Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and an apparatus, relating to the technical field of communications and capable of enabling an associated AP MLD and a second AP MLD to perform DAPS transmission on the basis of a global sequence number, and allowing the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD to respectively perform aggregation and deaggregation operations of an A-MSDU, thereby lowering the complexity of implementation of DAPS transmission and improving communication performance. The method comprises: an associated AP MLD acquires first information and sends, on the basis of the first information, second information to a second AP MLD corresponding to a non-AP MLD and used for DAPS transmission; and on the basis of the second information, the associated AP MLD sends, to the non-AP MLD by means of DAPS transmission, a PPDU formed on the basis of a first MSDU, wherein the first MSDU is an MSDU comprising a global sequence number. The first information comprises an MSDU of the non-AP MLD, and TID of the MSDU; the second information comprises an MSDU, TID, and a global sequence number allocated by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU comprising TID; the associated AP MLD is a first AP MLD corresponding to mapping of a distributed system; and the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD perform DAPS transmission on the basis of the global sequence number.

Description

Communication methods and devices

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202411990078.2, filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on December 27, 2024, entitled "Communication Method and Apparatus", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

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

[0003] In a communication system, a non-access point multi-link device (non-AP MLD) capable of simultaneous transmission and reception across multiple links can simultaneously perform uplink and downlink transmissions with an associated access point multi-link device (AP MLD) and a second AP MLD during roaming via a dual active protocol stack (DAPS). The associated AP MLD is the first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping.

[0004] The associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can communicate with the non-AP MLD based on the SN assigned to the associated AP MLD. However, this SN is not conducive to the aggregation and deaggregation operations of the aggregated medium access control service data unit (A-MSDU) performed by the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD respectively, which may require adjustments to the existing chip implementation. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This application provides a communication method and apparatus that enables associated AP MLD and second AP MLD to perform DAPS transmission based on global sequence numbers, and allows associated AP MLD and second AP MLD to perform A-MSDU aggregation and deaggregation operations respectively, thereby reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance.

[0006] Firstly, this application provides a communication method that can be implemented by an associated AP MLD corresponding to a non-access point multi-link device (non-AP MLD). Unless otherwise specified, "associated AP MLD" in this application can refer to the associated AP MLD itself, a component within the associated AP MLD (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logical module or software capable of implementing all or part of the associated AP MLD's functions. The method includes: acquiring first information; sending second information to a second AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD based on the first information; and sending a PPDU constructed based on a first MSDU, where the first MSDU is an MSDU including a global sequence number, to the non-AP MLD based on the second information and using a dual-activation protocol stack (DAPS) transmission. The first information includes the Media Access Control Layer Service Data Unit (MSDU) of the non-AP MLD and the Service Identifier (TID) of the MSDU; the second information includes the MSDU, TID, and the global sequence number assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU of the TID, and the associated AP MLD is the first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping; the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD perform DAPS transmission based on the global sequence number.

[0007] Based on the first aspect, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can perform DAPS transmission based on global sequence numbers, and allow the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD to each perform A-MSDU aggregation and deaggregation operations, reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance. Furthermore, the embodiments provided in this application can be implemented on existing chip architectures without requiring modifications to the existing chip architecture.

[0008] In one possible design, the method further includes: when the distributed system mapping switches from the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD, sending the TID and the next global sequence number corresponding to the TID to the second AP MLD; or, when the distributed system mapping switches from the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD, sending the TID and the current global sequence number corresponding to the TID to the second AP MLD.

[0009] Based on this possible design, when the distributed system mapping switches from the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD, the second AP MLD replaces the first AP MLD as the associated AP MLD. The first AP MLD can send the next global sequence number or the current global sequence number to the second AP MLD, so that the second AP MLD can continue to allocate global sequence numbers for MSDU after becoming the associated AP MLD.

[0010] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a first request to the non-AP MLD and receiving a first response from the non-AP MLD; wherein the first request is used to request feedback on the reception status of the MSDU, i.e. whether the MSDU corresponding to the global sequence number has been successfully received, and the first response is used to indicate the reception status of the MSDU, i.e. whether the MSDU corresponding to the global sequence number has been successfully received.

[0011] Based on this possible design, the associated AP MLD and non-AP MLD can exchange information about the reception of MSDU through the first request and the first response, which can improve system performance.

[0012] In one possible design, the first request is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment request management frame; or, the first request is carried in the block acknowledgment request control frame; or, the first request is carried in a newly defined aggregate control (A-Control) field; or, the first request is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the first request is carried in the initial control frame.

[0013] In one possible design, the first request includes one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, special TID or special associated identifier AID; wherein, the global start sequence number is used to indicate the reception status of MSDU feedback starting from the global start sequence number.

[0014] In one possible design, the first response is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or, the first response is carried in the multi-site device block acknowledgment Multi-STA BA control frame; or, the first response is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or, the first response is carried in the initial control response frame.

[0015] In one possible design, the first response may include one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, global sequence number bitmap, length of global sequence number bitmap or global end sequence number, global sequence number list, special TID or special AID.

[0016] Based on the above multiple possible designs, several feasible solutions are provided for the design of the first request and the first response, thereby improving the design flexibility of the first request and the first response.

[0017] In one possible design, the method further includes: releasing the buffer of the successfully received MSDU based on the reception status of the MSDU indicated by the first response.

[0018] Based on this possible design, the associated AP MLD can release the corresponding buffer after the MSDU is successfully received, reducing cache overhead.

[0019] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a first indication message to the non-AP MLD, receiving a second indication message from the non-AP MLD, and, based on the second indication message, sending a PPDU consisting of MSDUs that need to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD to the non-AP MLD. The first indication message indicates the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, and the second indication message indicates the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD.

[0020] Based on this possible design, the associated AP MLD can send a first indication message to the non-AP MLD, enabling the non-AP MLD to assist / coordinate the MSDU transmission of the associated AP MLD according to the first indication message, thereby improving transmission performance.

[0021] In one possible design, the first indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or, the first indication information is carried in the block confirmation request control frame; or, the first indication information is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or, the first indication information is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the first indication information is carried in the initial control frame.

[0022] In one possible design, the first indication information includes one or more of the following: TID, the maximum value of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID.

[0023] In one possible design, the second indication information is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or, the second indication information is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or, the second indication information is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or, the second indication information is carried in the initial control response frame.

[0024] In one possible design, the second indication information includes one or more of the following: TID, global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU to be associated with AP MLD transmission, global sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU to be associated with AP MLD transmission, length of global sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU to be associated with AP MLD transmission, global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU to be associated with AP MLD transmission, global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU to be associated with AP MLD transmission, list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU to be associated with AP MLD transmission, special TID or special AID.

[0025] Based on the above-mentioned multiple possible designs, various feasible solutions are provided for the design of the first and second instruction information, thereby improving the design flexibility of the first and second instruction information.

[0026] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from the non-AP MLD; and sending a second response to the non-AP MLD. The second request is used to request the initiation of DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request the discontinuation of DAPS transmission; the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0027] In one possible design, before sending the second response to the non-AP MLD, the method further includes: sending a second request to the second AP MLD; and receiving a second response from the second AP MLD.

[0028] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from a second AP MLD and sending a second response to the second AP MLD. The second request is used to request the initiation of DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request the discontinuation of DAPS transmission; the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0029] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from a non-AP MLD and sending a second request to a second AP MLD. The second request may be used to request the initiation of DAPS transmission, or it may be used to request the discontinuation of DAPS transmission.

[0030] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from a second AP MLD and sending a second response to a non-AP MLD. The second response indicates whether the second request was successful; the second request may be used to request the initiation of DAPS transmission, or it may be used to request the discontinuation of DAPS transmission.

[0031] Based on the above-mentioned multiple possible designs, the associated AP MLD can adopt any of the above possible designs to negotiate with the non-AP MLD and the second AP MLD whether to enable DAPS transmission, so that when DAPS transmission is enabled, the solution provided in this application can be used for downlink DAPS transmission, thereby reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance.

[0032] In one possible design, the second request may also include one or more of the following: the TID corresponding to the DAPS transmission, the identification information of the associated AP MLD or the identification information of the second AP MLD, or the identification information of the non-AP MLD.

[0033] Based on this possible design, the identification information of the associated AP MLD, the identification information of the second AP MLD, and the identification information of the non-AP MLD can be carried in the first request sent to the associated AP MLD, including one or more of the following: the identification information of the second AP MLD and the identification information of the non-AP MLD. The first request sent to the second AP MLD can also carry one or more of the following: the identification information of the associated AP MLD and the identification information of the non-AP MLD. This is to instruct the DAPS to transmit the corresponding AP MLD device to the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD.

[0034] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a third request to the second AP MLD and receiving a third response from the non-AP MLD; wherein the third request is used to request negotiation of a block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number, and the third response is used to acknowledge the block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number.

[0035] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a third request from a second AP MLD, forwarding the modified third request to a non-AP MLD, and receiving a third response from the non-AP MLD; wherein the third request is used to request negotiation of a block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number, and the third response is used to acknowledge the block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number.

[0036] Based on the two possible designs mentioned above, the associated AP MLD, the second AP MLD, and the non-AP MLD can negotiate a block confirmation session based on the global sequence number through a third request and a third response, which facilitates subsequent block confirmation feedback based on the negotiated block confirmation session.

[0037] In one possible design, the third request may include one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, size information of the global sequence number reordering buffer, or timeout value of the block acknowledgment session based on the global sequence number.

[0038] In one possible design, the third response includes one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, size information of the global sequence number reordering buffer, or timeout value of the block acknowledgment session based on the global sequence number.

[0039] Based on the two possible designs mentioned above, multiple feasible solutions are provided for the design of third requests and third responses, thereby improving the design flexibility of third requests and third responses.

[0040] Secondly, this application provides a communication method that can be implemented by a second AP MLD corresponding to a non-AP MLD. Unless otherwise specified, "second AP MLD" in this application can refer to the second AP MLD itself, a component within the second AP MLD (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the second AP MLD. The method includes: receiving second information from an associated AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD; and, based on the second information, sending a PPDU constructed according to a second MSDU to the non-AP MLD via DAPS transmission. The second MSDU is an MSDU including a global sequence number. The second information includes the MSDU of the non-AP MLD, the TID of the MSDU, and the global sequence number assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU with the TID. The associated AP MLD is a first AP MLD corresponding to a distributed system mapping, and the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD perform DAPS transmission based on the global sequence number.

[0041] Based on the second aspect, the second AP MLD and the associated AP MLD can perform DAPS transmission based on global sequence numbers, and allow the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD to each perform A-MSDU aggregation and deaggregation operations, reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance. Furthermore, the embodiments provided in this application can be implemented on existing chip architectures without requiring modifications to the existing chip architecture.

[0042] In one possible design, the method further includes: when the distributed system mapping switches from the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD, receiving the TID from the associated AP MLD and the next global sequence number corresponding to the TID, and continuing to allocate global sequence numbers to the MSDU of the TID according to the next global sequence number; or, when the distributed system mapping switches from the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD, receiving the TID from the associated AP MLD and the current global sequence number corresponding to the TID, and continuing to allocate global sequence numbers to the MSDU of the TID sequentially according to the current global sequence number.

[0043] Based on this possible design, when the distributed system mapping switches from the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD, the second AP MLD replaces the first AP MLD as the associated AP MLD. The second AP MLD can continue to allocate global sequence numbers for the MSDU based on the next global sequence number or the current global sequence number sent by the first AP MLD.

[0044] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a first request to the non-AP MLD and receiving a first response from the non-AP MLD. The first request is used to request feedback on the reception status of the MSDU, i.e., whether the MSDU corresponding to the global sequence number has been successfully received, and the first response is used to indicate the reception status of the MSDU, i.e., whether the MSDU corresponding to the global sequence number has been successfully received.

[0045] Based on this possible design, the second AP MLD and the non-AP MLD can exchange information about the reception of MSDU through the first request and the first response, which can improve system performance.

[0046] In one possible design, the first request is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment request management frame; or, the first request is carried in the block acknowledgment request control frame; or, the first request is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or, the first request is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the first request is carried in the initial control frame.

[0047] In one possible design, the first request includes one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, special TID, or special AID; wherein, the global start sequence number is used to indicate the reception status of MSDU feedback starting from the global start sequence number.

[0048] In one possible design, the first response is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or, the first response is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or, the first response is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or, the first response is carried in the initial control response frame.

[0049] In one possible design, the first response may include one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, global sequence number bitmap, length of global sequence number bitmap or global end sequence number, global sequence number list, special TID or special AID.

[0050] Based on the above multiple possible designs, several feasible solutions are provided for the design of the first request and the first response, thereby improving the design flexibility of the first request and the first response.

[0051] In one possible design, the method further includes: releasing the buffer of the successfully received MSDU based on the reception status of the MSDU indicated by the first response.

[0052] Based on this possible design, the second AP MLD can release the corresponding buffer after the MSDU is successfully received, reducing cache overhead.

[0053] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a third indication message to the non-AP MLD, receiving a fourth indication message from the non-AP MLD, and, based on the fourth indication message, sending a PPDU consisting of the MSDU that the second AP MLD needs to transmit to the non-AP MLD. The third indication message indicates the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in the second AP MLD's transmission buffer, and the fourth indication message indicates the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU that the second AP MLD needs to transmit.

[0054] Based on this possible design, the second AP MLD can send a third instruction message to the non-AP MLD, enabling the non-AP MLD to assist / coordinate the MSDU transmission of the second AP MLD according to the third instruction message, thereby improving transmission performance.

[0055] In one possible design, the third indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or, the third indication information is carried in the block confirmation request control frame; or, the third indication information is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or, the third indication information is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the third indication information is carried in the initial control frame.

[0056] In one possible design, the third indication information includes one or more of the following: TID, the maximum value of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID.

[0057] In one possible design, the fourth indication information is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or, the fourth indication information is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or, the fourth indication information is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or, the fourth indication information is carried in the initial control response frame.

[0058] In one possible design, the fourth indication information includes one or more of the following: TID, global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, and special TID or special AID.

[0059] Based on the above-mentioned multiple possible designs, various feasible solutions are provided for the design of the third and fourth indication information, thereby improving the design flexibility of the third and fourth indication information.

[0060] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from the associated AP MLD and sending a second response to the associated AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0061] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from the non-AP MLD and sending a second response to the non-AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0062] In one possible design, before sending the second response to the non-AP MLD, the method further includes: sending a second request to the associated AP MLD; and receiving a second response from the associated AP MLD.

[0063] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from the associated AP MLD and sending a second response to the non-AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0064] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from a non-AP MLD and sending the second request to the associated AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission.

[0065] Based on the above-mentioned multiple possible designs, the second AP MLD can adopt any of the above possible designs to negotiate with the non-AP MLD and associated AP MLD whether to enable DAPS transmission, so as to use the scheme provided in this application for downlink DAPS transmission when DAPS transmission is enabled, thereby reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance.

[0066] In one possible design, the second request may also include one or more of the following: the TID corresponding to the DAPS transmission, the identification information of the associated AP MLD or the identification information of the second AP MLD, or the identification information of the non-AP MLD.

[0067] Based on this possible design, the identification information of the associated AP MLD, the identification information of the second AP MLD, and the identification information of the non-AP MLD can be carried in the first request sent to the associated AP MLD, including one or more of the following: the identification information of the second AP MLD and the identification information of the non-AP MLD. The first request sent to the second AP MLD can also carry one or more of the following: the identification information of the associated AP MLD and the identification information of the non-AP MLD. This is to instruct the DAPS to transmit the corresponding AP MLD device to the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD.

[0068] In one possible design, a third request is received from the associated AP MLD, and a modified third request is forwarded to the non-AP MLD; wherein the third request is used to request negotiation of a block confirmation session based on a global sequence number.

[0069] In one possible design, a third request is sent to the associated AP MLD; wherein the third request is used to request negotiation of a block confirmation session based on a global sequence number.

[0070] Based on the two possible designs mentioned above, the associated AP MLD, the second AP MLD, and the non-AP MLD can negotiate a block confirmation session based on the global sequence number through a third request and a third response, which facilitates subsequent block confirmation feedback based on the negotiated block confirmation session.

[0071] In one possible design, the third request may include one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, size information of the global sequence number reordering buffer, or timeout value of the block acknowledgment session based on the global sequence number.

[0072] Based on this possible design, multiple feasible solutions are provided for the design of the third request, thereby improving the design flexibility of the third request.

[0073] Thirdly, this application provides a communication method that can be implemented by a non-AP MLD. Unless otherwise specified, "non-AP MLD" in this application can refer to the non-AP MLD itself, a component within the non-AP MLD (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the non-AP MLD. The method includes: receiving a PPDU based on a first MSDU transmitted via DAPS from an associated AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD; receiving a PPDU based on a second MSDU transmitted via DAPS from a second AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD; and parsing the first MSDU and the second MSDU based on the global sequence number included in the first MSDU and the second MSDU. Wherein, the associated AP MLD is the first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping; the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD are transmitted via DAPS based on the global sequence number; the global sequence number is assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU of the TID of the non-AP MLD.

[0074] Based on the third aspect, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can perform DAPS transmission with the non-AP MLD based on the global sequence number, and allow the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD to each perform A-MSDU aggregation and deaggregation operations, reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance. Furthermore, the embodiments provided in this application can be implemented on existing chip architectures without requiring modifications to the existing chip architecture.

[0075] In one possible design, the first MSDU and the second MSDU are parsed based on the global sequence number included in the first MSDU and the global sequence number included in the second MSDU, including: parsing the first MSDU and the second MSDU based on one or more of the following: the scoreboard corresponding to the global sequence number, the reordering buffer corresponding to the global sequence number, or the duplicate detection corresponding to the global sequence number.

[0076] Based on this possible design, non-AP MLD can adjust the MSDU parsing process based on the global sequence number to improve parsing performance.

[0077] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a first request from the associated AP MLD and sending a first response to the associated AP MLD; wherein the first request is used to request feedback on the reception status of the MSDU, i.e. whether the MSDU corresponding to the global sequence number has been successfully received, and the first response is used to indicate the reception status of the MSDU, i.e. whether the MSDU corresponding to the global sequence number has been successfully received.

[0078] The descriptions of the first request and the first response can be found in the relevant descriptions of the first request and the first response in the first aspect above, and the beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be found in the relevant content mentioned above, which will not be repeated here.

[0079] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a first request from the second AP MLD and sending a first response to the second AP MLD; wherein the first request is used to request feedback on the reception status of the MSDU, i.e. whether the MSDU corresponding to the global sequence number has been successfully received, and the first response is used to indicate the reception status of the MSDU, i.e. whether the MSDU corresponding to the global sequence number has been successfully received.

[0080] The descriptions of the first request and the first response can be found in the relevant descriptions of the first request and the first response in the second aspect above, and the beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be found in the relevant content mentioned above, which will not be repeated here.

[0081] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving first indication information from the associated AP MLD, sending second indication information to the associated AP MLD, and receiving a PPDU composed of MSDUs that need to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD. The first indication information is used to indicate the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, and the second indication information is used to indicate the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD.

[0082] The descriptions of the first instruction information and the second instruction information can be found in the relevant descriptions of the first instruction information and the second instruction information in the first aspect above. The beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be found in the relevant content mentioned above, and will not be repeated here.

[0083] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving third indication information from the second AP MLD, sending fourth indication information to the second AP MLD, and receiving a PPDU composed of MSDUs that the second AP MLD needs to transmit. The third indication information is used to indicate the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDUs cached in the second AP MLD's transmission buffer, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDUs that the second AP MLD needs to transmit.

[0084] The descriptions of the third and fourth instruction information can be found in the relevant descriptions of the third and fourth instruction information in the second aspect above, and the beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be found in the relevant content mentioned above, which will not be repeated here.

[0085] In one possible design, the global serial number information indicated by the second indication information is different from the global serial number information indicated by the fourth indication information; or, the global serial number information indicated by the second indication information is the same as the global serial number information indicated by the fourth indication information.

[0086] Based on this possible design, the global sequence number information indicated by the non-AP MLD to the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can be the same to increase transmission reliability. Alternatively, they can be different to increase system throughput and reduce unnecessary duplicate transmissions.

[0087] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a second request to the associated AP MLD and receiving a second response from the associated AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0088] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a second request to the second AP MLD and receiving a second response from the second AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0089] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a second request to the associated AP MLD and receiving a second response from the second AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0090] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a second request to a second AP MLD and receiving a second response from the associated AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0091] Based on the above-mentioned multiple possible designs, the non-AP MLD can use any of the above possible designs to negotiate with the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD whether to enable DAPS transmission. If DAPS transmission is enabled, the solution provided in this application can be used for downlink DAPS transmission, thereby reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance.

[0092] In one possible design, the second request may also include one or more of the following: the TID corresponding to the DAPS transmission, the identification information of the associated AP MLD or the identification information of the second AP MLD, or the identification information of the non-AP MLD.

[0093] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a modified third request from a second AP MLD and sending a third response to the associated AP MLD; wherein the third request is used to request negotiation of a block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number; and the third response is used to acknowledge the block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number.

[0094] In one possible design, a modified third request is received from the associated AP MLD, and a third response is sent to the associated AP MLD; wherein the third request is used to request negotiation of a block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number; and the third response is used to acknowledge the block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number.

[0095] The descriptions of the third request and the third response can be found in the relevant descriptions of the third request and the third response in the first aspect above, and the beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be found in the relevant content mentioned above, which will not be repeated here.

[0096] Fourthly, this application provides a communication method that can be implemented by a non-AP MLD. Unless otherwise specified, "non-AP MLD" in this application can refer to the non-AP MLD itself, a component within the non-AP MLD (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the non-AP MLD. The method includes: receiving first indication information from an associated AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD; receiving third indication information from a second AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD; sending second indication information to the associated AP MLD; sending fourth indication information to the second AP MLD; receiving a PPDU composed of MSDUs transmitted by the associated AP MLD as needed; and receiving a PPDU composed of MSDUs transmitted by the second AP MLD as needed. The first indication information is used to indicate the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD; the third indication information is used to indicate the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD; the associated AP MLD is the first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping; the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD communicate with the non-AP MLD based on DAPS transmission; the second indication information is used to indicate the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD.

[0097] Based on the fourth aspect, for the DAPS transmission process, the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD can send the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in their respective transmission buffers to the non-AP MLD. Based on this, the non-AP MLD can assist / coordinate the transmission between the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD. For example, it can indicate to the associated AP MLD the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, and indicate to the second AP MLD the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, thereby improving transmission performance.

[0098] In one possible design, the first indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or, the first indication information is carried in the block confirmation request control frame; or, the first indication information is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or, the first indication information is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the first indication information is carried in the initial control frame.

[0099] In one possible design, the third indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or, the third indication information is carried in the block confirmation request control frame; or, the third indication information is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or, the third indication information is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the third indication information is carried in the initial control frame.

[0100] In one possible design, the first indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the maximum value of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the bit map of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the length of the bit map of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID; wherein, the global sequence number is assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU with the TID of the non-AP MLD.

[0101] In one possible design, the first indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the maximum value of the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the length of the sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the starting sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the ending sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, or the list of sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, a special TID, or a special AID.

[0102] In one possible design, the third indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the maximum value of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID; wherein, the global sequence number is assigned to the MSDU whose TID is associated with the AP MLD as a non-AP MLD.

[0103] In one possible design, the third indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the maximum value of the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the length of the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the starting sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the ending sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, or the list of sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, a special TID or a special AID.

[0104] In one possible design, the second indication information is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or, the second indication information is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or, the second indication information is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or, the second indication information is carried in the initial control response frame.

[0105] In one possible design, the fourth indication information is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or, the fourth indication information is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or, the fourth indication information is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or, the fourth indication information is carried in the initial control response frame.

[0106] In one possible design, the second indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the global sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the length of the global sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, and a special TID or a special AID.

[0107] In one possible design, the second indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the length of the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, or a list of sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, a special TID, or a special AID.

[0108] In one possible design, the fourth indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID.

[0109] In one possible design, the fourth indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the length of the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, or a list of sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, a special TID, or a special AID.

[0110] Based on the above-mentioned multiple possible designs, various feasible solutions are provided for the design of the first, second, third, and fourth instruction information, thereby improving the design flexibility of the first, second, third, and fourth instruction information.

[0111] In one possible design, the serial number information indicated by the second indication information is different from the serial number information indicated by the fourth indication information; or, the serial number information indicated by the second indication information is the same as the serial number information indicated by the fourth indication information.

[0112] Based on this possible design, the sequence number information indicated by the non-AP MLD to the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can be the same to increase transmission reliability. Alternatively, they can be different to increase system throughput and reduce unnecessary duplicate transmissions.

[0113] Fifthly, this application provides a communication method that can be implemented by an associated AP MLD corresponding to a non-AP MLD. Unless otherwise specified, "associated AP MLD" in this application can refer to the associated AP MLD itself, a component within the associated AP MLD (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the associated AP MLD's functions. The method includes: sending a first indication information to the non-AP MLD, receiving a second indication information from the non-AP MLD, and sending a PPDU composed of MSDUs to the non-AP MLD as needed for transmission by the associated AP MLD. The first indication information indicates the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD; the associated AP MLD is a first AP MLD corresponding to a distributed system mapping; the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD communicate with the non-AP MLD based on DAPS transmission; and the second indication information indicates the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDUs that need to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD.

[0114] The descriptions of the first and second instruction information can be found in the relevant descriptions of the first and second instruction information in the fourth aspect above, and the beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be found in the relevant content mentioned above, which will not be repeated here.

[0115] Sixthly, this application provides a communication method that can be implemented by a second AP MLD corresponding to a non-AP MLD. Unless otherwise specified, "second AP MLD" in this application can refer to the second AP MLD itself, a component within the second AP MLD (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the second AP MLD. The method includes: sending third indication information to the non-AP MLD, receiving fourth indication information from the non-AP MLD, and sending a PPDU composed of MSDUs that the second AP MLD needs to transmit. The third indication information indicates the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in the second AP MLD's transmission buffer; the associated AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD is a first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping; the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD communicate with the non-AP MLD based on DAPS transmission; and the fourth indication information indicates the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU that the second AP MLD needs to transmit.

[0116] The descriptions of the third and fourth instruction information can be found in the relevant descriptions of the third and fourth instruction information in the fourth aspect above. The beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be found in the relevant content mentioned above, and will not be repeated here.

[0117] Seventhly, this application provides a communication method that can be implemented by a non-AP MLD. Unless otherwise specified, "non-AP MLD" in this application can refer to the non-AP MLD itself, a component within the non-AP MLD (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the non-AP MLD. The method includes: obtaining a global sequence number assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU of the non-AP MLD's TID; sending a PPDU composed of a third MSDU to the associated AP MLD based on DAPS transmission according to the global sequence number; and sending a PPDU composed of a fourth MSDU to the second AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD based on DAPS transmission according to the global sequence number. Wherein, the associated AP MLD is the first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping; the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD perform DAPS transmission based on the global sequence number; the third MSDU is an MSDU including the global sequence number; and the fourth MSDU is an MSDU including the global sequence number.

[0118] Based on the seventh aspect, DAPS transmission can be performed between the non-AP MLD, the associated AP MLD, and the second AP MLD based on a global sequence number. Furthermore, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD are allowed to each perform A-MSDU aggregation and deaggregation operations, reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance. Additionally, the embodiments provided in this application can be implemented on existing chip architectures without requiring modifications to them.

[0119] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a fourth request to the associated AP MLD and receiving a fourth response from the associated AP MLD; wherein the fourth request is used to request feedback on the reception status of the MSDU, i.e. whether the MSDU corresponding to the global sequence number has been successfully received, and the fourth response is used to indicate the reception status of the MSDU, i.e. whether the MSDU corresponding to the global sequence number has been successfully received.

[0120] Based on this possible design, the non-AP MLD and the associated AP MLD can exchange MSDU reception status through a fourth request and a fourth response, which can improve system performance.

[0121] In one possible design, the fourth request is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment request management frame; or, the fourth request is carried in the block acknowledgment request control frame; or, the fourth request is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or, the fourth request is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the fourth request is carried in the initial control frame.

[0122] In one possible design, the fourth request includes one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, special TID, or special AID; wherein, the global start sequence number is used to indicate the reception status of MSDU feedback starting from the global start sequence number.

[0123] In one possible design, the fourth response is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or, the fourth response is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or, the fourth response is carried in the initial control response frame.

[0124] In one possible design, the fourth response includes one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, global sequence number bitmap, length of global sequence number bitmap or global end sequence number, global sequence number list, special TID or special AID.

[0125] Based on the above-mentioned multiple possible designs, several feasible solutions are provided for the design of the fourth request and the fourth response, thereby improving the design flexibility of the fourth request and the fourth response.

[0126] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a PPDU based on the MSDU to one or more of the following AP MLDs, according to the fourth response: the associated AP MLD, or the second AP MLD.

[0127] In one possible design, the PPDU based on the MSDU sent to the associated AP MLD is different from the PPDU based on the MSDU sent to the second AP MLD; or, the PPDU based on the MSDU sent to the associated AP MLD is the same as the PPDU based on the MSDU sent to the second AP MLD.

[0128] Based on the two possible designs mentioned above, the PPDU (Constructed from MSDU) sent by the non-AP MLD to the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can be the same to increase transmission reliability. Alternatively, they can be different to increase system throughput and reduce unnecessary duplicate transmissions.

[0129] In one possible design, the method further includes: releasing the buffer of the successfully received MSDU based on the reception status of the MSDU indicated by the fourth response.

[0130] Based on this possible design, the non-AP MLD can release the corresponding buffer after the MSDU is successfully received, reducing cache overhead.

[0131] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a second request to the associated AP MLD and receiving a second response from the associated AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0132] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a second request to the second AP MLD and receiving a second response from the second AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0133] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a second request to the associated AP MLD and receiving a second response from the second AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0134] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a second request to a second AP MLD and receiving a second response from the associated AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0135] Based on the above-mentioned multiple possible designs, the non-AP MLD can use any of the above possible designs to negotiate with the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD whether to enable DAPS transmission. If DAPS transmission is enabled, the solution provided in this application can be used for uplink DAPS transmission, thereby reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance.

[0136] In one possible design, the second request may also include one or more of the following: the TID corresponding to the DAPS transmission, the identification information of the associated AP MLD or the identification information of the second AP MLD, or the identification information of the non-AP MLD.

[0137] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a third request to the associated AP MLD and receiving a third response from the second AP MLD; wherein the third request is used to request negotiation of a block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number; and the third response is used to acknowledge the block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number.

[0138] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending a third request to the second AP MLD and receiving a third response from the associated AP MLD; wherein the third request is used to request negotiation of a block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number; and the third response is used to acknowledge the block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number.

[0139] The descriptions of the third request and the third response can be found in the relevant descriptions of the third request and the third response in the first aspect above, and the beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be found in the relevant content mentioned above, which will not be repeated here.

[0140] Eighthly, this application provides a communication method that can be implemented by an associated AP MLD corresponding to a non-AP MLD. Unless otherwise specified, "associated AP MLD" in this application can refer to the associated AP MLD itself, a component within the associated AP MLD (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logical module or software capable of implementing all or part of the associated AP MLD's functions. The method includes: receiving a PPDU constructed based on a third MSDU from the non-AP MLD; receiving third information from a second AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD; the third MSDU is an MSDU including a global sequence number; the third information includes a fourth MSDU and the TID of the fourth MSDU; and the fourth MSDU is an MSDU including a global sequence number; and parsing the third MSDU and the fourth MSDU based on the global sequence number included in the third MSDU and the global sequence number included in the fourth MSDU. Among them, the associated AP MLD is the first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping; the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD are transmitted via DAPS based on the global sequence number; the global sequence number is assigned by the MSDU of the TID of the associated AP MLD as a non-AP MLD.

[0141] Based on the eighth aspect, DAPS transmission can be performed between the non-AP MLD, the associated AP MLD, and the second AP MLD based on a global sequence number. Furthermore, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD are allowed to each perform A-MSDU aggregation and deaggregation operations, reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance. Additionally, the embodiments provided in this application can be implemented on existing chip architectures without requiring modifications.

[0142] In one possible design, the third MSDU and the fourth MSDU are parsed based on the global sequence number included in the third MSDU and the global sequence number included in the fourth MSDU, including: parsing the third MSDU and the fourth MSDU based on one or more of the following: the scoreboard corresponding to the global sequence number, the reordering buffer corresponding to the global sequence number, or the duplicate detection corresponding to the global sequence number.

[0143] Based on this possible design, the associated AP MLD can adjust the MSDU parsing process based on the global sequence number, thereby improving parsing performance.

[0144] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a fourth request from the non-AP MLD and sending a fourth response to the non-AP MLD; wherein the fourth request is used to request feedback on the reception status of the MSDU, i.e. whether the MSDU corresponding to the global sequence number has been successfully received, and the fourth response is used to indicate the reception status of the MSDU, i.e. whether the MSDU corresponding to the global sequence number has been successfully received.

[0145] The descriptions of the fourth request and the fourth response can be found in the relevant descriptions of the fourth request and the fourth response in the seventh aspect above, and the beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be found in the relevant content mentioned above, which will not be repeated here.

[0146] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from the non-AP MLD; and sending a second response to the non-AP MLD. The second request is used to request the initiation of DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request the discontinuation of DAPS transmission; the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0147] In one possible design, before sending the second response to the non-AP MLD, the method further includes: sending a second request to the second AP MLD; and receiving a second response from the second AP MLD.

[0148] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from a second AP MLD and sending a second response to the second AP MLD. The second request is used to request the initiation of DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request the discontinuation of DAPS transmission; the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0149] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from a non-AP MLD and sending a second request to a second AP MLD. The second request may be used to request the initiation of DAPS transmission, or it may be used to request the discontinuation of DAPS transmission.

[0150] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from a second AP MLD and sending a second response to a non-AP MLD. The second response indicates whether the second request was successful; the second request may be used to request the initiation of DAPS transmission, or it may be used to request the discontinuation of DAPS transmission.

[0151] Based on the above-mentioned multiple possible designs, the associated AP MLD can use any of the above possible designs to negotiate with the second AP MLD and non-AP MLD whether to enable DAPS transmission, so that when DAPS transmission is enabled, the solution provided in this application can be used for uplink DAPS transmission, thereby reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance.

[0152] In one possible design, the second request may also include one or more of the following: the TID corresponding to the DAPS transmission, the identification information of the associated AP MLD or the identification information of the second AP MLD, or the identification information of the non-AP MLD.

[0153] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a third request from a non-AP MLD and forwarding a modified third request to a second AP MLD; wherein the third request is used to request negotiation of a block confirmation session based on a global sequence number.

[0154] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a modified third request from a second AP MLD and sending a third response to a non-AP MLD; wherein the third request is used to request negotiation of a block confirmation session based on a global sequence number, and the third response is used to confirm the block confirmation session based on a global sequence number.

[0155] The descriptions of the third request and the third response can be found in the relevant descriptions of the third request and the third response in the first aspect above, and the beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be found in the relevant content mentioned above, which will not be repeated here.

[0156] Ninthly, this application provides a communication method that can be implemented by a second AP MLD corresponding to a non-AP MLD. Unless otherwise specified, "second AP MLD" in this application can refer to the second AP MLD itself, a component within the second AP MLD (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the second AP MLD. The method includes: receiving a PPDU constructed based on a fourth MSDU from the non-AP MLD; and sending third information to the associated AP MLD based on the fourth MSDU. The associated AP MLD is a first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping; the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD perform DAPS transmission based on a global sequence number; the third information includes the fourth MSDU and the TID of the fourth MSDU; the global sequence number is assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU with the TID of the non-AP MLD.

[0157] Based on the ninth aspect, DAPS transmission can be performed between the non-AP MLD, the associated AP MLD, and the second AP MLD based on a global sequence number. Furthermore, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD are allowed to each perform A-MSDU aggregation and deaggregation operations, reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance. Additionally, the embodiments provided in this application can be implemented on existing chip architectures without requiring modifications.

[0158] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from the associated AP MLD and sending a second response to the associated AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0159] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from the non-AP MLD and sending a second response to the non-AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0160] In one possible design, before sending the second response to the non-AP MLD, the method further includes: sending a second request to the associated AP MLD; and receiving a second response from the associated AP MLD.

[0161] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from the associated AP MLD and sending a second response to the non-AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission; and the second response is used to indicate whether the second request was successful.

[0162] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a second request from a non-AP MLD and sending the second request to the associated AP MLD; wherein the second request is used to request to enable DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request to disable DAPS transmission.

[0163] Based on the above-mentioned multiple possible designs, the second AP MLD can adopt any of the above possible designs to negotiate with the associated AP MLD and non-AP MLD whether to enable DAPS transmission, so as to use the scheme provided in this application for uplink DAPS transmission when DAPS transmission is enabled, thereby reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance.

[0164] In one possible design, the second request may also include one or more of the following: the TID corresponding to the DAPS transmission, the identification information of the associated AP MLD or the identification information of the second AP MLD, or the identification information of the non-AP MLD.

[0165] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a modified third request from the associated AP MLD and sending a third response to the non-AP MLD; wherein the third request is used to request negotiation of a block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number; and the third response is used to acknowledge the block acknowledgment session based on a global sequence number.

[0166] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving a third request from a non-AP MLD and forwarding a modified third request to the associated AP MLD; wherein the third request is used to request negotiation of a block confirmation session based on a global sequence number.

[0167] The descriptions of the third request and the third response can be found in the relevant descriptions of the third request and the third response in the second aspect above, and the beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be found in the relevant content mentioned above, which will not be repeated here.

[0168] In a tenth aspect, this application provides a communication device that can be applied to the associated AP MLD in the first, fifth, or eighth aspects above to realize the functions performed by the associated AP MLD. The communication device can be the associated AP MLD, or it can be a chip, chip system, or system-on-a-chip of the associated AP MLD, etc. The communication device can execute the functions performed by the associated AP MLD through hardware, or it can execute corresponding software through hardware.

[0169] Alternatively, the communication device can be applied to the second AP MLD in the second, sixth, or ninth aspects mentioned above to realize the functions performed by the second AP MLD. The communication device can be the second AP MLD, or the chip, chip system, or system-on-a-chip of the second AP MLD, etc. The communication device can execute the functions performed by the second AP MLD through hardware, or it can execute the corresponding software through hardware.

[0170] Alternatively, the communication device can be applied to the non-AP MLD of the third, fourth, or seventh aspects mentioned above to realize the functions performed by the non-AP MLD. The communication device can be a non-AP MLD, or a chip, chip system, or system-on-a-chip of the non-AP MLD, etc. The communication device can perform the functions performed by the non-AP MLD through hardware, or it can implement the corresponding software through hardware.

[0171] The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. For example, a transceiver module and a processing module. The transceiver module can independently complete the following transceiver operations, or it can cooperate with the processing module to complete the following transceiver operations; correspondingly, the processing module can independently complete the following processing operations, or it can cooperate with the transceiver module to complete the following processing operations, without limitation.

[0172] Optionally, the transceiver module and processing module of the communication device in the tenth aspect may also perform the corresponding functions in any possible design of any aspect from the first to the ninth aspect, as detailed in the method examples. The beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be found in the aforementioned related content, which will not be repeated here.

[0173] In one aspect, this application provides a communication device comprising one or more processors; the one or more processors being configured to run a computer program or instructions, wherein when the one or more processors execute the computer program or instructions, the communication method described in any one of the first to ninth aspects is performed.

[0174] In one possible design, the communication device further includes one or more memories coupled to one or more processors, the memories used to store the aforementioned computer programs or instructions. In one possible implementation, the memories are located outside the communication device. In another possible implementation, the memories are located inside the communication device. In this application, the processor and memory may also be integrated into a single device, i.e., the processor and memory may be integrated together. In one possible implementation, the communication device further includes a transceiver for receiving and / or transmitting information.

[0175] In one possible design, the communication device further includes one or more communication interfaces coupled to one or more processors, and the communication interfaces are used to communicate with other modules outside the communication device.

[0176] In a twelfth aspect, this application provides a communication device comprising an interface circuit and a logic circuit; the interface circuit is used for inputting and / or outputting information; the logic circuit is used for performing the communication method as described in any one of the first to ninth aspects, processing and / or generating information based on the information.

[0177] In a thirteenth aspect, this application provides a computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions or programs that, when some or all of the computer instructions or programs are run on a computer, cause the communication method described in any one of the first to ninth aspects to be executed.

[0178] In a fourteenth aspect, this application provides a computer program product comprising computer instructions or programs that, when some or all of the computer instructions or programs are run on a computer, cause the communication method described in any one of the first to ninth aspects to be executed.

[0179] In a fifteenth aspect, this application provides a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the communication method described in any one of the first to ninth aspects to be executed.

[0180] In a sixteenth aspect, this application provides a chip comprising: a processor coupled to a memory for storing programs or instructions, wherein when some or all of the programs or instructions are executed by the processor, a communication method as described in any one of the first to ninth aspects is executed.

[0181] The technical effects of any of the design methods in aspects eleven to sixteen can be found in the technical effects of any of the aspects one to nine mentioned above, and will not be elaborated upon further.

[0182] In a seventeenth aspect, this application provides a communication system that may include communication means for performing the communication as described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect, communication means for performing the communication as described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect, and communication means for performing the communication as described in the third aspect or any possible design of the third aspect; or, it may include communication means for performing the communication as described in the fourth aspect or any possible design of the fourth aspect, communication means for performing the communication as described in the fifth aspect or any possible design of the fifth aspect, and communication means for performing the communication as described in the sixth aspect or any possible design of the sixth aspect; or, it may include communication means for performing the communication as described in the seventh aspect or any possible design of the seventh aspect, communication means for performing the communication as described in the eighth aspect or any possible design of the eighth aspect, and communication means for performing the communication as described in the ninth aspect or any possible design of the ninth aspect. Attached Figure Description

[0183] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an MLD device address provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0184] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a downlink transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0185] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an uplink transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0186] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of another downlink transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0187] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of another uplink transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0188] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0189] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0190] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a downlink DAPS transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0191] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of MAC layer processing and physical layer processing provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0192] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of an MPDU frame format provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0193] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of the frame structure of a global sequence number block confirmation request management frame provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0194] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the frame structure of a global sequence number block confirmation management frame provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0195] Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of the frame structure of a multi-site device block confirmation control frame provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0196] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of a negotiation method for whether to enable DAPS transmission according to an embodiment of this application;

[0197] Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0198] Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0199] Figure 17 is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0200] Figure 18 is a schematic diagram of an uplink DAPS transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0201] Figure 19 is a schematic diagram of another downlink DAPS transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0202] Figure 20 is a schematic diagram of another downlink DAPS transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0203] Figure 21 is a schematic diagram of the state transition of a device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0204] Figure 22 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0205] Figure 23 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0206] Figure 24 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0207] Before describing the embodiments of this application, the technical terms involved in the embodiments of this application will be described.

[0208] A multi-link device (MLD) is a device capable of supporting communication across multiple links. Typically, an MLD has one or more radio frequency (RF) modules. If multiple RF modules exist, they operate on different frequency bands / channels, with each band / channel corresponding to one or more links. The MLD can communicate through multiple links based on these multiple RF modules. When the channel spacing between two RF modules within an MLD is sufficiently large, they can operate independently without interference. If any two links support simultaneous transmission on one link and reception on the other, they are considered to support synchronous transmit / receive (STR) capability; otherwise, they are considered non-STR.

[0209] Each MLD has its own MLD medium access control address (MLD MAC Address), corresponding to the MLD Upper MAC sublayer. Additionally, each link in the MLD also has its own Link MAC Address, corresponding to a different MLD Lower MAC sublayer.

[0210] For example, as shown in Figure 1, taking MLD corresponding to Link 1 and Link 2 as an example, the MLD high MAC sublayer of this MLD corresponds to MLD MAC Address, the MLD low MAC sublayer 1 corresponds to Link MAC Address 1, and the MLD low MAC sublayer 2 corresponds to Link MAC Address 2.

[0211] Basic Service Sets (BSS): There are two types. One is the infrastructure-mode BSS, which includes one access point (AP) and several station devices (STAs). The other is the standalone-mode BSS, which consists of several station devices, one of which acts as the master station device. Each BSS corresponds to a unique identifier called the Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID).

[0212] Distributed system (DS): A system used to interconnect multiple basic service sets (BSS) and integrate them within a local area network to build an extended service set (ESS).

[0213] Dual active protocol stack (DAPS): Non-access point multi-link devices (non-AP MLDs) with simultaneous uplink and downlink transmission can use DAPS to perform uplink and downlink transmissions with two access point multi-link devices (AP MLDs) simultaneously during roaming.

[0214] The two AP MLDs mentioned above can be the associated AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD, and the second AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD. The associated AP MLD can be the first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping (DS mapping).

[0215] For example, when a non-AP MLD performs DAPS transmission with its associated AP MLD and a second AP MLD, downlink transmission can be performed with reference to the relevant description in Figure 2 below, and uplink transmission can be performed with reference to the relevant description in Figure 3 below. Alternatively, downlink transmission can be performed with reference to the relevant description in Figure 4 below, and uplink transmission can be performed with reference to the relevant description in Figure 5 below.

[0216] As shown in Figure 2, during downlink transmission, the distributed system can send Medium Access Control Service Data Units (MSDUs) to the associated AP MLD via the Distributed System Service Access Point (DS SAP). Correspondingly, the associated AP MLD can receive the MSDUs sent by the distributed system via the DS SAP via the MAC Service Access Point (MAC SAP). Based on the received MSDUs, the associated AP MLD performs operations such as sequence number (SN) assignment, packet number (PN) assignment, and MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption at the high MAC sublayer. At the low MAC sublayer, it performs operations such as creating the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) in the MPDU header and aggregating A-MPDUs. Finally, it sends A-MPDUs to the physical layer via the Physical Layer Service Access Point (PHY SAP), and can then send Physical Protocol Data Units (PPDUs) generated from the A-MPDUs to the non-AP MLD. Optionally, before assigning the SN value, the associated AP MLD can also perform an A-MSDU aggregation operation, followed by SN assignment and other operations based on the A-MSDU. Since the PPDU is obtained from the MSDU through a series of processing steps, for the sake of simplicity, this application refers to the PPDU as a PPDU constructed from the MSDU. It should be noted that a PPDU constructed from an MSDU is not limited to being composed solely of the MSDU; it can also include other parts. This only indicates that the MSDU is the basis or source of the PPDU, and will not be elaborated further.

[0217] The associated AP MLD can also send encrypted MPDUs and the SN assigned by the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD via a wired network. Based on the received encrypted MPDUs and SNs, the second AP MLD performs operations such as creating an MPDU header CRC and aggregating A-MPDUs at the lower MAC sublayer, and then sends the A-MPDUs to the physical layer via the PHY SAP. This allows it to send PPDUs generated from the A-MPDUs to the non-AP MLD. Optionally, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can simultaneously send PPDUs to the non-AP MLD.

[0218] When a non-AP MLD receives a PPDU sent by an associated AP MLD and a second AP MLD, it can perform operations such as A-MPDU de-aggregation, MPDU Heard CRC verification, address 1 address filtering, and block ACK scoreboarding on the A-MPDU corresponding to the PPDU at the low MAC sublayer. It can also perform operations such as block ACK scoreboarding, duplicate detection per SN, MPDU decryption, block ACK buffering and reordering per SN, or replay detection per PN at the high MAC sublayer.

[0219] For MPDU encryption, the encrypted MPDU corresponding to the associated AP MLD is the same as the encrypted MPDU corresponding to the second AP MLD. Therefore, when decrypting MPDU, the same key can be used to decrypt the MPDU corresponding to the associated AP MLD and the MPDU corresponding to the second AP MLD.

[0220] As shown in Figure 3, during uplink transmission, the non-AP MLD can perform operations such as SN assignment, PN assignment, and MPDU encryption at the high MAC sublayer, and operations such as creating MPDU Header CRC and A-MPDU aggregation at the low MAC sublayer. The A-MPDU is then sent to the physical layer via the PHY SAP corresponding to the associated AP MLD, and subsequently, a PPDU generated based on the A-MPDU is sent to the associated AP MLD. Similarly, the A-MPDU is sent to the physical layer via the PHY SAP corresponding to the second AP MLD, and subsequently, a PPDU generated based on the A-MPDU is sent to the second AP MLD. Optionally, the non-AP MLD can also perform A-MSDU aggregation before SN assignment, and subsequent SN assignment and other operations are based on the A-MSDU.

[0221] When the second AP MLD receives the PPDU sent by the non-AP MLD, it can perform operations such as A-MPDU de-aggregation, MPDU Heard CRC check, address filtering of address 1, and block confirmation scoring on the A-MPDU corresponding to the PPDU at the low MAC sublayer. It can also send the encrypted MPDU and the SN corresponding to the MPDU to the associated AP MLD through the wired network.

[0222] When the associated AP MLD receives a PPDU sent by a non-AP MLD, it can perform operations such as A-MPDU de-aggregation, MPDU Heard CRC check, address filtering for address 1, and block acknowledgment scoring on the A-MPDU corresponding to the PPDU at the lower MAC sublayer. The associated AP MLD can also receive an encrypted MPDU and its corresponding SN sent by a second AP MLD via a wired network. Then, at the higher MAC sublayer, it performs operations such as block acknowledgment scoring, per-SN duplication detection, MPDU decryption, block acknowledgment buffering and SN reordering, or PN replay detection to obtain the MSDU. The associated AP MLD can maintain a SN-based reordering buffer, sending consecutive MSDUs to the DS SAP via the MAC SAP in ascending order of SN.

[0223] Specifically, for MPDU encryption, the non-AP MLD can use the same key to encrypt the MPDU corresponding to the associated AP MLD and the MPDU corresponding to the second AP MLD. Correspondingly, when decrypting MPDUs, the associated AP MLD can use the same key to decrypt the MPDU corresponding to the associated AP MLD and the encrypted MPDU sent by the second AP MLD.

[0224] As shown in Figure 4, during downlink transmission, the distributed system can send MSDUs to the associated AP MLD via DS SAP. Correspondingly, the associated AP MLD can receive MSDUs sent by the distributed system via DS SAP via MAC SAP. Based on the received MSDUs, the associated AP MLD performs operations such as SN assignment, PN assignment, and MPDU encryption at the high MAC sublayer, and operations such as creating MPDU Header CRC and A-MPDU aggregation at the low MAC sublayer. It then sends the A-MPDU to the physical layer via PHY SAP, and can subsequently send PPDUs generated based on the A-MPDUs to the non-AP MLD. Optionally, the associated AP MLD can also perform A-MSDU aggregation before SN assignment, and then perform SN assignment and other operations based on the A-MSDUs.

[0225] The associated AP MLD can also send MSDUs and SNs assigned by the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD via a wired network. Based on the received MSDUs and SNs, the second AP MLD performs operations such as PN assignment and MPDU encryption at the high MAC sublayer, and operations such as creating MPDU header CRC and A-MPDU aggregation at the low MAC sublayer. It then sends the A-MPDUs to the physical layer via the PHY SAP, and can subsequently send PPDUs generated based on the A-MPDUs to the non-AP MLD. Optionally, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can simultaneously send PPDUs to the non-AP MLD.

[0226] When a non-AP MLD receives PPDUs sent by the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD, it can perform operations such as A-MPDU de-aggregation, MPDU Heard CRC check, address filtering of address 1, and block acknowledgment scoring board on the A-MPDU corresponding to the PPDU at the low MAC sublayer. It can also perform operations such as per-SN duplicate detection, MPDU decryption, and PN replay detection at the high MAC sublayer to obtain the MSDU and SN corresponding to the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD. Then, based on a unified reordering buffer and scoring board, it can perform block acknowledgment buffering and SN reordering operations.

[0227] Specifically, for MPDU encryption, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can use different keys to encrypt the MPDU. Correspondingly, the non-AP MLD can use different keys to decrypt the MPDU corresponding to the associated AP MLD and the MPDU corresponding to the second AP MLD.

[0228] As shown in Figure 5, during uplink transmission, the non-AP MLD can perform SN assignment at the high MAC sublayer, and can also perform operations such as PN assignment and MPDU encryption at the high MAC sublayer. At the low MAC sublayer, it can perform operations such as creating MPDU Header CRC and A-MPDU aggregation. The A-MPDU is then sent to the physical layer via the PHY SAP corresponding to the associated AP MLD, and subsequently, a PPDU generated based on the A-MPDU is sent to the associated AP MLD. Similarly, the A-MPDU is sent to the physical layer via the PHY SAP corresponding to the second AP MLD, and subsequently, a PPDU generated based on the A-MPDU is sent to the second AP MLD. Optionally, the non-AP MLD can also perform A-MSDU aggregation before SN assignment, and subsequent SN assignment and other operations are based on the A-MSDU.

[0229] When the second AP MLD receives a PPDU sent by the non-AP MLD, it can perform operations such as A-MPDU de-aggregation, MPDU Heard CRC check, address filtering for address 1, and block acknowledgment scoring on the A-MPDU corresponding to the PPDU at the low MAC sublayer. At the high MAC sublayer, it can perform operations such as block acknowledgment scoring, MPDU decryption, and PN replay detection to obtain the MSDU. The second AP MLD can also send the MSDU and the corresponding SN of the MSDU to the associated AP MLD via the wired network.

[0230] When the associated AP MLD receives a PPDU sent by a non-AP MLD, it can perform operations such as A-MPDU de-aggregation, MPDU Heard CRC check, address filtering for address 1, and block acknowledgment scoring on the A-MPDU corresponding to the PPDU at the low MAC sublayer. At the high MAC sublayer, it performs block acknowledgment scoring, MPDU decryption, and PN replay detection to obtain the MSDU and its corresponding SN. The associated AP MLD can also receive an MSDU and its corresponding SN sent by a second AP MLD via a wired network. Then, based on a SN-based reordering buffer, it performs SN duplication detection, block acknowledgment buffering, and SN reordering, and sends consecutive MSDUs to the DS SAP via the MAC SAP in ascending SN order.

[0231] Specifically, for MPDU encryption, the non-AP MLD can use different keys to encrypt the MPDU corresponding to the associated AP MLD and the MPDU corresponding to the second AP MLD. Correspondingly, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can use different keys to decrypt the MPDU.

[0232] As described in Figures 2 and 3 above, the sending end (such as the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD in the downlink transmission process, or the non-AP MLD in the uplink transmission process) needs to buffer the MPDU after the MPDU encryption operation. However, for the chip architecture of existing devices, from the MPDU encryption onwards, all subsequent MAC layer processing is implemented in hardware and sent directly, without buffering the encrypted MPDU. Using the scheme in Figure 2 or Figure 3 above may require adjustments to the existing chip implementation, and the changes to the chip structure may be significant.

[0233] Furthermore, in the schemes shown in Figures 2 to 5 above, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD communicate with the non-AP MLD based on the SN assigned to the associated AP MLD. However, the assignment of this SN is performed after the A-MSDU aggregation operation, so this SN is not conducive to the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD performing A-MSDU aggregation and deaggregation operations independently. This may require adjustments to the existing chip implementation, and the changes to the chip structure may be significant.

[0234] To address the aforementioned technical problems, embodiments of this application provide a communication method. In this method, an associated AP MLD can obtain first information and, based on the first information, send second information to a second AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD. The associated AP MLD, based on the second information, sends a PPDU constructed from a first MSDU to the non-AP MLD via DAPS transmission. The first information includes the MSDU of the non-AP MLD and the traffic identifier (TID) of the MSDU. The second information includes the MSDU, the TID, and a global sequence number assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU with that TID. The associated AP MLD is the first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping. The first AP MLD and the second AP MLD perform DAPS transmission based on the global sequence number, and the first MSDU is an MSDU including the global sequence number.

[0235] In this embodiment, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can perform DAPS transmission based on a global sequence number, and each of the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD is allowed to perform A-MSDU aggregation and deaggregation operations, reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance. Furthermore, the embodiments provided in this application can be implemented on existing chip architectures without requiring modifications to the existing chip architecture.

[0236] The embodiments of this application will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0237] The communication method provided in this application is applicable to wireless local area network (WLAN) systems that support relevant standards of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). These IEEE standards include, but are not limited to, 802.11a / b / g standards, 802.11n standard / high throughput (HT) standard, 802.11ac standard / very high throughput (VHT) standard, 802.11ax standard / high efficient (HE) standard, 802.11be standard / extremely high throughput (EHT) standard, 802.11bn standard / ultra high reliability (UHR) standard / Wi-Fi 8 standard, 802.11ad standard, 802.11ay standard, 802.11bf standard / sensing standard, ultra-wideband (UWB) standard / 802.15 standard, etc.

[0238] The WLAN communication system provided in this application embodiment will be described below using Figure 6 as an example.

[0239] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 6, the communication system may include non-AP MLD and AP MLD (e.g., first AP MLD and second AP MLD).

[0240] A non-AP MLD can have one or more RF modules (e.g., STA1 and STA2 each correspond to one RF module). If multiple RF modules exist, they operate on different frequency bands / channels. This non-AP MLD can communicate through multiple links based on multiple RF modules. Similarly, an AP MLD can have one or more RF modules (e.g., AP1 and AP2 each correspond to one RF module). If multiple RF modules exist, they operate on different frequency bands / channels (e.g., 2.4GHz and 5GHz). This AP MLD can communicate through multiple links based on multiple RF modules.

[0241] In this embodiment, the non-AP MLD can communicate simultaneously with both the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD based on DAPS transmission. The AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping is called the associated AP MLD. It is understood that this application uses the first AP MLD as the associated AP MLD for illustration. When the AP MLD (i.e., the data path) corresponding to the distributed system mapping switches from the first AP MLD to the second AP MLD, the associated AP MLD becomes the second AP MLD.

[0242] For example, the AP MLD can be a device that supports multiple WLAN standards, such as the 802.11be standard or future Wi-Fi standards, without limitation.

[0243] For example, an AP MLD can be a terminal device with a Wi-Fi chip, network device, communication server, router, switch, bridge, computer, etc. An AP MLD can also serve as an access point for mobile users to access a wired network, primarily deployed in homes, buildings, and campuses, with a typical coverage radius of tens to hundreds of meters. Of course, it can also be deployed outdoors. An AP acts as a bridge connecting wired and wireless networks, its main function being to connect various wireless network clients together and then connect the wireless network to the Ethernet.

[0244] For example, a non-AP MLD can be a device that supports multiple WLAN standards, such as the 802.11be standard or future Wi-Fi standards, without limitation.

[0245] For example, a non-AP MLD can be a wireless communication chip, wireless sensor, wireless communication terminal, communication server, router, switch, bridge, computer, etc. A non-AP MLD can also be used for mobile phones, tablets, set-top boxes, smart TVs, smart wearable devices, in-vehicle communication devices, and computers that support Wi-Fi communication, without limitation.

[0246] The communication method provided in the embodiments of this application will be described below with reference to the communication scenario shown in Figure 6 and Figure 7. It is understood that the processing performed by a single execution entity (non-AP MLD, associated AP MLD, or second AP MLD) shown in the embodiments of this application can also be divided into multiple execution entities, which can be logically and / or physically separated, without limitation. Furthermore, the message names or parameter names in the messages exchanged between devices in the embodiments of this application are merely examples; other names can be used in specific implementations without limitation. Actions, terms, etc., involved in the various embodiments of this application can be referenced mutually without limitation.

[0247] Figure 7 is a flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 7, the method may include:

[0248] Step 701: Associate AP MLD to obtain first information.

[0249] The first piece of information may include the MSDU of the non-AP MLD and the TID of the MSDU.

[0250] The distributed system can send MSDU and its TID to the associated AP MLD via DS SAP. Correspondingly, the associated AP MLD can receive the MSDU sent by the distributed system via DS SAP via MAC SAP.

[0251] Step 702: The associated AP MLD sends the second information to the second AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD based on the first information; correspondingly, the second AP MLD receives the second information from the associated AP MLD.

[0252] Here, the associated AP MLD is the first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping, or the associated AP MLD can also be described as an AP MLD in state 4. The first AP MLD and the second AP MLD perform DAPS transmission based on the global sequence number. For a description of state 4, please refer to the relevant description of state 4 in Figure 21 below, which will not be repeated here.

[0253] The second piece of information may include the MSDU, TID, and the global serial number (GSN) assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU of the TID.

[0254] Specifically, embodiments of this application can introduce a global sequence number at the MAC layer. This global sequence number is per-TID, meaning that the associated AP MLD can maintain a global sequence number counter (GSN counter) for one or more TIDs of the non-AP MLD. This global sequence number can also be described as follows: the global sequence number is shared by the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD; or, the global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDUs of the PPDUs sent by the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD to the non-AP MLD based on DAPS transmission are consecutive; or, in DAPS transmission, the global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDUs transmitted by the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD are consecutive.

[0255] Optionally, when the distributed system mapping switches from the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD, the associated AP MLD can send the TID and the next global sequence number corresponding to that TID to the second AP MLD. The second AP MLD then continues to allocate global sequence numbers for the MSDUs of that TID based on the next global sequence number. Alternatively, when the distributed system mapping switches from the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD, the associated AP MLD sends the TID and the current global sequence number corresponding to that TID to the second AP MLD. The second AP MLD then continues to allocate global sequence numbers for the MSDUs of that TID sequentially based on the current global sequence number. For example, the current global sequence number can be incremented by one to obtain the next global sequence number, and then global sequence numbers can be allocated for the MSDUs corresponding to that TID based on the next global sequence number.

[0256] Step 703: The associated AP MLD sends a PPDU constructed based on the first MSDU to the non-AP MLD based on DAPS transmission according to the second information; correspondingly, the non-AP MLD receives the PPDU constructed based on the first MSDU from the associated AP MLD based on DAPS transmission.

[0257] The first MSDU is an MSDU that includes a global serial number.

[0258] For example, the associated AP MLD can carry the global sequence number in the MSDU frame to obtain the first MSDU; alternatively, the associated AP MLD can also carry the global sequence number in a new field of the MSDU to obtain the first MSDU. Optionally, this new field can be a field different from the frame body; for example, the new field can be located in the frame header. The global sequence number can correspond to one or more bits, or one or more bytes, without limitation.

[0259] It is understood that, in the embodiments of this application, when the associated AP MLD sends a PPDU composed of an MSDU (such as the first MSDU in step 703, or other MSDUs in the embodiments below) to the non-AP MLD, the MSDU needs to pass through the MAC layer and the physical layer. After passing through the MAC layer and the physical layer, the MSDU is encapsulated into a PPDU, and the associated AP MLD sends the MSDU to the non-AP MLD in the form of a PPDU.

[0260] For example, as shown in Figure 8, the distributed system can send the first information to the MAC SAP of the associated AP MLD through the DS SAP. The associated AP MLD assigns a global sequence number (i.e., GSN assignment) to the MSDU of the TID according to the first information, adds the assigned global sequence number to the MSDU, and obtains the first MSDU. Based on the provisions of the corresponding standard when implementing this technology, such as the relevant description in the 802.11be standard, the first MSDU is processed by the high MAC sublayer, low MAC sublayer, and physical layer to generate the PPDU and send it to the non-AP MLD.

[0261] As shown in Figure 9, the high MAC sublayer processing can include operations such as MSDU rate limiting, A-MSDU aggregation, point-to-service delay queuing (PSDefer Queuing), SN assignment, PN assignment, MPDU encryption, and TID-to-Link mapping. Point-to-service delay queuing can be an operation that only AP MLD can execute. A-MSDU aggregation can aggregate multiple first MSDUs. Aggregating multiple first MSDUs yields an MPDU, where each first MSDU corresponds to a global sequence number. For SN assignment, each MPDU corresponds to a SN; when the MPDU includes multiple first MSDUs, this can also be understood as the multiple first MSDUs corresponding to one SN.

[0262] As shown in Figure 9, the low MAC sublayer processing may include operations such as creating an MPDU Header CRC and aggregating A-MPDUs. The physical layer processing may include encapsulating the A-MPDU into a PPDU and sending the PPDU through a physical layer link (such as physical layer link 1 or physical layer link n).

[0263] Understandably, for an MLD with multiple links (such as an AP MLD or a non-AP MLD), these multiple links can share a pairwise transient key (PTK), but each link can have its own group temporal key (GTK), integrity group temporal key (IGTK), and beacon integrity group temporal key (BIGTK).

[0264] Corresponding to the above-described transmission process of the PPDU constructed from the first MSDU, as shown in Figure 8, the non-AP MLD can receive the PPDU constructed from the first MSDU sent by the associated AP MLD. Based on the provisions of the corresponding standard when implementing this technology, such as the relevant description in the 802.11be standard, the PPDU is processed by the physical layer, the low MAC sublayer, and the high MAC sublayer to obtain the first MSDU.

[0265] As shown in Figure 9, physical layer processing may include receiving PPDUs via the physical layer link and decapsulating the PPDUs into A-MPDUs. Low MAC sublayer processing may include: A-MPDU de-aggregation, MPDU header CRC check, address filtering for address 1, block acknowledgment scoring, and other operations. High MAC sublayer processing may include: link merging, block acknowledgment scoring, per-SN duplicate detection, MPDU decryption, block acknowledgment buffering and / or SN reordering, PN replay detection, A-MSDU de-aggregation, and MSDU rate limiting. SN reordering and PN replay detection are optional operations.

[0266] Step 704: The second AP MLD sends a PPDU based on the second MSDU to the non-AP MLD based on DAPS transmission according to the second information; correspondingly, the non-AP MLD receives the PPDU based on the second MSDU from the second AP MLD based on DAPS transmission.

[0267] The second MSDU is an MSDU that includes a global sequence number. That is, the second AP MLD can obtain the second MSDU by carrying the global sequence number included in the second information into the MSDU included in the second information.

[0268] For example, the second AP MLD can carry the global sequence number in the MSDU frame to obtain the second MSDU; or, the second AP MLD can also carry the global sequence number in a newly added field of the MSDU to obtain the second MSDU. The description of the newly added field and the global sequence number can be referred to the relevant description of step 703 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0269] It is understood that, in the embodiments of this application, when the second AP MLD sends a PPDU composed of an MSDU (such as the second MSDU in step 704, or other MSDUs in the embodiments below) to the non-AP MLD, the MSDU needs to pass through the MAC layer and the physical layer. After passing through the MAC layer and the physical layer, the MSDU is encapsulated into a PPDU, and the second AP MLD sends the MSDU to the non-AP MLD in the form of a PPDU.

[0270] For example, as shown in Figure 8, the associated AP MLD can send second information, including MSDU, TID and global sequence number, to the second AP MLD via a wired network. The second AP MLD adds the global sequence number to the MSDU according to the second information to obtain the second MSDU. Based on the provisions of the corresponding standard when implementing this technology, such as the relevant description in the 802.11be standard, the second MSDU is processed by high MAC sublayer, low MAC sublayer, and physical layer to generate PPDU and send it to the non-AP MLD.

[0271] The processing of the high MAC sublayer, low MAC sublayer, and physical layer can be referred to the relevant descriptions in Figure 9 above, and will not be repeated here. It can be understood that when the second AP MLD performs A-MSDU aggregation, it can aggregate multiple second MSDUs. Aggregating multiple second MSDUs yields an MPDU, where each second MSDU corresponds to a global sequence number. When the second AP MLD performs SN assignment, each MPDU corresponds to a SN. If the MPDU includes multiple second MSDUs, it can also be understood that these multiple second MSDUs correspond to one SN.

[0272] Corresponding to the above-described transmission process of the PPDU constructed from the second MSDU, as shown in Figure 8, the non-AP MLD can receive the PPDU constructed from the second MSDU transmitted by the second AP MLD. Based on the relevant standards for implementing this technology, such as the relevant descriptions in the 802.11be standard, the PPDU undergoes physical layer processing, low MAC sublayer processing, and high MAC sublayer processing to obtain the second MSDU. The physical layer processing, low MAC sublayer processing, and high MAC sublayer processing can be referred to the relevant descriptions in Figure 9 above, and will not be elaborated here.

[0273] Optionally, in the above-mentioned transmission and reception process of PPDU based on the first MSDU and PPDU based on the second MSDU, for MPDU encryption, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can use different keys to encrypt the MPDU. Correspondingly, the non-AP MLD can use different keys to decrypt the MPDU corresponding to the associated AP MLD and the MPDU corresponding to the second AP MLD.

[0274] In addition, the above SN assignment is at the intra-MLD level, meaning that the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can each assign SN values, or it can be described as the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD each managing their own SNs.

[0275] Based on steps 703 and 704 above, as exemplarily shown in Figure 10(a), a schematic diagram of an MPDU frame format is provided. This MPDU may include one or more MSDUs (such as a first MSDU, a second MSDU, or the MSDU in the following embodiments) that include a global sequence number. Specifically, the MPDU may include the following fields: frame control, duration, address 1, address 2, address 3, sequence control, quality of service control (QoS control), HT control, cipher-block chaining message authentication code protocol header (CCMP Header), frame body, and frame check sequence (FCS).

[0276] In this configuration, address 1 indicates the receiver address (RA), address 2 indicates the transmitter address (TA), and address 3 indicates the address of the AP MLD associated with the receiver, or the address of the AP associated with the receiver (referring to the AP in the AP MLD). For management frames, address 3 can be used for frame filtering; for example, address 3 can be used to determine whether the frame belongs to the BSS, and if not, the frame will be discarded. The sequence control field carries the SN, with one SN corresponding to each MPDU. The sender maintains an SN counter for each receiver and TID. The quality of service control field carries the TID, which is 4 bits long and ranges from 0 to 15, indicating the service type of the MPDU. The frame body may include one or more MSDUs containing a global sequence number.

[0277] The frame format and corresponding bits of the frame control field can be shown in Figure 10(b), including the following fields: protocol version, type, subtype, to DS, from DS, more fragment, retry, power management, more data, protected frame, and presence of HT control (+HTC).

[0278] The frame format and corresponding bits of the CCMP Header field are shown in Figure 10(c), including the following fields: PN0, PN1, Reserved, Key ID byte, PN2, PN3, PN4, and PN5. The Key ID byte includes Reserved, Forward Traffic Mapping (FTM), Extended Initialization Vector (Ext IV), and Key ID. PN0 to PN5 represent PN, the Ext IV field is always set to 1 for CCMP, and the Key ID field indicates the identifier of the target. If it is a protected unicast fine-time management frame, bit 4 is set to 1; otherwise, it is set to 0.

[0279] Step 705: The non-AP MLD parses the first MSDU and the second MSDU based on the global sequence number included in the first MSDU and the global sequence number included in the second MSDU.

[0280] As shown in Figure 8, the non-AP MLD can parse the first MSDU and the second MSDU according to one or more of the following: the scoreboard corresponding to the global sequence number, the reordering buffer corresponding to the global sequence number, or the duplicate detection corresponding to the global sequence number.

[0281] Optionally, under DAPS transmission, since the non-AP MLD maintains a reordering buffer corresponding to a global sequence number, the non-AP MLD does not need to maintain a SN-based reordering buffer.

[0282] Based on the method shown in Figure 7, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can perform DAPS transmission based on a global sequence number. This global sequence number can be assigned when the associated AP MLD obtains the MSDU from the distributed system. This assignment can occur before the A-MSDU aggregation operation, allowing the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD to perform A-MSDU aggregation and deaggregation operations independently, reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance. Furthermore, in the above scheme, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can send the encrypted MPDU directly without buffering it, eliminating the need to adjust the existing chip implementation or modify the existing chip structure.

[0283] Based on the method shown in Figure 7 above, optionally, the sending end and the receiving end can also exchange information on the reception status of MSDU through the first request and the first response, i.e., which MSDUs have been successfully received and which MSDUs have not yet been successfully received, as described below.

[0284] Specifically, the associated AP MLD can send a first request to the non-AP MLD, and the non-AP MLD sends a first response to the associated AP MLD based on the first request. The first request requests feedback on the reception status of the MSDU, specifically whether the MSDU with the corresponding global sequence number has been successfully received; the first response indicates the reception status of the MSDU, specifically whether the MSDU with the corresponding global sequence number has been successfully received.

[0285] The first request may include one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, special TID, or special association identifier (AID).

[0286] Here, TID is the TID corresponding to the first request, or it can also be described as the TID of the MSDU requesting feedback on the reception status. The Global Start Sequence Number is used to indicate from the Global Start Sequence Number the start point for feedback on the MSDU reception status. For special TIDs or special AIDs, the associated AP MLD can carry the aforementioned first request through the special TID or special AID to request the non-AP MLD to provide feedback on the MSDU reception status.

[0287] Optionally, the first request can be carried in a Global Sequence Number Block Acknowledgment Request Management Frame (GSN BA Request Management Frame, or GSN BAR Management Frame); or, the first request can be carried in a Block Acknowledgment Request Control Frame (BAR Frame, such as Multi-TID BAR Frame); or, the first request can be carried in a newly defined Aggregation Control (A-Control) field; or, it can be carried in a Buffer Status Report Poll (BSRP) or other Initialization Control Frame (ICF).

[0288] In the first example, taking the first request carried in the Global Sequence Number Block Confirmation Request Management Frame as an example, as shown in Figure 11(a), this Global Sequence Number Block Confirmation Request Management Frame may include the following fields: Frame Control, Duration, RA, TA, Category, Action, BAR Control, BAR Information, and FCS. The Frame Control field indicates that the current frame is a management frame. The BAR Control field may include the fields shown in Figure 11(b): Reservation, BAR Type, Reservation, and TID Information. The BAR Type field indicates which BAR variant this Global Sequence Number Block Confirmation Request Management Frame is, and the specific indication method is shown in Table 1 below.

[0289] Table 1 BAR variants

[0290] The TID information field depends on the specific BAR variant. When the BAR type field is set to 1 or 2, the TID information field indicates the specific TID. In this case, the BAR information field may include a Block ACK Starting Sequence Control subfield, as shown in Figure 11(c). This subfield may include: fragment number and global starting sequence number (GSSN). Alternatively, when the BAR type field is set to 3, the TID information field indicates the number of TIDs requesting block ACK. In this case, the BAR information field may include multiple Per-TID information and a Block ACK Starting Sequence Control subfield, as shown in Figure 11(d). Each Per-TID information may include the following fields: reservation and TID value.

[0291] When the first request is carried in the aforementioned global sequence number block acknowledgment request management frame, the non-AP MLD does not need to immediately reply with a global sequence number block acknowledgment frame after receiving the global sequence number block acknowledgment request management frame after a short interframe space (SIFS). The real-time requirements are not high, which can avoid the non-AP MLD using expensive on-chip memory, reduce the real-time requirements, and make it easier to implement.

[0292] In the second example, taking the first request carried in a Block Confirmation Request Control Frame (BAR frame, such as a Multi-TID BAR frame) as an example, the first request can be carried in the BAR Request Control Frame via a special TID. Optionally, the BAR Request Control Frame may also include the fields shown in Figure 11(e), the BAR control fields may include the fields shown in Figure 11(b), and the TID information fields depend on the specific BAR variant. When the BAR type field is set to 1 or 2, the TID information field indicates which specific TID it is. In this case, the BAR information field may include a Block Confirmation Start Sequence Control subfield, which may include: number of fragments and starting sequence number (SSN). Alternatively, when the BAR type field is set to 3, the TID information field indicates the number of TIDs requesting block confirmation. In this case, the BAR information field may include multiple Per-TID information and a Block Confirmation Start Sequence Control subfield. Each Per-TID information may include the following fields: reservation and TID value; the Block Confirmation Start Sequence Control subfield may include the following fields: number of fragments and starting sequence number.

[0293] The first response may include one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, global sequence number bitmap, length of global sequence number bitmap or global end sequence number, global sequence number list, special TID or special AID.

[0294] Here, TID is the TID corresponding to the first response, or it can be described as the TID of the MSDU indicating the reception status. The Global Start Sequence Number indicates the reception status of MSDUs starting from the Global Start Sequence Number, or it can be described as indicating which MSDUs starting from the Global Start Sequence Number have been successfully received. The Global Sequence Number Bitmap indicates whether the MSDU corresponding to the Global Sequence Number has been successfully received; a value of 1 indicates successful reception, and a value of 0 indicates unsuccessful reception. The length of the Global Sequence Number Bitmap indicates the length of the Global Sequence Number Bitmap field. The Global End Sequence Number can be used in conjunction with the Global Start Sequence Number to indicate the length of the Global Sequence Number Bitmap. The Global Sequence Number List indicates whether the MSDUs corresponding to this list of Global Sequence Numbers have been successfully received. For special TIDs or special AIDs, non-AP MLDs can use special TIDs or special AIDs to carry the aforementioned first response to indicate the MSDU reception status.

[0295] Optionally, the first response may be carried in a Global Serial Number Block Acknowledgment Management Frame (GSN BA Management Frame); or, the first response may be carried in a Multi-Site Device Block Acknowledgment (Multi-STA BA) Control Frame; or, the first response may be carried in a Global Serial Number Poll (GSN Poll) Control Frame; or, the first response may be carried in another Initialization Control Response (ICR) Frame.

[0296] One implementation involves requiring ICF / ICR control frame interaction at the beginning of each TXOP.

[0297] In the first example, taking the first response carried in the Global Sequence Number Block Acknowledgment Management Frame as an example, as shown in Figure 12(a), this Global Sequence Number Block Acknowledgment Management Frame may include the following fields: Frame Control, Duration, RA, TA, Category, Action, BA Control, BA Information, and FCS. The BA Control field may include the fields shown in Figure 12(b): Reservation, BA Type, Reservation, No Memory Keeped, Memory Configuration on Tag, Management Acknowledgment (ACK), and TID Information. If the sender is not an enhanced directional multi-gigabit (EDMG) site, the No Memory Keeped field and the Memory Configuration on Tag field are reserved fields. The BA Type field is used to indicate which BA variant this Global Sequence Number Block Acknowledgment Management Frame is, and the specific indication method is shown in Table 2 below.

[0298] Table 2 BA variants

[0299] The TID information field depends on the specific BA variant. When the BA type field is set to 2, the TID information field indicates the specific TID. In this case, the BA information field may include the Block ACK Starting Sequence Control subfield and the Block ACK Bitmap subfield, as shown in Figure 12(c). The aforementioned first response may be carried in the BA information field, or it may be described as being carried in one or more of the following subfields: the Block ACK Starting Sequence Control subfield, or the Block ACK Bitmap subfield.

[0300] In the second example, taking the first response carried in a Multi-Site Device Block Acknowledgment (Multi-STA BA) control frame as an example, the first response can be carried in the Multi-Site Device Block Acknowledgment control frame through a special TID or a special AID. As shown in Figure 13(a), this Multi-Site Device Block Acknowledgment control frame can include the following fields: Frame Control, Duration, RA, TA, BA Control, BA Information, and FCS. The BA Information field can contain acknowledgment information for preceding data frames. Specifically, the BA Information field can contain one or more Per AID TID Information fields. The first 11 bits of each Per AID TID Information field are the AID11 field. When the value of the AID11 field is not equal to 2045, the frame structure of the Per AID TID Information field can be as shown in Figure 13(b), including the following fields: AID TID Information, Block Acknowledgment Start Sequence Control, and Block Acknowledgment Bitmap. The AID TID Information can include fields such as AID11, ACK Type, and TID. The Block Acknowledgment Start Sequence Control field and the Block Acknowledgment Bitmap field contain acknowledgment information for preceding data frames. When the value of the AID11 field is equal to 2045, the frame structure of the Per AID TID information field can be as shown in Figure 13(c), including the following fields: AID TID information, reserved, RA; the RA field is used to carry the MAC address of the station, indicating that a preceding data frame sent by the station corresponding to this MAC address has been received. The first response can also be carried in the BA information field via a special TID or a special AID.

[0301] In the third example, taking the first response carried in a Global Sequence Number Poll (GSN Poll) control frame as an example, the first response can be carried in a newly defined poll control frame (i.e., a Global Sequence Number Poll control frame), which is used by the receiving end as a transmit opportunity (TXOP) holder to send the first response to the sending end.

[0302] Similar to the interaction between the associated AP MLD and non-AP MLD via the first request and first response, the second AP MLD and non-AP MLD can also exchange information about the reception status of MSDU via the first request and first response.

[0303] Specifically, the second AP MLD can send a first request to the non-AP MLD, and the non-AP MLD sends a first response to the associated AP MLD based on the first request. The first request requests feedback on the MSDU reception status, specifically whether the MSDU with the corresponding global sequence number has been successfully received. The first response indicates the MSDU reception status, specifically whether the MSDU with the corresponding global sequence number has been successfully received.

[0304] The descriptions of the first request and the first response can be found in the relevant descriptions above, and will not be repeated here.

[0305] Based on the above description, optionally, the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD may also release the buffer of the successfully received MSDU according to the reception status of the MSDU indicated by the first response (such as the first response sent by the non-AP MLD to the associated AP MLD, or the first response sent by the non-AP MLD to the second AP MLD).

[0306] Based on the foregoing description, optionally, the non-AP MLD can also negotiate the block confirmation protocol with the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD respectively.

[0307] Among them, the non-AP MLD can negotiate with the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD whether to enable DAPS transmission. If it is determined that DAPS transmission is enabled, it negotiates with the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD for a block acknowledgment session based on the global sequence number.

[0308] For example, a non-AP MLD can negotiate with the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD whether to enable DAPS transmission using any of the following five possible designs:

[0309] In the first possible design, as shown in Figure 14(a), the non-AP MLD sends a second request to the associated AP MLD, the associated AP MLD sends a second request to the second AP MLD, the second AP MLD sends a second response to the associated AP MLD according to the second request, and the associated AP MLD sends a second response to the non-AP MLD.

[0310] The second request is used to request the initiation of DAPS transmission, or the second request is used to request the cessation of DAPS transmission. The second response indicates whether the second request was successful.

[0311] For example, one or more bits can be used to request the start or stop of DAPS transmission. For instance, with a single bit, setting the value of that bit to 1 indicates a request to start DAPS transmission, and setting the value of that bit to 0 indicates a request to stop DAPS transmission.

[0312] In another example, based on the request to enable or disable DAPS transmission, a further request can be made to enable or disable uplink DAPS transmission, or to enable or disable downlink DAPS transmission. For example, the first request can include indication information 1 to request to enable or disable uplink DAPS transmission, and indication information 2 to request to enable or disable downlink DAPS transmission. Indication information 1 can be one or more bits. For example, setting the value of this single bit to 1 indicates a request to enable uplink DAPS transmission, and setting the value of this single bit to 0 indicates a request to disable uplink DAPS transmission. Similarly, indication information 2 can be one or more bits. For example, setting the value of this single bit to 1 indicates a request to enable downlink DAPS transmission, and setting the value of this single bit to 0 indicates a request to disable downlink DAPS transmission. Optionally, indication information 1 and indication information 2 can also be combined into a single indication information, without limitation.

[0313] Optionally, the second request may also include one or more of the following: the TID corresponding to the DAPS transmission, the identification information of the associated AP MLD or the identification information of the second AP MLD, and the identification information of the non-AP MLD.

[0314] Specifically, the identification information of the associated AP MLD, the identification information of the second AP MLD, and the identification information of the non-AP MLD can be carried in the first request sent to the associated AP MLD, including one or more of the following: the identification information of the second AP MLD and the identification information of the non-AP MLD. The first request sent to the second AP MLD can also carry one or more of the following: the identification information of the associated AP MLD and the identification information of the non-AP MLD. This is to instruct the DAPS to transmit the corresponding AP MLD device to the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD.

[0315] For example, the identification information could be an MLD MAC Address or an MLD ID.

[0316] Optionally, the second response may include a status code to indicate whether the second request was successful. For example, if the second response includes a first status code, it indicates that the second request was successful; if the second response includes a second status code, it indicates that the second request was unsuccessful.

[0317] Optionally, the second request may be carried in a newly defined DAPS Transmission Request frame. The second response may be carried in a newly defined DAPS Transmission Response frame.

[0318] Understandably, the associated AP MLD can directly forward the second request sent by the non-AP MLD to the second AP MLD, or it can process the second request sent by the non-AP MLD (such as format processing or adding identification information of the associated AP MLD) and send the processed second request to the second AP MLD. Similarly, the associated AP MLD can directly forward the second response sent by the second AP MLD to the non-AP MLD, or it can process the second response sent by the second AP MLD (such as format processing or modifying the status code) and send the processed second response to the non-AP MLD. That is, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can negotiate and determine the second response.

[0319] In the second possible design, as shown in Figure 14(b), the non-AP MLD sends a second request to the second AP MLD, the second AP MLD sends a second request to the associated AP MLD, the associated AP MLD sends a second response to the second AP MLD based on the second request, and the second AP MLD sends a second response to the non-AP MLD.

[0320] The descriptions of the second request and the second response can be found in the relevant descriptions in the first possible design above, and will not be repeated here.

[0321] Understandably, the second AP MLD can directly forward the second request sent by the non-AP MLD to the associated AP MLD, or it can process the second request sent by the non-AP MLD (such as format processing or adding the second AP MLD's identification information) and send the processed second request to the associated AP MLD. Similarly, the second AP MLD can directly forward the second response sent by the associated AP MLD to the non-AP MLD, or it can process the second response sent by the associated AP MLD (such as format processing or modifying the status code) and send the processed second response to the non-AP MLD. That is, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can negotiate and determine the second response.

[0322] In the third possible design, as shown in Figure 14(c), the non-AP MLD sends a second request to the associated AP MLD, the associated AP MLD sends a second request to the second AP MLD, and the second AP MLD sends a second response to the non-AP MLD based on the second request.

[0323] The descriptions of the second request and the second response can be found in the relevant descriptions in the first possible design above, and will not be repeated here.

[0324] It is understandable that the associated AP MLD can directly forward the second request sent by the non-AP MLD to the second AP MLD, or it can process the second request sent by the non-AP MLD (such as format processing, or adding identification information of the associated AP MLD, etc.) and send the processed second request to the second AP MLD.

[0325] In the fourth possible design, as shown in Figure 14(d), the non-AP MLD sends a second request to the second AP MLD, the second AP MLD sends a second request to the associated AP MLD, and the associated AP MLD sends a second response to the non-AP MLD based on the second request.

[0326] The descriptions of the second request and the second response can be found in the relevant descriptions in the first possible design above, and will not be repeated here.

[0327] It is understandable that the second AP MLD can directly forward the second request sent by the non-AP MLD to the associated AP MLD, or it can process the second request sent by the non-AP MLD (such as format processing, or adding the identification information of the second AP MLD, etc.) and send the processed second request to the associated AP MLD.

[0328] In the fifth possible design, the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD can also send an unsolicited second response to the non-AP MLD to indicate whether DAPS transmission is enabled or disabled. That is, the non-AP MLD does not need to send a second request to the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD.

[0329] Optionally, the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD may send a second response to the non-AP MLD in an unsolicited DAPS Transmission Response frame.

[0330] Understandably, before requesting to enable DAPS transmission, the non-AP MLD needs to complete the link establishment and key negotiation with the second AP MLD.

[0331] Based on the above description, a non-AP MLD can negotiate a block confirmation session based on a global sequence number with the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD, provided that DAPS transmission is confirmed to be enabled.

[0332] Specifically, the associated AP MLD can send a third request to the second AP MLD, which then forwards the modified third request to the non-AP MLD. The non-AP MLD can then send a third response to the associated AP MLD. Similarly, the second AP MLD can send a third request to the associated AP MLD, which then forwards the modified third request to the non-AP MLD. The non-AP MLD can then send a third response to the associated AP MLD.

[0333] The second AP MLD can adjust the parameters in the received third request, such as adjusting the size of the global sequence number reordering buffer in the third request to obtain a modified third request. Similarly, the associated AP MLD can also adjust the parameters in the received third request, such as adjusting the size of the global sequence number reordering buffer in the third request to obtain a modified third request.

[0334] The third request is used to request negotiation of a block confirmation session based on the global sequence number, and the third response is used to confirm the block confirmation session based on the global sequence number.

[0335] For example, the third request may include one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, size information of the global sequence number reordering buffer, or timeout value of the block acknowledgment session based on the global sequence number.

[0336] For example, the third response may include one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, size information of the global sequence number reordering buffer, or timeout value of the block acknowledgment session based on the global sequence number.

[0337] Optionally, the third request may be carried in the Global Sequence Number Supplement Block Acknowledgment Request (GSN ADDBA Request) frame, and the third response may be carried in the Global Sequence Number Supplement Block Acknowledgment Response (GSN ADDBA Response) frame.

[0338] Based on the above description of the second and third requests, the second and third requests can be two independent requests carried in two separate frames, or the second and third requests can be combined into one request and carried in one frame, without restriction.

[0339] This application also provides a communication method as shown in FIG15. In this communication method, for the DAPS transmission process, the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD can send the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in their respective transmission buffers to the non-AP MLD. Based on this, the non-AP MLD can assist / coordinate the transmission between the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD. For example, it can indicate to the associated AP MLD the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, and indicate to the second AP MLD the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, thereby improving transmission performance. It is understood that this communication method can be executed independently, or it can be used in combination with one or more embodiments in FIG7 to FIG14 above, without limitation.

[0340] Figure 15 is a flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 15, the method may include:

[0341] Step 1501: The associated AP MLD sends the first indication information to the non-AP MLD; correspondingly, the non-AP MLD receives the first indication information from the associated AP MLD.

[0342] The first indication information can be used to indicate the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD.

[0343] In the first possible design, the first indication information can be indication information based on the global sequence number.

[0344] Among them, the associated AP MLD can be assigned a global sequence number for each MSDU, as described in Figure 7 above. When the associated AP MLD sends the first indication information to the non-AP MLD, it can send the first indication information based on the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU.

[0345] For example, the first indication information may include one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the maximum value of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the bit map of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the length of the bit map of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID.

[0346] Optionally, the first indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or, the first indication information is carried in the block confirmation request control frame; or, the first indication information is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or, the first indication information is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the first indication information is carried in the initial control frame.

[0347] The description of the relationship between the first indication information and the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame, block confirmation request control frame, A-Control field, buffer status report polling frame, or initial control frame can be found in the above description of the relationship between the first request and the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame, block confirmation request control frame, A-Control field, buffer status report polling frame, or initial control frame, and will not be repeated here.

[0348] It is understood that when the communication method shown in FIG15 is used in conjunction with one or more embodiments in FIG7 to FIG14 above, the first request and the first indication information can be two independent pieces of information, or the first request and the first indication information can be combined into one piece of information, without limitation.

[0349] In the second possible design, the first indication information can be indication information based on the serial number.

[0350] The associated AP MLD can assign a sequence number to each MPDU, which can correspond to one or more MSDUs, and each MSDU corresponds to a single sequence number. When the associated AP MLD sends the first indication information to the non-AP MLD, it can send the first indication information based on the sequence number corresponding to the MPDU, or it can be described as sending the first indication information based on the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU.

[0351] For example, the first indication information may include one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the maximum value of the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the length of the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the starting sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the ending sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, or the sequence number list corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, a special TID or a special AID.

[0352] Optionally, the first indication information is carried in the sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or, the first indication information is carried in the block confirmation request control frame; or, the first indication information is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or, the first indication information is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the first indication information is carried in the initial control frame.

[0353] Step 1502: The second AP MLD sends a third indication message to the non-AP MLD; correspondingly, the non-AP MLD receives the third indication message from the second AP MLD.

[0354] The third indication information can be used to indicate the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD.

[0355] In the first possible design, the third indication information could be indication information based on the global serial number.

[0356] Among them, the associated AP MLD can be described in Figure 7 above as allocating a global sequence number to each MSDU. When the second AP MLD sends the third indication information to the non-AP MLD, it can send the third indication information based on the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU.

[0357] For example, the third indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the maximum value of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID; wherein, the global sequence number is assigned to the MSDU whose TID is associated with the non-AP MLD.

[0358] Optionally, the third indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or, the third indication information is carried in the block confirmation request control frame; or, the third indication information is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or, the third indication information is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the third indication information is carried in the initial control frame.

[0359] The description of the relationship between the third indication information and the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame, block confirmation request control frame, A-Control field, buffer status report polling frame, or initial control frame can be found in the above description of the relationship between the first request and the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame, block confirmation request control frame, A-Control field, buffer status report polling frame, or initial control frame, and will not be repeated here.

[0360] It is understood that when the communication method shown in FIG15 is used in conjunction with one or more embodiments in FIG7 to FIG14 above, the first request and the third indication information can be two independent pieces of information, or the first request and the third indication information can be combined into one piece of information, without limitation.

[0361] In the second possible design, the third indication information could be indication information based on the serial number.

[0362] The associated AP MLD can assign a sequence number to each MPDU, which can correspond to one or more MSDUs, and each MSDU corresponds to a single sequence number. When the second AP MLD sends third indication information to the non-AP MLD, it can send the third indication information based on the sequence number corresponding to the MPDU, or it can be described as sending the third indication information based on the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU.

[0363] For example, the third indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the maximum value of the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the length of the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the starting sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the ending sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, or the sequence number list corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, a special TID or a special AID.

[0364] Optionally, the third indication information is carried in the sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or, the third indication information is carried in the block confirmation request control frame; or, the third indication information is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or, the third indication information is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the third indication information is carried in the initial control frame.

[0365] Step 1503: The non-AP MLD sends a second indication message to the associated AP MLD; correspondingly, the associated AP MLD receives the second indication message from the non-AP MLD.

[0366] The second indication information can be used to indicate the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD.

[0367] In the first possible design, the second indication information can be indication information based on the global serial number.

[0368] Among them, the associated AP MLD can be assigned a global sequence number for each MSDU, as described in Figure 7 above. When the non-AP MLD sends the second indication information to the associated AP MLD, it can send the second indication information based on the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU.

[0369] For example, the second indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the global sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the length of the global sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, and a special TID or a special AID.

[0370] Optionally, the second indication information is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or, the second indication information is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or, the second indication information is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or, the second indication information is carried in the initial control response frame.

[0371] The description of the relationship between the second indication information and the global sequence number block confirmation management frame, the Multi-STA BA control frame, the global sequence number polling control frame, or the initial control response frame can be found in the above description of the relationship between the first response and the global sequence number block confirmation management frame, the Multi-STA BA control frame, the global sequence number polling control frame, or the initial control response frame, and will not be repeated here.

[0372] It is understood that when the communication method shown in FIG15 is used in conjunction with one or more embodiments in FIG7 to FIG14 above, the first response and the second indication information can be two independent pieces of information, or the first response and the second indication information can be combined into one piece of information, without limitation.

[0373] In the second possible design, the second indication information can be indication information based on the serial number.

[0374] The associated AP MLD can assign a sequence number to each MPDU, which can correspond to one or more MSDUs, and each MSDU corresponds to a single sequence number. When the non-AP MLD sends second indication information to the associated AP MLD, it can send the second indication information based on the sequence number corresponding to the MPDU, or it can be described as sending the second indication information based on the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU.

[0375] For example, the second indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the length of the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, the end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, or a list of sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD transmission, a special TID or a special AID.

[0376] Optionally, the second indication information is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or, the second indication information is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or, the second indication information is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or, the second indication information is carried in the initial control response frame.

[0377] Step 1504: The non-AP MLD sends the fourth indication information to the second AP MLD; correspondingly, the second AP MLD receives the fourth indication information from the non-AP MLD.

[0378] The fourth indication information is used to indicate the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD.

[0379] In the first possible design, the fourth indication information could be indication information based on the global sequence number.

[0380] Among them, the associated AP MLD can be described in Figure 7 above as allocating a global sequence number to each MSDU. When the non-AP MLD sends the fourth indication information to the second AP MLD, it can send the fourth indication information based on the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU.

[0381] For example, the fourth indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the global sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID.

[0382] Optionally, the fourth indication information is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or, the fourth indication information is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or, the fourth indication information is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or, the fourth indication information is carried in the initial control response frame.

[0383] The description of the relationship between the fourth indication information and the global sequence number block confirmation management frame, the Multi-STA BA control frame, the global sequence number polling control frame, or the initial control response frame can be found in the above description of the relationship between the first response and the global sequence number block confirmation management frame, the Multi-STA BA control frame, the global sequence number polling control frame, or the initial control response frame, and will not be repeated here.

[0384] It is understood that when the communication method shown in FIG15 is used in conjunction with one or more embodiments in FIG7 to FIG14 above, the first response and the fourth indication information can be two independent pieces of information, or the first response and the fourth indication information can be combined into one piece of information, without limitation.

[0385] In the second possible design, the second indication information can be indication information based on the serial number.

[0386] The associated AP MLD can assign a sequence number to each MPDU, which can correspond to one or more MSDUs, and each MSDU corresponds to a single sequence number. When the non-AP MLD sends the fourth indication information to the second AP MLD, it can send the fourth indication information based on the sequence number corresponding to the MPDU, or it can be described as sending the fourth indication information based on the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU.

[0387] For example, the fourth indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the length of the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, or a list of sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, a special TID or a special AID.

[0388] Optionally, the fourth indication information is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or, the fourth indication information is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or, the fourth indication information is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or, the fourth indication information is carried in the initial control response frame.

[0389] In steps 1503 and 1504 above, the serial number information indicated by the second indication information may be different from the serial number information indicated by the fourth indication information; or, the serial number information indicated by the second indication information may be the same as the serial number information indicated by the fourth indication information.

[0390] For downlink DAPS transmissions, the non-AP MLD can assist the transmitter in sending based on its own reception status to avoid unnecessary duplication of transmissions by the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD. Specifically, the non-AP MLD can use second and fourth indication information to inform the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD which MSDUs corresponding to global sequence numbers need to be transmitted next. If a gap exists in the non-AP MLD's global sequence number reordering buffer or sequence number reordering buffer, preventing many correctly received MSDUs from being delivered to the LLC layer, the non-AP MLD can simultaneously request the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD to send the MSDU corresponding to the "gap".

[0391] Step 1505: The associated AP MLD sends a PPDU consisting of the MSDU transmitted by the associated AP MLD as needed to the non-AP MLD; correspondingly, the non-AP MLD receives the PPDU consisting of the MSDU transmitted by the associated AP MLD from the associated AP MLD.

[0392] Step 1505 can also be described as follows: The associated AP MLD sends a PPDU consisting of an MSDU based on the corresponding sequence number or global sequence number to the non-AP MLD, or sends a PPDU consisting of an MSDU corresponding to the sequence number or global sequence number indicated by the second indication information to the non-AP MLD.

[0393] Step 1506: The second AP MLD sends a PPDU consisting of the MSDU transmitted by the second AP MLD as needed to the non-AP MLD; correspondingly, the non-AP MLD receives the PPDU consisting of the MSDU transmitted by the second AP MLD as needed from the second AP MLD.

[0394] Step 1506 can also be described as follows: The second AP MLD sends a PPDU consisting of an MSDU based on the corresponding sequence number or global sequence number to the non-AP MLD, or sends a PPDU consisting of an MSDU corresponding to the sequence number or global sequence number indicated by the second indication information to the non-AP MLD.

[0395] In steps 1505 and 1506 above, when the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD sends a PPDU based on the MSDU to the non-AP MLD, the MSDU can be processed by MAC (such as high MAC sublayer processing, low MAC sublayer processing) and physical layer processing to obtain the PPDU, and then the PPDU is sent to the non-AP MLD.

[0396] It is understood that steps 1501 to 1506 above can be used in a coupled manner, or steps 1501, 1503, and 1505 above can be decoupled from steps 1502, 1504, and 1506 above, that is, steps 1501, 1503, and 1505 above can be executed independently, and steps 1502, 1504, and 1506 above can be executed independently, without any restriction.

[0397] Based on the description of Figures 7 to 15 above, an exemplary embodiment of this application provides a specific example using Figures 7 to 15 in combination. As shown in Figure 16, after the associated AP MLD receives the MSDU sent by the DS, it can assign a global sequence number to the received MSDU and maintain a transmission buffer based on the global sequence number. This transmission buffer may include one or more MSDUs, for example, it may include MSDUs corresponding to global sequence numbers 0, 1, 2, ..., N respectively. The associated AP MLD can send the MSDU in its maintained transmission buffer to the non-AP MLD through link 1.

[0398] The associated AP MLD can also send MSDUs, TIDs, and global sequence numbers assigned to the MSDUs to the second AP MLD. Based on this, the second AP MLD can maintain a transmission buffer based on the global sequence numbers. This transmission buffer can include one or more MSDUs, for example, MSDUs corresponding to global sequence numbers 0, 1, 2, ..., N'. The second AP MLD can send the MSDUs in its maintained transmission buffer to the non-AP MLD via link 2.

[0399] The non-AP MLD can perform duplicate detection on MSDUs transmitted by the associated AP MLD and MSDUs transmitted by the second AP MLD based on the global sequence number. The non-AP MLD can also maintain a reordering buffer based on the global sequence number. This reordering buffer can include MSDUs that have undergone duplicate detection. The MSDUs in the reordering buffer can be arranged in a certain order, such as in ascending order based on the global sequence number, or in descending order based on the global sequence number, etc., without restriction.

[0400] As shown in Figure 16, the associated AP MLD can also include transmit buffer control based on global sequence number, transmit buffer control based on sequence number, and aggregation control.

[0401] The global sequence number-based transmit buffer control function can be used to control the transmit buffer based on global sequence numbers. For example, it can control the associated AP MLD to send PPDUs (Portable Transaction Duties) composed of MSDUs (MSDUs) in its own globally sequence number-based transmit buffer to the non-AP MLD. Another example is that the associated AP MLD can send a first request to the non-AP MLD, requesting feedback on the MSDU reception status. Yet another example is that, based on the MSDU reception status feedback from the non-AP MLD via a first response, the buffer of successfully received MSDUs can be released. Yet another example is that the associated AP MLD can send a first indication to the non-AP MLD, indicating the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDUs cached in the globally sequence number-based transmit buffer. Yet another example is that, based on a second indication sent by the non-AP MLD, it can send PPDUs composed of MSDUs that the associated AP MLD needs to send to the non-AP MLD.

[0402] The sequence number-based transmit buffer control function can be used to control the sequence number-based transmit buffer. For example, it can control the associated AP MLD to send MPDUs (Multi-Level Units) from its own sequence number-based transmit buffer to the non-AP MLD. Another example is that the associated AP MLD can send a fifth request to the non-AP MLD, requesting feedback on MPDU reception status. Yet another example is that, based on the MPDU reception status feedback from the non-AP MLD via a fifth response, the buffer for successfully received MPDUs can be released. Yet another example is that the associated AP MLD can send a first indication to the non-AP MLD, indicating the sequence number information corresponding to the MPDUs buffered in the sequence number-based transmit buffer. Finally, based on a second indication sent by the non-AP MLD, it can send the MPDUs that the associated AP MLD needs to send to the non-AP MLD.

[0403] Among them, the aggregation control function can be used to control the aggregation operation of A-MPDU.

[0404] Similarly, as shown in Figure 16, the second AP MLD may also include a global sequence number-based transmit buffer control function, a sequence number-based transmit buffer control function, and an aggregation control function.

[0405] The global sequence number-based transmit buffer control function can be used to control the transmit buffer based on global sequence numbers. For example, it can control the second AP MLD to send a PPDU (Programmed Component Duplex) composed of MSDUs (Multi-Session Duplexes) in its own globally sequence number-based transmit buffer to the non-AP MLD. Another example is controlling the second AP MLD to send a first request to the non-AP MLD, requesting feedback on the MSDU reception status. Yet another example is releasing the buffer of successfully received MSDUs based on the MSDU reception status feedback from the non-AP MLD via a first response. Yet another example is sending a third indication message to the non-AP MLD, indicating the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDUs cached in the globally sequence number-based transmit buffer. Finally, based on a fourth indication message sent by the non-AP MLD, it can send a PPDU composed of MSDUs that the second AP MLD needs to send to the non-AP MLD.

[0406] The sequence number-based transmit buffer control function can be used to control the sequence number-based transmit buffer. For example, it can control the second AP MLD to send MPDUs from its own sequence number-based transmit buffer to the non-AP MLD. Another example is controlling the second AP MLD to send a fifth request to the non-AP MLD, requesting feedback on MPDU reception status. Yet another example is releasing the buffer of successfully received MPDUs based on the MPDU reception status feedback from the non-AP MLD via the fifth response. Yet another example is controlling the second AP MLD to send a third indication message to the non-AP MLD, indicating the sequence number information corresponding to the MPDUs buffered in the sequence number-based transmit buffer. Finally, based on the fourth indication message sent by the non-AP MLD, it can send the MPDUs that the second AP MLD needs to send to the non-AP MLD.

[0407] Among them, the aggregation control function can be used to control the aggregation operation of A-MPDU.

[0408] Optionally, the aforementioned global sequence number-based transmit buffer control function can be per non-AP MLD / TID. Alternatively, the aforementioned sequence number-based transmit buffer control function can also be per non-AP MLD / TID.

[0409] As shown in Figure 16, a non-AP MLD may include deaggregation control function corresponding to the associated AP MLD, deaggregation control function corresponding to the second AP MLD, scoreboard context control function based on sequence number corresponding to the associated AP MLD, scoreboard context control function based on sequence number corresponding to the second AP MLD, scoreboard context control function based on global sequence number shared by the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD, and reordering buffer control function based on global sequence number shared by the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD.

[0410] Specifically, the depolymerization control function corresponding to the associated AP MLD can be used to control the depolymerization operation of the A-MPDU, which is the A-MPDU corresponding to the associated AP MLD. Similarly, the depolymerization control function corresponding to the second AP MLD can be used to control the depolymerization operation of the A-MPDU, which is the A-MPDU corresponding to the second AP MLD.

[0411] The sequence number-based scoreboard context control function corresponding to the associated AP MLD can be used to control MPDUs based on sequence numbers. For example, the control of the non-AP MLD can be based on a fifth request, and the control can send feedback on the MPDU reception status to the associated AP MLD via a fifth response. Another example is that the control of the non-AP MLD can be based on a first indication message, and the control can send a second indication message to the associated AP MLD, indicating the sequence number information of the MPDU that the associated AP MLD needs to send. Similarly, the sequence number-based scoreboard context control function corresponding to the second AP MLD can be used to control MPDUs based on sequence numbers. For example, the control of the non-AP MLD can be based on a fifth request, and the control can send feedback on the MPDU reception status to the second AP MLD via a fifth response. Another example is that the control of the non-AP MLD can be based on a third indication message, and the control can send a fourth indication message to the second AP MLD, indicating the sequence number information of the MPDU that the second AP MLD needs to send.

[0412] Specifically, the scoreboard context control function based on global sequence numbers, shared by the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD, and the reordering buffer control function based on global sequence numbers, shared by the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD, are used to control MSDUs based on global sequence numbers. For example, the control non-AP MLD, based on a first request, sends feedback on the MSDU reception status to the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD via a first response. As another example, the control non-AP MLD, based on a first indication, sends a second indication to the associated AP MLD, indicating the global sequence number information of the MSDU that the associated AP MLD needs to send, and based on a third indication, sends a fourth indication to the second AP MLD, indicating the global sequence number information of the MSDU that the second AP MLD needs to send.

[0413] Optionally, the scoreboard context control function based on global sequence numbers shared by the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can be per TID. The reordering buffer control function based on global sequence numbers shared by the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can also be per TID.

[0414] Based on the above description, as exemplarily shown in Figure 16, the associated AP MLD can send a Multi-TID BAR frame to the non-AP MLD. This Multi-TID BAR frame may include a fifth request (e.g., Starting Sequence Number (SSN)#1), a first request (e.g., Global Starting Sequence Number (GSSN)#1), and first indication information (e.g., the maximum value of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the associated AP MLD's transmit buffer (Max GSN)#1). Correspondingly, the non-AP MLD can send a Multi-STA BA frame to the associated AP MLD based on the received Multi-TID BAR frame. This Multi-STA BA frame may include a fifth response (e.g., SSN#1, SN bitmap), a first response (e.g., GSSN#1, GSN bitmap), and second indication information (e.g., GSSN#1', length #1).

[0415] Wherein, GSSN#1' is the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD for transmission, and length #1 is the length of the bitmap of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be associated with the AP MLD for transmission. GSSN#1 and GSSN#1' can be the same or different, without restriction.

[0416] It is understandable that the fifth response mentioned above is used to associate the AP MLD to perform operations such as sending MPDUs and releasing the buffer of successfully received MPDUs. The first response is used to associate the AP MLD to release the buffer of successfully received MSDUs. The second indication information is used to associate the AP MLD to send PPDUs composed of MSDUs.

[0417] Similarly, as shown in Figure 16, the second AP MLD can send a Multi-TID BAR frame to the non-AP MLD. This Multi-TID BAR frame may include a fifth request (e.g., SSN#2), a first request (e.g., GSSN#2), and third indication information (e.g., the maximum value of the global sequence number (Max GSN)#2) corresponding to the MSDU cached in the second AP MLD's transmit buffer). Correspondingly, the non-AP MLD can send a Multi-STA BA frame to the second AP MLD based on the received Multi-TID BAR frame. This Multi-STA BA frame may include a fifth response (e.g., SSN#2, SN bitmap), a first response (e.g., GSSN#2, GSN bitmap), and fourth indication information (e.g., GSSN#2', length#2).

[0418] Wherein, GSSN#2' is the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, and length#2 is the length of the bitmap of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD. GSSN#2 and GSSN#2' can be the same or different, without restriction.

[0419] Understandably, the fifth response mentioned above is used by the second AP MLD to perform operations such as sending MPDUs and releasing the buffer of successfully received MPDUs. The first response is used by the second AP MLD to release the buffer of successfully received MSDUs. The fourth indication information is used by the second AP MLD to send PPDUs composed of MSDUs.

[0420] Corresponding to the downlink DAPS transmission based on global sequence numbers in Figures 7 to 16 above, as shown in Figure 17, uplink DAPS transmission can also be performed based on global sequence numbers.

[0421] Figure 17 is a flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 17, the method includes:

[0422] Step 1701: The associated AP MLD sends the global sequence number assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU of the non-AP MLD's TID to the non-AP MLD; correspondingly, the non-AP MLD obtains the global sequence number assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU of the non-AP MLD's TID.

[0423] Among them, the associated AP MLD can be assigned a global sequence number to the MSDU of the TID of the non-AP MLD as described in Figure 7, which will not be elaborated further.

[0424] Step 1702: The non-AP MLD sends a PPDU based on the third MSDU to the associated AP MLD based on the global sequence number and DAPS transmission; correspondingly, the associated AP MLD receives the PPDU based on the third MSDU from the non-AP MLD.

[0425] The third MSDU is an MSDU that includes a global serial number.

[0426] For example, a non-AP MLD can carry the global sequence number in the MSDU frame to obtain a third MSDU; or, a non-AP MLD can carry the global sequence number in a new field of the MSDU to obtain a third MSDU.

[0427] When a non-AP MLD sends a PPDU based on a third MSDU to an associated AP MLD, the third MSDU needs to pass through the MAC layer and the physical layer. After passing through the MAC layer and the physical layer, the third MSDU is encapsulated into a PPDU, and the non-AP MLD sends the third MSDU to the associated AP MLD in the form of a PPDU.

[0428] For example, as shown in Figure 18, a non-AP MLD can add the Global Sequence Number assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU (i.e., assign a GSN value) to obtain a third MSDU. Based on the relevant standards for implementing this technology, such as the descriptions in the 802.11be standard, the third MSDU undergoes high MAC sublayer processing, low MAC sublayer processing, and physical layer processing to generate a PPDU and send it to the associated AP MLD. The descriptions of high MAC sublayer processing, low MAC sublayer processing, and physical layer processing can be found in the relevant descriptions in Figure 9, and will not be repeated here.

[0429] When a non-AP MLD performs A-MSDU aggregation, it can aggregate multiple third-party MSDUs. Aggregating multiple third-party MSDUs yields an MPDU, where each third-party MSDU corresponds to a global sequence number. For SN assignment operations, each MPDU corresponds to a SN; when the MPDU includes multiple third-party MSDUs, this can also be understood as each of the multiple third-party MSDUs corresponding to a single SN.

[0430] Corresponding to the above-described transmission process of the PPDU constructed from the third MSDU, as shown in Figure 18, the associated AP MLD can receive the PPDU transmitted by the non-AP MLD. Based on the relevant standards for implementing this technology, such as the descriptions in the 802.11be standard, the PPDU undergoes physical layer processing, low MAC sublayer processing, and high MAC sublayer processing to obtain the third MSDU. The descriptions of physical layer processing, low MAC sublayer processing, and high MAC sublayer processing can be found in the relevant descriptions in Figure 9, and will not be repeated here.

[0431] Step 1703: The non-AP MLD sends a PPDU based on the fourth MSDU to the second AP MLD based on the global sequence number and DAPS transmission; correspondingly, the second AP MLD receives the PPDU based on the fourth MSDU from the non-AP MLD.

[0432] The fourth MSDU is an MSDU that includes a global serial number.

[0433] For example, a non-AP MLD can carry the global sequence number in the MSDU frame to obtain a fourth MSDU; or, a non-AP MLD can carry the global sequence number in a new field of the MSDU to obtain a fourth MSDU.

[0434] When a non-AP MLD sends a PPDU based on a fourth MSDU to a second AP MLD, the fourth MSDU needs to pass through the MAC layer and the physical layer. After passing through the MAC layer and the physical layer, the fourth MSDU is encapsulated into a PPDU, and the non-AP MLD sends the fourth MSDU to the second AP MLD in the form of a PPDU.

[0435] For example, as shown in Figure 18, a non-AP MLD can add the global sequence number assigned by the second AP MLD to the MSDU (i.e., assign a GSN value) to obtain a fourth MSDU. Based on the relevant standards for implementing this technology, such as the descriptions in the 802.11be standard, the fourth MSDU undergoes high MAC sublayer processing, low MAC sublayer processing, and physical layer processing to generate a PPDU and send it to the second AP MLD. The descriptions of high MAC sublayer processing, low MAC sublayer processing, and physical layer processing can be found in the relevant descriptions in Figure 9, and will not be repeated here.

[0436] When a non-AP MLD performs A-MSDU aggregation, it can aggregate multiple fourth MSDUs. Aggregating multiple fourth MSDUs yields an MPDU, where each fourth MSDU corresponds to a global sequence number. For SN assignment operations, each MPDU corresponds to a SN. If the MPDU includes multiple fourth MSDUs, this can also be understood as each of the multiple fourth MSDUs corresponding to a single SN.

[0437] Corresponding to the above-described transmission process of the PPDU constructed from the fourth MSDU, as shown in Figure 18, the second AP MLD can receive the PPDU transmitted by the non-AP MLD. Based on the relevant standards for implementing this technology, such as the relevant descriptions in the 802.11be standard, the PPDU undergoes physical layer processing, low MAC sublayer processing, and high MAC sublayer processing to obtain the fourth MSDU. The descriptions of physical layer processing, low MAC sublayer processing, and high MAC sublayer processing can be found in the relevant descriptions in Figure 9, and will not be repeated here.

[0438] In steps 1702 and 1703 above, the third MSDU and the fourth MSDU can be generated based on the same MSDU, or they can be generated based on different MSDUs, without restriction.

[0439] Step 1704: The second AP MLD sends the third information to the associated AP MLD according to the fourth MSDU; correspondingly, the associated AP MLD receives the third information from the second AP MLD.

[0440] The third information includes the fourth MSDU and the TID of the fourth MSDU. The fourth MSDU is an MSDU that includes a global serial number. The third information can also be described as including the MSDU, TID, and global serial number.

[0441] Step 1705: The associated AP MLD parses the third MSDU and the fourth MSDU based on the global sequence number included in the third MSDU and the global sequence number included in the fourth MSDU.

[0442] As shown in Figure 18, the associated AP MLD can parse the third MSDU and the fourth MSDU according to one or more of the following: the scoreboard corresponding to the global sequence number, the reordering buffer corresponding to the global sequence number, or the duplicate detection corresponding to the global sequence number.

[0443] Optionally, the associated AP MLD can also send consecutive MSDUs to the DS SAP via MAC SAP in the order of global sequence number after parsing the MSDUs.

[0444] Optionally, under DAPS transmission, since the associated AP MLD maintains a reordering buffer corresponding to a global sequence number, the associated AP MLD does not need to maintain a SN-based reordering buffer.

[0445] Based on the method shown in Figure 17 above, DAPS transmission can be performed between the non-AP MLD, the associated AP MLD, and the second AP MLD based on a global sequence number. The allocation of this global sequence number can be performed before the aggregation operation of A-MSDU, thereby allowing the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD to perform A-MSDU de-aggregation operations respectively, reducing the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improving communication performance.

[0446] Based on the method shown in Figure 17 above, optionally, the sending end and the receiving end can also exchange information on the reception status of MSDU through the fourth request and the fourth response, as described below, i.e., which MSDUs have been successfully received and which MSDUs have not yet been successfully received.

[0447] Specifically, the non-AP MLD can send a fourth request to the associated AP MLD, and the associated AP MLD will send a fourth response to the non-AP MLD based on the fourth request. The fourth request is used to request feedback on the reception status of the MSDU, that is, to request feedback on whether the MSDU with the corresponding global sequence number has been successfully received. The fourth response is used to indicate the reception status of the MSDU, that is, to indicate whether the MSDU with the corresponding global sequence number has been successfully received.

[0448] The fourth request may include one or more of the following: TID, Global Start Sequence Number, Special TID, or Special AID. The Global Start Sequence Number is used to indicate the reception status of the MSDU starting from the Global Start Sequence Number.

[0449] Optionally, the fourth request is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment request management frame; or, the fourth request is carried in the block acknowledgment request control frame; or, the fourth request is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or, the fourth request is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the fourth request is carried in the initial control frame.

[0450] The fourth response may include one or more of the following: TID, global start sequence number, global sequence number bitmap, length of global sequence number bitmap or global end sequence number, global sequence number list, special TID or special AID.

[0451] Optionally, the fourth response is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or, the fourth response is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or, the fourth response is carried in the initial control response frame.

[0452] It is understood that the descriptions of the fourth request and the fourth response can be found in the foregoing descriptions of the first request and the first response, and will not be repeated here.

[0453] Optionally, the non-AP MLD can also release the buffer of successfully received MSDUs based on the reception status of the MSDU indicated by the fourth response.

[0454] Based on the fourth response mentioned above, the non-AP MLD can also send a PPDU composed of MSDU to one or more of the following AP MLDs: the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD.

[0455] Specifically, the PPDU based on the MSDU sent by the non-AP MLD to the associated AP MLD is different from the PPDU based on the MSDU sent to the second AP MLD; or, the PPDU based on the MSDU sent to the associated AP MLD is the same as the PPDU based on the MSDU sent to the second AP MLD.

[0456] For example, a non-AP MLD can determine, based on the fourth response, to send a PPDU composed of an MSDU in Robust Mode. That is, a non-AP MLD can send PPDUs composed of the same MSDU through the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD respectively, thereby increasing reliability.

[0457] In another example, the non-AP MLD can determine, based on the fourth response, to send PPDUs composed of MSDUs in Throughput Mode. That is, the non-AP MLD can send PPDUs composed of different MSDUs separately through the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD, thereby increasing throughput.

[0458] Similar to the downlink DAPS transmission described above, where the non-AP MLD can use any of the five possible designs mentioned above to negotiate with the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD whether to enable DAPS transmission, the uplink DAPS transmission process can also use any of the five possible designs mentioned above to negotiate with the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD whether to enable DAPS transmission. For details, please refer to the relevant descriptions above, which will not be repeated here.

[0459] Optionally, the non-AP MLD can also negotiate block confirmation protocols with the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD respectively.

[0460] Among them, the non-AP MLD can negotiate a block confirmation session based on the global sequence number with the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD when DAPS transmission is enabled.

[0461] Specifically, a non-AP MLD can send a third request to an associated AP MLD, which then forwards the modified third request to a second AP MLD, which in turn sends a third response to the non-AP MLD. Similarly, a non-AP MLD can send a third request to a second AP MLD, which then forwards the modified third request to an associated AP MLD, which in turn sends a third response to the non-AP MLD.

[0462] The associated AP MLD can adjust the parameters in the received third request, such as adjusting the size of the global sequence number reordering buffer in the third request to obtain a modified third request. Similarly, the second AP MLD can also adjust the parameters in the received third request, such as adjusting the size of the global sequence number reordering buffer in the third request to obtain a modified third request.

[0463] The third request is used to request negotiation of a block acknowledgment session based on the global sequence number, and the third response is used to confirm the block acknowledgment session based on the global sequence number. A description of the third request and the third response can be found in the foregoing descriptions of the relevant sections, and will not be repeated here.

[0464] Unlike the above-mentioned DAPS transmission based on global sequence numbers, the embodiments of this application may also avoid introducing global sequence numbers. Instead, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can disable A-MSDU operations, thereby avoiding the impact of SN assignment on A-MSDU operations. This reduces the complexity of DAPS transmission implementation and improves communication performance when the non-AP MLD, associated AP MLD, and second AP MLD use the scheme shown in Figure 2 or Figure 4 for downlink DAPS transmission.

[0465] In addition, the MAC layer processing in the scheme shown in FIG2 or FIG4 can be adjusted with reference to the following three possible designs to improve the processing performance of the MAC layer.

[0466] In the first possible design, taking the downlink DAPS transmission scheme shown in Figure 2 as an example, MPDU encryption is performed by the associated AP MLD. This MPDU encryption operation can be adjusted, as shown in Figure 19(a). The associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can use the same pairwise transient key security association (PTKSA) to perform MPDU encryption respectively. Specifically, the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD can share the pairwise transient key (PTK). After the PN assignment operation, the associated AP MLD can synchronize (or describe it as copying and forwarding) MSDU, TID, SN, and PN to the second AP MLD. The second AP MLD uses the shared PTK to encrypt the MPDU based on the received MSDU, TID, SN, and PN. SN and PN are both assigned by the associated AP MLD.

[0467] Correspondingly, for non-AP MLD, since the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD use the same key and the same PN, the non-AP MLD can perform replay attack detection based on the MPDU sent by the associated AP MLD and the MPDU sent by the second AP MLD.

[0468] In the second possible design, taking the downlink DAPS transmission scheme shown in Figure 2 as an example, the associated AP MLD sends the encrypted MPDU and SN to the second AP MLD after the MPDU encryption operation, as shown in Figure 19(b). It can also send the TID to the second AP MLD. Correspondingly, for the non-AP MLD, the non-AP MLD can perform replay attack detection based on the MPDU sent by the associated AP MLD and the MPDU sent by the second AP MLD.

[0469] In the third possible design, taking the downlink DAPS transmission scheme shown in Figure 4 as an example, after the SN assignment operation, the associated AP MLD sends the MSDU and SN to the second AP MLD, as shown in Figure 20. It can also send the TID to the second AP MLD. Correspondingly, for the non-AP MLD,

[0470] Because the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD use different keys and different PNs, the non-AP MLD can perform replay attack detection on the MPDU sent by the associated AP MLD and the MPDU sent by the second AP MLD respectively.

[0471] Similar to the descriptions of downlink DAPS transmission in Figures 7 to 16 above, the downlink DAPS transmission scheme shown in Figure 19 or 20 can refer to the aforementioned descriptions of the first request and first response, based on the reception of MSDUs exchanged between the first request and first response. Alternatively, referring to the relevant description in Figure 15 above, the associated AP MLD or the second AP MLD sends the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDUs cached in their respective transmit buffers to the non-AP MLD. Based on this, the non-AP MLD can assist / coordinate the transmission between the associated AP MLD and the second AP MLD, such as indicating to the associated AP MLD the MSDUs that need to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, and indicating to the second AP MLD the MSDUs that need to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, thereby improving transmission performance.

[0472] This application embodiment also provides a device state transition method, specifically, the device state transition can be shown in Figure 21:

[0473] Status 1: Unauthenticated or unassociated.

[0474] The state transitions shown in Figure 21 can be applied to non-AP MLDs, associated AP MLDs, or second AP MLDs, etc. For ease of description, the following text will use non-AP MLDs as examples to illustrate each state. For instance, in state 1, a non-AP MLD can send category 1 frames.

[0475] If a non-AP MLD successfully completes preassociation security negotiation (PASN) authentication, the non-AP MLD can switch to state 1a.

[0476] Status 1a: PASN authentication, unassociated status.

[0477] In state 1a, a non-AP MLD can send either Category 1 frames or protected Category 2 frames.

[0478] When a non-AP MLD is in state 1a, performing a deauthentication operation will allow it to switch back to state 1.

[0479] Status 2: Certified (except for uncertified directional multi-gigabit (DMG) sites (DMG STAs), unassociated status.

[0480] In state 2, a non-AP MLD can send frames of type 1 and frames of type 2.

[0481] When a non-AP MLD is in state 1 or state 1a and has successfully authenticated (except for PASN and fast initial link setup (FILS) authentication), it can switch to state 2.

[0482] When a non-AP MLD is in state 2, performing a de-authentication operation (except for DMG STAs that do not undergo authentication) will switch back to state 1.

[0483] In this application's embodiments, "excluding DMG STAs that do not undergo certification" means that DMG STAs may not need to undergo certification. The DMG STAs shown in this application's embodiments that do not undergo certification are merely examples. As standards evolve, other types of devices may emerge that do not undergo certification, and this application's embodiments do not limit this.

[0484] Status 3: Certified (except for DMG STAs that are not certified), associated (RSNA certification pending) status.

[0485] In state 3, a non-AP MLD can send Category 1, Category 2, and Category 3 frames. Simultaneously, the control port is closed.

[0486] When a non-AP MLD is in state 2, and has successfully re-associated and requires a robust security network association (RSNA), it can switch to state 3.

[0487] If a non-AP MLD is in state 3, and the deassociation operation is performed or the reassociation (non-AP MLD and non-domain BSS control point site) fails, then it will switch back to state 2.

[0488] When a non-AP MLD is in state 3, if deauthentication is performed (except for DMG STAs that do not perform authentication), it will switch back to state 1.

[0489] Status 4: Certified (except for DMG STAs that are not certified), Associated (RSNA established or not required) status.

[0490] In state 4, a non-AP MLD can send frames of categories 1, 2, and 3. The control port is also open.

[0491] When a non-AP MLD is in state 3 and successfully completes a four-way handshake, it can switch to state 4.

[0492] When a non-AP MLD is in state 2, it can switch to state 4 under the following conditions: successful (re)association - no RSNA requirement; fast BSS transfer; individual domain BSS four-way handshake; fast initial link establishment (re)association and key confirmation.

[0493] When a non-AP MLD is in state 2, it can switch to state 3a under the following conditions: the link establishment and key negotiation are successful, but the DS mapping has not yet been switched.

[0494] If a non-AP MLD is in state 4, and the deassociation operation is performed or the reassociation (non-AP MLD and non-domain BSS control point site) fails, then it will switch back to state 2.

[0495] When a non-AP MLD is in state 4, if deauthentication is performed (except for DMG STAs that do not perform authentication), it will switch back to state 1.

[0496] In this embodiment of the application, after the non-AP MLD and the target AP MLD are successfully reassociated, the non-AP MLD and the target AP MLD can switch to state 4. The non-AP MLD and the current AP MLD can switch to state 3a, that is, the DS mapping has been switched away.

[0497] Status 3a: Authenticated (except for DMG STAs that are not authenticated), not associated (RSNA established) status.

[0498] In state 3a, a non-AP MLD can send frames of categories 1, 2, and 3, and control ports can be opened or closed, but the DS mapping has not been switched or has been switched away.

[0499] Within a certain period of time, when a non-AP MLD determines that the RSSI of the target AP MLD is worse than the RSSI of the current AP MLD, the non-AP MLD can re-associate with the current AP MLD, that is, switch the DS mapping to the AP MLD. In other words, the non-AP MLD and the current AP MLD can switch to state 4.

[0500] After a certain period of time, or when a non-AP MLD associates with the current AP MLD, the non-AP MLD and the current AP MLD switch to state 1.

[0501] In this embodiment of the application, the newly defined state 3a can effectively solve the ping-pong phenomenon that occurs during roaming, and can also realize DAPS transmission, thereby improving the user experience. Under DAPS transmission, a non-AP MLD is in state 4 with one AP MLD (such as the current AP MLD), and in state 3a with another AP MLD (such as the target AP MLD).

[0502] It is worth noting that opening the control port and completing the DS mapping switch can be bound as one action or separated into two independent actions; this application does not impose any limitations on this.

[0503] It should be noted that the various embodiments of this application can be implemented independently or in combination, without limitation. Unless otherwise specified or in conflict, the terminology and / or descriptions between the different embodiments provided in this application are consistent and can be referenced mutually. Technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments based on their inherent logical relationships.

[0504] It is understood that in the embodiments of this application, the executing entity may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of this application. These steps or operations are merely examples, and the embodiments of this application may also perform other operations or variations thereof. Furthermore, the various steps may be executed in different orders as presented in the embodiments of this application, and it is not necessarily necessary to execute all the operations in the embodiments of this application.

[0505] The foregoing primarily describes the solutions provided in this application from the perspective of device-to-device interaction. It is understood that each device, in order to achieve the aforementioned functions, includes corresponding hardware structures and / or software modules for executing each function. Those skilled in the art should readily recognize that, based on the algorithm steps of the examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein, this application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or by computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0506] This application embodiment can divide each device into functional modules according to the above method example. For example, each function can be divided into a separate functional module, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be implemented in hardware or as a software functional module. It should be noted that the module division in this application embodiment is illustrative and only represents one logical functional division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods.

[0507] When each function is divided into functional modules, FIG22 shows a communication device 220. The communication device 220 can perform the actions performed by the associated AP MLD, the second AP MLD, or the non-AP MLD in the methods shown in FIG7 to FIG21. All relevant contents of each step involved in the above method embodiments can be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module. The technical effects that can be obtained can be referred to the above method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0508] The communication device 220 may include a transceiver module 2201 and a processing module 2202. Exemplarily, the communication device 220 may be a communication equipment, or a chip or other combination device or component having the aforementioned communication device functions. When the communication device 220 is a communication equipment, the transceiver module 2201 may be a transceiver, which may include an antenna and radio frequency circuits; the processing module 2202 may be a processor (or processing circuit), such as a baseband processor, which may include one or more CPUs. When the communication device 220 is a component having the aforementioned communication device functions, the transceiver module 2201 may be a radio frequency unit; the processing module 2202 may be a processor (or processing circuit), such as a baseband processor. When the communication device 220 is a chip system, the transceiver module 2201 may be an input / output interface of a chip (e.g., a baseband chip); the processing module 2202 may be a processor (or processing circuit) of the chip system, and may include one or more central processing units. It should be understood that the transceiver module 2201 in the embodiments of this application can be implemented by a transceiver or transceiver-related circuit components; the processing module 2202 can be implemented by a processor or processor-related circuit components (or, referred to as processing circuit).

[0509] For example, transceiver module 2201 can be used to perform all the transceiver operations performed by the communication device in the embodiments shown in Figures 7 to 21, and / or other processes to support the technology described herein; processing module 2202 can be used to perform all operations other than the transceiver operations performed by the communication device in the embodiments shown in Figures 7 to 21, and / or other processes to support the technology described herein.

[0510] As another possible implementation, the transceiver module 2201 in Figure 22 can be replaced by a transceiver unit that integrates the functions of the transceiver module 2201; the processing module 2202 can be replaced by a processor that integrates the functions of the processing module 2202. Furthermore, the communication device 220 shown in Figure 22 may also include a memory.

[0511] Alternatively, when the processing module 2202 is replaced by a processor and the transceiver module 2201 is replaced by a transceiver, the communication device 220 involved in the embodiments of this application can also be the communication device 230 shown in FIG. 23. The processor can be a logic circuit 2301, and the transceiver can be an interface circuit 2302. Furthermore, the communication device 230 shown in FIG. 23 can also include a memory 2303.

[0512] This application also provides a communication device 2400, as shown in FIG24. The communication device 2400 can be a first device or a chip or system-on-a-chip in the methods shown in FIGS. 7 to 21; it can also be a second device or a chip or system-on-a-chip in the methods shown in FIGS. 7 to 21; or it can be a terminal device or a chip or system-on-a-chip in the methods shown in FIGS. 7 to 21. As shown in FIG24, the communication device 2400 includes a processor 2401, a transceiver 2402, and a communication line 2403.

[0513] Furthermore, the communication device 2400 may also include a memory 2404. The processor 2401, the memory 2404, and the transceiver 2402 can be connected via a communication line 2403.

[0514] The processor 2401 can be a central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic device (PLD), or any combination thereof. The processor 2401 can also be other devices with processing capabilities, such as circuits, devices, or software modules, without limitation.

[0515] Transceiver 2402 is used to communicate with other devices or other communication networks. These other communication networks can be Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), etc. Transceiver 2402 can be a module, circuit, transceiver, or any device capable of enabling communication.

[0516] Communication line 2403 is used to transmit information between the components included in communication device 2400.

[0517] The memory 2404 is used to store instructions. These instructions can be computer programs.

[0518] The memory 2404 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and / or instructions; it can also be a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and / or instructions; it can also be an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compressed optical discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital universal optical discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, etc., without limitation.

[0519] It should be noted that the memory 2404 can exist independently of the processor 2401, or it can be integrated with the processor 2401. The memory 2404 can be used to store instructions, program code, or some data, etc. The memory 2404 can be located inside or outside the communication device 2400, without limitation. The processor 2401 is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory 2404 to implement the communication method provided in the following embodiments of this application.

[0520] In one example, processor 2401 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in Figure 24.

[0521] As an optional implementation, the communication device 2400 may include multiple processors, for example, in addition to the processor 2401 in FIG. 24, it may also include a processor 2407.

[0522] As an optional implementation, the communication device 2400 also includes an output device 2405 and an input device 2406. For example, the input device 2406 is a device such as a keyboard, mouse, microphone, or joystick, and the output device 2405 is a device such as a display screen or speaker.

[0523] It should be noted that the communication device 2400 can be a desktop computer, a portable computer, a web server, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless terminal, an embedded device, a chip system, or a device with a similar structure to that shown in Figure 24. Furthermore, the composition shown in Figure 24 does not constitute a limitation on the communication device. In addition to the components shown in Figure 24, the communication device may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or have different component arrangements.

[0524] In this embodiment of the application, the chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0525] This application also provides a computer program product that, when executed by a computer, can implement the functions of any of the above method embodiments.

[0526] This application also provides a computer program that, when executed by a computer, can implement the functions of any of the above method embodiments.

[0527] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium. All or part of the processes in the above method embodiments can be implemented by a computer program instructing related hardware. This program can be stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, it can include the processes of the above method embodiments. The computer-readable storage medium can be an internal storage unit of the terminal (including a data sending end and / or a data receiving end) of any of the foregoing embodiments, such as the terminal's hard disk or memory. The computer-readable storage medium can also be an external storage device of the terminal, such as a plug-in hard disk, smart media card (SMC), secure digital (SD) card, flash card, etc., equipped on the terminal. Further, the computer-readable storage medium can include both the terminal's internal storage unit and external storage devices. The computer-readable storage medium is used to store the computer program and other programs and data required by the terminal. The computer-readable storage medium can also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or will be output.

[0528] It should be noted that the terms "first" and "second," etc., in the specification, claims, and drawings of this application are used to distinguish different objects, not to describe a specific order. "First" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of indicated technical features. Therefore, a feature defined with "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of this embodiment, unless otherwise stated, "a plurality of" means two or more.

[0529] Furthermore, the terms “comprising” and “having”, and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product, or apparatus that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the steps or units listed, but may optionally include steps or units not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units inherent to such process, method, product, or apparatus.

[0530] It should be understood that in this application, "at least one (item)" means one or more. "More than one" means two or more. "At least two (items)" means two or three or more. "And / or" is used to describe the relationship between related objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, "A and / or B" can mean: only A exists, only B exists, and A and B exist simultaneously, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the related objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. "At least one (item) of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one (item) of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", where a, b, and c can be single or multiple. Both "...when" and "if" indicate that a corresponding action will be taken under certain objective circumstances. They are not time limits, nor do they require a judgment action to be taken when the action is taken, nor do they imply any other limitations.

[0531] In the embodiments of this application, the terms "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate that something is an example, illustration, or description. Any embodiment or design that is described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of this application should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or design. Specifically, the use of terms such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a specific manner to facilitate understanding.

[0532] In this application, "sending information to...(terminal device)" can be understood as the destination of the information being the terminal device. This can include sending information directly or indirectly to the terminal device. "Receiving information from...(terminal device)" can be understood as the source of the information being the terminal device, and can include receiving information directly or indirectly from the terminal device. Information may undergo necessary processing between the source and destination, such as format changes, but the destination can understand the valid information from the source.

[0533] Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, only the division of the above functional modules is used as an example. In actual applications, the above functions can be assigned to different functional modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the device can be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the functions described above.

[0534] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of modules or units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another device, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between devices or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0535] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. A component shown as a unit can be one or more physical units; that is, it can be located in one place or distributed in multiple different locations. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0536] Furthermore, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be implemented in hardware or as a software functional unit.

[0537] If the integrated unit is implemented as a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application embodiment, or all or part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a device (which may be a microcontroller, chip, etc.) or processor to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Obtain first information; wherein, the first information includes the Media Access Control Layer Service Data Unit (MSDU) of the non-AP MLD and the Service Identifier (TID) of the MSDU; Based on the first information, second information is sent to the second AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD; wherein, the second information includes the MSDU, the TID, and the global sequence number allocated by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU of the TID; the associated AP MLD is the first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping; the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD perform dual-activation protocol stack DAPS transmission based on the global sequence number; Based on the second information, a PPDU composed of a first MSDU is sent to the non-AP MLD via DAPS transmission. The first MSDU is an MSDU that includes the global sequence number.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the distributed system mapping switches from the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD, the TID and the next global sequence number corresponding to the TID are sent to the second AP MLD; or When the distributed system mapping switches from the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD, the TID and the current global sequence number corresponding to the TID are sent to the second AP MLD.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a first request to the non-AP MLD; wherein the first request is used to request feedback on the reception status of MSDU; Receive a first response from the non-AP MLD; wherein the first response is used to indicate the reception status of the MSDU.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The first request is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or The first request is carried in a block confirmation request control frame; or The first request carries a newly defined aggregate control A-Control field; or The first request is carried in a buffer status report polling frame; or The first request is carried in the initial control frame.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that, The first request includes one or more of the following: the TID, the global start sequence number, the special TID, or the special associated identifier AID; The global start sequence number is used to indicate the reception status of MSDU from the point where the global start sequence number is used.

6. The method according to any one of claims 3-5, characterized in that, The first response is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or The first response is carried in a Multi-STA BA control frame that confirms the multi-site device block; or The first response is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or The first response is carried in the initial control response frame.

7. The method according to any one of claims 3-6, characterized in that, The first response includes one or more of the following: the TID, the global start sequence number, the global sequence number bitmap, the length of the global sequence number bitmap or the global end sequence number, the global sequence number list, the special TID or the special AID.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a first indication message to the non-AP MLD; wherein, the first indication message is used to indicate the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD; Receive second indication information from the non-AP MLD; wherein, the second indication information is used to indicate the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD; According to the second instruction information, a PPDU consisting of an MSDU transmitted by the associated AP MLD as needed is sent to the non-AP MLD.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The first indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or The first indication information is carried in the block confirmation request control frame; or The first indication information is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or The first indication information is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or The first indication information is carried in the initial control frame.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that, The first indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID, the maximum value of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID.

11. The method according to any one of claims 8-10, characterized in that, The second indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation management frame; or The second indication information is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or The second indication information is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or The second indication information is carried in the initial control response frame.

12. The method according to any one of claims 8-11, characterized in that, The second indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID, the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID.

13. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Receive second information from the associated AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD of the non-access point multi-link device; wherein, the second information includes the Media Access Control Layer Service Data Unit (MSDU) of the non-AP MLD, the Service Identifier (TID) of the MSDU, and the global sequence number assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU of the TID; The associated AP MLD is the first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping; the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD perform dual-activation protocol stack DAPS transmission based on the global sequence number; Based on the second information, a PPDU composed of a second MSDU is sent to the non-AP MLD via DAPS transmission. The second MSDU is an MSDU that includes the global sequence number.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the distributed system mapping switches from the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD, the TID and the next global sequence number corresponding to the TID are received from the associated AP MLD, and a global sequence number is allocated to the MSDU of the TID according to the next global sequence number; or When the distributed system mapping is switched from the associated AP MLD to the second AP MLD, the TID and the current global sequence number corresponding to the TID are received from the associated AP MLD, and global sequence numbers are assigned to the MSDU of the TID in sequence according to the current global sequence number.

15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a first request to the non-AP MLD; wherein the first request is used to request feedback on the reception status of MSDU; Receive a first response from the non-AP MLD; wherein the first response is used to indicate the reception status of the MSDU.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The first request is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or The first request is carried in a block confirmation request control frame; or The first request carries a newly defined aggregate control A-Control field; or The first request is carried in a buffer status report polling frame; or The first request is carried in the initial control frame.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that, The first request includes one or more of the following: the TID, the global start sequence number, the special TID, or the special associated identifier AID; The global start sequence number is used to indicate the reception status of MSDU from the point where the global start sequence number is used.

18. The method according to any one of claims 15-17, characterized in that, The first response is carried in the global sequence number block acknowledgment management frame; or The first response is carried in a Multi-STA BA control frame that confirms the multi-site device block; or The first response is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or The first response is carried in the initial control response frame.

19. The method according to any one of claims 15-18, characterized in that, The first response includes one or more of the following: the TID, the global start sequence number, the global sequence number bitmap, the length of the global sequence number bitmap or the global end sequence number, the global sequence number list, the special TID or the special AID.

20. The method according to any one of claims 13-19, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a third indication message to the non-AP MLD; wherein the third indication message is used to indicate the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD; Receive fourth indication information from the non-AP MLD; wherein, the fourth indication information is used to indicate the global sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD; According to the fourth instruction information, a PPDU consisting of an MSDU that needs to be transmitted according to the second AP MLD is sent to the non-AP MLD.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that, The third indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or The third indication information is carried in the block confirmation request control frame; or The third indication information is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or The third indication information is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or The third indication information is carried in the initial control frame.

22. The method according to claim 20 or 21, characterized in that, The third indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID, the maximum value of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID.

23. The method according to any one of claims 20-22, characterized in that, The fourth indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation management frame; or The fourth indication information is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or The fourth indication information is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or The fourth indication information is carried in the initial control response frame.

24. The method according to any one of claims 20-23, characterized in that, The fourth indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID, the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the global sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID.

25. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Receive first indication information from the associated AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD of the non-access point multi-link device; wherein, the first indication information is used to indicate the sequence number information corresponding to the Media Access Control Layer Service Data Unit (MSDU) cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD; the associated AP MLD is the first AP MLD corresponding to the distributed system mapping; Receive third indication information from the second AP MLD corresponding to the non-AP MLD; wherein, the third indication information is used to indicate the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD; the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD communicate with the non-AP MLD based on the dual-activation protocol stack DAPS transmission; Send a second indication message to the associated AP MLD; wherein the second indication message is used to indicate the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD; Send a fourth indication message to the second AP MLD; wherein the fourth indication message is used to indicate the sequence number information corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD; Receive a PPDU consisting of an MSDU transmitted by the associated AP MLD as needed; Receive PPDU consisting of MSDU transmitted by the second AP MLD as needed from the second AP MLD.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that, The first indication information is carried in a global sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or, the first indication information is carried in a block confirmation request control frame; or, the first indication information is carried in a newly defined aggregate control A-Control field; or, the first indication information is carried in a buffer status report polling frame; or, the first indication information is carried in an initial control frame.

27. The method according to claim 25 or 26, characterized in that, The third indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation request management frame; or, the third indication information is carried in the block confirmation request control frame; or, the third indication information is carried in a newly defined A-Control field; or, the third indication information is carried in the buffer status report polling frame; or, the third indication information is carried in the initial control frame.

28. The method according to any one of claims 25-27, characterized in that, The first indication information includes one or more of the following: the service identifier (TID) of the MSDU, the maximum value of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, and a special TID or a special association identifier (AID); wherein, the global sequence number is assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU of the TID of the non-AP MLD; or The first indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the maximum value of the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the length of the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the starting sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the ending sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, the sequence number list corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the associated AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID.

29. The method according to any one of claims 25-28, characterized in that, The third indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the maximum value of the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID; wherein, the global sequence number is assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU with the TID of the non-AP MLD; or The third indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the maximum value of the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the length of the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the starting sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the ending sequence number corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, the sequence number list corresponding to the MSDU cached in the transmission buffer of the second AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID.

30. The method according to any one of claims 25-29, characterized in that, The second indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation management frame; or The second indication information is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame of the multi-site device block acknowledgment; or The second indication information is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or The second indication information is carried in the initial control response frame.

31. The method according to any one of claims 25-30, characterized in that, The fourth indication information is carried in the global sequence number block confirmation management frame; or The fourth indication information is carried in the Multi-STA BA control frame; or The fourth indication information is carried in the global sequence number polling control frame; or The fourth indication information is carried in the initial control response frame.

32. The method according to any one of claims 25-31, characterized in that, The second indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID; wherein, the global sequence number is assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU with the TID of the non-AP MLD; or The second indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the length of the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, the end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, or a list of sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the associated AP MLD, a special TID, or a special AID.

33. The method according to any one of claims 25-32, characterized in that, The fourth indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the global sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the length of the global sequence number bitmap corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the global start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the global end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the list of global sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, and a special TID or a special AID; wherein, the global sequence number is assigned by the associated AP MLD to the MSDU with the TID of the non-AP MLD; or The fourth indication information includes one or more of the following: the TID of the MSDU, the sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the length of the sequence number bit map corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the start sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, the end sequence number corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, or a list of sequence numbers corresponding to the MSDU that needs to be transmitted by the second AP MLD, a special TID, or a special AID.

34. The method according to any one of claims 25-33, characterized in that, The serial number information indicated by the second indication information is different from the serial number information indicated by the fourth indication information; or The serial number information indicated by the second indication information is the same as the serial number information indicated by the fourth indication information.

35. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes a module or unit for performing the communication method according to any one of claims 1-12; or includes a module or unit for performing the communication method according to any one of claims 13-24; or includes a module or unit for performing the communication method according to any one of claims 25-34.

36. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a processor; the processor is configured to run a computer program or instructions to cause the communication method as described in any one of claims 1-12 to be executed, or to cause the communication method as described in any one of claims 13-24 to be executed, or to cause the communication method as described in any one of claims 25-34 to be executed.

37. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes an interface circuit and a logic circuit; the interface circuit is used to input and / or output information; the logic circuit is used to execute the communication method as described in any one of claims 1-12, or the communication method as described in any one of claims 13-24, or the communication method as described in any one of claims 25-34, and to process and / or generate the information based on the information.

38. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions or programs that, when some or all of the computer instructions or programs are run on a computer, cause the communication method as described in any one of claims 1-12 to be executed, or cause the communication method as described in any one of claims 13-24 to be executed, or cause the communication method as described in any one of claims 25-34 to be executed.

39. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes computer instructions or programs; when some or all of the computer instructions or programs are run on a computer, they cause the communication method as described in any one of claims 1-12 to be executed, or the communication method as described in any one of claims 13-24 to be executed, or the communication method as described in any one of claims 25-34 to be executed.

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