whether a certain STA has multicast service to receive. Generally, the value of the bit is 0, indicating that the corresponding STA has no multicast service to receive; the value of the bit is 1, indicating that the corresponding STA has multicast service to receive. Alternatively, the bit value is 1, indicating that the corresponding STA has multicast service to receive, and the bit value is default, indicating that the corresponding STA has no multicast service to receive; or the bit value is 0, indicating that the corresponding STA has no multicast service to receive, and the bit value is default, indicating that the corresponding STA has multicast service to receive.

[0093] Alternatively, the correspondence between each bit and the STA can be determined by the bit bitmap offset field in the bit bitmap control field, and the specific determination method can be as follows:

[0094] First, determine N1, which is the largest positive even number (or 0) that satisfies the following condition: the STAs with AIDs from 1 to (N1*8)-1 have no multicast service to receive. Wherein AID represents the number of the STA in communication with AP1, and AID is an integer greater than 1. The value of the bit bitmap offset field is N1 / 2. The first bit in the partial virtual bitmap indicates whether the STA with AID N1*8 (or the value of the bit bitmap offset field multiplied by 16) has multicast service to receive. For details, please refer to FIG. 2D, which is a diagram for indicating whether the STA has multicast service to receive provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2D, the values of AIDs from 1 to 15 are all 0, i.e., the STAs with AIDs from 1 to 15 have no multicast service to receive, so it can be determined that N1=2, the bit bitmap offset N=N1 / 2=1, and the field in the partial virtual bitmap corresponds to the multicast service to receive of the STA with AID 16. That is, STA 17 does not include multicast service to receive, STA 18 includes multicast service to receive, and so on.

[0095] It should be noted that the value of the bit map offset field is N=N1 / 2, and the division by 2 is because the value of N1 is in the range of [0, 251], corresponding to 252 bytes. The bit map control corresponds to one byte, in which 1 bit corresponds to the broadcast indication field, and 7 bits correspond to the bit map offset field, and 7 bits can represent a range of [0, 127], which is not enough to cover [0, 251], so it is divided by 2. Alternatively, 8 bits can be used to represent the bit map offset field, in which case the bit map offset field is N=N1. Alternatively, the bit map offset field can also be used to represent the AID of the first STA that has multicast service to receive, that is, as shown in FIG. 2D, the bit map offset N=16.

[0096] In the embodiments of the present application, the first information element and the TIM element can be sent in the same beacon frame or in different beacon frames. The station can determine, according to the element identifier, whether the element is an element for multicast service or an element for other service (for example, unicast service). For example, the TIM element in the same beacon frame is identified as MX001, and the element identifier of the first information element can be MC001, and the like. Alternatively, the first information element can determine, in combination with the element identifier and the element identifier extension, whether the element is an element for multicast service or an element for unicast service, for example, the TIM element is identified as MX001, the element identifier of the first information element can be MX001, and the element identifier extension can be G01, and the like. The station determines, according to the received first information element, the multicast service to be received, and determines, according to the TIM element, the other service to be received.

[0097] Optionally, the first beacon frame includes a second information element, and a multicast list field in the second information element is used to indicate a station that has multicast service to receive.

[0098] Specifically, refer to FIG. 2E, which is a frame structure diagram of another second information element provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2E, the first beacon frame includes a second information element, and the second information element includes a multicast identifier list, which can include the MAC address of a station that needs to receive multicast service, or the associated identification (AID) of a station that needs to receive multicast service, or other unique identifier of the station; the list can also include a multicast MAC address, as shown in Table 1:

[0099] Table 1

[0100] Multicast MAC address

[0101] Address 1 (STA11, STA21) Address 2 (STA21, STA31) Address 3 (STA31, STA11)

[0102] The three multicast addresses in Table 1 include the sites in the brackets, which represent the receiving sites of the multicast service. The receiving sites can be explicitly indicated, i.e., the multicast MAC address is sent to all sites capable of communicating with the first access point, and the first site determines whether the multicast service is to be received according to the multicast MAC address. Specifically, the first site can determine whether the multicast service is to be received according to whether the multicast MAC address of the first site is included in the multicast MAC address list. Alternatively, the receiving sites corresponding to the multicast MAC address can be implicitly indicated, i.e., the first access point sends the multicast MAC address only to the sites that need to receive the multicast service, and the first site determines whether the multicast service is to be received according to whether the multicast MAC address is received.

[0103] As can be seen, in the embodiments of the present application, the correspondence between the multicast service and the sites is indicated by the multicast indication information, and it is determined whether the first site has multicast service to receive, so that the second site on the non-simultaneous transceiving link is determined by the multi-link site device whether it needs to stop channel contention according to the multicast service to be received by the first site, which improves the accuracy of channel contention determination and avoids unnecessary channel access delay.

[0104] Optionally, the first beacon frame further includes broadcast indication information for indicating whether there is broadcast service to be received.

[0105] It should be understood that the above method is also applicable to broadcast service, i.e., the multi-link access point device generates a first beacon frame carrying broadcast indication information, and if the first site in the multi-link site device is a site having broadcast service to receive, the second site that cannot simultaneously transceive with the first site stops contending for the channel. The multi-link access point device sends a beacon frame to the multi-link site device to indicate the sites having multicast / broadcast service to receive, and if the first site in the multi-link site device is a site having multicast / broadcast service to receive, the second site that cannot simultaneously transceive with the first site should stop contending for the channel.

[0106] Specifically, the first beacon frame can further carry broadcast indication information indicating whether there is broadcast service to be received by the first station, and the broadcast indication information and the multicast indication information correspond to different fields. The broadcast indication information can be carried in a first information element or a second information element, and the first information element or the second information element can be used to indicate the to-be-received conditions of the broadcast service and the multicast service at the same time. Specifically, the broadcast indication information can be carried in a broadcast indication field corresponding to FIG. 2C or a broadcast indication field corresponding to FIG. 2E. The field is used to indicate whether there is broadcast service to be received, for example, there is broadcast service to be received, and the value of the field is 1; there is no broadcast service to be received, and the value of the field is 0; or there is broadcast service to be received, and the value of the field is 1; there is no broadcast service to be received, and the value of the field is default; or there is broadcast service to be received, and the value of the field is default; there is no broadcast service to be received, and the value of the field is 0. In this way, the broadcast service and the multicast service can be indicated separately. The multi-link station device receives the broadcast indication information on the first link, and determines that the first station has broadcast service to be received, and then stops channel contention of the second station on the non-STR of the second link, or if the importance or priority of the broadcast service is low, the channel contention of the second station can also not be stopped.

[0107] It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the application, the first beacon frame carries multicast service indication information and / or broadcast service indication information, if the first station in the multi-link station device is a station having multicast / broadcast service to be received, then the second station which cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station should stop competing for the channel, so as not to affect the first station in receiving multicast / broadcast service on the first link.

[0108] The multi-link station device receives the first beacon frame through the first link, and if it is determined according to the multicast indication information in the first beacon frame that the first station on the first link has multicast service to be received, then the second station which cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops competing for the channel. That is, the second station stops sending data or response messages to the second access point. Optionally, after the second station stops channel contention, the multicast service indication method in the multi-link device further includes the following steps:

[0109] 204a, the first station in the multi-link station device receives the multicast service;

[0110] 205a, after it is determined that the first station completes the reception of the multicast service, the multi-link station device resumes the channel contention of the second station.

[0111] Please refer to Fig. 2F, which is a diagram of receiving a multicast frame according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Fig. 2F, the multi-link station device does not support simultaneous transmission and reception on the second link and the first link. On the time axis t, the first beacon frame transmitted by the first access point of the multi-link access point device on the first link can be a delivery traffic indication map (DTIM) beacon frame, which carries multicast indication information used to indicate a station that has multicast traffic to receive; the multi-link station device receives the first beacon frame, and if the first station in the multi-link station device is the station that has multicast traffic to receive, the second station that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station should stop contending for the channel.

[0112] Then, how long should the second station that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stop contending for the channel? How to indicate? The following method is provided:

[0113] Optionally, after the first access point of the multi-link access point device transmits the DTIM beacon frame on the first link, the first access point transmits a multicast frame on the first link. The last multicast frame transmitted by the first access point carries an end identifier used to indicate that the multicast traffic is transmitted completely. The second station that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops contending for the channel during the multicast traffic is received by the first station, and starts contending for the channel after the last multicast frame carrying the end identifier.

[0114] For example, when the end identifier value is 1, it indicates that the multicast traffic has been transmitted completely, and the default or 0 indicates that the multicast traffic is not transmitted completely; or when the end identifier value is 0, it indicates that the multicast traffic has been transmitted completely, and the default or 1 indicates that the multicast traffic is not transmitted completely; or when the end identifier value is default, it indicates that the multicast traffic has been transmitted completely. The end identifier can be carried in the more data field in the MAC Header in the multicast frame, for example, when More data = 0, it indicates that the multicast traffic is transmitted completely; or carried in the end of service period (EOSP) field, and EOSP = 1 indicates that the multicast traffic is transmitted completely. Optionally, the end identifier used to indicate that the transmission is complete can be included in the last multicast frame transmitted by the first access point, and the end identifier is not included in other multicast frames. The second station determines that the first station completes the reception of the multicast traffic according to the end identifier, and starts contending for the channel again.

[0115] Optionally, the first beacon frame also carries a multicast traffic transmission duration, and the second station that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops contending for the channel within the duration, and starts contending for the channel after the duration ends.

[0116] Optionally, the first beacon frame also carries a multicast service end time, and the second station which cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops contending for the channel before the time and starts contending for the channel after the time.

[0117] It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the present application, the multi-link access point device does not support simultaneous transmission and reception on the first link and the second link, and when it is determined according to the multicast indication information that the first station on the first link is a station which has multicast service to receive, the second station stops contending for the channel during the multicast service reception of the first station, and starts contending for the channel after the first station finishes receiving the multicast service, so as not to affect the first station to receive the multicast service on the first link.

[0118] In the case of possibility, the first beacon frame also includes broadcast indication information, and the steps 201 and 203 can be replaced by: 201', the multi-link access point device generates a first beacon frame carrying multicast indication information and broadcast indication information, the multicast indication information is used to indicate a station which has multicast service to receive, and the broadcast indication information is used to indicate whether there is broadcast service to receive; 203', the multi-link station device receives the first beacon frame, and if the first station in the multi-link station device is a station which has broadcast service and / or multicast service to receive, the second station which cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops contending for the channel. That is, the multi-link station device receives the first beacon frame through the first link, and determines whether the first station on the first link has broadcast service or multicast service to receive according to the multicast indication information and the broadcast indication information in the first beacon frame, and if yes, the second station which cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops contending for the channel. Optionally, after the second station stops contending for the channel, the multicast service indication method of the multi-link device further includes the following steps:

[0119] 204b, the first station in the multi-link station device receives the multicast service or the broadcast service;

[0120] 205b, when it is determined that the first station finishes receiving the multicast service or the broadcast service, the multi-link station device restarts the channel contention of the second station.

[0121] In the embodiment of the present application, if the first beacon frame simultaneously includes the broadcast indication information and the multicast indication information, then the service to be received by the first station includes three cases: only multicast service to receive, only broadcast service to receive, or both broadcast service and multicast service to receive.

[0122] The embodiment of the steps 204a-205a for the case of only multicast service to receive has been described, and will not be repeated here.

[0123] For the case that the first station has only broadcast traffic to receive, please refer to the figure, FIG. 2G is a diagram of receiving broadcast frames provided by an embodiment of the present application, as shown in FIG. 2G, on the time axis t, the first beacon frame sent by the first access point of the multi-link access point device can be a DTIM beacon frame, the DTIM beacon frame carries multicast indication information and broadcast indication information, the multicast indication information is used to indicate the stations that have multicast traffic to receive, and the broadcast indication information is used to indicate whether there is broadcast traffic to receive, the multi-link station device receives the first beacon frame, if the first station in the multi-link station device is a station that has no multicast traffic to receive, and the broadcast indication information indicates that there is broadcast traffic to receive, then the second station that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station should stop contending for the channel.

[0124] Then, how long should the second station that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stop contending for the channel? How to indicate? The following method is provided:

[0125] Optionally, after the first access point of the multi-link access point device sends the DTIM beacon frame on the first link, the first access point sends a broadcast frame on the first link. The last broadcast frame sent by the first access point carries an end identifier, which is used to indicate that the broadcast traffic is sent. The second station that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops contending for the channel during the first station receives the broadcast traffic, and starts contending for the channel after the last broadcast frame carrying the end identifier ends.

[0126] For example, when the broadcast traffic end identifier value is 1, it indicates that the broadcast traffic has been sent, and the end identifier is default or 0, which indicates that the multicast traffic is not sent. Or, when the end identifier value is 0, it indicates that the multicast traffic has been sent, and the end identifier is default or 1, which indicates that the multicast traffic is not sent. Or, when the end identifier value is default, it indicates that the multicast traffic has been sent. The broadcast traffic end identifier can be carried in the more data field in the MAC Header in the broadcast frame, or in the EOSP field, for example, when More data = 0, it indicates that the multicast traffic is sent. Or, it is carried in the end of service period (EOSP) field, and EOSP = 1 indicates that the multicast traffic is sent.

[0127] Optionally, the first beacon frame also carries the broadcast traffic sending duration, and the second station that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops contending for the channel within the duration, and starts contending for the channel after the duration ends.

[0128] Optionally, the first beacon frame also carries a broadcast service end time, and the second station which cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops contending for the channel before the time and starts contending for the channel after the time.

[0129] In an optional case, the first beacon frame can also include broadcast service priority indication information for indicating the priority of the broadcast service, and if the priority is low, the second station can also not stop contending for the channel on the second link when the first station receives the broadcast frame.

[0130] For the case that the first station has both the broadcast service and the multicast service to receive, refer to FIG. 2H, which is a schematic diagram of receiving multicast frames and broadcast frames provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2H, on a time axis t, the first beacon frame sent by the first access point of the multi-link access point device can be a DTIM beacon frame, the DTIM beacon frame carries multicast indication information and broadcast indication information, the multicast indication information is used for indicating the station which has the multicast service to receive, and the broadcast indication information is used for indicating whether there is the broadcast service to receive. The multi-link station device receives the first beacon frame, if the first station in the multi-link station device is the station which has the multicast service to receive, and the broadcast indication information indicates that there is the broadcast service to receive, the second station which cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station should stop contending for the channel.

[0131] Then, how long should the second station which cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stop contending for the channel? How to indicate? The following method is provided:

[0132] Optionally, after the first access point of the multi-link access point device sends the DTIM beacon frame on the first link, the first access point sends the multicast frame and the broadcast frame on the first link. Optionally, the multicast frame and the broadcast frame can be sent according to the order of service generation, or can be sent according to the priority order of the service, for example, the priority of the multicast service is higher than that of the broadcast service, and the broadcast frame can be sent after the multicast frame is sent. The last multicast frame sent by the first access point carries an end identifier, and the end identifier is used for indicating that the multicast service is sent. The last broadcast frame sent by the first access point carries an end identifier, and the end identifier is used for indicating that the broadcast service is sent. Or, after the sending order of the broadcast service and the multicast service is determined, the last service frame corresponding to the service sent later carries an end identifier, which is used for indicating that the multicast service and the broadcast service are both sent. The second station which cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops contending for the channel during the first station receives the multicast service and the broadcast service, and starts contending for the channel after the last multicast frame or the broadcast frame carrying the end identifier is ended.

[0133] The setting of the multicast frame end identifier and the broadcast frame end identifier in the embodiment can correspond to the setting of the multicast frame end identifier and the broadcast frame end identifier described above, and will not be described here again.

[0134] Optionally, after the first access point generates the first beacon frame including the multicast service indication (and the broadcast service indication), or after it is determined according to the multicast service indication (and the broadcast service indication) in the first beacon frame that the first access point will send multicast service (and / or broadcast service) on the first link, the second access point can stop sending the first message to the second station on the second link, including stopping sending the first message by the second access point under the unified scheduling of the first multi-link access point device, or sending prompt information to the second access point by the first access point to prompt the second access point to stop sending the first message, and can also prompt a time period corresponding to stopping sending the first message. Wherein, the first message is a message that needs to be responded or answered by the second station, and the second access point stops sending the first message, which can avoid the second station sending a response message to the first message, and further avoid the interference of the second station sending the response message on the reception of data by the first station.

[0135] As can be seen, in the embodiments of the present application, the multi-link station device does not support simultaneous transmission and reception on the first link and the second link, and when it is determined according to the multicast indication information and the broadcast indication information that the first station on the first link is a station that has multicast service and / or broadcast service to receive, the second station stops channel contention during the reception of the broadcast service and / or the multicast service by the first station, and starts to contend for the channel after the first station finishes receiving the multicast service and / or the broadcast service, so as not to affect the reception of the multicast service and the broadcast service by the first station on the first link.

[0136] In some cases, for non-STR MLD, if broadcast service or multicast service can be received during the whole process of communication with other devices, and channel interference avoidance between non-simultaneous reception links is performed at the same time of receiving the broadcast service or the multicast service, it can affect the communication efficiency, based on which, please refer to FIG. 3A, which is a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, as shown in FIG. 3A, the method includes the following steps:

[0137] 301、The multi-link access point device generates a second beacon frame, a target wakeup time (TWT) information unit of the second beacon frame carries TWT type indication information, and the TWT type indication information is used to indicate that a service phase specified by the TWT information unit is used to transmit multicast service and / or broadcast service.

[0138] In 301, the TWT information element specifies a service period, specifically, a start time of the TWT service period is indicated by a Target Wake Time field in the TWT information element, and a duration of the TWT service period is indicated by a Nominal Minimum TWT Wake Duration field.

[0139] 302, the multi-link access point device sends the second beacon frame on the first link;

[0140] 303, the multi-link station device receives the second beacon frame, and if the first station in the multi-link station device has multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic to receive within the service period, a second station in the multi-link station device that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station stops contending for the channel.

[0141] Similarly, in the embodiments of the present application, the first station and the second station are stations in a multi-link station device, the first access point and the second access point are access points in a multi-link access point device, the first access point communicates with the first station on a first link (link 1), and the second access point communicates with the second station on a second link (link 2). The multi-link station device is a non-STR MLD, and the first station and the second station do not support simultaneous transmission and reception on the link 1 and the link 2.

[0142] The target wake time (TWT) is used to indicate to turn on or activate at least one activity or traffic within a corresponding service period. In the embodiments of the present application, the TWT information element generated by the multi-link access point device includes TWT type indication information, which is used to indicate that the service period (or time range) indicated by the TWT information element is used to process multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic, i.e., is used to process one of multicast traffic or broadcast traffic, or is used to process both types of traffic.

[0143] The TWT information element can be sent by broadcast, in which case a broadcast TWT is established; or by unicast, in which case a unicast TWT is established. The broadcast TWT is for all multi-link stations capable of communicating with the multi-link access point, for example, in FIG. 1C, the multi-link access point 101 can send a broadcast TWT to the multi-link stations 102, 103, 104, etc. Since the communication between multi-link devices corresponds to multi-link communication between modules in the devices, it specifically corresponds to the AP1 in the multi-link access point 101 sending a broadcast TWT to STA11, STA21 and STA31 in the multi-link stations 102, 103, 104. The time range indicated by these TWT elements is the same, and the traffic to be received by the stations is also the same. The unicast TWT is for a certain multi-link station capable of communicating with the multi-link access point, for example, in FIG. 1C, the multi-link access point 101 can send a unicast TWT to the multi-link station 102, and a unicast TWT to the multi-link station 103, i.e. AP1 can send a unicast TWT to STA11, and a unicast TWT to STA21. The time range indicated by different unicast TWTs can be the same or different, and the multicast traffic to be received by the stations can also be the same or different, i.e. if STA11 and STA21 correspond to the same multicast traffic, the unicast TWT sent to STA11 and STA21 indicates the same multicast traffic to be received, and if STA11 and STA21 correspond to different multicast traffic, the unicast TWT sent to STA11 and STA21 indicates different multicast traffic to be received. And each TWT information element can include an identifier or number, used to determine which station's TWT information element it corresponds to.

[0144] Optionally, please refer to FIG. 3B, which is a frame structure diagram of a broadcast TWT element according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3B, the broadcast TWT element includes three reserved fields. If the information indicating whether the service period specified by the TWT information element is used to transmit broadcast traffic and / or groupcast traffic is multiple pieces of information, one of the three fields is used to carry the multiple pieces of information. Alternatively, the three fields can be used to respectively carry part of the TWT type indication information. For example, one of the reserved fields is used to carry information indicating whether the service period specified by the TWT information element is used to transmit broadcast traffic, and another reserved field is used to carry information indicating whether the service period specified by the TWT information element is used to transmit groupcast traffic. If the information indicating whether the service period specified by the TWT information element is used to transmit broadcast traffic and / or groupcast traffic is one piece of information, one of the three reserved fields can be used to carry the one piece of information. The TWT type indication information can also be located in a broadcast TWT recommendation field, i.e., a certain reserved value of the broadcast TWT recommendation field is used to indicate that the service period specified by the TWT information element is used to transmit groupcast traffic and / or broadcast traffic.

[0145] In addition, please refer to FIG. 3C, which is a frame structure diagram of a unicast TWT element according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3C, the TWT element includes one reserved field, which can be used to carry TWT type indication information. Alternatively, the TWT type indication information can also be located in a TWT flow identifier field, i.e., a certain reserved value of the TWT flow identifier field is used to indicate that the service period specified by the TWT information element is used to transmit groupcast traffic and / or broadcast traffic.

[0146] Irrespective of whether it is a broadcast TWT or a unicast TWT, the start time of the TWT service period is indicated by a target wake time field in the TWT information element, and the duration of the TWT service period is indicated by a nominal minimum TWT wake duration field.

[0147] Optionally, the multi-link access point device can determine that the service period indicated by the TWT information element is for multicast and / or broadcast traffic transmission on the link by sending the second beacon frame carrying the TWT information element on the link. For example, the multi-link access point device sends the second beacon frame on the first link through the first access point, and after the first station receives the second beacon frame on the first link, the first station determines that the time when the first station can receive multicast and / or broadcast traffic is the time range specified by the TWT information element according to the TWT information element carried in the second beacon frame. Optionally, the multi-link access point device can indicate that the service period indicated by the TWT information element is for multicast and / or broadcast traffic transmission on the link corresponding to the link identifier by carrying the link identifier in the second beacon frame or the TWT information element. For example, the multi-link access point device carries the link identifier of the first link in the TWT information element sent on the second link, and the service period indicated by the TWT information element is for multicast and / or broadcast traffic transmission on the first link.

[0148] After the multi-link station device determines that the first station transmits multicast and / or broadcast traffic in the time range specified by the TWT information element, the second station can stop channel contention from the start time of the time range specified by the TWT information element until it is determined that there is no broadcast and / or multicast traffic to be received by the first station on the third link, or channel contention is restarted after it is determined that the transmission of broadcast and / or multicast traffic has been completed.

[0149] Specifically, please refer to FIG. 3D, which is a schematic diagram of communication according to the TWT information element provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3D, the first access point of the multi-link access point device sends a second beacon frame to the first station of the multi-link station device through the first link (link 1), and the second beacon frame includes a TWT information element for determining a TWT service period, and the time range corresponding to the TWT service period is t1-t2. The first station can receive multicast and / or broadcast traffic in t1-t2. The second station stops channel contention when the first station receives multicast and / or broadcast traffic in the TWT service period.

[0150] Optionally, the first access point of the multi-link access point device can send a TIM frame in the TWT service period, which can indicate whether there is multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic on the first link. If the TIM frame indicates that there is no multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic, the second station starts to contend for the channel after the end of the TIM frame, as shown in FIG. 3D. Optionally, whether there is multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic can be indicated by a TIM bitmap in the TIM frame, for example, TIM bitmap = 0 indicates that there is no multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic, and TIM bitmap = 1 indicates that there is multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic. For another example, as shown in FIG. 3E, if TIM bitmap = 1 indicates that there is multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic, and the first access point of the multi-link access point device continues to send multicast frames / broadcast frames after sending the TIM frame, the second station in the multi-link station device should stop channel contention during the sending of the multicast frames / broadcast frames, and start to contend for the channel again after the end of the multicast frames / broadcast frames. For this, the above embodiment is described in detail, and will not be repeated here.

[0151] Alternatively, the second beacon frame includes an element indicating whether there is a broadcast frame and / or a multicast frame to be sent, and a time (in the TWT service period) at which the broadcast frame and / or the multicast frame starts to be sent, and the second station stops channel contention on the second link (link 2) according to the time.

[0152] In a possible case, please refer to FIG. 3F, which is another schematic diagram of communication according to the TWT information element provided by the embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3F, when the time range indicated by the TWT information element ends, that is, at t2, if the first station of the multi-link station device has not determined that there is no multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic, the multi-link station device can also start channel contention of the second station again.

[0153] In the embodiment of the present application, the multi-link access point device sends a TWT information element on the first link to indicate a time range in which the first station receives multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic, so that the first station processes the multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic in the specified time range, and does not frequently process the multicast traffic and / or broadcast traffic in other time periods, which can effectively control the frequency of stopping channel contention of the second station which cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first station, and improves the communication efficiency.

[0154] In the above description, the multi-link access point device specifies the service period corresponding to the multicast service and / or broadcast service of the first station by sending the TWT information unit on the first link, and optionally determines the service period corresponding to the multicast service and / or broadcast service of the second station by the TWT information unit. Referring to FIG. 3G, which is a schematic diagram of another communication according to the TWT information unit provided in the embodiments of the present application, as shown in FIG. 3G, the first access point in the multi-link access point device sends the TWT information unit A to the first station through the first link, and the second access point sends the TWT information unit B to the second station through the second link. The TWT service period indicated by the TWT information unit A and the TWT service period indicated by the TWT information unit B can partially overlap or be completely the same, and the first access point and the second access point perform multicast service and / or broadcast service transmission in the partially overlapping or completely same time range. Alternatively, the TWT information unit corresponding to the second station can be sent by the first access point. For example, the first access point sends the TWT information unit carrying the identifier of the second link (and the identifier of the current link) to the first station through the first link, and the TWT information unit can also be used to determine the time range of the multicast service and / or broadcast service reception of the second station on the second link. In this case, the second station stops channel contention at the time t1 when the TIM frame is sent by the second access point or the first access point. The TIM frame can indicate whether there is multicast service and / or broadcast service on the first link. If the TIM frame indicates that there is no multicast service and / or broadcast service, the second station starts to contend for the channel after the end of the TIM frame. If the TIM frame indicates that there is multicast service and / or broadcast service, and after the sending of the TIM frame, the first access point of the multi-link access point device continues to send the multicast frame / broadcast frame, the second station in the multi-link station device should stop channel contention during the sending of the multicast frame / broadcast frame, and start to contend for the channel after the end of the multicast frame / broadcast frame.

[0155] In the embodiments of the present application, the two non-simultaneous transceiving stations in the multi-link station device, the first station and the second station, determine the time range of receiving multicast service and / or broadcast service by the TWT information unit, and the two time ranges can overlap or be the same, which can reduce the channel access delay caused by the asynchronous time of receiving multicast service and / or broadcast service of the first station and the second station, and improve the channel communication efficiency.

[0156] Optionally, the embodiments of the present application can be executed independently, or in combination with the embodiments corresponding to FIG. 2A-2H, that is, before sending the multicast frame and / or the broadcast frame, the first access point in the multi-link access point device sends a first beacon frame, the first beacon frame including a multicast service indication, used to indicate the station that has multicast service to receive, or also used to indicate whether the station has broadcast service to receive, the two services corresponding to separate indication information, avoiding the problem that the first station cannot distinguish whether broadcast service or multicast service is to be received, and cannot know whether the multicast service needs the first station to receive. The first beacon frame can be sent independently, that is, the second beacon frame in FIG. 3D-3G further includes the first beacon frame; or the first beacon frame and the second beacon frame are the same beacon frame, that is, the beacon frame in FIG. 3D-3G is the beacon frame after combination of the first beacon frame and the second beacon frame, the beacon frame including the multicast service indication (and the broadcast service indication) and the TWT information unit.

[0157] The embodiments of the present application enable the first station in the multi-link station device to know whether multicast service or broadcast service needs to be received within the time range indicated by the TWT information unit, and further judge whether the channel competition of the second station needs to be stopped, which reduces the channel access delay caused by unnecessary channel competition stopping, improves the accuracy of channel access control, reduces the frequency of channel access control, and improves the efficiency of channel access control.

[0158] In some possible cases, in two non-STR links of a multi-link device, the receiving point on one link has competed for channel access, and the receiving point on the other link needs to receive service, considering that the information sent by the link that has accessed the channel may interfere with the link that receives the service, please refer to FIG. 4A, which is a communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application, as shown in FIG. 4A, in order to solve the problem, the method includes the following steps:

[0159] 401. The first station in the multi-link station device competes for a channel on a first link and obtains a transmission opportunity TXOP of the first link;

[0160] 402. The first station ends the TXOP before the target sending time of the beacon frame of the second station, and the first station and the second station are stations in the multi-link station device that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive.

[0161] Specifically, refer to FIG. 4B, which is a communication process diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4B, before t3, the stations corresponding to the first link (link 1) and the second link (link 2) can both contend for the channel and obtain a transmit opportunity (TXOP), and then transmit data frames within the TXOP. After the TXOP ends, the receiving of other beacon frames can continue, or the time when the TXOP ends can be determined according to the receiving time of the other beacon frames. For example, the multi-link station device learns that the target transmission time of the second station beacon frame is t3, and thus ends the TXOP of the second station before t3 so as to receive the beacon frame on the second link. Then, because the first station and the second station are stations in the multi-link station device that cannot simultaneously transmit and receive, when the second access point has a beacon frame to transmit at t3, the first station also needs to end the TXOP before t3 if it has obtained the TXOP, so as to avoid the interference that the transmission of data by the first station within the TXOP can cause to the reception of the beacon frame by the second station. If the first station contends for the channel before t3, similarly, it needs to end the channel contention before t3.

[0162] It can be seen that in the embodiment of the present application, the multi-link station device determines the target transmission time of the beacon frame on the second link, so that after the first station obtains the TXOP, the time when the TXOP of the first station or the channel contention ends is determined according to the target transmission time of the beacon frame on the second link, which improves the accuracy of the channel access control and avoids the channel interference between the non-STR links in the multi-link station device.

[0163] In an optional case, the multi-link access point device can determine the target sending time of the fourth beacon frame of the first access point according to the target sending time of the third beacon frame of the second access point, for example, determine that the target sending time of the fourth beacon frame is the same as the target sending time of the third beacon frame, so that the first station can determine the time of ending the channel competition through the sending time of the fourth beacon frame, while ensuring that no interference is caused to the data frame reception on the other link. Specifically, refer to FIG. 4C, which is another communication process diagram provided by the embodiment of the application, as shown in FIG. 4C, when the multi-link access point device learns that the target sending time of the third beacon frame of the second access point is t3, it determines that the target sending time of the fourth beacon frame of the first access point is also t3. Therefore, the second station and the first station will both end the transmission opportunity or the channel competition before t3, at t3, the two links send the corresponding beacon frames respectively, and in an optional case, the third beacon frame or the fourth beacon frame is a DTIM beacon frame, the DTIM frame can indicate whether there is multicast service and / or broadcast service on the first link, if the DTIM frame indicates that there is no multicast service and / or broadcast service, the second station starts to compete for the channel after the end of the DTIM frame, if the DTIM frame indicates that there is multicast service and / or broadcast service, and after the sending of the DTIM frame, the first access point of the multi-link access point device continues to send multicast frames / broadcast frames, then the second station in the multi-link station device should stop the channel competition during the sending of the multicast frames / broadcast frames, and after the end of the multicast frames / broadcast frames, start to compete for the channel again. The DTIM frame can also indicate whether there is multicast service and / or broadcast service on the second link, and the first station can start or stop the channel competition according to the content indicated by the DTIM frame.

[0164] It can be seen that in the embodiment of the application, by determining the target sending time of the second link beacon frame according to the target sending time of the first link beacon frame, the multi-link station device can determine the end of the transmission opportunity of the first station and the second station according to the same target sending time, and can solve the channel interference problem caused by the non-simultaneous transceiving link in the multi-link station device in advance, and improve the efficiency of the channel access control.

[0165] In an optional case, the embodiment of the present application can be combined with the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 3A-FIG. 3G, that is, before the beacon frame is sent on the link 1 or the link 2 in FIG. 4B or FIG. 4C, the TWT service stage can be determined through the TWT information unit. As shown in FIG. 4D, the time when the beacon frame is sent on the link 1 and the link 2 is determined, and the time is within the time range corresponding to the TWT service stage, then in the multi-link access point device, the second access point or the first access point which sends information on the link 2 or the link 1 can determine the time when the transmission opportunity ends or the channel contention stops through the sending time of the beacon frame within the TWT service stage or the starting time of the TWT service stage, so that the time range when the beacon frame (and the service frame indicated by the beacon frame) is sent can be clearly defined, the channel access delay is reduced, and the channel access efficiency is improved.

[0166] In an optional case, the embodiment of the present application can be combined with the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 2A-FIG. 2H, that is, the multicast indication information (and the broadcast indication information) is sent through the first beacon frame, that is, in FIG. 4B or FIG. 4C, the beacon frame sent by the second access point in the multi-link access point device can include the multicast service indication (and the broadcast service indication). In this way, the multi-link station device can more accurately determine whether to end the station channel transmission according to the to-be-received multicast service or broadcast service, for example, only when the second station on the second link (link 2) has multicast service to be received, the first access point on the first link (link 1) ends the transmission opportunity; or only when the second link has broadcast service to be received which has a priority higher than a preset threshold, the first access point ends the transmission opportunity.

[0167] In an optional case, the embodiment of the present application can be combined with the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 2A-FIG. 2H, and combined with the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 3A-FIG. 3G, that is, the target sending time of the beacon frame on the two non-simultaneous transceiving links in the multi-link device is the same, both are in the TWT service stage, and the beacon frame sent includes the multicast indication information (and the broadcast indication information). That is, as shown in FIG. 4D, the second access point in the multi-link access point device sends the beacon frame on the second link within the TWT service stage indicated by the TWT information unit, and the beacon frame includes the multicast service indication (and the broadcast service indication), then the multi-link station device can determine the time when the TXOP ends according to the starting time of the TWT service stage, or ends the TXOP of the first station at the time when the beacon frame is sent by the second access point, and determines whether to stop the channel contention or start the channel contention again according to whether the beacon frame indicates the multicast service and / or the broadcast service.

[0168] Optionally, the multi-link access point device can configure the same TWT information unit for the first link and the second link, and then determine that the TWT service period on the first link is the same as the TWT service period on the second link. In the TWT service period, the first access point can determine the time of sending the beacon frame on the first link according to the time of sending the beacon frame on the second link by the second access point, and the multi-link station device determines the time of ending the first station TXOP according to the time of sending the beacon frame on the first link.

[0169] The embodiment of the present application determines the time of sending the beacon frame on one link according to the time of sending the beacon frame on another link of the non-STR link of the multi-link device, and the time range corresponding to the beacon frame is determined by the TWT information unit. The beacon frame includes a multicast service indication (and a broadcast service indication) for indicating whether there is multicast service to be received. This process enables the access point to determine whether there is a beacon frame to be sent on the non-STR link, and whether it is necessary to end the transmission opportunity according to the frequency reduction of the service to be received indicated by the beacon frame, and improves the accuracy of determining whether it is necessary to end the transmission opportunity, thereby improving the efficiency of channel access.

[0170] In some cases, among two non-STR links of a multi-link device, in order to prevent the link sending data from causing interference to the link receiving data, please refer to FIG. 5A, which is a flow chart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5A, in order to solve the problem, the method comprises the following steps:

[0171] 501, the first access point in the multi-link access point device determines the target sending time of the first beacon frame;

[0172] 502, the second access point in the multi-link access point device determines the target sending time of the second beacon frame; wherein the target sending time of the first beacon frame is the same as the target sending time of the second beacon frame.

[0173] Specifically, the multi-link station device can learn the non-simultaneous transceiving links inside, and configure the same time for the two links to transmit the beacon frame by the multi-link access point device in order to avoid the channel interference between the non-simultaneous transceiving links. For example, the first station and the second station are the stations in the multi-link station device, the first access point and the second access point are the access points in the multi-link access point device, the first station and the first access point communicate on the first link (link 1), and the second station and the second access point communicate on the second link (link 2). The multi-link station device is a non-STR MLD, and the first station and the second station do not support simultaneous transceiving on the link 1 and the link 2. Then, referring to FIG. 5B, FIG. 5B is another communication process diagram provided by the embodiments of the present application, as shown in FIG. 5B, the multi-link access point device can configure the same target transmission time for the first access point to transmit the first beacon frame and the second access point to transmit the second beacon frame, both of which are t4, so that the multi-link station device synchronizes the time of receiving the beacon frame on the two non-simultaneous transceiving links, which can effectively reduce the probability of causing channel interference and reduce the time of performing channel interference avoidance processing, and further reduce the channel access delay.

[0174] It should be noted that when the target transmission time of the first beacon frame arrives, the channel can be in a busy state, and therefore the actual transmission time of the first beacon frame can be later than the target transmission time of the first beacon frame; similarly, the actual transmission time of the second beacon frame can be later than the target transmission time of the second beacon frame.

[0175] In addition, the embodiments of the present application can further include the step 503, the first access point and / or the second access point end the transmission opportunity according to the time when the first access point transmits the first beacon frame on the corresponding first link or the second access point transmits the second beacon frame on the corresponding second link when accessing the channel.

[0176] Because the target transmission time of the first beacon frame of the first access point and the target transmission time of the second beacon frame of the second access point in the multi-link access point device are the same, if the two links have obtained the TXOP before transmitting the beacon frame, the multi-link station device determines the time when the station on the link ends the TXOP according to the beacon frame transmission time of the link itself in order to perform the beacon frame reception on the link. If the beacon frame indicates that there is a service frame to be received on any one link, the station on the other link stops the channel competition. Or, if only the transmission time of the beacon frame on one of the non-simultaneous transceiving links can be obtained, because the transmission times of the beacon frames on the two links are the same, the station on the other link also determines the time when the TXOP ends according to the transmission time of the beacon frame.

[0177] It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the present application, the same transmission time of the beacon frame is configured for the access points in the non-simultaneous transceiving link by the multi-link access point device, so that the two links can synchronously transmit the beacon frame, and further the non-simultaneous transceiving stations of the multi-link station device can synchronously receive the beacon frame, thereby effectively avoiding the channel interference. Alternatively, in the case that the station on the non-simultaneous transceiving link obtains the TXOP, the non-simultaneous transceiving station in the multi-link station device can also determine the same time of ending the TXOP according to the transmission time of the beacon frame, further reducing the probability of channel interference and the time of performing the channel interference avoidance processing, and thereby reducing the channel access delay.

[0178] In an optional case, the embodiment of the present application can be combined with the embodiments corresponding to FIGS. 3A-3G, that is, in the multi-link station device, the TWT service stage, the time of transmitting the first beacon frame by the first access point in the multi-link access point device, and the time of transmitting the second beacon frame by the second access point are all within the TWT service stage, and the transmitted first beacon frame and second beacon frame are both used to indicate whether there is multicast service or broadcast service to be received, so that the two links process the corresponding services in a special service stage, reducing the influence of synchronously transmitting the frames on other services.

[0179] In an optional case, the embodiment of the present application can be combined with the embodiments corresponding to FIGS. 2A-2H, that is, the multicast service indication (and the broadcast service indication) is transmitted by the beacon frame, indicating whether there is multicast service to be received, or also used to indicate whether there is broadcast service to be received. The beacon frame transmitting the multicast service indication (and the broadcast service indication) can be the same beacon frame as the first beacon frame or the second beacon frame in the embodiment, or can be a beacon frame transmitted after the first beacon frame and the second beacon frame. In this way, the time of processing the multicast service and the broadcast service on the first link and the second link can be more synchronized, reducing the probability of channel interference.

[0180] In an optional case, the embodiment of the present application can be combined with the embodiments corresponding to FIGS. 2A-2H, and combined with the embodiments corresponding to FIGS. 3A-3G, that is, the transmission time of the beacon frame by the two links is the same, and both are in the TWT service stage, and the beacon frame transmitted includes the multicast service indication (and the broadcast service indication). In this way, the time range of processing the multicast service and the broadcast service on the first link and the second link and the transmission time of the service frame can be more synchronized, reducing the probability of channel interference.

[0181] The device provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below, which can achieve the effect of reducing the channel access delay in link communication.

[0182] FIG. 6 shows a communication apparatus 1000 provided by the embodiments of the present application. The apparatus can be a multi-link device, including a multi-link station device or a multi-link access point device, and can also be a chip or a processing system in the multi-link station device or the multi-link access point device, and can implement the methods and functions of any of the above embodiments. Due to the difference in integration, the communication apparatus can include one or more of the components shown in FIG. 6. The components shown in FIG. 6 can include at least one processor 1001, a memory 1002, a transceiver 1003, and a communication bus 1004.

[0183] The various constituent components of the communication apparatus 400 will be specifically introduced below in conjunction with FIG. 6:

[0184] The processor 1001 is the control center of the communication apparatus 1000, and can be one processor or a collective term of multiple processing elements. For example, the processor 1001 is a central processing unit (CPU), and can also be an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement one or more embodiments of the present application, such as one or more microprocessors (digital signal processors, DSPs), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The processor 1001 can execute various functions of the communication device by running or executing software programs stored in the memory 1002, and calling data stored in the memory 1002. In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 1001 can include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 shown in FIG. 6.

[0185] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication apparatus 1000 can include multiple processors, such as the processor 1001 and the processor 1005 shown in FIG. 6. Each of these processors can be a single-CPU or a multi-CPU. The processor here can refer to one or more communication devices, circuits, and / or processing cores for processing data (such as computer program instructions).

[0186] The memory 1002 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage communication device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM), or other type of dynamic storage communication device that can store information and instructions, an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), a Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to this. The memory 1002 can exist independently and be connected to the processor 1001 through the communication bus 10010. The memory 1002 can also be integrated with the processor 1001. The memory 1002 is used to store software programs for implementing the solutions of the present application, and is controlled by the processor 1001 to execute.

[0187] The transceiver 1003 is used for communication between the device and other devices (for example, a second device). Of course, the transceiver 1003 can also be used for communication with a communication network, such as an Ethernet, a radio access network (RAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), etc. The transceiver 1003 can include a receiving unit to realize the receiving function, and a sending unit to realize the sending function.

[0188] The communication bus 10010 can be an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Peripheral Component (PCI) bus, or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 6, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0189] In one example, the communication apparatus 1000 is a whole device, and the communication apparatus can include a processor 1001, a memory 1002, a transceiver 1003, a communication bus 1004, and optionally other components such as a display, etc. Optionally, the communication apparatus 1000 is a first multi-link access point device or a first multi-link station device, and can be configured to implement the methods and functions of the multi-link access point device or the multi-link station device in the embodiments of FIGs. 2A-2H, 3A-3G, 4A-4D, or 5A-5B. For example, the memory stores instructions, and when the processor invokes the instructions, the processor is configured to implement the methods and functions described above, such as the processor is configured to generate a signaling or a frame, and the transceiver is configured to transmit the signaling or the frame. For example, the processor is configured to perform steps 201 and 203, steps 301 and 303, steps 401 and 402, or steps 501 and 502, and the transceiver is configured to perform steps 202 and 203, steps 302 and 303, etc.

[0190] In another example, the communication apparatus 1000 is a chip system or a processing system in a first multi-link access point device or a first multi-link station device, and the chip system or the processing system is configured to enable the device in which the chip system or the processing system is installed to implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of FIGs. 2A-2H, 3A-3G, 4A-4D, or 5A-5B. The communication apparatus 1000 can include some components as shown in FIG. 6, such as the communication apparatus 1000 includes a processor that can be coupled with a memory to invoke and execute instructions in the memory, so as to configure the device in which the chip system or the processing system is installed to implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of FIGs. 2A-2H, 3A-3G, 4A-4D, or 5A-5B. Optionally, the memory can be a component in the chip system or the processing system, or can be a component coupled with the chip system or the processing system externally. In one example, the chip system or the processing system is installed in a first multi-link access point device or a first multi-link station device, and can enable the first multi-link access point device or the first multi-link station device to implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of FIGs. 2A-2H, 3A-3G, 4A-4D, or 5A-5B.

[0191] The chip system or the processing system can support 802.11 series protocols for communication, such as 802.11be, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, etc. The chip system can be installed in various devices in WLAN transmission scenarios, and the devices in WLAN transmission scenarios have been described in the beginning of the specification, and will not be repeated here.

[0192] The embodiments of the present application can divide the functional modules of the first multi-link access point device or the first multi-link station device according to the above method examples. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated in one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional module. It should be noted that the division of the modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, another division manner can be used.

[0193] In the case of using integrated units, FIG. 7 shows a possible structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus 1100, which can be a multi-link device or a chip or a processing system in a multi-link device, and can perform the operations of the multi-link device in the above method embodiments. The communication apparatus 1100 includes a processing unit 1101 and a transceiver unit 1102.

[0194] In one example, the communication apparatus 1100 is a first multi-link access point device or an access point in a first multi-link device.

[0195] The processing unit 1101 can be configured to control and manage the actions of the communication apparatus 1100. For example, generating the first beacon frame. For another example, controlling the operation of the transceiver unit 1102. Optionally, if the communication apparatus 1100 includes a storage unit, the processing unit 1101 can also execute the programs or instructions stored in the storage unit, so that the communication apparatus 1100 implements the methods and functions involved in any of the above embodiments.

[0196] For example, the processing unit 1101 can be configured to perform steps 201 and 203, steps 301 and 303, steps 401 and 402, or steps 501 and 502 in FIG. 2A, FIG. 3A, FIG. 4A or FIG. 5A, or other processes for the technologies described herein. The above method embodiments involve all related contents of each step, which can be cited to the function description of the corresponding functional module, and will not be repeated here.

[0197] Exemplarily, the transceiver unit 1102 can be configured to transceive data or signaling transmitted over one link or over multiple links. Optionally, the transceiver unit 1102 can be a transceiver module or can include multiple transceiver modules. When the transceiver unit 1102 is a transceiver module, the transceiver module can be configured to transceive data over multiple links. For example, when the first multi-link access point device operates over two links, the transceiver unit 1102 includes two transceiver modules, one of which operates over one link and the other of which operates over the other link. Exemplarily, the transceiver unit 1102 can be configured to perform, for example, steps 202 and 203 of FIG. 2A and FIG. 3A, steps 302 and 303 of FIG. 3A, and / or other procedures of the techniques described herein. All the related content of the steps involved in the method embodiments described above can be referred to the function description of the corresponding functional modules, which will not be repeated here.

[0198] Exemplarily, the communication apparatus 1100 can be the communication apparatus of FIG. 6, the processing unit 1101 can be the processor 1001 of FIG. 6, and the transceiver unit 1102 can be the transceiver 1003 of FIG. 6. Optionally, the communication apparatus 1100 can further include a memory configured to store program codes and data corresponding to the communication method between the multi-link devices described above. All the related content of the components involved in FIG. 6 can be referred to the function description of the corresponding components of the communication apparatus 1100, which will not be repeated here.

[0199] Exemplarily, the communication apparatus 1100 can be a chip or a processor, the processing unit 1102 can be a processing circuit in the chip or the processor, and the transceiver unit 1102 can be an input / output circuit in the chip or the processor. The input / output circuit is an interface for the chip or the processor to communicate with or interact with other coupled components, to ensure that signaling or data information or program instructions are input into the chip or the processor for processing, and the processed data or signaling is output to other coupled components, and to control the first multi-link device in which the chip or the processor is installed to realize functions.

[0200] In another example, the communication apparatus 1100 is a first multi-link station device or a station in the first multi-link station device.

[0201] For example, the processing unit 1101 can be configured to read the indication information, e.g., perform steps 201 and 203 in FIG. 2A, FIG. 3A, FIG. 4A or FIG. 5A, steps 301 and 303, steps 401 and 402, or steps 501 and 502, and / or other procedures of the techniques described herein. All the related content of the steps involved in the above method embodiments can be referred to the function description of the corresponding functional modules, and will not be repeated here.

[0202] For example, the transceiver unit 1102 can be configured to transceive data or signaling on one link or multiple links. Optionally, the transceiver unit 1102 can be one transceiver module or include multiple transceiver modules. When the transceiver unit 1102 is one transceiver module, the transceiver module can be configured to transceive data on multiple links. For example, the first multi-link station device works on two links, and the transceiver unit 1102 includes two transceiver modules, one of which works on one link and the other works on the other link. For example, the transceiver unit 1102 can be configured to perform steps 202 and 203 in FIG. 2A and FIG. 3A, steps 302 and 303, and / or other procedures of the techniques described herein. All the related content of the steps involved in the above method embodiments can be referred to the function description of the corresponding functional modules, and will not be repeated here.

[0203] For example, the communication apparatus 1100 can be the communication apparatus shown in FIG. 6, the processing unit 1101 can be the processor 1001 in FIG. 6, and the transceiver unit 1102 can be the transceiver 1003 in FIG. 6. Optionally, the communication apparatus 1100 can further include a memory configured to store program codes and data corresponding to any of the above methods. All the related content of the components involved in the above FIG. 6 can be referred to the function description of the corresponding components of the communication apparatus 1100, and will not be repeated here.

[0204] For example, the communication apparatus 1100 can be a chip or a processor, the processing unit 1102 can be a processing circuit in the chip or the processor, and the transceiver unit 1102 can be an input / output circuit in the chip or the processor. The input / output circuit is an interface for the chip or the processor to communicate with or interact with other coupled components, which can ensure that signaling or data information or program instructions are input into the chip or the processor for processing, and output the processed data or signaling to other coupled components, and control the device installed with the chip or the processor to realize functions.

[0205] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores computer program codes, and when the processor executes the computer program codes, the electronic device executes the method in any one of the embodiments of FIG. 2A to FIG. 2H, or FIG. 3A to FIG. 3G, or FIG. 4A to FIG. 4D, or FIG. 5A to FIG. 5B.

[0206] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which, when running on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method in any one of the embodiments of FIG. 2A to FIG. 2H, or FIG. 3A to FIG. 3G, or FIG. 4A to FIG. 4D, or FIG. 5A to FIG. 5B.

[0207] The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, which can exist in the form of a chip, and the structure of the device includes a processor and an interface circuit, the processor is used to communicate with other devices through the receiving circuit, so that the device executes the method in any one of the embodiments of FIG. 2A to FIG. 2H, or FIG. 3A to FIG. 3G, or FIG. 4A to FIG. 4D, or FIG. 5A to FIG. 5B.

[0208] The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes a first device and a second device, and the first device and the second device can execute the method in any one of the embodiments of FIG. 2A to FIG. 2H, or FIG. 3A to FIG. 3G, or FIG. 4A to FIG. 4D, or FIG. 5A to FIG. 5B.

[0209] The steps of the methods or algorithms described in connection with the present disclosure can be implemented in hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, which can be stored in a Random Access Memory (RAM), a flash memory, an Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), an Electrically EPROM (EEPROM), a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor, so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in the core network interface device. Of course, the processor and the storage medium can also exist as discrete components in the core network interface device.

[0210] Those skilled in the art should be aware that, in the above one or more examples, the functions described in the present application can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions can be stored in a computer readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on the computer readable medium. The computer readable medium includes computer readable storage medium and communication medium, and the communication medium includes any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. The storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

[0211] The above detailed description has further explained the purpose, technical solutions and beneficial effects of the present application. It should be understood that the above description is only a specific implementation of the present application and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present application. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made on the basis of the technical solutions of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: In a multi-link site device, the first site competes for a channel on the first link and obtains the transmission opportunity (TXOP) on the first link. The first station terminates the TXOP before the target transmission time of the beacon frame of the second station. The first station and the second station are stations in the multi-link station device that cannot transmit and receive simultaneously.

2. A method for indicating multicast services in a multi-link device, characterized in that, The method includes: The multi-link access point device generates a first beacon frame carrying multicast indication information, which is used to indicate a site with multicast service to be received; The multi-link access point device sends the first beacon frame.

3. A method for indicating multicast services in a multi-link device, characterized in that, The method includes: The multi-link site device receives a first beacon frame, which carries multicast indication information to indicate sites with multicast services to be received. If the first site in the multi-link site equipment has multicast services to receive, then the channel contention with the second site, which cannot simultaneously transmit and receive, will cease.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The first beacon frame includes a first information element, in which a bitmap control field and a partial virtual bitmap field are used to indicate sites with multicast services to be received.

5. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The first beacon frame includes a second information element, in which a list of multicast identifiers is used to indicate sites that have multicast services to receive.

6. The method according to any one of claims 2-5, characterized in that, The first beacon frame also includes broadcast indication information, which indicates whether there is a broadcast service to be received.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The broadcast indication field included in the first or second information element is used to indicate whether there is a broadcast service to be received.

8. The method according to any one of claims 2 or 4-7, characterized in that, The method further includes: The second access point in the multi-link access point device stops sending the first message to the second site, where the first message is a message that requires a response from the second site.

9. The method according to any one of claims 2 or 4-8, characterized in that, The method further includes: The multi-link access point device generates a second beacon frame. The target wake-up time (TWT) information element of the second beacon frame carries TWT type indication information. The TWT type indication information is used to indicate that the service phase specified by the TWT information element is used to transmit multicast services and / or broadcast services. The multi-link access point device sends the second beacon frame on the first link.

10. The method according to any one of claims 3-7, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the multi-link site device receives the second beacon frame, if the first site in the multi-link site device has multicast and / or broadcast services to be received during the service phase, it stops competing for the channel with the second site, which cannot simultaneously transmit and receive with the first site.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that, The TWT information element is included in the first beacon frame.

12. The method according to claim 9 or 11, characterized in that, The TWT information unit sent by the multi-link access point device on the first link indicates the same service phase as the TWT information unit sent on the second link.

13. The method according to claim 9 or 11, characterized in that, The TWT information unit sent by the multi-link access point device on the first link is also used to determine the service phase of transmitting the multicast service and / or broadcast service on the second link.

14. A communication device, characterized in that, The device includes: The processing unit is used for the first site in the multi-link site device to compete for a channel on the first link and obtain the transmission opportunity (TXOP) of the first link; The processing unit is further configured to terminate the TXOP before the target transmission time of the beacon frame of the second station, wherein the first station and the second station are stations in a multi-link station device that cannot transmit and receive simultaneously.

15. A communication device, characterized in that, Used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 2-13.

16. A communication device, characterized in that, Used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 3-13.

17. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, Used to store a computer program, the computer program including instructions for performing the method of any one of claims 1-13.

18. A computer program, characterized in that, The computer program includes instructions for the method of any one of claims 1-13.

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