Access point device and method therefor, terminal station device and method therefor, and computer program product

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an access point device and a wireless communication method therefor, a terminal station device and a wireless communication method therefor, and a computer program product. The wireless communication method for an AP device comprises: sending a null data packet feedback report poll (NFRP) trigger frame, wherein the NFRP trigger frame comprises identity information of at least one STA device to be queried; receiving a null data packet (NDP) frame from a first STA device, which has received the NFRP trigger frame, among said at least one STA device, wherein the NDP frame is sent by the first STA device in response to the identity information of said at least one STA device in the NFRP trigger frame comprising identity information of the first STA device, and the NDP frame is used for feeding back information about a channel state of the first STA device; and on the basis of the NDP frame, determining the channel state of the first STA device.

Description

Access point equipment, terminal station equipment and methods thereof and computer program products

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202510018665.3, filed on January 6, 2025, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0002] This disclosure relates to wireless communication technology, and more specifically, to access point (AP) devices, station (STA) devices, wireless communication methods thereof, and corresponding computer program products. Background Technology

[0003] The IEEE 802.11 protocol specifies the Primary Channel (PCH) and Non-Primary Channel (NPCH) used by devices communicating in a wireless network. Any existing communication device (e.g., access point (AP) and terminal station (STA) devices) needs to compete for the Primary Channel when accessing a channel to transmit data (e.g., competition via the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) and Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA)). Typically, access to the channel is only possible if the Primary Channel is idle. If the Primary Channel is occupied (i.e., busy), the device cannot access the channel even if its Non-Primary Channel is idle.

[0004] In response, the IEEE 802.11TGbn discussion group has reached a preliminary consensus to introduce Non-Primary Channel Access (NPCA) technology in next-generation Wi-Fi (also known as Wi-Fi 8). When the primary channel is occupied by other devices due to overlapping basic service sets (OBSS), APs / non-AP STAs can compete for channel access on the non-primary channel.

[0005] However, non-primary channel access technology still faces a problem: the existence of hidden nodes may lead to misjudgment of the channel status. For example, when the STA detects that the primary channel is occupied and switches to a non-primary channel, the AP detects that the primary channel is idle and transmits data to the STA on the primary channel, causing the STA to be unable to receive data; or, when the AP detects that the primary channel is occupied and switches to a non-primary channel to transmit data to the STA, the STA detects that the primary channel is idle and receives data on the primary channel, which will also cause the STA to be unable to receive data. Summary of the Invention

[0006] In view of the above problems, this disclosure provides a technique for querying the channel status of STAs, which allows APs to query the channel status of multiple STAs using Null Data Packet Feedback Report Poll (NFRP) frames, with low overhead and high efficiency. Simultaneously, STAs can also use NDP frames to report whether they have buffered low-latency (LL) traffic that needs to be transmitted immediately (urgent).

[0007] One aspect of this disclosure provides a wireless communication method for an access point (AP) device. The method includes: sending an empty data packet feedback report (NDP) polling NFRP trigger frame, the NFRP trigger frame including identity information of at least one STA device to be queried; receiving an empty data packet (NDP) frame from a first STA device that received the NFRP trigger frame from at least one STA device to be queried, wherein the NDP frame is sent by the first STA device in response to the identity information of at least one STA device to be queried in the NFRP trigger frame including the identity information of the first STA device, the NDP frame providing feedback information about the channel state of the first STA device; and determining the channel state of the first STA device based on the NDP frame.

[0008] Another aspect of this disclosure provides a wireless communication method for a first terminal station (STA) device. The method includes: receiving a null data packet feedback report polling NFRP trigger frame from an access point (AP) device, the NFRP trigger frame including identity information of at least one STA device to be queried; and in response to the identity information of at least one STA device to be queried in the NFRP trigger frame including the identity information of the first STA device, sending a null data packet NDP frame to the AP device, the NDP frame feeding back information about the channel state of the first STA device.

[0009] Another aspect of this disclosure provides an access point (AP) device comprising: one or more processors; a memory coupled to at least one of the processors; and a set of computer program instructions stored in the memory, the set of computer program instructions executing a wireless communication method of the access point AP device when executed by at least one of the processors.

[0010] Another aspect of this disclosure provides a first terminal station (STA) device, the first terminal station (STA) device comprising: one or more processors; a memory coupled to at least one of the processors; and a set of computer program instructions stored in the memory, the set of computer program instructions executing a wireless communication method of the access point (AP) device when executed by at least one of the processors.

[0011] Another aspect of this disclosure provides a computer program product including instructions for an access point (AP) device to perform wireless communication, the instructions causing a processor to execute the wireless communication method of the first terminal station (STA) device described above.

[0012] Another aspect of this disclosure provides a computer program product including instructions for a first terminal station (STA) device to perform wireless communication, the instructions causing a processor to execute the wireless communication method of the first terminal station (STA) device. Attached Figure Description

[0013] The aspects, features, and advantages of this disclosure will become clearer and more readily understood from the following description of embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The drawings are provided to offer a further understanding of the embodiments of this disclosure and form part of the specification. The drawings, together with the embodiments of this disclosure, are used to explain this disclosure but do not constitute a limitation thereof. In the drawings:

[0014] Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system that performs communication between an AP and a STA in a wireless network.

[0015] Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of an example message transmission in the NFRP / NDP process.

[0016] Figure 3 shows an example format of an NFRP trigger frame.

[0017] Figure 4 shows an example format of an NDP frame.

[0018] Figure 5 illustrates subcarrier resource allocation for feedback NDP frames according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 6 shows a flowchart of an example interaction process between an AP and a STA according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of the transmission of NFRP trigger frames and NDP frames between an AP and multiple STAs according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of the transmission of NFRP trigger frames and NDP frames between an AP and multiple STAs according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of the transmission of NFRP trigger frames and NDP frames between an AP and multiple STAs according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 10 illustrates a schematic diagram of the transmission of NFRP trigger frames and NDP frames between an AP and multiple STAs according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 11 illustrates a schematic diagram of the transmission of NFRP trigger frames and NDP frames between an AP and multiple STAs according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 12 illustrates a schematic diagram of the transmission of NFRP trigger frames and NDP frames between an AP and multiple STAs according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] Figure 13 illustrates a schematic diagram of the transmission of NFRP trigger frames and NDP frames between an AP and multiple STAs according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 14 shows a flowchart of the operations performed by the AP according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0028] Figure 15 shows a flowchart of the operations performed by the STA according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0029] Figure 16 shows an exemplary block diagram of an AP according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0030] Figure 17 shows an exemplary block diagram of a STA according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0031] The technical solutions of this disclosure will now be clearly and completely described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some, not all, of the embodiments of this disclosure. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this disclosure without creative effort are within the protection scope of this disclosure.

[0032] Furthermore, the technical features involved in the different embodiments of this disclosure described below can be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.

[0033] Figure 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 that performs communication between an AP and a STA in a wireless network. The communication system 100 includes an AP 110 and one or more STAs associated with the AP 110, such as STA 120, STA 130, STA 140, STA 150, and STA 160.

[0034] In this disclosure, "STA" can refer to any device that includes a Media Access Control (MAC) interface compliant with IEEE 802.11 and a Physical Layer (PHY) interface to the Wireless Media (WM). In a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), "STA" refers to a terminal device connected to a wireless network, such as a laptop, smartphone, tablet, desktop PC, personal digital assistant (PDA), access point, or Wi-Fi phone in a WLAN environment. STAs can be fixed or mobile. In a WLAN environment, the terms "STA," "terminal," "wireless terminal," "user," "user equipment," and "node" are often used interchangeably. In this disclosure, an STA in a WLAN can function as an Access Point (AP) in different contexts, and vice versa. This is because communication equipment in an IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology environment can include both STA hardware components and AP hardware components. In this way, the communication device can switch between STA mode and AP mode based on actual WLAN conditions and / or requirements.

[0035] In this disclosure, an AP is interchangeably referred to as a wireless access point, which is a communication device that can communicate with non-APs (i.e., communication devices not implemented as APs but communicating with APs via one or more links, such as stations or terminals, interchangeably referred to as STAs) in a WLAN via one or more links, and allows non-APs to connect to a wired network. APs are typically connected to a router (via a wired network) as standalone devices, but can also be integrated into or used within a router.

[0036] The IEEE 802.11 protocol refers to the common channel for all devices as the primary channel (PCH), and the remaining channels as non-primary channels (NPCH). In wireless communication, different devices can support different operating bandwidths, such as 20MHz, 80MHz, and 160MHz. For example, a 160MHz band can be divided into an 80MHz P80 band and an 80MHz S80 band. The P80 band can include a 40MHz P40 band and a 40MHz S40 band. The P40 band can include a 20MHz P20 band (which can be called the primary channel) and a 20MHz S20 band (which can be called the secondary channel), while the S40 band can include two 20MHz non-primary channels. The AP and STA need to compete on the primary channel (P20). The presence of hidden nodes may lead to inconsistencies in the channel status information between the AP and STA. A technology may be needed that allows the STA to query whether it is currently transmitting on the primary channel or a non-primary channel (i.e., whether the primary and non-primary channels are idle).

[0037] The IEEE 802.11ax protocol defines a Bandwidth Query Report Poll (BQRP) / Bandwidth Query Report (BQR) mechanism to allow an Access Point (AP) to query the bandwidth requirements of a STA. In this mechanism, the AP sends a BQRP trigger frame, and the STA responds by generating a BQR and including it in a response frame, which is then sent to the AP. The AP uses the received BQR to allocate resource units to the STA. The BQR control field in the response frame indicates the channel availability information for the STA, and includes an available channel bitmap. Each bit in the available channel bitmap corresponds to a 20MHz channel within the working channel width of the BSS associated with the corresponding STA. The availability of each 20MHz channel is determined based on Energy Detection (ED)-based Clear Channel Assessment (CCA). However, the AP and STA can only transmit response frames for BQR feedback when the primary channel is idle. If the primary channel is not idle, the AP cannot receive BQR feedback from the STA. Furthermore, the Resource Units (RUs) used for STA BQR feedback are allocated by the AP and indicated in the User Information field of the BQRP trigger frame. Each User Information field corresponds to one STA. Therefore, if the AP needs to query the channel availability of multiple STAs, it needs to include the same number of User Information fields as the number of STAs in the BQRP trigger frame. This results in significant BQRP trigger frame overhead, consuming a large amount of radio channel resources, which not only affects system efficiency but may also lead to increased latency or other performance issues.

[0038] Based on this, this disclosure provides a method and communication apparatus (e.g., an AP and a STA) for querying the channel state of at least one STA using NFRP frames. Compared to the BQRP / BQR mechanism, the method of this disclosure has lower overhead and higher transmission efficiency when querying multiple STAs because the NFRP trigger frame itself is shorter than the BQRP trigger frame, and the NDP frame is also simpler than the BQR frame. Furthermore, the method of this disclosure supports NPCA technology, which allows response frames (e.g., NDP frames) to be fed back on non-primary channels when the primary channel is not idle.

[0039] Figure 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example message transmission in the NFRP / NDP process. As shown in Figure 2, an AP can (e.g., after winning a transmission opportunity TXOP through contention) send (e.g., broadcast) an NFRP trigger frame to request an NDP frame in response from a STA. This NFRP trigger frame can be received by one or more STAs, such as STA1, STA2, and STA3 shown in Figure 2. In response to the NFRP trigger frame, one or more STAs can send an NDP response frame to the AP to provide feedback on their resource information.

[0040] In the IEEE 802.11ax protocol, the NFRP trigger frame can have the format shown in Figure 3. The NFRP trigger frame 300 may include a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA (Recipient Address) field and TA (Transmitter Address) field), a common information field 310, a user information list field 320, a padding field, and an FCS (Frame Check Sequence) field. The common information fields 310 in the NFRP trigger frame 300 may include the trigger type field 311, UL length field, more TF (Trigger Frame) field, CS (Channel State) required field, UL BW field 312 indicating the bandwidth of the uplink TB PPDU, GI (Guard Interval) and HE-LTF (High Efficiency Long Training Field) type fields, MU-MIMO (Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output) HE-LTF mode field, HE-LTF symbol count and intermediate code period field, UL STBC (Space-Time Block Coding) field, LDPC (Low-Density Parity-Check) extra symbol segment field, AP transmit power field, pre-FEC fill factor field, PE (Physical Layer) disambiguation field, UL space reuse field, Doppler field, and UL... HE-SIG-A2 reserved fields, etc. The user information list field 320 of the NFRP trigger frame 300 may include the starting AID (Association Identifier) ​​field 321, the feedback type field 322, the UL target received power field, the number of spatial multiplexed users field 323, reserved fields, etc.

[0041] In the IEEE 802.11ax protocol, NDP frame 400 can be transmitted in the HE TB PPDU (High Efficiency Transport Block Physical Protocol Data Unit) format shown in Figure 4. For example, NDP frame 400 may include PHY preamble 410 and HE-LTF 420. PHY preamble 410 includes a non-HT short training field (L-STF), a non-HT long training field (L-LTF), a non-HT signal field (L-SIG), a repeated non-HT signal field (RL-SIG), an HE signal A field (HE-SIG-A), and a HE short training field (HE-STF). The HE-LTF sequence is contained in HE-LTF 420.

[0042] The starting AID field 321 indicates the first AID in the range of AIDs targeted by NFRP trigger frame 300 (i.e., those scheduled to respond to NFRP trigger frame 300). The range size (i.e., the number N of users expected to respond to this NFRP trigger frame) is also specified. STA The configuration can be set according to the following rules: A maximum of x STAs can be used per 20MHz. When spatial multiplexing is not used, x can be 18 in the IEEE 802.11ax protocol; when spatial multiplexing is used, x can be 36 in the IEEE 802.11ax protocol (i.e., every two STAs spatially multiplex the same set of subcarriers). x can also be any other integer in other protocols, and is not limited to 18 and 36. In one implementation, N... STA The number of users in the spatial multiplexing can be determined using the following formula (1) from the UL BW field 312 and the spatial multiplexing user number field 323:

[0043] N STA =18×2 BW ×(MultiplexingFlag+1) Formula (1)

[0044] In this context, MultiplexingFlag is the multiplexing flag indicated by the Spatial Multiplexing User Count field 323, and BW is the bandwidth indicated by the UL BW field 312. For example, when MultiplexingFlag is set to 0, it indicates that Multiple-input Multiple-output (MIMO) is not supported, and 18 STAs can be requested to respond to feedback responses for every 20MHz operating channel. When MultiplexingFlag is set to 1, it indicates that MIMO is supported, and more than 18 STAs can be requested to respond to feedback responses for every 20MHz operating channel. The following description uses MultiplexingFlag set to 0 as an example; those skilled in the art will understand and conceive of similar operations when MultiplexingFlag is set to 1.

[0045] The starting AID field 321 and the spatial multiplexing user count field 323 can be used to determine whether the STA that received the NFRP trigger frame is within the query range. That is, to determine whether the STA's AID is within [starting AID, starting AID+N]. STA The range of AIDs. For example, if the AID of the STA is within the range of AIDs, that is, if the starting AID ≤ the AID of the STA ≤ the starting AID + N. STA If the STA's AID is within the query range, then the STA is determined to be within the query range, and a feedback response needs to be sent to the AP. If the STA's AID is not within the AID range, then the STA is determined to be outside the query range, and a feedback response does not need to be sent to the AP.

[0046] Feedback type field 322 indicates the type of feedback being polled by the AP. In the IEEE 802.11ax protocol, the current feedback type field 322 only defines the case where the field value Fval = 0, which indicates a resource request, as shown in Table 1 below.

[0047] Table 1. Encoding of the Feedback Type Field in NFRP Trigger Frames

[0048] According to embodiments of this disclosure, a new feedback type is defined for the Feedback Type field, allowing queries to determine the channel status of the STA. As shown in Table 2 below, the Feedback Type field defines a case where the field value Fval = 1, used to request the channel status of the STA. The field value Fval = 1 can also be used simultaneously to indicate whether the STA has buffered low-latency (LL) traffic that needs to be sent immediately (urgent). Using the Feedback Type field to implement the channel status query function does not incur additional overhead. Those skilled in the art will understand that other field values ​​of Fval, such as Fval = 2, can also be used to define the query for the STA's channel status (optionally querying LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately).

[0049] Table 2. Feedback type field encoding in NFRP trigger frames according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0050] The AP can allocate a set of RU frequency modulations for transmitting NDP frames to each queried STA. After receiving the NFRP trigger frame, the STA can calculate the RU frequency modulation set index (RU_TONE_SET_INDEX) assigned to it by the AP based on its own AID. In other words, it calculates the relative position of its own AID and the starting AID to obtain RU_TONE_SET_INDEX. For example, if AID - starting AID = 0, the STA corresponds to index 1; if AID - starting AID = 1, the STA corresponds to index 2, and so on, until all STAs in the 20MHz channel correspond to a single index. For example, the last 18th STA in the 20MHz channel corresponds to index 18; if spatial multiplexing exists, the 19th STA also corresponds to index 1, and so on. In the case of a 40MHz channel, the last 36th STA in the 40MHz channel corresponds to index 36; if spatial multiplexing exists, the 37th STA also corresponds to index 1, and so on. In one implementation, the RU_TONE_SET_INDEX assigned by the AP to the STA can be calculated based on its own AID using the following formula (2).

[0051] RU_TONE_SET_INDEX=1+((AID-Starting AID)mod(18×2 BW )) Formula (2)

[0052] According to the current feedback NDP subcarrier allocation method of IEEE 802.11ax, each RU frequency modulation set contains two subcarrier groups, namely group 1 and group 2, containing a total of 12 subcarriers. Each subcarrier group contains 6 subcarriers, and the 12 subcarriers of these two subcarrier groups are allocated in a 20MHz channel and can only be used to transmit data when the main channel P20 is idle.

[0053] According to embodiments of this disclosure, each RU frequency modulation set can contain more subcarrier groups than two subcarrier groups in IEEE 802.11ax, for example, N subcarrier groups, where N can be an even number greater than or equal to 4. Taking N=4 as an example, Figure 5 shows that each RU frequency modulation set includes 4 subcarrier groups, namely group 1, group 2, group 3, and group 4, containing a total of 24 subcarriers. For simplicity, Figure 5 only shows the 4 RU frequency modulation sets corresponding to 4 STAs, with indices a, b, c, and d respectively. Those skilled in the art will understand that the number of RU frequency modulation sets typically depends on the specific communication standard and network architecture design. For example, an 80MHz bandwidth can be divided into 36 RU frequency modulation sets. Example subcarrier allocations for 4 subcarrier groups of an 80MHz bandwidth are shown in Table 3 below, where each number represents a subcarrier index.

[0054] Table 3. Example Subcarrier Allocation for 80MHz TB Feedback NDP PPDU

[0055] For example, a 160MHz bandwidth can be divided into 72 RU frequency modulation sets, as shown in Table 4 below, and a 320MHz bandwidth can be divided into 144 RU frequency modulation sets, as shown in Table 5 below.

[0056] Table 4. Example subcarrier allocation for 160MHz TB feedback NDP PPDU

[0057] Table 5. Example Subcarrier Allocation for 320MHz TB Feedback NDP PPDU

[0058] After introducing NPCA technology, AP and STA can compete for channel access not only on the main channel and, upon successful competition, on a non-main channel, but also on a non-main channel. According to embodiments of this disclosure, a 20MHz anchor channel (ACH) is set up on a non-main channel to replace the main channel and perform its function. This allows the AP to switch to the anchor channel to compete for channel access when the main channel is not idle, and to perform its function upon successful competition. The anchor channel can also have other names, not limited to just "anchor channel," as long as it allows switching to that channel to perform the function of the main channel. As shown in Figure 5, the anchor channel can be a 20MHz channel located at the beginning of the S40 band. Those skilled in the art will understand that the anchor channel can also be a 20MHz channel located at other positions in the S40 band.

[0059] According to embodiments of this disclosure, the first N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., groups 1 and 2 out of 4 subcarrier groups, totaling 12 subcarriers) can be allocated to a 20MHz channel in a first frequency band of bandwidth supported by the AP (e.g., the P40 band for 80MHz bandwidth and the P80 band for 160MHz bandwidth), and the second N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., groups 3 and 4 out of 4 subcarrier groups, totaling 12 subcarriers) are allocated to a 20MHz channel in a second frequency band of bandwidth supported by the AP (e.g., the S40 band for 80MHz bandwidth and the S80 band for 160MHz bandwidth). In this way, even if the STA detects that the primary channel is not idle, it can still send back NDP frames on other channels (e.g., non-primary channels in the S40 and S80 bands). This allows the AP to know the STA's feedback information, rather than having the AP blindly send data or assuming the STA's channel is not idle and thus not sending subsequent data. Furthermore, by utilizing subcarriers allocated in S40, the limitation that data can only be transmitted when the primary channel PCH is idle is overcome.

[0060] Furthermore, the subcarriers in each subcarrier group (e.g., group 1, group 2, group 3, and group 4) can be arranged in index order. Subcarriers with the same index number in different subcarrier groups within the first N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., when N=4, the first N / 2 subcarrier groups include two subcarrier groups, i.e., group 1 and group 2; or, when N=6, the first N / 2 subcarrier groups include three subcarrier groups, i.e., group 1, group 2, and group 3) are arranged in an adjacent, interleaved manner (e.g., when N=4, subcarriers in group 1 and subcarriers in group 2 are arranged adjacent, interleaved; or, when N=4, subcarriers in group 1 and subcarriers in group 2 are arranged adjacent, interleaved). The subcarriers in group 3 and group 4 are arranged in an adjacent and interleaved manner, and the subcarriers in the second N / 2 subcarrier group (for example, when N=4, the second N / 2 subcarrier group includes two subcarrier groups, namely group 3 and group 4; or when N=6, the second N / 2 subcarrier group includes three subcarrier groups, namely group 4, group 5 and group 6) are arranged in an adjacent and interleaved manner with the same index number (for example, when N=4, the subcarriers in group 3 and group 4 are arranged in an adjacent and interleaved manner; or when N=6, the subcarriers in group 4, group 5 and group 6 are arranged in an adjacent and interleaved manner). Furthermore, the subcarriers with the same index number in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups allocated to the first STA are interleaved with the subcarriers with the same index number in the third N / 2 subcarrier groups in the N subcarrier groups of the resource unit RU frequency modulation set allocated to at least one queried STA (e.g., group 1' and group 2' allocated to the second STA when N=4, or group 1', group 2' and group 3' allocated to the second STA when N=6). Additionally, the subcarriers with the same index number in the second N / 2 subcarrier groups allocated to the first STA are interleaved with the subcarriers with the same index number in the fourth N / 2 subcarrier groups in the N subcarrier groups of the resource unit RU frequency modulation set allocated to the second STA (e.g., group 3' and group 4' allocated to the second STA when N=4, or group 4', group 5' and group 6' allocated to the second STA when N=6). By interleaving subcarriers in this way, the impact of frequency-selective fading and interference can be effectively reduced, and interference on one subcarrier can prevent all other subcarriers from being affected, thereby improving the reliability of feedback.

[0061] As shown in Figure 5, for example, the RU frequency modulation set corresponding to index a contains four subcarrier groups: group 1 (shown as a single solid arrow), group 2 (shown as a single dashed arrow), group 3 (shown as a triangular hollow solid arrow), and group 4 (shown as a triangular hollow dashed arrow). The subcarriers in each subcarrier group are arranged in order of index number. For example, the six subcarriers in group 1 (single solid arrows) are arranged in order starting from index number 1, namely, subcarriers of index number 1, index number 2, index number 3, index number 4, index number 5, and index number 6. The six subcarriers in group 2 (single dashed arrows) are arranged in order starting from index number 1, namely, subcarriers of index number 1, index number 2, index number 3, index number 4, index number 5, and index number 6. Group 1 and Group 2 are allocated in the main channel PCH of the P40 band, and subcarriers with the same index number in these two different groups are arranged adjacently and alternately, that is, single solid arrows and single dashed arrows are arranged adjacently and alternately. That is, the first subcarrier in Group 1 (subcarrier with index number 1) is adjacent to the first subcarrier in Group 2 (subcarrier with index number 1), the second subcarrier in Group 1 (subcarrier with index number 2) is adjacent to the second subcarrier in Group 2 (subcarrier with index number 2), and so on. Groups 3 and 4 are assigned to the anchor channel ACH in the S40 band, and subcarriers with the same index number in these two different groups are arranged adjacently and alternately, that is, triangular hollow solid line arrows and triangular hollow dashed line arrows are arranged adjacently and alternately. Specifically, the first subcarrier in group 3 (subcarrier with index number 1) is adjacent to the first subcarrier in group 4 (subcarrier with index number 1), the second subcarrier in group 3 (subcarrier with index number 2) is adjacent to the second subcarrier in group 4 (subcarrier with index number 2), and so on. The RU frequency modulation set corresponding to index b contains four subcarrier groups, namely group 1' (shown as filled solid line arrows), group 2' (shown as filled dashed line arrows), group 3' (shown as triangular solid line arrows), and group 4' (shown as triangular solid dashed line arrows), with the subcarriers in each subcarrier group arranged in order of index number.Groups 1' and 2' are allocated in the main channel of the P40 band, and subcarriers with the same index number in these two different groups are arranged in an alternating manner, that is, solid line arrows and dashed line arrows are arranged in an alternating manner, i.e., the first subcarrier in group 1' is adjacent to the first subcarrier in group 2', the second subcarrier in group 1' is adjacent to the second subcarrier in group 2', and so on. Groups 3' and 4' are allocated in the anchor channel of the S40 band, and subcarriers with the same index number in these two different groups are arranged in an alternating manner, that is, solid triangular line arrows and dashed triangular line arrows are arranged in an alternating manner, i.e., the first subcarrier in group 3' is adjacent to the first subcarrier in group 4', the second subcarrier in group 3' is adjacent to the second subcarrier in group 4', and so on. The RU frequency modulation set corresponding to index c contains four subcarrier groups: group 1 (shown as a square hollow solid line arrow), group 2 (shown as a square hollow dashed line arrow), group 3 (shown as a circular hollow solid line arrow), and group 4 (shown as a circular hollow dashed line arrow). The subcarriers in each subcarrier group are arranged in order of index number. Groups 1 and 2 are allocated in another 20MHz band of the P40 frequency band, excluding the main channel. Subcarriers with the same index number in these two different groups are arranged alternately, i.e., square hollow solid line arrows and square hollow dashed line arrows are arranged alternately, i.e., the first subcarrier in Group 1 is adjacent to the first subcarrier in Group 2, the second subcarrier in Group 1 is adjacent to the second subcarrier in Group 2, and so on. Similarly, Groups 3 and 4 are allocated in another 20MHz band of the S40 frequency band, excluding the anchor channel. Subcarriers with the same index number in these two different groups are arranged alternately, i.e., circular hollow solid line arrows and circular hollow dashed line arrows are arranged alternately, i.e., the first subcarrier in Group 3 is adjacent to the first subcarrier in Group 4, the second subcarrier in Group 3 is adjacent to the second subcarrier in Group 4, and so on. The RU frequency modulation set corresponding to index d contains four subcarrier groups: group 1”' (shown as a square solid line arrow), group 2”' (shown as a square solid dashed line arrow), group 3”' (shown as a circular solid line arrow), and group 4”' (shown as a circular solid dashed line arrow). The subcarriers in each subcarrier group are arranged in order of index number.Groups 1”' and 2”' are allocated in another 20MHz band of the P40 frequency band, excluding the main channel. Subcarriers with the same index number in these two different groups are arranged adjacently and alternately, i.e., circular hollow solid arrows and circular hollow dashed arrows are arranged adjacently and alternately. That is, the first subcarrier in group 1”' is adjacent to the first subcarrier in group 2”', the second subcarrier in group 1”' is adjacent to the second subcarrier in group 2”', and so on. Similarly, groups 3”' and 4”' are allocated in another 20MHz band of the S40 frequency band, excluding the anchor channel. Subcarriers with the same index number in these two different groups are arranged adjacently and alternately, i.e., circular solid arrows and circular solid dashed arrows are arranged adjacently and alternately. That is, the first subcarrier in group 3”' is adjacent to the first subcarrier in group 4”', the second subcarrier in group 3”' is adjacent to the second subcarrier in group 4”', and so on.

[0062] Furthermore, the N subcarrier groups in the resource unit RU frequency modulation set (e.g., the RU frequency modulation set corresponding to RU frequency modulation set index b) allocated to another STA device (e.g., the second STA device) include a third N / 2 subcarrier group (e.g., group 1' and group 2') and a fourth N / 2 subcarrier group (e.g., group 3' and group 4'). The subcarriers with the same index number (e.g., single solid arrows and single dashed arrows) in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 1 and group 2) allocated to the first STA are interleaved with the subcarriers with the same index number (e.g., filled solid arrows and filled dashed arrows) in the third N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 1' and group 2'). Similarly, the subcarriers with the same index number (e.g., hollow triangular solid arrows and hollow triangular dashed arrows) in the second N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 3 and group 4) allocated to the first STA are interleaved with the subcarriers with the same index number (e.g., solid triangular arrows and solid triangular dashed arrows) in the fourth N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 3' and group 4'). This interleaving arrangement can refer to the interleaving of two subcarrier groups (e.g., the first and second subcarrier groups, or the third and fourth subcarrier groups) in the resource element RU frequency modulation set allocated to different STAs as a whole. For example, as shown in Figure 5, on the main channel PCH, the staggered arrangement can refer to the following: At the very beginning of the channel, the first whole allocated to STA1 (i.e., the whole of the first subcarrier in group 1 and the first subcarrier in group 2) is arranged, followed by the first whole allocated to STA2 (i.e., the whole of the first subcarrier in group 1' and the first subcarrier in group 2'), then the second whole allocated to STA1 (i.e., the whole of the second subcarrier in group 1 and the second subcarrier in group 2), followed by the second whole allocated to STA2 (i.e., the whole of the second subcarrier in group 1' and the second subcarrier in group 2'), and so on, until the 20MHz channel is fully arranged. The arrangement is the same for other 20MHz channels, and will not be elaborated further here.

[0063] Figure 5 uses only four STAs as an example; those skilled in the art will understand that there can be more STAs. For example, in the IEEE 802.11ax protocol, a 20MHz channel can be allocated to 18 STAs for transmission. That is, the 18 first group subcarriers (e.g., group 1) and 18 second group subcarriers (e.g., group 2) allocated to these 18 STAs can be allocated in the same 20MHz band, and the 18 third group subcarriers (e.g., group 3) and 18 fourth group subcarriers (e.g., group 4) allocated to the 18 STAs can also be allocated in the same 20MHz band. As can be seen above, subcarriers in the first group and subcarriers with the same index number in the second group of more STAs (e.g., 18 STAs) can be arranged adjacently and interleaved, and these two groups of subcarriers can be interleaved with subcarriers in the third and fourth groups of subcarriers with the same index number. For example, the two subcarrier groups of STA1 (e.g., group 1 and group 2, or group 3 and group 4), the two subcarrier groups of STA2, ..., the two subcarrier groups of STA18 are arranged in an interleaved manner in the same 20MHz frequency band. That is, the two subcarrier groups of STA1, the two subcarrier groups of STA2, ..., the two subcarrier groups of STA18, then the two subcarrier groups of STA1, the two subcarrier groups of STA2, ..., the two subcarrier groups of STA18, and so on, until the channel arrangement of this 20MHz is completed.

[0064] Those skilled in the art will understand that the number of subcarrier groups is merely an example, and more subcarrier groups can be included to achieve finer-grained NDP feedback. For example, each RU frequency modulation set contains six subcarrier groups, namely group 1, group 2, group 3, group 4, group 5, and group 6, with groups 1, 2, and 3 allocated to a 20MHz channel in the first frequency band, and groups 4, 5, and 6 allocated to a 20MHz channel in the second frequency band. In this case, for example, the three subcarrier groups of STA1 (e.g., groups 1, 2, and 3, or groups 4, 5, and 6), the three subcarrier groups of STA2, ..., the three subcarrier groups of STA18 can be interleaved in the same 20MHz frequency band.

[0065] Figure 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example interaction process between an AP and a STA according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For simplicity, Figure 6 only shows an example interaction process between an AP and one STA. Those skilled in the art will understand that other STAs among a plurality of STAs can also perform similar example interaction processes.

[0066] As shown in Figure 6, in step S1, the AP may send (e.g., broadcast) an NFRP trigger frame to request a query for the channel status of at least one STA to be queried. For example, the NFRP trigger frame may include a feedback type field, and the feedback type field may include a field value indicating that the channel status of at least one STA to be queried is being queried. For example, as shown in Table 2, the value of the feedback type field is 1 to indicate that the channel status of the queried STA is being queried.

[0067] In step S2, one or more STAs (e.g., STA1), after receiving an NFRP trigger frame, determine the starting AID and N indicated in the NFRP trigger frame. STA The STA determines whether it is within the query range. If it is determined that it is not within the query range, the STA does not need to send an NDP frame back to the AP.

[0068] If STA1 is determined to be within the query range, then in step S3, STA1 can detect the channel status of the main channel and / or the anchor channel.

[0069] In one embodiment, STA1 may detect only the channel status of the primary channel and / or the anchor channel. In another embodiment, STA1 may detect not only the channel status of the primary channel and / or the anchor channel, but also determine whether low-latency (LL) traffic that needs to be sent immediately (i.e., urgent) is buffered, and may feed this information back to AP via NDP frames.

[0070] Whether STA1 has cached LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately (i.e., urgent) can be determined based on the size of the LL traffic cached in the STA1 device or the maximum allowable delay time limit for data transmission. For example, if the size of the LL traffic cached in the STA1 device exceeds a preset traffic threshold, or if the maximum allowable delay time limit for data transmission (e.g., delay bound) is less than a preset time threshold, it is determined that there is LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately (i.e., urgent); otherwise, it is determined that there is no LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately (i.e., urgent). Those skilled in the art will understand that other methods can be used to determine whether LL traffic is urgent, and this is not the only one.

[0071] In the IEEE 802.11ax protocol, as shown in Table 1, the feedback type field is only used to indicate resource requests, but not to indicate channel status queries, let alone queries for urgent LL traffic. This disclosure improves the feedback type field of the NFRP trigger frame to query channel status, and also allows queries for urgent LL traffic. This allows for the use of the NFRP trigger frame to query more information. Unlike existing NFRP mechanisms that only query whether the STA has buffered uplink packets, this invention queries for urgent LL traffic, enabling priority to be given to transmitting more urgent traffic. Furthermore, feedback information on urgent LL traffic can help reduce packet transmission latency, thereby improving network efficiency, reducing latency, and optimizing quality of service. This is particularly important for latency-sensitive applications (e.g., real-time applications such as online gaming and video calls).

[0072] The IEEE 802.11ax protocol also defines feedback status information for STAs, namely FEEDBACK_STATUS, which applies to the case where the field value Fval = 0 in Table 1 above. FEEDBACK_STATUS = 1 indicates that the STA is in a wake-up state and reports that the buffered octets to be transmitted exceed the resource request buffer threshold, while FEEDBACK_STATUS = 0 indicates that the STA is in a wake-up state and reports that the buffered octets to be transmitted do not exceed the resource request buffer threshold or that there are no buffered octets to be transmitted, as shown in Table 6 below.

[0073] Table 6 Description of FEEDBACK_STATUS

[0074] According to embodiments of this disclosure, feedback status information for the STA is also defined that can be applied to the case where the field value Fval = 1 in Table 2 above. This includes P_FEEDBACK_STATUS for the primary channel (PCH) and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS for the anchor channel (ACH). That is, P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be used to provide feedback on the channel status of the STA (optionally, P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can also be used to indicate whether the STA needs to immediately transmit LL traffic). For example, STA1 can determine STA1's P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS.

[0075] In step S4, when feeding back the NDP frame, STA1 can determine the transmission of the NDP frame on the subcarrier group.

[0076] In one embodiment, in addition to the channel state, the NDP frame may also provide feedback on whether buffered LL traffic that needs to be transmitted immediately (i.e., urgent) is present. The values ​​of P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and / or A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined based on the channel state of the primary channel and / or the anchor channel and whether buffered LL traffic that needs to be transmitted immediately (i.e., urgent) is present to determine the transmission of the NDP frame on the subcarrier group. For example, for the primary channel, (1) based on the primary channel being detected as idle and having LL traffic that needs to be transmitted immediately, P_FEEDBACK_STATUS may be determined to have a first value (e.g., 1); (2) based on the primary channel being detected as idle and having no LL traffic that needs to be transmitted immediately, P_FEEDBACK_STATUS may be determined to have a second value (e.g., 0); and (3) based on the primary channel being detected as not idle, P_FEEDBACK_STATUS may be determined to have a third value (e.g., 2). For the anchor channel, (1) based on the anchor channel being detected as idle and having LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately, A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined to have a first value (e.g., 1); (2) based on the anchor channel being detected as idle and having no LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately, A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined to have a second value (e.g., 0); and (3) based on the anchor channel being detected as not idle, A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined to have a third value (e.g., 2).

[0077] In step S4, after determining the values ​​of P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and / or A_FEEDBACK_STATUS, for the main channel, based on P_FEEDBACK_STATUS having a first value (e.g., 1), STA1 can determine that the first long training sequence in the long training sequence field (e.g., HE LTF) of the NDP frame is transmitted on the first group of subcarriers (e.g., group 1) in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups, and the second long training sequence in the long training sequence field (e.g., HE LTF) of the NDP frame is different from the first long training sequence. Based on P_FEEDBACK_STATUS having a second value (e.g., 0), STA1 can determine that the second long training sequence is transmitted on the first group of subcarriers (e.g., group 1), and the first long training sequence is transmitted on the second group of subcarriers (e.g., group 2). And based on P_FEEDBACK_STATUS having a third value (e.g., 2), STA1 can determine that the NDP frame is not transmitted on the main channel. For the anchor channel, based on A_FEEDBACK_STATUS having a first value (e.g., 1), STA1 can determine to transmit a first long training sequence on the third subcarrier group (e.g., group 3) of the second N / 2 subcarrier groups, and a second long training sequence on the fourth subcarrier group (e.g., group 4) of the second N / 2 subcarrier groups; based on A_FEEDBACK_STATUS having a second value (e.g., 0), it can determine to transmit the second long training sequence on the third subcarrier group (e.g., group 3), and the first long training sequence on the fourth subcarrier group (e.g., group 4); and based on A_FEEDBACK_STATUS having a third value (e.g., 2), STA1 can determine not to transmit NDP frames on the anchor channel. The first long training sequence can be a non-zero High Efficient Long Training Field (HE-LTF) sequence, and the second long training sequence is an all-zero HE-LTF sequence. Alternatively, the first long training sequence can be an all-zero HE-LTF sequence, and the second long training sequence can be a non-zero HE-LTF sequence.

[0078] In another embodiment, the values ​​of P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and / or A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined solely based on the channel state of the primary channel and / or anchor channel to determine the transmission of NDP frames on subcarrier groups. For example, for the primary channel, (1) based on the primary channel being detected as idle, P_FEEDBACK_STATUS may have a first value (e.g., 1), and then STA1 may determine the first long training sequence in the long training sequence field (e.g., HE LTF) of the NDP frame to be transmitted on the first group of subcarriers (e.g., group 1) in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups, and the second long training sequence in the long training sequence field (e.g., HE LTF) of the NDP frame to be transmitted on the second group of subcarriers (e.g., group 2) in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups, which is different from the first long training sequence, and (2) based on the primary channel being detected as not idle, P_FEEDBACK_STATUS may have a second value (e.g., 0), and STA1 may determine that NDP frames are not transmitted on the primary channel. For the anchor channel, (1) based on the anchor channel being detected as idle, A_FEEDBACK_STATUS may have a first value (e.g., 1), STA1 may determine to transmit a first long training sequence on the third subcarrier group (e.g., group 3) in the second N / 2 subcarrier group, and a second long training sequence on the fourth subcarrier group (e.g., group 4) in the second N / 2 subcarrier group, and (2) based on the anchor channel being detected as not idle, A_FEEDBACK_STATUS may have a second value (e.g., 0), STA1 may determine not to transmit NDP frames on the anchor channel. The first long training sequence may be a non-zero High Efficient Long Training Field (HE-LTF) sequence, and the second long training sequence may be an all-zero HE-LTF sequence. Alternatively, the first long training sequence may be an all-zero HE-LTF sequence, and the second long training sequence may be a non-zero HE-LTF sequence.

[0079] According to embodiments of this disclosure, if the bandwidth supported by the STA (e.g., 80MHz) is greater than or equal to the bandwidth supported by the AP (e.g., 80MHz), then the bandwidth supported by the STA can cover both the first frequency band (e.g., P40 band) and the second frequency band (e.g., S40 band). Therefore, the values ​​of both P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined simultaneously, as shown in Table 7 below. If the bandwidth supported by the STA (e.g., 40MHz) is less than the bandwidth supported by the AP (e.g., 80MHz), then the bandwidth supported by the STA can only cover one of the first frequency band (e.g., P40 band) and the second frequency band (e.g., S40 band). Therefore, the value of only one of P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined, as shown in Tables 8 and 9 below.

[0080] Table 7 shows the cases where both P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS are determined simultaneously.

[0081] Table 8 only specifies the case where P_FEEDBACK_STATUS is determined.

[0082] Table 9 only specifies the case where A_FEEDBACK_STATUS is determined.

[0083] This disclosure, by separately determining P_FEEDBACK_STATUS for the main channel and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS for the anchor channel, reflects not only the feedback status of the STA on the main channel but also the feedback status of the STA on the anchor channel, thus improving channel utilization and flexibility.

[0084] In step S5, STA1 can send an NDP frame to AP, the identity information of which is included in the identity information of at least one STA to be queried in the NFRP trigger frame.

[0085] In step S6, the AP device can detect the power of the long training sequence field (e.g., HE-LTF 420 shown in Figure 4) of the received NDP frame. In step S7, based on the power detection, the AP device can determine the channel state. For example, based on the comparison between the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers (e.g., group 1) in the first N / 2 subcarrier group and the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers (e.g., group 2) in the first N / 2 subcarrier group, it can determine whether the main channel is idle, and / or based on the comparison between the power corresponding to the third group of subcarriers (e.g., group 3) in the second N / 2 subcarrier group and the power corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers (e.g., group 4) in the second N / 2 subcarrier group, it can determine whether the anchor channel is idle. The long training sequence field (e.g., HE-LTF 420 shown in Figure 4) can be a single long training sequence field (HE-LTF), which represents the entire long training sequence on all subcarriers over a period of time. A long training sequence corresponding to, for example, the first group of subcarriers in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 1) can be found across all long training sequences, and its power can be calculated. The long training sequence field (e.g., HE-LTF 420 shown in Figure 4) can also include multiple long training sequence fields (HE-LTF), which can provide richer channel information, enabling the receiver to perform channel estimation more accurately. Assuming the primary channel is detected as idle and the anchor channel is detected as not idle, in step S4, STA1 can determine to transmit a non-zero HE-LTF sequence (or alternatively, an all-zero HE-LTF sequence) on group 1 and an all-zero HE-LTF sequence (or alternatively, a non-zero HE-LTF sequence) on group 2, and STA1 can determine not to transmit NDP frames on the anchor channel. In step S6, after receiving the NDP frame, the AP can determine that the power of the non-zero HE-LTF sequence (or alternatively, all-zero HE-LTF sequence) transmitted on group 1 is greater than (or alternatively, less than) the power of the all-zero HE-LTF sequence (or alternatively, non-zero HE-LTF sequence) transmitted on group 2 by more than a first predetermined threshold. Therefore, the AP can determine that the main channel is idle. Furthermore, since no HE-LTF sequences are transmitted on groups 3 and 4, the AP can determine that the power difference between group 3 and group 4 is less than a second predetermined threshold. Then, the AP can determine that the anchor channel is not idle. The predetermined threshold can be determined according to specific circumstances. "Difference less than the predetermined threshold" can be understood as the two being close, while "exceeding the predetermined threshold" can be understood as the two being significantly different.

[0086] In an embodiment where the NDP frame can also provide feedback on whether LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately (i.e., urgent) is buffered, for the main channel, (1) based on the fact that the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers (group 1) in the long training sequence field differs from the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers (group 1) in the long training sequence field by less than a predetermined threshold, the AP can determine that the main channel is not idle; (2) based on the fact that the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers (group 1) in the long training sequence field is greater than (or alternatively, less than) the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers (group 2) in the long training sequence field by more than a predetermined threshold, the AP can determine that the main channel is idle and STA1 has LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately; and (3) based on the fact that the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers (group 1) in the long training sequence field is less than (or alternatively, greater than) the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers (group 2) in the long training sequence field by more than a predetermined threshold, the AP can determine that the main channel is idle and STA1 does not have LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately. For the anchor channel, (1) if the difference between the power corresponding to the third group of subcarriers (group 3) in the long training sequence field and the power corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers (group 4) in the long training sequence field is less than a predetermined threshold, the AP can determine that the anchor channel is not idle; (2) if the power corresponding to the third group of subcarriers (group 3) in the long training sequence field is greater than (or alternatively, less than) the power corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers (group 4) in the long training sequence field exceeding a predetermined threshold, the AP can determine that the anchor channel is idle and STA1 has LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately; and (3) if the power corresponding to the third group of subcarriers (group 3) in the long training sequence field is less than (or alternatively, greater than) the power corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers (group 4) in the long training sequence field exceeding a predetermined threshold, the AP can determine that the anchor channel is idle and STA1 does not have LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately.

[0087] Assuming STA1 has LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately, and the main channel is detected as idle and the anchor channel is detected as idle (i.e., STA1 can determine that P_FEEDBACK_STATUS = 1 and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS = 1), in step S4, STA1 can determine to send a non-zero HE-LTF sequence on group 1 (or alternatively, an all-zero HE-LTF sequence), and an all-zero HE-LTF sequence on group 2 (or alternatively, a non-zero HE-LTF sequence), STA1 can determine to send a non-zero HE-LTF sequence on group 3 (or alternatively, an all-zero HE-LTF sequence), and an all-zero HE-LTF sequence on group 4 (or alternatively, a non-zero HE-LTF sequence). In step S6, after receiving the NDP frame, the AP can determine that the power of the non-zero HE-LTF sequence (or alternatively, all-zero HE-LTF sequence) transmitted on group 1 is greater than (or alternatively, less than) the power of the all-zero HE-LTF sequence (or alternatively, non-zero HE-LTF sequence) transmitted on group 2 by a first predetermined threshold. Therefore, the AP can determine that the main channel is idle and STA1 has LL traffic that needs to be transmitted immediately. Furthermore, the AP can determine that the power of the non-zero HE-LTF sequence (or alternatively, all-zero HE-LTF sequence) transmitted on group 3 is greater than (or alternatively, less than) the power of the all-zero HE-LTF sequence (or alternatively, non-zero HE-LTF sequence) transmitted on group 4 by a second predetermined threshold. Therefore, the AP can determine that the anchor channel is idle and STA1 has LL traffic that needs to be transmitted immediately.

[0088] Furthermore, the AP can determine the channel state (optionally, whether there is urgent LL traffic) by performing power detection on the long training field (e.g., HE LTF) of the NDP frame and making the following decisions: For example, if the power corresponding to group 1 in the long training sequence field is less than (or alternatively, greater than) the power corresponding to group 2 in the long training sequence field by a first predetermined threshold, the AP can determine the decision result as P0. If the power corresponding to group 1 in the long training sequence field is greater than (or alternatively, less than) the power corresponding to group 2 in the long training sequence field by a first predetermined threshold, the AP can determine the decision result as P1. If the difference between the power corresponding to group 1 and the power corresponding to group 2 in the long training sequence field is less than the first predetermined threshold, the AP can determine the decision result as P_No_resp. If the power corresponding to group 3 in the long training sequence field is less than (or alternatively, greater than) the power corresponding to group 4 in the long training sequence field by a second predetermined threshold, the AP can determine the decision result as A0. If the power corresponding to group 3 in the long training sequence field is greater than (or alternatively, less than) the power corresponding to group 4 in the long training sequence field exceeding a second predetermined threshold, the AP can determine the decision result as A1. If the difference between the power corresponding to group 3 and the power corresponding to group 4 in the long training sequence field is less than the second predetermined threshold, the AP can determine the decision result as A_No_resp. Based on the decision results, the AP can determine the channel state of STA1 and whether STA1 has any LL traffic to transmit immediately (i.e., urgently), as shown in Table 10.

[0089] Table 10 Determination of Channel State and Emergency LL Traffic Based on Decision Results

[0090] Table 10 corresponds to the cases in Table 7. P0 corresponds to P_FEEDBACK_STATUS = 0, P1 corresponds to P_FEEDBACK_STATUS = 1, and P_No_resp corresponds to P_FEEDBACK_STATUS = 2. A0 corresponds to A_FEEDBACK_STATUS = 0, A1 corresponds to A_FEEDBACK_STATUS = 1, and A_No_resp corresponds to A_FEEDBACK_STATUS = 2. As shown in Table 10, unreliable feedback indicates that it is determined both that STA1 has urgent LL flow and that STA1 does not have urgent LL flow; therefore, this decision is unreliable.

[0091] After determining the channel state in step S7, the AP can determine whether to send data to STA1 on the channel that has been determined to be idle.

[0092] This disclosure uses the long training field power feedback method of NDP frames to feed back information about the channel status of STA1, which can effectively realize real-time channel status monitoring and accurately determine the availability of the channel, as well as accurately determine the demand for emergency LL traffic.

[0093] The following describes several specific implementation methods for the transmission of NFRP trigger frames and NDP frames between the AP and multiple STAs, with reference to Figures 7-13.

[0094] As shown in Figure 7, assuming the AP supports an 80MHz bandwidth and wins a transmission opportunity (TXOP) across the entire supported bandwidth through contention, the AP can send (e.g., broadcast) an NFRP trigger frame across the entire bandwidth (e.g., both the P40 and S40 bands for 80MHz) to request a query about the channel state (optionally, whether there is urgent LL traffic) of at least one STA. Then, upon receiving the NFRP trigger frame, 36 STAs (STA1 to STA36) determine their own position within the query range indicated in the NFRP trigger frame, i.e., starting AID ≤ the STA's AID ≤ starting AID + N. STA These 36 STAs can determine the subcarrier groups assigned to them by the AP. When these 36 STAs determine that both the primary and anchor channels are idle, STA1 to STA18 can send NDP frames back to the AP on a 20MHz channel in the P40 band and a 20MHz channel in the S40 band, based on their assigned subcarrier groups. Similarly, STA19 to STA36 can send NDP frames back to the AP on another 20MHz channel in the P40 band and another 20MHz channel in the S40 band, based on their assigned subcarrier groups. The AP receives NDP frames from these 36 STAs across the entire bandwidth. Therefore, the AP can determine that both the primary and anchor channels are idle for these 36 STAs. The AP can then communicate with these 36 STAs across the entire bandwidth (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access, OFDMA communication) to transmit data.

[0095] As shown in Figure 8, assuming the AP supports an 80MHz bandwidth and wins a transmission opportunity (TXOP) across the entire supported bandwidth through contention, the AP can send (e.g., broadcast) an NFRP trigger frame across the entire bandwidth (e.g., both the P40 and S40 bands for 80MHz) to request a query about the channel state (optionally, whether there is urgent LL traffic) of at least one STA. Then, after receiving the NFRP trigger frame, four of the multiple STAs (STA1 to STA4) determine their own position within the query range indicated in the NFRP trigger frame, i.e., starting AID ≤ the STA's AID ≤ starting AID + N. STA These four STAs (STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4) can determine the subcarrier group assigned to them by the AP. When STA1 and STA2 determine that the primary channel is idle but the anchor channel is not idle, STA1 can send an NDP frame back to the AP on a 20MHz channel in the P40 band based on its assigned subcarrier group, and STA2 can send an NDP frame back to the AP on another 20MHz channel in the P40 band based on its assigned subcarrier group. When STA3 and STA4 determine that the primary channel is not idle but the anchor channel is idle, STA3 can send an NDP frame back to the AP on a 20MHz channel in the S40 band based on its assigned subcarrier group, and STA4 can send an NDP frame back to the AP on another 20MHz channel in the S40 band based on its assigned subcarrier group. The AP receives NDP frames from STA1 and STA2 in the P40 band and from STA3 and STA4 in the S40 band. Therefore, the AP can determine that the main channel is idle for STA1 and STA2, and the anchor channel is idle for STA3 and STA4. The AP can then communicate with STA1 and STA2 on the P40 band (OFDMA communication) to transmit data, and with STA3 and STA4 on the S40 band (OFDMA communication) to transmit data.

[0096] As shown in Figure 9, assuming the AP supports an 80MHz bandwidth and wins a transmission opportunity (TXOP) across the entire supported bandwidth through contention, the AP can send (e.g., broadcast) an NFRP trigger frame across the entire bandwidth (e.g., both the P40 and S40 bands for 80MHz) to request a query about the channel state (optionally, whether there is urgent LL traffic) of at least one STA. Then, after receiving the NFRP trigger frame, four of the multiple STAs (STA1 to STA4) determine their own position within the query range indicated in the NFRP trigger frame, i.e., starting AID ≤ the STA's AID ≤ starting AID + N. STAThese four STAs can determine the subcarrier groups assigned to them by the AP. When STA1 and STA2 determine that both the primary channel and the anchor channel are idle, STA1 can send NDP frames back to the AP on a 20MHz channel in the P40 band and a 20MHz channel in the S40 band, based on its assigned subcarrier group. STA2 can send NDP frames back to the AP on another 20MHz channel in the P40 band and another 20MHz channel in the S40 band, based on its assigned subcarrier group. When STA3 and STA4 determine that the primary channel is not idle but the anchor channel is idle, STA3 can send NDP frames back to the AP on a 20MHz channel in the S40 band, based on its assigned subcarrier group. STA4 can send NDP frames back to the AP on another 20MHz channel in the S40 band, based on its assigned subcarrier group. The AP receives NDP frames from STA1 and STA2 on the P40 and S40 bands, and receives NDP frames from STA3 and STA4 on the S40 band. Therefore, the AP can determine that the main channel and anchor channel are idle for STA1 and STA2, and the anchor channel is idle for STA3 and STA4. Then, the AP can communicate with STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 on the S40 band (OFDMA communication) to transmit data, and the AP can communicate with STA1 and STA2 on the P40 band (OFDMA communication) to transmit data.

[0097] As shown in Figure 10, assuming the AP supports an 80MHz bandwidth and wins a transmission opportunity (TXOP) across the entire supported bandwidth through contention, the AP can send (e.g., broadcast) an NFRP trigger frame across the entire bandwidth (e.g., both the P40 and S40 bands for 80MHz) to request a query about the channel state (optionally, whether there is urgent LL traffic) of at least one STA. Then, after receiving the NFRP trigger frame, four of the multiple STAs (STA1 to STA4) determine their own position within the query range indicated in the NFRP trigger frame, i.e., starting AID ≤ the STA's AID ≤ starting AID + N. STAThese four STAs can determine the subcarrier groups assigned to them by the AP. When STA1 and STA2 determine that the primary channel is idle but the anchor channel is not idle, STA1 can send NDP frames back to the AP on a 20MHz channel in the P40 band based on its assigned subcarrier group, and STA2 can send NDP frames back to the AP on another 20MHz channel in the P40 band based on its assigned subcarrier group. When STA3 and STA4 determine that both the primary channel and the anchor channel are idle, STA3 can send NDP frames back to the AP on a 20MHz channel in the P40 band and a 20MHz channel in the S40 band based on its assigned subcarrier group, and STA4 can send NDP frames back to the AP on another 20MHz channel in the P40 band and another 20MHz channel in the S40 band based on its assigned subcarrier group. The AP receives NDP frames from STA1 and STA2 on the P40 band, and receives NDP frames from STA3 and STA4 on both the P40 and S40 bands. Therefore, the AP can determine that the main channel is idle for STA1 and STA2, and both the main channel and the anchor channel are idle for STA3 and STA4. Then, the AP can communicate with STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 on the P40 band (OFDMA communication) to transmit data, and the AP can also communicate with STA3 and STA4 on the S40 band (OFDMA communication) to transmit data.

[0098] As shown in Figure 11, assuming the AP supports an 80MHz bandwidth, and the AP obtains a transmission opportunity (TXOP) only on the S40 band of its supported bandwidth through contention, while the P40 band is occupied by other OBSS activities, the AP can send (e.g., broadcast) an NFRP trigger frame only on the S40 band to request a query about the channel status (optionally, whether there is urgent LL traffic) of at least one queried STA. STA1 and STA2 may not receive the NFRP trigger frame sent on the S40 band because they are on the P40 band. Therefore, STA1 and STA2 will not send an NFRP frame back to the AP. After receiving the NFRP trigger frame, STA3 and STA4 determine that they are within the query range indicated in the NFRP trigger frame, i.e., starting AID ≤ the STA's AID ≤ starting AID + N. STASTA3 and STA4 can determine the subcarrier group assigned to them by the AP. When STA3 and STA4 determine that the anchor channel is idle, STA3 can send back an NDP frame to the AP on a 20MHz channel in the S40 band based on its assigned subcarrier group, and STA4 can send back an NDP frame to the AP on another 20MHz channel in the S40 band based on its assigned subcarrier group. The AP receives the NDP frames from STA3 and STA4 in the S40 band. Therefore, the AP can determine that the anchor channel is idle for STA3 and STA4. The AP can then communicate with STA3 and STA4 in the S40 band (OFDMA communication) to transmit data.

[0099] As shown in Figure 12, assuming the AP supports an 80MHz bandwidth, and the AP obtains a transmission opportunity (TXOP) only on the S40 band of its supported bandwidth through contention, while the P40 band is occupied by other OBSS activities, the AP can send (e.g., broadcast) an NFRP trigger frame only on the S40 band to request a query about the channel status (optionally, whether there is urgent LL traffic) of at least one STA to be queried. After receiving the NFRP trigger frame, STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 determine that they are within the query range indicated in the NFRP trigger frame, i.e., starting AID ≤ the STA's AID ≤ starting AID + N. STA STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 can determine the subcarrier group assigned to them by the AP. When STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 determine that the anchor channel is idle, STA1 and STA3 can send NDP frames back to the AP on a 20MHz channel in the S40 band based on their assigned subcarrier groups, and STA2 and STA4 can send NDP frames back to the AP on another 20MHz channel in the S40 band based on their assigned subcarrier groups. The AP receives NDP frames from STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 in the S40 band. Therefore, the AP can determine that the anchor channel is idle for STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4. The AP can then communicate with STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 in the S40 band (OFDMA communication) to transmit data.

[0100] As shown in Figure 13, assuming the AP supports an 80MHz bandwidth, and the AP obtains a transmission opportunity (TXOP) only on the P40 band of its supported bandwidth through contention, while the S40 band is occupied by other OBSS activities, the AP can send (e.g., broadcast) an NFRP trigger frame only on the P40 band to request a query about the channel status (optionally, whether there is urgent LL traffic) of at least one STA to be queried. After receiving the NFRP trigger frame, STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 determine that they are within the query range indicated in the NFRP trigger frame, i.e., starting AID ≤ the STA's AID ≤ starting AID + N. STA STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 can determine the subcarrier group assigned to them by the AP. When STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 determine that the primary channel is idle, STA1 and STA3 can send NDP frames back to the AP on a 20MHz channel in the P40 band based on their assigned subcarrier groups, and STA2 and STA4 can send NDP frames back to the AP on another 20MHz channel in the P40 band based on their assigned subcarrier groups. The AP receives NDP frames from STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 on the P40 band. Therefore, the AP can determine that the primary channel is idle for STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4. The AP can then communicate with STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 on the P40 band (OFDMA communication) to transmit data.

[0101] According to the embodiments of this disclosure, an AP can query the channel status of multiple STAs at once by sending (e.g., broadcasting) an NFRP trigger frame. According to embodiments of this disclosure, if the AP only wants to query the channel status of a single STA, an RTS (Request To Send) / CTS (Clear To Send) mechanism can be used. In the RTS / CTS mechanism, when a transmitting device (e.g., the AP) wants to send data to a receiving device (e.g., the STA), it first sends an RTS frame to the receiving device. The RTS frame contains information such as the sender's address, the receiver's address, and the size of the data requested to be sent. After receiving the RTS, the receiving device can send a CTS frame to the transmitting device, indicating that it is ready and notifying the transmitting device that it can start sending data. The transmitting device can determine which channel the receiving device is currently on by observing which channel the receiving device responds with the CTS frame. The RTS / CTS mechanism can only perform queries on a single STA, but it cannot query multiple STAs at once, nor can it query whether an STA has buffered urgent LL traffic. Compared to the RTS / CTS mechanism, which can only query one STA at a time, this disclosure allows the AP to query multiple STAs at once by sending NFRP trigger frames to multiple STAs. The NFRP trigger frames can include the AID range of at least one STA to be queried, and multiple STAs within the AID range can feed back NDP frames, which is very efficient.

[0102] Figure 14 shows a flowchart of operation 1400 performed by the AP according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0103] In step 1410, the AP may send an NFRP trigger frame to request a query of the channel status of at least one STA device to be queried. The NFRP trigger frame includes the identity information of at least one STA device to be queried.

[0104] The feedback type field of the NFRP trigger frame (feedback type field 322 as shown in Figure 2) may include field values ​​for indicating the channel status of at least one STA device to be queried, as shown in Table 2.

[0105] The identity information included in the NFRP trigger frame can be indicated by the starting AID field (starting AID field 321 as shown in Figure 2) and the spatial multiplexing user count field (spatial multiplexing user count field 323 as shown in Figure 2) of the NFRP trigger frame. For example, the AID of at least one STA device to be queried is in [starting AID, starting AID+N]. STA Within the AID range.

[0106] The bandwidth supported by the AP may include a first frequency band (e.g., the P40 frequency band shown in Figure 5) and a second frequency band (e.g., the S40 frequency band shown in Figure 5). The first frequency band includes the main channel (PCH), and the second frequency band includes the anchor channel (ACH), which can perform the function of the main channel when the main channel is not idle. The AP device can allocate a set of RU frequency modulations for transmitting NDP frames to at least one STA device to be queried. The RU frequency modulation set index (RU_TONE_SET_INDEX) allocated by the AP device to the first STA device can be calculated from the above formula (2) based on the AID of the first STA device.

[0107] The RU frequency modulation set allocated to the first STA device may include N subcarrier groups. The first N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 1 and group 2) of the N subcarrier groups can be allocated to a 20MHz channel in the first frequency band, and the second N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 3 and group 4) of the N subcarrier groups can be allocated to a 20MHz channel in the second frequency band, where N is an even number greater than or equal to 4. Furthermore, the subcarriers in each subcarrier group are arranged in index order. Subcarriers with the same index number in different subcarrier groups of the first N / 2 subcarrier groups can be arranged adjacently and interleaved, and subcarriers with the same index number in different subcarrier groups of the second N / 2 subcarrier groups can also be arranged adjacently and interleaved. For example, as shown in Figure 5, groups 1 and 2 in the RU frequency modulation set corresponding to index a are assigned to the main channel in the P40 band. Subcarriers with the same index number in these two different groups are arranged adjacently and interleaved, i.e., solid single-line arrows and dashed single-line arrows are arranged adjacently and interleaved. Groups 3 and 4 are assigned to the anchor channel in the S40 band, and subcarriers with the same index number in these two different groups are arranged adjacently and interleaved, i.e., hollow triangular arrows and hollow triangular arrows are arranged adjacently and interleaved. Through this subcarrier allocation, even if the STA detects that the main channel is not idle, it can feed back NDP frames on other channels (e.g., non-main channels in the S40 and S80 bands). This allows the AP to know the STA's feedback information, rather than blindly choosing to send data or assuming the STA's channel is not idle and not sending subsequent data.

[0108] Furthermore, the N subcarrier groups in the resource unit RU frequency modulation set (e.g., the RU frequency modulation set corresponding to RU frequency modulation set index b) allocated to another STA device (e.g., the second STA device) include a third N / 2 subcarrier group (e.g., group 1' and group 2') and a fourth N / 2 subcarrier group (e.g., group 3' and group 4'). The subcarriers with the same index number in the aforementioned first N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 1 and group 2) are interleaved with the subcarriers with the same index number in the aforementioned third N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 1' and group 2') of the AP device, and the subcarriers with the same index number in the aforementioned second N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 3 and group 4) are interleaved with the subcarriers with the same index number in the aforementioned fourth N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 3' and group 4'). By using such staggered subcarrier distribution, the impact of frequency-selective fading and interference can be effectively reduced, and the interference of one subcarrier can prevent all other subcarriers from being affected, thereby improving spectrum utilization efficiency.

[0109] In step 1420, the AP can receive an empty data packet NDP frame from the first STA device that received the NFRP trigger frame from at least one queried STA device. The NDP frame is sent by the first STA device in response to the identity information of at least one queried STA device in the NFRP trigger frame, which includes the identity information of the first STA device. The NDP frame provides information about the channel state of the first STA device. The identity information of the at least one queried STA device in the NFRP trigger frame, including the identity information of the first STA device, is represented as the first STA device's AID in [starting AID, starting AID+N]. STA Within the range. NDP frames can be transmitted in the HE TB PPDU format as shown in Figure 4, and NDP frames may include HE-LTF (HE-LTF 420 as shown in Figure 4).

[0110] In step 1430, the AP can determine the channel state of the first STA device based on the NDP frame.

[0111] For example, in step 1430, the AP can detect the power of the long training sequence field (e.g., HE-LTF shown in Figure 4) of the received NDP frame. Based on the power detection, the AP can determine the channel state. For example, based on a comparison between the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers (e.g., group 1) in the first N / 2 subcarrier group of the long training sequence field and the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers (e.g., group 2) in the first N / 2 subcarrier group of the long training sequence field, it can determine whether the main channel is idle, and / or based on a comparison between the power corresponding to the third group of subcarriers (e.g., group 3) in the second N / 2 subcarrier group of the long training sequence field and the power corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers (e.g., group 4) in the second N / 2 subcarrier group of the long training sequence field, it can determine whether the anchor channel is idle. For example, if it is determined that the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers (e.g., group 1) in the long training sequence field is greater than (or alternatively, less than) the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers (e.g., group 2) in the long training sequence field, the AP can determine that the main channel is idle. If the power of the long training sequence field corresponding to the first group of subcarriers (e.g., group 1) is close to the power of the long training sequence field corresponding to the second group of subcarriers (e.g., group 2), then the AP can determine that the main channel is not idle. For the anchor channel, the power of the long training sequence field corresponding to the third group of subcarriers (e.g., group 3) and the power of the long training sequence field corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers (e.g., group 4) are determined in a similar manner.

[0112] In addition to the channel status mentioned above, the NDP frame can also provide feedback on whether there is buffered LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately (i.e., urgent). For example, in step 1430, for the main channel, (1) based on the fact that the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers (group 1) in the long training sequence field differs from the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers (group 1) in the long training sequence field by less than a first predetermined threshold, the AP can determine that the main channel is not idle; (2) based on the fact that the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers (group 1) in the long training sequence field is greater than (or alternatively, less than) the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers (group 2) in the long training sequence field by more than a first predetermined threshold, the AP can determine that the main channel is idle and the first STA device has LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately; and (3) based on the fact that the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers (group 1) in the long training sequence field is less than (or alternatively, greater than) the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers (group 2) in the long training sequence field by more than a first predetermined threshold, the AP can determine that the main channel is idle and the first STA device does not have LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately. For the anchor channel, (1) if the power corresponding to the third group of subcarriers (group 3) in the long training sequence field differs from the power corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers (group 4) in the long training sequence field by less than a second predetermined threshold, the AP can determine that the anchor channel is not idle; (2) if the power corresponding to the third group of subcarriers (group 3) in the long training sequence field is greater than (or alternatively, less than) the power corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers (group 4) in the long training sequence field by more than a second predetermined threshold, the AP can determine that the anchor channel is idle and the first STA device has LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately; and (3) if the power corresponding to the third group of subcarriers (group 3) in the long training sequence field is less than (or alternatively, greater than) the power corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers (group 4) in the long training sequence field by more than a second predetermined threshold, the AP can determine that the anchor channel is idle and the first STA device does not have LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately.

[0113] LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately indicates that the amount of LL traffic buffered in the first STA device exceeds a preset traffic threshold, or that the maximum allowable delay time limit for data transmission (e.g., delay bound) is less than the preset time threshold. Conversely, there is no LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately (i.e., urgent). Those skilled in the art will understand that LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately can also be represented using other criteria, and is not limited to these. Feedback on urgent LL traffic can help reduce packet transmission latency, thereby improving network efficiency, reducing latency, and optimizing quality of service. This is especially important for latency-sensitive applications (e.g., real-time applications such as online gaming and video calls).

[0114] This disclosure improves the feedback type field of the NFRP trigger frame to query channel status, and can also query for urgent LL traffic, thus enabling the use of the NFRP trigger frame to retrieve more information. Furthermore, this disclosure uses the long training field power feedback method of the NDP frame to provide feedback on the channel status of the first STA device, effectively achieving real-time channel status monitoring and accurately determining channel availability, as well as the demand for urgent LL traffic.

[0115] Figure 15 illustrates a flowchart of operation 1500 performed by a STA (e.g., a first STA device) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0116] In step 1510, the first STA device can receive an empty data packet feedback report polling NFRP trigger frame from the access point AP device. The NFRP trigger frame is used to request a query of the channel status of at least one STA device to be queried. The NFRP trigger frame includes the identity information of at least one STA device to be queried.

[0117] The feedback type field of the NFRP trigger frame (feedback type field 322 as shown in Figure 2) may include field values ​​for indicating the channel status of at least one STA device to be queried, as shown in Table 2.

[0118] The identity information included in the NFRP trigger frame can be indicated by the Start Association Identifier (AID) field (start AID field 321 as shown in Figure 2) and the number of spatial multiplexed users field (spatial multiplexed user number field 323 as shown in Figure 2).

[0119] In step 1520, in response to the identity information of at least one STA device to be queried in the NFRP trigger frame, including the identity information of the first STA device, the first STA device sends an empty data packet NDP frame to the AP device, which feeds back information about the channel state of the first STA device.

[0120] For example, after receiving the NFRP trigger frame, the first STA device, based on the start AID and N indicated in the NFRP trigger frame... STA To determine if you are within the query range, for example, to determine if your AID is within [starting AID, starting AID+N]. STA If the AID is within the query range, the first STA device does not need to send an NDP frame to the AP. If the AID is within the query range, the first STA device needs to send an NDP frame to the AP.

[0121] The bandwidth supported by the AP may include a first frequency band (e.g., the P40 band as shown in Figure 5) and a second frequency band (e.g., the S40 band as shown in Figure 5). The first frequency band includes the main channel (PCH), and the second frequency band includes the anchor channel (ACH), which can function as the main channel when the main channel is not idle. The AP device can allocate a set of RU frequency modulations for transmitting NDP frames to at least one queried STA device. When the first STA device among the at least one queried STA devices that receives the NFRP trigger frame determines that the identity information of at least one queried STA device in the NFRP trigger frame includes its own identity information, for example, if the starting AID ≤ the first STA device's AID ≤ starting AID + N, then... STA Based on its own AID, the AP device calculates the RU frequency modulation set index (RU_TONE_SET_INDEX) assigned to the first STA device using the above formula (2).

[0122] The RU frequency modulation set allocated to the first STA device may include N subcarrier groups. The first N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 1 and group 2) of the N subcarrier groups can be allocated to a 20MHz channel in the first frequency band, and the second N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 3 and group 4) of the N subcarrier groups can be allocated to a 20MHz channel in the second frequency band, where N is an even number greater than or equal to 4. Furthermore, the subcarriers in each subcarrier group are arranged in index order. Subcarriers with the same index number in different subcarrier groups of the first N / 2 subcarrier groups can be arranged adjacently and interleaved, and subcarriers with the same index number in different subcarrier groups of the second N / 2 subcarrier groups can also be arranged adjacently and interleaved. For example, as shown in Figure 5, groups 1 and 2 in the RU frequency modulation set corresponding to index a are assigned to the main channel in the P40 band. Subcarriers with the same index number in these two different groups are arranged adjacently and interleaved, i.e., solid single-line arrows and dashed single-line arrows are arranged adjacently and interleaved. Groups 3 and 4 are assigned to the anchor channel in the S40 band, and subcarriers with the same index number in these two different groups are arranged adjacently and interleaved, i.e., hollow triangular arrows and hollow triangular arrows are arranged adjacently and interleaved. Through this subcarrier allocation, even if the STA detects that the main channel is not idle, it can feed back NDP frames on other channels (e.g., non-main channels in the S40 and S80 bands). This allows the AP to know the STA's feedback information, rather than having the AP blindly send data or assuming the STA's channel is not idle and thus not sending subsequent data.

[0123] Furthermore, the N subcarrier groups in the resource unit RU frequency modulation set (e.g., the RU frequency modulation set corresponding to RU frequency modulation set index b) allocated to another STA device (e.g., the second STA device) include a third N / 2 subcarrier group (e.g., group 1' and group 2') and a fourth N / 2 subcarrier group (e.g., group 3' and group 4'). The subcarriers with the same index number in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 1 and group 2) are arranged in an alternating manner with the subcarriers with the same index number in the third N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 1' and group 2'), and the subcarriers with the same index number in the second N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 3 and group 4) are arranged in an alternating manner with the subcarriers with the same index number in the fourth N / 2 subcarrier groups (e.g., group 3' and group 4'). By using such staggered subcarrier distribution, the impact of frequency-selective fading and interference can be effectively reduced, and the interference of one subcarrier can prevent all other subcarriers from being affected, thereby improving spectrum utilization efficiency.

[0124] Furthermore, in step 1520, the long training field power feedback method of the NDP frame can be used to provide feedback information about the channel state of the first STA device. An implementation of the long training field power feedback method of the NDP frame will be described below.

[0125] In one embodiment, for the main channel, (1) based on the main channel being detected as idle, the first STA device can determine to transmit a first long training sequence in the long training sequence field (e.g., HE LTF) of the NDP frame on the first group of subcarriers (e.g., group 1) in the first N / 2 subcarrier group, and a second long training sequence in the long training sequence field (e.g., HE LTF) of the NDP frame that is different from the first long training sequence on the second group of subcarriers (e.g., group 2) in the first N / 2 subcarrier group, and (2) based on the main channel being detected as not idle, the first STA device can determine not to transmit the NDP frame on the main channel. For the anchor channel, (1) based on the anchor channel being detected as idle, the first STA device can determine to transmit a first long training sequence on the third group of subcarriers (e.g., group 3) in the second N / 2 subcarrier group, and a second long training sequence on the fourth group of subcarriers (e.g., group 4) in the second N / 2 subcarrier group, and (2) based on the anchor channel being detected as not idle, the first STA device can determine not to transmit the NDP frame on the anchor channel. The first long training sequence can be a non-zero High Efficient Long Training Field (HE-LTF) sequence, and the second long training sequence can be an all-zero HE-LTF sequence. Alternatively, the first long training sequence can be an all-zero HE-LTF sequence, and the second long training sequence can be a non-zero HE-LTF sequence.

[0126] In addition to providing feedback on the channel status mentioned above, NDP frames can also indicate whether there is buffered LL traffic that needs to be transmitted immediately (i.e., urgent). For example, if the amount of LL traffic buffered in the first STA device exceeds a preset traffic threshold, or if the maximum allowable delay time limit for data transmission (e.g., delay bound) is less than a preset time threshold, it is determined that there is LL traffic that needs to be transmitted immediately (i.e., urgent); otherwise, it is determined that there is no LL traffic that needs to be transmitted immediately (i.e., urgent). Those skilled in the art will understand that other methods can be used to determine whether LL traffic is urgent, and this is not the only one. Providing information on urgent LL traffic can help reduce packet transmission latency, thereby improving network efficiency, reducing latency, and optimizing quality of service. This is especially important for latency-sensitive applications (e.g., real-time applications such as online gaming and video calls).

[0127] The first STA device can determine P_FEEDBACK_STATUS for the primary channel (PCH) and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS for the anchor channel (ACH). For example, the value of the feedback status P_FEEDBACK_STATUS for the primary channel (PCH) and / or the value of the feedback status A_FEEDBACK_STATUS for the anchor channel (ACH) can be determined based on the channel state of the primary channel and / or the anchor channel and whether there is buffered LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately (i.e., urgent).

[0128] In another embodiment, for the main channel, (1) based on the main channel being detected as idle and having LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately, P_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined to have a first value (e.g., 1); (2) based on the main channel being detected as idle and having no LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately, P_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined to have a second value (e.g., 0); and (3) based on the main channel being detected as not idle, P_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined to have a third value (e.g., 2). For the anchor channel, (1) based on the anchor channel being detected as idle and having LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately, A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined to have a first value (e.g., 1); (2) based on the anchor channel being detected as idle and having no LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately, A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined to have a second value (e.g., 0); and (3) based on the anchor channel being detected as not idle, A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined to have a third value (e.g., 2).

[0129] After determining the values ​​of P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and / or A_FEEDBACK_STATUS, for the main channel, (1) based on P_FEEDBACK_STATUS having a first value (e.g., 1), the first STA device can determine the first long training sequence in the long training sequence field (e.g., HE LTF) of the NDP frame transmitted on the first group of subcarriers (e.g., group 1) in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups, and transmit the long training sequence field (e.g., HE LTF) of the NDP frame on the second group of subcarriers (e.g., group 2) in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups. (1) The second long training sequence is different from the first long training sequence in the LTF; (2) Based on the second value (e.g., 0) of P_FEEDBACK_STATUS, the first STA device can determine that the second long training sequence is transmitted on the first group of subcarriers (e.g., group 1) and the first long training sequence is transmitted on the second group of subcarriers (e.g., group 2); and (3) Based on the third value (e.g., 2) of P_FEEDBACK_STATUS, the first STA device can determine that NDP frames are not transmitted on the main channel. For the anchor channel, (1) based on A_FEEDBACK_STATUS having a first value (e.g., 1), the first STA device can determine to transmit a first long training sequence on the third group of subcarriers (e.g., group 3) in the second N / 2 subcarrier group, and a second long training sequence on the fourth group of subcarriers (e.g., group 4) in the second N / 2 subcarrier group; (2) based on A_FEEDBACK_STATUS having a second value (e.g., 0), it is determined to transmit the second long training sequence on the third group of subcarriers (e.g., group 3), and the first long training sequence on the fourth group of subcarriers (e.g., group 4); and (3) based on A_FEEDBACK_STATUS having a third value (e.g., 2), the first STA device can determine not to transmit NDP frames on the anchor channel. The first long training sequence can be a non-zero High Efficient Long Training Field (HE-LTF) sequence, and the second long training sequence is an all-zero HE-LTF sequence. Alternatively, the first long training sequence can be an all-zero HE-LTF sequence, and the second long training sequence can be a non-zero HE-LTF sequence.

[0130] According to embodiments of this disclosure, if the bandwidth supported by the STA (e.g., 80MHz) is greater than or equal to the bandwidth supported by the AP (e.g., 80MHz), then the bandwidth supported by the STA can cover both the first frequency band (e.g., P40 band) and the second frequency band (e.g., S40 band). Therefore, the values ​​of both P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined simultaneously, as shown in Table 7 above. If the bandwidth supported by the STA (e.g., 40MHz) is less than the bandwidth supported by the AP (e.g., 80MHz), then the bandwidth supported by the STA can only cover one of the first frequency band (e.g., P40 band) and the second frequency band (e.g., S40 band). Therefore, the value of only one of P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS can be determined, as shown in Tables 8 and 9 above.

[0131] This disclosure, by separately determining P_FEEDBACK_STATUS for the main channel and A_FEEDBACK_STATUS for the anchor channel, reflects not only the feedback status of the STA on the main channel but also the feedback status of the STA on the anchor channel, thus improving channel utilization and flexibility.

[0132] After determining the transmission of the NDP frame on the subcarrier group, the AP device can determine the channel state of the first STA device (optionally, whether there is emergency LL traffic) based on the NDP frame in step 1430 of Figure 14.

[0133] This disclosure improves the feedback type field of the NFRP trigger frame to query channel status, and can also query for urgent LL traffic, allowing for the retrieval of more information using the NFRP trigger frame. Furthermore, this disclosure uses the long training field power feedback method of the NDP frame to provide feedback on the channel status of the first STA device, effectively enabling real-time channel status monitoring and accurately determining channel availability, as well as the demand for urgent LL traffic.

[0134] Figure 16 shows an exemplary block diagram of an access point (AP) device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0135] As shown in Figure 16, the access point (AP) device 1600 may include one or more processors 1610 and memory 1620. The processor 1610 is communicatively coupled to the memory 1620 and configured to perform the methods described above.

[0136] A set of computer program instructions stored in memory, when executed by at least one processor, performs any step of the above method, including: sending an empty data packet feedback report polling NFRP trigger frame to request a query of the channel state of at least one queried terminal station (STA) device, the NFRP trigger frame including identity information of at least one queried STA device; receiving an empty data packet NDP frame from a first STA device that received the NFRP trigger frame, wherein the NDP frame was sent by the first STA device in response to the identity information of at least one queried STA device in the NFRP trigger frame including the identity information of the first STA device, the NDP frame providing feedback information about the channel state of the first STA device; and determining the channel state of the first STA device based on the NDP frame. The details described above regarding the method shown in FIG14 also apply here.

[0137] Examples of processor 1610 include microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform various functionalities throughout the present disclosure.

[0138] Processor 1610 can execute software. Whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other terms, software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, procedures, functions, etc. Software can reside on memory 1620.

[0139] Memory 1620 may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium. As examples, non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic stripes), optical disks (e.g., compact discs (CDs) or digital versatile discs (DVDs)), smart cards, flash memory devices (e.g., cards, sticks, or key drives), random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), registers, removable disks, erasable PROMs (EEPROMs), and any other suitable medium for storing software and / or instructions that can be accessed and read by a computer. Memory 1620 may reside in processor 1610, be external to processor 1610, or be distributed across multiple entities including processor 1610. Memory 1620 may be embodied in a computer program product. For example, a computer program product may include a computer-readable medium in encapsulation material. Those skilled in the art will recognize how the functionality described herein can be implemented depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system as a whole.

[0140] Additionally, according to another embodiment of this disclosure, a computer program product for wireless communication of an access point (AP) device is disclosed. As an example, the computer program product includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therein, and the program instructions are executable by a processor. When executed, the program instructions cause the processor to perform one or more of the processes described above, and details are omitted herein for brevity.

[0141] This disclosure can be a system, method, and / or computer program product at any possible level of technical detail integration. The computer program product may include a computer-readable storage medium (or medium) having computer-readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to execute aspects of this disclosure.

[0142] Figure 17 shows an exemplary block diagram of a STA according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0143] As shown in Figure 17, the access point (AP) device 1700 may include one or more processors 1710 and a memory 1720. The processor 1710 is communicatively coupled to the memory 1720 and is configured to perform the methods described above.

[0144] A set of computer program instructions stored in memory, when executed by at least one processor, performs any step of the above method, including: sending an empty data packet feedback report polling NFRP trigger frame to request a query of the channel state of at least one queried terminal station (STA) device, the NFRP trigger frame including identity information of at least one queried STA device; receiving an empty data packet NDP frame from a first STA device that received the NFRP trigger frame, wherein the NDP frame was sent by the first STA device in response to the identity information of at least one queried STA device in the NFRP trigger frame including the identity information of the first STA device, the NDP frame providing feedback information about the channel state of the first STA device; and determining the channel state of the first STA device based on the NDP frame. The details described above regarding the method shown in FIG14 also apply here.

[0145] Examples of processor 1710 include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSPs, FPGAs, PLDs, state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform various functionalities throughout the present disclosure.

[0146] Processor 1710 can execute software. Whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other terms, software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, procedures, functions, etc. Software can reside on memory 1720.

[0147] Memory 1720 may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium, similar to memory 1620, which will not be described further here.

[0148] Additionally, according to another embodiment of this disclosure, a computer program product for wireless communication of a first terminal station (STA) device is disclosed. As an example, the computer program product includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therein, and the program instructions are executable by a processor. When executed, the program instructions cause the processor to perform one or more of the processes described above, and details are omitted herein for brevity.

[0149] The wireless communication method, AP device, and first STA device according to embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. Compared with the RTS / CTS mechanism, the wireless communication method according to embodiments of the present disclosure can query more STAs at once, with lower overhead and higher efficiency. Compared with the BQRP / BQR mechanism, the wireless communication method according to embodiments of the present disclosure uses shorter and simpler NFRP trigger frames and NDP frames than BQRP trigger frames, further improving transmission efficiency and reducing overhead. Furthermore, the wireless communication method according to embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited to feeding back response frames only when the main channel is available, but can utilize both the main channel and the anchor channel, thereby improving channel utilization and flexibility. In addition, while using NFRP trigger frames / NDP frames to query (feed back) the main channel and anchor channel status of multiple STAs, the wireless communication method according to embodiments of the present disclosure can also query (feed back) whether the STA has urgent LL traffic.

[0150] Unless otherwise expressly stated, expressions such as “according to,” “based on,” “depending on,” etc., as used in this disclosure do not mean “according to only,” “based on only,” or “depending on only.” In other words, in this disclosure, such expressions generally mean “at least according to,” “at least based on,” or “at least depending on.”

[0151] Any references to elements in this disclosure, such as the names "first," "second," etc., are not intended to comprehensively limit the number or order of these elements. These expressions may be used in this disclosure as a convenient way to distinguish two or more units. Therefore, references to the first unit and the second unit do not imply that only two units may be used, or that the first unit must precede the second unit in some form.

[0152] The term "determine" as used in this disclosure can include various operations. For example, "determine," calculation, operation, processing, derivation, investigation, search (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), and ascertainment are all considered "determine." Additionally, "determine" also refers to receiving (e.g., receiving information), sending (e.g., sending information), inputting, outputting, and accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory). Furthermore, "determine" can also refer to parsing, selecting, picking, building, and comparing. In other words, several actions can be considered "determine."

[0153] As used in this disclosure, terms such as “connection,” “coupling,” or any variation thereof refer to any direct or indirect connection or combination between two or more units, which may include situations where one or more intermediate units exist between two units that are “connected” or “coupled” to each other. The coupling or connection between units may be physical or logical, or a combination of both. As used in this disclosure, two units may be considered electrically connected by means of one or more wires, cables, and / or printing, and as numerous non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples, may be “connected” or “coupled” to each other by means of electromagnetic energy in the radio frequency region, microwave region, and / or light (visible and invisible) region, etc.

[0154] When the terms “comprising,” “including,” and variations thereof are used in this disclosure or claims, these terms are open-ended, just like the term “having.” Furthermore, the term “or” as used in this disclosure or claims is not an exclusive “or.”

[0155] Those skilled in the art will understand that many changes and / or modifications can be made to the present disclosure shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure as broadly described. Therefore, the embodiments are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive in all respects.

Claims

1. A wireless communication method for an access point (AP) device, comprising: Send an empty data packet to report feedback and poll the NFRP trigger frame, wherein the NFRP trigger frame includes the identity information of at least one STA device to be queried; The first STA device that receives the NFRP trigger frame from at least one queried STA device receives an empty data packet NDP frame, wherein the NDP frame is sent by the first STA device in response to the identity information of at least one queried STA device in the NFRP trigger frame, including the identity information of the first STA device, and the NDP frame feeds back information about the channel state of the first STA device. as well as The channel state of the first STA device is determined based on the NDP frame.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The feedback type field of the NFRP trigger frame includes a field value indicating the channel status of the at least one STA device to be queried.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The bandwidth supported by the AP includes a first frequency band and a second frequency band. The first frequency band includes a main channel, and the second frequency band includes an anchor channel. The anchor channel can perform the function of the main channel when the main channel is not idle.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein, The resource unit RU frequency modulation set allocated by the AP device to the first STA device includes N subcarrier groups. The first N / 2 subcarrier groups are allocated on a 20MHz channel in the first frequency band, and the second N / 2 subcarrier groups are allocated on a 20MHz channel in the second frequency band. N is an even number greater than or equal to 4.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein, The subcarriers in each subcarrier group are arranged in index order. Subcarriers with the same index number in different subcarrier groups of the first N / 2 subcarrier groups are arranged in an alternating pattern. Similarly, subcarriers with the same index number in different subcarrier groups of the second N / 2 subcarrier groups are arranged in an alternating pattern. The resource unit RU frequency modulation set allocated by the AP device to the second STA device includes a third N / 2 subcarrier group and a fourth N / 2 subcarrier group. The subcarriers with the same index number in the first N / 2 subcarrier group are arranged alternately with the subcarriers with the same index number in the third N / 2 subcarrier group, and the subcarriers with the same index number in the second N / 2 subcarrier group are arranged alternately with the subcarriers with the same index number in the fourth N / 2 subcarrier group.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein, Determining the channel state of the first STA device based on the NDP frame includes: The power of the long training sequence field of the NDP frame is detected; and Based on the comparison result between the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups of the long training sequence field and the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups of the long training sequence field, it is determined whether the main channel is idle, and / or based on the comparison result between the power corresponding to the third group of subcarriers in the second N / 2 subcarrier groups of the long training sequence field and the power corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers in the second N / 2 subcarrier groups of the long training sequence field, it is determined whether the anchor channel is idle.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein, The NDP frame also provides feedback on whether the first STA device has cached low-latency (LL) traffic that needs to be sent immediately.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein, Determining the channel state of the first STA device based on the NDP frame includes: Regarding the main channel: If the difference between the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers in the long training sequence field and the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers in the long training sequence field is less than a first predetermined threshold, it is determined that the main channel is not idle. Based on the fact that the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers in the long training sequence field is greater than the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers in the long training sequence field exceeding the first predetermined threshold, it is determined that the main channel is idle and has LL traffic that needs to be transmitted immediately. Based on the fact that the power corresponding to the first group of subcarriers in the long training sequence field is less than the power corresponding to the second group of subcarriers in the long training sequence field exceeding the first predetermined threshold, it is determined that the main channel is idle and there is no LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately. Regarding the anchor channel: If the difference between the power corresponding to the third group of subcarriers in the long training sequence field and the power corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers in the long training sequence field is less than a second predetermined threshold, it is determined that the anchor channel is not idle. Based on the fact that the power corresponding to the third group of subcarriers in the long training sequence field is greater than the power corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers in the long training sequence field, exceeding the second predetermined threshold, it is determined that the anchor channel is idle and has LL traffic that needs to be transmitted immediately. Based on the fact that the power corresponding to the third group of subcarriers in the long training sequence field is less than the power corresponding to the fourth group of subcarriers in the long training sequence field exceeding the second predetermined threshold, it is determined that the anchor channel is idle and there is no LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein, The presence of LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately indicates that the size of the LL traffic cached in the first STA device exceeds a preset traffic threshold, or that the maximum allowable delay time limit for data transmission is less than a preset time threshold.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The identity information included in the NFRP trigger frame is indicated by the Start Association Identifier (AID) field and the number of spatial multiplexing users field, and wherein the identity information of at least one STA device to be queried in the NFRP trigger frame includes the identity information of the first STA device, which is represented as follows: the AID of the first STA device is in the range of [Start AID, Start AID + Number of users expected to respond to the NFRP trigger frame].

11. A wireless communication method for a first terminal station (STA) device, comprising: The access point (AP) device receives empty data packet feedback reports and polls NFRP trigger frames, wherein the NFRP trigger frames include the identity information of at least one STA device to be queried. In response to the identity information of at least one STA device to be queried in the NFRP trigger frame, including the identity information of the first STA device, an empty data packet NDP frame is sent to the AP device, the NDP frame feeding back information about the channel state of the first STA device.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein, The feedback type field of the NFRP trigger frame includes a field value indicating the channel status of the at least one STA device to be queried.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein, The bandwidth supported by the AP includes a first frequency band and a second frequency band. The first frequency band includes a main channel, and the second frequency band includes an anchor channel. The anchor channel can perform the function of the main channel when the main channel is not idle.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein, The resource unit RU frequency modulation set allocated by the AP device to the first STA device includes N subcarrier groups. The first N / 2 subcarrier groups are allocated on a 20MHz channel in the first frequency band, and the second N / 2 subcarrier groups are allocated on a 20MHz channel in the second frequency band. N is an even number greater than or equal to 4.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein, The subcarriers in each subcarrier group are arranged in index order. Subcarriers with the same index number in different subcarrier groups of the first N / 2 subcarrier groups are arranged in an alternating pattern. Similarly, subcarriers with the same index number in different subcarrier groups of the second N / 2 subcarrier groups are arranged in an alternating pattern. The resource unit RU frequency modulation set allocated by the AP device to the second STA device includes a third N / 2 subcarrier group and a fourth N / 2 subcarrier group. The subcarriers with the same index number in the first N / 2 subcarrier group are arranged alternately with the subcarriers with the same index number in the third N / 2 subcarrier group, and the subcarriers with the same index number in the second N / 2 subcarrier group are arranged alternately with the subcarriers with the same index number in the fourth N / 2 subcarrier group.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein, In response to the identity information of the at least one STA device to be queried in the NFRP trigger frame, including the identity information of the first STA device, sending an empty data packet NDP frame to the AP device includes: Based on the fact that the main channel is detected as idle, it is determined that the first long training sequence in the long training sequence field of the NDP frame will be transmitted on the first group of subcarriers in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups, and the second long training sequence in the long training sequence field of the NDP frame, which is different from the first long training sequence, will be transmitted on the second group of subcarriers in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups. Furthermore, based on the fact that the main channel is detected as not idle, it is determined that the NDP frame will not be transmitted on the main channel. and / or Based on the anchor channel being detected as idle, it is determined that the first long training sequence in the long training sequence field of the NDP frame will be transmitted on the third group of subcarriers in the second N / 2 subcarrier group, and the long training sequence field of the NDP frame that is different from the first long training sequence will be transmitted on the fourth group of subcarriers in the second N / 2 subcarrier group. Based on the anchor channel being detected as not idle, the NDP frame will not be transmitted on the anchor channel.

17. The method according to claim 14, wherein, The NDP frame also provides feedback on whether the first STA device has cached low-latency (LL) traffic that needs to be sent immediately.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein, In response to the identity information of at least one STA device to be queried in the NFRP trigger frame, including the identity information of the first STA device, sending an empty data packet NDP frame to the AP device includes: Determine the value of the feedback state P_FEEDBACK_STATUS for the primary channel and / or the value of the feedback state A_FEEDBACK_STATUS for the anchor channel; and Regarding the main channel: Based on the first value of P_FEEDBACK_STATUS, it is determined that a first long training sequence in the NDP frame will be transmitted on the first group of subcarriers in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups, and a second long training sequence in the NDP frame, different from the first long training sequence, will be transmitted on the second group of subcarriers in the first N / 2 subcarrier groups. Based on the fact that P_FEEDBACK_STATUS has a second value, it is determined that the second long training sequence will be transmitted on the first group of subcarriers, and the first long training sequence will be transmitted on the second group of subcarriers. Based on the fact that P_FEEDBACK_STATUS has a third value, the NDP frame will not be transmitted on the main channel. Regarding the anchor channel: Based on the first value of A_FEEDBACK_STATUS, it is determined that the first long training sequence will be transmitted on the third group of subcarriers in the second N / 2 subcarrier group, and the second long training sequence will be transmitted on the fourth group of subcarriers in the second N / 2 subcarrier group. Based on the fact that A_FEEDBACK_STATUS has a second value, it is determined that the second long training sequence will be transmitted on the third group of subcarriers, and the first long training sequence will be transmitted on the fourth group of subcarriers. Based on the fact that A_FEEDBACK_STATUS has a third value, the NDP frame is not transmitted on the anchor channel.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein, Determining the value of P_FEEDBACK_STATUS and / or the value of A_FEEDBACK_STATUS includes: Regarding the main channel: Based on the fact that the main channel is detected as idle and there is LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately, P_FEEDBACK_STATUS is determined to have the first value. Based on the fact that the main channel is detected to be idle and there is no LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately, the P_FEEDBACK_STATUS is determined to have the second value, and Based on the fact that the main channel is detected as not idle, P_FEEDBACK_STATUS is determined to have the third value. Regarding the anchor channel: Based on the anchor channel being detected as idle and having LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately, A_FEEDBACK_STATUS is determined to have the first value. Based on the anchor channel being detected as idle and having no LL traffic requiring immediate transmission, the A_FEEDBACK_STATUS is determined to have the second value, and Based on the anchor channel being detected as not idle, A_FEEDBACK_STATUS is determined to have the third value.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein, The first long training sequence is a non-zero High Efficient Long Training Field (HE-LTF) sequence, and the second long training sequence is an all-zero HE-LTF sequence, or... The first long training sequence is an all-zero HE-LTF sequence, and the second long training sequence is a non-zero HE-LTF sequence.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein, The determination of LL traffic that needs to be sent immediately is based on the fact that the amount of LL traffic cached in the first STA device exceeds a preset traffic threshold, or the maximum allowable delay time limit for data transmission is less than a preset time threshold.

22. The method according to claim 11, wherein, The identity information included in the NFRP trigger frame is indicated by the Start Association Identifier (AID) field and the number of spatial multiplexing users field, and wherein, based on the AID of the first STA device, the identity information of at least one STA device to be queried in the NFRP trigger frame is determined within the range of [Start AID, Start AID + Number of users expected to respond to the NFRP trigger frame], including the identity information of the first STA device.

23. An access point (AP) device, comprising: One or more processors; Memory coupled to at least one of the processors in the processor; as well as A set of computer program instructions stored in the memory, which, when executed by at least one of the processors, perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-10.

24. A first terminal station (STA) device, comprising: One or more processors; Memory coupled to at least one of the processors in the processor; as well as A set of computer program instructions stored in the memory, which, when executed by at least one of the processors, perform the method as described in any one of claims 11-22.

25. A computer program product comprising instructions for an access point (AP) device to perform wireless communication, the instructions causing a processor to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-10.

26. A computer program product comprising instructions for a first terminal station (STA) device to perform wireless communication, the instructions causing a processor to perform the method as described in any one of claims 11-22.

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