Transmission opportunity (TXOP) sharing method, apparatus, and device

By exchanging information between access points, frames containing latency and bandwidth information for low-latency services are sent and received, solving the problem of insufficient TXOP sharing performance in C-TDMA scenarios and realizing timely transmission of low-latency services and efficient utilization of bandwidth resources.

WO2026153367A1PCT designated stage Publication Date: 2026-07-23RUIJIE NETWORKS CO LTD
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Patent Information

Authority / Receiving Office
WO · WO
Patent Type
Applications
Current Assignee / Owner
RUIJIE NETWORKS CO LTD
Filing Date
2026-01-14
Publication Date
2026-07-23

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

In Coordinated Time Division Multiple Access (C-TDMA) scenarios, how to improve the TXOP sharing performance among multiple shared access points, especially considering the urgency and bandwidth requirements of low-latency services, is a challenge that existing technologies have failed to effectively optimize TXOP sharing.

Method used

Through information exchange between access points, frames indicating latency and bandwidth information for low-latency services are sent and received, including a first frame and a second frame. The first frame is used to indicate TXOP sharing, and the second frame is used to provide feedback on the latency and bandwidth information for low-latency services, ensuring that TXOP sharing meets the requirements of low-latency services.

Benefits of technology

It improves the performance of TXOP sharing, ensures timely transmission of low-latency services, enhances the utilization of bandwidth resources and the concurrency efficiency of multiple access points, and meets the latency requirements of low-latency services.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

The present application provides a transmission opportunity (TXOP) sharing method, an apparatus, and a device. The method comprises: a first access point sends a first frame, wherein the first frame is used for instructing to share a first TXOP with at least one second access point, the first frame comprises first indication information and / or second indication information, the first indication information is used for indicating whether latency information of a low-latency service needs to be fed back, and the second indication information is used for indicating whether bandwidth information of the low-latency service needs to be fed back; and the first access point receives second frames respectively sent by the at least one second access point, wherein the second frame comprises latency information of a low-latency service of the second access point and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency service of the second access point.
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Description

Transmission Opportunity TXOP Sharing Method, Apparatus and Equipment

[0001] Cross-references to related applications

[0002] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202510072093.7, filed on January 16, 2025, entitled “Transmission Opportunity TXOP Sharing Method, Apparatus and Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] This application relates to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a method, apparatus, and device for sharing transmission opportunities (TXOPs). Background Technology

[0004] In some scenarios, TXOP sharing (TXS) is introduced, whereby an access point (AP) can share its TXOP with stations (STAs) within the Basic Service Set (BSS) during the acquired TXOP time, thereby optimizing service latency or throughput.

[0005] In a Coordinated Time Division Multiple Access (C-TDMA) scenario, a sharing AP can share its TXOPs with a shared AP for data transmission between the shared AP and its associated STAs. However, in a C-TDMA scenario, there may be multiple shared APs. In this case, how to improve the TXOP sharing performance is an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This application provides a method, apparatus, and device for sharing TXOPs, which can improve TXOP sharing performance.

[0007] Firstly, a method for sharing TXOP transmission opportunities is provided, including:

[0008] The first access point sends a first frame, which is used to indicate that the first transmission opportunity (TXOP) is shared with at least one second access point. The first frame includes first indication information and / or second indication information. The first indication information is used to indicate whether it is necessary to feed back latency information of low-latency services, and the second indication information is used to indicate whether it is necessary to feed back bandwidth information of low-latency services.

[0009] The first access point receives a second frame sent by the at least one second access point, wherein the second frame includes latency information of the low-latency service of the second access point and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency service of the second access point.

[0010] Secondly, a method for sharing TXOP transmission opportunities is provided, including:

[0011] The second access point receives a first frame sent by the first access point. The first frame is used to indicate that the first transmission opportunity (TXOP) is shared with at least one second access point. The first frame includes first indication information and / or second indication information. The first indication information is used to indicate whether it is necessary to feed back latency information of low-latency services, and the second indication information is used to indicate whether it is necessary to feed back bandwidth information of low-latency services.

[0012] The second access point sends a second frame to the first access point, wherein the second frame includes latency information of the low-latency service of the second access point and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency service of the second access point.

[0013] In some implementations, the latency information of the low-latency service includes the remaining tolerance time or the waiting time of the low-latency service.

[0014] In some implementations, the second frame also includes information on the duration of low-latency services used by the second access point.

[0015] In some implementations, the first frame includes one or more user information fields, the user information fields including an identifier field, the identifier field being used to indicate one of the following:

[0016] The identifier of the associated site of the first access point;

[0017] The identifier of the second access point;

[0018] The user information field is used to carry special user information;

[0019] The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and its associated sites.

[0020] The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point.

[0021] In some implementations, the identifier field includes a first bit;

[0022] Wherein, when the first bit takes the first value, the other bits in the identifier field are used to indicate one of the following:

[0023] The identifier of the associated site of the first access point;

[0024] The user information field is used to carry special user information;

[0025] The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and its associated sites.

[0026] Wherein, when the first bit takes the second value, the other bits in the identifier field are used to indicate one of the following:

[0027] The identifier of the second access point;

[0028] The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point.

[0029] In some implementations, when the first bit takes a second value, the other bits include at least one of the following fields:

[0030] The first field is used to indicate the type of cooperation between the first access point and the second access point;

[0031] The second field is used to indicate the type of control information between the first access point and the second access point;

[0032] The third field is used to indicate the identifier of the second access point.

[0033] In some implementations, when the user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point, or control information between the first access point and its associated site, the user information field further includes at least one of the following fields:

[0034] The first indication field is used to indicate whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back;

[0035] The delay unit field indicates the unit of the feedback delay information;

[0036] The second indication field is used to indicate whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back.

[0037] The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the returned bandwidth information.

[0038] In some implementations, the first frame further includes a public information field, which includes at least one of the following fields:

[0039] The third indication field is used to indicate that the second frame is sent using a non-high throughput physical layer protocol data unit (non-HT PPDU) or a physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU) based on a trigger frame;

[0040] The fourth indication field is used to indicate the bandwidth for transmitting the second frame using the non-HT PPDU method;

[0041] The fifth indicator field is used to indicate the length of the feedback information from the second access point.

[0042] In some implementations, the first frame includes a first frame verification sequence (FCS) field, a padding field, and a second FCS field, wherein the first FCS field is located before the padding field and the second FCS field is located at the end of the first frame.

[0043] In some implementations, the second frame includes at least one of the following fields:

[0044] The latency information field is used to indicate the latency information of the low-latency service being reported.

[0045] The delay unit field indicates the unit of the feedback delay information;

[0046] The bandwidth information field is used to indicate the bandwidth information of the low-latency service being fed back.

[0047] The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the returned bandwidth information.

[0048] In some implementations, the second frame also includes a sixth indication field, which indicates whether the second access point participates in the sharing of the first TXOP.

[0049] In some implementations, the second frame also includes a seventh indication field, which indicates that the second frame is used for information exchange between access points or for information exchange between an access point and an associated site.

[0050] Thirdly, a communication device is provided, comprising:

[0051] A transceiver module is configured to send a first frame, which indicates that a first transmission opportunity (TXOP) should be shared with at least one second access point. The first frame includes first indication information and / or second indication information. The first indication information indicates whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back, and the second indication information indicates whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back.

[0052] Used to receive second frames sent by the at least one second access point, wherein the second frame includes latency information of the low-latency service of the second access point and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency service of the second access point.

[0053] Fourthly, a communication device is provided, comprising:

[0054] A transceiver module is configured to receive a first frame sent by a first access point, the first frame indicating that a first transmission opportunity (TXOP) should be shared with at least one second access point. The first frame includes first indication information and / or second indication information, the first indication information indicating whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back, and the second indication information indicating whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back.

[0055] Used to send a second frame to a first access point, wherein the second frame includes latency information of the low-latency service of the second access point and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency service of the second access point.

[0056] Fifthly, an access point is provided, including a processor and a memory. The memory is used to store computer programs, and the processor is used to call and run the computer programs stored in the memory, performing the methods described in the first aspect or its various implementations.

[0057] Sixthly, an access point is provided, including a processor and a memory. The memory is used to store computer programs, and the processor is used to call and run the computer programs stored in the memory, performing the methods in the second aspect or its implementations described above.

[0058] In a seventh aspect, a chip is provided for implementing the methods of any one of the first to second aspects or their respective implementations. Specifically, the chip includes: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, causing a device on which the chip is installed to perform the methods of any one of the first to second aspects or their respective implementations.

[0059] Eighthly, a readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program that causes a computer to perform the methods of any one of the first to second aspects or their respective implementations.

[0060] Ninthly, a computer program product is provided, including computer program instructions that cause a computer to perform the methods of any one of the first to second aspects or their respective implementations.

[0061] In a tenth aspect, a computer program is provided that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the methods of any one of the first to second aspects or their respective implementations.

[0062] Through the above technical solution, the first access point can send a first frame to instruct the first TXOP to be shared with at least one second access point. In this first frame, the first access point can instruct the second access point to report latency information and / or bandwidth information of low-latency services. Furthermore, the second access point can feed back the latency information and / or bandwidth information of low-latency services to the first access point based on the instruction from the first access point. Therefore, the first access point can perform appropriate TXOP sharing based on the latency information and / or bandwidth information of low-latency services fed back by the second access point, which helps to ensure the latency requirements of low-latency services and guarantee the performance of TXOP sharing. Attached Figure Description

[0063] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0064] Figure 2 is a flowchart of a C-TDMA provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0065] Figure 3 is a schematic interactive diagram of a transmission opportunity (TXOP) method 200 provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0066] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the bandwidth resources allocated by the first access point to multiple second access points according to an embodiment of this application.

[0067] Figure 5 is a schematic format diagram of a first frame provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0068] Figure 6 is a schematic format diagram of the Common Info field in the first frame provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0069] Figure 7 is a schematic format diagram of the Common Info field in another first frame provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0070] Figure 8 is a schematic format diagram of a User Info field provided in an embodiment of this application when both the special user information flag field and the enhanced special user information flag field are invalid.

[0071] Figure 9 is a schematic format diagram of a special user information field when the special user information flag field is valid, according to an embodiment of this application.

[0072] Figure 10 is a schematic format diagram of an enhanced special user information field provided in an embodiment of this application when the enhanced special user information flag field is valid.

[0073] Figure 11 is a schematic format diagram of a second frame provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0074] Figure 12 is a schematic format diagram of a second frame implemented by an M-BA frame according to an embodiment of this application.

[0075] Figure 13 is a schematic format diagram of a second frame implemented by a BA frame according to an embodiment of this application.

[0076] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of UHR control information interaction between APs or between APs and STAs through a unified ICF and ICR frame according to an embodiment of this application.

[0077] Figure 15 shows a format design of the AID12 field of an ICF frame when the high 12 bits are 1, according to an embodiment of this application.

[0078] Figure 16 shows another format design of the AID12 field of the ICF frame when the high 12 bits are 1, according to an embodiment of this application.

[0079] Figure 17 is a schematic format of the BA control field of an ICR frame provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0080] Figure 18 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0081] Figure 19 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0082] Figure 20 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided according to an embodiment of this application.

[0083] Figure 21 is a schematic block diagram of a chip provided according to an embodiment of this application.

[0084] Figure 22 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system provided according to an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0085] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this application, and not all of them. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort regarding the embodiments of this application are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0086] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second," etc., used herein are used only to distinguish different objects and not to describe a particular order.

[0087] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of this application, "at least one item" refers to one item or more items, "more items" refers to two items or more, and "at least two items" refers to two items or more. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions can refer to any combination of these items. For example, at least one item of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c".

[0088] It should be noted that in the embodiments of this application, "and / or" indicates that the connected objects can have three relationships. For example, "A and / or B" can represent three scenarios: only A exists, only B exists, and both A and B exist simultaneously. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following objects have an "or" relationship.

[0089] It should be understood that the "instruction" mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be a direct instruction or an indirect instruction. For example, A instructing B can mean that A directly instructs B, such as B being obtainable through A; or it can mean that A indirectly instructs B, such as A instructing C, where B is obtainable through C, for example, B and C are related.

[0090] The technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to wireless local area network (WLAN) systems, and specifically to any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series protocols used in WLANs, such as 802.11a / b / g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be, 802.11bn, and future 802.11 protocols. The methods provided in this application can be implemented by communication devices in a wireless communication system or by chips or processors within those devices. Accordingly, the communication device supports communication using the IEEE 802.11 series protocols. Although the embodiments of this application are mainly illustrated using a network deploying IEEE 802.11 as an example, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the various aspects involved in this application can be extended to other networks employing various standards or protocols, such as Bluetooth, high-performance radio LAN (HIPERLAN) (a wireless standard similar to IEEE 802.11, mainly used in Europe), wide area network (WAN), WLAN, personal area network (PAN), wireless personal area network systems based on ultra-wideband (UWB), sensing systems, or other networks now known or to be developed in the future. The methods provided in the embodiments of this application can be applied to the IEEE 802.15 series protocols, such as the 802.15.4a protocol, the 802.15.4z protocol, or the 802.15.4ab protocol, or a future generation of UWB WPAN protocol, etc., which will not be listed one by one.The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to the following communication systems, such as Internet of Things (IoT) systems, Vehicle-to-X (V2X) systems, narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) systems, devices used in V2X systems, IoT nodes and sensors in IoT systems, smart cameras, smart remote controls, smart water and electricity meters in smart homes, and sensors in smart cities. Alternatively, they can also be applied to Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, 5th-generation (5G) communication systems, and new communication systems that will emerge in future communication developments. Therefore, regardless of the coverage area and wireless access protocol used, the various aspects provided in this application can be applied to any suitable wireless network.

[0091] In the WiFi protocol, a station (abbreviated as STA) includes access point stations (abbreviated as AP STA) and non-access point stations (abbreviated as non-AP station). For the sake of simplicity, access point stations are usually called access points (abbreviated as AP), and non-access point stations are called stations (abbreviated as STA).

[0092] Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system 100 provided in an embodiment of this application. The communication system 100 may include an access point 110 and a station 120. The station 120 can access the network through the access point 110.

[0093] Access points can support communication or sensing based on WiFi protocols, such as 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be, 802.11bn, or next-generation or later protocols.

[0094] The site can support communication or sensing based on WiFi protocols, such as 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be, 802.11bn, or next-generation or later protocols.

[0095] The communication in the communication system 100 can be communication between access points and stations, or communication between stations, or communication between access points.

[0096] WLAN systems can provide high-speed, low-latency transmission. As WLAN application scenarios continue to evolve, WLAN systems will be applied to more scenarios or industries, such as the Internet of Things industry, the Internet of Vehicles industry, the banking industry, enterprise offices, stadiums and exhibition halls, concert halls, hotel rooms, dormitories, hospital wards, classrooms, shopping malls, squares, streets, production workshops and warehouses, etc. Of course, devices that support WLAN communication or sensing (such as access points or sites) can be sensor nodes in smart cities (such as smart water meters, smart electricity meters, and smart air monitoring nodes), smart devices in smart homes (such as smart cameras, projectors, displays, televisions, speakers, refrigerators, and washing machines), nodes in the Internet of Things (IoT), entertainment terminals (such as wearable devices for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), smart devices in smart offices (such as printers, projectors, loudspeakers, and speakers), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) devices, infrastructure in daily life scenarios (such as vending machines, self-service navigation kiosks in supermarkets, self-service checkout machines, and self-service ordering machines), and equipment in large sports and music venues.

[0097] In this embodiment, an access point is a device with wireless communication capabilities, supporting communication or sensing using the WLAN protocol. It has the function of communicating or sensing with other devices in the WLAN network (such as non-AP STAs or other access points), and can also have the function of communicating or sensing with other devices. Alternatively, an access point acts as a bridge connecting wired and wireless networks, primarily connecting various wireless network clients together and then connecting the wireless network to the Ethernet. This wireless communication device can be a complete device, or a chip, processing system, or functional module installed within a complete device. Devices with these chips, processing systems, or functional modules can implement the methods and functions of this embodiment under the control of the chips, processing systems, or functional modules. The AP in this embodiment is a device providing services to non-AP STAs and can support 802.11 series protocols or subsequent protocols. For example, an access point can be an access point for terminals (such as mobile phones) to enter a wired (or wireless) network, mainly deployed in homes, buildings, and parks, with a typical coverage radius of tens to hundreds of meters; it can also be deployed outdoors. For example, an AP can be a communication server, router, switch, bridge, or other communication entity; APs can include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, repeater stations, etc.

[0098] In the embodiments of this application, the site may be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer, virtual reality (VR) device, augmented reality (AR) device, wireless device in industrial control, set-top box, wireless device in self-driving, vehicle communication device, wireless device in remote medical care, wireless device in smart grid, wireless device in transportation safety, wireless device in smart city or smart home, wireless device, wireless communication chip, etc. that support WLAN or WiFi technology.

[0099] It should be understood that Figure 1 only illustrates one access point and two sites. Optionally, the communication system 100 may include multiple access points or other numbers of sites, which is not limited in this application embodiment.

[0100] Optionally, the communication system 100 may also include other devices, such as network controllers, gateways, and other network entities, which are not limited in this application.

[0101] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, the Coordinated Time Division Multiple Access (C-TDMA) technology related to this application will be described.

[0102] C-TDMA is based on the sharing of Extreme High Throughput (EHT) Triggered Transmission Opportunity (TXOP). Extending the TXOP sharing object from STA to AP, i.e. the shared AP, can bring the following benefits: (1) reducing the contention overhead of cooperating APs, and (2) increasing the opportunity for low-latency traffic transmission.

[0103] Figure 2 is a flowchart of a C-TDMA embodiment provided in this application, wherein AP1 is a sharing AP with a TXOP, and AP2 and AP3 are shared APs. As shown in Figure 2, the specific steps may include the following:

[0104] Step 1: AP1 sends a polling frame or an announcement frame to instruct AP1 to share the TXOP with other devices. This polling frame or announcement frame can also be replaced with other names, and this application does not limit its usage.

[0105] Step 2: The associated STA of AP1 and the AP being shared with send a response frame to AP1 to indicate whether they participate in TXOP sharing. If AP2 is not interested in participating in TXOP sharing, AP2 may not send a response frame, or it may send a response frame indicating that it does not participate in TXOP sharing.

[0106] Step 3: AP1 transmits data to its associated STA based on TXOP.

[0107] Step 4: AP1 sends a TXOP allocation frame to AP3. This TXOP allocation frame is used to share a portion of the TXOP with AP3. It should be noted that this TXOP allocation frame is used to share a portion of the TXOP it has obtained with other APs. This application does not limit the name and frame structure of this TXOP allocation frame. For example, this TXOP allocation frame can also be called a Multiple Access Point Coordination (MAPC or MAP) TXS allocation frame.

[0108] Step 5: AP3 sends a clear to send (CTS) frame.

[0109] Step 6: AP3 and its associated STA transmit data based on the shared TXOP.

[0110] Step 7: AP3 returns TXOP to AP1.

[0111] However, in C-TDMA scenarios, there may be multiple shared APs. If only the priority of the services to be transmitted by the shared AP is considered when sharing TXOP, without considering the urgency of the services, the shared AP may not be able to share TXOP with the most urgent services, affecting TXOP sharing performance. Therefore, how to improve TXOP sharing performance is an urgent problem to be solved.

[0112] The technical solutions of this application are described in detail below through specific embodiments. The above-mentioned related technologies are optional solutions and can be combined with the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application in any way, all of which fall within the protection scope of the embodiments of this application.

[0113] Figure 3 is a schematic interactive diagram of a transmission opportunity (TXOP) method 200 provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 3, the method 200 includes at least the following:

[0114] S201, the first access point sends a first frame, which is used to indicate that the first transmission opportunity TXOP is shared with at least one second access point. The first frame includes first indication information and / or second indication information. The first indication information is used to indicate whether it is necessary to feed back the latency information of the low latency service, and the second indication information is used to indicate whether it is necessary to feed back the bandwidth information of the low latency service.

[0115] S202, the first access point receives a second frame sent by the at least one second access point, wherein the second frame includes latency information of the low-latency service of the corresponding second access point and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency service of the corresponding second access point.

[0116] In this embodiment of the application, the first access point is the holder of the first TXOP. The first access point can share a portion of the first TXOP with at least one second access point for data transmission between the second access point and its associated site.

[0117] In some embodiments, the first access point may be a sharing AP, and the second access point may be a shared AP, or a candidate shared AP.

[0118] In some embodiments, the first access point and the second access point can be access points participating in multi-AP cooperation, or access points in a multi-AP cooperation set. For example, the first access point and the second access point can be access points participating in C-TDMA.

[0119] In this application embodiment, the low-latency service may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following services:

[0120] Emergency business;

[0121] High-priority business;

[0122] Specific access category (AC) services, such as voice services (AC Voice, AC_VO);

[0123] Stream Classification Service (SCS) business.

[0124] In some embodiments, the second frames sent by the at least one second access point can be considered as responses to the first frame. The second frames carry low-latency service information to be transmitted by the second access point, such as latency information and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency service. In this way, the first access point can obtain the low-latency service information of the at least one second access point through the second frames sent by the at least one second access point, and thus perform appropriate TXOP sharing based on the low-latency service information, which helps to ensure the latency requirements of the low-latency service and guarantee TXOP sharing performance.

[0125] In some embodiments, the latency information of the low-latency service can be a latency tolerance parameter of the low-latency service, such as the remaining tolerance time or the waiting time of the low-latency service.

[0126] Therefore, in this embodiment, the second access point can report the remaining tolerance time or the waiting time of the low-latency service to the first access point. Thus, the first access point can know the urgency of the transmission of the low-latency service of the second access point based on the remaining tolerance time or the waiting time of the low-latency service reported by the first access point. In this way, when sharing TXOP, the first access point can give priority to sharing TXOP with the second access point with a shorter remaining tolerance time or a longer waiting time, thereby ensuring the timely transmission of the low-latency service of the second access point and ensuring the latency requirement of the low-latency service.

[0127] In some embodiments, the bandwidth information for low-latency services can refer to the bandwidth information required by the second access point to transmit the low-latency service. The bandwidth required for low-latency services is typically small. If the first access point allocates its entire working bandwidth to a single second access point, it would lead to a waste of bandwidth resources. Therefore, in this embodiment, the second access point feeds back the bandwidth information required for the low-latency service to the first access point. Thus, during TXOP sharing, the first access point can simultaneously allocate appropriate bandwidth resources to multiple second access points based on the bandwidth information for the low-latency service, as shown in Figure 4. In this way, when these multiple second access points use the allocated bandwidth resources for low-latency service transmission, they can punch holes in the bandwidth overlapping with other access points and then transmit the low-latency service on their respective remaining bandwidth. Multiple second access points can transmit low-latency services simultaneously, which is beneficial for improving the utilization rate of bandwidth resources and enhancing the concurrency efficiency of multiple access points.

[0128] In some embodiments, the second access point can use a bitmap to indicate the bandwidth information of low-latency services. For example, K bits can be used to indicate the bandwidth information of low-latency services, with each bit corresponding to a certain bandwidth, such as 20MHz. The value of each bit is used to indicate whether the low-latency service transmission occupies the corresponding bandwidth; for example, a value of 1 indicates occupation, and a value of 0 indicates no occupation. In this way, the first access point can determine the bandwidth occupation of the low-latency service of the second access point corresponding to the K bits based on the values ​​of the K bits. For example, if K=8, each bit corresponds to a 20MHz bandwidth, and the value of the K bits is 00001111, it can be indicated that the low-latency service of the second access point occupies a bandwidth range of 80-160MHz.

[0129] In some embodiments, the second frame also includes information on the duration of low-latency services occupied by the second access point, that is, the duration required for the second access point to transmit low-latency services, which can also be understood as the duration for which the second access point expects the first access point to share the TXOP. Therefore, in this embodiment, the second access point can feed back the duration of low-latency service occupancy information to the first access point. Thus, when sharing the TXOP, the first access point can allocate appropriate time resources to the second access point based on the duration of low-latency service occupancy information fed back by the second access point, thereby improving the utilization rate of TXOP resources.

[0130] In some embodiments, the second frame also includes priority information for low-latency services of the second access point.

[0131] Optionally, if multiple second access points have the same priority for low-latency services, the first access point can further determine which second access point to share the TXOP by combining the latency information and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency services of these multiple second access points. For example, the TXOP can be preferentially shared with second access points that have shorter remaining tolerance times or longer waiting times, thereby ensuring the timely transmission of the low-latency services of these second access points and meeting their latency requirements. Alternatively, appropriate bandwidth resources can be allocated to multiple second access points simultaneously based on the bandwidth information of the low-latency services. In this way, when these multiple second access points use the allocated bandwidth resources for low-latency service transmission, they can punch holes in the bandwidth overlapping with other access points and then perform low-latency service transmission on their respective remaining bandwidth. Multiple second access points can perform low-latency service transmission simultaneously, which is beneficial to improving the utilization rate of bandwidth resources and the concurrency efficiency of multiple APs.

[0132] In some embodiments, the first frame may further include third indication information for instructing the second access point to send the second frame using a non-high-throughput (non-HT) Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) or a Trigger Based (TB) PPDU.

[0133] For example, if the at least one second access point includes only one second access point, the third indication information may instruct the second access point to send the second frame using a non-TB PPDU (e.g., a non-HT PPDU).

[0134] For example, in the case where the at least one second access point includes multiple second access points, the third indication information may instruct the second access point to send the second frame using a TB PPDU.

[0135] In some embodiments, the first frame may further include fourth indication information to indicate the bandwidth for the second access point to transmit the second frame using a non-HT PPDU. Therefore, the second access point can determine whether to transmit the second frame using a non-HT duplicate PPDU based on the third and fourth indication information. For example, if the bandwidth required to transmit the non-HT PPDU corresponding to the second frame is 20MHz, and if the fourth indication information indicates that the bandwidth for transmitting the second frame using a non-HT PPDU is 80MHz, then it means that the second frame needs to be transmitted on an 80MHz channel including the main 20MHz channel. That is, the second frame is transmitted using a non-HT duplicate PPDU, and the bandwidth of the non-HT duplicate PPDU is 80MHz.

[0136] In some embodiments, the first frame further includes fifth indication information for indicating the length of the information fed back by the second access point.

[0137] In some embodiments, the second frame further includes a sixth indication message for indicating whether the second access point participates in the sharing of the first TXOP.

[0138] In some embodiments, the second frame further includes seventh indication information, which indicates that the second frame is used for information exchange between access points, or for information exchange between an access point and an associated site.

[0139] In some embodiments of this application, the first access point makes a decision on sharing a first TXOP based on a second frame from at least one second access point. After determining the target access point for sharing the first TXOP, the first access point can send a third frame to the target access point. This third frame can be used to indicate the time and bandwidth resources allocated to the target access point. The target access point may include one or more second access points.

[0140] Optionally, the third frame can be a MU-RTS TXS trigger frame, or it can be other frames, which are not limited in this application. Optionally, the duration of the third frame can be set to the time required to complete the transmission of the response frame of the third frame plus one SIFS.

[0141] The following describes the frame structure design of the first and second frames involved in method 200.

[0142] First, the frame structure design of the first frame in S201 will be explained.

[0143] In some embodiments, the first frame may be an Initial Control Frame (ICF). For example, the ICF frame may be designed based on a Buffer Status Report Poll (BSRP) frame, or it may be implemented based on other frames. This application does not limit this.

[0144] In some embodiments, the first frame includes a user information field, which carries first control information. The first control information is control information from the second access point to the first access point to feed back low-latency service information. The first control information may include the aforementioned first indication information and / or second indication information.

[0145] In some embodiments, the first frame includes a User Info List field, which may include the User Info List field.

[0146] Optionally, the first control information can be considered as an enhanced special user information. When a user information field is used to carry the first control information, the user information field can be considered as an enhanced special user information field.

[0147] For ease of distinction and explanation, the user information field carrying the first control information is referred to as the first user information field.

[0148] In some embodiments, the first user information field includes at least one of the following fields:

[0149] The first indication field is used to indicate whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back; that is, it is used to carry the first indication information.

[0150] The delay unit field indicates the unit of the feedback delay information;

[0151] The second indication field is used to indicate whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back, that is, it is used to carry the second indication information;

[0152] The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the returned bandwidth information.

[0153] Optionally, the first indication field can be 1 bit. Different values ​​of this 1 bit are used to indicate whether the second access point needs to provide feedback on the latency information of the low-latency service, or does not need to provide feedback on the latency information of the low-latency service. For example, a value of 1 indicates that feedback is required, and a value of 0 indicates that feedback is not required.

[0154] Optionally, the first indication field may also be called a delay information enable field, a delay feedback enable field, a delay feedback indication field, etc., and this application does not limit it in this way.

[0155] Optionally, the second indication field can be 1 bit. Different values ​​of this 1 bit are used to indicate whether the second access point needs to feed back bandwidth information for low-latency services, or does not need to feed back bandwidth information for low-latency services. For example, a value of 1 indicates that feedback is required, and a value of 0 indicates that feedback is not required.

[0156] Optionally, the second indication field may also be called a bandwidth information enable field, a bandwidth feedback enable field, a bandwidth feedback indication field, etc., and this application does not limit it in this way.

[0157] Optionally, the length of the delay unit field can be determined based on the number of candidate delay units. For example, if it is necessary to indicate 8 delay units, the delay unit field can be 3 bits or 4 bits, etc.

[0158] In some embodiments, the delay unit field may indicate, but is not limited to, at least one of the following delay units:

[0159] 8us, 16us, 32us, 64us, 128us, 256us, 512us, 1024us.

[0160] Optionally, the length of the bandwidth unit field can be determined based on the number of candidate bandwidth units. For example, if it is necessary to indicate 8 bandwidth units, the bandwidth unit field can be 3 bits or 4 bits, etc.

[0161] In some embodiments, the bandwidth unit field may indicate, but is not limited to, at least one of the following bandwidth units:

[0162] 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, 160MHz, 320MHz.

[0163] In some embodiments, the first user information field may include an identification field, such as an Association Identifier (AID)12 field, which indicates that the first user information field is used to carry first control information. Optionally, when the AID12 field takes a third value, it indicates that the first user information field is used to carry first control information. Optionally, the third value may be a reserved value of the AID12 field, such as 4056.

[0164] In some embodiments, the first frame further includes a Common Info field, which includes at least one of the following fields:

[0165] The third indication field is used to indicate whether the second access point uses a non-HT PPDU or a TB PPDU to send the second frame; that is, it is used to carry the third indication information.

[0166] The fourth indication field is used to indicate the bandwidth of the second access point when sending the second frame using a non-HT PPDU; that is, it is used to carry the fourth indication information.

[0167] The fifth indication field is used to indicate the length of the feedback information from the second access point, that is, to carry the fifth indication information.

[0168] In some embodiments, the third indication field can be 1 bit, and different values ​​of the 1 bit are used to indicate whether the second access point sends the second frame using non-HT PPDU or TB PPDU. For example, a value of 1 indicates that the second frame is sent using TB PPDU, and a value of 0 indicates that the second frame is sent using non-HT PPDU.

[0169] Optionally, a third indicator field may be referred to as a Non-HT PPDU feedback indicator field, a TB PPDU feedback indicator field, a PPDU type indicator field, etc., which are not limited in this application.

[0170] In some embodiments, the fourth indication field can be determined based on the number of candidate feedback bandwidths. For example, if there are four feedback bandwidths (e.g., 20MHz, 40MHz, 60MHz and 80MHz), the fourth indication field can be 2 bits, etc.

[0171] Optional, the fourth indication field may also be called the feedback bandwidth field or the feedback bandwidth control field, etc., but this application does not limit this to.

[0172] Optional, the fifth indication field may also be called the feedback length field or the feedback length control field, etc., but this application does not limit this.

[0173] In some embodiments, the first frame further includes an eighth indication field, used to indicate whether the user information fields in the first frame include special user information fields. For example, the eighth indication field can be 1 bit, and different values ​​of this 1 bit are used to indicate whether the user information fields in the first frame include special user information fields or do not include special user information fields. For example, a value of 1 indicates that special user information fields are included, and a value of 0 indicates that special user information fields are not included.

[0174] Optionally, the eighth indicator field, also known as the special user information flag field, may be replaced with other names, which are not limited in this application.

[0175] Optionally, the eighth indicator field can be carried within the Common Info field in the first frame.

[0176] In some embodiments, the first frame further includes a ninth indication field, used to indicate whether the user information field in the first frame includes an enhanced special user information field. For example, the ninth indication field can be 1 bit, and different values ​​of this 1 bit are used to indicate whether the user information field in the first frame includes the enhanced special user information field or does not include the enhanced special user information field. For example, a value of 1 indicates that the enhanced special user information field is included, and a value of 0 indicates that the enhanced special user information field is not included.

[0177] Optionally, the ninth indication field, also known as the enhanced special user information flag field, may be replaced with other names, which are not limited in this application.

[0178] Optionally, the ninth indicator field can be carried within the Common Info field in the first frame.

[0179] In some embodiments, the first frame includes a First Frame Check Sequence (FCS) field, a padding field, and a second FCS field. The first FCS field precedes the padding field, and the second FCS field is located at the end of the first frame, following the user information field in the first frame. The first FCS field is used by the second access point to pre-verify the control information carried in the user information field preceding the first FCS field. The padding field is used by the first access point to occupy the channel, providing sufficient processing or conversion time for the second access point to reply with a second frame.

[0180] Optionally, the first FCS field may be called the intermediate FCS field, or the early FCS field, etc. This application does not limit this to any particular type.

[0181] In some embodiments, the first frame also includes a duration field, which can be set to the time required to complete the transmission of the second frame plus a short interframe space (SIFS).

[0182] It should be noted that the aforementioned first to ninth indication fields, delay unit field, bandwidth unit field, and first FCS field can be implemented using existing fields in the first frame (e.g., reserved fields, or redefining existing fields), or can be implemented by adding fields in the first frame. This application does not limit this.

[0183] Figure 5 is a schematic format diagram of a first frame provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 5, the first frame may include a duration field, which can be set to the time required to complete the transmission of the second frame plus one SIFS. The first frame may also include a first FCS field located after the user information list field, used by the second access point to pre-verify the control information carried in the user information list field before the first FCS field. The first frame may also include a Common Info field used to carry control information for the first access point to feed back low-latency service information to the second access point, such as the aforementioned third indication information.

[0184] Figure 6 is a schematic format diagram of the Common Info field of a first frame provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 6, the Common Info field may include a Non-HT PPDU feedback indication field, which is used to indicate that the second access point sends the second frame using Non-HT PPDU or TB PPDU.

[0185] Optionally, the Common Info field may also include a special user information flag field (i.e., the eighth indicator field) and an enhanced special user information flag field (i.e., the ninth indicator field), wherein the special user information flag field is used to indicate whether the User Info field in the User Info List field in the first frame includes a special user information field, and the enhanced special user information flag field is used to indicate whether the User Info field in the User Info List field in the first frame includes an enhanced special user information field.

[0186] Figure 7 is a schematic format diagram of the Common Info field of another first frame provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 7, the Common Info field may include a Non-HT PPDU feedback indication field, used to indicate that the second access point uses Non-HT PPDU or TB PPDU to send the second frame, that is, used to carry third indication information. Optionally, a value of 1 in the Non-HT PPDU feedback indication field indicates that the second frame is sent using TB PPDU, and a value of 0 indicates that the second frame is sent using Non-HT PPDU.

[0187] The Common Info field may also include a feedback length field and a feedback bandwidth field. The feedback length field is used to control the length of the feedback information from the second access point (i.e., to carry the fifth indication information), and the feedback bandwidth field is used to indicate the bandwidth of the second access point when sending the second frame using Non-HT PPDU (i.e., to carry the fourth indication information).

[0188] The Common Info field may also include a special user information flag field (i.e., the eighth indicator field) and an enhanced special user information flag field (i.e., the ninth indicator field). The special user information flag field is used to indicate whether the User Info field in the User Info List field in the first frame includes a special user information field, and the enhanced special user information flag field is used to indicate whether the User Info field in the User Info List field in the first frame includes an enhanced special user information field.

[0189] It should be noted that Figure 7 only illustrates the use of B61 as the feedback indication field for the Non-HT PPDU; it can also be carried by other bits, such as B22, B26, B53, etc. Similarly, other bits (e.g., reserved bits) can also be used as the feedback length field, feedback bandwidth field, special user information flag field, and enhanced special user information flag field; this application does not limit this.

[0190] Figure 8 is a schematic format diagram of a User Info field provided in an embodiment of this application when both the Special User Information Flag field and the Enhanced Special User Information Flag field are invalid. The AID12 field in this User Info field can be used to indicate the identifier of the second access point, and the User Info field can be used to indicate the resources allocated by the first access point for sending the second frame to the second access point.

[0191] Figure 9 is a schematic format diagram of a special user information field when the special user information flag field is valid, according to an embodiment of this application. The special user information field may carry extended public information not provided in the public information field, and the special user information field may immediately follow the public information field.

[0192] Figure 10 is a schematic format diagram of an enhanced special user information field provided in an embodiment of this application when the enhanced special user information flag field is valid. As shown in Figure 10, the enhanced special user information field may include an AID12 field, which may take a third value (e.g., 4056) to indicate that the enhanced special user information field is used to carry first control information. The enhanced special user information field also includes the following fields:

[0193] The latency information enable field is used to indicate whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back, that is, it is used to carry the first indication information;

[0194] The delay unit field indicates the unit of the feedback delay information;

[0195] The bandwidth information enable field is used to indicate whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back, i.e., it is used to carry the second indication information.

[0196] The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the returned bandwidth information.

[0197] It should be noted that the position and length of each field in the enhanced special user information field are only examples, and this application does not limit them. They can be adjusted according to actual needs.

[0198] Optionally, the delay unit field can be 4 bits, and the correspondence between the values ​​of these 4 bits and the meaning of the corresponding delay unit is shown in Table 1:

[0199] Table 1

[0200] Optionally, the bandwidth unit field can be 3 bits, and the correspondence between the values ​​of these 3 bits and the meanings of the corresponding delay units is shown in Table 2:

[0201] Table 2

[0202] The following describes the frame structure design of the second frame in S202.

[0203] In some embodiments, the second frame may be an Initial Control Response (ICR) frame. For example, the ICR frame may be designed based on a Block Acknowledgment (BA) frame (e.g., an M-BA frame), or it may be implemented based on other frames. This application does not limit this.

[0204] Figure 11 is a schematic format diagram of a second frame provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0205] In some embodiments, the second frame may include at least one of the following fields:

[0206] The latency information field is used to indicate the latency information of low-latency services reported by the second access point;

[0207] The delay unit field indicates the unit of the delay information fed back by the second access point;

[0208] The bandwidth information field is used to indicate the bandwidth information of low-latency services fed back by the second access point;

[0209] The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the bandwidth information fed back by the second access point.

[0210] Optionally, the second frame can be a BA frame or an M-BA frame, which includes a BA information field, and the aforementioned field can be carried in the BA information field.

[0211] Optionally, the design of the latency unit field can refer to the design of the latency unit field in the first frame, and the design of the bandwidth unit field can refer to the design of the bandwidth unit field in the first frame. For the sake of simplicity, it will not be elaborated here.

[0212] In some embodiments, the second frame further includes a length field for indicating the duration of low-latency service usage at the second access point.

[0213] In some embodiments, the second frame also includes a Coordination Intention field, which indicates whether the second access point participates in the first TXOP sharing. This Coordination Intention field may also be called an Ack Type field, or it may be replaced with other names, which are not limited in this application.

[0214] Optionally, the second frame may include a BA control field, which may include a BA type field to indicate the type of information carried in the BA information field of the second frame, such as latency information and / or bandwidth information for low-latency services fed back by the second access point. For example, when the BA type field takes the fourth value (which may be a reserved value such as 14), it indicates that the BA information field of the second frame carries latency information and / or bandwidth information for low-latency services fed back by the second access point.

[0215] Figure 12 is a schematic format diagram of a second frame implemented by an M-BA frame according to an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 12, the second frame may include a BA information field, which may include a Per AID TID Info field. The Per AID TID Info field may include a Feedback Control field to indicate the information fed back by the second access point.

[0216] For example, as shown in Figure 12, the feedback control field may include the following fields:

[0217] The latency information field is used to indicate the latency information of low-latency services reported by the second access point;

[0218] The delay unit field indicates the unit of the delay information fed back by the second access point;

[0219] The bandwidth information field is used to indicate the bandwidth information of low-latency services fed back by the second access point;

[0220] The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the bandwidth information fed back by the second access point.

[0221] The Per AID TID Info field may also include an AID TID information field, which may include the following fields:

[0222] The AID11 field is used to indicate the identifier of the second access point;

[0223] The response type / cooperation willingness field is used to indicate whether the second access point participates in the sharing of the first TXOP;

[0224] The TID field is used to indicate the Traffic Identifier (TID) of the service to be transmitted at the second access point;

[0225] The Per AID TID Info field may also include a Starting Sequence Control field, which may include a Feedback Length field to indicate the length of the information fed back by the second access point.

[0226] As shown in Figure 12, the second frame also includes a BA control field. This BA control field may include a BA type field, which indicates that the BA information field of the second frame carries latency and bandwidth information of the low-latency service fed back by the second access point. For example, when the BA type field takes the fourth value (which can be a reserved value such as 14), it indicates that the BA information field of the second frame carries latency and bandwidth information of the low-latency service fed back by the second access point.

[0227] Figure 13 is a schematic format diagram of a second frame implemented by a BA frame according to an embodiment of this application. Unlike Figure 12, the Starting Sequence Control field is omitted, which helps to reduce the feedback overhead of the second access point.

[0228] In summary, in the embodiments of this application, in a C-TDMA scenario, the first access point can send a first frame to instruct the sharing of a first TXOP with at least one second access point. In this first frame, the first access point can also instruct the second access point to report latency information and / or bandwidth information of low-latency services. Furthermore, the second access point can feed back the latency information and / or bandwidth information of low-latency services to the first access point based on the instruction from the first access point. Therefore, the first access point can perform appropriate TXOP sharing based on the latency information and / or bandwidth information of low-latency services fed back by the second access point, which helps to ensure the latency requirements of low-latency services and guarantee TXOP sharing performance.

[0229] In some scenarios, many Ultra High Reliability (UHR) features are introduced, such as Inter-BSS features (or Multi-AP Coordination (MAPC or MAP) features) and Intra-BSS features. MAP features can include Coordinated Beamforming (C-BF), Coordinated Spatial Reuse (C-SR), Coordinated Time Division Multiple Access (C-TDMA), and Coordinated Restricted Target Wake Time (C-RTWT). Among them, Intra-BSS features may include In-Device Coexistence (IDC) feature, Dynamic Power Save (DPS) feature, Non-Primary Channel Access (NPCA) feature, Dynamic Subchannel Operation (DSO) feature, and Dynamic Puncturing feature.

[0230] For different UHR characteristics, APs or APs and STAs can exchange corresponding UHR control information. In order to improve the overall efficiency of the protocol, this application embodiment considers designing unified ICF and ICR frames to realize the exchange of different UHR control information between APs or between APs and STAs.

[0231] The following, with reference to Figure 14, describes the process of UHR control information exchange between APs or between APs and STAs through unified ICF and ICR frames provided in the embodiments of this application. As shown in Figure 14, it may include the following steps:

[0232] S301, the first access point sends an ICF frame to the first device;

[0233] S302, the first device replies with an ICR frame to the first access point, wherein the first device is the second access point or an associated site of the first access point.

[0234] The ICF frame includes one or more user information fields, which include an identification field that indicates one of the following:

[0235] The identifier of the site associated with the first access point;

[0236] The identifier of the second access point;

[0237] This user information field is used to store special user information;

[0238] This user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and its associated sites, that is, Intra-BSS control information, such as IDC-related control information, DPS-related control information, etc.

[0239] This user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point, that is, control information of the Inter-BSS, such as control information related to C-TDMA, control information related to C-BF, etc.

[0240] In some embodiments, the ICF frame may include a User Info List field, which includes one or more user information fields.

[0241] In some embodiments, when the first device is a second access point, the ICF frame is used to indicate that the first TXOP is shared with at least one second access point. The ICF frame may include first indication information and / or second indication information, and the ICR frame includes latency information of the low-latency service of the second access point and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency service. This can correspond to the scenario in method 200.

[0242] In some embodiments, the identifier field includes a first bit;

[0243] Wherein, if the first bit takes the first value, the other bits in the identifier field are used to indicate one of the following:

[0244] The identifier of the site associated with the first access point;

[0245] This user information field is used to store special user information;

[0246] This user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and its associated sites, i.e., enhanced special user information;

[0247] In the case where the first bit takes the second value, the other bits in the identifier field are used to indicate one of the following:

[0248] The identifier of the second access point;

[0249] This user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point, i.e., enhanced special user information.

[0250] In some embodiments, the ICF frame can be designed based on the BSRP frame, for example, the ICF frame can adopt the frame format shown in Figure 5.

[0251] In some embodiments, the ICR frame may be designed based on the M-BA or BA frame. For example, in a C-TDMA scenario, the ICR frame may adopt the frame format exemplified in Figure 12 or 13.

[0252] In some embodiments, the identification field in the ICF frame is an AID12 field, which is 12 bits, and the ICR frame includes an AID11 field, which is 11 bits. The first bit can be the highest bit of the 12 bits of the AID12 field. That is, the extra bit in the AID12 field compared to the AID11 field can be used to indicate whether the ICF frame is an intra-BSS frame interaction or an inter-BSS frame interaction, or to indicate whether the ICF frame carries Intra-BSS features or MAP features.

[0253] Optionally, the first value can be 0 and the second value can be 1.

[0254] In some embodiments, when the first bit takes a first value, the different values ​​of the other bits in the AID12 field respectively represent the site identifier, the user information field is used to carry special user information, or the user information field is used to carry enhanced special user information.

[0255] Table 3 shows an example of one way to interpret the AID12 field of an ICF frame.

[0256] Table 3

[0257] It should be noted that the range of large or small numbers in the examples in Table 3 above is merely an example and can be adjusted according to actual circumstances. This application does not impose any limitations on this. For example, the number of AP IDs can be 2, or other numbers, and the number of control information between the first access point and its associated sites can also be other numbers, etc.

[0258] In some embodiments, when the first bit takes a second value (e.g., 1), different values ​​of other bits in the identifier field can be used to indicate different control information, such as cooperation type, control information type, etc. Alternatively, the other bits in the identifier field can be divided into multiple subfields, each used to carry different control information, such as cooperation type, control information type, etc. In this way, the first device can quickly read information and obtain the corresponding control information at a fixed location.

[0259] In one specific embodiment, when the first bit takes a second value, the other bits in the identifier field include at least one of the following fields:

[0260] The first field (or collaboration type field) is used to indicate the collaboration type between the first access point and the second access point;

[0261] The second field (or control information type field) is used to indicate the type of control information between the first access point and the second access point;

[0262] The third field (or AP ID field) is used to indicate the identifier of the second access point.

[0263] Optionally, the first field may be used to indicate at least one of the following collaboration types:

[0264] Common collaboration types (for MAP public negotiation process), C-SR, C-BF, C-TDMA, C-RTWT, etc.

[0265] Optionally, the second field can be used to indicate the type of control information under the collaboration type indicated by the first field.

[0266] For example, when the first field indicates a general collaboration type, the second field can indicate the type of control information used to establish the collaboration set.

[0267] Taking the first bit as the high 12 bits and the second value equal to 1 as an example, Figures 15 and 16 illustrate two format designs of the AID12 field of an ICF frame when the high 12 bits are 1, according to an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figures 15 and 16, the low 11 bits of the AID12 field may include a cooperation type field, a control information type field, and an AP ID field. In this way, the second access point can obtain different information through different subfields in the AID12 field.

[0268] In the aforementioned method 200, the first frame can be an ICF frame. Since the first frame carries control information between access points, the AID12 field of the user information field in the first frame can adopt the design of the AID12 field in the ICF frame. For example, the high 12 bits of the AID12 field in the first frame can be set to 1, and the low 11 bits can be used to indicate that the user information field carries control information between the access points. For example, the cooperation type field in the low 11 bits can be used to indicate C-TDMA, and the control information type field can be used to indicate C-TDMA-related control information.

[0269] In some embodiments, the ICF frame may include a special user information flag field and an enhanced special user information flag field, specifically implementing the design of the special user information flag field and the enhanced special user information flag field in the first frame of reference method 200, which will not be elaborated here.

[0270] In some embodiments, when both the Special User Information Flag (SFIF) field and the Enhanced Special User Information Flag (AFIF) field in the ICF frame are invalid, the value of the AID12 field in the ICF frame can follow the design in Table 3, Figure 15, or Figure 16. That is, when the high 12 bits are 0, the decimal part is used to represent the station identifier; when the high 12 bits are 1, the decimal part is used to represent the access point identifier. In this case, the format of the User Info field in the ICF frame can be as shown in Figure 8. The AID12 field in this User Info field can be used to indicate the identifier of the first device, and the User Info field can be used to indicate the resources allocated by the first access point for sending ICR frames to the first device.

[0271] In some embodiments, when the Special User Information Flag field is valid, the User Info field in the ICF frame is a Special User Information field, and the format of this Special User Information field can be as shown in Figure 9. This Special User Information field may carry extended public information not provided in the public information field, and it may immediately follow the public information field.

[0272] In some embodiments, when the enhanced special user information flag field is valid, the User Info field in the ICF frame is an enhanced special user information field. When the enhanced special user information field is used to carry the first control information in method 200, the enhanced special user information field can be as shown in Figure 10.

[0273] In some embodiments, the ICF frame includes a first FCS field, a padding field, and a second FCS field. The first FCS field precedes the padding field, and the second FCS field ends the ICF frame. The first FCS field follows the user information field in the ICF frame. The first FCS field is used by the first device to pre-verify the control information carried in the user information field preceding the first FCS field. The padding field is used by the first access point to occupy the channel, providing sufficient processing or conversion time for the first device to reply with an ICR frame.

[0274] In some embodiments, the ICF frame may further include a Non-HT PPDU feedback indication field, used to indicate that the first device transmits the ICR frame using a non-HT PPDU or a TB PPDU. The design of the Non-HT PPDU feedback indication field refers to the relevant design in method 200, and will not be repeated here.

[0275] In some embodiments, the common information field of the ICF frame can adopt the frame format design shown in Figure 6. For specific implementation, please refer to the relevant description in method 200. For the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

[0276] In some embodiments, the ICF frame may further include a feedback bandwidth field to indicate the bandwidth at which the first device transmits the ICR frame using a non-HT PPDU. The design of the feedback bandwidth field refers to the relevant design in method 200, and will not be repeated here.

[0277] In some embodiments, the ICF frame may further include a feedback length field to indicate the length of the feedback information from the first device. The design of the feedback length field refers to the relevant design in method 200, and will not be repeated here.

[0278] In some embodiments, the common information field of the ICF frame can adopt the frame format design shown in Figure 7. For specific implementation, please refer to the relevant description in method 200. For the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

[0279] In some embodiments, the ICR frame may be designed using the frame format shown in Figure 11.

[0280] In some embodiments, an ICR frame may include an AP2AP field to indicate whether the ICR frame is used for information exchange between APs, or whether the ICR frame is an intra-BSS frame or an inter-BSS frame.

[0281] Optionally, the AP2AP field can be carried in the BA control field of the ICR frame, for example, indicated by 1 bit in B0, B5-B8.

[0282] Figure 17 is a schematic format of the BA control field of an ICR frame provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 17, the BA control field of the ICR frame may include an AP2AP field to indicate whether the ICR frame is used for information exchange between APs. It should be noted that Figure 17 only uses B0 as an example of the AP2AP field, and other bits can also be used as the AP2AP field. This application does not limit this.

[0283] In some embodiments, when the first device is the second access point, and the ICR frame is used to carry latency information and / or bandwidth information of low-latency services fed back from the second access point to the first access point, the ICR frame may adopt the frame format shown in Figure 12 or Figure 13.

[0284] In summary, the unified ICR and ICF design provided in this application can be applied to the interaction of UHR control information between APs and between APs and associated STAs, which helps to reduce implementation complexity and also brings the following benefits:

[0285] Reduce or adapt the transmission and reception time of ICF frames. Specifically, the ICF frame implementation is smaller than the action frame implementation, thus reducing the transmission and reception time of ICF frames.

[0286] ICF frames support both unicast and multicast transmission, enhancing transmission flexibility.

[0287] It enhances scalability; for example, by expanding the types of control information indicated by the AID12 field, the uses or scenarios of ICF frames can be expanded.

[0288] For backward compatibility, the ICF includes a duration field. Traditional devices do not need to decode all fields in the ICF frame; they only need to identify the duration field and then set the NAV, thus avoiding interference between traditional devices and the transmission of new devices.

[0289] The method embodiments of this application have been described in detail above with reference to Figures 3 to 17. The device embodiments of this application have been described in detail below with reference to Figures 18 to 22. It should be understood that the device embodiments correspond to the method embodiments, and similar descriptions can be referred to the method embodiments.

[0290] Figure 18 shows a schematic block diagram of a communication device 500 according to an embodiment of this application. The communication device 500 may be a first access point, or a component within the first access point, such as a chip, circuit, or module.

[0291] As shown in Figure 18, the communication device 500 includes:

[0292] Transceiver module 510 is configured to send a first frame, the first frame indicating that a first transmission opportunity (TXOP) should be shared with at least one second access point. The first frame includes first indication information and / or second indication information, the first indication information indicating whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back, and the second indication information indicating whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back.

[0293] Used to receive second frames sent by the at least one second access point, wherein the second frame includes latency information of the low-latency service of the second access point and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency service of the second access point.

[0294] Optionally, the communication device 500 may further include a processing module 520 for controlling the transceiver module 510 to send the first frame and receive the second frames sent by the at least one second access point.

[0295] In some embodiments, the latency information of the low-latency service includes the remaining tolerance time or the waiting time of the low-latency service.

[0296] In some embodiments, the second frame may also include information on the duration of low-latency service usage of the second access point.

[0297] In some embodiments, the first frame includes one or more user information fields, the user information fields including an identification field, the identification field being used to indicate one of the following:

[0298] The identifier of the associated site of the first access point;

[0299] The identifier of the second access point;

[0300] The user information field is used to carry special user information;

[0301] The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and its associated sites.

[0302] The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point.

[0303] In some embodiments, the identifier field includes a first bit;

[0304] Wherein, when the first bit takes the first value, the other bits in the identifier field are used to indicate one of the following:

[0305] The identifier of the associated site of the first access point;

[0306] The user information field is used to carry special user information;

[0307] The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and its associated sites.

[0308] Wherein, when the first bit takes the second value, the other bits in the identifier field are used to indicate one of the following:

[0309] The identifier of the second access point;

[0310] The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point.

[0311] In some embodiments, when the first bit takes a second value, the other bits include at least one of the following fields:

[0312] The first field is used to indicate the type of cooperation between the first access point and the second access point;

[0313] The second field is used to indicate the type of control information between the first access point and the second access point;

[0314] The third field is used to indicate the identifier of the second access point.

[0315] In some embodiments, when the user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point or control information between the first access point and its associated site, the user information field further includes at least one of the following fields:

[0316] The first indication field is used to indicate whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back;

[0317] The delay unit field indicates the unit of the feedback delay information;

[0318] The second indication field is used to indicate whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back.

[0319] The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the returned bandwidth information.

[0320] In some embodiments, the first frame further includes a public information field, which includes at least one of the following fields:

[0321] The third indication field is used to indicate that the second frame is sent using a non-high throughput physical layer protocol data unit (non-HT PPDU) or a physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU) based on a trigger frame;

[0322] The fourth indication field is used to indicate the bandwidth used to transmit the second frame using a non-HT PPDU;

[0323] The fifth indicator field is used to indicate the length of the feedback information from the second access point.

[0324] In some embodiments, the first frame includes a first frame verification sequence (FCS) field, a padding field, and a second FCS field, wherein the first FCS field is located before the padding field and the second FCS field is located at the end of the first frame.

[0325] In some embodiments, the second frame includes at least one of the following fields:

[0326] The latency information field is used to indicate the latency information of the low-latency service being reported.

[0327] The delay unit field indicates the unit of the feedback delay information;

[0328] The bandwidth information field is used to indicate the bandwidth information of the low-latency service being fed back.

[0329] The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the returned bandwidth information.

[0330] In some embodiments, the second frame further includes a sixth indication field for indicating whether the second access point participates in the sharing of the first TXOP.

[0331] In some embodiments, the second frame further includes a seventh indication field, which indicates that the second frame is used for information exchange between access points or for information exchange between an access point and an associated site.

[0332] Optionally, in some embodiments, the transceiver module described above may be a communication interface or transceiver, or an input / output interface of a communication chip or system-on-a-chip. The processing module described above may be one or more processors.

[0333] It should be understood that the device 500 according to the embodiments of this application may correspond to the first access point in the method embodiments of this application, and the above and other operations and / or functions of each unit in the device 500 are respectively to implement the corresponding process of the first access point in the embodiments of FIG3 to FIG17. For the sake of brevity, they will not be described in detail here.

[0334] Figure 19 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device 600 according to an embodiment of this application. The communication device 600 can be a second access point, or a component within the second access point, such as a chip, circuit, or module. The communication device 600 of Figure 19 includes:

[0335] Transceiver module 610 is configured to receive a first frame sent by a first access point, the first frame indicating that a first transmission opportunity (TXOP) should be shared with at least one second access point, wherein the first frame includes first indication information and / or second indication information, the first indication information indicating whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back, and the second indication information indicating whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back; and

[0336] Used to send a second frame to a first access point, wherein the second frame includes latency information of the low-latency service of the second access point and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency service of the second access point.

[0337] Optionally, the communication device 600 may further include a processing module 620 for controlling the transceiver module 610 to receive the first frame sent by the first access point and to send the second frame to the first access point.

[0338] In some embodiments, the latency information of the low-latency service includes the remaining tolerance time or the waiting time of the low-latency service.

[0339] In some embodiments, the second frame may also include information on the duration of low-latency service usage of the second access point.

[0340] In some embodiments, the first frame includes one or more user information fields, the user information fields including an identification field, the identification field being used to indicate one of the following:

[0341] The identifier of the associated site of the first access point;

[0342] The identifier of the second access point;

[0343] The user information field is used to carry special user information;

[0344] The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and its associated sites.

[0345] The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point.

[0346] In some embodiments, the identifier field includes a first bit;

[0347] Wherein, when the first bit takes the first value, the other bits in the identifier field are used to indicate one of the following:

[0348] The identifier of the associated site of the first access point;

[0349] The user information field is used to carry special user information;

[0350] The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and its associated sites.

[0351] Wherein, when the first bit takes the second value, the other bits in the identifier field are used to indicate one of the following:

[0352] The identifier of the second access point;

[0353] The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point.

[0354] In some embodiments, when the first bit takes a second value, the other bits include at least one of the following fields:

[0355] The first field is used to indicate the type of cooperation between the first access point and the second access point;

[0356] The second field is used to indicate the type of control information between the first access point and the second access point;

[0357] The third field is used to indicate the identifier of the second access point.

[0358] In some embodiments, when the user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point or control information between the first access point and its associated site, the user information field further includes at least one of the following fields:

[0359] The first indication field is used to indicate whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back;

[0360] The delay unit field indicates the unit of the feedback delay information;

[0361] The second indication field is used to indicate whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back.

[0362] The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the returned bandwidth information.

[0363] In some embodiments, the first frame further includes a public information field, which includes at least one of the following fields:

[0364] The third indication field is used to indicate that the second frame is sent using a non-high throughput physical layer protocol data unit (non-HT PPDU) or a physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU) based on a trigger frame;

[0365] The fourth indication field is used to indicate the bandwidth for transmitting the second frame using the non-HT PPDU method;

[0366] The fifth indicator field is used to indicate the length of the feedback information from the second access point.

[0367] In some embodiments, the first frame includes a first frame verification sequence (FCS) field, a padding field, and a second FCS field, wherein the first FCS field is located before the padding field and the second FCS field is located at the end of the first frame.

[0368] In some embodiments, the second frame includes at least one of the following fields:

[0369] The latency information field is used to indicate the latency information of the low-latency service being reported.

[0370] The delay unit field indicates the unit of the feedback delay information;

[0371] The bandwidth information field is used to indicate the bandwidth information of the low-latency service being fed back.

[0372] The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the returned bandwidth information.

[0373] In some embodiments, the second frame further includes a sixth indication field for indicating whether the second access point participates in the sharing of the first TXOP.

[0374] In some embodiments, the second frame further includes a seventh indication field, which indicates that the second frame is used for information exchange between access points or for information exchange between an access point and an associated site.

[0375] Optionally, in some embodiments, the transceiver module may be a communication interface or transceiver, or an input / output interface of a communication chip or system-on-a-chip.

[0376] It should be understood that the device 600 according to the embodiments of this application may correspond to the second access point in the method embodiments of this application, and the above and other operations and / or functions of each unit in the device 600 are respectively to implement the corresponding process of the second access point in the method embodiments shown in FIG3 to FIG17. For the sake of brevity, they will not be described in detail here.

[0377] Figure 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 700 provided in an embodiment of this application. The communication device 700 shown in Figure 20 includes a processor 710, which can call and run computer programs from memory to implement the methods in the embodiments of this application.

[0378] Optionally, as shown in FIG20, the communication device 700 may further include a memory 720. The processor 710 can call and run a computer program from the memory 720 to implement the methods in the embodiments of this application. For example, when the communication device 700 is a first access point, the processor 710 can call and run a computer program from the memory 720 to implement the various steps of the method embodiments executed by the first access point, achieving the same technical effect. When the communication device 700 is a second access point, the processor 710 can call and run a computer program from the memory 720 to implement the various steps of the method embodiments executed by the second access point, achieving the same technical effect.

[0379] Alternatively, the memory 720 may be a separate device independent of the processor 710, or it may be integrated into the processor 710.

[0380] Optionally, as shown in FIG20, the communication device 700 may further include a transceiver 730, and the processor 710 may control the transceiver 730 to communicate with other devices. Specifically, it may send information or data to other devices or receive information or data sent by other devices.

[0381] Optionally, transceiver 730 may include a transmitter and a receiver. Transceiver 730 may further include antennas, and the number of antennas may be one or more.

[0382] Figure 21 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip according to an embodiment of this application. The chip 800 shown in Figure 21 includes a processor 810, which can call and run computer programs from memory to implement the methods in the embodiments of this application.

[0383] Optionally, as shown in FIG21, chip 800 may further include memory 820. Processor 810 can retrieve and run computer programs from memory 820 to implement the methods in the embodiments of this application.

[0384] Alternatively, the memory 820 may be a separate device independent of the processor 810, or it may be integrated into the processor 810.

[0385] Optionally, the chip 800 may also include an input interface 830. The processor 810 can control the input interface 830 to communicate with other devices or chips, for example, to acquire information or data sent by other devices or chips.

[0386] Optionally, the chip 800 may also include an output interface 840. The processor 810 can control the output interface 840 to communicate with other devices or chips, for example, to output information or data to other devices or chips.

[0387] In some embodiments, the input interface 830 and the output interface 840 can be implemented through the same input / output interface.

[0388] Optionally, the chip can be applied to the first access point in the embodiments of this application, and the chip can implement the corresponding processes implemented by the first access point in the various methods of the embodiments of this application. For the sake of brevity, it will not be described in detail here.

[0389] Optionally, the chip can be applied to the second access point in the embodiments of this application, and the chip can implement the corresponding processes implemented by the second access point in the various methods of the embodiments of this application. For the sake of brevity, it will not be described in detail here.

[0390] It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of this application may also be referred to as a system-on-a-chip, system chip, chip system, or system-on-a-chip, etc.

[0391] Figure 22 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system 900 provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 22, the communication system 900 includes a first access point 910 and a second access point 920.

[0392] The first access point 910 can be used to implement the corresponding functions implemented by the first access point in the above method, and the second access point 920 can be used to implement the corresponding functions implemented by the second access point in the above method. For the sake of brevity, these will not be elaborated here.

[0393] It should be understood that the processor in the embodiments of this application may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments can be completed by integrated logic circuits in the processor's hardware or by instructions in software form. The processor described above can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components. It can implement or execute the methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of this application. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. The steps of the methods disclosed in the embodiments of this application can be directly embodied in the execution of a hardware decoding processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software modules can be located in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, or other mature storage media in the art. The storage medium is located in memory, and the processor reads information from the memory and, in conjunction with its hardware, completes the steps of the above method.

[0394] It is understood that the memory in the embodiments of this application can be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. The volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), Enhanced Synchronous DRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct Rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory used in the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0395] It should be understood that the above-described memory is exemplary and not a limiting description. For example, the memory in the embodiments of this application may also be static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM), etc. That is to say, the memory in the embodiments of this application is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0396] This application also provides a readable storage medium storing a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the various processes of the above method embodiments.

[0397] Optionally, the readable storage medium can be applied to the first access point in the embodiments of this application, and the computer program causes the processor to execute the corresponding process implemented by the first access point in the method embodiments of this application. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0398] Optionally, the readable storage medium can be applied to the second access point in the embodiments of this application, and the computer program causes the processor to execute the corresponding process implemented by the second access point in the method embodiments of this application. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0399] This application also provides a computer program product, including a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the various processes of the above-described method embodiments.

[0400] Optionally, the computer program product can be applied to the first access point in the embodiments of this application, and the computer program causes the processor to execute the corresponding process implemented by the first access point in the method embodiments of this application. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0401] Optionally, the computer program product can be applied to the second access point in the embodiments of this application, and the computer program causes the processor to execute the corresponding process implemented by the second access point in the method embodiments of this application. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0402] This application also provides a computer program. When executed by a processor, this computer program implements the various processes of the above-described method embodiments.

[0403] Optionally, the computer program can be applied to the first access point in the embodiments of this application. The computer program causes the processor to execute the corresponding process implemented by the first access point in the method embodiments of this application. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0404] Optionally, the computer program can be applied to the second access point in the embodiments of this application. The computer program causes the processor to execute the corresponding process implemented by the second access point in the method embodiments of this application. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0405] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0406] Those skilled in the art will understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0407] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between apparatuses or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0408] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0409] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit.

[0410] If the aforementioned functions are implemented as software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or a portion of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0411] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for sharing transmission opportunities (TXOPs), characterized in that, include: The first access point sends a first frame, which is used to indicate that the first transmission opportunity (TXOP) is shared with at least one second access point. The first frame includes first indication information, which is used to indicate whether it is necessary to provide latency information for low-latency services. The first access point receives a second frame sent by the at least one second access point, wherein the second frame includes latency information of the low-latency service of the second access point.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The latency information of the low-latency service includes the remaining tolerance time or the waiting time of the low-latency service.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The second frame also includes information on the duration of low-latency services used by the second access point.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The first frame includes one or more user information fields, the user information fields including an identifier field, the identifier field being used to indicate one of the following: The identifier of the associated site of the first access point; The identifier of the second access point; The user information field is used to carry special user information; The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and its associated sites. The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The identifier field includes a first bit; Wherein, when the first bit takes the first value, the other bits in the identifier field are used to indicate one of the following: The identifier of the associated site of the first access point; The user information field is used to carry special user information; The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and its associated sites. Wherein, when the first bit takes the second value, the other bits in the identifier field are used to indicate one of the following: The identifier of the second access point; The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, When the first bit takes the second value, the other bits include at least one of the following fields: The first field is used to indicate the type of cooperation between the first access point and the second access point; The second field is used to indicate the type of control information between the first access point and the second access point; The third field is used to indicate the identifier of the second access point.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4-6, characterized in that, When the user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point, or control information between the first access point and its associated site, the user information field further includes at least one of the following fields: The first indication field is used to indicate whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back; The delay unit field indicates the unit of the feedback delay information; The second indication field is used to indicate whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back. The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the returned bandwidth information.

8. The method according to any one of claims 4-7, characterized in that, The first frame also includes a public information field, which includes at least one of the following fields: The third indication field is used to indicate that the second frame is sent using a non-high throughput physical layer protocol data unit (non-HT PPDU) or a physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU) based on a trigger frame; The fourth indication field is used to indicate the bandwidth used to transmit the second frame using a non-HT PPDU; The fifth indicator field is used to indicate the length of the feedback information from the second access point.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that, The first frame includes a first frame verification sequence (FCS) field, a padding field, and a second FCS field. The first FCS field is located before the padding field, and the second FCS field is located at the end of the first frame.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that, The second frame includes at least one of the following fields: The latency information field is used to indicate the latency information of the low-latency service being reported. The delay unit field indicates the unit of the feedback delay information; The bandwidth information field is used to indicate the bandwidth information of the low-latency service being fed back. The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the returned bandwidth information.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The second frame also includes a sixth indication field, which indicates whether the second access point participates in the sharing of the first TXOP.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that, The second frame also includes a seventh indication field, which indicates that the second frame is used for information exchange between access points or for information exchange between an access point and an associated site.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1-12, characterized in that, The method further includes: The first frame also includes second indication information, which is used to indicate whether it is necessary to feed back bandwidth information for low-latency services; The second frame also includes bandwidth information for the low-latency service of the second access point.

14. A method for sharing transmission opportunities (TXOPs), characterized in that, include: The second access point receives a first frame sent by the first access point. The first frame is used to indicate that the first transmission opportunity (TXOP) is shared with at least one second access point. The first frame includes first indication information, which is used to indicate whether it is necessary to provide latency information for low-latency services. The second access point sends a second frame to the first access point, wherein the second frame includes latency information of the low-latency service of the second access point.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that, The latency information of the low-latency service includes the remaining tolerance time or the waiting time of the low-latency service.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that, The second frame also includes information on the duration of low-latency services used by the second access point.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14-16, characterized in that, The first frame includes one or more user information fields, the user information fields including an identifier field, the identifier field being used to indicate one of the following: The identifier of the associated site of the first access point; The identifier of the second access point; The user information field is used to carry special user information; The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and its associated sites. The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that, The identifier field includes a first bit; Wherein, when the first bit takes the first value, the other bits in the identifier field are used to indicate one of the following: The identifier of the associated site of the first access point; The user information field is used to carry special user information; The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and its associated sites. Wherein, when the first bit takes the second value, the other bits in the identifier field are used to indicate one of the following: The identifier of the second access point; The user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, When the first bit takes the second value, the other bits include at least one of the following fields: The first field is used to indicate the type of cooperation between the first access point and the second access point; The second field is used to indicate the type of control information between the first access point and the second access point; The third field is used to indicate the identifier of the second access point.

20. The method according to any one of claims 17-19, characterized in that, When the user information field is used to carry control information between the first access point and the second access point, or control information between the first access point and its associated site, the user information field further includes at least one of the following fields: The first indication field is used to indicate whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back; The delay unit field indicates the unit of the feedback delay information; The second indication field is used to indicate whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back. The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the returned bandwidth information.

21. The method according to any one of claims 17-20, characterized in that, The first frame also includes a public information field, which includes at least one of the following fields: The third indication field is used to indicate that the second frame is sent using a non-high throughput physical layer protocol data unit (non-HT PPDU) or a physical layer protocol data unit (TB PPDU) based on a trigger frame; The fourth indication field is used to indicate the bandwidth used to transmit the second frame using a non-HT PPDU; The fifth indicator field is used to indicate the length of the feedback information from the second access point.

22. The method according to any one of claims 14-21, characterized in that, The first frame includes a first frame verification sequence (FCS) field, a padding field, and a second FCS field. The first FCS field is located before the padding field, and the second FCS field is located at the end of the first frame.

23. The method according to any one of claims 14-22, characterized in that, The second frame includes at least one of the following fields: The latency information field is used to indicate the latency information of the low-latency service being reported. The delay unit field indicates the unit of the feedback delay information; The bandwidth information field is used to indicate the bandwidth information of the low-latency service being fed back. The bandwidth unit field indicates the unit of the returned bandwidth information.

24. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that, The second frame also includes a sixth indication field, which indicates whether the second access point participates in the sharing of the first TXOP.

25. The method according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that, The second frame also includes a seventh indication field, which indicates that the second frame is used for information exchange between access points or for information exchange between an access point and an associated site.

26. The method according to any one of claims 14-25, characterized in that, The method further includes: The first frame also includes second indication information, which is used to indicate whether it is necessary to feed back bandwidth information for low-latency services; The second frame also includes bandwidth information for the low-latency service of the second access point.

27. A communication device, characterized in that, include: A transceiver module is configured to send a first frame, which indicates that a first transmission opportunity (TXOP) should be shared with at least one second access point. The first frame includes first indication information and / or second indication information. The first indication information indicates whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back, and the second indication information indicates whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back. Used to receive second frames sent by the at least one second access point, wherein the second frame includes latency information of the low-latency service of the second access point and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency service of the second access point.

28. A communication device, characterized in that, include: A transceiver module is configured to receive a first frame sent by a first access point, the first frame indicating that a first transmission opportunity (TXOP) should be shared with at least one second access point. The first frame includes first indication information and / or second indication information, the first indication information indicating whether latency information for low-latency services needs to be fed back, and the second indication information indicating whether bandwidth information for low-latency services needs to be fed back. Used to send a second frame to a first access point, wherein the second frame includes latency information of the low-latency service of the second access point and / or bandwidth information of the low-latency service of the second access point.

29. An access point, characterized in that, include: A processor and a memory for storing a computer program, the processor for calling and running the computer program stored in the memory to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13, or the method as claimed in claims 14 to 26.

30. A chip, characterized in that, include: A processor for retrieving and running a computer program from memory, causing a device having the chip mounted to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13, or the method as claimed in claims 14 to 26.

31. A readable storage medium, characterized in that, Used to store a computer program that causes a computer to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13, or the method as claimed in claims 14 to 26.