Modulation and coding scheme indication method and corresponding apparatus

Abstract

Disclosed in the embodiments of the present application are a modulation and coding scheme indication method and a corresponding apparatus. The present application is applied to a wireless local area network system supporting one or multiple of IEEE 802.11ax next-generation Wi-Fi protocols, IEEE 802.11be next-generation Wi-Fi protocols (such as 802.11bn, Wi-Fi 8 and UHR), Wi-Fi AI, millimeter waves, ultra-wideband and sensing. The method comprises: generating a trigger frame, the trigger frame comprising a first field and a second field, the first field being used for indicating a first MCS, the second field comprising a first indicator and a second indicator, and when the first indicator is used for indicating unequal modulation, the second indicator being used for indicating differences respectively between the first MCS and MCSs used by spatial streams of a first device for transmitting a first PPDU; and transmitting the trigger frame. By means of less bits, a plurality of spatial streams use different MCSs.

Description

Modulation and coding scheme indication method and corresponding apparatus

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202410710045.1, filed on May 31, 2024, with the State Intellectual Property Office of China, entitled "Modulation and coding scheme indication method and corresponding apparatus", the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication, and in particular to a modulation and coding scheme indication method and corresponding apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0003] Wireless local area network (WLAN) has gone through 802.11a / b / g standard, 802.11n standard, 802.11ac standard, 802.11ax standard, and 802.11be standard which is still under discussion. The 802.11a / b / g standard only supports single spatial stream and does not support multiple input multiple output transmission (MIMO). The 802.11n standard supports MIMO with a maximum of 4 space-time streams, and each space-time stream can adopt different modulation and coding scheme (MCS) to adapt to the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of different space-time streams, which is called unequal modulation (UEQM). Space-time stream takes into account different spatial streams and space-time block coding (STBC) in time dimension. When the sending end does not use STBC, space-time stream can also be called spatial stream.

[0004] Nowadays, more and more terminals use 2 antennas or even 4 antennas. Access point (AP) and non-AP station (non-AP STA) can use more antennas for MIMO communication with more spatial streams, and unequal modulation becomes more important. Compared with the 802.11n standard, the current standard considers more spatial stream numbers and more MCSs.

[0005] The way adopted by the 802.11n standard to indicate the spatial stream and its corresponding MCS is suitable for the case of less spatial streams and less MCS types. When the maximum spatial stream can be 8 or more spatial streams, and the maximum modulation can be 4096QAM or more, the signaling overhead of this way will increase exponentially. Therefore, it is necessary to study how to realize different MCSs for multiple spatial streams by fewer bits (overhead). SUMMARY

[0006] Embodiments of the present application disclose a modulation and coding scheme indication method and a corresponding device, which can realize different MCSs for multiple spatial streams by fewer bits (overhead).

[0007] In a first aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a modulation and coding scheme indication method, which is applied to a first device, and is implemented by the first device or a component at the side of the first device. Hereinafter, the implementation by the first device is taken as an example for description. The method comprises: generating, by the first device, a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger the first device to send a first physical protocol data unit (PPDU), the trigger frame comprising a first field and a second field, the first field being used to indicate a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS), and the second field comprising a first indication and a second indication; when the first indication is used to indicate unbalanced modulation, the second indication is used to indicate differences between MCSs respectively used by each spatial stream of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS; when the first indication is used to indicate balanced modulation, the second indication is used to indicate a number of spatial streams or a starting spatial stream used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, the number of spatial streams being a number of spatial streams used by the first device for sending the first PPDU; or, the second field comprises m first bits, m being an integer greater than 1; when a first index represented by a value of the m first bits is located in a first index range, the first index is used to indicate the differences between the MCSs respectively used by each spatial stream of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS; when a second index represented by the value of the m first bits is located in a second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams or the starting spatial stream used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, the first index range and the second index range being different, and the number of spatial streams being the number of spatial streams used by the first device for sending the first PPDU; and sending the trigger frame.

[0008] In the embodiments of the present application, when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation (i.e., when the trigger frame indicates that each spatial stream of the first device uses non-equal modulation), the second indication is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs used by each spatial stream of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS; compared with directly indicating the MCSs used by each spatial stream of the first device for sending the first PPDU, a plurality of spatial streams can use different MCSs by using fewer bits (overhead). Similarly, when the first index indicated by the values of the m first bits is located in the first index range, the first index is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs used by each spatial stream of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS; a plurality of spatial streams can also use different MCSs by using fewer bits (overhead).

[0009] In a second aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a modulation and coding strategy indication method, which is applied to a first device, and is implemented by the first device or a component at the side of the first device. Hereinafter, the implementation by the first device is taken as an example for description. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger the first device to send a first PPDU, the trigger frame comprising a first field and a second field, the first field being used to indicate a first MCS; the second field comprising a first indication and a second indication; when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs used by each spatial stream of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS; when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams or the starting spatial stream used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, the number of spatial streams being the number of spatial streams used by the first device for sending the first PPDU; or, the second field comprises m first bits, m being an integer greater than 1; when the first index indicated by the values of the m first bits is located in the first index range, the first index is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs used by each spatial stream of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS; when the second index indicated by the values of the m first bits is located in the second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams or the starting spatial stream used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, the first index range and the second index range being different, the number of spatial streams being the number of spatial streams used by the first device for sending the first PPDU; and sending the first PPDU on the spatial streams of the first device in response to the trigger frame.

[0010] In the embodiments of the application, when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation (i.e., when the trigger frame indicates that the spatial streams of the first device use non-equal modulation), the second indication is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs used by the spatial streams of the first device for transmitting the first PPDU and the first MCS respectively; compared with directly indicating the MCSs used by the spatial streams of the first device for transmitting the first PPDU respectively, a plurality of spatial streams can use different MCSs by using fewer bits (overhead). Similarly, when the first index represented by the values of the m first bits is located in the first index range, the first index is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs used by the spatial streams of the first device for transmitting the first PPDU and the first MCS respectively; a plurality of spatial streams can also use different MCSs by using fewer bits (overhead).

[0011] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication is also used to indicate the number of spatial streams, so that the bit overhead can be saved; or, when the first index represented by the values of the m first bits is located in the first index range, the first index is also used to indicate the number of spatial streams, so that the bit overhead can be saved.

[0012] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second field includes the first indication and the second indication, when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, the second field further includes a third indication, and the third indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams, so that the first device can support transmitting a PPDU by using multiple user-multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) with one or more other devices; or, the second field includes the m first bits, when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, and the second field further includes n second bits, the values of the n second bits represent the number of spatial streams, and n is an integer greater than 0, so that the first device can support transmitting a PPDU by using MU-MIMO with one or more other devices.

[0013] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second field includes a first indication and a second indication, the second field is included in a first user information field in the trigger frame, the first indication includes bits of B29 of the first user information field, and the second indication includes bits of B11, B20, B25, B26-B28, B30-B31 of the first user information field or part or all of bits of B5 in user information in the first user information field based on a type of the trigger frame, and the first device further extends the difference between the MCSs of the spatial streams of the first PPDU and the first MCS by using reserved bits in the trigger frame, so as to introduce more UEQM combinations and improve flexibility and throughput of link adaptation; or the second field includes m first bits, the second field is included in a first user information field in the trigger frame, and the m first bits include B11, B20, B25, B26-B29, B30-B31 of the first user information field or part or all of bits of B5 in user information in the first user information field based on the type of the trigger frame, so that the first device further extends the difference between the MCSs of the spatial streams of the first PPDU and the first MCS by using the reserved bits in the trigger frame in the 802.11bn standard before the 802.11be standard, so as to introduce more UEQM combinations and improve flexibility and throughput of link adaptation. In addition, B29 of the user information field is the most significant bit (MSB) of a starting spatial stream in the 802.11be standard, and the most significant bit is always 0 because the 802.11be standard only introduces 1-8 streams. The bit can be set to 1 in the trigger frame to introduce a new feature for indicating non-uniform modulation, and the bit is set to 0 for indicating uniform modulation. The indication logic can be better compatible with the logic of the previous standard.

[0014] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second field includes a first indication and a second indication, the second field is B26-B31 of a first user information field included in a trigger frame, the second indication includes bits of B26-B28 of the first user information field, and the third indication includes bits of B30-B31 of the first user information field, the trigger frame is further modified based on the 802.11ax and the 802.11be, and can be compatible with the logic of the previous standard; or the second field includes m first bits and n second bits, the m first bits are B26-B29 of a first user information field included in a trigger frame, and the n second bits are B30-B31 of the first user information field.

[0015] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second field includes the first indication and the second indication, the second field further includes a fourth indication, the fourth indication is used to indicate a starting spatial stream, and the second indication is used to indicate a number of spatial streams when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, so that the first device can support MU-MIMO transmission of the PPDU with one or more other devices; or the second field includes m first bits, the second field further includes a fourth indication, the fourth indication is used to indicate a starting spatial stream, and the second indication is used to indicate a number of spatial streams, so that the first device can support MU-MIMO transmission of the PPDU with one or more other devices.

[0016] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second field includes the first indication and the second indication, the second field is included in a first user information field in the trigger frame, the first indication includes B29 of the first user information field, and the second indication includes part or all of B11, B20, B25, B30-B31 of the first user information field or B5 in user information based on a type of the trigger frame in the first user information field, so that the difference between the MCS used by each spatial stream of the first PPDU sent by the first device and the first MCS can be further expanded by using the reserved bits in the trigger frame in the 802.11bn standard before, more UEQM combinations can be introduced, and flexibility and throughput of link adaptation can be improved; or the second field includes m first bits, the first indication includes B29 of the first user information field, the second field is included in a first user information field in the trigger frame, and the m first bits include part or all of B11, B20, B25, B29-B31 of the first user information field or B5 in user information based on a type of the trigger frame in the first user information field, so that the difference between the MCS used by each spatial stream of the first PPDU sent by the first device and the first MCS can be further expanded by using the reserved bits in the trigger frame in the 802.11bn standard before, more UEQM combinations can be introduced, and flexibility and throughput of link adaptation can be improved.

[0017] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second field includes the first indication, the second indication, and a fourth indication, the second field is B26 to B31 of a first user information field included in the trigger frame, the second indication includes B30 to B31 of the first user information field, and the fourth indication includes B26 to B28 of the first user information field. The trigger frame is further modified based on the 802.11ax and 802.11be trigger frame, and can be compatible with the logic of the previous standards. Alternatively, the second field includes m first bits and the fourth indication, the m first bits are B29 to B31 of the first user information field included in the trigger frame, and the fourth indication includes B26 to B28 of the first user information field. The trigger frame is further modified based on the 802.11ax and 802.11be trigger frame, and can be compatible with the logic of the previous standards.

[0018] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the trigger frame further includes a third field, the third field is used to indicate that the resource unit allocated to the first device is a distributed resource unit (DRU), and the second field further includes a fifth indication, the fifth indication is used to indicate the cyclic shift diversity (CSD) to be used by each spatial stream of the first PPDU transmitted by the first device. When the first indication is used to indicate the equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams. In this way, the trigger frame can be used to trigger the first device to transmit the PPDU for the EQM or UEQM transmission through the spatial stream supported by the RRU, and can also be used to trigger the first device to transmit the PPDU for the EQM or UEQM transmission through the spatial stream supported by the DRU. In other words, the trigger frame supports the first device to transmit the PPDU for the EQM or UEQM transmission through the spatial stream supported by the RRU, and also supports the first device to transmit the PPDU for the EQM or UEQM transmission through the spatial stream supported by the DRU.

[0019] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second field includes a first indication and a second indication, the second field is included in a first user information field in the trigger frame, the first indication includes bits of B29 of the first user information field, and the second indication includes bits of B11, B20, B25, B30-B31 of the first user information field or part or all of bits of B5 in user information in the first user information field based on a type of the trigger frame, so that the reserved bits in the trigger frame in the 802.11bn standard before the first aspect or the second aspect are used to further expand the difference between the MCSs of the spatial streams of the first PPDU and the first MCS, so as to introduce more UEQM combinations, thereby improving flexibility and throughput of link adaptation; or the second field includes m first bits, the second field is included in the first user information field in the trigger frame, and the m first bits include B11, B20, B25, B29-B31 of the first user information field or part or all of bits of B5 in user information in the first user information field based on the type of the trigger frame, so that the reserved bits in the trigger frame in the 802.11bn standard before the first aspect or the second aspect are used to further expand the difference between the MCSs of the spatial streams of the first PPDU and the first MCS, so as to introduce more UEQM combinations, thereby improving flexibility and throughput of link adaptation.

[0020] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second field includes a first indication, a second indication, and a fifth indication, the second field is B26-B31 of the first user information field in the trigger frame, the second indication includes bits of B30 or B30-B31 of the first user information field, and the fifth indication includes bits of B26-B28 of the first user information field, the trigger frame is further modified based on the trigger frame in the 802.11ax and the 802.11be, and can be compatible with the logic of the previous standard; or the second field includes m first bits and the fifth indication, the m first bits are B30 or B30-B31 of the first user information field in the trigger frame, and the fifth indication is B26-B28 of the first user information field, the trigger frame is further modified based on the trigger frame in the 802.11ax and the 802.11be, and can be compatible with the logic of the previous standard.

[0021] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which has functions of implementing the behaviors in the method embodiments of the first aspect. The communication apparatus can be a communication device, or a component (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) of the communication device, or a logic module or software capable of implementing the functions of the whole or part of the communication device. The functions of the communication apparatus can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions. In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus includes a transceiver module and a processing module, where the processing module is configured to generate a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger a first device to send a first PPDU, the trigger frame including a first field and a second field, the first field being used to indicate a first MCS, the second field including a first indication and a second indication, when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate differences between MCSs respectively used by spatial streams of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS, when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate a number of spatial streams or a starting spatial stream used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, the number of spatial streams being a number of spatial streams used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, or the second field includes m first bits, m being an integer greater than 1, when a first index represented by values of the m first bits is located in a first index range, the first index is used to indicate the differences between the MCSs respectively used by the spatial streams of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS, when a second index represented by values of the m first bits is located in a second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams or the starting spatial stream used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, the first index range and the second index range are different, and the number of spatial streams is the number of spatial streams used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, and the transceiver module is configured to send the trigger frame.

[0022] Possible implementation manners of the communication apparatus of the third aspect can refer to the various possible implementation manners of the first aspect.

[0023] The technical effects brought by the various possible implementation manners of the third aspect can refer to the introduction of the technical effects of the first aspect or the various possible implementation manners of the first aspect.

[0024] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which has functions to implement the behaviors in the method embodiments of the second aspect. The communication apparatus can be a communication device, or a component (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) of the communication device, or a logic module or software that can implement the functions of the whole or part of the communication device. The functions of the communication apparatus can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions. In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus includes a transceiver module and a processing module, where: the transceiver module is configured to receive a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger a first device to send a first PPDU, the trigger frame including a first field and a second field, the first field being used to indicate a first MCS, and the second field including a first indication and a second indication; when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate differences between MCSs respectively used by spatial streams of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS; when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate a number of spatial streams or a starting spatial stream used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, the number of spatial streams being a number of spatial streams used by the first device for sending the first PPDU; or the second field includes m first bits, m being an integer greater than 1; when a first index represented by values of the m first bits is located in a first index range, the first index is used to indicate the differences between the MCSs respectively used by the spatial streams of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS; when a second index represented by values of the m first bits is located in a second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams or the starting spatial stream used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, the first index range and the second index range being different, and the number of spatial streams being the number of spatial streams used by the first device for sending the first PPDU; the processing module is configured to parse the trigger frame; and the transceiver module is further configured to send, in response to the trigger frame, the first PPDU on the spatial streams of the first device.

[0025] Possible implementation manners of the communication apparatus of the fourth aspect can refer to the various possible implementation manners of the second aspect.

[0026] The technical effects brought by the various possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect can refer to the introduction of the technical effects of the second aspect or the various possible implementation manners of the second aspect.

[0027] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides another communication apparatus, which includes one or more processors configured to process data and / or signaling, so that the method in any one of the above first aspect to second aspect is implemented.

[0028] Optionally, the communication apparatus further comprises a memory, which stores a computer program or instructions, when the computer program or instructions are executed by the processor, the communication apparatus executes the method of the first aspect or the second aspect. For example, the communication apparatus can be a chip, the processor can be a processing unit in the chip, and the memory can be a random access memory or a cache in the chip.

[0029] In the embodiments of the present application, in the process of executing the above method, the process of sending information (or signal) in the above method can be understood as the process of outputting information based on the computer program or instructions of the processor. When outputting the information, the processor outputs the information to the transceiver for transmission by the transceiver. After the information is output by the processor, it can also be processed further and then reach the transceiver. Similarly, when the processor receives the input information, the transceiver receives the information and inputs it to the processor. Furthermore, after the transceiver receives the information, the information can be processed further and then input to the processor.

[0030] For the sending and / or receiving operations of the processor, if there is no special description, or if it does not conflict with the actual role or inherent logic in the related description, it can be generally understood as output based on the computer program or instructions of the processor.

[0031] In the implementation process, the processor can be a processor specially used for executing the method, or a processor executing the computer program or instructions in the memory to execute the method, such as a general processor. For example, the processor can also be used to execute the program stored in the memory, when the program is executed, the communication apparatus executes the method shown in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

[0032] In a possible implementation manner, the memory is located outside the communication apparatus. In a possible implementation manner, the memory is located inside the communication apparatus.

[0033] In a possible implementation manner, the processor and the memory can also be integrated into one device, that is, the processor and the memory can also be integrated together.

[0034] In a possible implementation manner, the communication apparatus further comprises a transceiver, which is used for receiving signals or transmitting signals, etc.

[0035] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides another communication apparatus, which comprises a processing circuit and an interface circuit, the interface circuit is used for obtaining data or outputting data; the processing circuit is used for executing the method of any one of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0036] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, wherein a computer program is stored in the computer readable storage medium, and the computer program, when executed, causes a computer to perform the method of any one of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0037] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, comprising a computer program, which, when executed, causes a computer to perform the method of any one of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0038] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a chip, comprising a communication interface and a processor; the communication interface is configured to transceive signals of the chip; the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instructions, so that the chip performs the method of any one of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0039] In a tenth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication system, comprising the communication device of the third aspect or any possible implementation manner of the third aspect, and the communication device of the fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0040] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] FIG. 2 is an example of a flow of a triggered frame based scheduled uplink transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] FIG. 3 is an interaction flow diagram of a modulation and coding strategy indication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] FIG. 4 is an example of a format of a triggered frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] FIG. 5A shows examples of two spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode fields;

[0045] FIG. 5B is an example of another format of a triggered frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] FIG. 6 shows examples of two spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode fields;

[0047] FIG. 7 is an example of another format of a triggered frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG. 8 shows examples of two spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode fields;

[0049] FIG. 9 is an example of another format of a triggered frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] FIG. 10 shows an example of two spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode fields;

[0051] FIG. 11 is an example of a format of another trigger frame provided by embodiments of the application;

[0052] FIG. 12 shows an example of two spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode fields;

[0053] FIG. 13 is an example of a format of another trigger frame provided by embodiments of the application;

[0054] FIG. 14 shows an example of two spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode fields;

[0055] FIG. 15 is an example of a format of another trigger frame provided by embodiments of the application;

[0056] FIG. 16 is an example of RRU / DRU and DRU discrete bandwidth indication fields provided by embodiments of the application;

[0057] FIG. 17 shows an example of two spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode fields;

[0058] FIG. 18 is an example of a format of a trigger frame provided by embodiments of the application;

[0059] FIG. 19A, FIG. 19B, and FIG. 19C are examples of a format of a trigger frame provided by embodiments of the application;

[0060] FIG. 20 is an example of a format of another trigger frame provided by embodiments of the application;

[0061] FIG. 21 is an example of a format of another trigger frame provided by embodiments of the application;

[0062] FIG. 22 is an example of a format of another trigger frame provided by embodiments of the application;

[0063] FIG. 23 is an example of a format of another trigger frame provided by embodiments of the application;

[0064] FIG. 24 is an example of a format of another trigger frame provided by embodiments of the application;

[0065] FIG. 25 is a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus 2500 provided by embodiments of the application;

[0066] FIG. 26 is a structural schematic diagram of another communication apparatus 260 provided by embodiments of the application;

[0067] FIG. 27 is a structural schematic diagram of another communication apparatus 270 provided by embodiments of the application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0068] The terms "first", "second", and various numbered designations (e.g., "#1", "#2", etc.) and the like in the specification, claims and drawings of this application are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the application described herein are, for example, capable of use in either order. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. The use of the terms "including", "comprising" and "having" containing the term "one" or "some" are used herein to mean one, some, or any number of steps / combinations of steps, elements, or combinations of elements as the case can be, and that there are no limitations resulting therefrom. Processes, methods, systems, products, or apparatuses, etc. including, but not limited to, a series of steps or elements, can not necessarily be limited to the order in which the steps or elements are presented herein.

[0069] Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearances of the phrase that in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are they necessarily mutually exclusive of other embodiments. It is understood that embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments in ways not specifically stated herein. Some steps of embodiments described herein can be combined as a separate embodiment. In this application, the naming of messages (frames) is only for distinguishing different messages (frames), and should not be understood as a limitation. That is, the name of any message or frame in this application can be replaced by other names, and this application is not limited.

[0070] The terminology used in the description herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used in this description and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that the term "and / or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. For example, the phrase "A and / or B" can refer to only A, only B, or both A and B. The term "multiple" as used herein means two or more. The character " / " in the literal description of this application generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after it.

[0071] It should be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, "A corresponds to B" means that A and B have a corresponding relationship, and B can be determined according to A. It should also be understood that determining (or generating) B according to (or based on) A does not mean that B is determined (or generated) only according to (or based on) A, but B can also be determined (or generated) according to (or based on) A and / or other information.

[0072] It should be understood that, in the present application, the indication includes direct indication (also known as explicit indication) and implicit indication. Among them, the direct indication of information A means that information A is included; the implicit indication of information A means that information A is indicated by the corresponding relationship between information A and information B and the direct indication of information B. Wherein, the corresponding relationship between information A and information B can be pre-defined, pre-stored, pre-burned or pre-configured.

[0073] It should be understood that, in the present application, information C is used for the determination of information D, which includes that information D is determined based on information C only, and also includes that information D is determined based on information C and other information. In addition, information C for the determination of information D can also be determined indirectly, such as the case that information D is determined based on information E, and information E is determined based on information C.

[0074] In the embodiments of the present application, the words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design scheme described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or having more advantages than other embodiments or design schemes. Rather, the words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used in the sense of presenting related concepts in a concrete manner.

[0075] In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, "network element A sends information A to network element B" can be understood as the destination of the information A or the intermediate network element in the transmission path between the destination is network element B, which can include direct or indirect sending of information to network element B. "Network element B receives information A from network element A" can be understood as the source of the information A or the intermediate network element in the transmission path between the source is network element A, which can include direct or indirect receiving of information from network element A. The information can be processed as necessary between the source and the destination of the information sending, such as format change, etc., but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in the present application can be understood similarly, which will not be described here.

[0076] In the drawings of the embodiments of the present application related to message (frame) structure, some examples of the length of the field in the message are given. It should be understood that the length of the field shown in the drawings of the embodiments of the present application is only an example, and in actual application, the length of any field can be changed. In the drawings of the embodiments of the present application related to message (frame) structure, the positions of the fields are not limited.

[0077] Some of the drawings related to message structure in the embodiments of the present application give examples of the names of the fields in the messages. It should be understood that the names of the fields shown in the drawings of the embodiments of the present application are only examples, and in actual applications, the names of any of the fields can be changed.

[0078] Some of the drawings related to message structure in the embodiments of the present application give examples of the names of the fields in the messages. It should be understood that the names of the fields shown in the drawings of the embodiments of the present application are only examples, and in actual applications, the names of any of the fields can be changed. If the length of a field is variable, it means that the length of the field is not determined, and in actual design, the specific length of the field can be indicated by other indication information, or the length of the field can be negotiated in advance by the transmitting end and the receiving end, or the length of the field is predefined, or the receiving end can determine the length of the field based on other auxiliary information when receiving the message carrying the field, and parse the message. In the present application, the determination manner of the specific length of the field with variable length is not limited. In the following, repeated description will not be made for the length of the variable length field involved in the message.

[0079] As described in the background section, currently, it is needed to study how to implement different MCS for multiple spatial streams by using fewer bits (overhead). The present application provides technical solutions for implementing different MCS for multiple spatial streams by using fewer bits. The following first introduces the communication system to which the technical solutions provided by the present application are applicable.

[0080] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, such as Wi-Fi and the like. The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applicable to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series of protocols (or standards), for example, the 802.11be protocol, the 802.11bn protocol (or Wi-Fi 8, also referred to as ultra high reliability (UHR) or ultra high reliability and throughput (UHRT), and the like), or a next-generation protocol of the 802.11bn protocol or a protocol supporting ambient power (AMP), and the like, which are not listed one by one. The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to a wireless personal area network (WPAN) based on millimeter wave (MMW) and ultra wideband (UWB) technology, and the like. The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applicable to the IEEE 802.15 series of protocols, for example, the 802.15.4a protocol, the 802.15.4z protocol or the 802.15.4ab protocol, or a future generation UWB WPAN protocol, and the like, which are not listed one by one. The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to a spark link or nearlink standard protocol. The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to a communication system, for example, can be an internet of things (IoT) system, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) system (X can represent any thing), a device-to-device (D2D) system, a narrow band IoT (NB-IoT) system, a long term evolution (LTE) system, a 5th-generation (5G) communication system, and a new communication system to be generated in future communication development, and the like. For example, the V2X can include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) or vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication, and the like.

[0081] The WLAN system can provide high-rate and low-latency transmission. As the WLAN application scenarios evolve, the WLAN system will be applied to more scenarios or industries, such as the Internet of Things industry, the Internet of Vehicles industry, the banking industry, enterprise offices, sports venues, exhibition halls, concert halls, hotel rooms, dormitories, hospital rooms, classrooms, supermarkets, squares, streets, production workshops, and warehouses. Of course, the devices (such as access points or stations) that support WLAN communication or sensing can be sensor nodes in smart cities (such as smart water meters, smart electricity meters, and smart air detection nodes), smart devices in smart homes (such as smart cameras, projectors, display screens, televisions, sound systems, refrigerators, washing machines, and the like), nodes in the Internet of Things, entertainment terminals (such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) wearable devices), smart devices in smart offices (such as printers, projectors, amplifiers, sound systems, and the like), Internet of Vehicles devices in the Internet of Vehicles, infrastructure in daily life scenarios (such as vending machines, self-service navigation stations in supermarkets, self-service checkout devices, and self-service ordering machines), and devices in large sports and music venues.

[0082] Although the embodiments of the present application mainly take WLAN as an example, especially the network applying to the IEEE 802.11 series standards. The various aspects involved in the embodiments of the present application can be extended to other networks using various standards or protocols. For example, Bluetooth, high performance radio LAN (HIPERLAN) (a wireless standard similar to the IEEE 802.11 standard), and wide area network (WAN) or other now known or later developed networks.

[0083] In a possible implementation, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by a communication device in a communication system. For example, the communication device can be an access point (AP) or a station (STA).

[0084] The AP is a device with wireless communication function, which supports communication or sensing or energy transmission by using WLAN protocol, has the function of communication or sensing with other devices (such as non-AP STA or other access points) in the WLAN network or energy transmission, and of course, can also have the function of communication or sensing or energy transmission with other devices. Alternatively, the access point is equivalent to a bridge connecting wired and wireless networks, and the main function is to connect various wireless network clients together and then access the wireless network to the Ethernet. In the WLAN system, the access point can be referred to as an access point station (AP STA). The device with wireless communication function can be a whole device, or a chip, processing system or functional module installed in the whole device, and the device installed with the chip or processing system or functional module can realize the method and function of the embodiments of the present application under the control of the chip or processing system or functional module. The AP in the embodiments of the present application is a device providing services for non-AP STA, which can support 802.11 series protocol or subsequent protocol, etc. For example, the access point can be an access point for terminals (such as mobile phones) to enter wired (or wireless) networks, mainly deployed in homes, buildings and parks, with a typical coverage radius of tens of meters to hundreds of meters, and of course, can also be deployed outdoors. For another example, the AP can be a communication server, a router, a switch, a network bridge and the like. The AP can include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations and the like. Of course, the AP can also be a chip or processing system or module in the above various forms of devices, so as to realize the method and function of the embodiments of the present application.

[0085] The STA is a device with wireless communication function, which supports communication or sensing or energy transmission using WLAN protocol, and has the ability to communicate or sense or energy transmission with other non-AP STAs or access points in the WLAN network. In the WLAN system, the station can be referred to as a non-access point station (non-AP STA). For example, the STA is any user communication device that allows a user to communicate or sense or energy transmission with an AP and then communicate with a WLAN. The device with wireless communication function can be a complete device, or a chip or processing system or functional module installed in the complete device. The device installed with the chip or processing system or functional module can realize the method and function of the embodiments of the present application under the control of the chip or processing system or functional module. For example, the STA can be a wireless communication chip, a wireless sensor or a wireless communication terminal, and can also be referred to as a user. For another example, the STA can be a mobile phone supporting Wi-Fi communication function, a tablet computer supporting Wi-Fi communication function, a set-top box supporting Wi-Fi communication function, a smart television supporting Wi-Fi communication function, a smart wearable device supporting Wi-Fi communication function, a vehicle-mounted communication device supporting Wi-Fi communication function, and a computer supporting Wi-Fi communication function. Of course, the STA can also be a chip or processing system or module in the above various forms of devices, thereby realizing the method and function of the embodiments of the present application.

[0086] For example, the communication system to which the method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied can include an access point and a station. For example, the embodiments of the present application can be applied to the scenario of communication or sensing between an AP and a STA, between an AP and an AP, or between a STA and a STA in a WLAN, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application. Optionally, the AP can communicate or sense with a single STA, or the AP can simultaneously communicate or sense with multiple STAs. Specifically, the communication or sensing between the AP and the multiple STAs can be divided into downlink transmission in which the AP simultaneously sends signals to multiple STAs, and uplink transmission in which multiple STAs send signals to the AP. The communication or sensing between the AP and the STA, between the AP and the AP, and between the STA and the STA can support a WLAN communication protocol, which can include IEEE 802.11 series of protocols, such as 802.11bn protocol, and of course also applies to protocols after 802.11bn.

[0087] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication system can include one or more APs and one or more STAs. Two access points, e.g., AP1 and AP2, and three stations, e.g., STA1, STA2 and STA3, are shown in FIG. 1. As an example, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to data communication or sensing or energy transfer between an AP and one or more STAs, e.g., the communication or sensing or energy transfer between AP1 and STA1 shown in FIG. 1, or the communication or sensing or energy transfer between AP1 and STA1 and STA2 shown in FIG. 1. As another example, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to communication between APs, e.g., the communication or sensing or energy transfer between AP1 and AP2 shown in FIG. 1. As yet another example, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to communication or sensing or energy transfer between STAs, e.g., the communication or sensing or energy transfer between STA2 and STA3 shown in FIG. 1.

[0088] The STA is a mobile phone and the AP is a router in FIG. 1 as an example, which does not limit the types of AP and STA in the embodiments of the present application. Meanwhile, the number of APs and STAs shown in FIG. 1 is only an example, and the number of APs or STAs can be more or less in specific implementation, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0089] From different perspectives of transmitting and receiving OFDM symbols, the first communication device shown below can be understood as a communication device for transmitting OFDM symbols, and the second communication device can be understood as a communication device for receiving OFDM symbols. Alternatively, the first communication device can also be referred to as a transmitting end, and the second communication device can also be referred to as a receiving end.

[0090] From the perspective of different devices, as an example, the first communication device and the second communication device can be Wi-Fi chips or functional modules or processing systems, etc. arranged in different Wi-Fi devices. As another example, the first communication device can be an AP, and the second communication device can be a non-AP STA. As yet another example, the first communication device and the second communication device can both be non-AP STAs or both be APs. As yet another example, the first communication device can be a non-AP STA, and the second communication device can be an AP. As yet another example, at least one of the first communication device and the second communication device can be a multi-link device (MLD), etc. The embodiments of the present application are not listed one by one. For example, the MLD refers to a device that has multiple stations (such as APs or non-AP STAs) working on different frequency bands or channels at the same time. The multi-link device includes multiple affiliated stations, which can be physical stations or logical stations, and each station can work on a link or a frequency band or a channel, etc. The above-mentioned affiliated stations can be APs or non-AP STAs. The multi-link device (such as a non-AP MLD or an AP MLD) can be a communication device with wireless communication function. The communication device can be a whole machine device, or a chip or processing system or module installed in the whole machine device, etc. The device installed with the chip or processing system or module can realize the method and function of the embodiments of the present application under the control of the chip or processing system or module. The multi-link device can comply with the 802.11 series protocol to realize wireless communication, so as to realize communication with other devices. The other devices shown herein can be multi-link devices or not. The frequency band in which the multi-link device works can include but is not limited to sub 1GHz, 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz, etc. which are not listed one by one here.

[0091] The embodiments of the present application describe the method provided by the embodiments of the present application from the perspective of the first communication device and the second communication device, but the first communication device and the second communication device can also forward the signal in the process of transmitting the signal through other devices, such as through a forwarding device to forward the signal between the first communication device and the second communication device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit other devices other than the first communication device and the second communication device.

[0092] The first device shown below can be understood as a communication device for transmitting a PPDU, and the second device can be understood as a communication device for receiving a PPDU. Alternatively, the first device can also be referred to as a sending end, and the second device can also be referred to as a receiving end.

[0093] From the perspective of different devices, as an example, the first device and the second device can be Wi-Fi chips or functional modules or processing systems, etc. set in different Wi-Fi devices. As another example, the first device can be an AP, and the second device can be a non-AP STA. As yet another example, the first device and the second device can both be non-AP STAs or both be APs. As yet another example, the first device can be a non-AP STA, and the second device can be an AP. As yet another example, at least one of the first device and the second device can be a multi-link device (MLD), etc. The embodiments of the present application are not listed one by one. For example, the MLD refers to a device that has multiple stations (such as APs or non-AP STAs) working on different frequency bands or channels at the same time. The multi-link device includes multiple affiliated stations, which can be physical stations or logical stations, and each station can work on a link or a frequency band or a channel, etc. The above-mentioned affiliated stations can be APs or non-AP STAs. The multi-link device (such as a non-AP MLD or an AP MLD) can be a communication device with wireless communication function. The communication device can be a whole machine device, or a chip or processing system or module installed in the whole machine device, etc. The device installed with the chip or processing system or module can realize the method and function of the embodiments of the present application under the control of the chip or processing system or module. The multi-link device can comply with the 802.11 series protocol to realize wireless communication, so as to realize communication with other devices. The other devices shown here can be multi-link devices or not. The frequency band in which the multi-link device works can include but is not limited to sub 1GHz, 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz, etc. which are not listed one by one here.

[0094] The embodiments of the present application describe the method provided by the embodiments of the present application from the perspective of the first device and the second device, but the first device and the second device can also forward the signal in the process of transmitting the signal through other devices, such as through a forwarding device to forward the signal between the first device and the second device, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit other devices other than the first device and the second device.

[0095] The following introduces the terms and technical features related to the embodiments of the present application.

[0096] 1. Resource unit (resource unit), multiple resource unit (multiple resource unit, MRU), regular RU (regular RU, RRU), distributed resource unit (distributed resource unit, DRU)

[0097] In 802.11ax standard, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) transmission is introduced, and the whole bandwidth is divided into one or more RUs. In 802.11be standard, MRU composed of multiple RUs is further introduced. The subcarriers of these RUs are usually continuous, which are called regular RUs. The regular RU in the present application refers to the RU composed of multiple continuous subcarriers, or the regular RU is composed of two groups of continuous subcarrier groups, each group of continuous subcarrier group includes multiple continuous subcarriers, and the two groups of continuous subcarrier groups are only separated by guard subcarriers, null subcarriers, or direct current subcarriers. Of course, the regular RU can also be other names, for example, continuous RU, and “continuous RU” and “regular RU” can be used interchangeably, and the present application does not limit the name of continuous RU.

[0098] In 802.11bn standard, distributed RU (DRU) is further introduced, in which the subcarriers are discrete, which is used in indoor low-power consumption scenarios with limited frequency spectrum density to improve transmission power. The DRU in the present application includes multiple subcarriers discrete in the frequency domain, or said to include multiple subcarriers with discrete indexes (or index values), or said to include multiple subcarriers with non-continuous indexes. The multiple discrete subcarriers can be partially discrete or completely discrete. For example, the multiple discrete subcarriers can include a part of subcarriers continuous in frequency and a part of subcarriers non-continuous in frequency. For another example, the multiple discrete subcarriers can be completely non-continuous in frequency. The above-mentioned “continuous in frequency” can also be referred to as the indexes of the subcarriers being continuous, and “non-continuous in frequency” can also be referred to as the indexes of the subcarriers being non-continuous. “Distributed RU” and “DRU” or “discrete RU” can be used interchangeably in the present application. It should also be understood that the DRU mentioned in the present application refers to the RU with subcarriers discrete in the frequency domain, that is, the RU with this characteristic is referred to as distributed RU or discrete RU in the present application, but the RU with this characteristic can also have other names in practice, which is not limited in the present application. The distributed bandwidth (DBW) of a DRU refers to the bandwidth in which the DRU is distributed.

[0099] 2. Trigger-based transmission process

[0100] The trigger-based transmission procedure is usually used for uplink multi-user transmission, and can also schedule only one user for uplink transmission. Usually, a STA obtains the right to transmit by channel contention, and then performs uplink data transmission, such as channel contention based on an enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) mode. Starting from the 802.11ax standard, a scheduled uplink transmission method based on a trigger frame is introduced, and the 802.11be continues the scheduled uplink transmission method based on the trigger frame. The embodiments of the present application assume that the next generation standard continues this trigger-based scheduled uplink transmission method. FIG. 2 is an example of a scheduled uplink transmission method based on a trigger frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2, the method includes the following steps:

[0101] Step 1: The AP first sends a trigger frame, wherein the trigger frame contains resource scheduling for one or more users (stations) to send uplink data and other parameters (such as association identifier, coding and modulation strategy, etc.). The entire trigger frame can contain a common information (common info) field and a user information list (userinfo list) field, wherein the common information field contains common information that all users need to read, and the user information list field is composed of one or more user information fields, wherein the first user information field is a special user information field, the association identifier indicates 2007, and the special user information field carries some common information after the association identifier field. The first user information field is called a special user information field although it is a user information field, but carries common information. Starting from the second user information field, each user information field contains information that each user needs to read respectively. In the user information field, the association identifier 12 (AID 12, the lower 12 bits of the AID) indicates the association identifier (AID) of a certain STA, which is usually referred to as the association identifier field. The resource unit allocation subfield (RU allocation) in the user information field is combined with the primary and secondary 160 fields to indicate the specific resource unit (RU) or multiple resource unit (MRU) position allocated to the user (the user corresponding to AID 12).

[0102] Step two: After receiving the trigger frame, the STA reads the common information field and the special user information field, parses the user information field matching its own AID, and then sends an ultra-high reliability trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit (UHR TB PPDU) on the RU or MRU indicated by the resource unit allocation subfield in the user information field. UHR TB PPDU (may be named UHR PPDU) is only an example, and the STA can send other types of trigger-based TB PPDU on the RU or MRU indicated by the resource unit allocation subfield in the user information field, which is not limited in the present application.

[0103] Step three: After receiving the UHR TB PPDU sent by one or more stations, the AP replies with a multi-STA block acknowledgement frame.

[0104] FIG. 2 shows the fields included in the UHR TB PPDU. As shown in FIG. 2, the UHR PPDU includes a legacy short training field (L-STF) field, a legacy long training field (L-LTF) field, a legacy signal field A (L-SIG) field, a repeated L-SIG (RL-SIG) field, a universal SIG (U-SIG) field, an ultra-high reliability signal field (UHR-SIG) field, an ultra-high reliability short training field (UHR-STF) field, an ultra-high reliability long training field (UHR-LTF) field, a data field, and a packet extension (PE) field. Table 1 shows the meanings of the fields in the UHR PPDU.

[0105] Table 1

[0106] The technical solution provided in the application is applied to a trigger-based transmission process, which can be used for uplink multi-user transmission or uplink single-user transmission. The technical solution provided in the application adopts a trigger-based scheduling uplink transmission method. In the following, the trigger-based scheduling uplink transmission method adopted by the technical solution provided in the application is introduced by taking uplink single-user transmission as an example.

[0107] In the uplink single-user transmission process, the AP sends a trigger frame to the station, the trigger frame containing resource scheduling information for the station to send uplink data and other parameters (such as association identification, coding and modulation strategy, etc.). The resource scheduling information for sending uplink data includes information indicating the RU allocated to the station. Each RU supports multiple spatial streams, which can be used for transmission to one user (corresponding to a non-multiple user-multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) transmission mode) or multiple users (corresponding to a MU-MIMO transmission mode). Each spatial stream corresponds to an MCS. The trigger frame needs to indicate the MCS corresponding to each spatial stream supported by the RU of the station. After receiving the trigger frame, the station sends a PPDU on each spatial stream supported by the RU. Different spatial streams use the corresponding MCS.

[0108] As can be known from the above description, in the trigger-based transmission process, the trigger frame needs to indicate the MCS corresponding to each spatial stream supported by the RU of the station. The technical solution provided in the application indicates the MCS corresponding to each spatial stream by using fewer bits (overhead), which can be applied to the trigger-based transmission process.

[0109] The modulation and coding strategy indication method provided in the application: by reasonably designing the trigger frame, allocating DRU and RRU to the station by sending the trigger frame, and indicating the MCS corresponding to each spatial stream supported by the RRU or DRU allocated to the station, there are enough bits to indicate the MCS corresponding to each spatial stream supported by the RRU or DRU allocated to the station under the condition that the number of bits is limited, and more spatial stream numbers are supported.

[0110] In a technical solution provided in the present application, the trigger frame comprises a first field and a second field, the first field is used to indicate a first MCS, and the second field comprises a first indication and a second indication; when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams used by the first device to send the first PPDU and the difference between the MCSs used by each spatial stream and the first MCS respectively; when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams or the starting spatial stream used by the first device to send the first PPDU, and the number of spatial streams is the number of spatial streams used by the first device to send the first PPDU; according to the two fields, the station can know the MCSs corresponding to each spatial stream respectively.

[0111] In another technical solution provided in the present application, the trigger frame comprises a first field and a second field, the first field is used to indicate a first MCS, and the second field comprises m first bits, m is an integer greater than 1; when a first index represented by the values of the m first bits is located in a first index range, the first index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams used by the first device to send the first PPDU and the difference between the MCSs used by each spatial stream and the first MCS respectively; when a second index represented by the values of the m first bits is located in a second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams, and the first index range and the second index range are different; according to the two fields, the station can know the MCSs corresponding to each spatial stream respectively.

[0112] The technical solution provided in the present application will be described below in combination with FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is an interaction flowchart of a modulation and coding strategy indication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3, the method comprises the following steps.

[0113] 301. The second device generates a trigger frame.

[0114] Exemplarily, the second device is one of an AP and a station, and the first device is the other one of the AP and the station. For example, the second device is the AP, and the first device is the station. For another example, the second device is the station, and the first device is the AP. For another example, the first device and the second device are both the AP or the station. The number of first devices can be one or multiple, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. The embodiment of the present application will be described taking one first device as an example. The trigger frame is used to trigger one or more devices (including the first device) to send a first PPDU for equal modulation (EQM) or non-equal modulation (UEQM) transmission, and the following will be described taking the trigger frame as an example for triggering the first device to send the first PPDU.

[0115] Fig. 4 is an example of a format of a trigger frame provided by the embodiment of the present application. As shown in Fig. 4, the trigger frame includes: frame control, duration, receive address (RD), transmit address (TD), common info, user info list field, padding, frame check sequence (FCS), the user info 2 (one user info field) in the user info list field includes: association identification 12 (AID 12) field, resource unit allocation (RU allocation) field, uplink forward error correction coding type (UL FEC coding type), UL UHR-MCS (modulation and coding strategy) field (may be referred to as MCS field), UL MCS extension field, spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM variation patterns field, uplink target received signal strength indication (UL target RSSI), primary / secondary 160 (PS 160), trigger dependent user info based on the trigger frame type. The spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM variation patterns field is the second field below, and the UL UHR-MCS field is the first field above. The meanings or roles of the partial fields in the trigger frame shown in Fig. 4 are as follows: the trigger frame type field is used to indicate the type of the trigger frame; the uplink length field is used to indicate the length in the L-SIG field in the TB PPDU; more trigger frames are used to indicate that more trigger frames will be sent subsequently; the uplink bandwidth is used to indicate the bandwidth of the TB PPDU; the UHR reserved is used to indicate the reserved value in the U-SIG field in the TB PPDU, and the spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM variation patterns field is used to determine the number of spatial streams used by the first device to send the first PPDU and the MCS used by each spatial stream. The trigger frame shown in Fig. 4 is only an example, and the meanings of the trigger frame shown in Fig. 4 can be referred to the related standards, which will not be described here. In the drawings of the present application, the numbers below each field represent the length (i.e. the number of bits contained) of the field. If the number below a certain field is written as variable length, it means that the length of the field is variable.

[0116] The trigger frame can include a first field and a second field. The first field is used to indicate the first MCS. The first MCS can be any combination of modulation and code rate. As an example, the first field is the MCS field in the trigger frame (e.g., the UL UHR-MCS field in FIG. 4), which contains bits B21-B24 of the first user info field, see FIG. 4. In this application, Bn of a field means the (n+1)th bit of the field, n is an integer greater than or equal to 0. For example, B21 of the first user info field means the 22nd bit of the first user info field from left to right, the first bit of the first user info field is B0. The second field is contained in the first user info field in the trigger frame. The second field can be named the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM variation patterns field, or other names, which are not limited in this application. QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) means quadrature amplitude modulation. In this application, QAM means modulation. As another example, the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM variation patterns field contains B26-B30, B11, B20 of the first user info field, and part or all of B5 in the user info field based on the trigger frame type.

[0117] In a possible implementation, the second field includes a first indication (which can be named as first indication information) and a second indication; when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs respectively used by the first device for the spatial streams of the first PPDU and the first MCS; when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams or the starting spatial stream used by the first device for the first PPDU, where the number of spatial streams is the number of spatial streams used by the first device for the first PPDU. When the first device and one or more other devices transmit the PPDU by using multiple user-multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO), the first device and the one or more other devices respectively use part of the spatial streams in the first spatial stream to the fth spatial stream, and the starting spatial stream used by the first device for the first PPDU refers to the spatial stream with the highest rank in the spatial streams used by the first device for the first PPDU, where different devices use different spatial streams to transmit the PPDU, and f is an integer greater than 1. Alternatively, when the first device and one or more other devices transmit the PPDU by using MU-MIMO, the starting spatial stream used by the first device for the first PPDU refers to the spatial stream from which the spatial streams used by the first device for the first PPDU start. As an example, when the first device and device #1 transmit the PPDU by using MU-MIMO, the first device and device #1 respectively use part of the spatial streams in the first spatial stream to the eighth spatial stream; if the starting spatial stream used by the first device for the first PPDU is the fifth spatial stream and the number of spatial streams is 4, the spatial streams used by the first device for the first PPDU are the fifth spatial stream to the eighth spatial stream. The first device can determine the MCSs respectively used by the first device for the spatial streams of the first PPDU according to the difference between the first MCS and the MCSs respectively used by the first device for the spatial streams of the first PPDU. Optionally, when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication is also used to indicate the number of spatial streams. That is, when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication can indicate both the number of spatial streams and the difference between the MCSs respectively used by the first device for the spatial streams of the first PPDU and the first MCS. The first indication can be named as equal modulation / non-equal modulation indication (EQM / UEQM flag) field, or other names, which are not limited in the present application. The first indication can include one or more bits, and the value (i.e., the value of binary bits) of the bit included in the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation or non-equal modulation. As an example, the first indication includes one bit, which is 0 when indicating equal modulation, and which is 1 when indicating non-equal modulation. As another example, the first indication includes one bit, which is 1 when indicating equal modulation, and which is 0 when indicating non-equal modulation.The first indication is taken as an example of an EQM / UEQM flag field containing one bit. When EQM / UEQM flag = 0, it indicates EQM; when EQM / UEQM flag = 1, it indicates UEQM.

[0118] In a possible implementation, the first field (hereinafter referred to as the MCS field) contains bits with values of 0-2 m Different values represent different indexes, each index corresponding to an MCS, i.e., a combination of a modulation mode and a code rate; wherein each value corresponds to an index, or 0-2 m Part of the values in 0-2 m are not utilized (or said to be reserved), i.e., 0-2 m Part of the values in 0-2 m do not correspond to indexes. As an example, the index of the MCS field is the same as that of the 802.11be standard, as shown in Table 2 below, containing 16 entries, wherein indexes 0 to 13 correspond to modulation modes from binary phase shift keying (BPSK) to 4096-QAM, and correspond to different code rates. Index 14 is reserved for trigger-based transmission, and index 15 is a special modulation mode, which adopts a BPSK modulation mode with double-carrier modulation.

[0119] Table 2

[0120] In a possible implementation, several new MCSs can be introduced on the basis of Table 2. As an example, the bits contained in the MCS field are extended to B21-B25, so as to extend the types of MCSs from 16 to a maximum of 32, such as one or more of the newly introduced QPSK, 2 / 3 code rate, 16-QAM, 2 / 3 code rate, 256-QAM, 2 / 3 code rate, and 16-QAM, 5 / 6 code rate. The method of extension is to use B21-B25 to indicate up to 32 MCS types, and the types of the MCS field can also be extended by other methods, which are not limited by the present application.

[0121] The second indication indicates the difference between the MCSs used by the first device for the spatial streams of the first PPDU and the first MCS. The difference between the MCSs used by the first device for the spatial streams of the first PPDU and the first MCS can be understood as follows: the second indication indicates a UE QM QAM difference pattern representing the difference between the MCSs used by the first device for the spatial streams of the first PPDU and the first MCS and the number of spatial streams (optional). The second indication can indicate any of a plurality of UE QM QAM difference patterns. As an example, the value of the bits included in the second indication represents an index corresponding to a UE QM QAM difference pattern. The plurality of UE QM QAM difference patterns can be pre-defined by a protocol, configured by the second device to the first device, or indicated by the first device to the second device, without limitation. The first device and the second device can each store a UE QM QAM difference pattern table including the plurality of UE QM QAM difference patterns and the index of each UE QM QAM difference pattern. The value of the bits included in the second indication described above can be any index (or index value) in the UE QM QAM difference pattern table. Table 3 is an example of a UE QM QAM difference pattern table.

[0122] Table 3 (UE QM QAM difference pattern - 3 bits)

[0123] As shown in Table 3, there are 8 UE QAM difference modes in total, among which 2 UE QAM difference modes are supported when the number of spatial streams is 2 (hereinafter can be referred to as mode), 3 modes are supported when the number of spatial streams is 3, and 3 modes are supported when the number of spatial streams is 4, totaling 8 modes, and the indexes correspond to 0-7 respectively. As an example, the first field is B26-B28 of the first user information field. Up to 8 modes can be selected from Table 3, and the number of bits required is exactly 3 bits of the spatial stream number in the EQM. It is assumed that the first spatial stream in Table 3 is the spatial stream with the highest signal-to-noise ratio, and the QAM of the spatial stream is the modulation mode corresponding to the basic MCS (i.e., the first MCS), for example, the basic MCS is indicated by B21-B24 or B21-B25. In addition, the code rate of each spatial stream is also indicated by the MCS field, for example, the code rate of each spatial stream is the same as the code rate corresponding to the first MCS. Further, QAM-1 means that it is one less than the QAM of the first spatial stream, for example, the first spatial stream is 4096-QAM, and the QAM-1 of the second spatial stream corresponds to 1024-QAM; the first spatial stream is 1024-QAM, and the QAM-1 of the second spatial stream corresponds to 256-QAM; the first spatial stream is 256-QAM, and the QAM-1 of the second spatial stream corresponds to 64-QAM; the first spatial stream is 64-QAM, and the QAM-1 of the second spatial stream corresponds to 16-QAM; the first spatial stream is 16-QAM, and the QAM-1 of the second spatial stream corresponds to QPSK; and the first spatial stream is QPSK, and the QAM-1 of the second spatial stream corresponds to BPSK. QAM-2 means that it is two less than the QAM of the first spatial stream, for example, the first spatial stream is 4096-QAM, and the QAM-2 of the second spatial stream corresponds to 256-QAM; the first spatial stream is 1024-QAM, and the QAM-2 of the second spatial stream corresponds to 64-QAM; the first spatial stream is 256-QAM, and the QAM-2 of the second spatial stream corresponds to 16-QAM; the first spatial stream is 64-QAM, and the QAM-2 of the second spatial stream corresponds to QPSK; the first spatial stream is 16-QAM, and the QAM-2 of the second spatial stream corresponds to BPSK. The specific case of being one less than the QAM of the first spatial stream can be set or changed according to actual needs. Similarly, the specific case of being two less than the QAM of the first spatial stream can be set or changed according to actual needs.

[0124] In addition to the modes shown in Table 3, more modes can be introduced by further expanding Table 3 based on part or all of the bits in B5 in the user information of the trigger frame type, such as B11, B20, B25, B30-B31, and the reserved bits in the user information field, for example, B11, B20, B25, B30-B31. For example, QAM-3 (i.e., three less than the QAM of the first spatial stream) is supported, more spatial stream numbers are supported, etc. Through simulation of the probability of each combination occurring under a specific channel, some preferred modes are shown in Table 4.

[0125] Table 4

[0126] QAM-3 means that it is three less than the QAM of the first spatial stream, for example, if the first spatial stream is 4096-QAM, then the second spatial stream is 64-QAM; if the first spatial stream is 1024-QAM, then the second spatial stream is 16-QAM; if the first spatial stream is 256-QAM, then the second spatial stream is 4-QAM; if the first spatial stream is 64-QAM, then the second spatial stream is QPSK. The specific case of three less than the QAM of the first spatial stream can be set or changed according to actual needs.

[0127] In a possible implementation, the second indication can also indicate the two fields separately in addition to simultaneously indicating the number of spatial streams and the UE QM QAM difference mode. As an example, there is 1 two-bit number of spatial streams (i.e., the number of spatial streams is indicated by two bits alone), and a two-bit UE QM QAM difference mode (i.e., the EQM QAM difference mode is indicated by two bits alone); the advantage of this is that the logic is simple. As an example, the bits contained in the second indication are B26-B28 of the first user information field, B11, B20, and any two of B5 in the user information field based on the trigger frame type as a whole to indicate the number of spatial streams.

[0128] In the above manner, the second field does not indicate the starting spatial stream, and it is not possible to distinguish from which spatial stream each user starts on the spatial stream, so multiple users are not supported for uplink MU-MIMO transmission. That is, when the second indication does not indicate the starting spatial stream, the trigger frame does not support multiple users for uplink MU-MIMO transmission. The following describes a scheme in which the second indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, and the trigger frame supports multiple users for uplink MU-MIMO transmission. Or, the following describes two other UEQM modes, which can simultaneously support MU-MIMO and non-MU-MIMO.

[0129] In one possible implementation, the second field includes the first indication, the second indication, and the fourth indication, the fourth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, and the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams when the first indication is used to indicate the equal modulation. As an example, the second field is B26-B31 of the first user info field contained in the trigger frame, the first indication contains B29 of the first user info field, the second indication contains B30-B31 of the first user info field, and the fourth indication contains B26-B28 of the first user info field. Table 5 is an example of a UE QM QAM difference pattern table. The bits contained in the first indication can be any reserved bits, which are not limited in the present application.

[0130] Table 5 (UE QM QAM difference pattern - 2 bits)

[0131] The bits contained in the second indication can also include B11, B20, B25, B30-B31 of the first user info field, and part or all of the bits in B5 of the trigger frame type based user info. Alternatively, the bits contained in the second indication are extended to 3 bits, and 4 bits or more bits by further extending Table 5 with B11, B20, B25, B30-B31 of the first user info field, and part or all of the bits in B5 of the trigger frame type based user info.

[0132] In a possible implementation, the second field includes m first bits, m being an integer greater than 1; when a first index indicated by the m first bits is within a first index range, the first index is used to indicate a difference between MCSs respectively used by each spatial stream of the first PPDU transmitted by the first device and the first MCS; when a second index indicated by the m first bits is within a second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams or a starting spatial stream used by the first device to transmit the first PPDU, the first index range and the second index range being different, and the number of spatial streams being a number of spatial streams used by the first device to transmit the first PPDU. That is, the m first bits can include an index (for example, the first index) within the first index range and an index (for example, the second index) within the second index range. Alternatively, the m first bits can include multiple indexes corresponding to the UEQM (that is, indexes within the first index range) and multiple indexes corresponding to the EQM (that is, indexes within the second index range) at the same time. When the second index indicated by the m first bits is within the second index range, each spatial stream used by the first device to transmit the first PPDU uses the first MCS. Optionally, when the first index indicated by the m first bits is within the first index range, the first index is also used to indicate the number of spatial streams. That is, when the first index indicated by the m first bits is within the first index range, the first index can indicate the number of spatial streams and the difference between MCSs respectively used by each spatial stream of the first PPDU transmitted by the first device and the first MCS at the same time. The first index range and the second index range can be preconfigured, set, or changed according to actual needs. As an example, m is 4, the first index range is 0-7, and the second index range is 8-15. As another example, m is 5, the first index range is 0-7, and the second index range is 8-31.

[0133] In a possible implementation, when the first indication is used to indicate the equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, and the second field further includes n second bits, a value of the n second bits indicating the number of spatial streams, n being an integer greater than 0; in this way, the trigger frame supports the first device to transmit the PPDU for the EQM transmission through the MU-MIMO and the non-MU-MIMO. In a possible implementation, the m first bits include part or all of bits in B11, B20, B25, B26-B29, B30-B31 of the first user information field or B5 in the user information based on the trigger frame type in the first user information field. As an example, the m first bits are B26 to B29 of the first user information field included in the trigger frame, and the n second bits are B30 to B31 of the first user information field. The m first bits can be extended by one or more of B11, B20, B25, or B5 in the user information based on the trigger frame type.

[0134] The first index is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs used by the first device for the spatial streams of the first PPDU and the first MCS. The difference between the MCSs used by the first device for the spatial streams of the first PPDU and the first MCS can be understood as follows: the first index is used to indicate a UE QM QAM difference pattern, which represents the difference between the MCSs used by the first device for the spatial streams of the first PPDU and the first MCS and the number of spatial streams (optional). Table 6-1 shows an example of the UE QM QAM difference pattern and the number of spatial streams (optional) corresponding to each index in the first index range, and the number of spatial streams corresponding to each index in the second index range.

[0135] Table 6-1

[0136] Referring to Table 6-1, the first index range is 8-15, and the second index range is 0-7; when the index is 0 to 7, the most significant bit (MSB) of the m first bits is 0, indicating the number of spatial streams under EQM, i.e., 1 spatial stream to 8 spatial streams; when the index is 8 to 15, the MSB of the m first bits is 1, indicating various QAM difference pattern combinations under UE QM for different numbers of spatial streams.

[0137] Table 6-2 shows an example of the UE QM QAM difference pattern and the number of spatial streams (optional) corresponding to each index in the first index range, and the starting spatial stream corresponding to each index in the second index range.

[0138] Table 6-2

[0139] In addition, the first MCS and Table 3 can be combined to form an overall table index for directly indicating the combination of each QAM, as shown in Table 7 below. This method is similar to the table of 802.11bn, but when there are more QAM types, the patterns are filtered. Table 7 corresponds to multiple first MCSs. The m first bits described above can include part or all of the bits in B11, B20, B25, B26-B29, B30-B31 of the first user information field, or B5 in the user information based on the trigger frame type in the first user information field. Similarly, the first MCS and Table 4 (or Table 5) can be combined to form an overall table index for directly indicating the combination of each QAM.

[0140] Table 7 (UE QM QAM difference pattern - 7 or 8 bits)

[0141] In one possible implementation, the number of spatial streams in the EQM mode and the table formed by table 7 can be integrated by a table index, and the cases of EQM and UEQM are included, so that only one table is needed to determine the cases of EQM and UEQM. Table 8 shows an example of the UEQM QAM difference mode and the number of spatial streams (optional) corresponding to each index in the first index range, and the number of spatial streams corresponding to each index in the second index range. In table 8, the rightmost column is the index represented by the value of the first m bits, and each index can represent the first column and the second column at the same time, where the first column is the number of spatial streams, and the second column is the description of one or more corresponding columns.

[0142] Table 8

[0143] 302、The second device sends a trigger frame.

[0144] Correspondingly, the first device receives the trigger frame. The trigger frame is used to trigger one or more devices (e.g., communication devices) to send a PPDU. For example, when the trigger frame is for single-user transmission, i.e., the trigger frame is used to trigger the first device (one device) to send a PPDU, the first device (i.e., the single user to which the trigger frame is directed) receives the trigger frame and parses the trigger frame. For example, when the trigger frame is for multi-user transmission, i.e., the trigger frame is used to trigger multiple devices (including the first device) to send a PPDU, the multiple devices (i.e., the users to which the trigger frame is directed) receive the trigger frame and parse the trigger frame. The following describes the operations performed by the first device after receiving the trigger frame.

[0145] The RUs (i.e., the RUs allocated to the first device) indicated by the resource unit allocation subfield in the trigger frame and the primary / secondary 160 MHz subfield can be DRUs or RRU. For DRUs, the ultra high reliability short training field (UHR-STF) of a certain DRU is transmitted in the RRU with the largest size corresponding to the distribution bandwidth of the DRU (242-tone RRU for 20MHz DBW and 484-tone RRU for 40MHz DBW), and the UHR-STF corresponding to each DRU or spatial stream adopts global cyclic shift diversity (CSD) to prevent unintentional beamforming. For the UHR-STF corresponding to the distribution bandwidth for DRU, the STF sequence depends on the PPDU BW. The occupied STF tones are the same as those of the largest RRU corresponding to the distribution BW within the PPDU BW. Currently, there are two methods for indicating the CSD used by a certain spatial stream of a certain user. One is explicit indication, which needs to indicate which of the several (such as 8) is used by the user through bits in the trigger frame. The other is implicit indication, which does not need to be indicated in the trigger frame, but directly obtains the corresponding CSD through the RU or MRU index of the user or the order of the user information field. Of course, a combination of the two can also be used, part of which uses explicit indication and part of which uses implicit indication. When the RUs indicated by the resource unit allocation subfield in the trigger frame and the primary / secondary 160 MHz subfield are DRUs, the trigger frame can implicitly indicate the CSD, for example, directly obtaining the corresponding CSD through the RU or MRU index of the user or the order of the user information field, or the trigger frame explicitly indicates the CSD, i.e., contains a field indicating the CSD.

[0146] In order to save the limited frame types and subtypes, and reuse the functions of the previous trigger frames as much as possible, or in order to schedule multiple generations of users (such as stations supporting different wifi standards) to send PPDU at the same time, a possible implementation is that the trigger frame of the 802.11bn standard is further modified based on the trigger frames of the 802.11ax standard and the 802.11be standard. In a possible implementation, the relevant information is used to indicate which generation of user information field of the trigger frame is. As an example, there is an HE / EHT(+) P160 field indication (such as B54) in the common field of the trigger frame, indicating whether the transmission in the main 160 MHz channel is high efficiency (HE) or EHT(+), where EHT represents extremely high throughput, and the secondary 160 MHz, if present, is by default EHT(+) transmission; the special user information field exists to indicate whether the special user information field exists, and implicitly indicates whether EHT(+) transmission exists; the physical layer version in the special user information field is indicated as UHR, indicating that the EHT(+) transmission is UHR transmission. The receiving end knows that the user information field thereof is the UHR user information field in combination with the location of the RU or MRU to which it is scheduled (main 160 or secondary 160). Here, EHT(+) indicates that it can be EHT or a standard later than EHT.

[0147] 303、In response to the trigger frame, the first device sends a first PPDU on its spatial stream.

[0148] The first PPDU sent by the first device can be triggered by the trigger frame. That is, the first device sends the first PPDU triggered by the trigger frame on its spatial stream. The first device can know the MCS used by the different spatial streams of the first device when the first device sends the first PPDU triggered by the trigger frame on its spatial stream according to the first field and the second field in the trigger frame.

[0149] The first PPDU can be a UHR TB PPDU or an IMMW PPDU. The IMMW PPDU can support the IMMW standard or a PPDU supported by a future WLAN standard. The IMMW PPDU can include a legacy short training sequence field, a legacy long training sequence field, a legacy signaling field, a legacy signaling field repetition, a general signaling field, an integrated millimeter wave signaling (IMMW-SIG) field (optional), an integrated millimeter wave short training (IMMW-STF) field, an integrated millimeter wave long training (IMMW-LTF) field, a data field, and a data packet extension (PE).

[0150] In the embodiments of the present application, when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation (i.e., when the trigger frame indicates that the spatial streams of the first device use non-equal modulation), the second indication is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs used by the spatial streams of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS, respectively. Compared with directly indicating the MCSs used by the spatial streams of the first device for sending the first PPDU, respectively, the bit overhead can be saved. Similarly, when the value of the m first bits represents a first index located in a first index range, the first index is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs used by the spatial streams of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS, respectively. The bit overhead can also be saved. The embodiments of the present application further design to expand the UE QM QAM difference mode by more bits, so that the mode supported by the link adaptation is more flexible, which helps to further improve the throughput. In addition, the trigger frame can trigger the user to send a PPDU for EQM transmission and a PPDU for UE QM transmission.

[0151] Embodiment one: the trigger frame is used to trigger one or more devices (including the first device) to send a PPDU for EQM or UE QM transmission through the spatial streams supported by the RRU. The trigger frame is further modified based on the trigger frame of the 802.11ax standard and the 802.11be standard. Some possible designs of the trigger frame are introduced below.

[0152] One possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the second field includes a first indication and a second indication, when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, and the second field further includes a third indication, the third indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams. As an example, the value of the bits contained in the third indication represents the number of spatial streams. FIG. 5A shows two examples of the two spatial stream allocation and UE QAM difference mode field (i.e., the second field described above), one corresponds to EQM, indicating that the spatial streams of the user (i.e., the first device) associated with the first user information field adopt EQM, and the other corresponds to UE QM, indicating that the spatial streams of the user associated with the first user information field adopt UE QM. As shown in FIG. 5A, when EQM / UE QM flag = 0, i.e., the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, i.e., the starting spatial stream in FIG. 5A is the second indication described above, and the third indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams, i.e., the number of spatial streams in FIG. 5A is the third indication described above; when EQM / UE QM flag = 1, i.e., the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate a UE QAM difference mode, i.e., the UE QM QAM difference mode in FIG. 5A is the second indication described above, and the second field contains one or more reserved bits, which correspond to the bits contained in the third indication described above. When EQM / UE QM flag = 0, the trigger frame supports (or is applicable to) MU-MIMO and non-MU-MIMO, i.e., supports users to perform uplink transmission in MU-MIMO and non-MU-MIMO; when EQM / UE QM flag = 1, the trigger frame only supports non-MU-MIMO. In one possible implementation, the bits contained in the first indication are B29 of the first user information field, i.e., B29 of the first user information field is used to make EQM / UE QM indication, and the bits contained in the second indication include B11, B20, B25, B26-B28, B30-B31 of the first user information field, or part or all of the bits in B5 of the user information in the first user information field based on the type of the trigger frame. The length and position of each field in the present application are not limited. As an example, the second field is B26 to B31 of the first user information field contained in the trigger frame, the bits contained in the first indication are B29 of the first user information field, the bits contained in the second indication are B26 to B28 of the first user information field, and the bits contained in the third indication are B30 to B31 of the first user information field. B29 of the user information field is the MSB of 4 bits in 802.11be standard for indicating the starting spatial stream, since 802.11be standard only introduces 1-8 streams, so the highest bit is always 0. Therefore, in the new generation standard, this bit can be set to 1 to introduce new features, which is used to indicate UE QM; the bit is set to 0, which is used to indicate EQM. The logic of such indication can be better compatible with the logic of the previous standard.Of course, the actual design can also be reversed, because the user has learned that the user information field is a UHR user information field, and thus the specific field meanings can be redesigned, as long as the length of the user information field is the same in each version, and the user information list is correctly parsed by each generation of users. FIG. 5B is an example of another format of a trigger frame provided by an embodiment of the present application. The meanings of the fields in FIG. 5B can be found in the relevant standards, and are not described again here. The format of the spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode field in the trigger frame shown in FIG. 5B is as shown in FIG. 5A.

[0153] Another possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the second field includes a first indication and a second indication, and the second field also includes a fourth indication, which is used to indicate the starting spatial stream. When the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams. FIG. 6 shows two examples of the spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode field, one corresponding to EQM, indicating that the spatial stream of the user (i.e., the first device) associated with the first user information field uses EQM, and the other corresponding to UEQM, indicating that the spatial stream of the user associated with the first user information field uses UEQM. As shown in FIG. 6, when EQM / UEQM flag = 0, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams, i.e., the number of spatial streams in FIG. 6 is the second indication described above, and the fourth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, i.e., the starting spatial stream in FIG. 6 is the fourth indication described above; when EQM / UEQM flag = 1, the second indication is used to indicate a UEQM QAM difference mode, i.e., the UEQM QAM difference mode in FIG. 6 is the second indication described above, and the fourth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream. The spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode field shown in FIG. 6 supports MU-MIMO and non-MU-MIMO, i.e., supports user transmission of PPDU through MU-MIMO and non-MU-MIMO. In one possible implementation, the bits contained in the first indication are B29 of the first user information field, and the bits contained in the second indication include B11, B20, B25, B30-B31 of the first user information field, or part or all of the bits in B5 of the user information in the first user information field based on the type of the trigger frame. As an example, the second field contains B26 to B31 of the first user information field, the bits contained in the first indication are B29 of the first user information field, the bits contained in the second indication are B30 to B31 of the first user information field, and the bits contained in the fourth indication are B26 to B28 of the first user information field. FIG. 7 is an example of another format of a trigger frame provided by an embodiment of the present application. The meanings of the fields in FIG. 7 can be found in the relevant standards, and are not described again here. The trigger frame shown in FIG. 7 is different from the trigger frame shown in FIG. 5B in that the format of the spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode field corresponds to UEQM.

[0154] Another possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the second field includes a first indication and a second indication, when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams. FIG. 8 shows an example of the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference pattern field, one corresponds to EQM, indicating that the spatial streams of the user (i.e. the first device) associated with the first user information field adopt EQM, and the other corresponds to UE QM, indicating that the spatial streams of the user associated with the first user information field adopt UE QM. As shown in FIG. 8, when EQM / UE QM flag = 0, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams, i.e. the number of spatial streams in FIG. 8 is the above-mentioned second indication; when EQM / UE QM flag = 1, the second indication is used to indicate a UE QM QAM difference pattern, i.e. the UE QM QAM difference pattern in FIG. 8 is the above-mentioned second indication. The spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference pattern field shown in FIG. 8 only supports non-MU-MIMO. In one possible implementation, the first indication includes the bit of B29 of the first user information field, and the second indication includes the bits of B11, B20, B25, B26-B28, B30-B31 of the first user information field, or part or all of the bits of B5 in the user information based on the type of the trigger frame in the first user information field. As an example, the second field includes B26-B31 of the first user information field, the first indication includes the bit of B29 of the first user information field, and the second indication includes the bits of B26-B28 of the first user information field, and the bits of the second indication can be extended by B11, B20, B25, B26-B28, B30-B31 of the first user information field, or part or all of the bits of B5 in the user information based on the type of the trigger frame in the first user information field. FIG. 9 shows an example of another format of the trigger frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. The meanings of the fields in FIG. 9 can be referred to the related standards, which are not described herein. The trigger frame shown in FIG. 9 is different from the trigger frame shown in FIG. 5B in the format of the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference pattern field.

[0155] Another possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the second field contains m first bits and n second bits, m is an integer greater than 1, and n is an integer greater than 0; when the first index indicated by the value of the m first bits is in the first index range, the first index is used to indicate the difference of the MCSs respectively used by each spatial stream of the first PPDU sent by the first device from the first MCS, and the n second bits are reserved bits; when the second index indicated by the value of the m first bits is in the second index range, the second index is used to indicate the starting spatial stream used by the first device to send the first PPDU, and the value of the n second bits indicates the number of spatial streams. The first index range and the second index range are different. When the first index indicated by the value of the m first bits is in the first index range, the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field corresponds to the UE QM; when the second index indicated by the value of the m first bits is in the first index range, the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field corresponds to the EQM. FIG. 10 shows examples of two spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode fields. As shown in FIG. 10, when the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field corresponds to the EQM, the m first bits are used to indicate the starting spatial stream, and the n second bits are used to indicate the number of spatial streams; when the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field corresponds to the UE QM, the m first bits are used to indicate a UE QM QAM difference mode, and the n second bits are reserved bits. In one possible implementation, the m first bits include part or all of the B11, B20, B25, B26-B29, B30-B31 of the first user information field or the B5 in the user information based on the type of the trigger frame in the first user information field. As an example, the m first bits are B26-B29 of the first user information field contained in the trigger frame, and the n second bits are B30-B31 of the first user information field. The m first bits can be extended by B11, B20, B25, B26-B28, B30-B31 of the first user information field or B5 in the user information based on the type of the trigger frame in the first user information field. FIG. 11 is an example of the format of another trigger frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. The meanings of the fields in FIG. 11 can be referred to the related standards, which are not described herein. The format of the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field in the trigger frame shown in FIG. 11 is shown in FIG. 10.

[0156] Another possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the second field contains m first bits and a fourth indication, m is an integer greater than 1; the fourth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream; when the value of the m first bits represents a first index in a first index range, the first index is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs respectively used by the spatial streams of the first PPDU sent by the first device and the first MCS and the number of spatial streams (optional); when the value of the m first bits represents a second index in a second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams used by the first device to send the first PPDU. The first index range and the second index range are different. FIG. 12 shows an example of the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field. As shown in FIG. 12, when the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field corresponds to EQM, the m first bits are used to indicate the number of spatial streams, and the fourth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, i.e., the starting spatial stream in FIG. 12 is the fourth indication described above; when the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field corresponds to UE QM, the m first bits are used to indicate a UE QM QAM difference mode, and the fourth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, i.e., the starting spatial stream in FIG. 12 is the fourth indication described above. In one possible implementation, the m first bits include part or all of the bits in B11, B20, B25, B29-B31 of the first user information field or B5 in the user information based on the type of the trigger frame in the first user information field. As an example, the m first bits are B29-B31 of the first user information field contained in the trigger frame, and the bits contained in the fourth indication are B26-B28 of the first user information field. FIG. 13 is an example of the format of another trigger frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. The meanings of the fields in FIG. 13 can be referred to the related standards, which are not described herein. The format of the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field in the trigger frame shown in FIG. 13 is as shown in FIG. 12.

[0157] Another possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the second field contains m first bits, m is an integer greater than 1; when the first index represented by the value of the m first bits is in the first index range, the first index is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs respectively used by the spatial streams of the first PPDU sent by the first device and the first MCS and the number of spatial streams (optional); when the second index represented by the value of the m first bits is in the second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams used by the first device to send the first PPDU. FIG. 14 shows an example of the two spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode fields. As shown in FIG. 14, when the spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode field corresponds to EQM, the m first bits are used to indicate the number of spatial streams; when the spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode field corresponds to UEQM, the m first bits are used to indicate a UEQM QAM difference mode. In one possible implementation, the m first bits include part or all of the B11, B20, B25, B26-B31 of the first user information field or the B5 in the user information based on the type of the trigger frame in the first user information field. As an example, the m first bits are B26 to B29 of the first user information field contained in the trigger frame. FIG. 15 is an example of another format of the trigger frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. The m first bits can be extended by B11, B20, B25, B26-B28, B30-B31 of the first user information field or B5 in the user information based on the type of the trigger frame in the first user information field. The meanings of the fields in FIG. 15 can be referred to the relevant standards, which will not be described here. The format of the spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode field in the trigger frame shown in FIG. 15 is as shown in FIG. 14.

[0158] Embodiment one designs a trigger frame, which is used to trigger one or more devices (including the first device) to send a PPDU for EQM or UEQM transmission through the spatial streams supported by the RRU. In addition, more bits are designed to further extend the UEQMQAM difference mode, so that the mode supported by the link adaptation is more flexible, which helps to further improve the throughput.

[0159] Embodiment two: the trigger frame is used to trigger one or more devices (including the first device) to send a PPDU for EQM or UEQM transmission through the spatial streams supported by the DRU or RRU, and the trigger frame is further modified based on the trigger frame of the 802.11ax standard and the 802.11be standard. Some possible designs of the trigger frame are introduced below.

[0160] One possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the trigger frame includes a first field, a second field, and a third field, the third field is used to indicate that the resource unit allocated for the first device is a DRU, the second field includes a first indication, a second indication, and a fifth indication, the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD to be used by each spatial stream of the first device when sending the first PPDU, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation. As an example, the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD to be used by one spatial stream in one DRU corresponding to the UHR-STF, or the starting CSD to be used by multiple streams.

[0161] The third field can be named as RRU / DRU and DRU discrete bandwidth indication, or other names, which are not limited in the present application. The RRU / DRU and DRU discrete bandwidth indication field in the following is the third field. The third field can include N sub-fields, each of which indicates whether the RU type on part or all of the subchannels in the whole bandwidth is DRU or RRU. N is an integer greater than 0. The third field can be included in the common information field in the trigger frame. As an example, the bits included in the third field are B56-B63 of the common information field in the trigger frame. The following is described taking N as 4 as an example. FIG. 16 is an example of the RRU / DRU and DRU discrete bandwidth indication field provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 16, the RRU / DRU and DRU discrete bandwidth indication field includes RRU / DRU and DRU discrete bandwidth indication 1, RRU / DRU and DRU discrete bandwidth indication 2, RRU / DRU and DRU discrete bandwidth indication 3, and RRU / DRU and DRU discrete bandwidth indication 4, different RRU / DRU and DRU discrete bandwidth indications correspond to different subchannels. As an example, the whole bandwidth is 320 MHz, the fifth indication includes 4 sub-fields, each of which corresponds to an 80 MHz subchannel and is used to indicate whether the RU corresponding to the subchannel is DRU or RRU. When the bandwidth of the PPDU is less than 320 MHz (such as 160 MHz), only the required fields (such as 2) can exist, or the 4 fields can still exist, the excess fields (for example, the third and fourth are reserved), or the granularity of the subchannel can be reduced, such as each field corresponding to a 40 MHz subchannel. Further, if it is DRU, the DBW of the DRU can also be indicated. For example, the 4 sub-fields mentioned above, the indication of each sub-field is shown in Table 9.

[0162] Table 9

[0163] Table 9 also indicates whether the RU within an 80MHz subchannel is a DRU or RRU, and if it is a DRU, the discrete bandwidth or combination of discrete bandwidths within each 80MHz subchannel. Further, according to the resource unit allocation subfield and the primary / secondary 160MHz subfield in the user info field of the trigger frame, a user can obtain the index of the RU or MRU allocated to it, and in combination with the location of the subchannel corresponding to its RU or MRU index in the entire bandwidth, the user can know whether the RU allocated to it is a DRU or RRU, and the discrete bandwidth of the DRU. For example, user 1 knows that the RU or MRU allocated to it is located in the 5th 20MHz subchannel (e.g., the entire bandwidth is divided into the 1st 20MHz subchannel to the 16th 20MHz subchannel), and through the RRU / DRU and DRU discrete bandwidth indication (i.e., the third field described above), it knows that the value of the corresponding RRU / DRU and DRU discrete bandwidth indication in the second 80MHz subchannel (i.e., the 5th to 8th 20MHz subchannel) is 3, and thus it knows that the RU or MRU allocated to it is a DRU, and the discrete bandwidth is 40MHz. The user (e.g., the first device) can also obtain whether the RU allocated to it is a DRU or RRU through other means, such as an indication in the user info list field, indicating whether the RU allocated to the user is a DRU or RRU.

[0164] Figure 17 shows an example of the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference pattern field. As shown in Figure 17, when EQM / UE QM flag = 0, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams, i.e., the number of spatial streams in Figure 17 is the second indication described above, and the fifth indication is used to indicate CSD (for UHR-SFT), i.e., the CSD in Figure 17 is the fifth indication described above; when EQM / UE QM flag = 1, the second indication is used to indicate a UE QM QAM difference pattern (i.e., a reduced UE QM QAM difference pattern), i.e., the reduced UE QM QAM difference pattern in Figure 17 is the second indication described above, and the fifth indication is used to indicate CSD. The spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference pattern field shown in Figure 17 only supports non-MU-MIMO. In one possible implementation, the bits included in the first indication are B29 of the first user information field, the bits included in the second indication include B11, B20, B25, B30-B31 of the first user information field, or part or all of the bits in B5 of the user information in the first user information field based on the type of trigger frame. As an example, the second field is B26 to B31 of the first user information field included in the trigger frame, the bits included in the second indication are B30 or B30-B31 of the first user information field, and the bits included in the fifth indication are B26 to B28 of the first user information field. Figure 18 is an example of the format of the trigger frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. The meanings of the fields in Figure 18 can be referred to the relevant standards, which will not be described herein. The format of the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference pattern field in the trigger frame shown in Figure 18 is as shown in Figure 17.

[0165] Another possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the trigger frame includes a first field, a second field, and a third field, the third field is used to indicate that the resource unit allocated for the first device is a DRU, the second field includes a first indication and a second indication; when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate a starting spatial stream, the second field further includes a third indication, the third indication is used to indicate a number of spatial streams; when the first indication is used to indicate unequal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate a difference of MCSs respectively used by each spatial stream of the first device to send the first PPDU from a first MCS and the number of spatial streams (optional). As shown in FIG. 5A, when EQM / UEQM flag = 0, the second indication is used to indicate a starting spatial stream, i.e., the starting spatial stream in FIG. 5A is the above-mentioned second indication, the third indication is used to indicate a number of spatial streams, i.e., the number of spatial streams in FIG. 5A is the above-mentioned third indication; when EQM / UEQM flag = 1, the second indication is used to indicate a UEQM QAM difference pattern, i.e., the UEQM QAM difference pattern in FIG. 5A is the above-mentioned second indication, the third indication includes reserved bits. In one possible implementation, the first indication includes bits of B29 of the first user information field, the second indication includes bits of B11, B20, B25, B26-B28 of the first user information field, or part or all of bits of B5 in the user information based on the type of the trigger frame in the first user information field. As an example, the second field includes B26-B31 of the first user information field of the trigger frame, the second indication includes bits of B26-B28 of the first user information field, and the third indication includes bits of B30-B31 of the first user information field.

[0166] In the design, the trigger frame does not need to show the CSD indication, the DRU can adopt the similar scheme as the RRU to make the indication, and the unification of the indication of the DRU and the RRU can be achieved. FIG. 19A, FIG. 19B and FIG. 19C are examples of the format of the trigger frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. The meanings of the fields in FIG. 19A, FIG. 19B and FIG. 19C can be referred to the related standards, and will not be described herein. The format of the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field in the trigger frame shown in FIG. 19A is shown in FIG. 5A. The format of the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field in the trigger frame shown in FIG. 19B is shown in FIG. 6. The format of the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field in the trigger frame shown in FIG. 19C is shown in FIG. 8. It should be noted that the format of the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field in the trigger frame shown in FIG. 19A can be replaced by the format of the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field shown in FIG. 10, FIG. 12 or FIG. 14. If it is assumed that the DRU does not need to support UL MU-MIMO, B30-B31 can be used as reserved bits, and if it is also needed to support UL MU-MIMO, the same method as the RRU can be adopted, which will not be described herein.

[0167] One possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the trigger frame includes a first field, a second field, and a third field, the third field is used to indicate that the resource unit allocated for the first device is a DRU, the second field includes m first bits and a fifth indication, the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD to be used by each spatial stream of the first PPDU transmitted by the first device; when the value of the m first bits represents a first index within a first index range, the first index is used to indicate the difference between the MCS used by each spatial stream of the first PPDU transmitted by the first device and the first MCS, and the number of spatial streams (optional); when the value of the m first bits represents a second index within a second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams. FIG. 20 is an example of the format of another trigger frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 20, when the space stream allocation and UE QAM difference mode field corresponds to EQM, the m first bits (i.e., B29-B30) are used to indicate the number of spatial streams, and the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD; when the space stream allocation and UE QAM difference mode field corresponds to UE QM, the m first bits are used to indicate a UE QM QAM difference mode, and the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD. In one possible implementation, the m first bits include part or all of the bits in B11, B20, B25, B29-B31 of the first user information field, or B5 in the user information based on the type of the trigger frame in the first user information field. As an example, the m first bits are B29-B30 or B29-B31 of the first user information field contained in the trigger frame, and the bits contained in the fifth indication are B26-B28 of the first user information field. The meanings of the fields in FIG. 20 can be referred to the relevant standards, which will not be described here.

[0168] Another possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: B11, B20, B25 in the first user information field in the trigger frame or B5 in the user information based on the type of the trigger frame in the first user information field is used to indicate whether the RU allocated for the user (e.g., the first device) is a DRU or a RRU; the trigger frame includes the above-mentioned first field and a second field, the format of the second field can be the same as that of any of the above-mentioned second fields, such as the second field shown in FIG. 5A, FIG. 6, or FIG. 8. As an example, when B11, B20, B25 in the first user information field or B5 in the user information based on the type of the trigger frame in the first user information field is 0, it indicates that the RU allocated for the user is a RRU, and when B11, B20, B25 in the first user information field or B5 in the user information based on the type of the trigger frame in the first user information field is 1, it indicates that the RU allocated for the user is a DRU.

[0169] In the second embodiment, the signaling design is made for the case of DRU, and the design is made for the case of needing to display the indication CSD and the case of not needing to display the indication CSD. When the trigger frame needs to display the indication CSD, more bits are consumed, and more UEQM QAM difference modes are allowed by design. When the trigger frame does not need to display the indication CSD, the design for DRU and RRU is unified, and the signaling analysis is simplified.

[0170] In the third embodiment, the trigger frame is used for one or more devices (including the first device) to send the PPDU for the EQM or UEQM transmission through the spatial stream supported by the DRU or RRU. The scheme of the third embodiment is to design a new trigger frame type using a new control frame type, or to use a new trigger frame type (one of 9-15) in the trigger frame, and further introduce a trigger frame sub-type to further mark the type of the newly designed trigger frame. That is, the scheme of the third embodiment is to newly design the trigger frame of 802.11bn, so that there is no longer the restriction that the number of bits in the user information field must be the same as the previous generation. In this way, the length of the user information field (except the user information field based on the trigger frame type) can be greater than 40 bits, directly carrying more bits. The following introduces some possible designs of the trigger frame.

[0171] One possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the trigger frame comprises a first field, a second field and a third field, the third field is used to indicate that the resource unit allocated for the first device is a DRU, the second field comprises a first indication, a second indication, a fifth indication (optional) and a sixth indication, the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD to be used by each spatial stream of the first PPDU sent by the first device, the sixth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream; when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams; when the first indication is used to indicate unequal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the difference of the MCS respectively used by each spatial stream of the first PPDU sent by the first device from the first MCS and the number of spatial streams (optional). FIG. 21 is an example of the format of another trigger frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 21, when EQM / UEQM flag=0, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams, i.e., the number of spatial streams in FIG. 21 is the above-mentioned second indication, the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD, i.e., the CSD in FIG. 21 is the above-mentioned fifth indication, and the sixth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, i.e., the starting spatial stream in FIG. 21 is the above-mentioned sixth indication; when EQM / UEQM flag=1, the second indication is used to indicate a UEQM QAM difference mode, i.e., the UEQM QAM difference mode in FIG. 21 is the above-mentioned second indication, the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD, and the sixth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream. The spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode field shown in FIG. 21 supports non-MU-MIMO and MU-MIMO. The positions and lengths of each field in the spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode field in FIG. 21 are not limited. In the present application, Bn+ of a certain field indicates the (n+1+h)th bit of the field, h is an integer greater than 0, and the value of h is not fixed, i.e., h can be any integer greater than 0. Taking the spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode field in FIG. 21 as an example, the bits contained in the field are B26-B31+ of the user information 2 (i.e., the first user information field), and the field contains 7 or more bits.

[0172] Another possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the trigger frame comprises a first field, a second field and a third field, the third field is used to indicate that the resource unit allocated for the first device is a DRU, the second field comprises a first indication, a second indication and a fifth indication (optional), the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD to be used by each spatial stream of the first device for sending the first PPDU; when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams; when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the difference between the MCS used by each spatial stream of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS respectively and the number of spatial streams (optional). FIG. 22 is an example of the format of another trigger frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 22, when EQM / UEQM flag=0, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams, i.e., the number of spatial streams in FIG. 22 is the above-mentioned second indication, and the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD, i.e., the CSD in FIG. 22 is the above-mentioned fifth indication; when EQM / UEQM flag=1, the second indication is used to indicate a UEQM QAM difference mode, i.e., the UEQM QAM difference mode in FIG. 22 is the above-mentioned second indication, and the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD. The spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode field shown in FIG. 22 only supports non-MU-MIMO. The positions and lengths of each field in the spatial stream allocation and UEQM QAM difference mode field in FIG. 22 are not limited.

[0173] Another possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the trigger frame comprises a first field, a second field and a third field, the third field is used to indicate that the resource unit allocated for the first device is a DRU, the second field comprises m first bits, a fifth indication (optional) and a sixth indication, the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD to be used by each spatial stream of the first PPDU sent by the first device, and the sixth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream; when the value of the m first bits represents a first index within a first index range, the first index is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs used by each spatial stream of the first PPDU sent by the first device and the first MCS respectively and the number of spatial streams (optional); when the value of the m first bits represents a second index within a second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams. FIG. 23 shows an example of the format of another trigger frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 23, when the spatial stream allocation and UE QAM difference mode field corresponds to EQM, the m first bits are used to indicate the number of spatial streams, the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD, i.e., the CSD in FIG. 23 is the above-mentioned fifth indication, and the sixth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, i.e., the starting spatial stream in FIG. 23 is the above-mentioned sixth indication; when the spatial stream allocation and UE QAM difference mode field corresponds to UE QAM, the m first bits are used to indicate a UE QAM difference mode, the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD, and the sixth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream. The spatial stream allocation and UE QAM difference mode field shown in FIG. 23 supports non-MU-MIMO and MU-MIMO. The positions and lengths of the fields in the spatial stream allocation and UE QAM difference mode field in FIG. 23 are not limited.

[0174] Another possible design of the trigger frame is as follows: the trigger frame comprises a first field, a second field and a third field, the third field is used to indicate that the resource unit allocated for the first device is a DRU, the second field comprises m first bits and a fifth indication (optional), the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD to be used by the first device for each spatial stream of the first PPDU; when the value of the m first bits represents a first index within a first index range, the first index is used to indicate the difference between the MCSs used by the first device for each spatial stream of the first PPDU and the first MCS respectively and the number of spatial streams (optional); when the value of the m first bits represents a second index within a second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams. FIG. 24 shows an example of the format of another trigger frame provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 24, when the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field corresponds to EQM, the m first bits are used to indicate the number of spatial streams, and the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD, i.e., the CSD in FIG. 24 is the fifth indication described above; when the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field corresponds to UE QM, the m first bits are used to indicate a UE QM QAM difference mode, and the fifth indication is used to indicate the CSD. The spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field shown in FIG. 24 only supports non-MU-MIMO. The positions and lengths of the fields in the spatial stream allocation and UE QM QAM difference mode field in FIG. 24 are not limited.

[0175] Embodiment three redesigns the trigger frame, breaks through the limitation of the length of the user information field, and reserves bits for the expansion of future standard generations.

[0176] It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the terms and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be referred to each other if there is no special description and logical conflict, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0177] It should also be understood that, in some embodiments, the devices in the existing network architecture are mainly exemplarily described, and it should be understood that the specific forms of the devices are not limited in the embodiments of the present application. For example, devices that can realize the same functions in the future are also applicable to the embodiments of the present application.

[0178] It can be understood that, in various method embodiments, the methods and operations implemented by the devices (such as the first device and the second device) can also be implemented by components (such as chips or circuits) that can be used for the devices.

[0179] It can also be understood that some optional features in various embodiments of the present application can not depend on other features in some scenarios, or can be combined with other features in some scenarios, and are not limited.

[0180] Those skilled in the art should understand that units and algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be realized in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is realized in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0181] The following describes the communication apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application in combination with FIG. 25 to FIG. 27. It should be understood that the description of the apparatus embodiments corresponds to the description of the method embodiments, and therefore, the content not described in detail can be referred to the method embodiments described above, and some content will not be described again for the sake of brevity.

[0182] The embodiments of the present application can divide the functional modules of the sending end device (i.e., the second device) or the receiving end device (i.e., the first device) according to the method examples, for example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated in one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware or software functional module. It should be noted that the division of the modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical function division, and another division manner can be used in actual implementation. The following takes the example of dividing each functional module according to each function.

[0183] FIG. 25 is a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus 2500 provided by the embodiments of the present application. The communication apparatus 2500 can correspond to the functions or steps realized by the second device in each method embodiment described above, or can correspond to the functions or steps realized by the first device in each method embodiment described above. The communication apparatus can include a processing module 2510 and a transceiver module 2520. Optionally, it can also include a storage unit, which can be used to store instructions (codes or programs) and / or data. The processing module 2510 and the transceiver module 2520 can be coupled with the storage unit, for example, the processing module 2510 can read the instructions (codes or programs) and / or data in the storage unit to realize the corresponding method. Each module described above can be independently set, or can be partially or entirely integrated. For example, the transceiver module 2520 can include a sending module and a receiving module. The sending module can be a transmitter, and the receiving module can be a receiver. The corresponding entity of the transceiver module 2520 can be a transceiver, or a communication interface.

[0184] In some possible implementations, the communication apparatus 2500 can correspond to implement the behaviors and functions of the second device in the above-described method embodiments. For example, the communication apparatus 2500 can be the second device, or a component (for example, a chip or a circuit) applied in the second device. The transceiver module 2520 can be used to perform, for example, all receiving or transmitting operations performed by the second device in the embodiments of FIG. 3, for example, step 302 in the embodiments of FIG. 3, and / or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. The processing module 2510 is configured to perform all operations performed by the second device in the embodiments of FIG. 3, except for the transceiver operations, for example, step 301 in the embodiments of FIG. 3.

[0185] In some possible implementations, the communication apparatus 2500 can correspond to implement the behaviors and functions of the first device in the above-described method embodiments. For example, the communication apparatus 2500 can be the first device, or a component (for example, a chip or a circuit) applied in the first device. The transceiver module 2520 can be used to perform, for example, all receiving or transmitting operations performed by the first device in the embodiments of FIG. 3, for example, step 302 in the embodiments of FIG. 3, and / or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. The processing module 2510 is configured to perform all operations performed by the first device, except for the transceiver operations, for example, step 303 in the embodiments of FIG. 3.

[0186] FIG. 26 is a structural diagram of another communication apparatus 260 provided by the embodiments of the present application. The communication apparatus in FIG. 26 can be the second device or the first device.

[0187] As shown in FIG. 26, the communication apparatus 260 includes at least one processor 2610 and a transceiver 2620.

[0188] In some embodiments of the present application, the processor 2610 and the transceiver 2620 can be configured to perform the functions or operations performed by the second device, and the like. The transceiver 2620 can be configured to perform, for example, all receiving or transmitting operations performed by the second device in the embodiments of FIG. 3. The processor 2610 can be configured to perform all operations performed by the second device in the embodiments of FIG. 3, except for the transceiver operations.

[0189] In some embodiments of the present application, the processor 2610 and the transceiver 2620 can be configured to perform the functions or operations performed by the first device, and the like. The transceiver 2620 can be configured to perform, for example, all receiving or transmitting operations performed by the first device in the embodiments of FIG. 3. The processor 2610 can be configured to perform all operations performed by the first device, except for the transceiver operations.

[0190] The transceiver 2620 is configured to communicate with other devices / apparatuses via transmission medium. The processor 2610 is configured to transceive data and / or signaling with the transceiver 2620, and is configured to implement the methods in the above-described method embodiments. The processor 2610 can implement the functions of the processing module 2510, and the transceiver 2620 can implement the functions of the transceiving module 2520.

[0191] Optionally, the transceiver 2620 can include a radio frequency circuit and an antenna. The radio frequency circuit is mainly configured to convert baseband signals and radio frequency signals, and process the radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly configured to transceive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input / output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are mainly configured to receive user input data and output data to users.

[0192] Optionally, the communication apparatus 260 can further include at least one memory 2630 configured to store program instructions and / or data. The memory 2630 is coupled to the processor 2610. The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms, and is used for information interaction between devices, units or modules. The processor 2610 can operate in cooperation with the memory 2630. The processor 2610 can execute program instructions stored in the memory 2630. At least one of the at least one memory can be included in the processor.

[0193] When the communication apparatus 260 is powered on, the processor 2610 can read the software program in the memory 2630, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be transmitted wirelessly, the processor 2610 performs baseband processing on the data to be transmitted, and outputs the baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit. The radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal, and transmits the radio frequency signal in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is transmitted to the communication apparatus, the radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 2610. The processor 2610 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0194] In another implementation, the radio frequency circuit and the antenna described above can be arranged independently of the processor that performs baseband processing, for example, in a distributed scenario, the radio frequency circuit and the antenna can be arranged remotely from the communication apparatus.

[0195] The specific connection medium between the transceiver 2620, the processor 2610 and the memory 2630 in the embodiments of the present application is not limited. In FIG. 26, the memory 2630, the processor 2610 and the transceiver 2620 are connected through a bus 2640, which is represented by a thick line in FIG. 26. The connection mode between other components is only illustrative and is not limited. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus and the like. For convenience of representation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 26, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0196] In the present application, the processor system, the application processor, the baseband processor, the processor circuit or the processor core can be collectively referred to as a processor. In the embodiments of the present application, the processor can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, which can implement or execute the disclosed methods, steps and logic block diagrams in the embodiments of the present application. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. The steps of the method disclosed in combination with the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied by a hardware processor for execution or by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor for execution.

[0197] In the embodiments of the present application, the memory can include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), a random access memory (RAM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), a read-only memory (ROM) or a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), and the like. The memory can be any storage medium capable of carrying or storing program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and capable of being read and / or written by a computer (such as the communication device shown in the present application and the like), but is not limited thereto. The memory in the embodiments of the present application can also be a circuit or any other device capable of realizing a storage function, used for storing program instructions and / or data.

[0198] FIG. 27 is a structural schematic diagram of another communication apparatus 270 provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 27, the communication apparatus shown in FIG. 27 includes a logic circuit 2701 and an interface 2702. The processing module 2510 in FIG. 25 can be implemented by the logic circuit 2701, and the transceiver module 2520 in FIG. 25 can be implemented by the interface 2702. The logic circuit 2701 can be a chip, a processing circuit, an integrated circuit, or a system on chip (SoC) chip, etc., and the interface 2702 can be a communication interface, an input / output interface, etc. In an embodiment of the present application, the logic circuit and the interface can also be coupled with each other. The specific connection mode of the logic circuit and the interface is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0199] In some embodiments of the present application, the logic circuit and the interface can be used to perform the functions or operations, etc. performed by the second device.

[0200] In some embodiments of the present application, the logic circuit and the interface can be used to perform the functions or operations, etc. performed by the first device.

[0201] The present application further provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method of the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0202] The present application further provides a computer program product, which includes instructions or a computer program, and when the instructions or the computer program are run on a computer, the method in the above-mentioned embodiments is executed.

[0203] The present application further provides a communication system, which includes the first device and the second device.

[0204] The explanations and beneficial effects of the related contents in any of the above-provided apparatuses can refer to the corresponding method embodiments provided above, and will not be described herein again.

[0205] Those skilled in the art should understand that embodiments of the present application can be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Therefore, the present application can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Moreover, the present application can take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0206] The computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

[0207] These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer- readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

[0208] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

[0209] Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present application are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the claims and their equivalents, the application can be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

Claims

1. A method of indicating a modulation and coding strategy, characterized by, The method comprises: generating a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger a first device to send a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), the trigger frame comprising a first field and a second field, the first field being used to indicate a first modulation and coding strategy (MCS); the second field comprising a first indication and a second indication; when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate differences between MCSs respectively used by spatial streams of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS; when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate a number of spatial streams or a starting spatial stream used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, the number of spatial streams being a number of spatial streams used by the first device for sending the first PPDU; or the second field comprising m first bits, m being an integer greater than 1; when a first index represented by values of the m first bits is located in a first index range, the first index is used to indicate differences between MCSs respectively used by spatial streams of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS; when a second index represented by values of the m first bits is located in a second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams or the starting spatial stream used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, the first index range and the second index range being different, the number of spatial streams being a number of spatial streams used by the first device for sending the first PPDU; and sending the trigger frame.

2. A modulation and coding strategy indication method, characterized in that, The method comprises: receiving a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger a first device to send a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), the trigger frame comprising a first field and a second field, the first field being used to indicate a first modulation and coding strategy (MCS); the second field comprising a first indication and a second indication; when the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate differences between MCSs respectively used by spatial streams of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS; when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate a number of spatial streams or a starting spatial stream used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, the number of spatial streams being a number of spatial streams used by the first device for sending the first PPDU; or the second field comprising m first bits, m being an integer greater than 1; when a first index represented by values of the m first bits is located in a first index range, the first index is used to indicate differences between MCSs respectively used by spatial streams of the first device for sending the first PPDU and the first MCS; when a second index represented by values of the m first bits is located in a second index range, the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams or the starting spatial stream used by the first device for sending the first PPDU, the first index range and the second index range being different, the number of spatial streams being a number of spatial streams used by the first device for sending the first PPDU; and In response to the trigger frame, a first PPDU is sent on a spatial stream of the first device.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, When the first indication is used to indicate non-equal modulation, the second indication is also used to indicate the number of spatial streams; Or, when the first index represented by the values of the m first bits is located in the first index range, the first index is also used to indicate the number of spatial streams.

4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the second field includes the first indication and the second indication, when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, and the second field further includes a third indication, the third indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams; Or, the second field includes the m first bits, when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, and the second field further includes n second bits, the values of the n second bits represent the number of spatial streams, and n is an integer greater than 0.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second field includes the first indication and the second indication, and the second field is included in a first user info field in the trigger frame, the bits included in the first indication are B29 of the first user info field, and the bits included in the second indication include some or all of B11, B20, B25, B26-B28, B30-B31 of the first user info field, or B5 in the user info based on the trigger frame type in the first user info field; or the second field includes the m first bits, and the second field is included in a first user info field in the trigger frame, the m first bits include some or all of B11, B20, B25, B26-B29, B30-B31 of the first user info field, or B5 in the user info based on the trigger frame type in the first user info field.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second field includes the first indication and the second indication, and the second field is B26-B31 of a first user info field included in the trigger frame, the bits included in the second indication are B26-B28 of the first user info field, and the bits included in the third indication are B30-B31 of the first user info field; or the second field includes the m first bits and the n second bits, the m first bits are B26-B29 of a first user info field included in the trigger frame, and the n second bits are B30-B31 of the first user info field.

7. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the second field includes the first indication and the second indication, and the second field further includes a fourth indication, the fourth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, and when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation, the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams; or The second field includes the m first bits, and the second field further includes a fourth indication, and the fourth indication is used to indicate the starting spatial stream, and the second index is used to indicate the number of spatial streams.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, the second field includes the first indication and the second indication, and the second field is included in a first user information field in the trigger frame, the first indication includes B29 of the first user information field, and the second indication includes part or all of B11, B20, B25, B30-B31 of the first user information field or B5 in user information based on a type of the trigger frame in the first user information field; or the second field includes the m first bits, and the first indication includes B29 of the first user information field, and the m first bits include part or all of B11, B20, B25, B29-B31 of the first user information field or B5 in user information based on a type of the trigger frame in the first user information field.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, the second field includes the first indication, the second indication, and the fourth indication, and the second field is B26-B31 of a first user information field included in the trigger frame, the second indication includes B30-B31 of the first user information field, and the fourth indication includes B26-B28 of the first user information field; or the second field includes the m first bits and the fourth indication, and the m first bits are B29-B31 of a first user information field included in the trigger frame, and the fourth indication includes B26-B28 of the first user information field.

10. The method of claim 1 or 2 or 3 or 7, wherein, The trigger frame further includes a third field used to indicate that a resource unit allocated for the first device is a distributed resource unit (DRU), and the second field further includes a fifth indication used to indicate a cyclic shift diversity (CSD) to be used by the first device for each spatial stream of the first PPDU, and the second indication is used to indicate the number of spatial streams when the first indication is used to indicate equal modulation.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, the second field includes the first indication and the second indication, and the second field is included in a first user information field in the trigger frame, the first indication includes B29 of the first user information field, and the second indication includes part or all of B11, B20, B25, B30-B31 of the first user information field or B5 in user information based on a type of the trigger frame in the first user information field; or the second field includes the m first bits, and the first indication includes B29 of the first user information field, and the m first bits include part or all of B11, B20, B25, B29-B31 of the first user information field or B5 in user information based on a type of the trigger frame in the first user information field. The second field includes the m first bits, the second field is included in a first user information field in the trigger frame, and the m first bits include part or all of bits B11, B20, B25, B29-B31 of the first user information field or B5 in user information in the first user information field based on a trigger frame type.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, The second field includes the first indication, the second indication, and the fifth indication, the second field is B26-B31 of a first user information field included in the trigger frame, the second indication includes B30 or B30-B31 of the first user information field, and the fifth indication includes B26-B28 of the first user information field. The second field includes the m first bits and the fifth indication, the m first bits are B30 or B30-B31 of a first user information field included in the trigger frame, and the fifth indication is B26-B28 of the first user information field.

13. A communications device, characterized by A module for implementing the method of any one of claims 1-12.

14. A communications device, characterized by A communication device including one or more processors coupled with one or more memories storing computer programs or instructions, the one or more processors configured to execute the computer programs or instructions in the one or more memories to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1-12.

15. A chip, characterized by A chip including a processor and a communication interface, the processor configured to read instructions stored on a memory through the communication interface to cause a communication device including the chip to perform the method of any one of claims 1-12.

16. A computer readable storage medium characterized by: A computer readable storage medium storing computer programs or instructions, the computer programs or instructions configured to be executed to cause the method of any one of claims 1-12 to be performed.

17. A computer program product, characterised in that, A computer program product configured to, when executed on a computer, cause the method of any one of claims 1-12 to be performed.

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