Communication method and apparatus, and storage medium

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, and a storage medium. The present application can be applied to support the next-generation Wi-Fi protocols under IEEE 802.11ax (e.g., 802.11be, Wi-Fi 7, or EHT), or the next-generation Wi-Fi protocols under IEEE 802.11be (e.g., Wi-Fi 8, UHR, or 802.11bn), or Wi-Fi AI, or millimeter waves, or UWB, or sensing-based wireless local area network systems. When a pre-coding report sent by an AP is partially successfully received by an STA, the STA sends a TB PPDU on at least one first sub-RU corresponding to at least one first slice which has been successfully received, so that transmission of the TB PPDU when the pre-coding report is partially successfully received is realized, thereby increasing the utilization rate of resources.

Description

Communication methods, devices and storage media

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202311032035.9, filed on August 15, 2023, entitled "Communication Method, Apparatus and Storage Medium", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method, apparatus and storage medium. Background Technology

[0003] By utilizing known channel state information to precode the transmitted signal and perform transmit-end beamforming, the equivalent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the receiver can be improved, thus increasing throughput. Because access points (APs) typically have a large number of antennas, transmit-end beamforming is usually used more extensively in the downlink. With the increasing number of antennas in commercial terminals, more terminals are adopting 2 or even 4 antennas, making non-AP STA (station (STA), usually referring to the terminal) beamforming even more important.

[0004] An AP can trigger one or more STAs to send null data packets (NDPs), thereby allowing the AP to obtain the uplink channel from those STAs and receive a beamforming precoding report (UBPR). The AP simultaneously sends a trigger frame and the UBPR to those STAs for beamforming.

[0005] However, there is currently no solution for how the STA should perform uplink transmission when some UBPRs are not successfully received.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] This application provides a communication method, apparatus, and storage medium for transmitting TB PPDUs when a precoded report is partially successfully received.

[0008] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, the method comprising: an access point sending a first trigger frame and a first precoding report, the first trigger frame being used to trigger uplink transmission, the first trigger frame being used to allocate a resource unit (RU) or multiple resource unit (MRU) used by the station, the RU or MRU including at least one sub-RU, the first precoding report including at least one fragment, the at least one fragment corresponding to the at least one sub-RU; and the access point receiving a first trigger-based (TB) physical protocol data unit (PPDU) on at least one first sub-RU, wherein at least one first fragment corresponding to the at least one first sub-RU is successfully received. In this aspect, when the precoding report sent by the AP is partially successfully received by the STA, the STA sends a TB PPDU on at least one first sub-RU corresponding to the at least one successfully received first fragment, realizing the transmission of TB PPDU in the case of partial successful reception of the precoding report, and improving resource utilization.

[0009] In one possible implementation, the first TB PPDU includes at least one of a data frame, first indication information, and confirmation information.

[0010] In another possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate the at least one first sub-RU. In this implementation, the STA uses the first indication information to indicate the at least one first sub-RU, so that the AP can know on which sub-RUs the first TB PPDU was transmitted, that is, it can know which sub-RUs' corresponding fragments were successfully received. For example, the first indication information is used to indicate the index of the at least one first sub-RU.

[0011] In another possible implementation, the acknowledgment information is used to indicate the reception status of the at least one fragment. In this implementation, the STA explicitly indicates the reception status of the fragment using the acknowledgment information.

[0012] In another possible implementation, the data frame and the confirmation information are carried in the data field of the first TB PPDU.

[0013] In another possible implementation, the indication information is carried in the preamble of the first TB PPDU.

[0014] In another possible implementation, the first TB PPDU is also carried on at least one second sub-RU, where at least one second segment corresponding to the at least one second sub-RU has failed to be received, and the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU have not been beamformed according to the at least one second segment. In this implementation, even if some or all segments are not received correctly, the TB PPDU is still transmitted on the RU or MRU corresponding to that segment, thus not wasting the resources of the RU or MRU. The data frames are interleaved on subcarriers that use precoding matrices and those that do not, which can ensure the reliability of data transmission to a certain extent.

[0015] Data frames on at least one second sub-RU are not beamformed according to at least one second segment. This may be achieved by using a random precoding matrix, or by using precoding determined by the STA, or by not using precoding, or by using an identity matrix.

[0016] In another possible implementation, the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU correspond to a first transmission parameter, which includes at least one of the following parameters: modulation and coding mode, spatial stream number, and rate; the first transmission parameter is less than the transmission parameter used on the at least one first sub-RU. In this implementation, on the RU or MRU corresponding to which precoding is not performed using the indicated fragmentation, the used MCS, spatial stream number, or in other words, the transmission rate is reduced to ensure reliable data transmission.

[0017] In another possible implementation, the first TB PPDU further includes second indication information, which indicates the first transmission parameters corresponding to the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU. In this implementation, the STA uses the second indication information to indicate the first transmission parameters corresponding to the data frames on the sub-RUs corresponding to the unsuccessfully received fragments, enabling the AP to correctly receive the data frames on these RUs.

[0018] In another possible implementation, if the first indication information or the confirmation information is received, the method further includes: the access point sending a second trigger frame and the at least one second fragment; and the access point receiving a second TB PPDU, wherein the second TB PPDU uses at least one of the at least one first fragment and the at least one second fragment for beamforming. In this implementation, when the AP learns which fragments were not successfully received by the STA according to the first indication information or the confirmation information, it can retransmit the fragments that were not successfully received. After receiving the retransmitted fragments, the STA can perform beamforming based on at least one of the fragments successfully received during the initial transmission and the fragments successfully received during the retransmission, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio gain of the data.

[0019] In another possible implementation, the method further includes: the access point sending a third trigger frame, the third trigger frame allocating the at least one first sub-RU; and the access point receiving a third TB PPDU, the third TB PPDU being beamformed using the at least one first segment. In this implementation, the AP can trigger STA retransmission by sending a third trigger frame based on the first TB PPDU. During STA retransmission, beamforming can be applied to the retransmitted first TB PPDU based on the at least one first segment successfully received during the initial transmission, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio gain of the data.

[0020] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, the method comprising: a station receiving a first trigger frame and a first precoding report, the first trigger frame being used to trigger uplink transmission, the first trigger frame being used to allocate an RU or MRU used by the station, the RU or MRU including at least one sub-RU, the first precoding report including at least one fragment, the at least one fragment corresponding to the at least one sub-RU; and the station transmitting a first TB PPDU on at least one first sub-RU, wherein at least one first fragment corresponding to the at least one first sub-RU is successfully received. In this aspect, when the precoding report transmitted by the AP is partially successfully received by the STA, the STA transmits a TB PPDU on at least one first sub-RU corresponding to the at least one successfully received first fragment, realizing the transmission of TB PPDU in the case of partial successful reception of the precoding report, and improving resource utilization.

[0021] In one possible implementation, the first TB PPDU includes at least one of a data frame, first indication information, and confirmation information.

[0022] In another possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate the at least one first sub-RU.

[0023] In another possible implementation, the confirmation information is used to indicate the reception status of the at least one fragment.

[0024] In another possible implementation, the first TB PPDU is also carried on at least one second sub-RU, at least one second segment corresponding to the at least one second sub-RU is not successfully received, and the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU are not beamformed according to the at least one second segment.

[0025] In another possible implementation, the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU correspond to a first transmission parameter, which includes at least one of the following parameters: modulation and coding mode, spatial stream number, and rate; the first transmission parameter is less than the transmission parameter used on the at least one first sub-RU.

[0026] In another possible implementation, the first TB PPDU further includes second indication information, which indicates the first transmission parameter corresponding to the data frame on the at least one second sub-RU.

[0027] In another possible implementation, if the first indication information or the confirmation information is received, the method further includes: the station sending a second trigger frame and the at least one second slice; and the station receiving a second TB PPDU, the second TB PPDU using at least one of the at least one first slice and the at least one second slice for beamforming.

[0028] In another possible implementation, the method further includes: the station sending a third trigger frame, the third trigger frame allocating the at least one first sub-RU; and the station receiving a third TB PPDU, the third TB PPDU using the at least one first segment for beamforming.

[0029] Thirdly, a communication method is provided, the method comprising: an access point sending a precoding report, the precoding report including at least one fragment, the precoding report further including a probe session token; the access point receiving first acknowledgment information, the first acknowledgment information indicating the reception status of at least one fragment of the precoding report; if the first acknowledgment information indicates that some fragments of the at least one fragment were not successfully received, the access point sending the unreceived fragments; the access point sending a first trigger frame, the first trigger frame including the probe session token; and the access point receiving a TB PPDU, the TB PPDU using the precoding report corresponding to the probe session token for beamforming. In this aspect, the AP can know the reception status of the fragments received by the STA by receiving the first acknowledgment information sent by the STA, thereby the AP can perform accurate fragment retransmission based on the first acknowledgment information; and by carrying the probe session token in the precoding report and the first trigger frame during channel probing, the AP enables the TB PPDU sent by the STA to use the precoding report corresponding to the probe session token for beamforming, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio gain of data transmission by using the correct precoding report for beamforming.

[0030] In one possible implementation, the precoding report also includes the identifier of the at least one fragment.

[0031] In another possible implementation, the first confirmation information is a bitmap, where each bit in the bitmap corresponds to one of the at least one fragment, and each bit in the bitmap indicates whether the corresponding fragment was successfully received. In this implementation, the bitmap can accurately indicate which fragments were successfully received and which were not.

[0032] In another possible implementation, the first confirmation information is carried in at least one of the following frames: a Quality of Service empty data frame, a non-confirmed action frame, a block confirmation frame, and a data frame.

[0033] In another possible implementation, the method further includes: the access point sending a second trigger frame, the second trigger frame including the probe session token; and the access point receiving an empty data packet, the empty data packet being used to obtain the precoded report.

[0034] In another possible implementation, the method further includes: the access point sending a second confirmation message, the second confirmation message indicating the reception status of the TB PPDU; if the second confirmation message indicates that some data frames in the TB PPDU were not successfully received, the access point sending a third trigger frame, the third trigger frame including the probe session token; and the access point receiving retransmitted portions of the data frames in the TB PPDU.

[0035] Fourthly, a communication method is provided, the method comprising: a station receiving a precoding report, the precoding report including at least one fragment, the precoding report further including a probe session token; the station sending a first acknowledgment message, the first acknowledgment message indicating the reception status of at least one fragment of the precoding report; if the first acknowledgment message indicates that some fragments of the at least one fragment were not successfully received, the station receiving the unreceived fragments; the station receiving a first trigger frame, the first trigger frame including the probe session token; and the station sending a TB PPDU, the TB PPDU using the precoding report corresponding to the probe session token for beamforming. In this aspect, the STA can notify the AP of the fragment reception status by sending the first acknowledgment message, so that the AP can perform accurate fragment retransmission based on the first acknowledgment message; and the AP, by carrying the probe session token in the precoding report and the first trigger frame during channel probing, enables the TB PPDU sent by the STA to use the precoding report corresponding to the probe session token for beamforming, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio gain of data transmission by using the correct precoding report for beamforming.

[0036] In one possible implementation, the precoding report also includes the identifier of the at least one fragment.

[0037] In another possible implementation, the first confirmation information is a bitmap, where one bit in the bitmap corresponds to one of the at least one slice, and each bit in the bitmap indicates whether the corresponding slice was successfully received.

[0038] In another possible implementation, the first confirmation information is carried in at least one of the following frames: a Quality of Service empty data frame, a non-confirmed action frame, a block confirmation frame, and a data frame.

[0039] In another possible implementation, the method further includes: the station receiving a second trigger frame, the second trigger frame including the probe session token; and the station sending an empty data packet, the empty data packet being used to obtain the precoded report.

[0040] In another possible implementation, the method further includes: the station receiving a second confirmation message indicating the reception status of the TB PPDU; if the second confirmation message indicates that some data frames in the TB PPDU were not successfully received, the station receiving a third trigger frame including the probe session token; and the station sending retransmitted portions of the data frames in the TB PPDU.

[0041] Fifthly, a communication device is provided for performing the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof. The communication device may be an access point in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof, or a module applied to the access point, such as a chip or chip system. The communication device includes modules, units, or means that implement the method described above, which may be implemented in hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the functions described above.

[0042] In conjunction with the fifth aspect above, in one possible implementation, the communication device includes: a transceiver unit, which may further include a processing unit; the transceiver unit is configured to send a first trigger frame and a first precoding report, the first trigger frame being configured to trigger uplink transmission, the first trigger frame being configured to allocate an RU or MRU used by a station, the RU or MRU including at least one sub-RU, the first precoding report including at least one fragment, the at least one fragment corresponding to the at least one sub-RU; and the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a first TB PPDU on at least one first sub-RU, wherein at least one first fragment corresponding to the at least one first sub-RU is successfully received.

[0043] Optionally, the first TB PPDU includes at least one of a data frame, first indication information, and confirmation information.

[0044] Optionally, the first indication information is used to indicate the at least one first sub-RU.

[0045] Optionally, the confirmation information is used to indicate the reception status of the at least one fragment.

[0046] Optionally, the data frame and the confirmation information are carried in the data field of the first TB PPDU.

[0047] Optionally, the indication information is carried in the preamble of the first TB PPDU.

[0048] Optionally, the first TB PPDU is also carried on at least one second sub-RU, at least one second segment corresponding to the at least one second sub-RU is not successfully received, and the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU are not beamformed according to the at least one second segment.

[0049] Optionally, the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU correspond to a first transmission parameter, which includes at least one of the following parameters: modulation and coding mode, spatial stream number, and rate; the first transmission parameter is less than the transmission parameter used on the at least one first sub-RU.

[0050] Optionally, the first TB PPDU further includes second indication information, which is used to indicate the first transmission parameters corresponding to the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU.

[0051] Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to send a second trigger frame and the at least one second slice if the first indication information or the confirmation information is received; and the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a second TB PPDU, wherein the second TB PPDU uses at least one slice of the at least one first slice and the at least one second slice for beamforming.

[0052] Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to transmit a third trigger frame, the third trigger frame allocating the at least one first sub-RU; and the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a third TB PPDU, the third TB PPDU using the at least one first segment for beamforming.

[0053] For information on the effectiveness of the communication device, please refer to the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0054] Sixthly, a communication device is provided for performing the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof. The communication device may be a station in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof, or a module applied to a station, such as a chip or chip system. The communication device includes modules, units, or means corresponding to the above-described method, which may be implemented in hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above-described functions.

[0055] In conjunction with the sixth aspect above, in one possible implementation, the communication device includes: a transceiver unit, which may further include a processing unit; the transceiver unit is configured to receive a first trigger frame and a first precoding report, the first trigger frame being configured to trigger uplink transmission, the first trigger frame being configured to allocate an RU or MRU used by a station, the RU or MRU including at least one sub-RU, the first precoding report including at least one fragment, the at least one fragment corresponding to the at least one sub-RU; and the transceiver unit is further configured to transmit a first TB PPDU on at least one first sub-RU, wherein at least one first fragment corresponding to the at least one first sub-RU is successfully received.

[0056] Optionally, the first TB PPDU includes at least one of a data frame, first indication information, and confirmation information.

[0057] Optionally, the first indication information is used to indicate the at least one first sub-RU.

[0058] Optionally, the confirmation information is used to indicate the reception status of the at least one fragment.

[0059] Optionally, the first TB PPDU is also carried on at least one second sub-RU, at least one second segment corresponding to the at least one second sub-RU is not successfully received, and the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU are not beamformed according to the at least one second segment.

[0060] Optionally, the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU correspond to a first transmission parameter, which includes at least one of the following parameters: modulation and coding mode, spatial stream number, and rate; the first transmission parameter is less than the transmission parameter used on the at least one first sub-RU.

[0061] Optionally, the first TB PPDU further includes second indication information, which is used to indicate the first transmission parameters corresponding to the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU.

[0062] Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to send a second trigger frame and the at least one second slice if the first indication information or the confirmation information is received; and the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a second TB PPDU, wherein the second TB PPDU uses at least one slice of the at least one first slice and the at least one second slice for beamforming.

[0063] Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to transmit a third trigger frame, the third trigger frame allocating the at least one first sub-RU; and the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a third TB PPDU, the third TB PPDU using the at least one first segment for beamforming.

[0064] For information on the effectiveness of the communication device, please refer to the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0065] In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided for performing the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation thereof. The communication device may be an access point in the third aspect or any possible implementation thereof, or a module applied to the access point, such as a chip or chip system. The communication device includes modules, units, or means corresponding to the above-described method, which may be implemented in hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above-described functions.

[0066] In conjunction with the seventh aspect above, in one possible implementation, the communication device includes: a transceiver unit, which may further include a processing unit; the transceiver unit is configured to send a precoding report, the precoding report including at least one fragment, the precoding report further including a probe session token; the transceiver unit is further configured to receive first acknowledgment information, the first acknowledgment information indicating the reception status of at least one fragment of the precoding report; the transceiver unit is further configured to send the unreceived fragments if the first acknowledgment information indicates that some fragments of the at least one fragment were not successfully received; the transceiver unit is further configured to send a first trigger frame, the first trigger frame including the probe session token; and the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a TB PPDU, the TB PPDU using the precoding report corresponding to the probe session token for beamforming.

[0067] Optionally, the precoding report may also include the identifier of the at least one fragment.

[0068] Optionally, the first confirmation information is a bitmap, where one bit in the bitmap corresponds to one of the at least one slice, and each bit in the bitmap indicates whether the corresponding slice has been successfully received.

[0069] Optionally, the first confirmation information is carried in at least one of the following frames: a Quality of Service empty data frame, a non-confirmed action frame, a block confirmation frame, and a data frame.

[0070] Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to send a second trigger frame, the second trigger frame including the probe session token; and the transceiver unit is further configured to receive empty data packets, the empty data packets being used to obtain the precoded report.

[0071] Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to send a second confirmation message, the second confirmation message indicating the reception status of the TB PPDU; the transceiver unit is further configured to send a third trigger frame if the second confirmation message indicates that some data frames in the TB PPDU were not successfully received, the third trigger frame including the probe session token; and the transceiver unit is further configured to receive retransmitted portions of the data frames in the TB PPDU.

[0072] For information on the effectiveness of the communication device, please refer to the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect.

[0073] Eighthly, a communication device is provided for performing the method in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation thereof. The communication device may be a station in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation thereof, or a module applied to a station, such as a chip or chip system. The communication device includes modules, units, or means corresponding to the above-described method, which may be implemented in hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above-described functions.

[0074] In conjunction with the eighth aspect above, in one possible implementation, the communication device includes: a transceiver unit and a processing unit; the transceiver unit is configured to receive a precoding report, the precoding report including at least one fragment, and the precoding report further including a probe session token; the transceiver unit is further configured to send a first acknowledgment message, the first acknowledgment message indicating the reception status of at least one fragment of the precoding report; the transceiver unit is further configured to receive the unreceived fragments if the first acknowledgment message indicates that some fragments of the at least one fragment were not successfully received; the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a first trigger frame, the first trigger frame including the probe session token; and the transceiver unit is further configured to send a TB PPDU, the TB PPDU using the precoding report corresponding to the probe session token for beamforming.

[0075] Optionally, the precoding report may also include the identifier of the at least one fragment.

[0076] Optionally, the first confirmation information is a bitmap, where one bit in the bitmap corresponds to one of the at least one slice, and each bit in the bitmap indicates whether the corresponding slice has been successfully received.

[0077] Optionally, the first confirmation information is carried in at least one of the following frames: a Quality of Service empty data frame, a non-confirmed action frame, a block confirmation frame, and a data frame.

[0078] Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a second trigger frame, the second trigger frame including the probe session token; and the transceiver unit is further configured to send an empty data packet, the empty data packet being used to obtain the precoded report.

[0079] Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a second confirmation message, the second confirmation message indicating the reception status of the TB PPDU; the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a third trigger frame if the second confirmation message indicates that some data frames in the TB PPDU were not successfully received, the third trigger frame including the probe session token; and the transceiver unit is further configured to send retransmitted portions of the data frames in the TB PPDU.

[0080] For information on the effectiveness of this communication device, please refer to the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect.

[0081] For example, the communication device in any of the fifth to eighth aspects or any possible implementation of any aspect further includes a memory coupled to the at least one processor for executing program instructions stored in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the methods in the corresponding aspect or any possible implementation of the corresponding aspect.

[0082] Optionally, the memory is used to store program instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the at least one processor, which can call and execute the program instructions stored in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the methods in the corresponding aspects described above or any possible implementation of the corresponding aspects.

[0083] For example, the communication device further includes a communication interface for communicating with other devices. When the communication device is a terminal, the communication interface is a transceiver, an input / output interface, or a circuit, etc.

[0084] In another possible implementation, the communication device in any of the fifth to eighth aspects or any possible implementation of any aspect includes: at least one processor and a communication interface for executing the methods in the corresponding aspect or any possible implementation of the corresponding aspect, specifically including: the at least one processor communicating with an external entity using the communication interface; the at least one processor running a computer program that causes the communication device to execute the methods in the corresponding aspect or any possible implementation of the corresponding aspect. It is understood that the external entity may be an object other than the processor or an object other than the communication device.

[0085] In yet another possible implementation, the communication device in any of the fifth to eighth aspects, or any possible implementation of any aspect, is a chip or a chip system. The communication interface may be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip or chip system. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or logic circuit.

[0086] The technical effects of any design method in the fifth aspect can be seen in the technical effects of different design methods in the first aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

[0087] Ninthly, a communication system is provided, including a communication device in the fifth aspect or any implementation thereof, and a communication device in the sixth aspect or any implementation thereof.

[0088] In a tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, including a communication device in the seventh aspect or any implementation thereof, and a communication device in the eighth aspect or any implementation thereof.

[0089] Eleventhly, a computer-readable storage medium is provided storing a computer program that, when run on a computer, executes the method described in any of the above aspects or implementations.

[0090] In a twelfth aspect, a computer program product is provided that, when run on a computer, causes the method described in any of the above aspects or implementations to be executed.

[0091] In a thirteenth aspect, a computer program is provided that, when run on a computer, causes the method described in any of the above aspects or implementations to be executed. Attached Figure Description

[0092] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless local area network system according to this application;

[0093] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the EHT TB PPDU transmission method;

[0094] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of EHT TB PPDU transmission for beamforming MIMO;

[0095] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of non-triggered channel probing;

[0096] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of downlink data transmission and retransmission;

[0097] Figure 6 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0098] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the transmission format of a trigger frame and UBPR provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0099] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the format of a first trigger frame provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0100] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating the transmission of a UL BF MIMO TB PPDU on a portion of a RU or MRU, as exemplified by an embodiment of this application.

[0101] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of transmitting a UL BF MIMO TB PPDU on a partial RU or MRU according to an embodiment of this application;

[0102] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of the format of a MAC frame carrying UBPR confirmation information, as exemplified by an embodiment of this application;

[0103] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of a UL BF MIMO TB PPDU transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0104] Figure 13 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0105] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of a UL BF MIMO TB PPDU retransmission as exemplified by an embodiment of this application;

[0106] Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of another UL BF MIMO TB PPDU retransmission example of the embodiments of this application;

[0107] Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of another UL BF MIMO TB PPDU retransmission example of an embodiment of this application;

[0108] Figure 17 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0109] Figure 18 is a schematic diagram of another UL BF MIMO TB PPDU retransmission example of an embodiment of this application;

[0110] Figure 19 is a schematic diagram of another UL BF MIMO TB PPDU retransmission example of an embodiment of this application;

[0111] Figure 20 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0112] Figure 21 is a schematic diagram of the uplink channel detection process exemplified in an embodiment of this application;

[0113] Figure 22 is a schematic diagram of the UL BF MIMO TB PPDU transmission process as exemplified in an embodiment of this application;

[0114] Figure 23 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0115] Figure 24 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0116] The embodiments of this application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0117] This application can be applied to wireless local area network systems that support IEEE 802.11ax next-generation Wi-Fi protocols (such as 802.11be, Wi-Fi 7, or Extramely High Throughput (EHT)), or IEEE 802.11be next-generation Wi-Fi protocols (such as Wi-Fi 8, Ultra High Reliability (UHR), 802.11bn), or Wi-Fi AI, or millimeter wave (mmWave), or ultra-wideband (UWB), or sensing.

[0118] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless local area network system according to this application. The system may include one or more access points (APs) and one or more stand-alone stations (STAs). APs can communicate with one or more STAs, and APs can also communicate with one or more APs; STAs can also communicate with one or more STAs.

[0119] An Access Point (AP) serves as an access point for terminal devices (such as mobile phones) to access wired (or wireless) networks. It is primarily deployed in homes, buildings, and campuses, with a typical coverage radius of tens to hundreds of meters. Outdoor deployments are also possible. An AP acts as a bridge between wired and wireless networks, connecting various wireless network clients and then connecting the wireless network to an Ethernet network. Specifically, the access point can be a terminal device (such as a mobile phone) with a WiFi chip or a network device (such as a router). An AP can support the 802.11be standard. It can also support various wireless local area networks (WLAN) standards within the 802.11 family, including 802.11be, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a. The AP in this application can be a high-efficiency (HE) AP or an extremely high-throughput (EHT) AP, or even an AP compatible with a future generation of WiFi standards.

[0120] A STA (Signal Controller) can be a wireless communication chip, wireless sensor, or wireless communication terminal, and can also be referred to as a user. For example, a STA can be a mobile phone supporting WiFi communication, a tablet computer supporting WiFi communication, a set-top box supporting WiFi communication, a smart TV supporting WiFi communication, a smart wearable device supporting WiFi communication, an in-vehicle communication device supporting WiFi communication, and a computer supporting WiFi communication, etc. Optionally, the STA can support the 802.11be standard. The STA can also support various WLAN standards of the 802.11 family, such as 802.11be, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a.

[0121] The STA in this application can be a high efficient (HE) STA or an extrameally high throughput (EHT) STA, or it can be a STA that is compatible with a future generation of WiFi standards.

[0122] For example, AP and STA can be devices used in vehicle networking, IoT nodes and sensors in the Internet of Things (IoT), smart cameras, smart remote controls, smart water and electricity meters in smart homes, and sensors in smart cities.

[0123] Although this application primarily uses an IEEE 802.11-based network as an example for illustration, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the various aspects of this application can be extended to other networks employing various standards or protocols, such as Bluetooth, high-performance radio LAN (HIPERLAN) (a wireless standard similar to IEEE 802.11, primarily used in Europe), wide area networks (WAN), WLAN, personal area networks (PAN), or other networks now known or developed in the future. Therefore, regardless of the coverage area and wireless access protocol used, the various aspects provided in this application can be applied to any suitable wireless network. It should be noted that the terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of this application can be used interchangeably. "Multiple" refers to two or more; therefore, in the embodiments of this application, "multiple" can also be understood as "at least two." "And / or" describes the relationship between associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A alone, A and B simultaneously, and B alone. In addition, the character " / ", unless otherwise specified, generally indicates that the objects before and after it are in an "or" relationship.

[0124] The transmission method based on trigger-based PPDUs is as follows: As shown in Figure 2, which is a schematic diagram of the EHT TB PPDU transmission method, the AP first sends a trigger frame carrying the corresponding resource unit and physical layer parameter information, triggering multiple STAs to send EHT trigger-based (TB) physical protocol data units (PPDUs). The AP then sends a multiple STA block acknowledge (M-BA) frame to acknowledge the received data.

[0125] When transmitting EHT TB PPDUs, STA1 and / or STA2 can use beamforming multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transmission. STA1 and STA2 can also perform beamforming multiple user-multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) transmission.

[0126] The beamforming MIMO transmission process is as follows: As shown in Figure 3, this is a schematic diagram of EHT TB PPDU transmission for beamforming MIMO. The AP first triggers one or more STAs to send an NDP, also called a sounding PPDU, to obtain the uplink channel from one or more STAs to the AP. Then, the AP calculates the precoding vector or precoding matrix used by one or more STAs when sending uplink data. In this embodiment, this is called a beamforming precoding report (UBPR), but other names are also possible, and this embodiment does not limit the specific name. The calculation method can be singular value decomposition (SVD) of the channel matrix H, for example, H = UΣV * Where U and V are unitary matrices, Σ is a diagonal matrix of a rectangle, and V * This represents the conjugate transpose of V. V can then be used as the precoding matrix for uplink transmission of EHT TB PPDU. The AP then simultaneously sends a trigger frame and the precoding matrix V, triggering one or more STAs to use the precoding matrix sent by the AP to perform transmit beamforming, and then transmit the EHT TB PPDU. The AP then acknowledges the transmitted EHT TB PPDU via an M-BA frame.

[0127] The EHT TB PPDU transmission with UL BF MIMO performed differs from the EHT TB PPDU transmission without UL BF MIMO required in Figure 2 in the following ways:

[0128] 1. The AP sends a trigger frame, which triggers multiple STAs to send NDP, obtains the uplink channel state information, and then obtains the beamforming precoding report required by the STA for UL BF MIMO transmission.

[0129] 2. When the AP triggers the STA to send an EHT TB PPDU, it also sends a UBPR in addition to the trigger frame. The STA can then precode its data to be transmitted based on the UBPR. Data transmission with UL BF MIMO achieves at least a 3dB signal-to-noise ratio gain compared to data transmission without UL BF MIMO, at the same packet error rate.

[0130] The above process defines the transmission method for UL BF MIMO, but it does not define how to transmit when some UBPRs are not successfully received.

[0131] In non-trigger-based transmission, the channel detection, retransmission during channel detection, and retransmission during data transmission processes are as follows: Figure 4 illustrates a non-trigger-based channel detection process. The AP first sends an EHT null data packet announcement (EHT NDPA) frame to notify the beamformer (e.g., STA) that channel detection is required, along with relevant channel detection parameters. Then, after a short inter-frame space (SIFS), it sends an EHT sounding NDP (EHT sounding null data packet, abbreviated as NDP, which has no data field and does not carry a MAC frame). The STA then uses the NDP for channel estimation. Next, the AP sends a beamforming report poll trigger frame (BFRP TF) to trigger multiple STAs to simultaneously perform uplink multi-user transmission, feeding back an EHT compressed beamforming / channel quality indication (CQI) frame.

[0132] EHT compressed beamforming / channel quality indication frames can be divided into 1-8 fragments. If an AP does not receive a fragment correctly, it can resend a BFRP trigger frame. In the trigger frame, for each STA's user information field, there is an 8-bit bitmap used to trigger the STA to report previously incorrectly transmitted fragments. Setting it to 1 indicates that retransmission is required; setting it to 0 indicates that retransmission is not required.

[0133] As shown in Figure 5, the downlink data transmission and retransmission diagram is as follows: When the AP receives the compressed beamforming / channel quality indication frame sent by the STA, it calculates the precoding matrix required for transmitting beamforming and then sends downlink data to one or more STAs. Based on the acknowledgment frame, it selects the downlink data to be sent again and retransmits it.

[0134] The above describes the channel probing and data retransmission process in non-triggered transmission. The precoding matrix is ​​controlled by the data sender, making the retransmission process relatively simple. However, in triggered UL BF MIMO transmission, the precoding matrix needs to be sent from the AP to the STA. Currently, there is no solution for how to transmit data when a portion of the precoding matrix is ​​not received correctly.

[0135] To this end, this application provides a communication scheme in which, when the precoding report sent by the AP is partially successfully received by the STA, the STA transmits a TB PPDU on at least one first sub-RU corresponding to at least one first segment that was successfully received, thereby realizing the transmission of the TB PPDU when the precoding report is partially successfully received and improving resource utilization; and the TB PPDU can be beamformed using at least one first segment, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio gain.

[0136] Figure 6 shows a flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. Exemplarily, the method may include the following steps:

[0137] S601.AP sends a first trigger frame and a first UBPR to STA. Accordingly, STA receives the first trigger frame and the first UBPR.

[0138] This embodiment is based on the scheme of simultaneously sending the trigger frame and UBPR shown in Figure 3, triggering the process of UL BF MIMO transmission, and designs a corresponding feedback scheme. Simultaneously sending the trigger frame and UBPR can further reduce the overhead caused by physical layer preamble, channel access, etc. The AP can also flexibly indicate the UBPR to be used in each transmission.

[0139] Before step S601, the AP generates the first trigger frame and the first UBPR.

[0140] The first trigger frame is used to trigger uplink transmission. The first trigger frame is used to allocate a resource unit (RU) or multiple resource unit (MRU) for the STA. The RU or MRU includes at least one sub-RU.

[0141] The first UBPR includes at least one slice, which corresponds to at least one sub-RU. For example, the correspondence between the at least one slice and the at least one sub-RU can be a one-to-one correspondence, or two slices can correspond to the same sub-RU, or two slices can each correspond to half of the same sub-RU; or one slice can correspond to multiple sub-RUs, or three slices can correspond to four sub-RUs, etc. This embodiment of the application does not limit the scope of the correspondence.

[0142] After the AP generates the first trigger frame and the first UBPR, it sends the first trigger frame and the first UBPR to the STA. As shown in Figure 7, which illustrates a transmission format of the trigger frame and UBPR according to an embodiment of this application, a fragment of the first UBPR is carried within a medium access control (MAC) frame, i.e., a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU). The first trigger frame and at least one MAC frame carrying a fragment of the first UBPR are aggregated together in the form of an aggregated-MAC protocol data unit (A-MPDU). An A-MPDU includes 1-n A-MPDU subframes, each containing an MPDU delimiter, an MPDU, and optional padding. The first trigger frame and the MPDU carrying the fragment of the first UBPR are carried in different A-MPDU subframes.

[0143] As shown in Figure 8, this is a schematic diagram of the format of a first trigger frame provided in an embodiment of this application. The first trigger frame is divided into a common field and a user information list field. The user information list field includes one special user information field, which is used to carry some common information that cannot be carried in the common field; it also includes 1 to N-1 user information fields, each of which carries information such as a station identifier subfield, a resource unit allocation subfield, a spatial stream number subfield, a primary and secondary 160 subfield, and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS). The resource unit allocation subfield and the primary and secondary 160 subfield are used together to indicate the RU or MRU required for a certain STA transmission. In addition, the common field includes the trigger frame type, which can be used to identify different trigger frame types, such as whether it is a trigger frame used to trigger the transmission of NDP or a trigger frame used to trigger the transmission of uplink data. The fields carried by the trigger frame may also be different depending on the trigger frame type. Furthermore, the common information based on the trigger frame type can also carry some information related to the trigger frame type.

[0144] The STA receives the first trigger frame and the first UBPR mentioned above.

[0145] S602.STA sends a first TB PPDU to AP on at least one first sub-RU. Accordingly, AP receives the first TB PPDU on at least one first sub-RU.

[0146] After receiving the first trigger frame and the first UBPR, the STA performs verification on the first trigger frame and the first UBPR. Based on the verification results, the STA has four response methods: (1), (2), (3), and (4). This embodiment focuses on describing the (2) response method:

[0147] (1) If the verification of the first trigger frame fails, i.e. the first trigger frame is transmitted incorrectly, the STA will not respond.

[0148] (2) If the verification of the first trigger frame passes, and the partial fragment verification of the first UBPR passes, that is, at least one first fragment corresponding to at least one first sub-RU is successfully received, the STA responds, and its response method includes, but is not limited to, the following two implementation methods:

[0149] Implementation Method 1: The STA transmits a first TB PPDU to the AP on at least one first sub-RU. This first TB PPDU can be beamformed using at least one successfully received first segment. Because at least one second segment corresponding to at least one second sub-RU has not been received, transmitting the TB PPDU on at least one second sub-RU may interfere with the data of other STAs. Alternatively, the equivalent signal-to-noise ratio of the first TB PPDU transmitted by the STA at the receiving AP may not reach the expected level, and if data is still transmitted according to the scheduled MCS, data transmission may fail.

[0150] The first TB PPDU may include a data frame.

[0151] Furthermore, the first TB PPDU may also include first indication information, which is used to indicate the at least one first sub-RU. For example, the first indication information is used to indicate the index of the at least one first sub-RU, so that the AP can know on which sub-RU the first TB PPDU was transmitted. For example, the first indication information may be carried in the preamble of the first TB PPDU.

[0152] Under certain circumstances, the AP can treat the first indication information as the fragment confirmation information, assuming that at least one fragment corresponding to the first sub-RU has been correctly received, and that at least one fragment corresponding to the second sub-RU has not been correctly received.

[0153] The situation where a STA transmits on some RUs or MRUs can be due to reasons other than only correctly receiving a portion of the fragments, such as carrier sensing being busy on some sub-channels. Therefore, in certain scenarios, at least one fragment corresponding to a first sub-RU is considered a correctly received portion of the fragments. Without additional acknowledgment information, the AP, upon receiving the first indication information, assumes that at least one fragment corresponding to a first sub-RU has been correctly received, and that fragments corresponding to other sub-RUs (at least one second sub-RU) have not been correctly received.

[0154] Figure 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of transmitting a UL BF MIMO TB PPDU on a portion of the RUs or MRUs, as exemplified by an embodiment of this application. Taking a single STA as an example, this can be extended to a scenario involving one of multiple STAs. Assume the AP schedules a STA to transmit a TB PPDU using UL BF MIMO, and the scheduled RU (i.e., at least one sub-RU) has a size of 996-tone RU, corresponding to an 80MHz bandwidth. The first UBPR contains four fragments, each corresponding to a 20MHz bandwidth. If the first fragment is not received correctly, a 484+242-tone MRU (i.e., at least one first sub-RU) can be used to transmit the UL BF MIMO TB PPDU, with the preamble indicating that the RU or MRU used in this transmission is 484+242-tone MRU. One indication method is to include a bitmap in the universal-signal (U-SIG) field. That is, the first indication information mentioned above can be a bitmap, with each bit corresponding to a 20MHz subchannel or a 242-tone RU, indicating the RU or MRU used in this transmission. For example, an indication of 0111 indicates the use of a 484+242-tone MRU in the 2nd to 4th 20MHz channels. Alternatively, a UHR-SIG-C field can be included after the U-SIG field ("after" refers to the time domain, measured in OFDM symbols) (or after the UHR-LTF field). Each STA can then indicate the RU or MRU used in its transmission. The U-SIG field and / or UHR-SIG-C can be transmitted in 20MHz units, allowing the AP to obtain the actual RU or MRU used by the STA in any 20MHz channel.

[0155] In addition to transmitting TB PPDU based on the reception status of the first UBPR, if the AP requires the STA to detect the channel's busy / idle status before transmitting the TB PPDU (i.e., perform carrier sensing), then the available RUs or MRUs for transmission can also be considered based on the channel's busy / idle status. As shown in Figure 10, which is a schematic diagram of another example of transmitting UL BF MIMO TB PPDU on some RUs or MRUs according to an embodiment of this application, STA1 finds that the channel of the sub-RU corresponding to segment 2 (i.e., the second 20MHz from the bottom) is busy, and the third and fourth 20MHz channels are idle. Therefore, UL BF MIMO TB PPDU transmission can be performed on the 484-tone RUs (i.e., at least one of the first sub-RUs mentioned above) on the third and fourth 20MHz channels (a total of 40MHz channels).

[0156] In addition to indirectly indicating which fragments of the first UBPR were successfully received via the first indication information, alternatively, acknowledgment information can be included in the first TB PPDU to indicate the reception status of at least one fragment. Including this acknowledgment information in the first TB PPDU explicitly informs the AP of the UBPR reception status for subsequent retransmissions. Referring again to Figure 10, if the first indication information is used, it indicates the third and fourth 20MHz sub-channels or their corresponding 484-tone RUs. Based on this first indication information, the AP considers successful transmission on the third and fourth 20MHz sub-channels. If the acknowledgment information is used, it indicates successful reception of fragments corresponding to the second, third, and fourth 20MHz sub-channels, even though the second 20MHz sub-channel did not transmit the first TB PPDU due to channel busy.

[0157] UBPR acknowledgment information can be a bitmap. Each bit in the bitmap corresponds to at least one fragment, and each bit in the bitmap indicates whether the corresponding fragment was successfully received. The length of the bitmap is the maximum possible number of fragments, such as 8, or, in subsequent standards, the maximum number of fragments might be defined as 16, in which case the length is set to 16. For any single bit, setting it to 1 indicates receipt, 0 indicates non-receipt, and vice versa.

[0158] The first TB PPDU may transmit only data frames, only acknowledgment information, or data frames and first indication information, or acknowledgment information and first indication information, or data frames and acknowledgment information, or data frames, acknowledgment information and first indication information.

[0159] For example, the data frame and acknowledgment information can be carried in the data field of the first TB PPDU.

[0160] In addition, the first TB PPDU can transmit not only data frames, but also other types of frames such as management frames, control frames, and extended frames. This application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0161] In one example, the acknowledgment information can be carried using any of the following frames: quality of service null data frame (QoS Null Data frame), no ack action frame, or block acknowledge frame.

[0162] In another example, as shown in Figure 11, which is a schematic diagram of the format of a MAC frame carrying UBPR acknowledgment information according to an embodiment of this application, the UBPR acknowledgment information can be carried using the aggregated control (A-control) field in the high efficiency (HE) variant of high throughput control in the frame header of the MAC frame.

[0163] In yet another example, UBPR confirmation information can also be carried through a preamble, such as the U-SIG field or the UHR-SIG-C field.

[0164] Implementation Method 2: As shown in Figure 12, this is a schematic diagram of a UL BF MIMO TB PPDU transmission provided in an embodiment of this application. The first TB PPDU is carried not only on at least one first sub-RU, but also on at least one second sub-RU. At least one second fragment corresponding to at least one second sub-RU is not successfully received. Data frames on at least one second sub-RU are not beamformed according to at least one second fragment. That is, the difference between Implementation Method 2 and Implementation Method 1 is that if the first trigger frame has been correctly received, but fragments of the first UBPR corresponding to certain RUs or MRUs are not received, transmission still occurs on the corresponding RU or MRU, but the indicated precoding matrix is ​​not used.

[0165] In this case, the data frames on at least one second sub-RU are not beamformed according to at least one second segment. This can be achieved by using a random precoding matrix, or by using precoding determined by the STA, or by not performing precoding, or by using an identity matrix as the precoding matrix.

[0166] The first TB PPDU may transmit only data frames, only acknowledgment information, or data frames and first indication information, or acknowledgment information and first indication information, or data frames and acknowledgment information, or data frames, acknowledgment information and first indication information. The meanings of the first indication information and acknowledgment information can be found in implementation method 1.

[0167] The advantage of using this implementation method to still transmit TB PPDUs on the RU or MRU corresponding to the part of the UBPR fragment that is not received correctly is that it does not waste the resources of the RU or MRU. The data frames are interleaved on subcarriers that use the UBPR precoding matrix and those that do not, which can guarantee the reliability of data transmission to a certain extent.

[0168] For example, a data frame on at least one second sub-RU can correspond to a first transmission parameter, which includes at least one of the following parameters: modulation and coding scheme, spatial stream number, and rate, wherein the first transmission parameter is less than the transmission parameter used on at least one first sub-RU. That is, on the RU or MRU corresponding to which precoding is not performed using the indicated UBPR, the used MCS, spatial stream number, or the rate used for transmission is reduced, thereby ensuring reliable data transmission.

[0169] The actual rate used can be fixed as the smaller of (MCS used on at least one first sub-RU) - 2 and the minimum MCS supported by the standard, or it can be explicitly indicated separately. For example, the first TB PPDU also includes second indication information, which is used to indicate the first transmission parameters corresponding to the data frames on at least one second sub-RU. This second indication information can be carried in the preamble of the first TB PPDU, for example, in the U-SIG field or UHR-SIG-C field of the preamble, indicating which RUs or MRUs used the first transmission parameters, and indicating the corresponding first transmission parameters.

[0170] For example, the data rate corresponding to the modulation order and coding rate of the MCS on at least one second sub-RU is less than the data rate corresponding to the modulation order and coding rate of the MCS on at least one first sub-RU. For instance, the data rate corresponding to half the code rate of binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) is less than the data rate corresponding to half the code rate of quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), and both are less than the data rate corresponding to 2 / 3 the code rate of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and less than the data rate corresponding to 3 / 4 the code rate of 640QAM.

[0171] This implementation can still refer to Figure 10, and can still be combined with carrier sensing. If some channels are busy, transmission will be carried out on the RU or MRU on the idle channel.

[0172] (3) If the first trigger frame verification passes, but all fragment verifications of the first UBPR fail, then the STA does not respond; or, implementation method 2 in case (2) can be used to respond.

[0173] (4) If all fragment checks of the first trigger frame and the first UBPR pass, the STA sends the first TB PPDU on at least one sub-RU.

[0174] According to a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application, when a precoding report sent by an AP is partially successfully received by a STA, the STA sends a TB PPDU on at least one first sub-RU corresponding to at least one first segment that was successfully received, thereby realizing the transmission of TB PPDU when the precoding report is partially successfully received and improving resource utilization.

[0175] If it is determined that only a portion of the UBPR fragments were successfully received, the AP needs to retransmit the UBPR.

[0176] In cases (1) and (3) of the embodiment shown in Figure 6, where the STA does not respond (i.e., does not reply with any TB PPDU), the AP can resend the trigger frame and all UBPR fragments and schedule the STA to retransmit.

[0177] Regarding the second case of STA response in the embodiment shown in Figure 6, the following two embodiments will be used to describe the situation:

[0178] Figure 13 shows a flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. Exemplarily, the method may include the following steps:

[0179] S1301.AP sends a first trigger frame and a first UBPR to STA. Accordingly, STA receives the first trigger frame and the first UBPR.

[0180] The first trigger frame is used to trigger uplink transmission. The first trigger frame is used to allocate the RU or MRU used by the STA. The RU or MRU includes at least one sub-RU.

[0181] The first UBPR includes at least one fragment, which corresponds to at least one sub-RU.

[0182] The specific implementation of this step can be referred to step S601 of the embodiment shown in Figure 6, and will not be repeated here.

[0183] S1302.STA sends a first TB PPDU to AP on at least one first sub-RU. Accordingly, AP receives the first TB PPDU on at least one first sub-RU.

[0184] Among them, at least one first segment corresponding to at least one first sub-RU was successfully received.

[0185] The specific implementation of this step can be referred to step S602 of the embodiment shown in Figure 6, and will not be repeated here.

[0186] S1303.AP sends a second trigger frame and at least one second fragment to STA. Accordingly, STA receives the second trigger frame and at least one second fragment.

[0187] After receiving the first TB PPDU, the AP determines that some fragments were not successfully received. The AP can send a second trigger frame and at least one second fragment to the STA to schedule retransmission. The at least one second fragment is part or all of the fragments that the STA failed to receive in step S1302. The second trigger frame may be the same as or different from the first trigger frame. The second trigger frame is used to schedule retransmission and to allocate the RU or MRU used by the station. The RU or MRU includes at least one sub-RU. At least one second fragment corresponds to at least one sub-RU.

[0188] For example, the at least one second segment has a correspondence with at least one sub-RU. This can be a one-to-one correspondence between at least one second segment and at least one sub-RU, or two second segments correspond to the same sub-RU, or each of the two second segments corresponds to half of the same sub-RU; or one second segment corresponds to multiple sub-RUs, or three second segments correspond to four sub-RUs, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit this.

[0189] S1304.STA sends a second TB PPDU to AP. Accordingly, AP receives the second TB PPDU.

[0190] After receiving the second trigger frame and at least one second segment, the STA can send a second TB PPDU to the AP. This second TB PPDU can be beamformed using at least one of the first and at least one second segments; that is, the second TB PPDU can be beamformed using some or all of the first segments, or it can be beamformed using some or all of the second segments, or it can be beamformed using some of the first and some of the second segments, or it can be beamformed using all of the first and all of the second segments.

[0191] Alternatively, the second TB PPDU may also employ beamforming with at least one of the at least one second segment.

[0192] Steps S1303 and S1304 describe how the AP schedules the STA to retransmit when some UBPR fragments are not successfully received, and how the STA performs the retransmission:

[0193] The responses from the STA in step S1302 are described below:

[0194] In the first case, in step S1302, the STA only replies with an acknowledgment message or a first indication message, without sending any data frames.

[0195] The AP sends a second trigger frame and at least one second fragment to the STA to schedule a retransmission. The meaning of the second trigger frame and at least one second fragment can be found in the description above.

[0196] After receiving the second trigger frame and at least one second segment, the STA can send a second TB PPDU to the AP. This second TB PPDU can be carried on all or some of the sub-RUs. The second TB PPDU can be beamformed using at least one of the at least one first segment and at least one second segment.

[0197] For example, Figure 14 illustrates a UL BF MIMO TB PPDU retransmission example from an embodiment of this application. During the initial transmission, STA1 only replies with an acknowledgment message without sending any data frames. During the initial UBPR transmission, fragment 1 was not successfully received. During retransmission, the AP can send a second trigger frame and fragment 1 to STA1. After receiving the second trigger frame and fragment 1, since STA1 did not send any data frames during the initial transmission, STA1 sends a second TB PPDU to the AP during retransmission. This second TB PPDU can be carried on all or some sub-RUs (Figure 14 illustrates this second TB PPDU carried on all sub-RUs). The second TB PPDU can be beamformed using at least one of fragments from fragment 1 to fragment 4.

[0198] In the second scenario, the STA only replies with a data frame, without any acknowledgment information. However, the preamble includes a first indication, which the AP uses to determine which fragments were successfully received during the initial transmission. This first indication can serve as a reference for retransmission UBPR. The AP can send a second trigger frame and at least one second fragment to the STA to schedule retransmission. The meaning of the second trigger frame and at least one second fragment is explained above. After receiving the second trigger frame and at least one second fragment, the STA generates a second TB PPDU. This second TB PPDU can be beamformed using at least one of the at least one first fragment and at least one at least one second fragment.

[0199] It should be noted that the AP can determine which fragments were successfully received during the initial transmission based on this first indication information. The actual criterion for "knowing" is understanding some or all of the successfully transmitted fragments. There may be cases where some fragments were actually successfully transmitted but still need to be retransmitted. For example, referring to Figure 10, on the STA side, fragments 2, 3, and 4 (corresponding to the second, third, and fourth 20MHz sub-channels) were successfully transmitted, but the second 20MHz sub-channel carrier sensing was busy. Therefore, the first indication information indicates that transmission should be performed on the third and fourth 20MHz sub-channels. The AP learns that the third and fourth fragments were successfully transmitted and retransmits the first and second fragments.

[0200] For example, Figure 15 illustrates another UL BF MIMO TB PPDU retransmission example from an embodiment of this application. During the initial transmission, STA1 replies with a first indication message and a data frame. During the initial UBPR transmission, fragment 1 is not successfully received. During retransmission, the AP can send a second trigger frame and fragment 1 to STA1. After receiving the second trigger frame and fragment 1, STA1 sends a second TB PPDU to the AP. This second TB PPDU can be beamformed using at least one of fragments 1-4. This second TB PPDU can be carried on all sub-RUs or some sub-RUs (Figure 15 illustrates this second TB PPDU carried on all sub-RUs).

[0201] In the third case, the STA replied with a data frame and an acknowledgment message.

[0202] The AP can send a second trigger frame and at least one second fragment to the STA to schedule STA retransmission. The meaning of the second trigger frame and at least one second fragment is explained above. After receiving the second trigger frame and at least one second fragment, the STA generates a second TB PPDU. This second TB PPDU can be beamformed using at least one of the at least one first fragment and at least one second fragment.

[0203] For example, Figure 16 illustrates another UL BF MIMO TB PPDU retransmission example from an embodiment of this application. During the initial transmission, STA1 replies with a data frame and acknowledgment information. During the initial UBPR transmission, fragment 1 is not successfully received, and the AP sends a second trigger frame and fragment 1 to STA1 to schedule a retransmission. After receiving the second trigger frame and fragment 1, STA1 sends a second TB PPDU to the AP. This second TB PPDU can be beamformed using at least one of fragments 1-4. This second TB PPDU can be carried on all sub-RUs or some sub-RUs (Figure 16 illustrates this second TB PPDU carried on all sub-RUs).

[0204] According to a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application, the first TB PPDU sent by the STA carries first indication information or acknowledgment information. When the AP retransmits, it can retransmit the fragments that were not successfully received during the initial transmission according to the first indication information or acknowledgment information. When the STA transmits the second TB PPDU, it can perform beamforming on the second TB PPDU according to the fragments successfully received during the initial transmission and the retransmitted fragments, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio gain of the data.

[0205] The above embodiments describe that the first TB PPDU carries first indication information or acknowledgment information. When the AP retransmits, it can retransmit the fragments that were not successfully received during the initial transmission according to the first indication information or acknowledgment information. When the STA transmits the second TB PPDU, it can perform beamforming on the second TB PPDU according to the fragments successfully received during the initial transmission and the retransmitted fragments, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio gain of the data.

[0206] In the following embodiment, it will be described that the AP can send a third trigger frame to trigger the STA retransmission based on the first TB PPDU. When the STA retransmits, it can perform beamforming on the retransmitted first TB PPDU based on at least one first fragment successfully received during the initial transmission, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio gain of data transmission.

[0207] Figure 17 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. Exemplarily, the method may include the following steps:

[0208] S1701.AP sends a first trigger frame and a first UBPR to STA. Accordingly, STA receives the first trigger frame and the first UBPR.

[0209] The first trigger frame is used to trigger uplink transmission. The first trigger frame is used to allocate the RU or MRU used by the STA. The RU or MRU includes at least one sub-RU.

[0210] The first UBPR includes at least one fragment, which corresponds to at least one sub-RU.

[0211] The specific implementation of this step can be referred to step S601 of the embodiment shown in Figure 6, and will not be repeated here.

[0212] S1702.STA sends a first TB PPDU to AP on at least one first sub-RU. Accordingly, AP receives the first TB PPDU on at least one first sub-RU.

[0213] Among them, at least one first segment corresponding to at least one first sub-RU was successfully received.

[0214] The specific implementation of this step can be referred to step S602 of the embodiment shown in Figure 6, and will not be repeated here.

[0215] S1703.AP sends a third trigger frame to STA. Accordingly, STA receives the third trigger frame.

[0216] After the AP receives the first TB PPDU, its signal-to-noise ratio and other parameters may not meet the requirements. Therefore, it can send a third trigger frame to the STA to schedule retransmission. This third trigger frame may be the same as or different from the first trigger frame. This third trigger frame is used to schedule retransmission and to allocate the RU or MRU used by the station. The RU or MRU includes at least one sub-RU.

[0217] S1704.STA sends a third TB PPDU to AP. Accordingly, AP receives the third TB PPDU.

[0218] After receiving the third trigger frame, the STA sends a third TB PPDU to the AP. This third TB PPDU uses at least one first segment for beamforming.

[0219] Steps S1703 and S1704 describe how the AP schedules STA retransmissions and how the STA performs retransmissions:

[0220] The following describes the responses of the STA in step S1702:

[0221] In the first scenario, the STA only replies with a data frame in step S1702, without replying with an acknowledgment message. However, the preamble includes first indication information. Since the AP has allocated at least one sub-RU through the first trigger frame, the AP can determine on which sub-RU the first TB PPDU was transmitted based on this first indication information. Under certain circumstances, this first indication information can serve as a reference for retransmission UBPR. The AP can send a third trigger frame to the STA to schedule the STA to retransmit data on at least one first sub-RU. This third trigger frame can be the same as or different from the first trigger frame. After receiving the third trigger frame, the STA sends a third TB PPDU to the AP on at least one first sub-RU. Since the AP does not send fragments that were not successfully received during the initial transmission when scheduling retransmission, when the STA generates the third TB PPDU, the third TB PPDU uses at least one first fragment successfully received during the initial transmission for beamforming.

[0222] Figure 18 illustrates another example of UL BF MIMO TB PPDU retransmission according to an embodiment of this application. During the initial transmission, fragment 1 is not successfully received by STA1. STA1 only replies with a data frame, without any acknowledgment information, but the preamble includes the aforementioned first indication information. After receiving the first TB PPDU, AP sends a third trigger frame to STA1 to schedule STA retransmission. STA1 generates a third TB PPDU. Since AP did not send fragment 1 during retransmission scheduling, the third TB PPDU uses at least one fragment from fragments 2 to 4 for beamforming. STA sends the third TB PPDU to AP. This third TB PPDU can be carried on the sub-RUs corresponding to fragments 2 to 4 respectively.

[0223] In the second scenario, the STA replies with a data frame and acknowledgment information in step S1702. The AP can send a third trigger frame to the STA to schedule a retransmission. This third trigger frame may be the same as or different from the first trigger frame. After receiving the third trigger frame, the STA sends a third TB PPDU to the AP. Since the AP does not send fragments that were not successfully received during the initial transmission when scheduling the retransmission, the STA uses at least one first fragment successfully received during the initial transmission for beamforming when generating the third TB PPDU.

[0224] Figure 19 illustrates another example of UL BF MIMO TB PPDU retransmission according to an embodiment of this application. During the initial transmission, segment 1 was not successfully received by STA1, and STA1 replied with a data frame and acknowledgment information. After receiving the first TB PPDU, the AP sends a third trigger frame to STA1 to schedule a retransmission. STA1 generates a third TB PPDU. Since the AP did not send segment 1 during the retransmission scheduling, the third TB PPDU uses at least one segment from segment 2 to segment 4 for beamforming. The STA sends the third TB PPDU to the AP. This third TB PPDU can be carried on the sub-RUs corresponding to segments 2 to 4 respectively.

[0225] According to a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application, the AP can send a third trigger frame to trigger the STA to retransmit based on the first TB PPDU. When the STA retransmits, it can perform beamforming on the retransmitted first TB PPDU based on at least one first fragment successfully received during the initial transmission, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio gain of data transmission.

[0226] The above embodiments are based on the scheme of simultaneously sending trigger frames and UBPR as shown in Figure 3, triggering the process of UL BF MIMO transmission, and designing corresponding feedback schemes.

[0227] The following example describes a UL BF MIMO transmission scheme in which the trigger frame and UBPR are sent separately.

[0228] Figure 20 shows a flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. Exemplarily, the method may include the following steps:

[0229] S2001.AP sends a second trigger frame to STA. Accordingly, STA receives the second trigger frame.

[0230] The second trigger frame is used to trigger channel probing. This second trigger frame includes a probe session token, which serves as identification information for the channel probing process.

[0231] For example, the probe session token can be included in a public field or a special user information field of the second trigger frame. The format of the trigger frame can be seen in Figure 8.

[0232] S2002.STA sends an NDP to the AP. The AP then receives the NDP.

[0233] After receiving the second trigger frame, the STA sends an NDP to the AP. This NDP is used to obtain the UBPR. The NDP can also be called a probe PPDU.

[0234] It is understandable that the AP may pre-store the UBPR or obtain the UBPR from other devices. Therefore, the above steps S2001 and S2002 are optional, and are shown as dashed lines in the figure.

[0235] S2003.AP sends a UBPR to STA. STA receives the UBPR accordingly.

[0236] After receiving the NDP, the AP can calculate the precoding vector or precoding matrix used by one or more STAs when sending uplink data, i.e., UBPR. The specific calculation method can be found in the previous description.

[0237] The UBPR includes at least one fragment and an identifier for at least one fragment. The identifier for the at least one fragment is used to identify the at least one fragment.

[0238] Furthermore, the UBPR also includes the aforementioned probe session token.

[0239] S2004.STA sends a first acknowledgment message to AP. Accordingly, AP receives the first acknowledgment message.

[0240] The first confirmation message indicates the reception status of at least one fragment of the UBPR. This confirmation message explicitly informs the AP of the UBPR reception status for subsequent retransmissions.

[0241] The initial confirmation information can be a bitmap. Each bit in the bitmap corresponds to at least one fragment, and each bit in the bitmap indicates whether the corresponding fragment was successfully received. The length of the bitmap is the maximum possible number of fragments, such as 8, or, in subsequent standards, the maximum number of fragments might be defined as 16, in which case the length is set to 16. For any single bit, setting it to 1 indicates receipt, 0 indicates non-receipt, and vice versa.

[0242] In one example, the first confirmation information can be carried using any of the following frames: Quality of Service (QoS) empty data frame, unconfirmed action frame, or block confirmation frame.

[0243] In another example, as shown in Figure 11, which is a schematic diagram of the format of a MAC frame carrying UBPR confirmation information according to an embodiment of this application, the first confirmation information can be carried using the A-control field in the HE variant of high throughput control in the frame header of the MAC frame.

[0244] S2005. If the first confirmation message indicates that at least one portion of a fragment was not successfully received, the AP sends the unreceived portion of the fragment. Accordingly, the STA receives that portion of the fragment.

[0245] Once the STA receives this fragment, it can also send an acknowledgment message to the AP, which is not shown in the diagram.

[0246] Figure 21 illustrates the uplink channel detection process in an embodiment of this application. The AP sends a trigger frame to STA1 and STA2 to trigger channel detection. Upon receiving the trigger frame, STA1 and STA2 each send an NDP to the AP. After receiving the NDPs from STA1 and STA2, the AP calculates the UBPR used by STA1 and STA2 for uplink transmission. After generating the UBPR, the AP sends the UBPR to STA1 and STA2. Upon receiving the UBPR, STA1 and STA2 each send UBPR acknowledgment information to the AP. The content of the UBPR acknowledgment information may differ for each STA depending on the fragmentation of the received UBPR. After receiving the UBPR acknowledgment information from STA1 and STA2, if the acknowledgment information indicates that some fragments were not successfully received, the AP can send the unreceived fragments to STA1 and / or STA2. After receiving the retransmitted fragments from the AP, STA1 and / or STA2 then send UBPR acknowledgment information to the AP again.

[0247] S2006.AP sends the first trigger frame to STA. Accordingly, STA receives the first trigger frame.

[0248] After confirming that the STA has successfully received the UBPR, the AP sends a first trigger frame to the STA. This first trigger frame is used to trigger uplink transmission.

[0249] The first trigger frame includes the aforementioned probe session token, which instructs the STA to perform beamforming on the TB PPDU using the UBPR corresponding to the probe session token.

[0250] S2007.STA sends a TB PPDU to the AP. The AP then receives the TB PPDU.

[0251] After receiving the first trigger frame, the STA sends a TB PPDU to the AP. This TB PPDU uses the UBPR corresponding to the probe session token for beamforming.

[0252] Alternatively, if the first trigger frame does not include the aforementioned probe session token, the STA may always use the UBPR fed back from the most recent channel probe to beamform the TB PPDU. Furthermore, the STA may include an indication message in the TB PPDU to indicate whether beamforming has been performed on the TB PPDU.

[0253] Figure 22 illustrates the UL BF MIMO TB PPDU transmission process as exemplified in this embodiment. The AP sends trigger frames to STA1 and STA2 respectively. These trigger frames include a probe session token. Upon receiving the trigger frames, STA1 and STA2 each send an EHT TB PPDU to the AP. This EHT TB PPDU uses the UBPR corresponding to the probe session token for beamforming. After receiving the EHT TB PPDUs from STA1 and STA2 respectively, the AP sends an M-BA frame to both STA1 and STA2. This M-BA frame indicates the reception status of the EHT TB PPDU. If some data is not received correctly, the AP can resend an acknowledgment frame to STA1 and / or STA2. This trigger frame triggers STA1 and / or STA2 to retransmit data. Upon receiving the trigger frame, STA1 and / or STA2 retransmit the EHT TB PPDU to the AP. The AP then sends an M-BA frame for acknowledgment.

[0254] According to a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application, the AP can obtain the reception status of the STA receiving the first acknowledgment information sent by the STA, so that the AP can accurately retransmit the fragment based on the first acknowledgment information; and by carrying a probe session token in the precoding report and the first trigger frame during the channel probing process, the AP enables the TB PPDU sent by the STA to be beamformed using the precoding report corresponding to the probe session token. By using the correct precoding report for beamforming, the signal-to-noise ratio gain of data transmission can be improved.

[0255] The foregoing has described the solutions provided in the embodiments of this application. It is understood that communication devices (e.g., AP, STA) include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function in order to achieve the above-described functions. Those skilled in the art should readily recognize that, in conjunction with the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein, this application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in a hardware or computer software-driven hardware manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0256] This application embodiment can divide the communication device into functional modules according to the above method example. For example, each function can be divided into its own functional modules, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The functional modules can be implemented in hardware or software. It should be noted that the module division in this application embodiment is illustrative and only represents one logical functional division; other division methods may be used in actual implementation. The following description uses the division of functional modules according to their corresponding functions as an example:

[0257] A possible structural schematic diagram of the communication device is shown in Figure 23. The communication device 2300 includes a transceiver unit 2301 and a processing unit 2302.

[0258] In one embodiment, the communication device may be an access point. The transceiver unit 2301 is configured to support the communication device in performing the AP operations in steps S601 and S602 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6; or, the transceiver unit 2301 is configured to support the communication device in performing the AP operations in steps S1301–S1304 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 13; or, the transceiver unit 2301 is configured to support the communication device in performing the AP operations in steps S1701–S1704 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 17; or, the transceiver unit 2301 is configured to support the communication device in performing the AP operations in steps S2001–S2005 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 20. All relevant content of each step involved in the above method embodiments can be referenced from the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and will not be repeated here.

[0259] In another embodiment, the communication device can be a station. The transceiver unit 2301 is used to support the communication device in performing the STA operations in steps S601 and S602 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6; or, the transceiver unit 2301 is used to support the communication device in performing the STA operations in steps S1301 to S1304 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 13; or, the transceiver unit 2301 is used to support the communication device in performing the STA operations in steps S1701 to S1704 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 17; or, the transceiver unit 2301 is used to support the communication device in performing the STA operations in steps S2001 to S2005 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 20. All relevant content of each step involved in the above method embodiments can be referred to in the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and will not be repeated here.

[0260] Figure 24 is a structural diagram of a possible product form of the communication device described in the embodiments of this application.

[0261] As one possible product form of an embodiment, the communication device 2400 can be an information transmission device, comprising a transceiver 2401 and a processor 2402. The transceiver 2401 is used to support the communication device in executing steps S601 and S602 in the embodiment shown in FIG6, or to support the communication device in executing steps S1301 to S1304 in the embodiment shown in FIG13, or to support the communication device in executing steps S1701 to S1702 in the embodiment shown in FIG17, or to support the communication device in executing steps S2001 to S2005 in the embodiment shown in FIG20. The processor 2402 is used to control and manage the operation of the communication device 2400. Optionally, the communication device 2400 may further include a memory 2403.

[0262] As another possible product form of an embodiment, the communication device 2400 can also be an information transmission board.

[0263] As another possible product form of the above embodiments, the communication device is also implemented by a general-purpose processor, commonly known as a chip. The general-purpose processor includes: a processing circuit 2402 and a communication interface 2401; optionally, the general-purpose processor may also include a storage medium 2403.

[0264] As another possible product form of the above embodiments, the communication device may also be implemented using one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), controllers, state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware components, any other suitable circuits, or any combination of circuits capable of performing the various functions described throughout this application.

[0265] The processor described above can be a central processing unit, a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure of this application. The processor can also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, etc. The bus can be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into address bus, data bus, control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is used in Figure 24, but this does not indicate that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0266] Those skilled in the art will understand that all or part of the steps of the above method embodiments can be implemented by hardware related to program instructions. The aforementioned program instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the program instructions are executed, they perform the steps of the above method embodiments. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0267] On the one hand, embodiments of this application also provide a readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions, which are executed by a device (which may be a microcontroller, chip, controller, etc.) or processor when executing the steps in the communication method provided in this application.

[0268] On one hand, embodiments of this application also provide a computer program product, which includes computer-executable instructions stored in a computer-readable storage medium; at least one processor of the device can read the computer-executable instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the at least one processor executes the computer-executable instructions to cause the device to perform the steps in the communication method provided in this application.

[0269] Those skilled in the art will understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0270] In the embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the division of units is merely a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For instance, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. The coupling, direct coupling, or communication connection shown or discussed between each other may be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, apparatuses, or units, and may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0271] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0272] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved, in whole or in part, through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it can be implemented, in whole or in part, as a computer program product. This computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When these computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the flow or function according to the embodiments of this application is generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in or transmitted through a computer-readable storage medium. The computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible to a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available media can be read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), or magnetic media, such as floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes, magnetic disks, or optical media, such as digital versatile discs (DVDs), or semiconductor media, such as solid-state disks (SSDs).

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: The access point sends a first trigger frame and a first precoding report. The first trigger frame is used to trigger uplink transmission. The first trigger frame is used to allocate the resource unit (RU) or multiple resource unit (MRU) used by the site. The RU or MRU includes at least one sub-RU. The first precoding report includes at least one fragment. The at least one fragment has a corresponding relationship with the at least one sub-RU. The access point receives a first trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU) on at least one first sub-RU, wherein at least one first fragment corresponding to the at least one first sub-RU is successfully received.

2. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The first TB PPDU includes at least one of a data frame, a first indication message, and an acknowledgment message.

3. The method as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The first indication information is used to indicate the at least one first sub-RU.

4. The method as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The confirmation information is used to indicate the reception status of the at least one fragment.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The first TB PPDU is also carried on at least one second sub-RU, at least one second segment corresponding to the at least one second sub-RU is not successfully received, and the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU are not beamformed according to the at least one second segment.

6. The method as described in claim 5, characterized in that, The data frames on at least one second sub-RU correspond to a first transmission parameter, which includes at least one of the following parameters: modulation and coding strategy, spatial stream number, and rate. The first transmission parameter is less than the transmission parameter used on the at least one first sub-RU.

7. The method as described in claim 6, characterized in that, The first TB PPDU further includes second indication information, which is used to indicate the first transmission parameters corresponding to the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU.

8. The method according to any one of claims 2-7, characterized in that, If the access point receives the first indication information or the confirmation information, the method further includes: The access point sends a second trigger frame and the at least one second fragment; The access point receives a second TB PPDU, which uses at least one of the at least one first segment and the at least one second segment for beamforming.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that, The method further includes: The access point sends a third trigger frame, which allocates the at least one first sub-RU; The access point receives a third TB PPDU, which uses the at least one first segment for beamforming.

10. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: The station receives a first trigger frame and a first precoding report. The first trigger frame is used to trigger uplink transmission. The first trigger frame is used to allocate the resource unit RU or multiple resource unit MRU used by the station. The RU or MRU includes at least one sub-RU. The first precoding report includes at least one fragment. The at least one fragment has a corresponding relationship with the at least one sub-RU. The station transmits a first trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU) on at least one first sub-RU, wherein at least one first fragment corresponding to the at least one first sub-RU is successfully received.

11. The method as described in claim 10, characterized in that, The first TB PPDU includes at least one of a data frame, a first indication message, and an acknowledgment message.

12. The method as described in claim 11, characterized in that, The first indication information is used to indicate the at least one first sub-RU.

13. The method as described in claim 11, characterized in that, The confirmation information is used to indicate the reception status of the at least one fragment.

14. The method according to any one of claims 10-13, characterized in that, The first TB PPDU is also carried on at least one second sub-RU, at least one second segment corresponding to the at least one second sub-RU is not successfully received, and the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU are not beamformed according to the at least one second segment.

15. The method as described in claim 14, characterized in that, The data frames on at least one second sub-RU correspond to a first transmission parameter, which includes at least one of the following parameters: modulation and coding strategy, spatial stream number, and rate. The first transmission parameter is less than the transmission parameter used on the at least one first sub-RU.

16. The method as described in claim 15, characterized in that, The first TB PPDU further includes second indication information, which is used to indicate the first transmission parameters corresponding to the data frames on the at least one second sub-RU.

17. The method according to any one of claims 11-16, characterized in that, If the first instruction information or the confirmation information is received, the method further includes: The station sends a second trigger frame and the at least one second fragment; The station receives a second TB PPDU, which uses at least one of the at least one first segment and the at least one second segment for beamforming.

18. The method according to any one of claims 10-17, characterized in that, The method further includes: The station sends a third trigger frame, which allocates the at least one first sub-RU; The site receives a third TB PPDU, which uses the at least one first segment for beamforming.

19. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: The access point sends a precoding report, which includes at least one fragment and a probe session token. The access point receives a first confirmation message, which indicates the reception status of at least one fragment of the precoding report. If the first confirmation information indicates that some fragments in the at least one fragment were not successfully received, the access point sends the fragments that were not successfully received. The access point sends a first trigger frame, the first trigger frame including the probe session token; The access point receives a trigger-based Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit (TB PPDU), and the TB PPDU uses the precoded report corresponding to the probe session token for beamforming.

20. The method as described in claim 19, characterized in that, The precoding report also includes the identifier of the at least one fragment.

21. The method as described in claim 19 or 20, characterized in that, The first confirmation information is a bitmap, in which one bit corresponds to one of the at least one slice, and each bit in the bitmap indicates whether the corresponding slice has been successfully received.

22. The method according to any one of claims 19-21, characterized in that, The first confirmation information is carried in at least one of the following frames: a Quality of Service empty data frame, a non-confirmed action frame, a block confirmation frame, and a data frame.

23. The method according to any one of claims 19-22, characterized in that, The method further includes: The access point sends a second trigger frame, the second trigger frame including the probe session token; The access point receives empty data packets, which are used to obtain the precoding report.

24. The method according to any one of claims 19-23, characterized in that, The method further includes: The access point sends a second confirmation message, which indicates the reception status of the TB PPDU; If the second confirmation information indicates that some data frames in the TB PPDU were not successfully received, the access point sends a third trigger frame, which includes the probe session token; The access point receives a portion of the data frames in the retransmitted TB PPDU.

25. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: The site receives a precoding report, which includes at least one fragment and a probe session token. The station sends a first confirmation message, which indicates the reception status of at least one fragment of the precoded report; If the first confirmation information indicates that some fragments in the at least one fragment were not successfully received, the station receives the fragments that were not successfully received. The station receives a first trigger frame, the first trigger frame including the probe session token; The station sends a trigger-based Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit (TB PPDU), which uses the precoded report corresponding to the probe session token for beamforming.

26. A communication device, characterized in that, The apparatus is used to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-25.

27. A communication device, characterized in that, The device includes a processor coupled to a memory for storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-26.

28. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The storage medium stores a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, implement the method as described in any one of claims 1-26.

29. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes relevant program instructions, which, when executed, implement the method as described in any one of claims 1-26.

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