Trigger frame transmission method and apparatus, device, medium, and program product

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of wireless communications, and discloses a trigger frame transmission method and apparatus, a device, a medium, and a program product. The method is executed by a first station. The method comprises: sending a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used for instructing one or more second stations to perform transmission, the trigger frame comprising a common information field and a user information list field, and the user information list field comprising zero, one, or more user information fields.

Description

Transmission method, apparatus, device, medium and program product of trigger frame TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication, and more particularly to a transmission method, apparatus, device, medium and program product of trigger frame. BACKGROUND

[0002] The trigger frame is a frame transmitted in a wireless local area network (WLAN), which can be used to trigger a receiving end to transmit.

[0003] SUMMARY

[0004] The present application provides a transmission method, apparatus, device, medium and program product of trigger frame, which includes at least the following technical solutions:

[0005] According to an aspect of the present application, a transmission method of trigger frame is provided, which is executed by a first station, and the method includes:

[0006] sending a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to instruct one or more second stations to transmit, the trigger frame including a common information field and a user information list field, the user information list field including 0, 1 or multiple user information fields.

[0007] According to another aspect of the present application, a transmission method of trigger frame is provided, which is executed by a second station, and the method includes:

[0008] receiving a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to instruct one or more second stations to transmit, the trigger frame including a common information field and a user information list field, the user information list field including 0, 1 or multiple user information fields.

[0009] According to an aspect of the present application, a transmission apparatus of trigger frame is provided, which includes:

[0010] a sending module, configured to send a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to instruct one or more second stations to transmit, the trigger frame including a common information field and a user information list field, the user information list field including 0, 1 or multiple user information fields.

[0011] According to another aspect of the present application, a transmission apparatus of trigger frame is provided, which includes:

[0012] The receiving module is configured to receive a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to instruct one or more of the devices to transmit, the trigger frame comprising a common information field and a user information list field, the user information list field comprising 0, 1 or more user information fields.

[0013] According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a communication device is provided, which comprises a processor, a transceiver connected to the processor, and a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor, wherein the processor is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to implement the method for transmitting a trigger frame according to any of the above aspects.

[0014] According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which stores at least one program, and the at least one program is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the method for transmitting a trigger frame according to any of the above aspects.

[0015] According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a computer program product is provided, which comprises computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium, and a processor acquires the computer instructions from the computer readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer instructions to implement the method for transmitting a trigger frame according to any of the above aspects.

[0016] According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a chip is provided, which comprises a programmable logic circuit and / or at least one program, and the chip is configured to implement the method for transmitting a trigger frame according to any of the above aspects based on the programmable logic circuit and / or the at least one program.

[0017] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application can have the following beneficial effects:

[0018] The first station can instruct one or more second stations to transmit through a trigger frame, so as to meet the transmission requirements between the first station and the second station. The trigger frame can carry a common information field and a user information list field to indicate the information required for transmission between the first station and the second station. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0019] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed in the embodiment description will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings can be obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort.

[0020] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0021] FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram of a method of transmitting a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0022] FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram of a method of transmitting a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0023] FIG. 4 shows a format of a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0024] FIG. 5 shows a format of a special user info field according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0025] FIG. 6 shows a format of a HE variant user info field according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0026] FIG. 7 shows a format of an EHT variant user info field according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0027] FIG. 8 shows a format of an NDPA frame according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0028] FIG. 9 shows a flow diagram of a method of transmitting a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0029] FIG. 10 shows a format of a user info field including a disambiguation bit according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0030] FIG. 11 shows a flow diagram of a method of transmitting a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0031] FIG. 12 shows a flow diagram of a method of transmitting a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0032] FIG. 13 shows a flow diagram of a method of transmitting a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0033] FIG. 14 shows a format of a user info field including at least two disambiguation bits according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0034] FIG. 15 shows a format of a user info field including at least two disambiguation bits according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0035] FIG. 16 shows a format of a user info field including at least two disambiguation bits according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0036] FIG. 17 shows a format diagram of a user information field containing at least two disambiguation bits according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0037] FIG. 18 shows a structure block diagram of a transmission apparatus of a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0038] FIG. 19 shows a structure block diagram of a transmission apparatus of a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0039] FIG. 20 shows a structure diagram of a communication device according to an example embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] To make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the following will further describe the embodiments of the present application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The example embodiments will be described in detail, and the examples are shown in the drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the following example embodiments do not represent all the embodiments consistent with the present application. Instead, they are merely examples of apparatuses and methods consistent with some aspects of the present application as detailed in the appended claims.

[0041] The terms used in the present application are merely for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and are not intended to limit the present application. As used in the present application 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 be further understood that the terms "and / or," as used herein, refer to and encompass any or all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0042] It should be understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc. can be employed in this application to describe various information, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one piece of information from another. For example, a first information can also be referred to as a second information, and similarly, a second information can also be referred to as a first information without departing from the scope of the present application. Depending on the context, the word "if' as used herein can be interpreted to mean "when" or "in response to determining" as in this specification. In this specification, when expressing the meaning of a Boolean value, "0" represents "a first meaning", "1" represents "a second meaning", and without loss of generality, those skilled in the art can understand that the representative meaning can be reversed, i.e., "1" represents "a first meaning" and "0" represents "a second meaning".

[0043] It should be understood that the format, name and value of the frame / element / field involved in each embodiment of the present application are only examples and do not mean to limit the format, name and value of the frame / element / field. In different embodiments or different designs, one or more of the name of the element / field, the position in the frame, the arrangement order between the element / field and other elements / fields, the number of bytes occupied, the number of bits occupied can be changed. In different embodiments or different designs, one or more of the name of the frame, the element / field contained, the number of bytes occupied, the number of bits occupied can be changed.

[0044] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system 100 provided by an example embodiment of the present application. The wireless communication system 100 includes stations (STAs) and stations. In the present application, the STA includes an access point station (Access Point STA, AP STA) and / or a non-access point station (non-AP STA), wherein the AP STA can be referred to as an AP. The communication between the STA and the STA can be implemented as the communication between the AP and the non-AP STA, or the communication between the non-AP STA and the non-AP STA, or the communication between the STA and the peer STA. The peer STA refers to a device communicating with the STA at the opposite end, which can be an AP or a non-AP STA. FIG. 1 takes the example of the wireless communication system 100 including an AP 110 and a non-AP STA 120.

[0045] The AP 110 is a device deployed in a wireless local area network (WLAN) / wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system to provide wireless communication functions for STAs. The AP 110 is equivalent to a bridge connecting wired and wireless networks, and mainly functions to connect various wireless network clients together and then access the wireless network to the Ethernet. The AP 110 can be a terminal device or a network device (such as a router) with a WLAN / Wi-Fi chip.

[0046] In some embodiments, the AP 110 can be a device that supports WLAN standards of the IEEE 802.11 family, such as 802.11be, 802.11bn, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a, and the like, current and future. The AP 110 can also be applied in a network environment supporting next-generation WLAN systems / next-generation Wi-Fi communications.

[0047] The non-AP STA 120 can be a wireless communication device that supports WLAN / Wi-Fi technology, such as a wireless communication device with a WLAN / Wi-Fi chip.

[0048] In some embodiments, the non-AP STA 120 can be a device that supports WLAN standards of the IEEE 802.11 family, such as 802.11be, 802.11bn, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a, and the like, current and future. The non-AP STA 120 can also be applied in a network environment supporting next-generation WLAN systems / next-generation Wi-Fi communications.

[0049] In the embodiments of the present application, the next-generation WLAN system is a WLAN system evolved from the 802.11be system and can meet the backward compatibility with the 802.11be system. The next-generation Wi-Fi communication is any new generation of Wi-Fi communication after Wi-Fi 7 based on the 802.11be specification, such as Ultra High Reliability (UHR) communication, etc.

[0050] In some embodiments, the AP 110 and the non-AP STA 120 both support the IEEE 802.11 protocol, but are not limited to the IEEE 802.11 protocol (such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) protocol, the Matter protocol, etc.).

[0051] It can be understood that the role of the STA in wireless communication is not absolute. For example, when the mobile phone A connects to the router, the mobile phone A is a non-AP STA, and when the mobile phone A acts as a hotspot for the mobile phone B, the mobile phone A acts as an AP.

[0052] The STA in the embodiments of the present application can be a device with wireless transceiving function, such as a device supporting 802.11 series protocols, which can communicate with an AP or other STAs. For example, the STA is any user communication device allowing a user to communicate with an AP and then communicate with a WLAN. The STA is, for example, a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a mobile terminal, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user equipment, etc.

[0053] The STA in the embodiments of the present application can also be a device providing voice / data / image connectivity to a user, for example, a handheld device, a vehicle-mounted device, a home device, a household appliance, a game device, etc. with wireless connection function or equipped with a wireless communication module. For example, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palm computer, a mobile internet device (MID), a wearable device, a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self driving, a drone or aerial photography device, a wireless terminal in remote medical surgery, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device with wireless communication function, other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network, a terminal device in a beyond 5G (B5G) network, a terminal device in a 6G network, a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), etc. The present embodiments are not limited thereto. For example, the present embodiments can also be a television, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a kitchen appliance, a door lock, a fish tank, a sweeping robot, a game machine, a camera / camcorder, a sensor, etc. with wireless connection function.

[0054] As an example but not limitation, the STA in the embodiments of the present application can also be a wearable device. The wearable device can also be referred to as a wearable smart device, which is a general term for devices that are designed and developed by applying wearable technology to daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. For example, a smart watch or smart glasses, etc., and only focus on a certain type of application function, need to be used with other devices such as smart phones, such as various types of smart bracelets, smart jewelry, etc. for monitoring vital signs.

[0055] In addition, the STA in the embodiments of the present application can also be a terminal device in an Internet of Things (IoT) system. The IoT is an important part of future information technology development, and its main technical feature is to connect objects through communication technology and network, so as to realize the intelligent network of man-machine interconnection and object-object interconnection. In the embodiments of the present application, the IoT technology can achieve mass connection, deep coverage and terminal power saving through, for example, Narrow Band (NB) technology.

[0056] In addition, the STA in the embodiments of the present application can also be a vehicle-mounted communication device or a vehicle itself in a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) system. The communication mode in the V2X system is collectively referred to as V2X (X represents anything). For example, the V2X communication includes Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communication, Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) communication, Vehicle to Pedestrian (V2P) communication, or Vehicle to Network (V2N) communication, etc.

[0057] In some embodiments, the frequency bands that the wireless communication system 100 can support include, but are not limited to, millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands (such as 45 GHz, 60 GHz, etc. belonging to the frequency bands in the range of 30-300 GHz), low frequency frequency bands. The low frequency frequency bands include Sub-7 GHz frequency bands (such as 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, etc. belonging to the frequency bands in the range of 1-7.25 GHz), and / or Sub-1 GHz frequency bands (such as frequency bands below 1 GHz).

[0058] In some embodiments, there is one or more links between the AP 110 and the non-AP STA 120.

[0059] In some embodiments, multi-band communication is supported between the AP 110 and the non-AP STA 120. For example, communication is simultaneously performed in one or more of the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, 45 GHz, 60 GHz, etc. frequency bands. For another example, communication is simultaneously performed on different channels of the same frequency band or different channels of different frequency bands. Multi-band communication can improve the communication throughput and / or reliability between devices. Such a device supporting multi-band communication can be considered to have Multi-Link Operation (MLO) capability, and is usually referred to as a multi-band device or a multi-link device (MLD), and is sometimes also referred to as a multi-band entity or a multi-link entity. In other words, the MLD is an entity or device that supports communication with other MLD entities using multiple wireless links.

[0060] An AP MLD can include one or more APs, i.e., the affiliated STAs of an AP MLD include one or more APs. A non-AP MLD can include one or more non-AP STAs, i.e., the affiliated STAs of a non-AP MLD include one or more non-AP STAs. One or more links can be formed between an AP MLD and a non-AP MLD, and each AP affiliated to the AP MLD and each non-AP STA affiliated to the non-AP MLD can communicate through a corresponding link. One or more Peer-to-Peer (P2P) links can be formed between a non-AP MLD and a non-AP MLD, and each non-AP STA affiliated to the two non-AP MLDs respectively can communicate through a corresponding P2P link. One or more P2P links can be formed between an AP MLD and an AP MLD, and each AP affiliated to the two AP MLDs respectively can communicate through a corresponding P2P link.

[0061] A Basic Service Set (BSS) is a basic topology structure in WLAN / Wi-Fi communication. The communication devices constituting a BSS include one AP and a plurality of non-AP STAs. After joining the wireless domain of the AP, each non-AP STA establishes association with the AP, and the associated non-AP STA and the AP can perform data transmission. Non-AP STAs in the same BSS can exchange data through the AP.

[0062] FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of a transmission method of a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application. The method is performed by a first station. The method includes at least part of the following steps:

[0063] Step 220: transmitting a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to instruct one or more second stations to perform transmission, the trigger frame including a common information field and a user information list field, the user information list field including 0, 1 or more user information fields.

[0064] The trigger frame is used to instruct one or more second stations to perform transmission, which can also be understood as the trigger frame being used to trigger one or more second stations to perform transmission, or the trigger frame being used to request one or more second stations to perform transmission.

[0065] In the present application, the first station includes one or more APs, or the first station includes one or more non-AP STAs. Optionally, the first station can also be one or more APs affiliated to an AP MLD, or one or more non-AP STAs affiliated to a non-AP MLD. That is, the first station can be an MLD device or not.

[0066] In the present application, the second station is a peer station (Peer STA) of the first station. The second station includes one or more APs, or the second station includes one or more non-AP STAs. Optionally, the second station can also be one or more APs affiliated to an AP MLD, or one or more non-AP STAs affiliated to a non-AP MLD. That is, the second station can be an MLD device or not.

[0067] Therefore, the trigger frame in the present application can be sent by an AP to a non-AP STA, or sent by a non-AP STA to an AP, or sent by an AP to another AP, or sent by a non-AP STA to another non-AP STA, or sent by an AP MLD to a non-AP MLD, or sent by an AP MLD to another AP MLD, or sent by a non-AP MLD to an AP MLD, or sent by a non-AP MLD to another non-AP MLD.

[0068] When the trigger frame is sent by an AP to a non-AP STA, the trigger frame is used to instruct one or more non-AP STAs to perform uplink transmission. When the trigger frame is sent by an AP MLD to a non-AP MLD, the trigger frame is used to instruct one or more non-AP MLDs to perform uplink transmission. When the trigger frame is sent by a non-AP STA to an AP, the trigger frame is used to instruct one or more APs to perform downlink transmission. When the trigger frame is sent by a non-AP MLD to an AP MLD, the trigger frame is used to instruct one or more AP MLDs to perform downlink transmission.

[0069] In summary, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application supports the first station to instruct one or more second stations to perform transmission through the trigger frame, so as to meet the transmission requirements between the first station and the second station. The trigger frame can carry a common information field and a user information list field to indicate the information required for transmission between the first station and the second station.

[0070] FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a method of transmitting a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application. The method is performed by a second station. The method comprises at least part of the following steps:

[0071] Step 320: receiving the trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to instruct one or more second stations to transmit, the trigger frame comprising a common information field and a user information list field, the user information list field comprising 0, 1 or more user information fields.

[0072] The trigger frame is used to instruct one or more second stations to transmit, which can also be understood as the trigger frame being used to trigger one or more second stations to transmit, which can also be understood as the trigger frame being used to request one or more second stations to transmit.

[0073] In the present application, the second station is a peer station (Peer STA) of the first station. The second station comprises one or more APs, or the second station comprises one or more non-AP STAs. Optionally, the second station can also be one or more APs affiliated to an AP MLD, or one or more non-AP STAs affiliated to a non-AP MLD. That is, the second station can be an MLD device or not.

[0074] In the present application, the first station comprises one or more APs, or the first station comprises one or more non-AP STAs. Optionally, the first station can also be one or more APs affiliated to an AP MLD, or one or more non-AP STAs affiliated to a non-AP MLD. That is, the first station can be an MLD device or not.

[0075] Therefore, the trigger frame in the present application can be sent by an AP to a non-AP STA, or sent by a non-AP STA to an AP, or sent by an AP to another AP, or sent by a non-AP STA to another non-AP STA, or sent by an AP MLD to a non-AP MLD, or sent by an AP MLD to another AP MLD, or sent by a non-AP MLD to an AP MLD, or sent by a non-AP MLD to another non-AP MLD.

[0076] When the trigger frame is sent by an AP to a non-AP STA, the trigger frame is used to indicate one or more non-AP STAs to perform uplink transmission. When the trigger frame is sent by an AP MLD to a non-AP MLD, the trigger frame is used to indicate one or more non-AP MLDs to perform uplink transmission. When the trigger frame is sent by a non-AP STA to an AP, the trigger frame is used to indicate one or more APs to perform downlink transmission. When the trigger frame is sent by a non-AP MLD to an AP MLD, the trigger frame is used to indicate one or more AP MLDs to perform downlink transmission.

[0077] In summary, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application supports the first station to indicate one or more second stations to perform transmission through the trigger frame, so as to meet the transmission requirement between the first station and the second station. The trigger frame can carry the common information field and the user information list field to indicate the information required for the transmission between the first station and the second station.

[0078] In the present application, the structure of the trigger frame defined in the media access control (MAC) sublayer is described as a series of components (such as fields, subfields, elements and subelements) in a specific order. Each figure and table shown below describes the components as they appear in the MAC frame and in the order in which they are passed to the physical layer (PHY), from left to right and then from top to bottom.

[0079] In the figures shown below, all bits within fields are numbered, from 0 to k, where the length of the field is k+1 bits (k is an integer greater than or equal to 0). Bits within numeric fields that are longer than a single bit are depicted in increasing order of significance, i.e., with the lowest numbered bit having the least significance. The octet boundaries within a field can be obtained by taking the bit numbers of the field modulo 8. Octets within numeric fields that are longer than a single octet are depicted in increasing order of significance, from lowest numbered bit to highest numbered bit. The octets in fields longer than a single octet are sent to the physical layer (PHY) in order from the octet containing the lowest numbered bits to the octet containing the highest numbered bits.

[0080] Figure 4 shows a format of a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application, which includes one or more of the following fields: Frame Control, Duration, Receiver Address (RA), Transmitter Address (TA), Common Information (Common Info), User Info List, Padding, Frame Check Sequence (FCS). The Frame Control field and the Duration field each occupies 2 octets, the RA field and the TA field each occupies 6 octets, the Common Info field occupies 8 or more octets, the User Info List field occupies a variable number of octets, the Padding field occupies a variable number of octets, and the FCS occupies 4 octets.

[0081] There are three variants for the User Info field: Special User Info field, HE variant User Info field, and EHT variant User Info field.

[0082] All User Info fields (including the Special User Info field) in the User Info List field of a Trigger frame have the same length unless the Trigger frame is an MU-BAR Trigger frame.

[0083] The User Info field sent to non-AP STAs is either an HE variant or an EHT variant. The User Info field is an HE variant addressed to a non-AP EHT STA if bit B39 of the User Info field is set to 0 and bit B54 of the Common Info field is set to 1 in the Trigger frame; otherwise, it is an EHT variant. B39 of an HE variant User Info field is reserved for a non-EHT HE STA. B39 is set to 0 for an HE variant User Info field by an EHT AP, and is the PS160 subfield for an EHT variant User Info field. (A User Info field that is addressed to a non-AP STA is either an HE variant or an EHT variant. The User Info field is an HE variant addressed to a non-AP EHT STA if B39 of the User Info field is set to 0 and B54 of the Common Info field is set to 1 in the Trigger frame; otherwise, it is an EHT variant. B39 of an HE variant User Info field is reserved for a non-EHT HE STA. B39 is set to 0 for an HE variant User Info field by an EHT AP, and is the PS160 subfield for an EHT variant User Info field.)

[0084] The following table 1 defines valid combinations of B54 and B55 in the Common Info field, B39 in the User Info field, the presence of the Special User Info field in the Trigger frame, the variant of a User Info field, and the corresponding TB PPDU type.

[0085] Table 1. Part field settings in the Trigger frame

[0086] The Special User Info field is a User Info field that does not carry user specific information but carries extended common information not provided in the Common Info field. The Special User Info field is identified by an AID 12 value of 2007 and is optionally present in a Trigger frame that is generated by an EHT AP.

[0087] The Special User Info field, if present, is located immediately after the Common Info field of the Trigger frame and carries information for the U-SIG field of a solicited EHT TB PPDU.

[0088] FIG. 5 shows a format of the Special User Info field according to an example embodiment of the present application, which includes one or more of the following subfields: AID 12, PHY Version Identifier, Uplink Bandwidth Extension, EHT Spatial Reuse 1, EHT Spatial Reuse 2, U-SIG Disregard And Validate, Reserved, Trigger Dependent User Info. The AID 12 subfield occupies 12 bits, the PHY Version Identifier subfield occupies 3 bits, the Uplink Bandwidth Extension subfield occupies 2 bits, the EHT Spatial Reuse 1 subfield and the EHT Spatial Reuse 2 subfield each occupies 4 bits, the U-SIG Disregard And Validate subfield occupies 12 bits, the Reserved subfield occupies 3 bits, and the Trigger Dependent User Info subfield occupies a variable number of bits (e.g., 0 or more). The combination of letters and numbers above each subfield indicates the number of bits occupied by the subfield, which will not be repeated here.

[0089] Figure 6 shows a format of HE Variant User Info field according to an example embodiment of the present application, which includes one or more of the following subfields: AID 12, Resource Unit Allocation (RU Allocation), Uplink Forward Error Correction Coding Type (UL FEC Coding Type), Uplink High Efficiency Modulation and Coding Scheme (UL HE-MCS), Uplink Dual Carrier Modulation (UL DCM), Spatial Stream Allocation (SS Allocation) / Radom Access-RU Information (RA-RU Information), Uplink Target Receive Power (UL Target Receive Power), Reserved, Trigger Dependent User Info. The AID 12 subfield occupies 12 bits, the RU Allocation subfield occupies 8 bits, the UL Target Receive Power subfield occupies 7 bits, the SS Allocation / RA-RU Information subfield occupies 6 bits, the UL HE-MCS subfield occupies 4 bits, the UL FEC Coding Type subfield, the UL DCM subfield, the Reserved subfield each occupies 1 bit, and the Trigger Dependent User Info subfield occupies a variable number of bits. The combination of letters and numbers above each subfield indicates the number of bits occupied by the subfield, which will not be repeated here.

[0090] Figure 7 shows a format of an EHT Variant User Info field according to an example embodiment of the present application, which includes one or more of the following subfields: AID 12, Resource Unit Allocation (RU Allocation), Uplink Forward Error Correction Coding Type (UL FEC Coding Type), Uplink Extremely High Throughput Modulation and Coding Scheme (UL EHT-MCS), Reserved, Spatial Stream Allocation (SS Allocation), Uplink Target Receive Power (UL Target Receive Power), Primary Secondary 160 (PS 160), Trigger Dependent User Info. The AID 12 subfield occupies 12 bits, the RU Allocation subfield occupies 8 bits, the UL Target Receive Power subfield occupies 7 bits, the SS Allocation subfield occupies 6 bits, the UL EHT-MCS subfield occupies 4 bits, the UL FEC Coding Type subfield, the Reserved subfield, and the PS 160 subfield each occupy 1 bit, and the Trigger Dependent User Info subfield occupies a variable number of bits. The combination of letters and numbers above each subfield indicates the number of bits occupied by the subfield, which will not be repeated here.

[0091] An Extra FCS is a FCS that can be used for both frame check and also for indicating a subsequent FCS carrying padding. In some cases, the Extra FCS can also be referred to as an Intermediate FCS. If the User Info field starts with an Extra FCS, the Extra FCS is likely to be misread by the receiver as an AID of a non-AP STA. (A concern was raised before that user info field starts with an extra FCS will be misread as an AID of a non-AP STA.)

[0092] Therefore, there is a need to resolve the ambiguity when the User Info field starts with an Extra FCS. The present application makes a new design for the Trigger frame to avoid the receiver misreading the Extra FCS of the User Info field as an AID, with reference to the design of the 802.11ax Null Data PPDU Announcement (NDPA) frame.

[0093] The design of NDPA frame in 802.11ax can refer to FIG. 8. The HE STA Info field is extended from 2 bytes to 4 bytes, starting with an AID. The first 12 bits of the second 2 bytes in HE STA Info field may be interpreted as an AID by the non-AP STA. The adopted way is to add“Disambiguation”bit to address the above“misinterpretation”issue.

[0094] FIG. 9 shows a flow diagram of a method for transmitting a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application. The method is performed by a first station. The method includes at least part of the following steps:

[0095] Step 920: transmitting a trigger frame, at least one user info field in the user info list field in the trigger frame contains a disambiguation bit.

[0096] The disambiguation bit is set to 1 in this case to use User Info field for extra FCS. Therefore, the receiver can determine that the start of the user info field is extra FCS instead of AID by the disambiguation bit in the user info field.

[0097] The present application takes the disambiguation bit as bit B11 for example, and shows the format of the user info field containing a disambiguation bit, as shown in FIG. 10. However, this does not mean that the possibility of the disambiguation bit in other positions in the user info field is excluded.

[0098] Following NDPA design, propose to add“Disambiguation”bit to the User Info field in a trigger frame. As shown in FIG. 10, bits B0-B10 of the User Info field are used to represent Extra FCS part 1, bit B11 is used for Disambiguation, bits B12-B33 are used to represent Extra FCS part 2, and bits B34-B39 are reserved.

[0099] In some embodiments, the total number of bits of the Extra FCS part 1 and the Extra FCS part 2 is less than or equal to m, m is an integer greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 32. For example, m is 16 or 24 or 32, etc.

[0100] In some embodiments, there is an earlier indication in the Common User info field in the trigger frame to tell the receiver that the above user info field carries extra FCS.

[0101] Other contents of the trigger frame can refer to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2-7, which will not be repeated here.

[0102] In summary, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application avoids the receiver mistaking the extra FCS of the User Info field as AID by including a disambiguation bit in at least one user information field in the trigger frame, ensures correct reception of the trigger frame, and improves transmission efficiency and reliability between the first station and the second station.

[0103] FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of a transmission method of a trigger frame provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The method is performed by the second station. The method includes at least part of the following steps:

[0104] Step 1120: receiving the trigger frame, at least one user information field in the user information list field in the trigger frame includes a disambiguation bit.

[0105] The disambiguation bit is set to 1 in this case to use User Info field for extra FCS. Thus, the second station can determine that the beginning of the User Info field is extra FCS instead of AID by one disambiguation bit in the User Info field.

[0106] The format of the User Info field containing one disambiguation bit is shown in FIG. 10. The present application takes the disambiguation bit as bit B11 for example, but this does not mean that the possibility of the disambiguation bit in other positions in the User Info field is excluded.

[0107] In some embodiments, the total number of bits of Extra FCS part 1 and Extra FCS part 2 is less than or equal to m, m is an integer greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 32. For example, m is 16 or 24 or 32, etc.

[0108] In some embodiments, there is an earlier indication in the Common User info field in the trigger frame to tell the receiver that the above user info field carries extra FCS.

[0109] Other contents of the trigger frame can refer to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2-7, which will not be repeated here.

[0110] In summary, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application avoids the receiver mistaking the extra FCS of the User Info field as AID by including a disambiguation bit in at least one User Info field in the trigger frame, ensuring correct reception of the trigger frame, and improving transmission efficiency and reliability between the first station and the second station.

[0111] However, in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 9-11, when the disambiguation bit B11 in the User Info field of the trigger frame is set to 1, it may conflict with the encoding value of the already defined AID12 subfield.

[0112] The following Table 2 shows the encoding of the AID12 subfield in the User Info field: (The AID12 subfield in the User Info field is encoded as follows:)

[0113] Encoding of AID 12 subfield

[0114] It can be seen that the encoding value of AID 12 subfield is 4095, which is used to indicate the start of padding field. However, if the disambiguation bit B11 in the User Info field is set to 1, the encoding value of the first 12 bits of the User Info field can also be 4095, which conflicts with the encoding value 4095 of the AID 12 subfield already defined for padding indication, resulting in ambiguity. (When the Disambiguation bit (B11) in the User Info field of a trigger frame is set to 1, the AID 12 field value may be 4095, which is the same as the value already used for padding indication, so it may cause ambiguation.)

[0115] The conflict reason is analyzed as follows, in the encoding definition of AID 12 in Table 2 above, AID 12 = 4095 has a meaning, and its binary representation from B11-B0 is 111111111111, that is, B11-B0 are all 1. At this time, if you want to redefine the field meaning, set B11 as the disambiguation bit and set it to 1, and B10-B0 field will be used as FCS field or Reserved field, which has the possibility that B10-B0 are all set to 1. Because the Reserved field usually uses 1 as the padding bit (that is, B10-B0 are filled with 1), and the FCS also has the possibility of setting B10-B0 to all 1s as the check sequence. In this case, the disambiguation bit B11 and the remaining bits of the original AID 12 will form a sequence of all 1s, which is exactly the same as AID = 4095, and the terminal cannot distinguish at this time whether the bit is a disambiguation bit or the first bit of AID 12 = 4095. Therefore, in the present embodiment, in order to solve the conflict problem, it is necessary to set B11 as the disambiguation bit to 1 while distinguishing the AID 12 value in Table 2.

[0116] As an optional embodiment, since 2047-4094 in the AID 12 table are reserved bits, in the case of B11 = 1, as long as one of B10-B0 takes 0, the number of binary bits corresponding to B11-B0 will fall into the Reserved interval of the AID 12 table value, and no conflict will occur, so one or more bits of B10-B0 can be set to 0 and B11 = 1 to be used as disambiguation bits.

[0117] As an optional embodiment, selecting one of B10-B0 can be setting one of B10, B9, B8, B7, B6, B5, B4, B3, B2, B1, B0 to zero. Preferably, one of B10-B6 is set to zero, since B10-B6 in AID12 belong to the high six bits, i.e. MSB in the field, in the decoding process, it will have higher decoding accuracy than the low six bits, which can reduce the error rate and improve robustness.

[0118] As an optional embodiment, selecting consecutive bits of B10-B0 to zero in combination with B11 as disambiguation bits, the consecutive bits can be consecutive 2, 3, 4 or 5, a typical design is (B11-B0) 100001111111 or (B11-B0) 100000111111, such design is because consecutive zero bits are beneficial to the receiver to eliminate errors when decoding, greatly improving the accuracy of transmission. Of course, as a typical embodiment, the present application does not exclude the design of (B11-B0) 100000000000.

[0119] In the above design idea, B11 in AID12 and one or more bits of B10-B0 are used in combination as disambiguation bits. In contrast, there is an idea of selecting one bit in the Reserved bits in the Common info field in combination with B11 for disambiguation, but separating two bits indicates that the two bits are designed in two information domains, greatly increasing the decoding complexity and increasing the error probability. The error rate is at least 20% different from the adjacent bits in the same field.

[0120] In addition, using the bits of AID12 for indication does not need to occupy the field of Common info field, which is very friendly to forward compatibility. After determining the disambiguation bits, only one of the 4096 values of AID12 needs to be reserved (for example, setting B10, B9 as disambiguation bits to occupy 100111111111, then setting the corresponding decimal 2571 in the AID12 table as disambiguation bits), the occupation of AID12 itself indication bits can be almost ignored.

[0121] Table 3 encoding of the modified AID12 subfield

[0122] Table 3 above is only an example, x can take any value in the reserved value of the original table 2.

[0123] To this end, the present application further provides a transmission method of the trigger frame, which adopts the newly defined trigger frame format, and can avoid the conflict between the User Info field containing the disambiguation bits and the coding design of the already defined AID 12.

[0124] FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of the transmission method of the trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application. The method is performed by a first station. The method includes at least part of the following steps:

[0125] Step 1220: transmitting the trigger frame, wherein at least one of the User Info fields in the User Info List field of the trigger frame includes at least two disambiguation bits, and the at least two disambiguation bits contain the bit B11.

[0126] The at least two disambiguation bits means two or more disambiguation bits. Therefore, the at least two disambiguation bits included in the User Info field contain the bit B11 and one or more bits before the bit B11. For example, the at least two disambiguation bits included in the User Info field contain the bit B11 and the bit B10; or the at least two disambiguation bits included in the User Info field contain the bit B11, the bit B10 and the bit B9; or the at least two disambiguation bits included in the User Info field contain the bit B11, the bit B10, the bit B9 and the bit B8, and so on, which are not listed one by one here.

[0127] In some embodiments, the value of the bit B11 among the at least two disambiguation bits is 1.

[0128] In some embodiments, at least one of the one or more bits before the bit B11 among the at least two disambiguation bits is 0. (Among the at least two bits, B11 shall be set to 1, and at least one of the other bits shall be set to 0.)

[0129] For example, the User Info field includes at least two disambiguation bits: B11 and B10. Among them, the value of B11 is 1, and the value of B10 is 0. (E.g., B11 is set to 1, and B10 is set to 0.)

[0130] For example, the User Info field includes at least two disambiguation bits: B11, B10 and B9. Among them, the value of B11 is 1, the value of B10 is 1, and the value of B9 is 0. (E.g., B11 is set to 1, B10 is set to 1, B9 is set to 0.)

[0131] For example, the user information field includes at least two disambiguation bits: B11, B10 and B9. Wherein, the value of B11 is 1, the value of B10 is 0, and the value of B9 is 0. (E.g., B11 is set to 1, B10 is set to 0, B9 is set to 0.)

[0132] For example, the user information field includes at least two disambiguation bits: B11, B10 and B9. Wherein, the value of B11 is 1, the value of B10 is 0, and the value of B9 is 1. (E.g., B11 is set to 1, B10 is set to 0, B9 is set to 1.)

[0133] Since the value of disambiguation bit B11 is limited to be different from the values of other disambiguation bits, when the value of disambiguation bit B11 is 1, there must be at least one bit with value 0 in the first 12 bits of the User Info field, so that the encoding value of the first 12 bits of the User Info field must not be 4095, thereby avoiding the User Info field containing disambiguation bits from conflicting with the encoding value of the AID12 subfield for padding indication that has been defined.

[0134] And, considering that the encoding values of the AID12 subfield from 2047-4094 are reserved, guaranteeing that the value of disambiguation bit B11 is 1 and the value of at least one other disambiguation bit is 0 can make the encoding value of the first 12 bits of the user information field belong to the range of 2047 to 4094 as much as possible, which can reduce the conflict between the user information field containing at least two disambiguation bits and other encoding values of the AID12 subfield that have been defined, and has good compatibility.

[0135] In some embodiments, the value of one or more bits before bit B11 is the same as or different from the value of bit B11.

[0136] In some embodiments, the values of multiple bits before bit B11 are the same or different. For example, the values of multiple bits before bit B11 are all 0, or some of the values of multiple bits before bit B11 are 0 and the values of other bits are 1.

[0137] In some embodiments, the at least two disambiguation bits are used to indicate that the at least one user information field is an extension of a preceding user information field (such as a previous user information field, or a previous two user information fields, or a previous three user information fields, etc.), or, to indicate that the meaning of the at least one user information field is changed. (We can use at least two bits of the AID12 field in the User Info field to indicate that this User Info field is a continuation of the preceding User Info field or to indicate the meaning of the User Info field gets changed. The at least two bits includes B11.) Wherein, the previous user information field refers to one other user information field immediately preceding the user information field containing the at least two disambiguation bits.

[0138] In some embodiments, the at least one user information field containing the at least two disambiguation bits is used to extend the length of a previous user information field. Or, the at least one user information field containing the at least two disambiguation bits is used to extend the length of a previous two user information fields. Or, the at least one user information field containing the at least two disambiguation bits is used to extend the length of a previous three or more user information fields.

[0139] In some embodiments, the user information field containing the at least two disambiguation bits and one or more user information fields preceding it can be combined into one longer user information field.

[0140] In some embodiments, the at least one user information field containing the at least two disambiguation bits also carries an extra FCS or intermediate FCS. The extra FCS or intermediate FCS is used for frame check and indicates a subsequent carrying of a padding field. (The User Info field with the at least two Disambiguation bits could be used to carry extra FCS for padding or intermediate FCS precedes padding.)

[0141] In some embodiments, the extra FCS or the intermediate FCS includes at least two parts. For example, the user info field including at least two disambiguation bits includes an extra FCS part 1 and an extra FCS part 2. For another example, the user info field including at least two disambiguation bits includes an intermediate FCS part 1 and an intermediate FCS part 2.

[0142] In some embodiments, the number of bits of the extra FCS is less than or equal to m. If the user info field includes an extra FCS part 1 and an extra FCS part 2, the total number of bits of the extra FCS part 1 and the extra FCS part 2 is less than or equal to m. m is an integer greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 32. For example, m is 16 or 24 or 32, etc.

[0143] In some embodiments, the number of bits of the intermediate FCS is less than or equal to m. If the user info field includes an intermediate FCS part 1 and an intermediate FCS part 2, the total number of bits of the intermediate FCS part 1 and the intermediate FCS part 2 is less than or equal to m. m is an integer greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 32. For example, m is 16 or 24 or 32, etc.

[0144] In some embodiments, there is an earlier indication in the Common User info field in the trigger frame to tell the receiver that the above user info field carries extra FCS.

[0145] Other contents of the trigger frame can refer to the embodiments shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 11, which will not be repeated here.

[0146] In summary, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application avoids the receiver mistaking the extra FCS of the User Info field as AID by including at least two disambiguation bits in at least one user info field in the trigger frame, and avoids the User Info field including disambiguation bits from conflicting with the encoding value of the padding indication of the already defined AID 12 subfield, thereby ensuring correct reception of the trigger frame and improving the transmission efficiency and reliability between the first station and the second station.

[0147] FIG. 13 shows a flowchart of a transmission method of a trigger frame provided by an example embodiment of the present application. The method is performed by a second station. The method includes at least part of the following steps:

[0148] Step 1320: receiving the trigger frame, at least one user information field in the user information list field in the trigger frame includes at least two disambiguation bits, and the at least two disambiguation bits contain bit B11.

[0149] At least two disambiguation bits means two or more disambiguation bits. Therefore, the at least two disambiguation bits included in the user information field contain bit B11 and one or more bits before bit B11. For example, the at least two disambiguation bits included in the user information field contain bit B11 and bit B10; or the at least two disambiguation bits included in the user information field contain bit B11, bit B10 and bit B9; or the at least two disambiguation bits included in the user information field contain bit B11, bit B10, bit B9 and bit B8, and so on, all of which are not listed here.

[0150] In some embodiments, bit B11 of the at least two disambiguation bits is 1.

[0151] In some embodiments, at least one bit of the one or more bits before bit B11 in the at least two disambiguation bits is 0.

[0152] In some embodiments, the value of the one or more bits before bit B11 is the same as or different from the value of bit B11.

[0153] In some embodiments, the values of the multiple bits before bit B11 are the same or different. For example, the values of the multiple bits before bit B11 are all 0, or some of the multiple bits before bit B11 are 0 and the other bits are 1.

[0154] Since the value of disambiguation bit B11 is limited to be different from the values of other disambiguation bits, when the value of disambiguation bit B11 is 1, the first 12 bits of the User Info field must have at least one bit with a value of 0, so that the encoding value of the first 12 bits of the User Info field must not be 4095, thereby avoiding a conflict between the User Info field containing disambiguation bits and the encoding value of the AID12 subfield used for padding indication.

[0155] In addition, considering that the encoding values of the AID12 subfield are reserved from 2047-4094, ensuring that the value of disambiguation bit B11 is 1 and the value of at least one other disambiguation bit is 0 can make the encoding value of the first 12 bits of the user information field belong to the range of 2047 to 4094 as much as possible, which can reduce the conflict between the user information field containing at least two disambiguation bits and other encoding values of the AID12 subfield, and has good compatibility.

[0156] In some embodiments, the at least two disambiguation bits are used to indicate that the at least one user info field is an extension of a previous user info field, or, to indicate that the meaning of the at least one user info field changes. Wherein, the previous user info field refers to another user info field immediately before the user info field containing the at least two disambiguation bits.

[0157] In some embodiments, the at least one user info field containing the at least two disambiguation bits is used to extend the length of a previous user info field.

[0158] In some embodiments, the user info field containing the at least two disambiguation bits and one or more user info fields before it can be combined into one longer user info field.

[0159] In some embodiments, the at least one user info field containing the at least two disambiguation bits also carries an extra FCS or an intermediate FCS.

[0160] In some embodiments, the extra FCS or the intermediate FCS comprises at least two parts. For example, the user info field containing the at least two disambiguation bits comprises an extra FCS part 1 and an extra FCS part 2. For another example, the user info field containing the at least two disambiguation bits comprises an intermediate FCS part 1 and an intermediate FCS part 2.

[0161] In some embodiments, the extra FCS has a number of bits less than or equal to m. If the user info field comprises an extra FCS part 1 and an extra FCS part 2, the total number of bits of the extra FCS part 1 and the extra FCS part 2 is less than or equal to m. m is an integer greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 32. For example, m is 16 or 24 or 32, etc.

[0162] In some embodiments, the intermediate FCS has a number of bits less than or equal to m. If the user info field comprises an intermediate FCS part 1 and an intermediate FCS part 2, the total number of bits of the intermediate FCS part 1 and the intermediate FCS part 2 is less than or equal to m. m is an integer greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 32. For example, m is 16 or 24 or 32, etc.

[0163] In some embodiments, there is an earlier indication in the Common User info field in the trigger frame to tell the receiver that the above user info field carries extra FCS.

[0164] Other contents of the trigger frame can refer to the embodiments shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 12, which will not be repeated here.

[0165] In summary, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application contains at least two disambiguation bits in at least one user information field in the trigger frame, to avoid the receiving party mistaking the extra FCS of the User Info field as AID, and to avoid the User Info field containing disambiguation bits from conflicting with the encoding value of the AID12 subfield defined for padding indication, so as to ensure correct reception of the trigger frame, and to improve the transmission efficiency and reliability between the first station and the second station.

[0166] Taking at least two disambiguation bits including B11 and B10 as an example, FIG. 14 shows a format diagram of the User Info field provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The User Info field contains B10 and B11 as disambiguation bit 1 and disambiguation bit 2.

[0167] Before and after the disambiguation bits, there are extra FCS part 1 and extra FCS part 2 respectively. The total number of bits of the extra FCS part 1 and the extra FCS part 2 is less than or equal to m. m is an integer greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 32. For example, m is 16 or 24 or 32, etc. Taking m = 32 as an example in FIG. 14, the extra FCS part 1 occupies bits B0 to B9, the extra FCS part 2 occupies bits B12 to B33, and bits B34 to bits B39 are reserved.

[0168] Optionally, there is an earlier indication in the common information field in the trigger frame to tell the receiving party that the User Info field carries extra FCS or contains at least two disambiguation bits.

[0169] Optionally, the User Info field shown in FIG. 14 is immediately after the common information field. Optionally, the User Info field shown in FIG. 14 is the last User Info field in the User Info list field. Of course, the present application does not exclude the possibility that the User Info field shown in FIG. 14 is in other positions, and the User Info field shown in FIG. 14 can be located at any position in the User Info list field, such as the beginning, middle or end of the User Info list field.

[0170] Taking at least two disambiguation bits including B9, B10 and B11 as an example, FIG. 15 shows a format diagram of the User Info field provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The User Info field contains B9, B10 and B11 as disambiguation bit 1, disambiguation bit 2 and disambiguation bit 3.

[0171] Before and after the Disambiguation bits, there are Extra FCS Part 1 and Extra FCS Part 2 respectively. The total number of bits of Extra FCS Part 1 and Extra FCS Part 2 is less than or equal to m. m is an integer greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 32. For example, m is 16 or 24 or 32, etc. Fig. 15 takes m = 32 as an example, Extra FCS Part 1 occupies bits B0 to B8, Extra FCS Part 2 occupies bits B12 to B34, and bits B35 to bits B39 are reserved.

[0172] Optionally, there is an earlier indication in the Common Information field in the Trigger frame to tell the receiving party that the User Info field carries Extra FCS or contains at least two Disambiguation bits.

[0173] Optionally, the User Info field shown in Fig. 15 is immediately after the Common Information field. Optionally, the User Info field shown in Fig. 15 is the last User Info field in the User Info List field. Of course, the present application does not exclude the possibility that the User Info field shown in Fig. 15 is in other positions, and the User Info field shown in Fig. 15 can be located at any position within the User Info List field, such as the beginning, middle or end of the User Info List field.

[0174] Taking B11 and B10 as examples of the at least two Disambiguation bits, Fig. 16 shows a format diagram of the User Info field according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. B10 and B11 included in the User Info field are Disambiguation bit 1 and Disambiguation bit 2.

[0175] Before and after the Disambiguation bits, the User Info field also contains a number of reserved bits. Fig. 16 takes B0 to B9 and B12 to B39 as examples of reserved bits.

[0176] The User Info field shown in Fig. 16 can be used to extend the length of the previous User Info field, which means that two or more adjacent User Info fields can be combined into a longer User Info field. (The User Info field with the at least two Disambiguation bits could be used to extend the length of the preceding User Info field, which means two or more User Info fields are combined into a longer User Info field)

[0177] By combining two or more User Info fields into one longer User Info field with at least two Disambiguation bits, the longer User Info field has more reserved bits than the User Info field with only one reserved bit B25, and can carry more information to meet more indication requirements and improve the indication efficiency of the trigger frame.

[0178] Optionally, there is an earlier indication in the Common Info field of the trigger frame to tell the receiver that the User Info field carries extra FCS or contains at least two Disambiguation bits. If there is no such earlier indication in the Common Info field of the trigger frame, the indication bits can be saved.

[0179] Optionally, the User Info field shown in FIG. 16 can be at any position in the User Info List, such as the beginning, middle or end of the User Info List field.

[0180] Taking at least two Disambiguation bits B9, B10 and B11 as an example, FIG. 17 shows a format diagram of the User Info field according to an example embodiment of the present application. The User Info field contains B9, B10 and B11 as Disambiguation bit 1, Disambiguation bit 2 and Disambiguation bit 3.

[0181] The User Info field also contains several reserved bits before and after the Disambiguation bits. FIG. 17 takes B0 to B8 and B12 to B39 as examples of the reserved bits.

[0182] The User Info field shown in FIG. 17 can be used to extend the length of the preceding User Info field, which means two or more User Info fields adjacent to each other can be combined into a longer User Info field. (The User Info field with the at least two Disambiguation bits could be used to extend the length of the preceding User Info field, which means two or more User Info fields are combined into a longer User Info field)

[0183] By combining two or more user information fields into one longer user information field with at least two disambiguation bits, the longer user information field has more reserved bits than the user information field with only one reserved bit B25, and can carry more information to meet more indication requirements and improve the indication efficiency of the trigger frame.

[0184] Optionally, there is an earlier indication in the common information field of the trigger frame to tell the receiver that the user information field carries extra FCS or contains at least two disambiguation bits. If there is no such earlier indication in the common information field of the trigger frame, the indication bits can be saved.

[0185] Optionally, the user information field shown in FIG. 17 can be at any position in the user information list, such as the beginning, middle or end of the user information list field.

[0186] In the frame format of the trigger frame shown in the present application, the fields, elements, byte numbers and bit numbers are optional examples, and the present application supports any adaptive modification of the frame format of the trigger frame, such as adding fields, reducing some fields, recombining some fields, changing byte numbers, changing bit numbers, changing field names, etc. based on any one or more of FIGS. 4-7, 10, 14-17.

[0187] FIG. 18 shows a structural block diagram of a transmission device of a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application. The device can be implemented as the first station described above or as a part of the first station described above. Optionally, the device is a wireless communication device / wireless device supporting WLAN / Wi-Fi protocol (such as 802.11 protocol). The device includes a sending module 1810. Optionally, the device further includes a receiving module 1830 and / or a processing module 1850.

[0188] The sending module 1810 is configured to send a trigger frame, where the trigger frame is used to instruct one or more second stations to transmit, and the trigger frame includes a common information field and a user information list field, and the user information list field includes 0, 1 or more user information fields.

[0189] In some embodiments, at least one user information field in the user information list field includes one disambiguation bit B11.

[0190] In some embodiments, at least one user information field in the user information list field includes at least two disambiguation bits, and the at least two disambiguation bits include bit B11.

[0191] In some embodiments, the at least two disambiguation bits are used to indicate that the at least one user information field is an extension of a previous user information field, or, are used to indicate that the meaning of the at least one user information field changes.

[0192] In some embodiments, the bit B11 has a value of 1.

[0193] In some embodiments, the at least two disambiguation bits include the bit B11 and one or more bits before the bit B11.

[0194] In some embodiments, at least one of the one or more bits before the bit B11 has a value of 0.

[0195] In some embodiments, the at least one user information field further carries: an extra FCS, or, an intermediate FCS.

[0196] In some embodiments, the extra FCS has a bit number less than or equal to m, m is greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 32.

[0197] In some embodiments, the at least one user information field is used to extend the length of a previous user information field.

[0198] In some embodiments, the sending module 1810 is configured to perform one or more of the following steps: step 220, step 920, step 1220.

[0199] In some embodiments, the receiving module 1830 is configured to receive the PPDU sent by the second station.

[0200] In some embodiments, the processing module 1850 is configured to process operations related to the transmission of the trigger frame.

[0201] The content described in the various embodiments above, such as the use, type, format, etc. of the trigger frame, are applicable to the apparatus shown in FIG. 18. For details not described in the present embodiment, refer to the above embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0202] In summary, the apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application supports avoiding the receiver mistaking the extra FCS of the User Info field as the AID by including at least one disambiguation bit in the at least one user information field in the trigger frame, and supports avoiding the User Info field containing the disambiguation bit from conflicting with the encoding value of the AID 12 subfield used for padding indication that has been defined, thereby ensuring correct reception of the trigger frame and improving the transmission efficiency and reliability between the first station and the second station.

[0203] Figure 19 shows a structure block diagram of a transmitting apparatus of a trigger frame according to an example embodiment of the present application. The apparatus can be implemented as the second station described above, or as a part of the second station described above. Optionally, the apparatus is a wireless communication apparatus / wireless device supporting WLAN / Wi-Fi protocol (e.g. 802.11 protocol). The apparatus comprises a receiving module 1910. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a transmitting module 1930 and / or a processing module 1950.

[0204] The receiving module 1910 is configured to receive a trigger frame, wherein the trigger frame is configured to instruct one or more apparatuses to transmit, and wherein the trigger frame comprises a common information field and a user information list field, and wherein the user information list field comprises 0, 1 or more user information fields.

[0205] In some embodiments, at least one user information field in the user information list field comprises a disambiguation bit B11.

[0206] In some embodiments, at least one user information field in the user information list field comprises at least two disambiguation bits, and the at least two disambiguation bits comprise bit B11.

[0207] In some embodiments, the at least two disambiguation bits are configured to indicate that the at least one user information field is an extension of a previous user information field, or are configured to indicate that a meaning of the at least one user information field is changed.

[0208] In some embodiments, the value of bit B11 is 1.

[0209] In some embodiments, the at least two disambiguation bits comprise bit B11 and one or more bits before bit B11.

[0210] In some embodiments, at least one bit of the one or more bits before bit B11 has a value of 0.

[0211] In some embodiments, the at least one user information field further carries an additional FCS or an intermediate FCS.

[0212] In some embodiments, the additional FCS has a bit number less than or equal to m, and m is greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 32.

[0213] In some embodiments, the at least one user information field is configured to extend a length of a previous user information field.

[0214] In some embodiments, the receiving module 1910 is configured to perform one or more of the following steps: step 320, step 1120, step 1320.

[0215] In some embodiments, the sending module 1930 is configured to send the PPDU to the first station.

[0216] In some embodiments, the processing module 1950 is configured to determine whether the user info field carries an extra FCS or an intermediate FCS.

[0217] In some embodiments, the processing module 1950 is configured to determine whether the user info field contains a disambiguation bit.

[0218] In some embodiments, the processing module 1950 is configured to determine whether the user info field contains at least two disambiguation bits.

[0219] In some embodiments, the processing module 1950 is configured to process operations related to transmission of the trigger frame.

[0220] The above-described content of various embodiments, such as the use, type, format, etc. of the trigger frame, are applicable to the apparatus shown in FIG. 19. For details not described in the present embodiment, refer to the above embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0221] In summary, the apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application supports avoiding the receiving party mistaking the extra FCS of the User Info field as an AID by including at least one disambiguation bit in at least one user info field in the trigger frame, and supports avoiding the User Info field containing the disambiguation bit from conflicting with the encoding value of the AID 12 subfield used for padding indication that has been defined, thereby ensuring correct reception of the trigger frame and improving transmission efficiency and reliability between the first station and the second station.

[0222] It should be noted that the apparatus provided by the above-described embodiments, in realizing its functions, is only exemplified by the above division of functional modules, and in actual applications, the above functions can be completed by different functional modules according to needs, i.e. the internal structure of the communication device is divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the above-described functions. In addition, the apparatus and method embodiments provided by the above-described embodiments belong to the same concept.

[0223] FIG. 20 shows a structural schematic diagram of a communication device 2000 provided by an example embodiment of the present application, which includes at least one of the following: a receiver 2001, a transmitter 2002, a processor 2003, a memory 2004, and a bus (not shown in the figure).

[0224] Optionally, the communication device 2000 is configured to perform part or all of the steps performed by the first station.

[0225] Optionally, the communication device 2000 is configured to perform part or all of the steps of the second station described above.

[0226] Optionally, the communication device 2000 is a wireless device / wireless communication device supporting WLAN / Wi-Fi protocol (such as 802.11 protocol).

[0227] The receiver 2001 is configured to implement the receiving function. Optionally, the receiver 2001 can be configured to implement the functions and steps of the receiving module 1830 and / or the receiving module 1910 described above. The transmitter 2002 is configured to implement the sending function. Optionally, the transmitter 2002 can be configured to implement the functions and steps of the sending module 1810 and / or the sending module 1930 described above.

[0228] Optionally, the receiver 2001 and the transmitter 2002 can be implemented as one communication component, which can be one communication chip, and the communication component can be referred to as a transceiver. Optionally, the receiver 2001 and the transmitter 2002 can be implemented as a wireless communication component and / or a wired communication component. Optionally, the wireless communication component includes a wireless communication chip and / or a radio frequency antenna. Optionally, the wired communication component includes a wired communication chip and / or a wired interface.

[0229] The processor 2003 includes one or more processing cores, and the processor 2003 performs various functional applications and information processing by running software programs and modules. In some embodiments, the processor 2003 can be configured to implement the functions and steps of the processing module 1850 and / or the processing module 1950 described above. The memory 2004 can be configured to store computer programs executed by the processor 2003, and the processor 2003 is configured to execute the computer programs to implement various steps in the method embodiments described above.

[0230] In some embodiments, the memory 2004 can be connected to the processor 2003, and the receiver 2001 and the transmitter 2002.

[0231] Moreover, the memory 2004 can be realized by any type of volatile or nonvolatile storage devices, including but not limited to: a magnetic disk or a optical disk, an Electrically-Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a magnetic memory, a flash memory, a Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM).

[0232] In some embodiments, the receiver 2001 receives signals / data independently, or the processor 2003 controls the receiver 2001 to receive signals / data, or the processor 2003 requests the receiver 2001 to receive signals / data, or the processor 2003 cooperates with the receiver 2001 to receive signals / data.

[0233] In some embodiments, the transmitter 2002 transmits signals / data independently, or the processor 2003 controls the transmitter 2002 to transmit signals / data, or the processor 2003 requests the transmitter 2002 to transmit signals / data, or the processor 2003 cooperates with the transmitter 2002 to transmit signals / data.

[0234] For details not specifically described in the present embodiments, reference can be made to the foregoing embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0235] In an example embodiment of the present application, a chip is also provided, which includes a programmable logic circuit and / or program instructions, and when the chip is running on a communication device, is used to implement the communication method provided by each of the method embodiments.

[0236] In some embodiments, the chip includes a sending module 1810. Optionally, the chip further includes a receiving module 1830 and / or a processing module 1850. For related content, reference can be made to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here. Optionally, each module can be implemented as a circuit structure.

[0237] In some embodiments, the chip includes a receiving module 1910. Optionally, the chip further includes a sending module 1930 and / or a processing module 1950. For related content, reference can be made to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here. Optionally, each module can be implemented as a circuit structure.

[0238] In an example embodiment of the present application, a computer readable storage medium is also provided, and at least one program is stored in the computer readable storage medium, and the at least one program is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the transmission method of the trigger frame provided by each of the above method embodiments.

[0239] In an example embodiment of the present application, a computer program product is also provided, and the computer program product includes computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium, and a processor acquires the computer instructions from the computer readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer instructions to implement the transmission method of the trigger frame provided by each of the above method embodiments.

[0240] In an example embodiment of the present application, a computer program is also provided, and the computer program includes computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium, and a processor acquires the computer instructions from the computer readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer instructions to implement the transmission method of the trigger frame provided by each of the above method embodiments.

[0241] Those skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the steps of the above embodiments can be completed by hardware, or by program instructing relevant hardware to complete, and the program can be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and the above mentioned storage medium can be a read-only memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, etc.

[0242] The above is only an optional embodiment of the present application, and is not used to limit the present application, and any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for triggering transmission of a frame, characterized in that, The method is performed by a first station, and the method comprises: sending a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to instruct one or more second stations to transmit, the trigger frame comprising a common information field and a user information list field, the user information list field comprising 0, 1 or more user information fields.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, At least one user information field in the user information list field comprises at least two disambiguation bits, the at least two disambiguation bits containing bit B11.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The at least two disambiguation bits are used to indicate that the at least one user information field is an extension of a previous user information field, or are used to indicate that a meaning of the at least one user information field changes.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The bit B11 has a value of 1.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that, The at least two disambiguation bits contain bit B11 and one or more bits before bit B11.

6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that, At least one bit of the one or more bits before bit B11 has a value of 0.

7. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that, The at least one user information field further carries: an extra FCS, or an intermediate FCS.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, The extra FCS has a bit number less than or equal to m, and the intermediate FCS has a bit number less than or equal to m; where m is greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 32.

9. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 8, characterized in that, The at least one user information field is used to extend a length of a previous user information field.

10. A method of transmitting a trigger frame, the method comprising: The method is performed by a second station, and the method comprises: receiving a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to instruct one or more second stations to transmit, the trigger frame comprising a common information field and a user information list field, the user information list field comprising 0, 1 or more user information fields.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, At least one user information field in the user information list field comprises at least two disambiguation bits, the at least two disambiguation bits containing bit B11.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, The at least two disambiguation bits are used to indicate that the at least one user information field is an extension of a previous user information field, or are used to indicate that a meaning of the at least one user information field changes.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that, The bit B11 has a value of 1.

14. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that, The at least two disambiguation bits contain bit B11 and one or more bits before bit B11.

15. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, characterized in that, At least one bit of the one or more bits before bit B11 has a value of 0.

16. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 15, characterized in that, The at least one user information field further carries: an extra FCS, or an intermediate FCS.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein, The extra FCS has a bit number less than or equal to m, and the intermediate FCS has a bit number less than or equal to m; where m is greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 32.

18. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, characterized in that, The at least one user information field is used to extend a length of a previous user information field.

19. An apparatus for transmitting a trigger frame, the apparatus comprising: The apparatus comprises: a sending module, configured to send a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to instruct one or more second stations to transmit, the trigger frame comprising a common information field and a user information list field, the user information list field comprising 0, 1 or more user information fields.

20. A method of transmitting a trigger frame, the method comprising: The apparatus comprises: The receiving module is configured to receive a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to instruct one or more of the apparatuses to transmit, the trigger frame comprising a common information field and a user information list field, the user information list field comprising 0, 1 or more user information fields.

21. A communications device, characterized by The communication device comprises: a processor; a transceiver connected to the processor; a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to implement the method for transmitting a trigger frame according to any one of claims 1 to 9, or the method for transmitting a trigger frame according to any one of claims 10 to 18.

22. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer readable storage medium stores at least one program, and the at least one program is loaded and executed by the processor to implement the method for transmitting a trigger frame according to any one of claims 1 to 9, or the method for transmitting a trigger frame according to any one of claims 10 to 18.

23. A computer program product, characterised in that, The computer program product comprises computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium, and the processor obtains the computer instructions from the computer readable storage medium, and executes the computer instructions to implement the method for transmitting a trigger frame according to any one of claims 1 to 9, or the method for transmitting a trigger frame according to any one of claims 10 to 18.

24. A chip, characterized by The chip comprises programmable logic circuit and / or at least one program, and the chip is configured to implement the method for transmitting a trigger frame according to any one of claims 1 to 9, or the method for transmitting a trigger frame according to any one of claims 10 to 18 based on the programmable logic circuit and / or the at least one program.

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