Communication method, and apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and an apparatus. The method comprises: receiving a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger sending of a first trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU), the trigger frame comprising first indication information, and the first indication information being used to indicate whether a station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; and sending the first TB PPDU in response to the trigger frame. Thus, resource waste can be reduced. The present application supports an IEEE protocol, such as an IEEE 802.11be / Wi-Fi 7 / EHT protocol, an IEEE 802.11bn / Wi-Fi 8 protocol, an IMMW protocol, an IEEE 802.15 / UWB protocol, or an IEEE 802.11bf protocol, and may also support a NearLink standard protocol.

Description

Communication method and apparatus

[0001] The present application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202411377749.8, filed on September 29, 2024, with the State Intellectual Property Office of China, and the Chinese patent application No. 202411377749.8 has the invention name of “Communication method and apparatus”, the whole content of which is incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD

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

[0003] Wi-Fi 6 introduces a trigger-based transmission mechanism, which allows an access point (AP) to specify the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and the number of spatial streams for user uplink transmission, so that the transmission is more reliable. Wi-Fi 7 supports trigger-based single-user uplink, that is, the AP can trigger a single user to perform uplink transmission. At present, the existing scheme of sending a trigger frame by the AP to trigger the user to perform uplink transmission has the problem of more resource waste. Therefore, it is necessary to study a trigger-based uplink transmission scheme that can reduce resource waste. SUMMARY

[0004] Embodiments of the present application disclose a communication method and apparatus, which can reduce resource waste compared with the existing trigger-based uplink transmission scheme.

[0005] In a first aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, which is applied to a station. The method can be implemented by the station or a component (such as a circuit, a processor, a chip or a chip system) in the station, and the following description is taken as an example of implementation by the station. The method comprises: receiving, by the station, a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger sending of a first trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU), the trigger frame comprising first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate whether the station is allowed to adjust a length of the first TB PPDU; and in response to the trigger frame, sending the first TB PPDU.

[0006] The first indication information for indicating whether the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU can be replaced by: the first indication information for indicating whether the station is allowed to set up the length of the first TB PPDU, or the first indication information for indicating whether the station is allowed to decide or determine the length of the first TB PPDU, or the first indication information for indicating whether the station is allowed to reset the length of the first TB PPDU, or the first indication information for indicating whether the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is not the length of the first TB PPDU by default of an access point (AP), or the first indication information for indicating whether the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is different from the length of the first TB PPDU by default of the AP. The first indication information for indicating whether the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU can also be replaced by other similar descriptions, which are not limited in the present application.

[0007] In the embodiments of the present application, when the first indication information in the trigger frame indicates that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, the station can adjust the length of the first TB PPDU to be sent according to its own situation in response to the trigger frame. When the amount of uplink data to be sent by the station is less than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by the TB PPDU of the default length, the station sends the TB PPDU with a length shorter than the default length, which can reduce resource waste and reduce interference to the transmission of other stations. In the present application, the default length can be the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP and the station. When the amount of uplink data to be sent by the station is more than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by the TB PPDU of the default length, the station sends the TB PPDU with a length longer than the default length, which can improve transmission efficiency and avoid the overhead of the AP sending the trigger frame multiple times. If the first indication information indicates that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is the same as the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP, which is suitable for scenarios such as coordinated transmission of multiple APs.

[0008] In a possible implementation, the length of the first TB PPDU is shorter or longer than the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP. The length of the first TB PPDU being shorter than the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP can reduce resource waste and reduce interference to the transmission of other stations. The length of the first TB PPDU being longer than the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP can improve transmission efficiency and avoid the overhead of the AP sending the trigger frame multiple times.

[0009] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: the station transmitting a second TB PPDU in the part of time-frequency resources remaining after the station transmits the first TB PPDU, by using the trigger frame to allocate the time-frequency resources; thereby, resource utilization can be improved, and transmission efficiency can be improved.

[0010] In a possible implementation, in response to the trigger frame, the transmitting the first TB PPDU includes: in a case where the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is single-user uplink transmission, the station transmits the first TB PPDU in response to the trigger frame; thereby, interference to transmission of other stations can be reduced.

[0011] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: the station determining, according to a resource allocation field in the trigger frame, that the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is single-user uplink transmission.

[0012] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: the station determining, in a case where the trigger frame only contains a user information field corresponding to the station, that the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is single-user uplink transmission.

[0013] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides another communication method, which is applied to an AP. The method can be implemented by the AP or a component (for example, a circuit, a processor, a chip or a chip system) in the AP. Hereinafter, the method is taken as an example for description. The method includes: generating, by the AP, a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger transmission of a first TB PPDU, the trigger frame including first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate whether a station is allowed to adjust a length of the first TB PPDU; and transmitting the trigger frame.

[0014] In the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information is used to indicate whether the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; thereby, the station can determine the length of the first TB PPDU to be transmitted according to the first indication information. When the first indication information in the trigger frame is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, the station can adjust the length of the first TB PPDU to be transmitted according to its own situation in response to the trigger frame, so as to reduce resource waste, reduce interference to transmission of other stations, improve transmission efficiency, and avoid the overhead of the AP transmitting the trigger frame multiple times. When the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, the length of the first TB PPDU transmitted by the station is the same as the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP, and is suitable for scenarios such as coordinated transmission of multiple APs.

[0015] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: the AP receiving the first TB PPDU, the length of the first TB PPDU being shorter or longer than the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP; resource waste can be reduced and interference to the transmission of other stations can be reduced, or transmission efficiency can be improved and the overhead of the AP sending the trigger frame multiple times can be avoided.

[0016] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first indication information indicates the length of the first TB PPDU recommended (or suggested) by the AP, and the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is the length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the AP; thereby enabling the station to know the length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the AP.

[0017] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first indication information is a length field in the trigger frame, and the length field has a preset value. The length of the TB PPDU determined based on the preset value is different from the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP. For example, the length field has a default value, and the length of the TB PPDU determined based on the default value is the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP; the length field has a preset value, and the length of the TB PPDU determined based on the preset value is different from the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP.

[0018] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the trigger frame further includes a length field, and the length field is used to indicate the length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the AP. The first indication information and the length field are two different fields in the trigger frame.

[0019] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the length field is an uplink length (UL length) field in the trigger frame. For example, the trigger frame is a trigger frame in the 802.11be standard or the 802.11bn standard.

[0020] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the trigger frame includes a triggered response scheduling (TRS) control subfield, and the length field is an uplink data symbol (UL data symbols) field in the TRS control subfield.

[0021] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the trigger frame further comprises second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate a maximum length of the first TB PPDU allowed to be set by the station; thereby reducing interference of the first TB PPDU sent by the station to transmission of other stations.

[0022] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first indication information is indication information of a transmission type in the trigger frame; thereby multiplexing the indication information of the transmission type to indicate whether the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and bit overhead can be saved.

[0023] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the transmission type indicated by the first indication information is coordinated transmission, and the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; or the transmission type indicated by the first indication information is uncoordinated transmission, and the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; thereby multiplexing the indication information of the transmission type to indicate whether the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and bit overhead can be saved. Alternatively, the transmission type indicated by the first indication information is coordinated transmission, and the first indication information indicates that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; or the transmission type indicated by the first indication information is uncoordinated transmission, and the first indication information indicates that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU.

[0024] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first indication information is a color field in the trigger frame. For example, the color field is a basic service set color information (BSS color information) field, and the basic service set color information field indicates a basic service set (BSS) color.

[0025] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first indication information takes a first value, and indicates coordinated transmission; or the first indication information takes a second value, and indicates uncoordinated transmission, the first value and the second value being different.

[0026] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the trigger frame is used to trigger single-user uplink transmission.

[0027] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first TB PPDU includes third indication information, the third indication information being used to indicate a reason why the length of the first TB PPDU is not the length of the AP default TB PPDU; thereby the access point can know the reason why the length of the first TB PPDU is not the length of the AP default TB PPDU.

[0028] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the reason why the length of the first TB PPDU is not the length of the AP default TB PPDU includes that: an amount of data to be transmitted in an uplink buffer of the station is less than a maximum amount of data that can be carried by the AP default length TB PPDU, and the first TB PPDU collides with a transmission time of a restricted target wakeup time (r-TWT) when the length of the first TB PPDU is the length of the AP default TB PPDU.

[0029] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the preamble of the first PPDU sent by the station indicates any of the following: the first PPDU will end early, the first PPDU can end early, the first PPDU will not end early, and the first PPDU will end late. Alternatively, the preamble of the first PPDU sent by the station indicates any of the following: the length of the first PPDU is shorter than the length of the AP default TB PPDU, the length of the first PPDU can be shorter than the length of the AP default TB PPDU, the length of the first PPDU is not shorter than the length of the AP default TB PPDU, and the length of the first PPDU is longer than the length of the AP default TB PPDU. The first PPDU will end early can be understood as that the length of the first PPDU is shorter than the length of the AP default TB PPDU. The first PPDU will end late can be understood as that the length of the first PPDU is longer than the length of the AP default TB PPDU.

[0030] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first indication information is a length field in the trigger frame, a preset value of the length field indicates that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; or a value of the length field that is not the preset value indicates that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. For example, the preset value is 0. Optionally, when the value of the length field is not the preset value, the length field is used to indicate the length of the AP default TB PPDU.

[0031] In a possible implementation form of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first indication information is a length field in the trigger frame; a first preset value of the length field indicates that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU and an AP-recommended length of the first TB PPDU; or a second preset value of the length field indicates that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU and an AP-default length of the TB PPDU; and the first preset value is different from the second preset value.

[0032] In a possible implementation form of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first indication information is one or more bits in the trigger frame, a third preset value of the one or more bits indicates that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and a fourth preset value of the one or more bits indicates that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, or in other words, the station is prohibited from adjusting the length of the first TB PPDU; and the third preset value is different from the fourth preset value.

[0033] In a possible implementation form of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first indication information indicates that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and a length field in the trigger frame indicates an AP-recommended length of the first TB PPDU; or the first indication information indicates that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and the length field indicates an AP-default length of the TB PPDU or a value of the length field is not limited, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0.

[0034] In a possible implementation form of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first indication information indicates that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and a length field in the trigger frame indicates a maximum length of the first TB PPDU that the AP allows the station to set; or the first indication information indicates that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and the length field indicates an AP-default length of the TB PPDU or a value of the length field is not limited, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0.

[0035] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first indication information is a more trigger frame (more TF) field in the trigger frame, and when the more TF is true, the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; or when the more TF is not true (or false), the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU.

[0036] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, when the more TF is not true, a length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate a length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the AP; or when the more TF is true, the length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate a length of a default TB PPDU of the AP or the length field is not limited in value, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0.

[0037] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, when the more TF is not true, a length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate a maximum length of the first TB PPDU allowed to be set by the station; or when the more TF is true, the length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate a length of a default TB PPDU of the AP or the length field is not limited in value, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0.

[0038] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus having a function of implementing the behaviors in the method embodiments of the first aspect. The communication apparatus can be a station, or a component (for example, a circuit, a processor, a chip, or a chip system) of the station, or a logic module or software capable of implementing the functions of the station in whole or in part. The function 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 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 transmission of a first TB PPDU, and the trigger frame including first indication information used to indicate whether a station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; the processing module is configured to parse the trigger frame; and the transceiver module is further configured to transmit the first TB PPDU.

[0039] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to transmit a second TB PPDU using a part of time-frequency resources remaining after the first TB PPDU is transmitted from the time-frequency resources allocated to the first TB PPDU by the trigger frame.

[0040] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to, in a case where the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is single-user uplink transmission, send the first TB PPDU in response to the trigger frame.

[0041] In a possible implementation, the processing module is further configured to determine, according to a resource allocation field in the trigger frame, that the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is single-user uplink transmission.

[0042] In a possible implementation, the processing module is further configured to, in a case where the trigger frame only contains the user information field corresponding to the station, determine that the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is single-user uplink transmission.

[0043] Possible implementations of the communication apparatus of the third aspect can refer to the various possible implementations of the first aspect.

[0044] The technical effects brought by the various possible implementations of the third aspect can refer to the introduction of the technical effects of the various possible implementations of the first aspect.

[0045] In the fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides another communication apparatus, which has the functions of implementing the behaviors in the method embodiments of the second aspect. The communication apparatus can be an AP, or a component (for example, a circuit, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) of the AP, or a logic module or software capable of realizing the functions of the whole or part of the AP. 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 the sending of a first TB PPDU, the trigger frame including first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate whether a station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; and the transceiver module is configured to send the trigger frame.

[0046] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to receive the first TB PPDU, the length of the first TB PPDU being shorter than or longer than the length of a TB PPDU by default of the AP.

[0047] Possible implementations of the communication apparatus of the fourth aspect can refer to the various possible implementations of the second aspect.

[0048] The technical effects brought by the various possible implementations of the fourth aspect can refer to the introduction of the technical effects of the various possible implementations of the second aspect.

[0049] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides another communication apparatus, which comprises one or more processors configured to process data and / or signaling to cause the communication apparatus to perform the method of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0050] Optionally, the communication apparatus further comprises a memory configured to store a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the communication apparatus to perform 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.

[0051] In an embodiment 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 so as to be transmitted by the transceiver. After being outputted by the processor, the information can be further processed and then reaches 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 further processed and then inputted to the processor.

[0052] For the sending and / or receiving operations of the processor, if no special description is given, or if it does not contradict the actual role or inherent logic in the related description, it can be generally understood as the output based on the computer program or instructions of the processor.

[0053] 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, and when the program is executed, the communication apparatus performs the method shown in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

[0054] 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.

[0055] 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.

[0056] In a possible implementation manner, the communication apparatus further comprises a transceiver configured to receive a signal or transmit a signal, etc.

[0057] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides another communication apparatus, which comprises a logic circuit (or processing circuit) and an interface (or interface circuit) for inputting and / or outputting data; the logic circuit is configured to execute a computer program or instructions, so that the communication apparatus executes the method of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0058] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or instructions, when the computer program or instructions are executed on a computer, the computer executes the method of the first aspect or the second aspect. In the present application, the computer can be the communication apparatus of the third aspect or a component in the communication apparatus of the third aspect, or the communication apparatus of the fourth aspect or a component in the communication apparatus of the fourth aspect.

[0059] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, when the computer program product is executed on a computer, the computer executes the method of the first aspect or the second aspect. For example, the computer program product comprises a computer program, when the computer program is executed, the computer executes the method of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0060] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a chip, which comprises 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 executes the method of any one of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0061] In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, which comprises the communication apparatus of the third aspect and the communication apparatus of the fourth aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0062] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a trigger-based uplink transmission procedure;

[0064] FIG. 3A shows an example of a format of a trigger frame;

[0065] FIG. 3B shows an example of a format of a common information field in a trigger frame;

[0066] FIG. 3C shows an example of a format of a user information field in a trigger frame;

[0067] FIG. 3D shows an example of a format of a trigger frame related user information field in a trigger frame;

[0068] FIG. 4 shows an example of a format of a control information subfield in a TRS control subfield;

[0069] FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of an EHT triggered uplink transmission procedure;

[0070] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] FIG. 7 is an example of a format of trigger related user info field in the user info field of the trigger frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG. 8 is an example of a format of TRS control subfield in the trigger frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0073] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of another trigger based uplink transmission procedure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of another trigger based uplink transmission procedure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of another trigger based uplink transmission procedure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a trigger based coordinated transmission procedure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0081] FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0082] FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of another communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0083] FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of another communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0084] The terms "first", "second", and various numbered designations (e.g., "#1", "#2", etc.) and the like in the specification, claims and drawings of the present 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 and are not to be construed as limiting. The numerical designations in the various embodiments of the present application are adopted merely for conciseness herein and are not intended to define or limit the scope of application of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the sequence of the processes below does not mean the order of execution, the execution order of the processes should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application. In addition, the terms "comprising" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product or device, etc. comprising a series of steps or units, is not limited to the listed steps or units, but can optionally include steps or units not listed, etc., or can optionally include other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices, etc.

[0085] 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 in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are they necessarily mutually exclusive or alternative embodiments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments in various ways. Some of the steps of the embodiments described herein can be performed in a different order than described herein. The naming of messages (frames) in this application is only for distinguishing different messages (frames), and should not be construed as a limitation. That is, the name of any message or frame or information in this application can be replaced by other names, and this application is not limited.

[0086] The terminology used in the description of the application herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in the description of the application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include both singular and plural forms, 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. In the written description of the application, the character " / " generally indicates an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after it.

[0087] 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.

[0088] 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. Among them, the corresponding relationship between information A and information B can be pre-defined, pre-stored, pre-burned, or pre-configured.

[0089] 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 used for the determination of information D can also be determined indirectly, such as the case where information D is determined based on information E, and information E is determined based on information C.

[0090] In the embodiments of the present application, the words "exemplary" or "for example" are used to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design scheme described in the present application as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or design schemes. Rather, the use of the words "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present concepts in a concrete manner.

[0091] 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, and will not be described here.

[0092] 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.

[0093] 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.

[0094] 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.

[0095] The following introduces a system related to the embodiments of the present application.

[0096] 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 standards (or protocols), for example, the 802.11be standard, the 802.11bn protocol (or Wi-Fi 8, also referred to as ultra high reliability (UHR) or the next generation of the 802.11bn protocol or a protocol supporting ambient power (AMP)), and the like, which will not be 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 standards, for example, the 802.15.4a standard, the 802.15.4z standard or the 802.15.4ab standard, or a future generation of the UWB WPAN standard, and the like, which will not be listed one by one. The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to the spark link or nearlink standard. 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 appeared 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.The present application supports IEEE protocols, such as IEEE 802.11be / Wi-Fi 7 / EHT protocol, IEEE 802.11bn / UHR / Wi-Fi 8 protocol, IEEE Integrated mmWave / IMMW protocol, IEEE 802.15 / UWB protocol, or IEEE 802.11bf / sensing protocol; the present application can also support starlink / nearlink standard protocols.

[0097] The WLAN system can provide high-rate and low-latency transmission. With the continuous evolution of WLAN application scenarios, the WLAN system will be applied to more scenarios or industries, such as the Internet of Things industry, the Internet of Vehicles industry, or the banking industry, enterprise offices, sports venues, exhibition halls, concert halls, hotel rooms, dormitories, hospital rooms, classrooms, supermarkets, squares, streets, production workshops, and warehouses, etc. Of course, the devices (such as access points or stations) supporting WLAN communication or sensing can be sensor nodes in smart cities (such as smart water meters, smart electricity meters, smart air detection nodes), smart devices in smart homes (such as smart cameras, projectors, display screens, televisions, sound systems, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.), nodes in the Internet of Things, entertainment terminals (such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), etc. wearable devices), smart devices in smart offices (such as printers, projectors, amplifiers, sound systems, etc.), 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, self-service ordering machines, etc.), and devices in large sports and music venues, etc.

[0098] Although the embodiments of the present application mainly take WLAN as an example, especially the network applied to the IEEE 802.11 series standard. The various aspects involved in the embodiments of the present application can be extended to other networks using various standards. 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.

[0099] 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).

[0100] The AP is a device with wireless communication function, which supports communication or sensing or energy transmission by using WLAN standards, and has the function of communicating or sensing or energy transmission with other devices (such as non-AP STA or other access points) in the WLAN network, and of course, also has the function of communicating 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 standards or subsequent standards, etc. For example, the access point can be an access point for terminals (such as mobile phones) to enter wired (or wireless) networks, and is 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 other communication entities; the AP can include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, etc. 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.

[0101] The STA is a device with wireless communication function, which supports communication or sensing or energy transmission according to WLAN standards, 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 whole device, or a chip or processing system or functional module installed in the whole 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.

[0102] 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 in a WLAN, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited in this regard. Optionally, the AP can communicate or sense with a single STA, or the AP can simultaneously communicate or sense with multiple STAs. The AP and the STA can support a WLAN communication standard therebetween, which can include the IEEE 802.11 series of standards, such as the 802.11bn standard, and of course is also applicable to standards after 802.11bn.

[0103] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided by the embodiments of the present application. The communication system can include one or more APs and one or more STAs. Two access points, such as AP1 and AP2, and three stations, such as 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 transmission between one AP and one or more STAs, such as the communication or sensing or energy transmission between AP1 and STA1 shown in FIG. 1, or the communication or sensing or energy transmission between AP1 and STA1 and STA2 shown in FIG. 1.

[0104] The STA is a mobile phone and the AP is a router in FIG. 1 as an example, and does not represent a limitation on 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 a specific implementation, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0105] From the perspective of sending and receiving the trigger frame, the AP shown below can be understood as a communication device for sending the trigger frame, and the station can be understood as a communication device for receiving the trigger frame. Alternatively, the AP can also be referred to as a sending end, and the station can also be referred to as a receiving end.

[0106] The embodiments of the present application describe the method provided by the embodiments of the present application from the perspective of the AP and the station, but the AP and the station can also forward the signal in the process of transmitting the signal through other devices, such as forwarding the signal between the AP and the station through a forwarding device, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit other devices other than the AP and the station.

[0107] The method performed by the AP in the present application can also be implemented by a module (such as a Wi-Fi chip or a functional module or a processing system) in the AP, or a logic node, a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the AP; the method performed by the station in the present application can also be implemented by a module (such as a Wi-Fi chip or a functional module or a processing system) in the station, or a logic node, a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the station.

[0108] As an example, at least one of the AP and the station can be a multi-link device (MLD) or the like, and 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 an AP or a non-AP STA) 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. The above-mentioned affiliated stations can be AP or non-AP STA. The multi-link device (such as non-AP MLD or AP MLD) can be a communication device with wireless communication function. The communication device can be a whole device, and can also be a chip or a processing system or a module installed in the whole device, and the device installed with the chip or the processing system or the module can realize the method and function of the embodiments of the present application under the control of the chip or the processing system or the module. The multi-link device can realize wireless communication by complying with the 802.11 series standard, 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.

[0109] The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings. Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as understood by those skilled in the art to which the present application belongs. If there is any inconsistency, the meaning described in the specification or the meaning derived from the content described in the specification shall prevail. In addition, the terms used herein are only for the purpose of describing the embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the present application.

[0110] In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, first, some terms or concepts that may be involved in the embodiments of the present application are simply described.

[0111] 1. Trigger-based uplink transmission technology

[0112] 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 before performing 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 standard continues the scheduled uplink transmission method based on the trigger frame. The embodiments of the present application are applicable to the scheduled uplink transmission method based on the trigger, that is, the AP sends a trigger frame to trigger uplink single-user transmission or multi-user transmission.

[0113] The trigger frame sent by the AP is used to trigger uplink single-user transmission or multi-user transmission, and carries identifier information (such as AID12) of one or more stations and resource allocation information in the trigger frame; each station sends an uplink frame (that is, a TB PPDU) on the allocated resource unit using a TB PPDU after receiving the trigger frame, and receives a block acknowledgement (BA) frame sent by the AP after a short inter-frame space (SIFS). Each station can determine the resource unit allocated to itself based on the resource allocation information, such as a continuous RU or a distributed resource unit (DRU) or a multiple resource unit (MRU).

[0114] Generally, the RU or MRU allocated to the STA can be determined by the following subfields: a resource unit allocation subfield (RU Allocation subfield) and a primary-secondary 160 subfield (PS160 subfield). Based on the resource unit allocation subfield and the primary-secondary 160 subfield, the STA can correspondingly obtain the real index of the RU or MRU in the actual frequency band (see the last column of Table 1 “Physical RU or MRU Index”), thereby completing the allocation of the RU or MRU. Table 1 shows the interpretation of the RU allocation subfield and the PS160 subfield in the trigger frame of the 802.11be standard.

[0115] Table 1

[0116] In one possible implementation, N and X1 in the last column of Table 1 above can be obtained by the following table (where N and X1 have the following relationship: N = 2 × X1 + X0).

[0117] Table 2

[0118] P80 in the above Table 2 represents a primary 80MHz channel, S80 represents a secondary 80MHz channel, and S160 represents a secondary 160MHz channel.

[0119] In the above Table 2, the configuration refers to the order of P80, S80 and S160 in absolute frequency, from left to right, representing from low frequency to high frequency. For example, [P80 S80] represents that the primary 80MHz channel is the first 80MHz channel from low to high frequency, and the secondary 80MHz channel is the second 80MHz channel from low to high frequency; or in other words, [P80 S80] represents that the primary 80MHz channel is a low 80MHz channel, and the secondary 80MHz channel is a high 80MHz channel. For another example, [S80 P80 S160] represents that the secondary 80MHz channel is a low 80MHz channel in a low 160MHz channel, the primary 80MHz channel is a high 80MHz channel in the low 160MHz channel, and the secondary 160MHz channel is a high 160MHz channel.

[0120] In the existing trigger-based uplink transmission scheme, in order to align multi-user transmission, the trigger frame uniformly indicates the length of the uplink (UL) trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU). When the data length that a STA needs to send is less than the length of the data part (or data field) in the UL TB PPDU, the STA needs to pad at the end of the data. When the user needs to send less uplink data, padding at the end of the data will cause resource waste, and padding transmission will interfere with the transmission of other STAs. Since the AP does not accurately know the user buffer information of the STA, or in other words, since the AP does not know the size of the data amount sent by the STA, the situation that the STA pads at the end of the data often occurs.

[0121] Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of a trigger-based uplink transmission procedure. As shown in Figure 2, the uplink transmission procedure includes: AP1 sends a trigger frame, the trigger frame is used to trigger STA1 to send TB PPDU 1 and trigger STA2 to send TB PPDU 2; STA1 sends TB PPDU 1 in response to the trigger frame, and STA2 sends TB PPDU 2 in response to the trigger frame, wherein TB PPDU 1 includes a pre-EHT portion and an EHT portion, TB PPDU 2 includes a pre-EHT portion and an EHT portion, the EHT portion includes a data portion and a padding portion (or padding field); AP1 sends a multi-user (MU) block acknowledgement (BA), the MU BA indicates that AP receives TB PPDU 1 and TB PPDU 2, and the MU BA can be replaced by an acknowledgement frame. In this application, the pre-EHT in the TB PPDU refers to all the preambles in the TB PPDU, for example, including legacy preambles and EHT preambles, and the EHT portion in the TB PPDU can be the portion other than the preamble portion, or in other words, the EHT portion in the TB PPDU refers to the data portion in the TB PPDU, and the EHT portion includes or does not include the padding portion. Referring to Figure 2, the length of TB PPDU 1 and the length of TB PPDU 2 are the same. The length of the padding portion in TB PPDU 1 and the length of the padding portion in TB PPDU 2 can be the same or different. In Figure 2, the trigger frame is used to trigger two EHT TB PPDUs as an example for description, and the number of TB PPDUs triggered by the trigger frame is not limited. It should be understood that the length of the TB PPDU triggered by the trigger frame of the existing other standards (such as UHR standard) is also fixed, and when the data length to be sent by the STA is less than the length of the data portion in the UL TB PPDU, the STA needs to pad at the end of the data. In this application, the pre-EHT in the drawings and the specification can be replaced by pre-UHR, and the EHT portion can be replaced by UHR portion.

[0122] 2. Format of trigger frame

[0123] The trigger frame mentioned in the embodiments of the present application and the following embodiments can adopt various possible frame formats, can be one type of control frames in a standard specified media access control (MAC) frame, such as a trigger frame in the 802.11be standard or the 802.11bn standard, or can be other MAC frames with a triggering function. The other MAC frames with a triggering function can also be referred to as MAC frames with a triggered response scheduling (TRS) function, and the function is generally implemented by including a TRS control subfield in the MAC frame.

[0124] Possible frame format #1 of the trigger frame: FIG. 3A shows an example of the format of a trigger frame. As shown in FIG. 3A, 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 common info field contains common information that all users need to read, and the user info list field is composed of one or more user info fields, where the first user info field is a special user info field, the association identifier is indicated as 2007, and the special user info field carries some common information after the association identifier field. The first user info field is called the special user info field although it is a user info field, because it carries common information. Each user info field (excluding the special user info field) contains information that each user needs to read respectively. In this paper, if not specified, the user info field refers to the user info field containing information that a user needs to read, not the special user info field.

[0125] FIG. 3B shows an example of the format of the common info field in the trigger frame. As shown in FIG. 3B, the common info field includes: a trigger type field, an UL length field, a more trigger frame (more TF) field, a carrier sense (CS) required field, an UL bandwidth (BW) field, a guard interval and high efficiency-long training field (GI And HE-LTF type) field, a MU-multiple input-multiple output (MU-MIMO) HE-LTF mode field, a number of HE-LTF symbols and midamble periodicity field, an UL space-time block coding (STBC) field, a low-density parity check (LDPC) extra symbol segment field, an access point (AP) Tx power field, a pre-FEC padding factor field, a packet extension (PE) disambiguity field, an UL spatial reuse field, a Doppler field, an UL HE-SIG-A2 Reserved field, a reserved field, a trigger dependent common info field. In this application, the meanings of the fields in the trigger frame can refer to the existing standards, which are not described in detail here. In the drawings of this application, the numbers below each field represent the length (i.e., the number of bits contained) of the field. If a field below is written as variable, it means that the length of the field is variable. In this application, for any field containing s bits, the lowest to the highest bits in the s bits are therefore B0, B1, B2, B(s), and s is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

[0126] In the common information field shown in FIG. 3B, the trigger type can indicate that the format of the trigger frame is a basic trigger frame. The UL length field indicates the value in the legacy signal field A (L-SIG) field in the triggered uplink TBPPDU (from which the length of the triggered uplink PPDU is determined). The L-SIG field is used to carry the signaling information related to the length of the PPDU. For example, the length field in the L-SIG field (referred to as the L-SIG length field) indicates the information related to the length of the PPDU. The PE disambiguation field will supplement the information about the length to avoid ambiguity of the length of time. This design is because the L-SIG field takes the number of 4us orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) 1x symbols as the time period, while the uplink trigger transmission uses OFDM 4x symbols, and the time of each symbol is 12.8us + the time length of the cyclic prefix (CP), so the length of the uplink trigger transmission PPDU is the length of the OFDM 4x symbol + packet extension (PE).

[0127] The user information list includes one or more user information fields, and each user information field has the format shown in FIG. 3C. FIG. 3C shows an example of the format of a user information field in a trigger frame. As shown in FIG. 3C, the user information field includes an AID12 field, a resource unit (RU) allocation field, an uplink (UL) forward error correction (FEC) coding type field, a UL high efficiency-modulation and coding scheme (HE-MCS) field, a UL uplink carrier dual carrier modulation (DCM) field, a spatial stream (SS) allocation / RA-RU information field, a UL target receive power field, a reserved field, and a trigger dependent user info field. Among them, AID12 indicates that the information in the user information field containing the AID12 is used for the associated STA corresponding to the AID12.

[0128] FIG. 3D shows an example of the format of the trigger frame dependent user info subfield in a trigger frame. As shown in FIG. 3D, the trigger frame dependent user info subfield includes a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) multi-user spacing factor, a traffic identifier aggregation limit, a reserved field, and a preferred access category (AC).

[0129] The trigger frame shown in FIGS. 3A-3D is only an example. There are various variants of the trigger frame, such as for supporting a beamforming report request, a multi-user block acknowledgement request, triggering a user to perform an uplink of ordinary data, etc. For example, when the AP triggers a user to perform an uplink of ordinary data, a basic trigger frame is used. In this case, the trigger dependent common info subfield in the trigger frame described above will not be included, but the trigger dependent user info subfield will be included in the user info subfield.

[0130] Frame format #2 of the trigger frame: In addition to triggering a user to perform an uplink transmission by using the trigger frame shown in FIG. 3A, the AP can also trigger a user to perform an uplink transmission by using a MAC frame with a TRS function. In other words, the TRS control subfield sent by the AP can also trigger a user to perform an uplink transmission. The TRS control subfield is placed in the frame header of the MAC frame with the TRS function. The L-LENGTH field in the L-SIG field of the user uplink transmission is calculated based on the value of the UL data symbol subfield.

[0131] FIG. 4 shows an example of the format of the control info subfield in the TRS control subfield. As shown in FIG. 4, the control info subfield in the TRS control subfield includes an UL data symbol field, an RU allocation field, an AP Tx power field, an UL target receive power field, an UL HE-MCS field, and a reserved field.

[0132] The trigger frame of frame format #1 and the trigger frame of frame format #2 both limit the length of the UL TB PPDU sent by the STA, which can cause resource waste and can interfere with the transmission of other STAs.

[0133] 3. EHT triggered uplink transmission

[0134] The EHT introduces a single-user (SU) TB PPDU, and the AP can trigger a single user to perform uplink transmission. In the EHT triggered uplink transmission scheme, the AP can control one or more of the uplink MCS, the number of spatial streams, the power, and the like. The EHT triggered uplink transmission scheme is more accurate in the selection of the triggered uplink transmission mode compared with the uplink transmission scheme of the non-triggered STA. FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of an EHT triggered uplink transmission process. As shown in FIG. 5, the EHT triggered uplink transmission process includes: AP1 sends a trigger frame, and the trigger frame is used to trigger STA2 to send TB PPDU 2; STA2 sends TB PPDU 2 in response to the trigger frame, wherein TB PPDU 2 includes a pre-EHT and an EHT part, and the EHT part includes a data part and a padding part (or padding field); AP1 sends a block acknowledgement (BA), and the BA indicates that the AP receives TB PPDU 2, and the BA can be replaced by an acknowledgement frame. In this application, the pre-EHT in the TB PPDU indicates all the preambles in the TB PPDU, for example, including the legacy preamble and the EHT preamble, and the EHT part in the TB PPDU can be the part other than the preamble part, or in other words, the EHT part in the TB PPDU refers to the data part in the TB PPDU, and the EHT part includes or does not include the padding part. In the EHT triggered uplink transmission scheme, the trigger frame also specifies (or limits) the length of the UL TB PPDU sent by the STA, and when the data length that the STA needs to send is less than the length of the data part in the UL TB PPDU, the STA needs to pad at the end of the data, which will cause resource waste and may interfere with the transmission of other STAs.

[0135] As described in the section of background, the current AP sending trigger frame to trigger user to transmit uplink exists the problem of more resource waste. Therefore, it is necessary to study the trigger-based uplink transmission scheme which can reduce resource waste. The trigger-based uplink transmission scheme provided in the present application can reduce resource waste and reduce interference to the transmission of other stations compared with the existing trigger-based uplink transmission scheme. The main idea of the trigger-based uplink transmission scheme provided in the present application is that: the first indication information in the trigger frame sent by the AP is used to indicate whether to allow the station to adjust the length of the TB PPDU triggered by the trigger frame; when the first indication information is used to indicate to allow the station to adjust the length of the TB PPDU triggered by the trigger frame, the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station in response to the trigger frame can be shorter or longer than the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP. In the present application, the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP can be referred to as the default length. The default length in the following refers to the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP. For example, when the first indication information is used to indicate to allow the station to adjust the length of the TB PPDU triggered by the trigger frame, the station sends the first TB PPDU with a length shorter than the default length in response to the trigger frame, and the end of the data in the first TB PPDU does not need to be padded; resource waste can be reduced and interference to the transmission of other STAs can be reduced. For another example, when the first indication information is used to indicate to allow the station to adjust the length of the TB PPDU triggered by the trigger frame, the station sends the first TB PPDU with a length longer than the default length in response to the trigger frame; transmission efficiency can be improved, and the overhead of the AP sending the trigger frame multiple times can be avoided. The trigger-based uplink transmission scheme provided in the present application is applicable to the scenario of single-user uplink transmission, and is also applicable to the scenario of multi-user uplink transmission.

[0136] The method provided in the embodiments of the present application is described below.

[0137] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The description of the AP and the station involved in FIG. 6 can be referred to the above, which will not be described in detail here. As shown in FIG. 6, the method comprises:

[0138] 601, the AP sends a trigger frame.

[0139] Correspondingly, the station receives the trigger frame from the AP. The trigger frame is used to trigger the sending of the first TB PPDU. Optionally, the trigger frame is also used to trigger the sending of other TB PPDUs. The trigger frame is used to trigger single-user uplink transmission or multi-user uplink transmission. For ease of description, the embodiments of the present application are described taking the trigger frame used to trigger single-user uplink transmission as an example.

[0140] The trigger frame comprises first indication information, which is used to indicate whether the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. Alternatively, the first indication information is used to indicate whether the station is allowed to set up the length of the first TB PPDU. Alternatively, the first indication information is used to indicate whether the station is allowed to determine the length of the first TB PPDU. Alternatively, the first indication information is used to indicate whether the station is allowed to reset the length of the first TB PPDU. Alternatively, the first indication information is used to indicate whether the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is not the length of the first TB PPDU by default of the AP. Alternatively, the first indication information is used to indicate whether the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is different from the length of the first TB PPDU by default of the AP. The length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP refers to the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP and the station, i.e. the length by default as described above.

[0141] The following describes several possible implementation manners of the first indication information in the trigger frame.

[0142] The first indication information can be a length field in the trigger frame, and a preset value of the length field indicates that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, or a value other than the preset value of the length field in the trigger frame indicates that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and in this case, the value of the length field can be used by the station to determine the length of the TB PPDU that is default (or specified) by the AP, or in other words, in this case, the length field is used to indicate the length of the TB PPDU that is default by the AP. The preset value can be 0 or other values, which are not limited in the present application. For the station, if the value of the length field in the trigger frame is the preset value, the station can set the length of the first TB PPDU to be sent by itself; if the value of the length field in the trigger frame is not the preset value, the station determines the length of the first TB PPDU to be sent according to the value of the length field, or the station determines the length of the first TB PPDU to be sent as the length of the TB PPDU that is default by the AP. As an example, the trigger frame is a trigger frame in the 802.11be standard or the 802.11bn standard or other standards, and the length field in the trigger frame is an uplink length (UL length) field, as shown in FIG. 3B. As another example, the trigger frame includes a TRS control subfield, and the length field in the trigger frame is an uplink data symbol (UL data symbols) field in the TRS control subfield, as shown in FIG. 4. Optionally, the trigger frame further includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate the maximum length of the first TB PPDU that is allowed to be set by the station; thereby reducing the interference of the first TB PPDU sent by the station to the transmission of other stations. The position of the second indication information in the trigger frame and the length of the second indication information are not limited. The manner in which the AP determines the maximum length of the first TB PPDU that is allowed to be set by the station is not limited in the present application. For example, the maximum length of the first TB PPDU that is allowed to be set by the station is a specified time length, such as 50us, 60us, 80us, 100us, 120us, 150us, 160us, etc. For another example, the maximum length of the first TB PPDU that is allowed to be set by the station is 110%, 120%, 125%, 130%, 140%, 150%, 160%, etc. of the length of the TB PPDU that is default by the AP.

[0143] The first indication information can be a length field in the trigger frame. The length field has a first preset value, indicating that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU and the length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the AP. Or, the length field has a second preset value, indicating that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU and the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP. The first preset value is different from the second preset value. The first preset value can be any value different from the second preset value. For the station, if the length field in the trigger frame has the second preset value, the station can determine that the AP does not allow the station to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU and the second preset value is used to determine the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP. If the length field in the trigger frame has a value other than the second preset value (for example, the first preset value is used as an example below), the station can determine that the AP allows the station to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU and the first preset value is used to determine the length of the TB PPDU recommended by the AP. Optionally, the station and the AP agree that the length field in the trigger frame has the second preset value by default before performing the method flow of FIG. 6, that is, the default value of the length field in the trigger frame is the second preset value, or that the length of the PPDU sent by the station by default (i.e., the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP) is the length of the TB PPDU determined based on the second preset value, so that when the length field has the second preset value, the station can determine that the AP does not allow the station to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; when the length field has the first preset value, the station can determine that the AP allows the station to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU and the first preset value is used to determine the length of the TB PPDU recommended by the AP. Optionally, the standard supported by the station and the AP stipulates that the length field in the trigger frame has the second preset value by default, that is, the default value of the length field in the trigger frame is the second preset value; so that when the length field has the second preset value, the station can determine that the AP does not allow the station to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and when the length field has the first preset value, the station can determine that the AP allows the station to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU and the first preset value is used to determine the length of the TB PPDU recommended by the AP. As an example, the trigger frame is a trigger frame in the 802.11be standard or the 802.11bn standard or other standards, and the length field in the trigger frame is an uplink length (UL length) field, as shown in FIG. 3B. As another example, the trigger frame includes a TRS control subfield, and the length field in the trigger frame is an uplink data symbol (UL data symbols) field in the TRS control subfield, as shown in FIG. 4.

[0144] The first indication information can be one or more bits in the trigger frame. When the one or more bits take a third preset value, it indicates that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. When the one or more bits take a fourth preset value, it indicates that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, or in other words, the station is prohibited from adjusting the length of the first TB PPDU. The third preset value and the fourth preset value are different. The third preset value and the fourth preset value are not limited. For example, the third preset value is 1, and the fourth preset value is 0. For another example, the third preset value is 0, and the fourth preset value is 1. Optionally, the trigger frame further includes a length field.

[0145] In some possible implementation manners, the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and the length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate the length of the first TB PPDU recommended (or suggested) by the AP; or the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and the length field is used to indicate the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP or the length field is not limited in value, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0. As an example, the trigger frame is a trigger frame in the 802.11be standard or the 802.11bn standard or other standards, the length field in the trigger frame is an uplink length (UL length) field, and the first indication information is B5 in a trigger-related user information field in a user information field of the trigger frame. An example of a format of the trigger frame is shown in FIGS. 3A-3C, and the trigger-related user information field in the user information field of the trigger frame is shown in FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is an example of a format of the trigger-related user information field in the user information field of the trigger frame provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 7, the trigger-related user information field in the user information field of the trigger frame includes an MPDU MU spacing factor, a traffic identifier aggregation limit, the first indication information, and a preferred access category (AC), and B5 in the trigger-related user information field is the first indication information. As another example, the trigger frame includes a TRS control subfield, the length field in the trigger frame is an uplink data symbol (UL data symbols) field in the TRS control subfield, and the first indication information is B25 in the TRS control subfield of the trigger frame. FIG. 8 is an example of a format of the TRS control subfield in the trigger frame provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8, the TRS control subfield includes an uplink data symbol (UL data symbols) field, an RU allocation field, an AP Tx power field, an UL target receive power field, an UL HE-MCS field, and the first indication information, and the first indication information is B25 in the TRS control subfield of the trigger frame. The first indication information can be named as a length adjustment indication or other names, which are not limited in the present application.The frame control field of the trigger frame can include one or more of: protocol version, type value, sub-class value, to distribution system, from distribution system, more fragment, retransmission, power management, more data, protected frame, + high throughput control (HTC); wherein the frame control field is used to indicate that when the trigger frame, the type value is filled with 01, the sub-class value is filled with 0010, the to distribution system is filled with 0, the from distribution system is filled with 0, the more fragment is filled with 0, the retransmission is filled with 0, the protected frame is filled with 0, and the + HTC is filled with 0.

[0146] In some possible embodiments, the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and the length field is used to indicate the maximum length of the first TB PPDU that the AP allows the station to set; or the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and the length field is used to indicate the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP or the length field is not limited in value, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0. The length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is less than or equal to the maximum length of the first TB PPDU that the AP allows the station to set. As an example, the trigger frame is a trigger frame in the 802.11be standard or the 802.11bn standard or other standards, the length field in the trigger frame is an UL length field, and the first indication information is B5 in the trigger-related user information field in the user information field of the trigger frame, as shown in FIG. 7. As another example, the trigger frame includes a TRS control subfield, the length field in the trigger frame is an UL data symbol field in the TRS control subfield, and the first indication information is B25 in the TRS control subfield of the trigger frame, as shown in FIG. 8.

[0147] In some possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and the length field is not limited in value, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0; or the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and the length field is used to indicate the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP or the length field is not limited in value, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0. As an example, the trigger frame is a trigger frame in the 802.11be standard or the 802.11bn standard or other standards, the length field in the trigger frame is an UL length field, and the first indication information is B5 in the trigger-related user information field in the user information field of the trigger frame, as shown in FIG. 7. As another example, the trigger frame includes a TRS control subfield, the length field in the trigger frame is an UL data symbols field in the TRS control subfield, and the first indication information is B25 in the TRS control subfield of the trigger frame, as shown in FIG. 8.

[0148] Possible implementation #4 of the first indication information: The first indication information is indication information of a transmission type in the trigger frame. The transmission type indicated by the first indication information is a coordinated transmission, indicating that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; or the transmission type indicated by the first indication information is a non-coordinated transmission, indicating that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. The first indication information can be a color field in the trigger frame, for example, a BSS color information field. The BSS color information field indicates which BSS or BSSs participate in the uplink transmission of the station. As an example, the BSS color information field in the trigger frame indicates that the uplink transmission of the station is participated by one BSS, that is, a non-coordinated transmission, allowing the station to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; or the BSS color information field in the trigger frame indicates that the uplink transmission of the station is participated by multiple BSSs, that is, a coordinated transmission, not allowing the station to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. One example of the format of the trigger frame is shown in FIGS. 3A-3D. Another example of the format of the trigger frame is shown in FIG. 4.

[0149] Possible implementation #5 of the first indication information: The first indication information is a more trigger frame (more TF) field in the trigger frame. When the more trigger frame in the trigger frame is true, the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; or when the more trigger frame in the trigger frame is not true (or false), the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. For example, when the value of the more trigger frame field is 1, the more trigger frame is true; or when the value of the more trigger frame field is 0, the more trigger frame is not true. One example of the format of the trigger frame is shown in FIGS. 3A-3D.

[0150] In some possible implementation, the more trigger frame in the trigger frame is true, and the length field is used to indicate the length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the AP; or the more trigger frame in the trigger frame is not true, and the length field is used to indicate the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP or the length field has no limitation, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0.

[0151] In some possible implementation, the more trigger frame in the trigger frame is true, and the length field is used to indicate the maximum length of the first TB PPDU allowed by the AP for the station to set; or the more trigger frame in the trigger frame is not true, and the length field is used to indicate the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP or the length field has no limitation, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0.

[0152] In some possible implementation, the more trigger frame in the trigger frame is true, and the length field has no limitation, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0; or the more trigger frame in the trigger frame is not true, and the length field is used to indicate the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP or the length field has no limitation, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0.

[0153] 602、The station sends the first TB PPDU in response to the trigger frame.

[0154] Correspondingly, the AP receives the first TB PPDU. The length of the first TB PPDU is shorter than the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP. Or, the length of the first TB PPDU is longer than the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP. Or, the length of the first TB PPDU is the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP.

[0155] Optionally, the station indicates in the preamble of the first PPDU any one of the following: the first PPDU will end early, the first PPDU can end early, the first PPDU will not end early, the first PPDU will end late. As an example, the station fills the value of the L_LENGTH field in the preamble L-SIG to indicate that the transmission time of the first PPDU is less than, equal to, or greater than the transmission time indicated in the trigger frame. For example, the transmission time indicated in the trigger frame is the transmission time indicated by the UL length field in the trigger frame. As another example, the transmission time indicated in the trigger frame is the transmission time indicated by the UL data symbols in the trigger frame. As another example, the station includes in the preamble U-SIG an indication of the early, not early, or late mode. One possible format of the trigger frame is shown in Table 3. The format of the trigger frame shown in Table 3 can also include other fields, such as a packet extension (PE).

[0156] Table 3

[0157] The meanings of the fields in Table 3 can be found in Table 4.

[0158] Table 4

[0159] Optionally, the first TB PPDU includes third indication information, the third indication information being used to indicate the reason why the length of the first TB PPDU is not the length of the AP default TB PPDU; thereby the access point can learn the reason why the length of the first TB PPDU is not the length of the AP default TB PPDU. The reason why the length of the first TB PPDU is not the length of the AP default TB PPDU can be any one of the following: the amount of data to be transmitted in the uplink buffer of the station is less than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by the AP default length TB PPDU, the first TB PPDU conflicts with the transmission time of the r-TWT when the length of the first TB PPDU is the length of the AP default TB PPDU. The conflict of the AP default length TB PPDU with the transmission time of the r-TWT can be that the station sending the AP default length PPDU will cause the uplink transmission or the BA reply of the AP to exceed the start time of the r-TWT transmission. As an example, the third indication information has a third value, and the reason why the length of the first TB PPDU is not the length of the AP default TB PPDU is that the amount of data to be transmitted in the uplink buffer of the station is less than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by the AP default length TB PPDU; or, the third indication information has a fourth value, and the reason why the length of the first TB PPDU is not the length of the AP default TB PPDU is that the first TB PPDU conflicts with the transmission time of the r-TWT when the length of the first TB PPDU is the length of the AP default TB PPDU.

[0160] In a possible implementation, the first indication information indicates that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is set according to the station itself. In this way, resource waste is reduced or transmission efficiency is improved. As an example, when the amount of uplink data to be sent by the station is less than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by a TB PPDU with a default length of the AP, the station sends a TB PPDU with a length shorter than the default length, which can reduce resource waste and reduce interference to the transmission of other stations. As another example, when the amount of uplink data to be sent by the station is greater than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by a TB PPDU with a default length of the AP, the station sends a TB PPDU with a length longer than the default length, which can improve transmission efficiency and avoid the overhead of multiple trigger frames sent by the AP.

[0161] In another possible implementation, the first indication information indicates the length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the AP, and the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is the length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the AP. In this way, resource waste is reduced or transmission efficiency is improved.

[0162] In yet another possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is the same as the length of the TB PPDU with a default length of the AP, which is suitable for scenarios such as coordinated transmission of multiple APs.

[0163] In the embodiments of the application, when the first indication information in the trigger frame is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, the station can adjust the length of the first TB PPDU to be sent according to the station itself in response to the trigger frame. When the amount of uplink data to be sent by the station is less than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by a TB PPDU with a default length of the AP, the station sends a TB PPDU with a length shorter than the default length, which can reduce resource waste and reduce interference to the transmission of other stations. When the amount of uplink data to be sent by the station is greater than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by a TB PPDU with a default length of the AP, the station sends a TB PPDU with a length longer than the default length, which can improve transmission efficiency and avoid the overhead of multiple trigger frames sent by the AP. If the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is the same as the length of the TB PPDU with a default length of the AP, which is suitable for scenarios such as coordinated transmission of multiple APs.

[0164] FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method of FIG. 9 is similar to the method of FIG. 6, with the difference that the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU and the length of the first PPDU transmitted by the station is shorter than the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP. The method of FIG. 9 is an example of the method of FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 9, the method includes the following steps.

[0165] 901. The AP transmits a trigger frame.

[0166] Correspondingly, the station receives the trigger frame from the AP. The trigger frame is used to trigger the transmission of the first TB PPDU. Alternatively, the trigger frame is used to trigger the station to transmit the first TB PPDU. The trigger frame is used to trigger the single-user uplink transmission. The trigger frame includes the first indication information, which is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. Alternatively, the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is allowed to set the length of the first TB PPDU.

[0167] 902. The station transmits the first TB PPDU in response to the trigger frame, in a case that the amount of uplink data to be transmitted is less than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by the TB PPDU of the length by default of the AP, and the length of the first TB PPDU is shorter than the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP.

[0168] The uplink data to be transmitted by the station can be the data in the buffer of the station to be transmitted to the AP. Optionally, in a case that the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is the single-user uplink transmission, the station transmits the first TB PPDU in response to the trigger frame, in a case that the amount of uplink data to be transmitted is less than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by the TB PPDU of the length by default of the AP; so as to reduce the interference to the transmission of other stations. For example, the station determines that the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is the single-user uplink transmission according to the resource allocation field in the trigger frame. For another example, the station determines that the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is the single-user uplink transmission in a case that the trigger frame only includes the user information field corresponding to the station.

[0169] In a possible implementation, the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is the length of the AP-recommended TB PPDU, and the data in the first TB PPDU sent by the station is padded or not padded at the end. As an example, the first indication information indicates the length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the AP, and the first indication information can be a length field in the trigger frame. As another example, the trigger frame is a trigger frame in the 802.11be standard or the 802.11bn standard or another standard, the first indication information is B5 in the trigger-related user information field in the user information field of the trigger frame, and the length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate the length of the TB PPDU recommended by the AP. As yet another example, the trigger frame includes a TRS control subfield, the first indication information is B25 in the TRS control subfield of the trigger frame, and the length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate the length of the TB PPDU recommended by the AP.

[0170] In another possible implementation, the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is determined by the station according to the amount of uplink data to be sent, and the data in the first TB PPDU sent by the station is not padded at the end. As an example, the first indication information is a length field in the trigger frame, and the value of the length field is 0. As another example, the trigger frame is a trigger frame in the 802.11be standard or the 802.11bn standard or another standard, the first indication information is B5 in the trigger-related user information field in the user information field of the trigger frame, and reference is made to FIG. 7. As yet another example, the trigger frame includes a TRS control subfield, the first indication information is B25 in the TRS control subfield of the trigger frame, and reference is made to FIG. 8.

[0171] Optionally, after receiving the first TB PPDU, the AP sends a BA indicating that the AP receives the first TB PPDU. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of another trigger-based uplink transmission process provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method flow of FIG. 10 is another representation of the method flow of FIG. 9. The trigger frame sent by the AP in FIG. 10 is the trigger frame sent by the AP in the method flow of FIG. 9, and the first TB PPDU sent by STA2 in FIG. 10 is the first TB PPDU sent by the station in the method flow of FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 10, the uplink transmission process includes: the AP sends a trigger frame; STA2 (i.e., the station in the method flow of FIG. 9) sends a first TB PPDU, the first TB PPDU includes a pre-EHT part and an EHT part, the EHT part includes data, and the data is not padded at the end; after receiving the first TB PPDU, the AP sends a BA; and the length of the first TB PPDU is shorter than the length of the AP-default TB PPDU.

[0172] In the embodiments of the present application, the first indication information in the trigger frame is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. When the amount of uplink data to be sent by the station is less than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by the TB PPDU with the default length of the AP, the station sends the TB PPDU with a length shorter than the default length, which can reduce resource waste and reduce interference to the transmission of other stations.

[0173] FIG. 11 is a flowchart of another communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application. Compared with the method flow of FIG. 9, the method flow of FIG. 11 adds the operation of sending the second TB PPDU by the station, which can improve the resource utilization and improve the transmission efficiency. As shown in FIG. 11, the method comprises:

[0174] 1101. The AP sends a trigger frame.

[0175] Correspondingly, the station receives the trigger frame from the AP. The trigger frame is used to trigger the sending of the first TB PPDU. Alternatively, the trigger frame is used to trigger the station to send the first TB PPDU. The trigger frame is used to trigger the single-user uplink transmission. The trigger frame comprises first indication information, which is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. Step 1101 can refer to step 901 in FIG. 9.

[0176] 1102. The station responds to the trigger frame and sends the first TB PPDU when the amount of uplink data to be sent is less than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by the TB PPDU with the default length of the AP. The length of the first TB PPDU is shorter than the length of the TB PPDU with the default length of the AP.

[0177] Step 1102 can refer to step 902 in FIG. 9.

[0178] 1103. The station sends the second TB PPDU by using the part of time-frequency resources remaining after sending the first TB PPDU in the time-frequency resources allocated to the first TB PPDU by the trigger frame.

[0179] Correspondingly, the AP receives the second TB PPDU. The station can send the second TB PPDU to other stations or other APs. The time domain resources occupied by the first TB PPDU and the time domain resources occupied by the second TB PPDU are both included in the time-frequency resources allocated to the first TB PPDU by the trigger frame. Optionally, after receiving the first TB PPDU, the AP sends a BA, which indicates that the AP receives the first TB PPDU. Optionally, after receiving the second TB PPDU, the other station or the other AP sends a BA, which indicates that the AP receives the second TB PPDU. FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of another trigger-based uplink transmission process provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method process of FIG. 12 is another representation of the method process of FIG. 11. The trigger frame in FIG. 12 is the trigger frame sent by the AP in the method process of FIG. 11. The first TB PPDU sent by STA2 in FIG. 12 is the first TB PPDU sent by the station in the method process of FIG. 11. The second TB PPDU sent by STA2 in FIG. 12 is the second TB PPDU sent by the station in the method process of FIG. 11. As shown in FIG. 12, the uplink transmission process includes: the AP sends a trigger frame; STA2 (i.e., the station in the method process of FIG. 11) sends a first TB PPDU, which includes a pre-EHT and an EHT part, the EHT part includes data, and there is no padding at the end of the data; STA2 sends a second TB PPDU after sending the first TB PPDU, the second TB PPDU includes a pre-EHT and an EHT part, the EHT part includes data, and there is no padding at the end of the data; the AP receives the first TB PPDU and sends a BA. The station or the AP that receives the second TB PPDU sends a BA (not shown in FIG. 12); wherein the sum of the length of the first TB PPDU and the length of the second TB PPDU is shorter than the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP.

[0180] In an embodiment of the present application, the first indication information in the trigger frame is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. When the amount of uplink data to be sent by the station is less than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by the TB PPDU with the default length of the AP, the station sends a TB PPDU with a length shorter than the default length, which can reduce resource waste and reduce interference to the transmission of other stations. The station sends the second TB PPDU using the part of the time-frequency resources allocated to the first TB PPDU by the trigger frame after sending the first TB PPDU; thereby the resource utilization rate can be improved and the transmission efficiency can be improved.

[0181] FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method flow of FIG. 13 is compared with the method flow of FIG. 6, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU and the length of the first PPDU sent by the station is longer than the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP. The method flow of FIG. 13 is an example of the method flow of FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 13, the method includes:

[0182] 1301. The AP sends a trigger frame.

[0183] Correspondingly, the station receives the trigger frame from the AP. The trigger frame is used to trigger the sending of the first TB PPDU. Alternatively, the trigger frame is used to trigger the station to send the first TB PPDU. The trigger frame is used to trigger the single-user uplink transmission. The trigger frame includes the first indication information, which is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU.

[0184] 1302. The station, in response to the trigger frame, sends the first TB PPDU in a case where the amount of uplink data to be sent is more than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by the TB PPDU of the AP default length, the length of the first TB PPDU being more than the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP.

[0185] Optionally, the station, in response to the trigger frame, sends the first TB PPDU in a case where the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is the single-user uplink transmission and the amount of uplink data to be sent is more than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by the TB PPDU of the AP default length. For example, the station determines that the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is the single-user uplink transmission according to the resource allocation field in the trigger frame. For another example, the station determines that the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is the single-user uplink transmission in a case where the trigger frame only includes the user information field corresponding to the station.

[0186] In a possible implementation, the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is the length of the TB PPDU recommended by the AP, and the data in the first TB PPDU sent by the station is padded or not padded at the end. As an example, the first indication information indicates the length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the AP, and the first indication information can be the length field in the trigger frame. As another example, the trigger frame is a trigger frame in the 802.13be standard or the 802.13bn standard or other standards, the first indication information is B5 in the trigger-related user information field in the user information field of the trigger frame, and the length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate the length of the TB PPDU recommended by the AP. As yet another example, the trigger frame includes a TRS control subfield, the first indication information is B25 in the TRS control subfield of the trigger frame, and the length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate the length of the TB PPDU recommended by the AP.

[0187] In another possible implementation, the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is determined by the station according to the amount of uplink data to be sent, and the data end of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is not padded. As an example, the first indication information is a length field in the trigger frame, and the value of the length field is 0. As another example, the trigger frame is a trigger frame in the 802.13be standard or the 802.13bn standard or other standards, and the first indication information is B5 in the trigger-related user information field in the user information field of the trigger frame, as shown in FIG. 7. As yet another example, the trigger frame includes a TRS control subfield, and the first indication information is B25 in the TRS control subfield of the trigger frame, as shown in FIG. 8. Optionally, the trigger frame further includes second indication information, the second indication information is used to indicate the maximum length of the first TB PPDU allowed to be set by the station, and the length of the first TB PPDU sent by the station is shorter than or equal to the maximum length; thereby reducing the interference of the first TB PPDU sent by the station to the transmission of other stations.

[0188] Optionally, after receiving the first TB PPDU, the AP sends a BA, which indicates that the AP receives the first TB PPDU. FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of another trigger-based uplink transmission process provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method flow of FIG. 14 is another representation of the method flow of FIG. 13. The trigger frame in FIG. 14 is the trigger frame sent by the AP in the method flow of FIG. 13, and the first TB PPDU sent by STA2 in FIG. 14 is the first TB PPDU sent by the station in the method flow of FIG. 13. As shown in FIG. 14, the uplink transmission process includes: the AP sends a trigger frame; STA2 sends a first TB PPDU, the first TB PPDU includes a pre-EHT and an EHT part, the EHT part includes data, the data end is not padded, and the length of the first TB PPDU is longer than the length of the TB PPDU with the default length of the AP; and the AP receives the first TB PPDU and sends a BA.

[0189] In the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information in the trigger frame is used to indicate that the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, and when the amount of uplink data to be sent by the station is greater than the maximum amount of data that can be carried by the TB PPDU with the default length of the AP, the station sends a TB PPDU with a length longer than the default length, which can improve the transmission efficiency and avoid the overhead of multiple trigger frames sent by the AP.

[0190] FIG. 15 is a flow diagram of another communication method according to the embodiments of the present application. The method flow of FIG. 15 is compared with the method flow of FIG. 6, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU and the length of the first PPDU sent by the station is equal to the length of the TB PPDU by default of the AP. The method flow of FIG. 15 is an example of the method flow of FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 15, the method includes the following steps.

[0191] 1501. The AP sends a trigger frame.

[0192] Correspondingly, the station receives the trigger frame from the AP. The trigger frame is used to trigger the sending of the first TB PPDU. Alternatively, the trigger frame is used to trigger the station to send the first TB PPDU. The trigger frame includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU.

[0193] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is indication information of a transmission type in the trigger frame; the transmission type indicated by the first indication information is coordinated transmission, and the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. Alternatively, the transmission type indicated by the first indication information is uncoordinated transmission, and the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; thereby multiplexing the indication information of the transmission type to indicate whether the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU, which can save bit overhead. The first indication information can be a color field in the trigger frame, such as a basic service set color information (BSS color information) field, and the BSS color information field indicates the BSS color. As an example, the first indication information has a first value, indicating the transmission type is coordinated transmission; or the first indication information has a second value, indicating the transmission type is uncoordinated transmission, and the first value and the second value are different.

[0194] In another possible implementation, the first indication information is a more trigger frame field in the trigger frame, and when the more trigger frame is true, the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. Alternatively, when the more trigger frame is not true, the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU. Optionally, when the more trigger frame is not true, the length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate the length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the AP; or, when the more trigger frame is true, the length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP or the length field is not limited in value, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0. Optionally, when the more trigger frame is not true, the length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate the maximum length of the first TB PPDU allowed to be set by the station; or, when the more trigger frame is true, the length field in the trigger frame is used to indicate the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP or the length field is not limited in value, for example, each bit in the length field is 1 or 0.

[0195] 1502. The station sends the first TB PPDU in response to the trigger frame, and the length of the first TB PPDU is equal to the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP.

[0196] Optionally, after receiving the first TB PPDU, the AP sends a BA indicating that the AP receives the first TB PPDU. FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a trigger-based coordinated transmission process provided by an embodiment of the present application. In FIG. 16, the trigger frame sent by the AP1 is the trigger frame sent by the AP in the method process of FIG. 15, and the first TB PPDU sent by the STA1 is the first TB PPDU sent by the station in the method process of FIG. 15; or, the trigger frame sent by the AP2 in FIG. 16 is the trigger frame sent by the AP in the method process of FIG. 15, and the third TB PPDU sent by the STA2 is the first TB PPDU sent by the station in the method process of FIG. 15. As shown in FIG. 16, the uplink transmission process includes: the AP1 sends a trigger frame; the STA1 sends a first TB PPDU, which includes a pre-EHT and an EHT part, and the EHT part includes data and padding; the AP receives the first TB PPDU and sends a BA; the AP2 sends a trigger frame; the STA2 sends a third TB PPDU, which includes a pre-EHT and an EHT part, and the EHT part includes data and padding; the AP receives the third TB PPDU and sends a BA; wherein the length of the first TB PPDU and the length of the third TB PPDU are both equal to the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP, and the length of the padding in the first TB PPDU is the same as or different from the length of the padding in the second TB PPDU.

[0197] In the embodiments of the present application, when the multiple APs perform coordinated transmission, the TB PPDUs sent by the multiple stations need to be aligned for transmission, which can reduce the interference of the BA on the data.

[0198] The communication apparatus provided in the embodiments of the present application will be described below.

[0199] The communication apparatus provided in the embodiments of the present application will be described below.

[0200] The communication apparatus provided in the embodiments of the present application will be described below.

[0201] In some embodiments of the present application, the communication apparatus can be used to perform the actions performed by the station in the above method embodiments, and at this time, the station can be the station itself or a functional module or a chip or a chip system or the like that can be configured in the station. The transceiver module 1702 is configured to perform the transceiving related operations of the station in the above method embodiments, and the processing module 1701 is configured to perform the processing related operations of the station in the above method embodiments.

[0202] In some possible embodiments, the transceiver module 1702 is configured to receive a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger sending of a first TB PPDU, the trigger frame including first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate whether the station is allowed to adjust a length of the first TB PPDU; the processing module 1701 is configured to parse the trigger frame; and the transceiver module 1702 is further configured to send the first TB PPDU.

[0203] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 1702 is further configured to send, after sending the first TB PPDU, a second TB PPDU in a part of time-frequency resources of time-frequency resources allocated to the first TB PPDU by the trigger frame.

[0204] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 1702 is further configured to, in a case where uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is single-user uplink transmission, send the first TB PPDU in response to the trigger frame.

[0205] In a possible implementation, the processing module 1701 is further configured to determine, according to the resource allocation field in the trigger frame, that the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is single-user uplink transmission.

[0206] In a possible implementation, the processing module 1701 is further configured to determine, in a case where the trigger frame only contains the user information field corresponding to the station, that the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is single-user uplink transmission.

[0207] For example, the processing module 1701 can include at least one of the following modules: constellation mapping module, stream cyclic shift module, space and frequency mapping module, IDFT module, cyclic prefix insertion and windowing module. For example, the transceiver module 1702 can include a radio frequency module, an antenna module, and the like. For example, the transceiver module 1702 can include a pin module and the like.

[0208] In another embodiment of the application, the communication apparatus can be configured to execute the actions performed by the AP in the above method embodiments. In this case, the communication apparatus can be the AP itself or a functional module or chip or chip system configured in the AP. The transceiver module 1702 is configured to perform the transceiving related operations of the AP in the above method embodiments, and the processing module 1701 is configured to perform the processing related operations of the AP in the above method embodiments.

[0209] In some possible embodiments, the processing module 1701 is configured to generate a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger transmission of a first TB PPDU, the trigger frame including first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate whether the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; and the transceiver module 1702 is configured to transmit the trigger frame.

[0210] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 1702 is further configured to receive the first TB PPDU, the length of the first TB PPDU being shorter than or longer than the length of the default TB PPDU of the AP.

[0211] For example, the processing module 1701 can include at least one of the following components: cyclic prefix removal module, DFT module, deinterleaving module, deconstellation module, descrambling module. For example, the transceiver module 1702 can include a radio frequency module, an antenna module, and the like. For example, the transceiver module 1702 can include a pin module and the like.

[0212] Optionally, in each of the above embodiments, the communication apparatus can further include a storage module, which can be configured to store instructions and / or data, and the processing module 1701 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage module to enable the communication apparatus to implement the foregoing method embodiments.

[0213] In the above embodiments, the specific description of each term or name or step can refer to the description in the method embodiments above, and will not be repeated here.

[0214] The specific description of the transceiver module and the processing module in the above embodiments is only an example. For the specific functions or steps of the transceiver module and the processing module, refer to the method embodiments above, and will not be repeated here.

[0215] The communication device of the embodiments of the present application is introduced above. The possible product forms of the communication device are introduced below. Any product form that has the functions of the communication device of FIG. 17 falls within the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application. The following introduction is only an example, and does not limit the product form of the communication device of the embodiments of the present application.

[0216] In a possible implementation, in the communication device shown in FIG. 17, the processing module 1701 can be one or more processors, and the transceiver module 1702 can be a transceiver, or the transceiver module 1702 can also be a sending module and a receiving module, the sending module can be a transmitter, and the receiving module can be a receiver, and the sending module and the receiving module are integrated in one device, for example, a transceiver. In the embodiments of the present application, the processor and the transceiver can be coupled, and the connection mode of the processor and the transceiver is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In the process of executing the above method, the process of sending information in the above method can be the process of outputting the above information by the processor. When outputting the above information, the processor outputs the above information to the transceiver for transmission by the transceiver. After the above information is output by the processor, it can also need to be processed further, and then reach the transceiver. Similarly, the process of receiving information in the above method can be the process of receiving the input above information by the processor. When the processor receives the input information, the transceiver receives the above information and inputs it to the processor. Further, after the transceiver receives the above information, the above information can need to be processed further, and then input to the processor.

[0217] FIG. 18 is another structural schematic diagram of a communication device provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 18, the communication device includes one or more processors 1820 and a transceiver 1810.

[0218] In some embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be used to execute the steps or methods or functions executed by the above station, for example, the processor 1820 can be used to execute the functions or steps implemented by the processing module 1701 shown in FIG. 17, and the transceiver 1810 can be used to execute the functions or steps implemented by the transceiver module 1702 shown in FIG. 17. The specific description of the processor 1820 and the transceiver 1810 can refer to the method embodiments shown in FIG. 17 or the above, and will not be repeated here.

[0219] In some embodiments of the application, the communication device is configured to perform the steps or methods or functions performed by the AP as described above, e.g., the processor 1820 can be configured to perform the functions or steps implemented by the processing module 1701 as shown in FIG. 17, and the transceiver 1810 can be configured to perform the functions or steps implemented by the transceiving module 1702 as shown in FIG. 17. For details of the processor 1820 and the transceiver 1810, reference can be made to the embodiments of the method shown above or in FIG. 17, which will not be repeated here.

[0220] In the various implementations of the communication device shown in FIG. 18, the transceiver can include a receiver configured to perform the functions (or operations) of receiving and a transmitter configured to perform the functions (or operations) of transmitting. The transceiver is configured to communicate with other devices / apparatuses over a transmission medium.

[0221] Optionally, the communication device can further include one or more memories 1830 configured to store program instructions and / or data. The memory 1830 is coupled to the processor 1820. The coupling between the communication device, units or modules in the embodiments of the application can be indirect coupling or communication connection between them, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms, for information interaction between the communication device, units or modules. The processor 1820 can operate in cooperation with the memory 1830. The processor 1820 can execute the program instructions stored in the memory 1830. Optionally, at least one of the one or more memories can be included in the processor.

[0222] The specific connection medium between the transceiver 1810, the processor 1820 and the memory 1830 in the embodiments of the application is not limited. In FIG. 18, the memory 1830, the processor 1820 and the transceiver 1810 are connected through a bus 1840, which is represented by a thick line in FIG. 18, and the connection mode between other components is only schematically illustrated and is not limited. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For convenience of representation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 18, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0223] In the embodiments of the application, the processor can be a general 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, etc., which can implement or execute the disclosed methods, steps and logic block diagrams in the embodiments of the application. The general processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc. The steps of the method disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the application can be directly embodied as execution completed by a hardware processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor, etc.

[0224] 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), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), and the like. The memory can be any storage medium capable of carrying or storing a program code 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). The memory in the embodiments of the present application can also be a circuit or any other device capable of realizing a storage function, for storing program instructions and / or data.

[0225] The processor 1820 is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, and controlling the whole communication device, executing software programs, and processing data of the software programs. The memory 1830 is mainly used for storing software programs and data. The transceiver 1810 can include a control circuit and an antenna, and the control circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, and the like, are mainly used for receiving user input data and outputting data to users.

[0226] When the communication device is powered on, the processor 1820 can read the software program in the memory 1830, 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 1820 performs baseband processing on the data to be transmitted, and outputs the baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit. The radio frequency circuit converts the baseband signal into a radio frequency signal, and transmits the radio frequency signal in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is transmitted to the communication device, 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 1820. The processor 1820 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0227] In another implementation, the radio frequency circuit and the antenna can be arranged independently of the processor performing baseband processing, for example, in a distributed scenario, the radio frequency circuit and the antenna can be arranged remotely from the communication device.

[0228] The communication apparatus shown in the embodiments of the present application can further have more components and the like than those shown in FIG. 18, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application. The method performed by the processor and the transceiver shown above is only an example, and the steps specifically performed by the processor and the transceiver can refer to the method introduced above.

[0229] FIG. 19 is another structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 19, the communication apparatus shown in FIG. 19 includes a logic circuit 1901 and an interface 1902. The processing module 1701 can be implemented by the logic circuit 1901, and the transceiving module 1702 can be implemented by the interface 1902. The logic circuit 1901 can be a chip, a processing circuit, an integrated circuit, or a system on chip (SoC) chip, and the interface 1902 can be a communication interface, an input / output interface, a pin, and the like. For example, FIG. 19 is a chip including the logic circuit 1901 and the interface 1902, taking the communication apparatus as the chip as an example.

[0230] In the embodiments of the present application, the logic circuit and the interface can also be coupled to each other. The specific connection mode of the logic circuit and the interface is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. For example, the logic circuit 1901 can be used to perform the functions or steps implemented by the processing module 1701 shown in FIG. 17, and the interface 1902 can be used to perform the functions or steps implemented by the transceiving module 1702 shown in FIG. 17. The specific description of the logic circuit 1901 and the interface 1902 can refer to FIG. 17 or the method embodiments shown above, which will not be described in detail here.

[0231] The communication apparatus shown in the embodiments of the present application can implement the method provided by the embodiments of the present application in the form of hardware, or implement the method provided by the embodiments of the present application in the form of software, and the like, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0232] In addition, the embodiments of the present application also provide a communication system, which includes a station and an AP, and the station and the AP can be used to perform the method in any of the preceding embodiments.

[0233] The present application also provides a computer program, which, when running on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the above embodiments.

[0234] The present application provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or instructions, when the computer program or instructions run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the above embodiments.

[0235] The present application provides a computer program product, when the computer program product runs on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the above embodiments.

[0236] The application further provides a chip, comprising: a communication interface and a processor; the communication interface is used for signal transceiving of the chip; and the processor is used for executing computer program instructions, so that a communication device comprising the chip executes the method in the above embodiments.

[0237] In several embodiments provided in the application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, communication device and method can be implemented in other manners. For example, the above-described communication device embodiments are merely schematic. For example, the division of the modules is only a logical function division. There can be another division manner for the actual implementation. For example, a plurality of modules or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the displayed or discussed coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the modules can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, communication devices or modules, and can also be electrically, mechanically or in other forms of connection. The modules shown as separate components can or can not be physical separate components, and the components shown as modules can or can not be physical modules. That is, they can be located in one place, or can also be distributed on a plurality of network modules. According to actual needs, some or all of the modules can be selected to implement the technical effects of the solutions provided in the embodiments of the application.

[0238] In addition, each functional module in the embodiments of the application can be integrated in a processing module, or each module can exist physically independently, or two or more modules can be integrated in one module. The integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional module.

[0239] When the integrated module is realized in the form of a software functional module and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of the application essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the application. The foregoing storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various media that can store program codes.

[0240] The above merely provides the specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited to this. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of the changes or replacements within the technical range disclosed by the present application, which should be covered in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: receiving a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger sending of a first trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU), the trigger frame comprising first indication information used to indicate whether a station is allowed to adjust a length of the first TB PPDU; in response to the trigger frame, sending the first TB PPDU.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The length of the first TB PPDU is shorter than or longer than a length of a TB PPDU that is default for an access point.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first indication information indicates a length of the first TB PPDU that is recommended by the access point, and the length of the first TB PPDU that is sent is the length of the first TB PPDU that is recommended by the access point.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The first indication information is a length field in the trigger frame, and a value of the length field is a preset value.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The method further comprises: sending, in a part of time-frequency resources that is left after sending the first TB PPDU from the time-frequency resources allocated to the first TB PPDU by the trigger frame, a second TB PPDU.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The trigger frame further comprises second indication information used to indicate a maximum length of the first TB PPDU that is allowed to be set by the station.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The first indication information is indication information of a transmission type in the trigger frame.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein: the transmission type indicated by the first indication information is coordinated transmission, and the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; or the transmission type indicated by the first indication information is uncoordinated transmission, and the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that, The first indication information is a color field in the trigger frame.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The trigger frame is used to trigger single-user uplink transmission.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, In response to the trigger frame, sending the first TB PPDU comprises: in a case where the uplink transmission triggered by the trigger frame is single-user uplink transmission, in response to the trigger frame, sending the first TB PPDU.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that, The first TB PPDU comprises third indication information used to indicate a reason why the length of the first TB PPDU is not the length of a TB PPDU that is default for an access point.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein, The reason why the length of the first TB PPDU is not the length of the TB PPDU that is default for the access point comprises that an amount of data to be transmitted in an uplink buffer of the station is less than a maximum amount of data that can be carried by a TB PPDU of the default length, and the first TB PPDU of the length of the TB PPDU that is default for the access point collides with a transmission time of a restricted target wake time (R-TWT).

14. A communication method, comprising: The method comprises: generating a trigger frame, the trigger frame being used to trigger sending of a first trigger-based physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU), the trigger frame comprising first indication information used to indicate whether a station is allowed to adjust a length of the first TB PPDU; sending the trigger frame.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, The method further comprises: receive the first TB PPDU, the first TB PPDU having a length shorter than or longer than a length of a TB PPDU default to the access point.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The first indication information indicates a length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the access point, and the length of the received first TB PPDU is the length of the first TB PPDU recommended by the access point.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that, The first indication information is a length field in the trigger frame, and a value of the length field is a preset value.

18. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 17, characterized in that, The trigger frame further includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate a maximum length of the first TB PPDU allowed to be set by the station.

19. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 18, characterized in that, The first indication information is indication information of a transmission type in the trigger frame.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, the transmission type indicated by the first indication information is a coordinated transmission, and the station is not allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU; or the transmission type indicated by the first indication information is a non-coordinated transmission, and the station is allowed to adjust the length of the first TB PPDU.

21. The method of claim 19 or 20, wherein, The first indication information is a color field in the trigger frame.

22. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 21, characterized in that, The trigger frame is used to trigger a single-user uplink transmission.

23. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 22, characterized in that, The first TB PPDU includes third indication information, and the third indication information is used to indicate a reason why the length of the first TB PPDU is not a length of a TB PPDU default to the access point.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein, The reason why the length of the first TB PPDU is not the length of the TB PPDU default to the access point includes that an amount of data to be transmitted in an uplink buffer of the station is less than an amount of data that can be carried by a TB PPDU of the length default to the access point, and the first TB PPDU of the length default to the access point collides with a transmission time of a restricted target wake time (R-TWT).

25. A communications device, characterized by A module for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 24.

26. A communications device, characterized by A processor coupled with a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program or instructions, the processor being used to execute the computer program or instructions in the memory, so that the communication device performs the method of any one of claims 1 to 13; or so that the communication device performs the method of any one of claims 14 to 24.

27. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer readable storage medium has stored thereon a computer program or instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 24.

28. A chip, characterized by comprise: a communication interface and a processor; the communication interface is used for signal transceiving of the chip; and the processor is used to execute a computer program or instructions, so that a communication device comprising the chip performs the method of any one of claims 1 to 24.

29. A computer program product, characterised in that, The computer program product, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 24.

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