Relay communication method

Abstract

A relay communication method, including: relay station discovery, RSSI measurements related to relay stations, selection of appropriate relay stations, channel sounding and feedback of the relay stations, BSR design and feedback of the relay stations, transmission and scheduling of the relay stations, and relay station transmission supporting multi-link capability.

Description

Relay communication method Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and in particular to a relay communication method. Background Art

[0002] The existing 802.11 standards typically consider a scenario where an access point (AP) communicates directly with one or more associated stations (STAs). However, when a STA is far from the AP, large path loss or severe interference can lead to poor link quality (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or signal-to-noise ratio (SINR)), thus affecting the communication rate.

[0003] The UHR Project Authorizations (PARs) document will improve the IEEE Std 802.11 physical layer (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers in independent Basic Service Set (BSS) or overlapping BSS scenarios, with at least one operating mode capable of achieving higher throughput than Extremely High Throughput (EHT) at different signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) levels.

[0004] Therefore, in Wi-Fi 8, using relay stations to improve the throughput of distant users has become a research focus, and how to design an efficient relay protocol is an urgent problem that needs to be solved. Technical issues:

[0005] Existing technologies do not provide specific relay operation protocols or frame designs, nor do they address how Multi-Link Devices (MLDs) function as relay stations. Existing technologies do not prioritize communication between APs and target non-AP STAs, selecting appropriate relay stations to effectively facilitate AP-to-non-AP STA communication. The next generation of wireless local area networks (WLANs) requires a more comprehensive and detailed design.

[0006] Therefore, a relay communication method is needed to improve the related operations of relay stations.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] One objective of the present disclosure is to provide a relay communication method, a user equipment, and a base station.

[0009] In a first aspect, the present invention proposes a relay communication method, which is executed in a station STA of a wireless local area network, and is characterized in that it includes

[0010] A first request frame is transmitted to an access point AP, wherein the first request frame includes an extended capability element and / or an UHR relay capability element UHR Relay Capabilities element, the extended capability element includes a relay site subfield for indicating whether relay forwarding is supported, and the UHR relay capability element UHR Relay Capabilities element includes a UHR relay capability information field.

[0011] In a second aspect, the present invention proposes a relay communication method, which is executed in an access point AP of a wireless local area network, and is characterized in that it includes

[0012] Receive a first request frame transmitted from a station STA, wherein the first request frame includes an extended capability element and / or an UHR relay capability element UHR Relay Capabilities element, the extended capability element Extended Capabilities element includes a relay site subfield for indicating whether relay forwarding is supported, and the UHR relay capability element UHR Relay Capabilities element includes a UHR relay capability information field.

[0013] In a third aspect, the present invention provides a relay communication method executed in a first station of a wireless local area network, characterized by comprising:

[0014] The first site transmits a frame regarding received signal strength indication RSSI measurement to one or more relay sites, wherein the frame is a trigger frame for triggering RSSI measurement regarding the one or more relay sites or an empty data packet announcement frame NDPA and an empty data packet frame NDP for providing received signal strength indication RSSI measurement.

[0015] In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a relay communication method executed in a first station of a wireless local area network, characterized by comprising:

[0016] The first station transmits a frame to the second station through forwarding of one or more relay stations, wherein the frame includes identifier information of a selected relay station from the one or more relay stations.

[0017] In a fifth aspect, the present invention provides a relay communication method, executed in a station of a wireless local area network serving as a relay station, characterized by comprising:

[0018] Reporting a buffer status report BSR to an access point AP, wherein the buffer status report BSR includes a first field for recording a first buffer status report BSR of the relay station and a second field for recording a second buffer status report BSR of a destination device served by the relay station.

[0019] In a sixth aspect, the present invention provides a relay communication method, executed in a station of a wireless local area network serving as a relay station, wherein the relay station having multi-link capability performs a multi-link relay station / forwarding operation, wherein a first link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point AP or transmit a frame to the access point AP, and a second link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point station STA or transmit a frame to the station STA, and the relay station is a multi-link device MLD having the capability of simultaneously transmitting and receiving STR on multiple links. The method further comprises:

[0020] receiving a first data frame sent from the access point AP through the first link; and

[0021] A first simultaneous transmission is performed according to the STR capability, wherein the first simultaneous transmission includes transmitting a first confirmation frame for indicating confirmation of reception of the first data frame to the access point AP through the first link, and forwarding the first data frame to the station STA through the second link.

[0022] In a seventh aspect, the present invention provides a relay communication method, executed in a station of a wireless local area network serving as a relay station, wherein the relay station having multi-link capability performs a multi-link relay station / forwarding operation, wherein a first link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point AP or transmit a frame to the access point AP, and a second link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point station STA or transmit a frame to the station STA, characterized in that the relay station is a multi-link device MLD having non-simultaneous transmission and reception (NSTR) capability, and the method comprises:

[0023] Performing a first simultaneous transmission according to the NSTR capability, the first simultaneous transmission comprising: transmitting a synchronization frame for maintaining synchronization / alignment of a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU to the access point AP and the station STA respectively;

[0024] After a short frame interval (SIFS) has elapsed after transmitting the synchronization frame, performing a first simultaneous reception according to the NSTR capability, wherein the first simultaneous reception includes: receiving a first data frame sent from the access point (AP) through the first link, and receiving a second data frame sent from the station (STA) through the second link;

[0025] performing a second simultaneous transmission according to the NSTR capability, the second simultaneous transmission comprising: sending a first confirmation frame for indicating confirmation of reception of the first data frame to the access point AP through the first link, and sending a second confirmation frame for indicating confirmation of reception of the second data to the station STA through the second link;

[0026] Performing a third simultaneous transmission based on the NSTR capability, the third simultaneous transmission comprising: forwarding the second data frame sent from the station STA to the access point AP through the first link, and forwarding the first data frame sent from the access point AP to the station STA through the second link.

[0027] In an eighth aspect, the present invention provides a relay communication method, executed in a station of a wireless local area network serving as a relay station, wherein the relay station having multi-link capability performs a multi-link relay station / forwarding operation, wherein a first link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point AP or transmit a frame to the access point AP, and a second link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point station STA or transmit a frame to the station STA, characterized in that the relay station is a multi-link device MLD having non-simultaneous transmission and reception (NSTR) capability, and the method comprises:

[0028] Perform downlink forwarding or uplink forwarding;

[0029] The downlink forwarding includes:

[0030] receiving a first data frame from the access point AP via the first link, and transmitting a first confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station receives the first data frame to the access point AP via the first link after a first time interval;

[0031] forwarding the first data frame to the station STA via the second link after a second time interval, and receiving a second confirmation frame from the station STA via the second link after a third time interval for confirming that the station STA has received the first data frame; and

[0032] forwarding the second confirmation frame to the access point AP via the first link after a fourth time interval;

[0033] The uplink forwarding includes:

[0034] receiving a second data frame from the station STA through the second link, and transmitting a third confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station receives the second data frame to the station STA through the second link after a fifth time interval;

[0035] forwarding the second data frame to the access point AP via the first link after a sixth time interval, and receiving a fourth confirmation frame from the access point AP via the first link after a seventh time interval, confirming that the access point AP has received the second data frame; and

[0036] After an eighth time interval, the fourth confirmation frame is forwarded to the station STA through the second link.

[0037] In a ninth aspect, the present invention provides a relay communication method, executed in a station of a wireless local area network serving as a relay station, wherein the relay station having multi-link capability performs a multi-link relay station / forwarding operation, wherein a first link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point AP or transmit a frame to the access point AP, and a second link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point station STA or transmit a frame to the station STA, characterized in that the relay station is a multi-link device MLD having non-simultaneous transmission and reception (NSTR) capability, and the method comprises:

[0038] Perform downlink forwarding or uplink forwarding;

[0039] The downlink forwarding includes:

[0040] receiving a first data frame from the access point AP via the first link, and transmitting a first confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station receives the first data frame to the access point AP via the first link after a first time interval;

[0041] forwarding the first data frame to the station STA via the second link after a second time interval, and receiving a second confirmation frame from the station STA via the second link after a third time interval for confirming that the station STA has received the first data frame; and

[0042] forwarding the second confirmation frame to the access point AP via the first link after a fourth time interval;

[0043] The uplink forwarding includes:

[0044] receiving a second data frame from the station STA through the second link, and transmitting a third confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station receives the second data frame to the station STA through the second link after a fifth time interval;

[0045] forwarding the second data frame to the access point AP via the first link after a sixth time interval, and receiving a fourth confirmation frame from the access point AP via the first link after a seventh time interval, confirming that the access point AP has received the second data frame; and

[0046] After an eighth time interval, the fourth confirmation frame is forwarded to the station STA through the second link.

[0047] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network node, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is configured to call and execute a computer program stored in the memory so that a device equipped with the processor performs the disclosed method.

[0048] The disclosed method can be programmed as computer-executable instructions stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The non-transitory computer-readable medium, when loaded into a computer, instructs the processor of the computer to execute the disclosed method.

[0049] The non-transitory computer-readable medium may include at least one of the group consisting of a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and a flash memory.

[0050] The disclosed method can be programmed as a computer program product, which causes a computer to perform the disclosed method.

[0051] The disclosed method may be programmed as a computer program, which causes a computer to perform the disclosed method.

[0052] Some embodiments of the present invention improve IEEE 802.11bn relay technologies, including the following:

[0053] 1) Relay discovery method: including relay capability information definition and relay capability information exchange method.

[0054] 2) Relay-related RSSI measurement and feedback methods: including the RSSI measurement and feedback mechanism initiated by the AP and the RSSI and feedback measurement mechanism initiated by the STA.

[0055] 3) Method for selecting a suitable relay site: the method by which the AP selects the best relay site and the method by which the STA selects the best relay site.

[0056] 4) Relay channel detection and feedback method.

[0057] 5) Relay BSR design and feedback method: This includes the design of the frame format for relay carrying BSR and the relay BSR transmission method.

[0058] 6) Relay transmission and scheduling methods: including AP-initiated relay transmission scheduling and STA-initiated relay transmission scheduling.

[0059] 7) Relay transmission method supporting multi-link capability: including STR relay forwarding operation and non-simultaneous transmit and receive (NSTR) relay forwarding operation.

[0060] This invention aims to design various solutions for future Wi-Fi 8 and subsequent standards to implement the necessary functions for relay operations. Although some of these solutions may have already been disclosed or adopted by existing technologies, this invention enables relay operations with lower latency and thus includes several technical innovations. These innovations are highly likely to be adopted in the 802.11bn standard. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0061] One or more embodiments are exemplarily illustrated by the figures in the corresponding drawings. These exemplifications do not limit the embodiments. Elements with the same reference numerals in the drawings represent similar elements. Unless otherwise specified, the figures in the drawings are not intended to be proportional. The following divisions of the various embodiments are for ease of description and are not intended to limit the specific implementation of the present invention. The various embodiments may be combined and referenced with each other as long as there is no contradiction.

[0062] FIG1 is a schematic diagram showing a method for discovering a relay station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0063] FIG2 is a diagram showing the format of an Extended Capabilities element.

[0064] FIG3 is a schematic diagram showing the format of the UHR Relay Capabilities element.

[0065] FIG4 is a schematic diagram showing the interaction of relay capability information.

[0066] FIG5 is a diagram showing the format of a relay station information element.

[0067] FIG. 6 shows a RSSI measurement and feedback method related to a relay station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0068] FIG7 is a schematic diagram showing parallel RSSI measurement (AP directly requests STA to report RSSI Report).

[0069] FIG8 is a diagram showing two methods of measuring RSSI in parallel (AP having a relay forward RSSI Report).

[0070] FIG9 is a schematic diagram showing serial measurement of RSSI (AP directly requests STA to report RSSI Report).

[0071] FIG10 is a diagram showing serial measurement of RSSI (AP having a relay forward RSSI Report).

[0072] FIG11 is a diagram showing a trigger frame and the format of its Common Info field.

[0073] FIG12 is a schematic diagram showing the format of the User Info field of the Trigger frame.

[0074] FIG13 is a schematic diagram showing the format of an RSSI report request frame.

[0075] FIG14 is a diagram showing the RSSI report frame format.

[0076] The schematic diagram of FIG15 shows that a STA sends an NDPA frame and an NDP frame and a relay station measures RSSI in parallel, and the STA selects a relay station.

[0077] FIG16 is a diagram showing that a STA sends an NDPA frame and an NDP frame and a relay station performs serial RSSI measurement, and the STA selects a relay station.

[0078] FIG17 is a schematic diagram showing that a STA sends an NDPA frame and an NDP frame and the STA or AP measures RSSI in parallel, and the STA selects a relay station.

[0079] FIG18 is a diagram showing that a STA sends an NDPA frame and an NDP frame and the STA or AP performs serial RSSI measurement, and the STA selects a relay station.

[0080] The schematic diagram of FIG19 shows that a STA sends an NDPA frame and an NDP frame and the STA or AP measures RSSI in parallel and then reports it to the AP so that the AP can select a relay station.

[0081] The schematic diagram of FIG20 shows that a STA sends an NDPA frame and an NDP frame and the STA or AP serially measures the RSSI and then reports it to the AP so that the AP can select a relay station.

[0082] The schematic diagram of Figure 21 shows that the STA sends a trigger frame. After receiving it, the relay station sends a TB PPDU within SIFS time, and the STA or AP measures the RSSI in parallel and then selects the relay station.

[0083] The schematic diagram of Figure 22 shows that the STA sends a trigger frame. After receiving it, the relay station sends a TB PPDU within SIFS time, and the STA or AP serially measures the RSSI and then selects the relay station.

[0084] The schematic diagram of Figure 23 shows that the STA sends a trigger frame. After receiving it, the relay station sends a TB PPDU within SIFS time. The STA or AP measures the RSSI in parallel and reports it to the AP to let the AP select a relay station.

[0085] The schematic diagram of Figure 24 shows that the STA sends a trigger frame. After receiving it, the relay station sends a TB PPDU within SIFS time. The STA or AP serially measures the RSSI and reports it to the AP to allow the AP to select a relay station.

[0086] FIG25 is a diagram showing the format of an NDP Announcement (NDPA) frame.

[0087] FIG26 is a diagram showing the format of the STA Info field of the EHT NDPA frame.

[0088] FIG. 27 shows a method for selecting a relay site according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0089] FIG28 is a schematic diagram showing the AP initiating relay station selection.

[0090] FIG29 is a schematic diagram showing a STA initiating relay site selection.

[0091] FIG30 is a schematic diagram showing the format of a data frame.

[0092] FIG31 is a diagram showing a format of a relay selection frame indicating only one relay station.

[0093] FIG32 is a diagram showing a relay selection frame indicating one or more relay sites.

[0094] FIG33 is a schematic diagram showing a MAC frame structure.

[0095] FIG34 is a schematic diagram showing a relay communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0096] The schematic diagram of Figure 35 shows the signaling process related to the STA reporting the BSR to the AP.

[0097] FIG36 is a schematic diagram showing the signaling process related to passive reporting of BSR.

[0098] FIG37 is a diagram illustrating a process in which transmission from an AP to a relay station and then to a STA is completed by sharing the same TXOP obtained by the AP.

[0099] FIG38 is a diagram illustrating a process in which transmissions by a STA, a relay station, and an AP are completed by sharing the same TXOP obtained by the AP.

[0100] FIG39 is a diagram illustrating a process in which transmission from an AP to a relay station and then to a STA is completed by sharing different TXOPs obtained by the AP.

[0101] FIG40 is a diagram showing a process in which transmission from an AP to a relay station and then to a STA is completed by sharing different TXOPs obtained by the AP and the relay station.

[0102] FIG41 is a diagram illustrating a process in which transmission from a STA to a relay station and then to an AP is completed by sharing the TXOP obtained by the STA.

[0103] FIG42 is a diagram illustrating a process in which transmission from a STA to a relay station and then to an AP is completed by sharing the TXOP obtained by the STA and the TXOP obtained by the AP.

[0104] The schematic diagram of FIG43 shows that the STA and the relay station each obtain a TXOP to complete the transmission between the STA and the relay station and the transmission between the relay station and the AP.

[0105] FIG44 is a diagram showing the format of the MU-RTS TXS trigger frame.

[0106] FIG45 is a schematic diagram showing a TXOP Sharing frame.

[0107] Figure 46 is a schematic diagram showing STR relay forwarding operation.

[0108] Figure 47 is a schematic diagram showing NSTR relay forwarding operation.

[0109] FIG48 is a diagram showing the format of a Relay Request frame.

[0110] The schematic diagram of Figure 49 shows the process of multi-link time division uplink and downlink transmission.

[0111] FIG50 is a schematic diagram showing an STA and an AP executing the method disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0112] FIG51 is a schematic diagram showing a chip of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0113] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of this application more clear, some embodiments of this application are further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described here are only used to explain this application and are not used to limit this application.

[0114] The technical abbreviations used in the description of the present invention are shown in the following table:

[0115] Table 1

[0116] The embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of relay station technology for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11bn (also known as Wi-Fi 8 Ultra High Reliability (UHR)) and later standards. Relay stations can expand Wi-Fi signal coverage and transmission distance, increase the speed of users at the edge of the cell, reduce latency, and improve the user experience.

[0117] A.1 Methods for discovering relay sites

[0118] 1 , a wireless local area network (WLAN) station STA 20 transmits a first request frame 111 to an access point AP 10 (S10). The first request frame 111 includes an Extended Capabilities element and / or a UHR Relay Capabilities element. The Extended Capabilities element includes a relay site subfield indicating whether relay forwarding is supported, and the UHR Relay Capabilities element includes a UHR relay capability information field. In some embodiments of the present invention, the first request frame 111 is an Association Request frame or a Probe Request frame.

[0119] The access point AP 10 receives the first request frame 111 (S11) and transmits a first response frame 112 (S13), wherein the first response frame 112 includes a relay station information element, wherein the relay station information element indicates the relay stations included in the current basic service set (BSS). In some embodiments of the present invention, the first response frame 112 is an Association Request frame, a Probe Response frame, or a Beacon frame. In one example, the first request frame 111 is an Association Request frame, and the first response frame 112 is an Association Request frame. In another example, the first request frame 111 is a Probe Request frame, and the first response frame 112 is a Probe Request frame.

[0120] The station STA 20 receives a first response frame 112 from the access point AP ( S14 ).

[0121] In some embodiments of the present invention, the relay station information element includes one or more relay station information fields, each relay station information field corresponding to the UHR relay capability information of a relay station. The UHR relay capability information includes one or more of the following:

[0122] Relay site identifier: used to indicate the relay site identifier associated with the UHR relay capability information field;

[0123] Relay Buffer Size subfield: used to indicate the size of the relay buffer space supported by the STA when it acts as a relay station.

[0124] Multi-hop support subfield: used to indicate whether the station STA supports multi-hop relay operation (Multi-hop relay) when acting as a relay station; and

[0125] Relay Specific Channel / Band subfield: used to indicate the channel / band dedicated to relay operation when the station STA acts as a relay station.

[0126] A.1.1 Relay capability information indication

[0127] There are several ways to indicate relay capability information: 1) Use the existing Extended Capabilities element to indicate simple relay capability information (such as whether relay is supported); 2) Expand / modify the Relay Capabilities element that already exists in standards such as 802.11ad / 802.11ay to indicate more relay capability information proposed in the embodiments of the present invention; 3) Define a new UHR relay capability element (UHR Relay Capabilities element) to indicate the detailed relay capability information proposed in the embodiments of the present invention.

[0128] As shown in Figure 2, Relay information is added to the existing Extended Capabilities element to indicate whether the current STA supports the Relay capability. The current STA (e.g., STA 1, STA 2, or STA 3 in Figure 4 or one of the STAs 20 in Figure 50) may be the STA that sends the Association Request frame with the Extended Capabilities element. For example, if the Relay subfield of the Extended Capabilities field in the Extended Capabilities element is 1, it means that the current STA supports Relay, and if the Relay subfield is 0, it means that the current STA does not support Relay.

[0129] As shown in Figure 3, the newly defined UHR relay capability element UHR Relay Capabilities element is used to indicate the detailed relay site information supported. If a frame sent by a STA (which can be a STA or AP) (for example, AP, STA 1, STA2, or STA 3 in Figure 4 or AP 10 or one of STA 20 in Figure 50) carries the UHR relay capability element UHR Relay Capabilities element, it means that the STA supports relay capability.

[0130] The UHR Relay Capabilities element includes a UHR Relay Capability Information field, specifically including the following fields:

[0131] 1. Relay site identifier: used to indicate the relay site identifier associated with the UHR relay capability information field;

[0132] 2. Relay Buffer Size Subfield: The Relay Buffer Size subfield is used to indicate the size of the relay buffer space supported by the current STA when it acts as a relay station.

[0133] 3. Multi-hop support subfield Multi-hop Support subfield: used to indicate whether the current STA supports multi-hop relay operation (Multi-hop relay) when acting as a relay site. For example, Multi-hop Support subfield = 0 means that the current STA does not support multi-hop relay operation when acting as a relay site, and Multi-hop Support subfield = 1 means that the current STA supports multi-hop relay operation when acting as a relay site.

[0134] 4. Relay Specific Channel / Band subfield: used to indicate the channel / band dedicated to relay operation when the current STA acts as a relay site. The Relay Specific Channel / Band subfield can be set to "reserved", which means that the channel / band on which the current STA works as a relay site is the same as the channel configuration when it acts as a STA, that is, there is no dedicated relay channel / band.

[0135] In some embodiments of the present invention, the Relay Buffer Size subfield indicates the buffer size (in units of 4096 octets, rounded to the nearest multiple of 4096 octets) for all MSDUs and A-MSDUs buffered by the relay STA. A setting of 15 for the Relay Buffer Size subfield indicates that the buffer size is greater than 57,344 octets. A setting of 0 for the Relay Buffer Size subfield is used only to indicate that no traffic is being buffered.

[0136] The embodiment of the present invention does not limit the length of the relay buffer size subfield. The 4-bit length shown in FIG3 is only an example. In addition, the unit is not limited to the above 4096 octets, and other units may be used.

[0137] It should be noted that, since the Relay Capabilities element format used for DMG relay forwarding operations has been defined in 802.11ad / 802.11ay, the Relay Capabilities element contains a series of directional multi-gigabit (DMG) relay site-related capability information. In some embodiments of the present invention, the existing Relay Capabilities element can still be used as a capability information indication of the UHR Relay (i.e., the UHR Relay Capabilities element can carry all the information of the Relay Capabilities element to indicate the corresponding UHR relay capability information). In addition, the relay capability information format designed in Figures 2 and 3 of this section is a supplement to the Relay Capabilities element related to the DMG relay forwarding operations.

[0138] A.1.2 Relay Capability Information Exchange Method

[0139] FIG4 shows a flowchart of how STAs (e.g., STA 1 and STA 2) send their UHR relay capabilities to an AP (e.g., AP 10 in FIG50 ) through an Association process. STAs (e.g., STA 1 and STA 2) that support UHR Relay can set the Relay subfield (Relay subfield) to 1 in the Extended Capabilities element carried in the Association Request frame sent to AP 10 to indicate that they support Relay, or send detailed relay capability information supported by them to AP 10 in the UHR Relay Capabilities element carried in the Association Request frame sent to AP 10. The horizontal axis of the flowchart can be used to represent a timeline.

[0140] In addition, the AP 10 may inform the STA of the relay stations (and detailed capability information of each relay station) in the current BSS through a Relay STAs Information element in a Beacon frame or an Association Response frame in response to an Association Request frame sent by the STA. The format of the Relay STAs Information element is shown in FIG5 below:

[0141] The Relay STAs Information element contains one or more Relay STA Information fields, each of which corresponds to the UHR relay capability information of a relay station, wherein the MAC Address field is used to indicate the Association Identifier (AID) or MAC address of the STA that supports UHR Relay. For example, if the Relay STA 1 information indicates the UHR relay capability information of STA 1, then the AID field in the Relay STA 1 information indicates the AID assigned to STA 1 by the AP 10. For example, if the Relay STA 1 information indicates the UHR relay capability information of STA 1, then the MAC Address field in the Relay STA 1 information indicates the MAC address of STA 1. The definitions of the Relay Buffer Size subfield, the Multi-hop Support subfield, and the Relay Specific Channel / Band subfield following the AID (or MAC Address) field are consistent with those in Figure 3 and are not repeated here.

[0142] It should be noted that in addition to exchanging relay capability information through the Association Request frame and / or the Association Response frame, the STA and AP 10 in Figure 4 can also exchange relay capability information through the Probe Request frame and / or the Probe Response frame, which are omitted in the figure. The Probe Request frame and / or the Probe Response frame can carry the Extended Capabilities element and / or the UHR Relay Capabilities element in the above design, and the Probe Response frame can carry the Relay STAs Information element in the above design.

[0143] Through the above design, each STA in the BSS (such as STA 1, STA 2 and STA 3) can know which relay STAs exist in the current BSS, and then assist in subsequent link measurement of relay stations and selection of appropriate relay stations.

[0144] A.2 RSSI measurement and feedback methods related to relay stations

[0145] The RSSI between AP 10 and a relay station can be directly measured by AP 10 after the relay station sends a measurement signal (either proactively or at AP 10's request or trigger). However, the RSSI between the relay station and a STA requires an additional measurement mechanism. Specifically, there are two methods: RSSI measurement and feedback initiated by AP 10 and RSSI measurement and feedback initiated by a STA. The detailed design is as follows.

[0146] 6 , a first station transmits a frame related to RSSI measurement to one or more relay stations, wherein the frame is a trigger frame for triggering RSSI measurement for the one or more relay stations, or a Null Data Packet Announcement (NDPA) frame and a Null Data Packet (NDP) frame for providing RSSI measurement. (S20) In some embodiments of the present invention, the first station is an access point (AP), and the frame is a trigger frame for triggering the one or more relay stations to send a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit (TB) based on a resource indication in the trigger frame.

[0147] The access point AP measures the RSSI of the TB PPDU to obtain the RSSI between the access point AP and the relay station; the access point AP sends an RSSI reporting request frame to request RSSI information of the RSSI measurement between the relay station and the station STA.

[0148] In some embodiments of the present invention, the trigger frame may be used to perform at least one of the following functions:

[0149] The first trigger frame is used to trigger the first relay station and the second relay station among the one or more relay stations to send a TB PPDU after a preset interval according to the resource indication of the trigger frame;

[0150] Inform the station STA to prepare to receive TB PPDU and measure RSSI;

[0151] The first trigger frame and the second trigger frame are sent serially to the first relay station and the second relay station.

[0152] In some embodiments of the present invention, the access point AP requests the station STA to directly report RSSI information measured between the one or more relay stations and the station STA to the access point AP; or

[0153] The access point AP requests the one or more relay stations to forward RSSI information measured between the one or more relay stations and the station STA to the access point AP.

[0154] A.2.1 AP-Initiated RSSI Measurement and Feedback Mechanism

[0155] The RSSI measurement mechanism initiated by AP 10 follows these steps:

[0156] Step 1: AP 10 sends a trigger frame to one or more relay stations. The relay stations send trigger-based physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs) according to the corresponding resources (frequency resource units, time, etc.) indicated in the trigger frame. The TB PPDU can carry data frames or null frames.

[0157] Step 2: The AP 10 directly measures the RSSI of the TB PPDU to obtain the RSSI between the AP 10 and the relay station;

[0158] Step 3: STA 3 also measures the TB PPDU sent by the relay station to obtain RSSI information between the relay station and STA 3;

[0159] Step 4: The AP 10 sends a request frame (RSSI reporting request frame) to request RSSI information between the relay station and STA3.

[0160] It is worth noting that in steps 1 to 3, the AP 10 can trigger multiple relay stations to send TB PPDUs simultaneously for RSSI measurement (parallel measurement as shown in Figures 7 and 8) and then report RSSI (RSSI Report); it can also trigger only one relay station to send TB PPDU for RSSI measurement and RSSI Report at a time, and then trigger another relay station to send TB PPDU for RSSI measurement and RSSI Report (serial measurement as shown in Figures 9 and 10).

[0161] A.2.1.1 Parallel measurement

[0162] As shown in FIG7 and FIG8, the AP 10 sends a trigger frame to relay station 1, relay station 2 and STA 3. The functions of the trigger frame include:

[0163] 1. Trigger relay station 1 and relay station 2 to simultaneously send a TB PPDU after a short interframe space (SIFS) time according to the resources (Resource Unit, etc.) indicated by the trigger frame;

[0164] 2. Tell STA 3 to prepare to receive TB PPDU and measure RSSI.

[0165] In the parallel measurement mode, step 4 can also be divided into the following two options to enable AP 10 to obtain the RSSI between the relay station and STA 3:

[0166] Option 1: AP 10 directly requests STA to report RSSI Report, as shown in Figure 7

[0167] For example, this applies to a scenario where STA 3 is within the coverage of AP 10. AP 10 directly sends a request frame (RSSI Report Request frame) to STA 3, and STA 3 replies with an RSSI Report frame (carrying the RSSI results between STA 3 and relay stations 1 and 2) to AP 10.

[0168] Option 2: AP 10 has the relay forward the RSSI report, as shown in Figure 8

[0169] For example, Option 2 is applicable to the scenario where STA 3 is not within the coverage of AP 10. AP 10 sends a request frame (RSSI Report Request frame) to the relay station, and then the relay requests STA 3 to send an RSSI Report, and then the relay reports the RSSI Report to AP 10. This operation can also be divided into the following two methods:

[0170] Method 1: Each relay station only requests the STA to report the RSSI between the relay station and the STA:

[0171] In some embodiments of the present invention, the access point AP requests the first relay station to forward RSSI information measured between the first relay station and the station STA to the access point AP; and

[0172] The access point AP requests the second relay station to forward the RSSI information measured between the second relay station and the station STA to the access point AP. In one example, method 1, the steps are as follows:

[0173] 1) AP 10 first sends an RSSI Report Request frame to relay station 1, requesting only the RSSI Report between relay station 1 and STA 3;

[0174] 2) Relay station 1 forwards AP 10's RSSI report request (RSSI Report Request) to STA 3;

[0175] 3) STA 3 only reports the RSSI Report of relay station 1 obtained by measurement to relay station 1;

[0176] 4) Relay station 1 forwards STA 3's RSSI report to AP 10;

[0177] 5) AP 10 then sends an RSSI Report Request frame to relay station 2, requesting only the RSSI Report between relay station 2 and STA 3.

[0178] 6) Relay station 2 forwards the RSSI report request (RSSI Report Request) from AP 10 to STA 3;

[0179] 7) STA 3 only reports the RSSI Report of relay station 2 obtained by measurement to relay station 2;

[0180] 8) Relay station 2 forwards STA 3's RSSI Report to AP 10.

[0181] Method 1 Through the above 8 steps, AP 10 obtains the RSSI between relay station 1 and STA 3 and the RSSI between relay station 2 and STA 3.

[0182] Method 2: A relay station requests the STA to receive RSSI reports from all relay stations connected to it.

[0183] In some embodiments of the present invention, the access point AP requests one of the first relay station or the second relay station to forward RSSI information measured between the first relay station and the station STA and RSSI information measured between the second relay station and the station STA to the access point AP. In one example, the steps of method 2 are as follows:

[0184] 1) AP 10 sends an RSSI Report Request frame to relay station 1 (which can also be relay station 2, relay station 1 is used as an example here) to request RSSI reports between relay station 1 and STA 3, as well as RSSI reports between other relay stations (such as relay station 2) and STA 3;

[0185] 2) Relay station 1 forwards AP 10's RSSI report request (RSSI Report Request) to STA 3;

[0186] 3) STA 3 reports the RSSI Report of relay station 1 and the RSSI Report of relay station 2 obtained by measurement to relay station 1;

[0187] 4) Relay station 1 forwards STA 3's RSSI report to AP 10;

[0188] Method 2: Through the above four steps, AP 10 obtains the RSSI between relay station 1 and STA 3 and the RSSI between relay station 2 and STA 3.

[0189] A.2.1.2 Serial measurement

[0190] As shown in Figures 9 and 10, AP 10 first sends a trigger frame to relay station 1 and STA 3. The functions of the trigger frame include:

[0191] 1. Trigger relay station 1 to send a TB PPDU after SIFS time according to the resources (Resource Unit, etc.) indicated by the trigger frame.

[0192] 2. Tell STA 3 to prepare to receive TB PPDU and measure RSSI.

[0193] AP 10 then sends a trigger frame to relay station 2 and STA 3. The trigger frame has the following functions:

[0194] 1. Trigger relay station 2 to send a TB PPDU after SIFS time according to the resources (Resource Unit, etc.) indicated by the trigger frame;

[0195] 2. Inform STA 3 to prepare to receive TB PPDU and measure RSSI;

[0196] In this serial measurement mode, step 4 can also be divided into the following two options to allow AP 10 to obtain the RSSI between the relay station and STA 3:

[0197] Option 1: The AP directly requests the STA to report the RSSI report, as shown in Figure 9.

[0198] For example, option 1 applies to the scenario where STA 3 is within the coverage of AP 10. AP 10 directly sends a request frame (RSSI Report Request frame) to STA 3, and STA 3 replies with an RSSI Report frame (used to carry the RSSI results between STA 3 and relay stations 1 and 2) to AP 10.

[0199] Option 2: The AP has the relay forward the RSSI report, as shown in Figure 10.

[0200] For example, option 2 is applicable to the scenario where STA 3 is not within the coverage of AP 10. AP 10 sends a request frame (RSSI Report request frame) to the relay station, and then the relay station requests STA 3 to send an RSSI Report, and then the relay station reports the RSSI Report to AP 10.

[0201] A.2.1.3 Related frame format design

[0202] a) Trigger frame format

[0203] FIG11 shows the frame structure of a trigger frame, including the trigger type subfield (Trigger Type subfield) of the Common Info field (which can be the HE variant Common Info field on the left or the EHT variant Common Info field on the right). The Trigger Type subfield of the Common Info field in the frame structure of the trigger frame indicates whether the trigger frame is an RSSI triggered frame. A preset first value in the Trigger Type subfield indicates that the trigger frame is a basic trigger frame; a preset second value in the Trigger Type subfield indicates that the trigger frame is an RSSI triggered frame.

[0204] The Trigger Type subfield indicates the type of the trigger frame. Some embodiments of the present invention use the Trigger Type subfield = 0, which means that this is a basic trigger frame, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the Trigger Type subfield can also be set to any value from 9 to 15 to represent an RSSI trigger frame.

[0205] When using a Basic Trigger frame with the Trigger Type subfield = 0, some embodiments of the present invention use any one bit of B63 of the HE variant Common Info field and B22 / B26 / B53 / B56 to B63 of the EHT variant Common Info field to define the RSSI measurement subfield (RSSI Measurement subfield). When the RSSI Measurement subfield = 1, it indicates that the trigger frame is used to trigger the STA / Relay to send a frame (i.e., TB PPDU) for RSSI measurement. When the RSSI Measurement subfield = 0, it indicates that it is reserved.

[0206] When an RSSI trigger frame (RSSI Trigger frame) with a Trigger Type subfield of any value from 9 to 15 is used, it means that the RSSI trigger frame (RSSI Trigger frame) is used to trigger the STA / Relay to send a frame (ie, TB PPDU) for RSSI measurement.

[0207] FIG12 shows the format of the User Info field of a Trigger frame (which may be the HE variant User Info field on the left or the EHT variant User Info field on the right). The AID12 subfield is used to indicate the AID of a specific STA. In addition, some embodiments of the present invention define B39 of the HE variant User Info field and B25 of the EHT variant User Info field as a transmit / receive subfield (TX / RX subfield) to indicate whether the STA corresponding to the HE variant User Info field or the EHT variant User Info field is a transmitter of a TB PPDU or a receiver of a TB PPDU for RSSI measurement. For example:

[0208] 1. When the TX / RX subfield = 1, it indicates that the STA sends the frame (TB PPDU) for RSSI measurement;

[0209] 2. When the TX / RX subfield = 0, it means that the STA receives the frame (TB PPDU) and performs RSSI measurement.

[0210] b) RSSI reporting request frame format

[0211] Figure 13 shows the RSSI Report Request frame format according to some embodiments of the present invention, where the Requester MAC Address field indicates the MAC address of the device initiating the RSSI Report request (e.g., AP 10 in Section A.2.1), and the Responder MAC Address field indicates the MAC address of the device requested to report the RSSI Report (e.g., STA in Section A.2.1). The Requester MAC Address field indicates the MAC address of the requester of the RSSI report. The Responder MAC Address field indicates the MAC address of the responder of the RSSI report.

[0212] 1. When the Requester MAC Address field does not exist, it means that the device sending the RSSI Report Request frame is the RSSI Report Requester;

[0213] 2. When the Responder MAC Address field does not exist, it means that the device receiving the RSSI Report Request frame is the RSSI Report Responder;

[0214] 3. When both the Requester MAC Address field and the Responder MAC Address field are absent, this means that the device sending the RSSI Report Request frame is the RSSI Report Requester, and the device receiving the RSSI Report Request frame is the RSSI Report Responder. In this case, corresponding to the scenarios of Figures 7 and 9 , AP 10 directly requests the STA to report an RSSI Report. The RSSI Report Request frame does not need to indicate the Requester MAC Address or the Responder MAC Address.

[0215] The Single / All Relay Report field in the RSSI Report Request frame indicates whether the RSSI report requester is requesting an RSSI report between a single relay station and a STA or between all relay stations and STAs.

[0216] 1. Single / All Relay Report field = 1: Indicates that the RSSI report requester requests to obtain the RSSI report between a relay station and the STA, for example, corresponding to Option 2 of Parallel Measurement in Section A.2.1.1 (i.e., Method 1 in Figure 8);

[0217] 2. Single / All Relay Report field = 0: Indicates that the RSSI report requester requests to obtain RSSI reports between all relay stations and STAs, for example, corresponding to option 2 of parallel measurement in Section A.2.1.1 (i.e., method 2 in Figure 8).

[0218] It should be noted that when the relay station uses a Null Data Packet (NDP) frame as a TB PPDU to respond to the Trigger frame sent by AP 10, AP 10 can use a Null Data Packet Feedback Report Poll (NFRP) Trigger frame to replace the RSSI Report Request frame to request an RSSI report (RSSI Report).

[0219] c) RSSI report frame format

[0220] FIG14 shows the RSSI Report frame format according to some embodiments of the present invention. This frame can carry one or more RSSI Reports, with the specific number indicated by the RSSI Report Number field. Each RSSI Report (e.g., RSSI Report 1 through RSSI Report n) corresponds to a Transmitter Identification subfield (TX ID), a Receiver Identification subfield (RX ID), and / or an RSSI Value subfield. The TX ID subfield indicates the MAC address or AID of the device sending the RSSI measurement frame (TB PPDU), the RX ID subfield indicates the MAC address or AID of the device receiving the measurement frame (TB PPDU) and obtaining the RSSI, and the RSSI Value subfield carries the specific RSSI value.

[0221] In summary, it can be seen that AP 10 selects the relay site under the RSSI measurement and feedback mechanism initiated by AP 10 in Section A.2.1: Because the RSSI information between AP 10 and the relay site and the RSSI information between the relay site and STA 3 are both at AP 10, AP 10 can comprehensively select the best relay service STA 3 based on these RSSIs. For specific methods, refer to Section A.3.

[0222] A.2.2 STA-initiated RSSI measurement and feedback mechanism

[0223] The STA-initiated RSSI measurement and feedback mechanism includes the following three methods, each of which may include multiple options.

[0224] In some embodiments of the present invention, using method 1, the first station is a station STA that is not an access point AP, the frame is a Null Data Packet Announcement (NDPA) frame and a Null Data Packet (NDP) frame, and the station STA receives the one or more relay stations and measures the Null Data Packet (NDP) to obtain an RSSI report; or

[0225] In some embodiments of the present invention, method 2 is used, the first station is a station STA that is not an access point AP, the frames are Null Data Packet Announcement (NDPA) frames and Null Data Packet (NDP) frames, and the one or more relay stations are instructed to send Null Data Packet (NDP) frames after a short frame interval (SIFS) after receiving the Null Data Packet Announcement (NDPA) frame, and the station STA measures the Null Data Packet (NDP) frame to obtain an RSSI report; or

[0226] In some embodiments of the present invention, method 3 is used, wherein the first station is a station STA that is not an access point AP, and the frame is a trigger frame. The one or more relay stations send a TB PPDU after a short frame interval SIFS after receiving the trigger frame, and the station STA measures the TB PPDU to obtain an RSSI report.

[0227] Regarding RSSI reporting, in some embodiments of the present invention, the access point AP requests the station STA to directly report RSSI information measured between the one or more relay stations and the station STA to the access point AP; or

[0228] The access point AP requests the one or more relays to forward RSSI information measured between the one or more relay stations and the station STA to the access point AP. The station STA selects one of the one or more relay stations based on the RSSI report.

[0229] A.2.2.1 Method 1

[0230] STA 3 sends an NDPA frame and an NDP frame to one or more relay stations. The relay stations directly measure the NDP frames to obtain an RSSI report, which is then sent to STA 3 via an RSSI report frame. The STA can then obtain the RSSI between the relay station and the STA. When STA 3 measures the RSSI between itself and multiple relay stations, there are two methods: parallel measurement, as shown in Figure 15, and serial measurement, as shown in Figure 16.

[0231] In method 1, the relay station is selected by STA 3: Since only STA 3 knows the RSSI information between the relay station and itself, STA 3 selects the best relay. For the specific method, refer to Section A.3.

[0232] A.2.2.2 Method 2

[0233] STA 3 sends an NDPA frame + an NDP frame to one or more relay stations. After receiving the NDP frame, the relay station sends an NDP frame to STA 3 within the SIFS time. STA 3 measures and obtains an RSSI report (RSSI Report). At this time, AP 10 can also measure the NDP frame sent by the relay station to obtain the RSSI between AP 10 and the relay station.

[0234] Option 1: The STA selects the best relay station based on the RSSI information between the relay station and the STA.

[0235] When STA 3 measures the RSSI between itself and multiple relay stations, there are two methods: parallel measurement as shown in FIG17 and serial measurement as shown in FIG18 .

[0236] It should be noted that the AP 10 can obtain the RSSI between the AP 10 and the relay station, and the STA 3 can obtain the RSSI between the relay station and the STA 3.

[0237] In Option 1 of Method 2, the relay site is selected by STA 3. Since AP 10 obtains only the RSSI between AP 10 and the relay site, and STA 3 obtains only the RSSI between the relay site and STA 3, STA 3 can select the best relay site based on the RSSI information between the relay site and STA 3, ignoring the impact of the RSSI between AP 10 and the relay site on the relay site. For specific methods, refer to Section A.3.

[0238] Option 2: The STA reports the RSSI information between the relay station and itself to AP 10, and AP 10 selects the best relay station.

[0239] In addition to Option 1, STA 3 can also proactively report the RSSI report between the relay station and STA 3 to AP 10. Alternatively, AP 10 can request STA 3 to report the RSSI report between the relay station and STA 3 by sending an RSSI Report Request. This allows AP 10 to obtain the RSSI between AP 10 and the relay station and the RSSI between the relay station and STA 3, and select the optimal relay station. When STA 3 measures and reports the RSSI between itself and multiple relay stations, there are two methods: parallel measurement, as shown in Figure 19, and serial measurement, as shown in Figure 20.

[0240] It should be noted that this option can also be as shown in Figures 8 and 10, where AP 10 sends the RSSI report request frame (RSSI Report Request frame) to the relay station (i.e., relay station 1 or relay station 2), and has the relay forward it to STA 3; STA 3 relays the RSSI report (RSSI Report) to AP 10 through the relay station.

[0241] The relay station under Option 2 of Method 2 is selected by AP 10: Since the RSSI information between AP 10 and the relay station and the RSSI information between the relay station and STA 3 are both at AP 10, AP 10 can comprehensively select the best relay station to serve STA 3 based on the RSSI between AP 10 and the relay station and the RSSI between the relay station and STA 3. For specific methods, refer to Section A.3.

[0242] A.2.2.3 Method 3

[0243] STA 3 sends a trigger frame to one or more relay stations. After receiving the trigger frame, the relay station sends a TB PPDU to STA 3 within SIFS time. STA 3 measures the TB PPDU to obtain an RSSI report (RSSI Report). AP10 can also measure the TB PPDU sent by the relay station to obtain the RSSI between AP 10 and the relay station.

[0244] Option 1: The STA selects the best relay station based on the RSSI information between the relay station and the STA.

[0245] When STA 3 measures the RSSI between itself and multiple relay stations, there are two methods: parallel measurement as shown in FIG21 and serial measurement as shown in FIG22 .

[0246] It should be noted that the AP 10 can obtain the RSSI between the AP 10 and the relay station, and the STA 3 can obtain the RSSI between the relay station and the STA 3.

[0247] In Option 1 of Method 3, the relay station is selected by STA 3. Since AP 10 obtains only the RSSI between AP 10 and the relay station, and STA 3 obtains only the RSSI between the relay station and STA 3, STA 3 selects the best relay station based on the RSSI between the relay station and STA 3, ignoring the impact of the RSSI between AP 10 and the relay station on the relay.

[0248] Option 2: The STA reports the RSSI information between the relay station and itself to AP 10, and AP 10 selects the best relay station.

[0249] In addition to Option 1, STA 3 can also proactively report the RSSI report (RSSI Report) between the relay station and STA 3 to AP 10, or AP 10 can request STA 3 to report the RSSI report (RSSI Report) between the relay station and STA 3 by sending an RSSI Report Request. In this way, AP 10 can obtain the RSSI between AP 10 and the relay station, and the RSSI between the relay station and STA 3. When STA 3 measures and reports the RSSI between itself and multiple relay stations, there are two methods: parallel measurement as shown in Figure 23 and serial measurement as shown in Figure 24.

[0250] The relay station under option 2 of method 3 is selected by AP 10: Since the RSSI between AP 10 and the relay station and the RSSI between the relay station and STA 3 are both at AP 10, AP 10 can comprehensively select the best relay station to serve STA 3 based on the RSSI between AP 10 and the relay station and the RSSI between the relay station and STA 3.

[0251] A.2.2.4 Related frame format design

[0252] a) NDPA frame format

[0253] The following NDPA frame format is designed to apply to methods 1, 2, and 3 of the STA-initiated RSSI measurement and feedback mechanism in Section A.2.2.

[0254] FIG25 shows the format of the NDP Announcement (NDPA) frame, in which the STA Info List field includes one or more STA Info fields.

[0255] The format of the STA Info field of the (EHT) NDPA frame is shown in Figure 26. The Null Data Packet Announcement NDPA frame includes a station information list field, which includes one or more station information fields. The station information field includes a CSI / RSSI measurement subfield and a transmission / reception subfield. The CSI / RSSI measurement subfield is used to indicate whether the Null Data Packet (NDP) frame used by the relay station performs channel state information (CSI) measurement or RSSI measurement. The transmission / reception subfield is used to indicate whether the station STA corresponding to the station information field is the transmitter of the Null Data Packet (NDP) frame or the receiver of the Null Data Packet (NDP) frame for measurement. The present invention proposes to use one bit (for example, B20) of the four reserved bits B20 and B29 to B31 to define as the CSI / RSSI measurement subfield (CSI / RSSI Measurement subfield), and the other bit (for example, B29) to define as the transmission / reception subfield (TX / RX subfield).

[0256] The CSI / RSSI Measurement subfield is used to indicate whether the other party uses the following NDP frame for CSI measurement or RSSI measurement. For example:

[0257] 1. When the CSI / RSSI Measurement subfield = 1, it indicates that the following NDP frame is used for CSI measurement;

[0258] 2. When the CSI / RSSI Measurement subfield = 0, it means that the following NDP frame is used for RSSI measurement.

[0259] In addition, the TX / RX subfield is used to indicate whether the STA corresponding to the STA Info field is a transmitter that sends NDP frames or a receiver that receives NDP frames for measurement. For example:

[0260] 1. When the TX / RX subfield = 1, it indicates that the STA sends NDP frames for measurement;

[0261] 2. When the TX / RX subfield = 0, it means that the STA receives NDP frames for measurement.

[0262] b) Trigger frame format

[0263] The trigger frame used by the STA-initiated RSSI measurement can be the same as the trigger frame used by the AP-initiated RSSI measurement. The trigger frame in Section A.2.2 is consistent with the design of the trigger frame in Section A.2.1.3 and is not repeated here.

[0264] c) RSSI reporting request frame format

[0265] The RSSI Report Request frame format used by the STA-initiated RSSI measurement and feedback mechanism can be the same as the RSSI Report Request frame format used by the AP-initiated RSSI measurement and feedback mechanism. The RSSI Report Request frame format in Section A.2.2 is consistent with the design of the RSSI Report Request frame in Section A.2.1.3 and is not further described.

[0266] d) RSSI report frame format

[0267] The RSSI report frame format used by the STA-initiated RSSI measurement and feedback mechanism can be the same as the RSSI report frame format used by the AP-initiated RSSI measurement and feedback mechanism. The RSSI report frame format in Section A.2.2 is consistent with the RSSI report frame design in Section A.2.1.3 and is not further described.

[0268] A.3 Methods for selecting suitable relay sites

[0269] 27 , a first station transmits a frame (e.g., a data frame or a relay selection frame) to a second station via forwarding via one or more relay stations, wherein the frame includes identifier information of a selected relay station from the one or more relay stations (S30). The first station is an access point or a non-access point station.

[0270] In some embodiments of the present invention, the frame is a data frame, comprising:

[0271] Sending node address, receiving node address, source node address and destination node address;

[0272] The sending node address is set to the address of the first site;

[0273] The receiving node address is set to the address of the selected relay site;

[0274] The source node address is set to the address of the first site;

[0275] The destination node address is set to the address of the second site.

[0276] The data frame is forwarded through the selected relay station, and in the forwarded data frame,

[0277] The sending node address is set to the address of the selected relay site;

[0278] The receiving node address is set to the address of the second site;

[0279] The source node address is set to the address of the first site;

[0280] The destination node address is set to the address of the second site.

[0281] In some embodiments of the present invention, the frame is a relay selection frame, which includes a relay site identification field Relay ID, which is used to indicate the identifier information of the device of the selected relay site. The relay site selection field Relay Selection of the relay selection frame includes one or more relay site identification fields. The relay site corresponding to the relay site identification field with the highest priority will be preferentially used as the selected relay site to operate. When the relay site corresponding to the relay site identification field with the highest priority cannot operate to serve the destination device, the relay site corresponding to the relay site identification field with the second highest priority will serve as a backup to operate to serve the destination device.

[0282] There are two methods for selecting a relay station: the AP 10 selects a suitable relay station for the STA; and the STA selects a suitable relay station on its own. The specific designs are as follows.

[0283] A.3.1 How an AP selects a suitable relay station

[0284] As shown in Figure 28, the method of AP 10 selecting relay station 1 for STA 3 is used as an example for description. In different embodiments, the method of AP 10 selecting other relay stations for STA 3 (or other STAs) is similar and will not be described one by one.

[0285] The present invention proposes both implicit and explicit relay site selection methods. The implicit relay site selection method does not require the STA to explicitly indicate the relay site's identifier or address. The STA independently determines the relay site's identifier or address based on the address bits (TA and / or SA) of the received frame. The explicit relay site selection method, on the other hand, requires the AP 10 to explicitly notify the STA of its selection as the relay site serving it through a relevant frame (e.g., a Relay Selection frame).

[0286] It should be noted that TA is the transmitting address, which indicates the (MAC) address of the transmitter of the current frame; RA is the receiving address, which indicates the (MAC) address of the receiver of the current frame; SA is the source address, which indicates the (MAC) address of the originator of the current frame; DA is the destination address (DA), which indicates the (MAC) address of the destination of the current frame.

[0287] In some embodiments of the present invention, the frame is a relay selection frame, and the relay selection frame includes a relay site identification field Relay ID, and the relay site identification field indicates identifier information of a device of the selected relay site.

[0288] A.3.1.1 Implicit methods

[0289] The implicit method is described by taking the case where AP 10 sends a data frame to STA 3 as an example. Other frames are similar and are not described one by one.

[0290] 1) In the data frame transmitted downlink by AP 10 (i.e., from AP 10 to relay station 1 to STA 3), the RA indicates the MAC address of the selected relay station 1, and the DA indicates the MAC address of the target STA 3;

[0291] 2) Relay station 1 then forwards the Data frame sent by AP 10 to STA 3. STA 3 knows from the TA field of the Data frame sent by relay station 1 that AP 10 has selected relay station 1 for it. STA 3 will then perform uplink transmission to AP 10 through relay station 1 selected by AP 10 (i.e., STA 3 to relay station 1 to AP 10).

[0292] 3) In response to the Data frame sent by relay station 1, STA 3 sets the RA of the acknowledgment frame (Ack) or block acknowledgment frame (BlockAck) it sends to the MAC address of relay station 1;

[0293] 4) After receiving the Ack frame or BlockAck frame in response from STA 3, relay station 1 confirms that STA 3 has received the Data frame that AP 10 requested it to forward, and then sends another Ack frame or (forwarded) BlockAck frame to AP 10. When AP 10 receives the Ack frame or (forwarded) BlockAck frame sent by relay station 1, the relay forwarding operation is completed.

[0294] A.3.1.2 Explicit methods

[0295] The explicit method is described using an example in which AP 10 sends a relay selection frame to STA 3. This frame includes a field indicating the ID (AID and / or MAC address) of the relay station selected by AP 10. The specific steps are as follows:

[0296] 1) AP 10 sends a Relay Selection frame to relay station 1. The RA indicates the MAC address of relay station 1 selected by AP 10, and the DA indicates the MAC address of target STA 3.

[0297] 2) Relay station 1 then forwards the Relay Selection frame sent by AP 10 to STA 3. STA 3 knows that AP 10 has selected Relay Station 1 for it through the Relay Address in the Relay Selection frame sent by Relay Station 1. STA 3 will subsequently perform uplink transmission to AP 10 through Relay Station 1 selected by AP 10 (i.e., STA 3 to Relay Station 1 to AP 10).

[0298] 3) In response to the Relay Selection frame sent by Relay Station 1, STA 3 sets the RA of the Ack frame it sends to the MAC address of Relay Station 1;

[0299] 4) After receiving the Ack frame in response from STA 3, relay station 1 confirms that STA 3 has received the Relay Selection frame requested by AP 10 to forward, and then sends another Ack frame to AP 10. When AP 10 receives the Ack frame sent by relay station 1, the relay forwarding operation is completed.

[0300] A.3.2 How STAs select appropriate relay stations

[0301] As shown in FIG29 , STA 3 selecting relay station 1 is taken as an example for description. The method for STA 3 (or other STAs) to select other relay stations is similar and will not be described one by one.

[0302] The present invention proposes an implicit relay site selection method and an explicit relay site selection method. The implicit relay site selection method is characterized in that there is no need to explicitly indicate to AP 10 the identifier or address of the relay site selected by STA. AP 10 automatically obtains the identifier or address of the relay based on the address bits (TA and / or SA) of the received frame. The explicit relay site selection method is characterized in that STA explicitly informs AP 10 which device is the relay site used to serve the STA through relevant frames (such as Relay Selection frame).

[0303] A.3.2.1 Implicit methods

[0304] In the implicit method, STA 3 sending a Data frame to AP 10 is used as an example for description. Other frames can be operated in the same manner and will not be described one by one.

[0305] 1) In the Data frame transmitted uplink (i.e., from STA 3 to relay station 1 to AP 10), STA 3 indicates the MAC address of the selected relay station 1 through the RA, and the DA indicates the MAC address of the (target) AP 10;

[0306] 2) Relay station 1 then forwards the Data frame sent by STA 3 to AP 10. AP 10 knows that STA 3 has selected relay station 1 based on the TA field in the Data frame sent by relay station 1. AP 10 then downlinks the data to STA 3 through relay station 1 selected by STA 3 (i.e., AP 10 to relay station 1 to STA 3).

[0307] 3) AP 10 sends an Ack frame or BlockAck frame in response to the Data frame sent by relay station 1, with the RA of the Ack frame or BlockAck frame it sends set to the MAC address of relay station 1;

[0308] 4) After receiving the Ack or BlockAck frame from AP 10, relay station 1 confirms that AP 10 has received the Data frame that STA 3 requested it to forward. It then sends another Ack or (forwarded) BlockAck frame to STA 3. Receiving the Ack or (forwarded) BlockAck frame sent by relay station 1 completes the relay forwarding operation.

[0309] A.3.2.2 Explicit methods

[0310] The explicit method is described by taking STA 3 sending a relay selection frame to AP 10 as an example. The frame includes a field indicating the ID (AID and / or MAC address) of the relay station selected by STA 3. The specific steps are as follows.

[0311] 1) STA 3 sends a Relay Selection frame to Relay Station 1. The RA indicates the MAC address of Relay Station 1 selected by STA 3, and the DA indicates the MAC address of (target) AP 10.

[0312] 2) Relay station 1 then forwards the Relay Selection frame sent by STA 3 to AP 10. AP 10 knows that STA 3 has selected Relay Station 1 based on the Relay Address in the Relay Selection frame sent by Relay Station 1. AP 10 then performs downlink transmission to STA 3 via Relay Station 1, which STA 3 selected (i.e., AP 10 to Relay Station 1 to STA 3).

[0313] 3) In response to the Relay Selection frame sent by the relay station 1, the AP 10 sets the RA of the Ack frame it sends to the MAC address of the relay station 1.

[0314] 4) After receiving the Ack frame from AP 10, relay station 1 confirms that AP 10 has received the Relay Selection frame requested by STA 3 to be forwarded, and then sends another Ack frame to STA 3. When STA 3 receives the Ack frame sent by relay station 1, the relay forwarding operation is completed.

[0315] A.3.3 Related frame format design and rules

[0316] a) Data frame format design

[0317] As shown in Figure 30, the format design of the data frame (Data frame), where the Address 1 field is used to indicate the receiving end MAC address (RA), the Address 2 field is used to indicate the sending end MAC address (TA), the Address 3 field is used to indicate the destination receiving end MAC address (DA), and the Address 4 field is used to indicate the originating sending end MAC address (SA).

[0318] Refer to 28. The address setting rules are described using AP 10, relay station 1, and STA 3 as an example:

[0319] In the data frame sent by the AP 10 , RA indicates the MAC address of the relay station 1 , TA indicates the MAC address of the AP 10 , DA indicates the MAC address of the STA 3 , and SA indicates the MAC address of the AP 10 .

[0320] After relay station 1 receives the data frame sent by AP 10, it needs to forward the data frame to the device indicated by DA (i.e., STA 3's MAC address). The data frame forwarded by relay station 1 is recorded as a (forwarded) data frame. In this (forwarded) data frame, RA indicates STA 3's MAC address, TA indicates relay station 1's MAC address, DA indicates STA 3's MAC address, and SA indicates AP 10's MAC address.

[0321] After STA 3 receives the data frame sent (forwarded) by relay station 1, it learns through the SA that the data frame was initiated by AP 10, through the TA that the data frame was forwarded by relay station 1, and through the DA that the final destination of the data frame is itself. When STA 3 confirms the data frame, it can be divided into the following two situations:

[0322] 1) STA 3 sends an Ack frame to acknowledge the (forwarded) data frame: the RA in the Ack frame (without TA, DA, or SA, but only RA) is set to the MAC address of relay station 1 (based on the TA of the (forwarded) data frame, set to the address indicated by the TA of the (forwarded) data frame). After receiving the Ack frame, relay station 1 immediately sends an Ack frame to AP 10 after a SIFS period.

[0323] 2) STA 3 sends a BlockAck frame to confirm the (forwarded) data frame: the RA of the BlockAck frame (DA and SA do not exist, only TA and RA exist) is set to the MAC address of relay station 1 (based on the TA of the (forwarded) data frame, it is set to the address indicated by the TA of the (forwarded) data frame), and TA is set to the MAC address of STA 3 itself. After receiving the BlockAck frame, relay station 1 knows through the TA that the BlockAck frame is sent by STA 3, and will also send a (forwarded) BlockAck frame to AP 10.

[0324] b) Relay Selection Frame Format Design

[0325] As shown in Figures 31 and 32, the format design of the Relay Selection frame is shown, in which the design of the RA, TA, DA, and SA fields is consistent with the previous description. The relay site identification field (Relay ID) of the Relay Selection frame (Relay Selection frame) in Figure 31 only contains the ID (e.g., MAC address) information of a relay site, indicating the ID (e.g., MAC address) information of the device selected as the relay site. The Relay Selection frame includes a relay site identification field Relay ID, which is used to indicate the identifier information of the device of a selected relay site.

[0326] In FIG32 , the Relay Selection field of the Relay Selection frame includes ID information (eg, MAC address) of one or more relay sites of the relay site 1 , and the specific number is indicated by the Number of Relays subfield.

[0327] The relay site selection field Relay Selection of the relay selection frame includes one or more relay site identification fields. The relay site corresponding to the relay site identification field with the highest priority will be given priority to work as the selected relay site. When the relay site corresponding to the relay site identification field with the highest priority cannot work to serve the destination device, the relay site corresponding to the relay site identification field with the second highest priority will serve as a backup to work and serve the destination device.

[0328] The Relay Site 1 to Relay Site n subfields are used to indicate the ID (e.g., MAC address) information of the selected Relay Sites 1 to Relay Site n, respectively. When the Relay Selection frame contains the ID (e.g., MAC address) information of multiple relay sites, the priorities of these relay sites decrease in descending order. The relay site corresponding to the Relay Site 1 field has the highest priority and is the first to be used as a relay site. When the high-priority relay site is unable to serve the STA (e.g., STA 3), the subsequent relay sites serve as backup to serve the STA (e.g., STA 3).

[0329] A.4 Relay Channel Detection and Feedback Method

[0330] It is worth noting that the Relay-related RSSI measurement and feedback method in Section A.2 describes how the Relay sends TB PPDU frames or NDP frames to allow the AP 10 and / or STA to measure RSSI. In essence, the same method can be used to measure TB PPDU and / or NDP frames to obtain CSI. Therefore, the Relay channel detection and feedback method is consistent with the Relay-related RSSI measurement and feedback method in Section A.2. For example, Section A.2.2.4 already provides an indication in the NDPA frame that an RSSI measurement or CSI measurement is to be performed through the CSI / RSSI Measurement subfield (CSI / RSSI Measurement subfield). The specific protocol design is referred to in Section A.2 and will not be repeated here.

[0331] A.5 Relay BSR Design and Feedback Method

[0332] Since the relay station can be a STA with a relay forwarding function, it may also have communication needs. Therefore, in the above scenario, the relay station needs to maintain at least two buffers, one for indicating its own buffer status report (BSR) when acting as a STA; and the other for indicating the buffer status report of the STA (including AP 10 and non-AP STA) served by the relay station, for example, relaying the STA's BSR to AP 10, or relaying the AP 10's BSR to the STA.

[0333] 34 , in some embodiments of the present invention, a buffer status report BSR is reported to an access point AP, wherein the buffer status report BSR includes a first field for recording a first buffer status report BSR of the relay site and a second field (S50) for recording a second buffer status report BSR of a destination device served by the relay site.

[0334] In some embodiments of the present invention, the first field is a buffer status report control field BSR Control, and the second field is a quality of service QoS control field QoS Control; or

[0335] The first field is a quality of service QoS control field QoS Control, and the second field is a buffer status report control field BSR Control.

[0336] In some embodiments of the present invention, when a QoS Control field and an HT Control field are both present in a frame related to the buffer status report BSR sent by a relay station, and the QoS Control field indicates first BSR information, and the HT Control field also indicates second BSR information through an A-Control field, then the first BSR information in the QoS Control field is the BSR information of the relay station itself, and the second BSR information indicated by the HT Control field through the A-Control field is the BSR information of the destination device of the relay station; or

[0337] When the frame associated with the buffer status report (BSR) sent by the relay station contains both a QoS Control field and an HT Control field, and the HT Control field indicates first BSR information, and the QoS Control field also indicates second BSR information via an A-Control field, then the first BSR information in the HT Control field is the BSR information of the relay station itself, and the second BSR information indicated by the QoS Control field via the A-Control field is the BSR information of the destination device of the relay station. The frame associated with the buffer status report (BSR) is a Medium Access Control (MAC) frame, and the Type field and Subtype subfield of the Frame Control field of the MAC frame are one of the following: a Quality of Service Data frame (QoS Data), a Quality of Service Null frame (QoS Null), a Control Wrapper frame (Control Wrapper), or a Management frame (Management).

[0338] In some embodiments of the present invention, the relay station receives a buffer status report poll trigger frame from the access point AP, and reports the buffer status report BSR to the access point AP in response to the buffer status report poll trigger frame. An information field in the buffer status report poll trigger frame indicates BSR information requested by the AP:

[0339] Only request the BSR information of the relay site;

[0340] Request only the BSR information of the destination device; or

[0341] Request both the BSR information of the relay station and the BSR information of the destination device. A.5.1 BSR format design

[0342] Figure 33 shows a schematic diagram of the MAC frame structure. When the Type field in the Frame Control field is 10 (binary, i.e., B3B2=10) and the Subtype subfield is 1000 (binary, i.e., B7B6B5B4=1000), the MAC frame is a QoS Data frame. When the Type subfield in the Frame Control field is 10 (binary, i.e., B3B2=10) and the Subtype subfield is 1100 (binary, i.e., B7B6B5B4=1100), the MAC frame is a QoS Null frame. QoS Data frames, QoS Null frames, and other frames carry the QoS Control field. Furthermore, when the +HTC subfield (B15) in the Frame Control field is 1, the MAC frame (e.g., Control Wrapper frames, QoS Data frames, QoS Null frames, and Management frames) must carry the HT Control field. Both the QoS Control field and the HT Control field can be used to carry BSR information. The present invention proposes the following rule: When AP 10 (or a non-AP STA) receives a relevant frame (such as a QoS Data frame, a QoS Null frame, a Control Wrapper frame, or a Management frame) sent by a relay station and contains both the QoS Control field and the HT Control field, and the QoS Control field indicates first BSR information and the HT Control field also indicates second BSR information via the A-Control field, then AP 10 (or a non-AP STA) considers the first BSR information in the QoS Control field to be the BSR information of relay station 1 itself, and the second BSR information indicated by the HT Control field via the A-Control field is the BSR information of the destination device (STA 3 or AP 10) of relay station 1.

[0343] Vice versa, the QoS Control field can also be used to carry the BSR information of the STA (or AP), and the HT Control field can be used to carry the BSR information of the relay itself, which will not be described in detail.

[0344] A.5.2 Method for relay stations to report BSR

[0345] There are two ways for a STA to report a BSR to AP 10. The first way is active reporting, as shown in Figure 35. That is, without AP 10 making a request, the STA proactively sends a QoS Null frame, a QoS Data frame, or other management frame carrying the QoS Control field. The QoS Control field indicates STA 3's BSR information and is sent to relay station 1. After receiving the frame carrying the BSR information from STA 3, relay station 1 performs the following operations:

[0346] ●If relay site 1 itself also has BSR information that needs to be reported to AP 10, relay site 1 can carry the QoS Control field and the BSR Control field in a QoS Null frame, a QoS Data frame, or other management frame. The QoS Control field indicates STA 3's BSR information, and the BSR Control field indicates its own BSR information. After AP 10 receives the frame carrying the BSR information sent by relay site 1, it can obtain the BSR information of STA 3 and relay site 1, thereby assisting in the subsequent scheduling of transmissions of relay site 1 and STA 3.

[0347] ●If relay station 1 itself does not have BSR information to report to AP 10, relay station 1 can carry the QoS Control field in a QoS Null frame, a QoS Data frame, or other management frame, where the QoS Control field indicates the BSR information of STA 3; after AP 10 receives the frame carrying the BSR information sent by relay station 1, it can obtain the BSR information of STA 3, thereby assisting in the subsequent scheduling of STA 3's transmission.

[0348] Method 2 is passive reporting, as shown in Figure 36 , in which AP 10 requests STA 3 and relay station 1 to report BSR information via a Buffer Status Report Poll (BSRP) trigger frame. It is worth noting that the Common Info field and / or the User Info field of the BSRP trigger frame may include a design-specific field to indicate the requested BSR information, for example, indicating 1) requesting only BSR information from relay station 1; 2) requesting only BSR information from STA 3; or 3) requesting BSR information from both relay station 1 and STA 3.

[0349] A.6 Transmission and Scheduling Methods of Relay Sites

[0350] The purpose of this section is to coordinate and schedule transmissions between the AP 10 and the relay station, and between the relay station and the STA, to achieve efficient transmission.

[0351] In embodiment A.6.1, in a relay transmission scheduling initiated by an access point AP, data transmission between the access point AP and the relay station is performed in the first transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the access point AP, and data transmission between the relay station and a station STA is performed in the first transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the access point AP, the second transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the access point AP, or the third transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the relay station.

[0352] The data transmission between the access point AP and the relay station is used for receiving a first data frame from the access point AP and sending a first confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station has received the first data frame; the data transmission between the relay station and the station STA is used for forwarding the first data frame to the station STA and receiving a second confirmation frame from the station STA for confirming that the station STA has received the first data frame, and the relay station forwarding the second confirmation frame to the access point AP; or

[0353] The data transmission between the relay station and the station STA is used to receive a second data frame from the station STA and send a third confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station has received the second data frame. The data transmission between the access point AP and the relay station is used to forward the second data frame to the access point AP and receive a fourth confirmation frame from the access point AP for confirming that the access point AP has received the second data frame. The relay station forwards the fourth confirmation frame to the station STA.

[0354] In some embodiments of the present invention, the relay station shares at least a portion of the first transmission opportunity TXOP or the second transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the access point AP based on a multi-user request to transmit transmission opportunity sharing (MU-RTS) TXS trigger frame sent by the access point AP. After receiving the multi-user request to transmit transmission opportunity sharing (MU-RTS TXS trigger frame), the relay station transmits a CTS (Current Transmission Sentence) to the access point AP and uses the at least a portion of the time for transmission after a short interframe interval (SIFS).

[0355] When the first transmission opportunity TXOP or the second transmission opportunity TXOP is shared with the relay station as a shared transmission opportunity TXOP, and the channel of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP is idle for more than a predetermined time or the relay station sends a frame to indicate the recovery of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP, the remaining time of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP is recovered by the initiator of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP.

[0356] In embodiment A.6.2, in the relay transmission scheduling initiated by the station STA, data transmission between the station STA and the relay station is carried out in the fourth transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the station STA, and data transmission between the relay station and an access point AP is carried out in the fourth transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the station STA, the fifth transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the station STA, or the sixth transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the relay station.

[0357] The data transmission between the station STA and the relay station is used for receiving a third data frame from the station STA and sending a fifth confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station has received the third data frame, the data transmission between the relay station and the access point AP is used for forwarding the third data frame to the access point AP and receiving a sixth confirmation frame from the access point AP for confirming that the access point AP has received the third data frame, and the relay station forwarding the sixth confirmation frame to the station STA; or

[0358] The data transmission between the relay station and the access point AP is used to receive a fourth data frame from the access point AP and send a seventh confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station has received the fourth data frame. The data transmission between the station STA and the relay station is used to forward the fourth data frame to the station STA and receive an eighth confirmation frame from the station STA for confirming that the station STA has received the fourth data frame. The relay station forwards the eighth confirmation frame to the access point AP.

[0359] In some embodiments of the present invention, the relay station shares at least a portion of the time of the third transmission opportunity TXOP or the fourth transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the station STA based on a multi-user request to send transmission opportunity sharing MU-RTS TXS trigger frame or a TXOP sharing frame issued by the station STA. After receiving the multi-user request to send transmission opportunity sharing MU-RTS TXS trigger frame, the relay station transmits a CTS to the station STA and uses the at least a portion of the shared time for transmission after a short frame interval SIFS has passed.

[0360] When the fourth transmission opportunity TXOP or the fifth transmission opportunity TXOP is shared with the relay station as a shared transmission opportunity TXOP, and the channel of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP is idle for more than a predetermined time or the relay station sends a frame to instruct to reclaim the shared transmission opportunity TXOP, the remaining time of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP is reclaimed by the initiator of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP.

[0361] A.6.1 AP-initiated relay transmission scheduling

[0362] Option 1: After the AP obtains a Transmission Opportunity (TXOP), it schedules the transmission between the AP and the relay station and between the relay station and the STA to be completed in the same TXOP.

[0363] As shown in FIG37 , after AP 10 obtains TXOP, if AP 10 has downlink data to transmit to STA 3, it can first send a data frame to relay station 1. The existing TXOP protection rule allows relay station 1 to reply an Ack / BlockAck frame to AP 10.

[0364] AP 10 then sends a MU-RTS TXS Trigger frame to relay station 1, sharing a portion (or all) of AP 10's allocated TXOP with relay station 1. This allows relay station 1 to relay data frames sent by AP 10 to STA 3. After receiving the MU-RTS TXS Trigger frame from AP 10, relay station 1 responds with a Clear to Send (CTS) frame after a SIFS interval. After the SIFS interval, relay station 1 immediately uses AP 10's shared TXOP to send (forward) data frames to STA 3. The existing TXOP sharing mechanism's TXOP protection rules allow STA 3 to respond with an Ack / BlockAck frame to relay station 1. After receiving the Ack / BlockAck frame from STA 3, relay station 1 then sends an Ack / BlockAck frame to AP 10.

[0365] If relay station 1 and / or STA 3 have no other data to transmit, AP 10 will proactively reclaim the shared TXOP (implicitly returning the TXOP) upon detecting that the channel has been idle for longer than the PIFS duration, and continue other transmissions. Alternatively, relay station 1 can proactively send a message or frame to notify AP 10 that the TXOP can be reclaimed (explicitly returning the TXOP). Figure 37 only illustrates the implicit return of the TXOP; explicit return of the TXOP is also possible, and the specific operation is not further described.

[0366] It should be noted that this embodiment is suitable for service transmission with high requirements for low latency.

[0367] As shown in Figure 38, after AP 10 obtains the TXOP, if it has no downlink data to transmit temporarily (or wants the STA to perform uplink data transmission first), and STA 3 has uplink data to transmit, it can directly send a MU-RTS TXS trigger frame to share part (or all) of the TXOP time it obtains with the relay station 1 and STA 3. After receiving the MU-RTS TXS trigger frame sent by AP 10, the relay station 1 and STA 3 will simultaneously reply with a CTS frame after the SIFS time. Then, after the SIFS time, STA 3 can immediately use the TXOP shared by AP 10 to send data frames (Data frame) to the relay station 1. After receiving the data frame (Data frame) sent by STA 3, the relay station 1 can use the TXOP shared by AP 10 to send (forwarded) data frames (Data frame) to AP 10. After receiving the (forwarded) data frame sent by relay station 1, AP 10 replies with an Ack / BlockAck frame to relay station 1, and then relay station 1 forwards the (forwarded) Ack / / BlockAck frame to STA 3, thereby completing the uplink transmission from STA 3 to relay station 1 to AP 10.

[0368] If AP 10 has downlink data to transmit to STA 3 at this time, it can immediately send a data frame to relay site 1 in the current TXOP. Then relay site 1 sends (forwarded) data frame to STA 3. STA 3 replies Ack / BlockAck frame to relay site 1, and then relay site 1 forwards (forwarded) Ack / / BlockAck frame to AP 10, thereby completing the downlink transmission from AP 10 to relay site 1 to STA 3.

[0369] If relay station 1 and / or STA 3 have no other data to transmit, AP 10 will proactively reclaim the shared TXOP (implicitly returning the TXOP) upon detecting that the channel has been idle for longer than the PIFS duration, and continue other transmissions. Alternatively, relay station 1 can proactively send a message or frame to notify AP 10 that the TXOP can be reclaimed (explicitly returning the TXOP). Figure 38 only illustrates the implicit return of the TXOP; explicit return of the TXOP is also possible, and the specific operation is not repeated here.

[0370] It should be noted that this embodiment is suitable for service transmission with high requirements for low latency.

[0371] Option 2: Transmissions between the AP and the relay station and between the relay station and the STA are completed in different TXOPs (the AP shares the TXOP with the relay station)

[0372] Similar to FIG37 , AP 10 can also schedule the transmission between AP 10 and relay station 1 and the transmission between relay station 1 and STA 3 to be completed in different TXOPs, which is generally applicable to service transmissions that do not require low latency.

[0373] As shown in Figure 39, AP 10 transmits data to relay station 1 during TXOP 1, which AP 10 obtains. When AP 10 obtains TXOP 2 again, it shares a portion (or all) of TXOP 2 with relay station 1. This allows relay station 1 to forward data sent by AP 10 to STA 3 and confirm data receipt. The details are similar to those described in Option 1 and are not repeated here.

[0374] It should be noted that the order of TXOP 1 and TXOP 2 is not limited. AP 10 may obtain the first TXOP and share it with relay station 1 for data transmission between relay station 1 and STA 3. AP 10 may then obtain the second TXOP for data transmission between AP 10 and relay station 1. In addition, Figure 39 only shows the implicit return of TXOPs. Explicit return of TXOPs is also possible. For details, see Option 1 and are not repeated here.

[0375] Option 3: The transmission between the AP 10 and the relay station and between the relay station and the STA are completed in different TXOPs (the relay station obtains the TXOP itself)

[0376] As shown in Figure 40, after obtaining TXOP 1, AP 10 directly sends data to relay station 1, which then acknowledges the data using an Ack / BlockAck frame. Relay station 1 then proactively obtains TXOP 2 and relays AP 10's data to STA 3. After receiving the AP 10 data forwarded by relay station 1, STA 3 sends an Ack / BlockAck frame. Relay station 1 can then send the (forwarded) BlockAck frame to AP 10 in the current TXOP 2. This is typically suitable for service transmission that does not require high latency.

[0377] It should be noted that the order of TXOP 1 and TXOP 2 is not limited. Relay station 1 can also obtain the first TXOP to first transmit data between relay station 1 and STA 3, and then AP 10 can obtain the second TXOP to transmit data between AP 10 and relay station 1. In addition, the figure only shows the implicit return of TXOPs; explicit return of TXOPs is also possible. For details, see Option 1 and are not repeated here.

[0378] A.6.2 STA-initiated relay transmission scheduling

[0379] Option 1: The STA obtains the TXOP and completes the transmission between the STA and the relay station. Then the TXOP is shared with the relay station for transmission between the relay station and the AP.

[0380] The prerequisite for this option is that the STA supports the TXOP sharing function. That is, after the STA obtains a TXOP, it can share part (or all) of its obtained TXOP time with other devices through a TXOP sharing frame or a MU-RTS TXS trigger frame.

[0381] As shown in FIG41 , after obtaining TXOP, STA 3 first sends the data frame to be sent to AP 10 to relay station 1, and then relay station 1 uses Ack / BlockAck frame to acknowledge the data frame sent by STA 3.

[0382] It should be noted that since relay station 1 cannot directly send (forward) data frames within the TXOP obtained by STA 3, the method proposed in this option is required: STA 3 shares part (or all) of its obtained TXOP time with relay station 1.

[0383] STA 3 then sends a TXOP sharing frame or a MU-RTS TXS trigger frame to relay station 1. Relay station 1 immediately responds with a CTS frame to STA 3 after a SIFS period. After a SIFS period, relay station 1 can then send the (forwarded) data frame to AP 10. After receiving the data from STA 3 via relay station 1, AP 10 responds with an Ack / BlockAck frame to relay station 1. Relay station 1 then forwards AP 10's Ack / BlockAck frame to STA 3.

[0384] It should be noted that this option is generally applicable to service transmissions with high requirements for low latency. The figure only shows the implicit return of the TXOP. Explicit return of the TXOP is also possible. For details, see Option 1 in Section A.6.1 and will not be repeated here.

[0385] Option 2: STA obtains TXOP to complete the transmission between STA and relay station, and AP obtains TXOP and shares it with relay station for transmission between relay station and AP.

[0386] As shown in FIG42 , after obtaining TXOP 1, STA 3 sends the data frame to be sent to AP 10 to relay station 1, and then relay station 1 uses Ack / BlockAck frames to acknowledge the data frame sent by STA 3.

[0387] AP 10 then obtains another TXOP (denoted as TXOP 2). AP 10 can send a MU-RTS TXS trigger frame to relay station 1, sharing part (or all) of the TXOP 2 time obtained by AP 10 with relay station 1. After receiving the MU-RTS TXS trigger frame and a SIFS period has passed, relay station 1 immediately responds with a CTS frame to AP 10. Then, after the SIFS period, relay station 1 immediately sends STA 3's (forwarded) data frame to AP 10 using the TXOP shared by AP 10. After receiving the (forwarded) data frame sent by relay station 1, AP 10 sends an Ack / BlockAck frame to acknowledge the (forwarded) data frame. Relay station 1 then forwards the Ack / BlockAck frame sent by AP 10 to STA 3.

[0388] This option is typically suitable for services requiring low latency. The order of the TXOPs described above is not limited. For example, AP 10 can obtain the first TXOP and then share it with relay station 1 for transmission between relay station 1 and STA 3. STA 3 can then obtain another TXOP for transmission between STA 3 and relay station 1. The figure only shows implicit TXOP return; explicit TXOP return is also possible. For details, see Option 1 in Section A.6.1 and are not detailed here.

[0389] Option 3: The STA and relay station each obtain TXOP to complete the transmission between the STA and the relay station and the transmission between the relay station and the AP.

[0390] As shown in Figure 43, after obtaining TXOP 1, STA 3 directly sends data to relay station 1, which then acknowledges the data using an Ack / BlockAck frame. Relay station 1 then proactively obtains TXOP 2 and relays STA 3's data to AP 10. AP 10 then sends an Ack / BlockAck frame after receiving the data from STA 3 relayed by relay station 1. Relay station 1 can then send the (forwarded) BlockAck frame to STA 3 in the current TXOP 2. This is typically suitable for service transmissions that do not require high latency.

[0391] It should be noted that the order of TXOP 1 and TXOP 2 is not limited. Relay station 1 can also obtain the first TXOP to first transmit data between relay station 1 and AP 10, and then STA 3 can obtain the second TXOP to transmit data between STA 3 and relay station 1. In addition, the figure only shows the implicit return TXOP. The explicit return TXOP is also possible. For details, see Option 1 in Section A.6.1 and will not be repeated here.

[0392] A.6.3 Related frame format design

[0393] The formats and rules of the data frames and Ack / BlockAck frames involved in this section are consistent with the embodiments in Section A.3.3. No special design is required. Only the MU-RTS TXS trigger frame and TXOP shared frame described in the above solution need to be designed.

[0394] a) MU-RTS TXS trigger frame format design

[0395] As shown in Figure 44, the format of the MU-RTS TXS trigger frame, where the user information list User Info List can include one or more user information User Info fields, and the format of each user information User Info field can be the HE variant User Info field format or the EHT variant User Info field format in the figure below.

[0396] To enable AP 10 to share the TXOP with relay station 1 in A.6.1 Figure 37 , AP 10 may use a MU-RTS TXS trigger frame in the HE variant User Info field format or the EHT variant User Info field format. The multi-user request to send transmission opportunity sharing MU-RTS TXS trigger frame includes a user information list. The User Info field of the user information list uses the HE variant User Info field format or the EHT variant User Info field format and includes an AID12 subfield, a resource unit allocation subfield (RU Allocation), and an allocation duration subfield. The AID12 subfield indicates the AID of relay station 1; the RU Allocation subfield indicates the resource units (RUs) within the TXOP shared by access point AP 10 with relay station 1; and the Allocation Duration subfield indicates the duration of the TXOP shared by access point AP 10 with relay station 1. The starting point of the duration is the end time of the current MU-RTS TXS trigger frame.

[0397] To implement AP 10 sharing the TXOP with relay station 1 and STA 3 in A.6.2 Figure 38, AP 10 can carry two User Info fields in the User Info List. Each User Info field uses the HE variant User Info field format and / or the EHT variant User Info field format. The AID12 subfield of one User Info field indicates the AID of relay station 1, and the subsequent resource unit allocation subfield RU Allocation and allocation duration subfield respectively indicate the RUs and time resources shared with relay station 1. The AID12 subfield of the other User Info field indicates the AID of STA 3, and the subsequent RU Allocation subfield and allocation duration subfield respectively indicate the RUs and time resources shared with STA 3.

[0398] To enable STA 3 to share the TXOP with relay station 1 in A.6.2, STA 3 may use the HE variant User Info field format or the EHT variant User Info field format. The multi-user request to send transmission opportunity sharing MU-RTS TXS trigger frame includes a user information list. The User Info field of the user information list is in the HE variant User Info field format or the EHT variant User Info field format, and includes an AID12 subfield, a resource unit allocation subfield RU Allocation, and an allocation duration subfield. The AID12 subfield indicates the AID of relay station 1; the resource unit allocation subfield RU Allocation indicates the resource units RU in the TXOP shared by STA 3 with relay station 1; and the allocation duration subfield indicates the duration of the TXOP shared by STA 3 with relay station 1. The duration starts at the end time of the current MU-RTS TXS trigger frame.

[0399] b) TXOP Sharing frame format design

[0400] Because a STA (e.g., STA 3) is a non-AP STA, it is difficult to send a MU-RTS TXS trigger frame. Therefore, a new TXOP sharing frame can be designed for non-AP STAs (or APs) to achieve the same functionality as the MU-RTS TXS trigger frame. As shown in Figure A.6-9 of Figure 45, this TXOP sharing frame can be sent by a non-AP STA or AP 10. Its purpose is to enable a non-AP STA or AP 10 to share part (or all) of the TXOP resources obtained with one or more other devices after obtaining a TXOP.

[0401] It should be noted that the TXOP Sharing frame includes a Common Info field and a User Info List, and its structure, function, and definition are consistent with those of the MU-RTS TXS trigger frame.

[0402] The relay station 1 sends a transmission opportunity sharing MU-RTS TXS trigger frame or a TXOP sharing frame based on the multi-user request sent by the station STA 3, sharing at least a portion of the time of the third transmission opportunity TXOP or the fourth transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the station STA 3.

[0403] The TXOP sharing frame includes a user information list, wherein the user information User Info field of the user information list is in the HE variant user information HE variant User Info field format or the EHT variant user information HE variant User Info field format, and includes an AID12 subfield, a resource unit allocation subfield RU Allocation, and an allocation duration Allocation Duration subfield, wherein the AID12 subfield indicates the AID of the relay site 1; the resource unit allocation subfield RU Allocation indicates the resource unit RU in the TXOP shared by the site STA 3 to the relay site 1; and the allocation duration Allocation Duration subfield indicates the duration of the TXOP shared by the site STA 3 to the relay site 1.

[0404] A.7 Relay Site Transmission Method Supporting Multi-Link Capabilities

[0405] The 802.11be standard (Wi-Fi 7) already supports multi-link operation. Based on device capabilities, multi-link devices (MLDs) are categorized as simultaneous transmit and receive (STR) devices and non-simultaneous transmit and receive (NSTR) devices. This section describes the design of MLD relay transmission.

[0406] In some embodiments of the present invention, the relay station with multi-link capability performs a multi-link relay or forwarding operation, wherein a first link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point AP or transmit a frame to the access point AP, and a second link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point station STA or transmit a frame to the station STA, and the relay station is a multi-link device MLD capable of simultaneously transmitting and receiving STR on multiple links. The method further includes:

[0407] receiving a first data frame sent from the access point AP through the first link; and

[0408] A first simultaneous transmission is performed according to the STR capability, wherein the first simultaneous transmission includes transmitting a first confirmation frame for indicating confirmation of reception of the first data frame to the access point AP through the first link, and forwarding the first data frame to the station STA through the second link.

[0409] In some embodiments of the present invention, the method further comprises:

[0410] Performing a first simultaneous reception according to the STR capability, the first simultaneous reception comprising: receiving a second data frame sent from the access point AP through the first link, and receiving a second confirmation frame sent from the station STA through the second link for indicating confirmation of reception of the first data frame; and

[0411] Performing a second simultaneous transmission based on the STR capability, the second simultaneous transmission includes: transmitting a second confirmation frame for indicating confirmation of reception of the first data frame to the access point AP through the first link, and forwarding the second data frame to the station STA through the second link.

[0412] In some embodiments of the present invention, the method further comprises:

[0413] receiving, through the first link or the second link, a third confirmation frame sent from the station STA and used to indicate confirmation of reception of the second data frame; and

[0414] The third confirmation frame indicating confirmation of receiving the second data frame is transmitted to the access point AP through the first link or the second link.

[0415] A.7.1 STR relay forwarding operation

[0416] If the relay station is an STR MLD, it can use different links to perform simultaneous transmission and reception operations. As shown in Figure 46, the transmission and reception operations between the AP MLD and relay station 1 and the transmission and reception operations between relay station 1 and non-AP MLD 3 can be performed simultaneously. The specific operations are as follows:

[0417] 1) At time t1, AP MLD 10 sends data i to relay station 1 on link 1.

[0418] 2) At time t2, relay station 1 replies an Ack / BlockAck frame to AP MLD 10 on link 1; at the same time, relay station 1 can use link 2 to send (forwarded) data i to non-AP MLD 3.

[0419] 3) At time t3, non-AP MLD 3 sends an Ack / BlockAck frame to relay station 1 on link 2 to acknowledge the (forwarded) data i. At the same time, relay station 1 can also receive data i+1 sent from AP MLD 10.

[0420] 4) At time t4, relay station 1 replies with an Ack / BlockAck frame to AP MLD 10 on link 1 to confirm data i+1 sent by AP MLD 10; at the same time, relay station 1 can also send data i+1 from AP MLD 10 to non-AP MLD 3 on link 2.

[0421] 5) At time t5, non-AP MLD 3 then sends an Ack / BlockAck frame on link 2 to acknowledge data i+1 sent (forwarded) by relay station 1. Note that because links 1 and 2 are a STR link pair, relay station 1 can simultaneously transmit on link 1 and receive on link 2.

[0422] 6) At time t6 , the relay station 1 finally sends a (forwarded) Ack / BlockAck frame to the AP MLD 10 on the link 2 to indicate that the non-AP MLD 3 has received the data i+1 from the AP MLD 10 .

[0423] Additional rules can be designed for Ack / BlockAck / (forwarded) BlockAck: When relay station 1 sends Ack / BlockAck / (forwarded) BlockAck to AP MLD 10, it can be implemented in the following three ways:

[0424] a) Only the function of confirming the data i+1 sent by AP MLD 10 through Ack / BlockAck is implemented;

[0425] b) The Ack / BlockAck / (forwarded) BlockAck acknowledges data i+1 sent by AP MLD 10 and forwards the Ack / BlockAck sent back by non-AP MLD 3 after it successfully receives data i. This lets AP MLD 10 know that non-AP MLD 3 has successfully received data i forwarded by relay station 1.

[0426] c) Only the Ack / BlockAck fed back by the non-AP MLD 3 after successfully receiving the data i+1 is forwarded through the (forwarded) BlockAck, so that the AP MLD 10 knows that the non-AP MLD 3 has successfully received the data i+1 forwarded by the relay station 1.

[0427] It can be seen that there is a time interval between every two adjacent steps from step t1 to step t6, such as a time interval of SIFS, PIFS or other time lengths.

[0428] It is worth noting that the transceiver operations on link 1 and the transceiver operations on link 2 may not strictly comply with the timing design shown in Figure 46. The above figure is only used as an example.

[0429] A.7.2 NSTR relay forwarding operation

[0430] In some embodiments of the present invention, the relay station with multi-link capability performs a multi-link relay or forwarding operation, wherein a first link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point AP or transmit a frame to the access point AP, and a second link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point station STA or transmit a frame to the station STA. Characterized in that the relay station is a multi-link device MLD with non-simultaneous transmission and reception (NSTR) capability, and the method includes:

[0431] Performing a first simultaneous transmission according to the NSTR capability, the first simultaneous transmission comprising: transmitting a synchronization frame for maintaining synchronization / alignment of a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU to the access point AP and the station STA respectively;

[0432] After a short frame interval (SIFS) has elapsed after transmitting the synchronization frame, performing a first simultaneous reception according to the NSTR capability, wherein the first simultaneous reception includes: receiving a first data frame sent from the access point (AP) through the first link, and receiving a second data frame sent from the station (STA) through the second link;

[0433] performing a second simultaneous transmission according to the NSTR capability, the second simultaneous transmission comprising: sending a first confirmation frame for indicating confirmation of reception of the first data frame to the access point AP through the first link, and sending a second confirmation frame for indicating confirmation of reception of the second data to the station STA through the second link;

[0434] Performing a third simultaneous transmission based on the NSTR capability, the third simultaneous transmission comprising: forwarding the second data frame sent from the station STA to the access point AP through the first link, and forwarding the first data frame sent from the access point AP to the station STA through the second link.

[0435] In some embodiments of the present invention, the method further comprises:

[0436] performing a second simultaneous reception according to the NSTR capability, the second simultaneous reception comprising: receiving a third confirmation frame from the access point AP via the first link for confirming that the access point AP has received the second data frame, and receiving a fourth confirmation frame from the station STA via the second link for confirming that the station STA has received the first data frame; and

[0437] Performing a fourth simultaneous transmission according to the NSTR capability, the fourth simultaneous transmission comprising: forwarding the fourth confirmation frame sent from the station STA to the access point AP through the first link, and forwarding the third confirmation frame sent from the access point AP to the station STA through the second link.

[0438] In some embodiments of the present invention, a time interval separates the first simultaneous reception and the second simultaneous transmission, and a time interval separates the second simultaneous transmission and the third simultaneous transmission.

[0439] In some embodiments of the present invention, the synchronization frame is a relay request frame or a data frame, wherein the relay request frame includes a target identification field, and the target identification field is used to indicate which destination device the relay site serves under the current relay communication operation.

[0440] A.7.2.1 Method for simultaneous uplink and downlink transmission on multiple links

[0441] If relay station 1 is an NSTR MLD, it cannot transmit and receive simultaneously on different links. It must either transmit or receive simultaneously, as shown in Figure 47. To avoid interference between transmit and receive on the NSTR link pair, the specific operation is as follows:

[0442] 1) At time t11, before AP MLD 10 and non-AP MLD 3 simultaneously send data i and data j to relay station 1, to maintain PPDU synchronization / alignment, relay station 1 can simultaneously send a newly defined Relay Request frame to AP MLD 10 and non-AP MLD 3, or simultaneously send data i-1 and data j-1 to AP MLD 10 and non-AP MLD 3.

[0443] 2) After relay station 1 sends the relay request frame / data frame to AP MLD 10 and non-AP MLD 3 for a SIFS period, at time t12, AP MLD 10 and non-AP MLD 3 simultaneously send data i and data j to relay station 1, respectively.

[0444] 3) At time t13, relay station 1 sends an Ack / BlockAck frame to AP MLD 10 on link 1 to acknowledge receipt of data i sent by AP MLD 10 (to be forwarded to non-AP MLD 3). Simultaneously, relay station 1 sends an Ack / BlockAck frame to non-AP MLD 3 on link 2 to acknowledge receipt of data j sent by non-AP MLD 3 (to be forwarded to AP MLD 10).

[0445] 4) At time t14, relay station 1 sends (forwards) data j to AP MLD 10 on link 1, while non-AP MLD 3 sends (forwards) data i to relay station 1 on link 2.

[0446] 5) At time t15, AP MLD 10 responds with an Ack / BlockAck frame on link 1 to acknowledge data j forwarded by relay station 1 from non-AP MLD 3. Simultaneously, non-AP MLD 3 responds with an Ack / BlockAck frame on link 2 to relay station 1 to acknowledge data i forwarded by relay station 1 from AP MLD 10.

[0447] 6) At time t16, relay station 1 finally sends (forwards) an Ack / BlockAck frame to AP MLD 10 on link 1, indicating that non-AP MLD 3 has received data i from AP MLD 10. At the same time, relay station 1 sends (forwards) an Ack / BlockAck frame to non-AP MLD 3 on link 2, indicating that AP MLD 10 has received data j from non-AP MLD 3.

[0448] It can be seen that there is a time interval between every two adjacent steps from step t11 to step t16, such as a time interval of SIFS, PIFS, or other time lengths.

[0449] The design of the relay request frame format is as follows:

[0450] As shown in Figure 48, a relay request frame format design includes a target identification (Target ID) field used to indicate which destination device (such as STA) the relay site serves as a relay site under the current relay communication operation. The Target ID field can be the AID of the destination device or the MAC address of the destination device. The device that receives the relay request frame (called the source node device) learns the address of its destination node device through the Target ID field. If the Target ID field is a reserved bit, it means that the source node device decides on its own to which destination node device to send its data. After receiving the relay request frame, the device receiving the frame should immediately send data / related frames in response after the SIFS time.

[0451] A.7.2.2 Multi-link time division uplink and downlink transmission method

[0452] In some embodiments of the present invention, the relay station with multi-link capability performs a multi-link relay station / forwarding operation, wherein a first link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point AP or transmit a frame to the access point AP, and a second link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point station STA or transmit a frame to the station STA. Characterized in that the relay station is a multi-link device MLD with non-simultaneous transmission and reception (NSTR) capability, and the method includes:

[0453] Perform downlink forwarding or uplink forwarding;

[0454] The downlink forwarding includes:

[0455] receiving a first data frame from the access point AP via the first link, and transmitting a first confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station receives the first data frame to the access point AP via the first link after a first time interval;

[0456] forwarding the first data frame to the station STA via the second link after a second time interval, and receiving a second confirmation frame from the station STA via the second link after a third time interval for confirming that the station STA has received the first data frame; and

[0457] forwarding the second confirmation frame to the access point AP via the first link after a fourth time interval;

[0458] The uplink forwarding includes:

[0459] receiving a second data frame from the station STA through the second link, and transmitting a third confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station receives the second data frame to the station STA through the second link after a fifth time interval;

[0460] forwarding the second data frame to the access point AP via the first link after a sixth time interval, and receiving a fourth confirmation frame from the access point AP via the first link after a seventh time interval, confirming that the access point AP has received the second data frame; and

[0461] In some embodiments of the present invention, the fourth confirmation frame is forwarded to the station STA via the second link after an eighth time interval.

[0462] At least one of the first to eighth time intervals is a short frame interval SIFS or a priority frame interval PIFS.

[0463] If relay station 1 is the MLD of an NSTR, it cannot transmit and receive simultaneously on different links. In addition to the simultaneous uplink and downlink transmission on multiple links described in Section A.7.2.1, it can also receive on one link (link 1) and then transmit on another link (link 2), as shown in Figure 49. This avoids NSTR transmission and reception interference. The specific operation is as follows:

[0464] 1) At time t21, AP MLD 10 sends data i (which needs to be forwarded to non-AP MLD 3) to relay station 1 via link 1. Then, at time t22, relay station 1 immediately responds with an Ack / BlockAck frame on link 1 to acknowledge the data.

[0465] 2) At time t23, relay station 1 sends (forwards) data i to non-AP MLD 3 on link 2. Then, at time t24, non-AP MLD 3 immediately responds with an Ack / BlockAck frame on link 2 to relay station 1 for confirmation.

[0466] 3) Then at time t25, relay station 1 forwards the Ack / BlockAck frame replied by non-AP MLD 3 to AP MLD 10 on link 1 to confirm that non-AP MLD 3 has received data i sent by AP MLD 10;

[0467] Through the above steps, the AP MLD 10 relays the data i to the non-AP MLD 3 via the relay station 1 .

[0468] 1) At time t26, non-AP MLD 3 sends data j (which needs to be forwarded to AP MLD 10) to relay station 1 via link 2. Then, at time t27, relay station 1 immediately responds with an Ack / BlockAck frame on link 2 to acknowledge the data.

[0469] 2) At time t28, relay station 1 sends (forwards) data j to AP MLD 10 on link 1. Then, at time t29, AP MLD 10 immediately responds with an Ack / BlockAck frame on link 1 to relay station 1 for confirmation.

[0470] 3) Then at time t30, relay station 1 forwards the Ack / BlockAck frame replied by AP MLD 10 to non-AP MLD 3 on link 2 to confirm that AP MLD 10 has received data j sent by non-AP MLD 3;

[0471] Through the above steps, non-AP MLD 3 relays data j to AP MLD 10 via relay station 1. It can be seen that there is a time interval between each two adjacent steps from step t21 to step t30, such as SIFS, PIFS or other time intervals.

[0472] It should be noted that there is no order between the data transmission from AP MLD 10 to relay station 1 to non-AP MLD 3 and the data transmission from non-AP MLD 3 to relay station 1 to AP MLD 10. Figure 49 is only an example.

[0473] Figure 50 shows one or more stations (STAs) 20 and an access point (AP) 10 communicating in a wireless communication system 700 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 50 is illustrative and non-restrictive, and the system may include more STAs and APs. Figure 50 shows that the wireless communication system 700 includes an access point (AP) 10 and one or more stations (STAs) 20. The access point 10 may include a memory 12, a transceiver 13, and a processor 11 connected to the memory 12 and the transceiver 13. The one or more STAs 20 may include a memory 22, a transceiver 23, and a processor 21 connected to the memory 22 and the transceiver 23. The processor 11 or 21 may be configured to implement the functions, procedures, and / or methods described and disclosed in this specification. The radio interface protocol layer may be implemented in the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 may be operably connected to the processor 11 or 21 and store various information used to operate the processor 11 or 21. The transceiver 13 or 23 is operatively coupled to the processor 11 or 21 , and the transceiver 13 or 23 transmits and / or receives radio signals.

[0474] The processor 11 or 21 may include an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), other chipsets, logic circuits and / or data processing devices. The memory 12 or 22 may include a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), flash memory, a memory card, a storage medium and / or other storage devices. The transceiver 13 or 23 may include a baseband circuit for processing radio frequency signals. When the embodiments of the present invention are implemented in software, the techniques described herein may be implemented using modules (such as programs, functions, etc.) that perform the functions described herein. These modules may be stored in the memory 12 or 22 and executed by the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 may be inside the processor 11 or 21 or outside the processor 11 or 21. In this case, the memory 12 or 22 may be communicatively coupled to the processor 11 or 21 in various ways known in the art. In some embodiments, the processor 21 is configured to execute the methods disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention.

[0475] 51 , the present embodiment further provides a chip 700. The chip 700 may correspond to a STA (e.g., STA 1, STA 2, STA 3, and STA 20), a relay station (e.g., relay station 1 and relay station 2), or an AP (e.g., AP 10) in the present embodiment. The chip 700 may implement the corresponding processes implemented by the STA, relay station, or AP in the various methods of the present embodiment. The chip 700 includes a processor 701, which may call and execute a computer program from a memory to implement the methods of the present embodiment.

[0476] Optionally, the chip 700 may further include a memory 702. The processor 701 may call and execute a computer program from the memory 702 to implement the method in the embodiment of the present application.

[0477] The memory 702 may be a separate device independent of the processor 701 , or may be integrated into the processor 701 .

[0478] Optionally, the chip 700 may further include an input interface 703. The processor 701 may control the input interface 703 to communicate with other devices or chips, and specifically, may obtain messages or data sent by other devices or chips.

[0479] Optionally, the chip 700 may further include an output interface 704. The processor 701 may control the output interface 704 to communicate with other devices or chips, and specifically, may output information or data to other devices or chips.

[0480] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product, including computer program instructions.

[0481] Optionally, the computer program product can be applied to the STA (e.g., STA 1, STA 2, STA 3, and STA 20), relay station (e.g., relay station 1 and relay station 2), or AP (e.g., AP 10) in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program instructions enable the computer to execute the corresponding processes implemented by the STA (e.g., STA 1, STA 2, STA 3, and STA 20), relay station (e.g., relay station 1 and relay station 2), or AP (e.g., AP 10) in the various methods of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, they are not repeated here.

[0482] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program. Optionally, the computer program can be applied to STAs (e.g., STA 1, STA 2, STA 3, and STA 20), relay stations (e.g., relay stations 1 and 2), or APs (e.g., AP 10) in the embodiments of the present application. When the computer program is executed on a computer, the computer program instructions cause the computer to execute the corresponding processes implemented by the STAs (e.g., STA 1, STA 2, STA 3, and STA 20), relay stations (e.g., relay stations 1 and 2), or APs (e.g., AP 10) in the various methods of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, these procedures are not further described here.

[0483] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel 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.

[0484] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, devices and units can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method implementation methods and will not be repeated here.

[0485] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above-mentioned embodiments are specific embodiments for implementing the present application, and that in actual applications, various changes may be made thereto in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A relay communication method, executed in a station STA of a wireless local area network, It is characterized in that Include A first request frame is transmitted to an access point AP, wherein the first request frame includes an extended capability element Extended Capabilities element and / or an UHR relay capability element UHR Relay Capabilities element, the extended capability element Extended Capabilities element includes a relay site subfield for representing whether relay forwarding is supported, and the UHR relay capability element UHR Relay Capabilities element includes a UHR relay capability information field.

2. The relay communication method according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The method further comprises: A first response frame is received from the access point AP, wherein the first response frame includes a relay station information element, wherein the relay station information element indicates a relay station included in a current basic service set BSS.

3. The relay communication method according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The relay station information element includes one or more relay site information fields, and the relay station information field corresponds to the UHR relay capability information of a relay site.

4. The relay communication method according to claim 1 or 3, It is characterized in that The UHR relay capability information includes one or more of the following: Relay site identifier: used to indicate the relay site identifier associated with the UHR relay capability information field; Relay Buffer Size subfield: used to indicate the size of the buffer space supported by the station STA for the relay station when the station STA acts as a relay station; Multi-hop support subfield Multi-hop Support subfield: used to indicate whether the station STA supports multi-hop relay operation (Multi-hop relay) when acting as a relay station; and Relay Specific Channel / Band subfield: used to indicate the channel / band dedicated to relay operation when the station STA acts as a relay station.

5. The relay communication method according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The first request frame is an Association Request frame or a Probe Request frame.

6. The relay communication method according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The first response frame is an Association Request frame, a Probe Response frame, or a Beacon frame.

7. A relay communication method, executed in an access point AP of a wireless local area network, It is characterized in that Include Receive a first request frame transmitted from a station STA, wherein the first request frame includes an extended capability element Extended Capabilities element and / or an UHR relay capability element UHR Relay Capabilities element, the extended capability element Extended Capabilities element includes a relay site subfield for representing whether relay site forwarding is supported, and the UHR relay capability element UHR Relay Capabilities element includes a UHR relay capability information field.

8. The relay communication method according to claim 7, It is characterized in that The method further comprises: A first response frame is transmitted, wherein the first response frame includes a relay station information element, wherein the relay station information element informs the station STA which relay stations exist in the current basic service set BSS.

9. The relay communication method according to claim 7, It is characterized in that The relay station information element includes one or more relay site information fields, and each relay station information field corresponds to a UHR relay capability information field of a relay site.

10. The relay communication method according to claim 7 or 9, It is characterized in that The UHR relay capability information field includes one or more of the following: Relay site identifier: used to indicate the relay site identifier associated with the UHR relay capability information field; Relay Buffer Size subfield: used to indicate the size of the buffer space supported by the station STA for the relay station when the station STA acts as a relay station; Multi-hop support subfield Multi-hop Support subfield: used to indicate whether the station STA supports multi-hop relay operation (Multi-hop relay) when acting as a relay station; and Relay Specific Channel / Band subfield: used to indicate the channel / band dedicated to relay operation when the station STA acts as a relay station.

11. The relay communication method according to claim 7, It is characterized in that The first request frame is an Association Request frame or a Probe Request frame.

12. The relay communication method according to claim 7, It is characterized in that The first response frame is an Association Request frame, a Probe Response frame, or a Beacon frame.

13. A relay communication method, executed in a first station of a wireless local area network, It is characterized in that Include: The first station transmits a frame regarding received signal strength indication RSSI measurement to one or more relay stations, wherein the frame is a trigger frame for triggering RSSI measurement regarding the one or more relay stations or a null data packet announcement frame NDPA and a null data packet frame NDP for providing received signal strength indication RSSI measurement.

14. The relay communication method according to claim 13, It is characterized in that The first station is an access point AP, and the frame is a trigger frame, which is used to trigger the one or more relay stations to send a trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit TB PPDU according to a resource indication in the trigger frame; The access point AP measures the RSSI of the TB PPDU to obtain the RSSI between the access point AP and the relay station; The access point AP sends an RSSI reporting request frame to request RSSI information of RSSI measurement between the relay station and the station STA.

15. The relay communication method according to claim 14, It is characterized in that The functions of the trigger frame include at least one of the following: The first trigger frame is used to trigger the first relay station and the second relay station of the one or more relay stations to The resource indication of the trigger frame is to send the TB PPDU after a preset interval; Inform the station STA to prepare to receive TB PPDU and measure RSSI; The first trigger frame and the second trigger frame are sent serially to the first relay station and the second relay station.

16. The relay communication method according to claim 15, It is characterized in that The method further includes the access point AP requesting the station STA to directly report RSSI information measured between the one or more relay stations and the station STA to the access point AP; or The access point AP requests the one or more relay stations to forward RSSI information measured between the one or more relay stations and the station STA to the access point AP.

17. The relay communication method according to claim 16, It is characterized in that The access point AP requests one of the first relay station or the second relay station to forward RSSI information measured between the first relay station and the station STA and RSSI information measured between the second relay station and the station STA to the access point AP.

18. The relay communication method according to claim 16, It is characterized in that The access point AP requests the first relay station to forward RSSI information measured between the first relay station and the station STA to the access point AP; and The access point AP requests the second relay station to forward RSSI information measured between the second relay station and the station STA to the access point AP.

19. The relay communication method according to claim 13, It is characterized in that The first station is a station STA that is not an access point AP, the frame is a null data packet announcement NDPA frame and a null data packet NDP frame, and the station STA receives the one or more relay stations and measures the null data packet NDP to obtain an RSSI report; or The first station is a station STA that is not an access point AP, the frame is a null data packet announcement NDPA frame and a null data packet NDP frame, the one or more relay stations are allowed to send a null data packet NDP frame after a short frame interval SIFS after receiving the null data packet announcement NDPA frame, and the station STA measures the null data packet NDP frame to obtain an RSSI report; or The first station is a station STA that is not an access point AP, and the frame is a trigger frame, so that the one or more relay stations send a TB PPDU after a short frame interval SIFS after receiving the trigger frame, and the station STA measures the TB PPDU to obtain an RSSI report.

20. The relay communication method according to claim 19, It is characterized in that The RSSI report frame carries one or more RSSI reports, each of which corresponds to a transmission end identification subfield, a receiving end identification subfield and / or an RSSI value subfield, wherein the transmission end identification subfield is used to indicate the MAC address or AID of the device sending the RSSI measurement frame, the receiving end identification subfield is used to indicate the MAC address or AID of a device used to receive the RSSI measurement frame and obtain the RSSI, and the RSSI value subfield carries the RSSI value.

21. The relay communication method according to claim 19, It is characterized in that The station STA selects one of the one or more relay stations based on the RSSI report.

22. The relay communication method according to claim 19, It is characterized in that The empty data packet announcement NDPA frame includes a site information list field, the site information list field includes one or more site information fields, the site information field includes a CSI / RSSI measurement subfield and a transmission / reception subfield, the CSI / RSSI measurement subfield is used to indicate whether the empty data packet NDP frame used by the relay site performs channel state information CSI measurement or RSSI measurement, and the transmission / reception subfield is used to indicate whether the site STA corresponding to the site information field is the transmitter of the empty data packet NDP frame or the receiver of the empty data packet NDP frame for measurement.

23. The relay communication method according to claim 14 or 19, It is characterized in that The Common Info field in the frame structure of the trigger frame is a HE variant Common Info field or an EHT variant Common Info field, and the Trigger Type subfield of the Common Info field in the frame structure of the trigger frame indicates whether the trigger frame is an RSSI trigger frame.

24. The relay communication method according to claim 23, It is characterized in that The Trigger Type subfield is a preset first value, indicating that the trigger frame is a basic trigger frame; The Trigger Type subfield is a preset second value, which indicates that the trigger frame is an RSSI trigger frame.

25. The relay communication method according to claim 14, It is characterized in that The RSSI reporting request frame includes a Requester MAC Address field and a Responder MAC Address field; The Requester MAC Address field indicates the MAC address of the requester of the RSSI report. The Responder MAC Address field indicates the MAC address of the responder of the RSSI report. When the Requester MAC Address field does not exist, it indicates that the device sending the RSSI report request frame is the RSSI report requester; When the Responder MAC Address field does not exist, it indicates that the device receiving the RSSI report request frame is the responder of the RSSI report; When both the requester MAC Address field and the responder MAC Address field do not exist, it means that the device sending the RSSI report request frame is the RSSI report requester, and the device receiving the RSSI report request frame is the RSSI report responder.

26. The relay communication method according to claim 14, It is characterized in that The RSSI report request frame includes a single / all relay site reporting field, and the single / all relay site reporting field indicates that the RSSI report requester requests to obtain the RSSI report between a relay site and the site STA or the RSSI report requester requests to obtain the RSSI reports between all relay sites and the site STA.

27. A relay communication method, executed in a first station of a wireless local area network, It is characterized in that Include: The first station transmits a frame to the second station through forwarding of one or more relay stations, wherein the frame includes identifier information of a selected relay station among the one or more relay stations.

28. The relay communication method according to claim 27, It is characterized in that The first station is an access point or a non-access point station.

29. The relay communication method according to claim 27, It is characterized in that The frame is a data frame, including: Sending node address, receiving node address, source node address and destination node address; The sending node address is set to the address of the first site; The receiving address is set to the address of the selected relay site; The source node address is set to the address of the first site; The destination node address is set to the address of the second site.

30. The relay communication method according to claim 29, It is characterized in that The data frame is forwarded through the selected relay station, and in the forwarded data frame, The sending node address is set to the address of the selected relay site; The receiving node address is set to the address of the second site; The source node address is set to the address of the first site; The destination node address is set to the address of the second site.

31. The relay communication method according to claim 27, It is characterized in that The frame is a relay selection frame, which includes a relay site identification field Relay ID, and the relay site identification field indicates the identifier information of the device of the selected relay site.

32. The relay communication method according to claim 31, It is characterized in that The relay site selection field Relay Selection of the relay selection frame includes one or more relay site identification fields. The relay site corresponding to the relay site identification field with the highest priority will be given priority to work as the selected relay site. When the relay site corresponding to the relay site identification field with the highest priority fails to work, the relay site corresponding to the relay site identification field with the second highest priority will work as a substitute.

33. A relay communication method, executed in a station of a wireless local area network as a relay station, It is characterized in that Include: Reporting a buffer status report BSR to an access point AP, wherein the buffer status report BSR includes a first field for recording a first buffer status report BSR of the relay station and a first field for recording a destination device served by the relay station The second field of the second buffer status report BSR.

34. The relay communication method according to claim 33, It is characterized in that The first field is a buffer status report control field BSR Control, and the second field is a quality of service QoS control field QoS Control; or The first field is a quality of service QoS control field QoS Control, and the second field is a buffer status report control field BSR Control.

35. The relay communication method according to claim 33, It is characterized in that The relay station receives a response buffer status report poll trigger frame Buffer Status Report Poll Trigger frame from the access point AP, and reports the buffer status report BSR to the access point AP in response to the buffer status report poll trigger frame Buffer Status Report Poll Trigger frame, wherein an information field in the buffer status report poll trigger frame Buffer Status Report Poll Trigger frame indicates BSR information requested by the AP: Only request the BSR information of the relay site; Only request the BSR information of the destination device; or Both the BSR information of the relay station and the BSR information of the destination device are requested.

36. The relay communication method according to claim 33, It is characterized in that When the QoS Control field and the HT Control field are both present in the relevant frame of the buffer status report BSR sent by the relay station, and the QoS Control field indicates the first BSR information, and the HT Control field also indicates the second BSR information through the A-Control field, then the first BSR information in the QoS Control field is the BSR information of the relay station itself, and the second BSR information indicated by the HT Control field through the A-Control field is the BSR information of the destination device of the relay station; or When the QoS Control field and the HT Control field exist in the relevant frame of the buffer status report BSR sent by the relay site, and the HT Control field indicates the first BSR information, and the QoS Control field also indicates the second BSR information through the A-Control field, then the first BSR information in the HT Control field is the BSR information of the relay site itself, and the second BSR information indicated by the QoS Control field through the A-Control field is the BSR information of the destination device of the relay site.

37. The relay communication method according to claim 36, It is characterized in that The related frame of the buffer status report BSR is a medium access control (MAC) frame, and according to the type field Type and subtype subfield Subtype of the control field Frame Control of the MAC frame, it is one of the following: quality of service data frame QoS Data, quality of service null frame QoS Null, control wrapper frame Control Wrapper, or management frame Management.

38. A relay communication method, executed in a station of a wireless local area network serving as a relay station, It is characterized in that Include: In the relay transmission scheduling initiated by an access point AP, data transmission between the access point AP and the relay station is performed in a first transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the access point AP, and data transmission between the relay station and a station STA is performed in the first transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the access point AP, the second transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the access point AP, or the third transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the relay station; or In the relay transmission scheduling initiated by the site STA, data transmission between the site STA and the relay site is performed in the fourth transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the site STA, and data transmission between the relay site and an access point AP is performed in the fourth transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the site STA, the fifth transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the access point AP, or the sixth transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the relay site.

39. The relay communication method according to claim 38, It is characterized in that The relay station sends a transmission opportunity sharing MU-RTS TXS trigger frame based on a multi-user request sent by the access point AP, and shares at least a portion of the time of the first transmission opportunity TXOP or the second transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the access point AP.

40. The relay communication method according to claim 39, It is characterized in that After receiving the multi-user request to send transmission opportunity sharing MU-RTS TXS trigger frame, the relay station transmits a CTS frame allowing transmission to the access point AP, and uses the at least a portion of the time for transmission after a short frame interval SIFS.

41. The relay communication method according to claim 39, It is characterized in that The data transmission between the access point AP and the relay station is used for receiving a first data frame from the access point AP and sending a first confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station receives the first data frame, the data transmission between the relay station and the station STA is used for forwarding the first data frame to the station STA and receiving a second confirmation frame from the station STA for confirming that the station STA receives the first data frame, and the relay station forwards the second confirmation frame to the access point AP; or The data transmission between the relay station and the station STA is used to receive a second data frame from the station STA and send a third confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station has received the second data frame. The data transmission between the access point AP and the relay station is used to forward the second data frame to the access point AP and receive a fourth confirmation frame from the access point AP for confirming that the access point AP has received the second data frame. The relay station forwards the fourth confirmation frame to the station STA.

42. The relay communication method according to claim 39, It is characterized in that When the first transmission opportunity TXOP or the second transmission opportunity TXOP is shared with the relay station as a shared transmission opportunity TXOP, and the channel idleness of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP exceeds a predetermined time or the relay station sends a frame to indicate the recovery of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP, the remaining time of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP is recovered by the initiator of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP.

43. The relay communication method according to claim 39, It is characterized in that The multi-user request to send transmission opportunity sharing MU-RTS TXS trigger frame includes a user information list, wherein the user information User Info field of the user information list is in the HE variant User Info field format or the EHT variant User Info field format, and the user information User Info field includes an AID12 subfield, a resource unit allocation subfield RU Allocation, and an allocation duration Allocation Duration subfield, the AID12 subfield indicates the AID of the relay site; the resource unit allocation subfield RU Allocation subfield indicates the resource unit RU in the TXOP shared by the access point AP to the relay site; and the allocation duration Allocation Duration subfield indicates the duration of the TXOP shared by the access point AP to the relay site.

44. The relay communication method according to claim 38, It is characterized in that The relay station sends a transmission opportunity sharing MU-RTS TXS trigger frame or a TXOP sharing frame based on a multi-user request sent by the station STA, and shares at least a portion of the time of the third transmission opportunity TXOP or the fourth transmission opportunity TXOP obtained by the station STA.

45. The relay communication method according to claim 44, It is characterized in that After receiving the multi-user request to send transmission opportunity sharing MU-RTS TXS trigger frame, the relay station transmits permission to send CTS to the station STA, and uses at least a part of the shared time for transmission after a short frame interval SIFS.

46. ​​The relay communication method according to claim 44, It is characterized in that The data transmission between the station STA and the relay station is used for receiving a third data frame from the station STA and sending a fifth confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station receives the third data frame, the data transmission between the relay station and the access point AP is used for forwarding the third data frame to the access point AP and receiving a sixth confirmation frame from the access point AP for confirming that the access point AP receives the third data frame, and the relay station forwards the sixth confirmation frame to the station STA; or The data transmission between the relay station and the access point AP is used to receive a fourth data frame from the access point AP and send a seventh confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station has received the fourth data frame. The data transmission between the station STA and the relay station is used to forward the fourth data frame to the station STA and receive an eighth confirmation frame from the station STA for confirming that the station STA has received the fourth data frame. The relay station forwards the eighth confirmation frame to the access point AP.

47. The relay communication method according to claim 44, It is characterized in that When the fourth transmission opportunity TXOP or the fifth transmission opportunity TXOP is shared with the relay station as a shared transmission opportunity TXOP, and the channel idleness of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP exceeds a predetermined time or the relay station sends a frame to indicate the recovery of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP, the remaining time of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP is recovered by the initiator of the shared transmission opportunity TXOP.

48. The relay communication method according to claim 44, It is characterized in that The multi-user request to send transmission opportunity sharing MU-RTS TXS trigger frame includes a user information list, the user information User Info field of the user information list is in the HE variant user information HE variant User Info field format or the EHT variant user information HE variant User Info field format, and includes an AID12 subfield, a resource unit allocation subfield RU Allocation, and an allocation duration Allocation Duration subfield, wherein the AID12 subfield indicates the AID of the relay site; the resource unit allocation subfield RU Allocation indicates the resource unit RU in the TXOP shared by the site STA to the relay site; and the allocation duration Allocation Duration subfield indicates the duration of the TXOP shared by the site STA to the relay site.

49. The relay communication method according to claim 44, It is characterized in that The TXOP sharing frame includes a user information list, wherein the user information User Info field of the user information list is in the HE variant User Info field format or the EHT variant User Info field format, and includes an AID12 subfield, a resource unit allocation subfield RU Allocation, and an allocation duration Allocation Duration subfield, wherein the AID12 subfield indicates the AID of the relay site; the resource unit allocation subfield RU Allocation indicates the resource unit RU in the TXOP shared by the site STA to the relay site; and the allocation duration Allocation Duration subfield indicates the duration of the TXOP shared by the site STA to the relay site.

50. A relay communication method, executed in a station of a wireless local area network as a relay station, It is characterized in that The relay station with multi-link capability performs multi-link relay or forwarding operation, wherein the first link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point AP or transmit a frame to the access point AP, and the second link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point station STA or transmit a frame to the station STA, the relay station is a multi-link device MLD with the ability to simultaneously transmit and receive STR on multiple links, and the method further includes: receiving a first data frame sent from the access point AP through the first link; and A first simultaneous transmission is performed according to the STR capability, wherein the first simultaneous transmission includes transmitting a first confirmation frame for indicating confirmation of receiving the first data frame to the access point AP through the first link, and forwarding the first data frame to the station STA through the second link.

51. The relay communication method according to claim 50, It is characterized in that The method further comprises: Performing a first simultaneous reception according to the STR capability, the first simultaneous reception comprising: receiving a second data frame sent from the access point AP through the first link, and receiving a second confirmation frame sent from the station STA through the second link for indicating confirmation of receiving the first data frame; and A second simultaneous transmission is performed according to the STR capability, wherein the second simultaneous transmission includes: transmitting a second confirmation frame for indicating confirmation of receiving the first data frame to the access point AP through the first link, and forwarding the second data frame to the station STA through the second link.

52. The relay communication method according to claim 51, It is characterized in that The method further comprises: Receiving, through the first link or the second link, a third confirmation frame sent from the station STA and used to indicate confirmation of receiving the second data frame; and The third confirmation frame indicating confirmation of receiving the second data frame is transmitted to the access point AP through the first link or the second link.

53. A relay communication method, executed in a station of a wireless local area network as a relay station, in, The relay station with multi-link capability performs multi-link relay or forwarding operation, wherein the first link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point AP or transmit a frame to the access point AP, and the second link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point station STA or transmit a frame to the station STA, characterized in that the relay station is a multi-link device MLD with non-simultaneous transmission and reception NSTR capability, and the method comprises: Performing a first simultaneous transmission according to the NSTR capability, the first simultaneous transmission comprising: transmitting a synchronization frame for maintaining synchronization / alignment of a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU to the access point AP and the station STA respectively; After a short frame interval SIFS has passed after the synchronization frame is transmitted, performing a first simultaneous reception according to the NSTR capability, wherein the first simultaneous reception includes: receiving a first data frame sent from the access point AP through the first link, and receiving a second data frame sent from the station STA through the second link; Performing a second simultaneous transmission according to the NSTR capability, the second simultaneous transmission comprising: sending a first confirmation frame for indicating confirmation of receiving the first data frame to the access point AP through the first link, and sending a second confirmation frame for indicating confirmation of receiving the second data to the station STA through the second link; A third simultaneous transmission is performed according to the NSTR capability, wherein the third simultaneous transmission includes: forwarding the second data frame sent from the station STA to the access point AP through the first link, and forwarding the first data frame sent from the access point AP to the station STA through the second link.

54. The relay communication method according to claim 53, It is characterized in that The method further comprises: Performing a second simultaneous reception according to the NSTR capability, the second simultaneous reception comprising: receiving a third confirmation frame from the access point AP through the first link for confirming that the access point AP receives the second data frame, and receiving a fourth confirmation frame from the station STA through the second link for confirming that the station STA receives the first data frame; and A fourth simultaneous transmission is performed according to the NSTR capability, wherein the fourth simultaneous transmission includes: forwarding the fourth confirmation frame sent from the station STA to the access point AP via the first link, and forwarding the third confirmation frame sent from the access point AP to the station STA via the second link.

55. The relay communication method according to claim 53, It is characterized in that There is a time interval between the first simultaneous reception and the second simultaneous transmission, and there is a time interval between the second simultaneous transmission and the third simultaneous transmission.

56. The relay communication method according to claim 53, It is characterized in that The synchronization frame is a relay request frame or a data frame, wherein the relay request frame comprises a target identification field, and the target identification field is used to indicate which destination device the relay site serves as a relay site in the current relay communication operation.

57. A relay communication method, executed in a station of a wireless local area network as a relay station, in, The relay station with multi-link capability performs a multi-link relay station / forwarding operation, wherein a first link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point AP or transmit a frame to the access point AP, and a second link in the multi-link is used to receive a frame from an access point station STA or transmit a frame to the station STA, characterized in that the relay station is a multi-link device MLD with non-simultaneous transmission and reception NSTR capability, and the method comprises: Perform downlink forwarding or uplink forwarding; Wherein, the downlink forwarding includes: receiving a first data frame from the access point AP via the first link, and transmitting a first confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station receives the first data frame to the access point AP via the first link after a first time interval; forwarding the first data frame to the station STA through the second link after a second time interval, and receiving a second confirmation frame for confirming that the station STA receives the first data frame from the station STA through the second link after a third time interval; and forwarding the second confirmation frame to the access point AP via the first link after a fourth time interval; Wherein, the uplink forwarding includes: receiving a second data frame from the station STA via the second link, and transmitting a third confirmation frame for confirming that the relay station receives the second data frame to the station STA via the second link after a fifth time interval; forwarding the second data frame to the access point AP through the first link after a sixth time interval, and receiving a fourth confirmation frame for confirming that the access point AP receives the second data frame from the access point AP through the first link after a seventh time interval; and After an eighth time interval, the fourth confirmation frame is forwarded to the station STA via the second link.

58. The relay communication method according to claim 57, It is characterized in that At least one of the first to eighth time intervals is a short frame interval SIFS or a priority frame interval PIFS.

59. A network node, It is characterized in that include: A processor configured to call and execute a computer program stored in a memory so that a device equipped with the processor executes the method of any one of claims 1 to 58.

60. A chip, It is characterized in that include: A processor configured to call and execute a computer program stored in a memory so that a device equipped with the processor executes the method of any one of claims 1 to 58.

61. A computer-readable storage medium, It is characterized in that A computer program is stored therein, wherein the computer program enables a computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 58.

62. A computer program product, It is characterized in that Comprising a computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 58.

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