Multi-access-point coordinated transmission method, apparatus, and device

Abstract

A multi-access-point coordinated transmission method, an apparatus, and a device, relating to the field of WI-FI. The method is executed by a first access point, and the method comprises: receiving a second frame, wherein the second frame carries a rejection indication or an agreement indication, the rejection indication is used for indicating that a second access point refuses to participate in a first coordinated transmission, and the agreement indication is used for indicating that the second access point agrees to participate in the first coordinated transmission.

Description

Multi-access point cooperative transmission methods, apparatus and equipment

[0001] This application claims priority to the invention entitled “Multi-access point cooperative transmission method, apparatus and device”, filed on March 24, 2025, with application number PCT / CN2025 / 084545, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of Wireless Fidelity (WI-FI), and in particular to a multi-access point cooperative transmission method, apparatus, and device. Background Technology

[0003] With the development of wireless communication technology, wireless local area networks (WLANs) have become an indispensable part of people's daily lives and work. To improve the transmission efficiency and performance of WLANs, multi-access point (AP) cooperative transmission technology has emerged. In multi-AP cooperative transmission, multiple APs can work together to provide services to a single station (STA), thereby improving system throughput and coverage. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a multi-access-point cooperative transmission method, apparatus, and device, which includes at least the following:

[0005] According to one aspect of the embodiments of this application, a multi-access-point cooperative transmission method is provided, the method being executed by a first access point, the method comprising:

[0006] A second frame is received, which carries a rejection indication or an agreement indication. The rejection indication is used to indicate that the second access point refuses to participate in the first cooperative transmission, and the agreement indication is used to indicate that the second access point agrees to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0007] According to one aspect of the embodiments of this application, a multi-access-point cooperative transmission method is provided, the method being executed by a second access point, the method comprising:

[0008] A second frame is sent, which carries a rejection indication or an agreement indication. The rejection indication is used to indicate that the second access point refuses to participate in the first cooperative transmission, and the agreement indication is used to indicate that the second access point agrees to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0009] According to one aspect of the embodiments of this application, a first access point device is provided, the device comprising:

[0010] The first receiving module is used to receive a second frame, the second frame carrying a rejection indication or an agreement indication. The rejection indication is used to indicate that the second access point refuses to participate in the first cooperative transmission, and the agreement indication is used to indicate that the second access point agrees to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0011] According to one aspect of the embodiments of this application, a second access point device is provided, the device comprising:

[0012] The second sending module is used to send a second frame, which carries a rejection indication or an agreement indication. The rejection indication is used to indicate that the second access point refuses to participate in the first cooperative transmission, and the agreement indication is used to indicate that the second access point agrees to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0013] According to another aspect of the embodiments of this application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores at least one program that is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the multi-access point cooperative transmission method as described in the various aspects above.

[0014] According to another aspect of the embodiments of this application, a chip is provided, the chip including programmable logic circuits and / or program instructions, which, when the chip is run on a first access point device, is used to implement the multi-access point cooperative transmission method of the above aspects; and when the chip is run on a second access point, is used to implement the multi-access point cooperative transmission method of the above aspects.

[0015] According to another aspect of the embodiments of this application, a computer program product or computer program is provided, which includes computer instructions stored in a computer-readable storage medium, a processor retrieving the computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executing the computer instructions to implement the multi-access point cooperative transmission method as described in the various aspects above.

[0016] The technical solutions provided in this application embodiment may include the following beneficial effects:

[0017] By carrying the response information from the first frame in the second frame, the first access point can make decisions about subsequent cooperative transmission behavior based on the response information in the second frame, such as whether to execute the current cooperative transmission behavior, or whether to execute one or more cooperative transmission behaviors. This enables better coordination between the first and second access points, which helps reduce the transmission latency of low-latency data and / or latency-sensitive data. Attached Figure Description

[0018] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0019] Figure 1 shows a flowchart of Co-BF provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0020] Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0021] Figure 3 illustrates a message interaction diagram of a multi-access point cooperative transmission method provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0022] Figure 4 illustrates a message interaction diagram of a multi-access point cooperative transmission method provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0023] Figure 5 illustrates a message interaction diagram of a multi-access point cooperative transmission method provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0024] Figure 6 illustrates a message format diagram of an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0025] Figure 7 illustrates a message format diagram of a message provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0026] Figure 8 illustrates a message format diagram of an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0027] Figure 9 illustrates a message interaction diagram of a multi-access point cooperative transmission method provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0028] Figure 10 illustrates a message interaction diagram of a multi-access point cooperative transmission method provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0029] Figure 11 shows a message interaction diagram of a multi-access point cooperative transmission method provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0030] Figure 12 illustrates a message interaction diagram of a multi-access point cooperative transmission method provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0031] Figure 13 illustrates a schematic diagram of a first cooperative transmission provided by an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0032] Figure 14 shows a schematic diagram of the frame structure of the feedback information field provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0033] Figure 15 shows a schematic diagram of the frame structure of the feedback information field provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0034] Figure 16 shows a schematic diagram of the frame structure of the feedback field format provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0035] Figure 17 shows a schematic diagram of the frame structure of the feedback field format provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0036] Figure 18 shows a flowchart of a multi-access point cooperative transmission method provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0037] Figure 19 shows a flowchart of a multi-access point cooperative transmission method provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0038] Figure 20 shows a block diagram of a first access point device provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0039] Figure 21 shows a block diagram of a second access point device provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0040] Figure 22 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a first access point device or a second access point provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0041] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the embodiments of this application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail here, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, unless otherwise indicated, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with this application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatuses and methods consistent with some aspects of this application as detailed in the appended claims.

[0042] The terminology used in this disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. The singular forms “a,” “the,” and “the” as used in this disclosure and the appended claims are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term “and / or” as used herein refers to and includes any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0043] It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used in this disclosure to describe various information, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish information of the same type from one another. For example, without departing from the scope of this disclosure, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information. Depending on the context, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "when," "when," or "in response to determination."

[0044] The technical solutions described in some embodiments of this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, Advanced Long Term Evolution (LTE-A) systems, New Radio (NR) systems, evolution systems of NR systems, LTE-based access to unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) systems, NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum (NR-U) systems, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) systems, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), 5th-Generation (5G) systems, cellular IoT systems, cellular passive IoT systems, and can also be applied to subsequent evolution systems of 5G NR systems, as well as 6G and subsequent evolution systems.

[0045] It should be understood that in some embodiments of this application, "5G" may also be referred to as "5G NR" or "NR".

[0046] It should be understood that in the description of the embodiments of this application, the term "correspondence" may indicate that there is a direct or indirect correspondence between the two, or that there is an association between the two, or that there is a relationship of instruction and being instructed, configuration and being configured, etc.

[0047] In this embodiment of the application, "predefined" can be implemented by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables, or other means that can be used to indicate relevant information in the device (e.g., including terminal devices and network devices). This application does not limit the specific implementation method. For example, predefined can refer to what is defined in the protocol.

[0048] In this application embodiment, "protocol" may refer to standard protocols in the field of communication, such as IEEE 802.11ax protocol, IEEE 802.11be protocol, IEEE 802.11bn protocol, and related protocols applied in future communication systems. This application does not limit this.

[0049] First, a brief introduction to the terms used in the embodiments of this application:

[0050] BSS: This is the range unit when an AP provides services to a STA. Their deployment is relatively dense, and the coverage areas or Basic Service Areas (BSAs) of some BSSs may overlap, forming an Overlapping Basic Service Set (OBSS). An OBSS is a basic service set that operates on the same channel as the STA's BSS and whose BSAs partially or completely overlap.

[0051] Multi-AP Coordination (MAPC) improves spectral efficiency, communication reliability, and latency performance in dense wireless networks by enabling coordination and resource sharing among multiple access points (APs). Its core mechanisms include capability discovery, negotiation protocols, resource allocation, and joint transmission scheduling. It supports various cooperation modes, such as Coordinated Beamforming (Co-BF), Coordinated Spatial Reuse (Co-SR), Coordinated Time Division Multiple Access (Co-TDMA), and Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (Co-OFDMA), allowing APs in adjacent or overlapping BSSs to dynamically coordinate their operation, reducing co-channel interference and optimizing overall network throughput. MAPC is suitable for high-density Wi-Fi deployments and latency-sensitive real-time services.

[0052] Coordinated Beamforming (Co-BF): This mechanism allows at least two access points (APs) to transmit simultaneously to their respective associated STAs. Each AP is equipped with multiple antennas (acting as beamformers) and guides signal transmission using Channel State Information (CSI) to minimize interference to OBSS STAs. In Co-BF, different APs transmit subsets of their spatial streams, and each AP further divides its spatial stream to serve one or more non-access point sites (non-AP STAs) associated with that AP.

[0053] Co-BF Sounding Phase

[0054] The Co-BF channel sounding phase is a phase in which at least two APs conduct channel sounding and acquire channel state information. This phase involves exchanging specific sounding frames (such as Sounding Invite and Sounding Response) so that the APs participating in Co-BF can obtain the channel state information (CSI) of the target STA, enabling subsequent coordinated beamforming transmission.

[0055] Co-BF channel sounding involves two methods: sequential sounding and joint sounding. Sequential sounding involves participating APs initiating sounding sequences sequentially to gradually collect channel state information from the target STA. The first access point (AP1) initiates an EHT TB sounding sequence, followed by a cross-BSS UHR TB sounding sequence initiated by the second access point (AP2), completing the exchange of four sounding sequences. Joint sounding involves participating APs collaboratively initiating sounding sequences to jointly collect channel state information. The first and second access points simultaneously initiate sounding sequences, completing the exchange of two sounding sequences.

[0056] Co-BF transmission phase

[0057] The Co-BF transmission phase refers to the phase in which at least two APs, after synchronizing their channel state information through the channel detection phase, collaboratively perform downlink joint beamforming data transmission.

[0058] The Co-BF transmission phase requires the transmission of two types of information: first, subfields in the general preamble used to negotiate beamforming resource allocation and / or the number of spatial streams before transmission; and second, basic control information, including Co-BF Invite, and / or Co-BF Acceptance, and / or Co-BF Rejection, and / or Co-BF Sync.

[0059] As shown in Figure 1, the Co-BF transmission phase includes a three-frame exchange process: the Co-BF invitation phase, in which the first access point shares the required common preamble information and its associated STA information; the Co-BF response phase, in which the second access point confirms that it can achieve zero-offset for the STA of the first access point and declares its associated STA information; and the Co-BF synchronization phase, in which the first access point confirms that it can achieve zero-offset for the STA of the second access point. Optionally, the Co-BF frame can be used as a time / phase synchronization signal to ensure time alignment for multi-AP cooperative transmission.

[0060] In some embodiments, multiple APs cooperate in spatial division multiple access (SDMA) for their respective associated STAs by exchanging beamforming parameters (such as CSI channel state information and beam vectors). This allows multiple APs to transmit different data streams simultaneously, and minimizes interference through beamforming, improving spectral efficiency.

[0061] In some embodiments, multiple APs determine their respective associated STA ranges and resource allocations based on real-time negotiation (such as Co-BF Invite / Response frame exchange) to avoid conflicts caused by duplicate services or resource contention.

[0062] In some embodiments, a dedicated synchronization frame (such as a Co-BF Sync frame) ensures consistent transmission timing for the cooperative AP group, reducing inter-symbol interference (ISI). Timing synchronization ensures that signals transmitted simultaneously by multiple APs are aligned in time, avoiding signal overlap and bit errors caused by delay differences.

[0063] Coordinated Time Division Multiple Access (Co-TDMA)

[0064] Co-TDMA allows an AP to allocate some time resources to other APs after acquiring a TXOP, enabling cooperative transmission among multiple APs in the time domain. The AP that allocates time resources is called the Sharing AP, and the other APs that receive the allocated time resources are called Shared APs. The Sharing AP coordinates the transmission periods of the Shared APs through trigger frames, making it suitable for low-latency services and fair resource allocation scenarios.

[0065] Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

[0066] OFDM is a multi-carrier modulation technique that achieves efficient spectrum utilization and improved resistance to multipath fading by dividing a high-speed data stream into multiple low-speed subcarriers and arranging them orthogonally in the frequency domain. OFDM utilizes a set of mutually orthogonal subcarriers, each carrying an independent modulation symbol, avoiding interference between subcarriers, thereby improving the system's spectral efficiency and robustness.

[0067] Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (Co-OFDMA)

[0068] Co-OFDMA extends the multi-user scheduling capabilities of traditional Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDMA), allowing multiple access points (APs) to jointly allocate subcarrier resources to their respective associated sites within the same TXOP, achieving cooperative transmission in the frequency domain. This technology optimizes resource utilization and is particularly suitable for high-density user scenarios.

[0069] Coordinated Spatial Reuse (Co-SR)

[0070] Co-SR enables concurrent transmission of at least two APs by controlling transmit power, thus utilizing the medium more efficiently. These APs are categorized into Co-SR coordinating APs and Co-SR coordinated APs. A Co-SR coordinating AP is an AP whose Management Information Base (MIB) capability variable (dot11CoSROptionImplemented) is true. After acquiring a TXOP, this AP sends a Co-SR Invite Frame to the Co-SR coordinated AP, requesting it to participate in Co-SR transmission. A Co-SR coordinated AP is an AP that receives a Co-SR Invite Frame from the Co-SR coordinating AP to participate in Co-SR transmission; its MIB capability variable (dot11CoSROptionImplemented) is true.

[0071] Among them, the Co-SR coordinating AP is also known as the shared AP, and the Co-SR coordinating AP is also known as the shared AP.

[0072] Co-SR transmission sequences must be initiated by the Co-SR coordinating AP, and the Co-SR coordinating AP cannot perform Co-SR transmissions to non-access point stations (non-AP STAs) where the MIB capability variable (dot11CoSROptionImplemented) is false or where the MIB capability variable (dot11CoSROptionImplemented) is true but Co-SR operation is not enabled. Specifically, non-AP STAs with a true MIB capability variable (dot11CoSROptionImplemented) enable or disable Co-SR operation according to a predefined protocol procedure.

[0073] Unless at least two APs have established a MAPC protocol for Co-SR according to the procedures defined in the Co-SR negotiation or through other means outside the scope of this standard, an AP may not initiate a Co-SR transmission sequence with another AP. Co-SR operation is disabled by default when a non-AP STA that supports Co-SR operation re-associates with an AP.

[0074] The Co-SR transmission sequence is a frame sequence used to support non-AP STAs that require an Initial Control Frame (ICF) / Initial Control Response (ICR) before data frame exchange. It includes one or more of the following: frame exchange of Co-SR invitation frames / Co-SR response frames between the Co-SR coordinating AP and the Co-SR coordinated AP; after the frame exchange of Co-SR invitation frames / Co-SR response frames, the Co-SR coordinating AP and the Co-SR coordinated AP respectively perform ICF / ICR frame exchange with their associated non-AP STAs, in the order of Co-SR coordinating AP first, then Co-SR coordinated AP.

[0075] The presence of ICF / ICR frame exchanges from each AP depends on one or more Co-SR Physical Layer Protocol Data Units (PPDUs) addressed to (or sent to) sites requiring ICF. The presence of ICF / ICR frame exchanges from each AP is indicated in Co-SR Invitation / Co-SR Response frames.

[0076] The Co-SR invitation frame should include the following information: the minimum number of data OFDM symbols in the Co-SR transmission; the maximum number of data OFDM symbols in the Co-SR transmission; the Physical Layer (PHY) version used by the Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) of the Co-SR Coordinating AP in the upcoming Co-SR transmission; the Guard Interval (GI) and Long Training Field (LTF) size of the Co-SR transmission; the number of LTF symbols in the Co-SR transmission; whether there is an ICF and ICR frame exchange between the Co-SR Coordinating AP and its associated receiving STA before the Co-SR transmission; and if there is an ICF and ICR frame exchange, the duration of the exchange (including the SIFS interval between the ICF and ICR).

[0077] If the Co-SR coordinating AP accepts the Co-SR invitation, the Co-SR response frame should include the following information: the number of data OFDM symbols in the proposed Co-SR transmission; the PHY version used by the PPDU of the Co-SR coordinating AP in the upcoming Co-SR transmission; whether there is an ICF and ICR frame exchange between the Co-SR coordinating AP and its associated receiving STA prior to the Co-SR transmission; if there is an ICF and ICR frame exchange, the duration of the exchange (including the SIFS interval between the ICF and ICR); if the Co-SR coordinating AP rejects the Co-SR invitation, the Co-SR response frame should include the reason for rejection. When the Co-SR invitation frame indicates two LTF types and the expected number of LTF symbols, the Co-SR coordinating AP may reject the invitation due to LTF number limitations.

[0078] The Co-SR Trigger Frame should contain the following information: the duration of the data PPDU transmitted by the Co-SR coordinating AP and the Co-SR coordinated AP, which should be the same; the transmit power limit of the Co-SR coordinated AP, which should not be lower than the value indicated by the Co-SR coordinated AP in the Co-SR Setup Request Frame or Co-SR Setup Response Frame during the Co-SR protocol establishment process; the transmit power of the Co-SR coordinating AP; and the PHY version of the data PPDU transmitted by the Co-SR coordinating AP and the Co-SR coordinated AP.

[0079] Dynamic Unavailability Operation (DUO)

[0080] DUO mode is a mode that allows a STA to notify its associated AP and / or peer STA of its unavailability. For a STA in DUO mode, it can indicate its unavailability in a specific control frame, where the unavailability may overlap with an ongoing TXOP.

[0081] A STA that supports DUO can only enable DUO mode if the associated AP is a DUO-supporting or auxiliary AP. Alternatively, a STA that supports DUO can only enable DUO mode if the associated AP supports DUO and / or enables DUO.

[0082] For STAs that support DUO mode, if you intend to enable, disable, or update the parameters of DUO mode, you can change the process based on the operating mode and / or parameters.

[0083] When the STA enables DUO operation mode, it will perform one or more of the following operations upon receiving the initial control frame: the STA reports its own unavailability; the STA indicates that it is available; the STA indicates that there is no feedback or acknowledgment.

[0084] When the MIB capability variable (dot11DUOOptionImplemented) of a non-AP STA is true, it indicates support for DUO operation mode, and is called a DUO non-AP STA. This STA should set the DUO support field of the UHR MAC capability information field in the UHR capability element to 1. When the MIB capability variable (dot11DUOAssistingOptionImplemented) of an AP is true, it supports DUO functionality and is called a DUO assisted AP. This AP should set the DUO support field of the UHR MAC capability information field in the UHR capability element to 1.

[0085] When a DUO non-AP STA works in collaboration with a DUO auxiliary AP and is in DUO operation mode, and the frame interaction initiated by the AP does not include data frames or management frames for multicast addresses, the AP should initiate frame interaction with the non-AP STA by sending an Initiate Control Frame (ICF). This ICF can be: a separately addressed, non-trigger-based buffer status report (BTRP) NTB trigger frame, which includes a user information field, with the AID12 field set to the STA's AID, and the Guard Interval and HE / UHR Long Training Field Type (GI And HE / UHR-LTF Type) fields in the public information field set to 3, used to request a non-HT PPDU or a non-HT repeated PPDU; or a separately addressed or group-addressed BSRP trigger frame, which includes a user information field, with the AID12 field set to the STA's AID, and the GI And HE / UHR-LTF Type field in the public information field set to 3, used to request a non-HT PPDU or a non-HT repeated PPDU; or a separately addressed or group-addressed BSRP trigger frame, which includes a user information field, with the AID12 field set to the STA's AID, and the GI And HE / UHR-LTF Type (GI And HE / UHR-LTF Type) fields in the public information field set to 3. The HE / UHR-LTF type field is set to a value other than 3 to request a TB PPDU. The uplink length field (UL Length field) of the BSRP NTB trigger frame or BSRP trigger frame should be set large enough to allow the DUO non-AP STA to respond to the trigger frame with a PPDU including a multisite block acknowledgment frame and unavailability feedback. The initial control response (ICR) frame indicating unavailability feedback should be a multisite block acknowledgment frame, and the non-AP STA sending this frame must not include a Per AID TID information field.

[0086] When a DUO non-AP STA in DUO mode receives a BSRP trigger frame from its associated DUO auxiliary AP, and the user information field of that frame includes an AID pointing to the STA, the DUO non-AP STA should respond according to the BSR operation rules. In addition, the DUO non-AP STA should aggregate a multi-site block acknowledgment frame, which may include unavailability feedback, and send it along with one or more QoS empty frames sent according to the BSR operation requirements.

[0087] When a DUO non-AP STA in DUO mode receives a BSRP NTB trigger frame from its associated DUO auxiliary AP, and the user information field of that frame includes an AID pointing to the STA, the DUO non-AP STA should respond according to the rules of the UL MU Carrier Sense (CS) mechanism. The response frame should be a multi-site block acknowledgment frame, which may include unavailability feedback, and should be sent in non-HT PPDU or non-HT repeated PPDU format.

[0088] When a UHR STA sends a BSRP NTB trigger frame to its peer UHR STA, the uplink length field in that trigger frame must be set to the value of the Legacy Signal Length (L-SIG LENGTH) field of the response frame (non-HT or non-HT repeated PPDU). The L-SIG LENGTH field is calculated based on the rate used by the response frame, which is equal to the "primary rate." The primary rate is the highest rate in the BSBasicRateSet parameter that is less than or equal to the BSRP NTB trigger frame rate (or the non-HT reference rate); if no rate in the BSBasicRateSet parameter meets this condition, the primary rate is the highest forced rate in the attached PHY that is less than or equal to the BSRP NTB trigger frame rate. The response frame must include a multi-site block acknowledgment frame, and the frame must include at least the following Per AID TID Info fields: a Per AID TID Info field (2 bytes) with the Ack Type field set to 1 and the TID field set to 13; a Per AID TID Info field (8 bytes) carrying unavailability feedback if the peer STA is a non-AP STA with DUO enabled; a Per AID TID Info field (8 bytes) carrying low latency feedback if the peer STA is a non-AP STA with Low Latency Indication (LLI) enabled; and zero or more Per AID TID Info fields (variable number of bytes) with padding.

[0089] When a UHR STA receives a BSRP NTB trigger frame from a peer UHR STA, and the user information field of that frame points to this STA, it should respond according to the rules of the UL MUCS mechanism. The response is a non-HT or non-HT repeated PPDU, satisfying the following condition: the L-SIG LENGTH field value is equal to the uplink length field value of the trigger frame. The rate is either the primary rate or an alternative rate (if present), where: the primary rate is the highest rate in the BSBasicRateSet parameters that is less than or equal to the BSRP NTB trigger frame rate (or the non-HT reference rate); the alternative rate is determined according to the control response frame rate or the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) selection rules. The multi-site block acknowledgment frame carrying individually addressed data includes at least the following Per AID TID Info fields: zero or one Per AID TID Info field (2 bytes) with the Ack Type field set to 1 and the TID field set to 13; zero or one field (8 bytes) carrying unavailability feedback if DUO is enabled; zero or one field (8 bytes) carrying low-latency feedback if LLI is enabled; and zero or more padding fields to ensure that the response PSDU length equals the uplink length field of the triggering frame. The number of Per AID TID Info fields must be greater than zero, and the field order should be consistent with the list above, but low-latency feedback may appear before unavailability feedback. Padding fields (if present) must be last, and no other fields should follow.

[0090] Periodic Unavailability Operation (PUO) mode

[0091] AP PUO mode is a mode where the AP manages the behavior of the BSS (Body Service System) consisting of STAs that support this feature by defining service cycles, and allows the AP to be unavailable to all associated STAs outside of the service cycle, thereby saving energy or using internal resources elsewhere.

[0092] A UHR AP that supports AP PUO mode is called an APPUO AP, and it sets the APPUO support field to 1 in the UHR MAC capability information field of its transmitted UHR capability elements. A UHR AP that does not support AP PUO mode should set the AP PUO support field to 0 in its transmitted UHR capability elements. An APPUO AP should set the MIB capability variable (dot11TWTOptionActivated) to true and set the Broadcast TWT Support field to 1 in its transmitted HE capability elements. A UHR STA that supports operation with an APPUO AP is called an APPUO-assisted non-AP STA, and it sets the APPUO support field to 1 in the UHR MAC capability information field of its transmitted UHR capability elements. An APPUO-assisted non-AP STA should set its MIB capability variable (dot11TWTOptionActivated) to true and set the Broadcast TWT Support field to 1 in its transmitted HE capability elements.

[0093] To be unavailable outside the service period of a broadcast TWT, an APPUO AP must ensure that all associated sites support this mechanism and follow the TWT scheduling rules by publishing a TWT element with one or more broadcast TWT parameter set fields. In this case, the broadcast TWT identifier field is set to 0, the Responder Power Management Mode subfield is set to 1, and the Null Data PPDU (NDP) paging indication / unavailable mode subfield is set to 0. This indicates that the AP is unavailable outside the service period of these broadcast TWTs, except during the service period of any other TWT established or published by the AP. Setting the NDP paging indication / unavailable mode subfield to 1 indicates that the AP is unavailable outside the service period of these broadcast TWTs, even if that time falls within the service period of any other TWT established or published by the AP. APPUO-assisted non-AP STAs must adhere to the TWT scheduling STA rules when exchanging frames with the APPUO AP.

[0094] When APPUO is enabled or disabled in APPUO mode, its associated APPUO should be notified to assist non-AP STA according to the process defined in "Enhanced BSS Parameter Critical Update Process".

[0095] If APPUO assists a non-AP STA in sending a PPDU that includes frames sent to the APPUO AP during AP unavailability, it is expected that the STA will not consider the failure to receive frames in the included PPDU in its rate selection algorithm, nor will it consider the Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) functionality used to transmit these frames for the Access Category (AC), unless required by regulatory rules.

[0096] Related technologies:

[0097] 1. Types of information transmitted in signaling

[0098] The following two types of information need to be transmitted during the Co-BF transmission phase:

[0099] (1) Subfields in the general preamble (also known as "PHY-related fields")

[0100] - Essential Info

[0101] Core parameters necessary for pre-transmission negotiation (such as beamforming training resource allocation, number of space-time streams, etc.).

[0102] -Non-essential information

[0103] Auxiliary parameters (such as specific beam configuration modes) can be derived from predefined rules or key parameters.

[0104] Note: The current discussion focuses on the design and transmission mechanisms of critical information.

[0105] (2) Basic Control Information

[0106] Each frame must explicitly identify its type (the field encoding method must be agreed upon):

[0107] Co-BF Invite

[0108] Co-BF Acceptance

[0109] Co-BF Rejection

[0110] Co-BF synchronization frame (Co-BF Sync)

[0111] Note: The specific signaling identification method is yet to be determined (TBD, To Be Determined).

[0112] 2. The three-way handshake process during the transmission phase

[0113] Step 1: Co-BF Invitation Stage

[0114] Initiator: The shared access point (TXOP holder, i.e., the transmission opportunity owner) sends the following content to the cooperating AP:

[0115] Key parameters in general preamble

[0116] List of client devices that you plan to serve (with clearly defined coverage)

[0117] Step 2: Co-BF Response Phase

[0118] Respondent: The invited collaborating AP needs to confirm two things:

[0119] Interference suppression capability: Whether the signal can be zeroed (space division multiplexing) in the direction of the initiating client;

[0120] Resource planning: Declare the list of client devices that you will serve.

[0121] Step 3: Co-BF Synchronization Phase (Co-BF Sync)

[0122] Final confirmation: Shared APs need to confirm with collaborating APs:

[0123] Is it possible to achieve signal nulling (two-way interference coordination) on the client side of the collaborating party?

[0124] This frame can also be used as a time / phase synchronization signal to ensure time alignment during multi-AP collaborative transmission.

[0125] Key technology support

[0126] Spatial coordination: Spatial division multiple access (SDMA) cooperation between APs is achieved through beamforming parameter exchange.

[0127] Dynamic resource allocation: Service scope is determined based on real-time negotiation to avoid resource conflicts between multiple access points.

[0128] Synchronization mechanism: Synchronization frames ensure the consistency of transmission timing for the cooperating AP group and reduce inter-symbol interference (ISI).

[0129] Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system 10 provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. The communication system 10 includes multiple access points (APs) and non-AP stations (non-AP stations, non-AP STAs, abbreviated as STAs). In this application, the communication system 10 is described as including: a first AP 110, a second AP 120, a first STA 130, and a second STA 140.

[0130] In some embodiments, the communication system 10 may also include more second APs, such as two second APs 120. This application embodiment does not limit this, and usually one second AP 120 is used as an example for illustration.

[0131] Both AP110 and AP120 are devices deployed in a WLAN / Wi-Fi system to provide wireless communication capabilities for STAs. An AP acts as a bridge connecting wired and wireless networks, its main function being to connect various wireless network clients together and then connect the wireless network to the Ethernet. AP110 and AP120 can be terminal devices or network devices (such as routers) equipped with WLAN / Wi-Fi chips.

[0132] In some embodiments, the first AP110 and the second AP120 can be devices supporting the 802.11be standard. The first AP110 and the second AP120 can also be devices supporting various current and future 802.11 family WLAN standards, such as 802.11bn, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a. The first AP110 and the second AP120 can also be applied in network environments supporting next-generation WLAN systems / next-generation Wi-Fi communication.

[0133] In some embodiments, the first AP110 may have the same or different format as the second AP120.

[0134] A Basic Service Set (BSS) is the fundamental topology in WLAN / Wi-Fi communication. The communication devices constituting a BSS include one Access Point (AP) and several non-AP STAs (Standard Target Units). After joining the AP's radio domain, each non-AP STA establishes an association with the AP. Associated non-AP STAs and the AP can transmit data, and non-AP STAs within the same BSS can exchange data through the AP.

[0135] In some embodiments, there are one or more links between the first AP110 and the second AP120. For example, in a multi-AP coordination scenario, the link between the first AP110 and the second AP120 can meet the requirements of multi-AP coordination, thereby reducing mutual interference between BSS1 to which the first AP110 belongs and BSS2 to which the second AP120 belongs, improving spectrum utilization efficiency, throughput and transmission reliability, and the number of APs participating in multi-AP coordination can be two or more.

[0136] In this application embodiment, Multi-AP cooperation includes one or more of the following schemes: Coordinated Beamforming (Co-BF), Coordinated Spatial Reuse (Co-SR), Coordinated Time Division Multiple Access (Co-TDMA), Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (Co-OFDMA), and Coordinated Nulling.

[0137] In some embodiments, communication in the communication system can be between the first AP110 and the second AP120, between the first AP110 and the first STA130, or between the first STA130 and other terminal devices. Both the first STA130 and the second STA140 are non-AP STAs associated with the AP. In this embodiment, only the first STA130 is described as an example; the second STA140 will not be described further.

[0138] In this embodiment, the first STA130 can be a device with wireless transceiver capabilities, such as a device supporting the 802.11 series of protocols, or a device capable of communicating with the first AP110 or other terminal devices. For example, the first STA130 is any user communication device that allows a user to communicate with the first AP110 and thus with the WLAN. The first STA130 can be, for example, a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), an access terminal, a user unit, a user station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user device, etc.

[0139] The first STA130 in this embodiment can also be a device that provides voice / data / image connectivity to a user. For example, it can be a handheld device, in-vehicle device, home appliance, gaming device, etc., that has wireless connectivity or is equipped with a wireless communication module. Examples include: mobile phones, tablets, laptops, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving vehicles, drones or aerial photography equipment, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, cellular phones, cordless phones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, Wireless Local Loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, terminal devices in 5G networks, or future evolved Public Land Mobile networks. Terminal devices in a network (PLMN) can also be televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, kitchen appliances, door locks, fish tanks, robot vacuum cleaners, game consoles, cameras / camcorders, etc. with wireless connectivity, but this application embodiment is not limited to these.

[0140] By way of example and not limitation, in this embodiment, the first STA130 can also be a wearable device. Wearable devices, also known as wearable smart devices, are a general term for devices that utilize wearable technology to intelligently design and develop everyday wearables, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. Examples include smartwatches or smart glasses, as well as devices that focus on a specific type of application function and require cooperation with other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0141] Furthermore, in some embodiments, the first STA130 can also be a terminal device in an Internet of Things (IoT) system. IoT is an important component of future information technology development, and its main technical characteristic is connecting objects to networks through communication technologies, thereby realizing an intelligent network of human-machine interconnection and object-to-object interconnection. In the embodiments of this application, IoT technology can achieve massive connectivity, deep coverage, and terminal power saving through technologies such as narrowband (NB).

[0142] Furthermore, in some embodiments, the first STA130 may also be an in-vehicle communication device in the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) system or the vehicle itself. The communication methods in the V2X system are collectively referred to as V2X (where X represents anything). For example, V2X communication includes: vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication, or vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication, etc.

[0143] In this embodiment, the first STA130 may be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer, virtual reality device, augmented reality device, communication device in industrial control, set-top box, communication device in autonomous driving, vehicle communication device, communication device in telemedicine, communication device in smart grid, communication device in transportation safety, communication device in smart city, or communication device in smart home, or wireless communication chip, etc., that supports WLAN / Wi-Fi technology. WLAN technology may support frequency bands including but not limited to: low frequency bands (2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz) and high frequency bands (45GHz, 60GHz).

[0144] In related technologies, there is no clear definition of the specific signaling when the shared AP cannot participate in the coordinated beamforming transmission, nor is there a clear definition of the signaling when there are multiple consecutive coordinated beamforming transmissions.

[0145] This application provides a coordinated beamforming transmission method (Co-BF), comprising at least one of the following:

[0146] - The shared AP indicates in the Co-BF invitation that it expects one or more coordinated beamforming transmissions and / or the total duration of the expected multiple coordinated beamforming transmissions.

[0147] - When the shared AP cannot participate in Co-BF transmission, the Co-BF response indicates rejection and suggested multi-access point cooperative transmission methods (Reject with suggested schemes (Co-TDMA / Co-SR / Co-OFDMA). In this case, the Co-BF response frame does not carry the STA list.

[0148] - Sharing APs does not carry the STA list when transmitting Co-BF synchronization, which is used to implicitly indicate that Co-BF transmission should not be performed;

[0149] - When the shared AP can participate in Co-BF transmission, the Co-BF response indicates the expectation of one or more coordinated beamforming transmissions and / or indicates the buffer status report (BSR) and / or indicates the total transmission duration of the expected multiple coordinated beamforming transmissions.

[0150] - Shared APs carry an end field in Co-BF synchronization, indicating that coordinated beamforming transmission is not performed;

[0151] - Shared APs carry multiple PPDU fields during Co-BF synchronization, indicating that the participating sites and transmission parameters remain unchanged in subsequent transmissions;

[0152] - The shared AP only carries the length in the second Co-BF synchronization and subsequent Co-BF synchronizations, without carrying the STA list, to indicate that the participating sites and transmission parameters are the same as those indicated in the previous Co-BF synchronization.

[0153] Special handling of the PHY version identifier field for -MU-RTS and / or BSRP GI3.

[0154] In some embodiments, the first access point, also known as the initiating AP, sharing AP, coordinating AP, or polling AP, sends a Co-BF invitation frame to the second access point after acquiring a transmission opportunity. This frame carries information about the target non-AP STA (Station for Access Point) and necessary common preamble information (Sharing AP shares needed common preamble information, in addition to which clients it will serve), thereby initiating coordinated beamforming transmission with the second access point. The first access point can be either a reference AP or a follower AP in the preceding coordinated beamforming channel measurement process. The Co-BF invitation frame may be a MU-RTS trigger frame, and / or a Buffer Status Report Poll (BSRP) trigger frame, and / or a BSRP GI3 trigger frame, and / or a Null Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Poll (NFRP) trigger frame, and / or a Bandwidth Query Report Poll (BQRP) trigger frame, and / or a Basic trigger frame, and / or a Multi User Block AckReq (MU-BAR) trigger frame, and / or a GroupCast with Retries Multi User Block AckReq (GCR MU-BAR) trigger frame, and / or a newly defined control frame, and / or a newly defined Action No Ack frame. The BSRP GI3 trigger frame is a BSRP trigger frame with a GI and HE / UHR LTF type field value of 3. It requests the other party to send a Multi-STA BA frame carried in a non-HT or non-HT duplicate PPDU in response.

[0155] In some embodiments, the second access point, also referred to as a responding AP, shared AP, coordinated AP, or participating AP, sends a Co-BF response frame to the first access point after receiving the Co-BF invitation frame, thereby participating in the coordinated beamforming transmission initiated by the first access point. The second access point carries a Co-BF acceptance indication in the Co-BF response frame, indicating that it acknowledges it can zero-cancel signals sent to non-access point sites of the first access point and indicates the target non-access point site for its transmission; alternatively, the second access point carries a Co-BF rejection indication in the Co-BF response frame, indicating that it cannot participate in the coordinated beamforming transmission. The second access point can be a reference AP or a follower AP in the previous coordinated beamforming channel measurement procedure. The Co-BF response frame may be a Multi-STA BA frame, and / or a QoS empty frame, and / or a newly defined control frame, and / or a newly defined Action No Ack frame.

[0156] In some embodiments, after receiving the Co-BF response frame carrying the Co-BF acceptance indication, the first access point sends a Co-BF synchronization frame to the second access point, indicating that it acknowledges that it can zero out signals sent to the non-access point sites of the second access point, and / or carries the target non-access point site information of the first access point and the target non-access point site information of the second access point. The Co-BF synchronization frame is also used for time synchronization and / or symbol synchronization when the second access point transmits with the first access point. The Co-BF synchronization frame can be a MU-RTS trigger frame, and / or a BSRP trigger frame, and / or a BSRP GI3 trigger frame, and / or an NFRP trigger frame, and / or a BQRP trigger frame, and / or a base trigger frame, and / or a Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame, and / or a GCR MU-BAR trigger frame, and / or a Multi-STA BA frame, and / or a QoS empty frame, and / or a newly defined control frame, and / or a newly defined Action No Ack frame.

[0157] In some embodiments, after the first access point sends the Co-BF synchronization frame and the second access point receives the Co-BF synchronization frame, the first access point and the second access point simultaneously send downlink data to their respective target sites using a coordinated beamforming method.

[0158] As shown in Figure 3 above, STA1 and STA2 are associated with AP1, and STA3 and STA4 are associated with AP2. Before the coordinated beamforming transmission, AP1, AP2, STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 completed coordinated beamforming channel measurements (Co-BF sounding). During the coordinated beamforming transmission, AP1 sends a Co-BF invitation frame to AP2, indicating that it will perform coordinated beamforming transmission for STA1 and STA2. AP2 sends a Co-BF response to AP1 in response, indicating that it will perform coordinated beamforming transmission for STA3 and STA4. AP1 sends a Co-BF synchronization for acknowledgment. Then, AP1 performs downlink transmission to STA1 and STA2, while AP2 performs downlink transmission to STA3 and STA4. Afterward, STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 simultaneously send uplink block acknowledgments.

[0159] In some embodiments, the first access point may indicate different coordinated transmission methods in the Co-BF invitation frame. For example, the Co-BF invitation frame may indicate the use of coordinated beamforming transmission by default, or it may indicate the use of coordinated time division multiple access (Co-TDMA) and / or coordinated spatial multiplexing (Co-SR) and / or coordinated orthogonal frequency division multiple access (Co-OFDMA).

[0160] Reject frames and suggested MAP schemes.

[0161] In some embodiments, the second access point cannot participate in coordinated beamforming transmission because it is not waiting for downlink data to the candidate non-access point site, or because it is waiting for too little downlink data to the candidate non-access point site, or because the candidate non-access point site is in a sleep state, or because it has not successfully received the measurement results of the coordinated beamforming channel measurement. Here, a candidate non-access point site refers to a non-access point site that has completed coordinated beamforming channel measurement with the first and second access points. For example, AP2 is not waiting for downlink data to STA3 and STA4, but is waiting for downlink data to STA5. In this case, the second access point cannot participate in coordinated beamforming transmission, but still has a need for downlink transmission. In some cases, the downlink data that AP2 is waiting for to STA5 is low-latency data or latency-sensitive data, making the need for downlink transmission more urgent. Therefore, the second access point can carry Co-BF response information in the Co-BF response frame, including a Co-BF rejection indication, indicating that it cannot participate in coordinated beamforming transmission, and indicating a suggested MAP scheme, such as coordinated Time Division Multiple Access (Co-TDMA) and / or coordinated Spatial Multiple Access (Co-SR) and / or coordinated Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (Co-OFDMA), and / or indicating that it has low latency indication waiting for downlink to non-candidate non-access point sites, and / or indicating its own Low Latency BSR waiting for downlink low latency indication to non-candidate non-access point sites.

[0162] In some embodiments, after receiving the Co-BF rejection indication, the first access point does not send a Co-BF synchronization frame, and its subsequent behavior is determined by the AP implementation. For example, the first access point may consider the Co-TDMA method suggested by the second access point, first transmitting to its own associated target site, and then sharing the transmission opportunity with the second access point. Alternatively, the first access point may ignore the suggestion from the second access point and only transmit to its own associated target site, as shown in Figure 4.

[0163] In some embodiments, after receiving the Co-BF rejection indication, the first access point sends a Co-BF synchronization frame to the second access point, indicating that coordinated beamforming transmission should not be performed, as shown in Figure 5. This indication can be explicit or implicit. An explicit indication, for example, carries one bit in the Co-BF synchronization frame; an implicit indication, for example, does not carry target non-access point site information for the first access point or the second access point in the Co-BF synchronization frame. The target access point site is all or some of the candidate non-access point sites.

[0164] Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram of the frame format of the newly defined trigger frame provided in the embodiments of this application. The numbers below each field indicate the number of bytes or bits that it may occupy.

[0165] The trigger frame includes at least one of the following fields: Frame Control, Duration, Receiver Address (RA), Transmitter Address (TA), Common Info, User Info List, Padding, and FCS (Frame Check Sequence). The User Info List field includes zero or one or more Special User Info fields, or one or more User Info fields.

[0166] The common information field can be the EHT Variant Common Info field, the UHR Variant Common Info field, or other variant common information.

[0167] The Special User Info field can be the EHT Variant Special Info field, the UHR Variant Special Info field, or other variant-specific user information.

[0168] The User Info field can be the HE Variant User Info field, the EHT Variant User Info field, the UHR Variant User Info field, or other variant user information.

[0169] In the public information field, the Trigger Type field has the following values: 0 represents a basic trigger frame, 1 represents a Beamforming Report Poll (BFRP) trigger frame, 2 represents a MU-BAR trigger frame, 3 represents a MU-RTS trigger frame, 4 represents a BSRP trigger frame, 5 represents a GCR MU-BAR trigger frame, 6 represents a BQRP trigger frame, 7 represents an NFRP trigger frame, 8 represents a Ranging / Sensing trigger frame, and 9 to 15 are reserved values.

[0170] In some embodiments, a value of 9 to 15 in the Trigger Type field indicates that the trigger frame is a multi-access point coordination trigger frame.

[0171] The MAPC Trigger Type field in the Public Information field indicates the subtype of the MAPC trigger frame. For example, a value of 0 represents "Co-BF Invite", a value of 1 represents "Co-BF Sync", a value of 2 represents "Co-SR Sync", and values ​​3 to 7 are reserved.

[0172] The public information field and the dedicated user information field carry Co-BF public information, including bandwidth (BW), number of Co-BF users, GI and UHR-LTF type, number of UHR-LTF symbols, punched channel information, number of data OFDM symbols, offset number of data OFDM symbols, number of UHR-SIG symbols, termination, PHY version identifier, and bandwidth extension.

[0173] In some embodiments, the number of data OFDM symbols and the offset number of data OFDM symbols can jointly indicate the minimum and maximum number of data OFDM symbols. For example, in a "Co-BF Invite" frame, the number of data OFDM symbols plus the offset number indicates the maximum number of data OFDM symbols, and the number of data OFDM symbols minus the offset number indicates the minimum number of data OFDM symbols; in a "Co-BF Sync" frame, the number of data OFDM symbols indicates the number of data OFDM symbols for the corresponding coordinated beamforming transmission downlink PPDU, and the offset number of data OFDM symbols is 0.

[0174] In some embodiments, the “Co-BF Sync” frame may carry a Terminate field to indicate whether coordinated beamforming transmission is performed. For example, 0 indicates that coordinated beamforming transmission is performed and 1 indicates that coordinated beamforming transmission is not performed. Or, for example, 0 indicates that coordinated beamforming transmission is not performed and 1 indicates that coordinated beamforming transmission is performed.

[0175] In some embodiments, the "Co-BF Invite" and / or "Co-BF Sync" frames may carry a More Exchange field indicating whether at least one more coordinated beamforming interaction will be performed, including frame interactions of Co-BF invitation frames, Co-BF response frames, and Co-BF synchronization frames. For example, 0 indicates yes and 1 indicates no, or 0 yes and 1 no. In some embodiments, the More TF field may be reused to indicate whether at least one more coordinated beamforming interaction will be performed. In some embodiments, the "Co-BF Invite" and / or "Co-BF Sync" frames may carry a More Transmission field indicating whether at least one more coordinated beamforming transmission will be performed, including Co-BF synchronization frames and DL PPDUs. For example, 0 indicates yes and 1 indicates no, or 0 yes and 1 no. In some embodiments, the More TF field may be reused to indicate whether at least one more coordinated beamforming transmission will be performed.

[0176] In some embodiments, in the “Co-BF Invite” and / or “Co-BF Sync” frames, the above three fields can be combined into one field, using different values ​​to indicate the corresponding meanings.

[0177] The public information field and the dedicated user information field also include necessary information for triggering frames, including uplink length (UL Length), more trigger frames (More TF), channel measurement required (CS Required), PE disambiguation (PE Disambiguity), HE or UHR primary 160MHz (HE / UHR P160), special user information field flag (Special User Info Field Flag), EHT or UHR spatial reuse 1 (EHT / UHR Spatial Reuse 1), EHT or UHR spatial reuse 2 (EHT / UHR Spatial Reuse 2), and U-SIG disregard and validate (U-SIG Disregard And Validate).

[0178] The user information field carries Co-BF user information, including the station identifier (STA ID), modulation and demodulation coding category (UHR-MCS), 2xLDPC coding, and number of spatial streams (NSS).

[0179] The user information field also includes necessary information for the trigger frame, including the primary and secondary PS160.

[0180] Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of the frame format of the MU-RTS trigger frame or BSRP trigger frame provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0181] Taking the UHR variant public information field as an example, the public information field includes at least one of the following subfields: Trigger Type, Uplink Length, More Trigger Frames, Channel Detection Required, Uplink Bandwidth, GI and HE / UHR LTF type, Reserved, Number of HE / UHR-LTF Symbols, Reserved, LDPC Extra Symbol Segment, AP Transmit Power, Pre-FEC Padding Factor, PE Disambiguity, UL Spatial Reuse, HE / UHR P160, Special User Info Field Flag, Distributed Resource Unit or Regular Resource Unit Indicator (DRU / RRU). Indication), Intermediate Frame Checksum Present Flag (IFCS), UHR Reserved, Reserved.

[0182] Taking the UHR variant's dedicated user information field as an example, the dedicated user information field includes at least one of the following subfields: AID12, PHY Version Identifier, UL Bandwidth Extension, EHT / UHR Spatial Reuse 1, EHT / UHR Spatial Reuse 2, U-SIG Disregard And Validate, and Reserved. The AID12 field value of 2007 indicates that this user information field is a dedicated user information field. In the trigger frame, the dedicated user information field immediately follows the common information field.

[0183] Taking the UHR variant user information field as an example, the user information field includes at least one of the following subfields: AID12, RU Allocation, UL FEC Coding Type, UL UHR-MCS, 2xLDPC, SS Allocation, UL Target Receive Power, and PS160. The AID12 field indicates the associated identifier value of the peer site.

[0184] Among them, the Trigger Type field value is 0 for Basic trigger frame, 1 for BFRP trigger frame, 2 for MU-BAR trigger frame, 3 for MU-RTS trigger frame, 4 for BSRP trigger frame, 5 for GCR MU-BAR trigger frame, 6 for BQRP trigger frame, 7 for NFRP trigger frame, 8 for Ranging / Sensing trigger frame, and 9 to 15 are reserved values.

[0185] In the Special User Info Field, the Physical Layer Version Identifier (PHY Version Identifier) ​​value of 0 indicates that the TB PPDU requested by the triggering frame is an EHT TB PPDU, 1 indicates that the TB PPDU requested by the triggering frame is a UHR TB PPDU, and values ​​2 to 7 are reserved. This field, along with B39 (PS160 field) in the User Info Field, B54 (HE / EHT P160 field or HE / UHR P160 field) in the Public Info Field, and B55 (Special User Info Field Flag field) in the Public Info Field, jointly indicate variations of the User Info Field.

[0186] In some embodiments, when the receiving site sends a CTS response after receiving a MU-RTS trigger frame, it can only use non-HT or non-HT to copy the PPDU. (The CTS frame sent in response to the MU-RTS trigger frame should be transmitted as a non-HT or non-HT duplicate PPDU at a rate of 6 Mb / s, with the txvector parameter SCRAMBLER INITIAL_VALUE set to the same value as the rxvector parameter SCRAMBLER INITIAL_VALUE of the PPDU carrying the MU-RTS trigger frame. The PPDU carrying the CTS frame should be transmitted on the 20 MHz channel indicated by the RU allocation subfield in the user information field of the MU-RTS trigger frame.) Therefore, it needs to be clarified that after receiving the MU-RTS trigger frame, the receiving station determines the variant of the user information field based on the PHY Version Identifier field in the dedicated user information field, disregarding the type of response PPDU indicated by the PHY Version Identifier field. That is, the receiving station sends a PPDU carrying the CTS frame in a non-HT or non-HT duplicate format based on the GI and HE-LTF type or UHR-LTF type field. Instead of sending a TB PPDU in response, the PPDU is sent in response to the CTS frame in the PPDU, as indicated by the PHY Version Identifier field.

[0187] In some embodiments, in a BSRP trigger frame, a value of 3 in the GI and HE / UHR LTF type or UHR-LTF type field in the public information field indicates that the BSRP trigger frame is a BSRP GI3 trigger frame. This BSRP GI3 trigger frame requests the other party to send a Multi-STABA frame carried in a non-HT or non-HT copy PPDU in response. Therefore, in the current BSRP GI3 trigger frame, there is a conflict in the format of the response PPDU indicated by the "GI and HE / UHR LTF type" and "PHY Version Identifier" fields.

[0188] In some embodiments, after receiving the BSRP GI3 trigger frame, the receiving station determines the variant of the user information field based on the physical layer version identifier (PHY Version Identifier) ​​field in the dedicated user information field, and ignores the type of response PPDU indicated by the PHY Version Identifier field in the dedicated user information field. That is, the receiving station responds by sending a Multi-STABA frame carried in a non-HT or non-HT duplicate PPDU based on the GI and HE-LTF type or UHR-LTF type (GI and HE / UHR LTF type) field, instead of sending a TB PPDU in response as indicated by the PHY Version Identifier field.

[0189] In some embodiments, the meaning of the Physical Layer Version Identifier (PHY Version Identifier) ​​field in the dedicated user information field of the relevant standard is modified. A value of 0 indicates that the PPDU requested by the trigger frame is an EHT TB PPDU, a non-HT PPDU, or a non-HT replicated PPDU; a value of 1 indicates that the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame is a UHR TB PPDU, a non-HT PPDU, or a non-HT replicated PPDU; and values ​​2 to 7 are reserved. Thus, after receiving the BSRP GI3 trigger frame, the receiving station can determine, based on the values ​​of the above two fields, to send a Multi-STABA frame carrying a non-HT or non-HT replicated PPDU in response.

[0190] Table 1: Field Values ​​and Their Meanings

[0191] The BSRP GI3 trigger frame has 6 reserved bits in the UHR variant common information field and 3 reserved bits in the UHR variant specific user information field. In some embodiments, at least one of these reserved bits can be used to indicate that the BSRP GI3 trigger frame is a Co-BF trigger frame, which can be a Co-BF invitation frame or a Co-BF synchronization frame.

[0192] In some embodiments, when the BSRP GI3 trigger frame is a Co-BF trigger frame, one or more fields from the UHR variant common information fields, including the Uplink Length (UL Length), Uplink Bandwidth (UL BW), Number of HE / UHR-LTF Symbols, LDPC Extra Symbol Segment, AP Tx Power, Pre-FEC Padding Factor, PE Disambiguity, UL Spatial Reuse, DRU / RRU Indication, and IFCS Present Flag, can be set as reserved fields. These fields can be used to carry the Co-BF common information.

[0193] In some embodiments, when the BSRP GI3 trigger frame is a Co-BF trigger frame, one or more fields from the UHR variant user information field, including the Uplink FEC Coding Type, Uplink UHR Modulation and Demodulation Code Category (UL UHR-MCS), 2xLDPC Coding, Spatial Stream Allocation, and Uplink Target Receive Power, can be set as reserved fields. These fields can be used to carry the Co-BF user information.

[0194] Figure 8 shows an example of the structure of the Multi-STABA frame provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0195] In the Multi-STA BA frame, the TID_INFO field is a reserved field, so there are a total of 9 reserved bits in the BA control field.

[0196] In some embodiments, at least one of the nine reserved bits may be used to indicate that the Multi-STA BA frame is a “Co-BF Response” frame, and / or to indicate that the Multi-STA BA frame carries Co-BF response information.

[0197] In some embodiments, at least one of the nine reserved bits may be used to indicate the suggested MAP schemes of the second access point, for example, using two bits: 0 for coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF), 1 for coordinated time division multiple access transmission (Co-TDMA), 2 for coordinated spatial multiplexing transmission (Co-SR), and 3 for coordinated orthogonal frequency division multiple access transmission (Co-OFDMA).

[0198] The AID11 field carries the 11 least significant bits of the AID of the site corresponding to the Per AID TID Info. If Multi-STABlockAck is sent to the AP, the AID11 field is set to 0. An AID11 field value of 2045 is used to identify any unassociated site.

[0199] If the AID11 field is set to 2045, then the Ack Type field and the TID field are set to 0 and 15, respectively. In this case, each AID TID information field includes the AID TID information field, a reserved field, and an RA field, where the RA field indicates the MAC address of the non-associated site corresponding to the AID TID information field.

[0200] If the AID11 field is set to a value other than 2045, each AID TID information field includes an AID TID information field, a Block Ack Starting Sequence Control field, and a Block Ack Bitmap field. If the target of the frame is all sites, the AID11 field can be set to a reserved value (any value in the range 2008–2044, such as 2044). If the target of the frame is a single site, the AID11 field is the identifier of the target site.

[0201] When the acknowledgment type field in the AID TID information field is set to 0 and the TID field is set to 13, it can be used to indicate control response information. In this case, the Fragment Number field indicates the length of the Feedback field, and the Starting Sequence Number field is a reserved field.

[0202] In some embodiments, the feedback field carries a feedback type field to indicate the type of feedback information, such as 0 for unavailable period information, 1 for cache status report, and 2 to 63 for reserved values.

[0203] In some embodiments, when the Feedback Type field indicates a cache status report, the feedback field carries a cache status report field and / or a cache status report enhancement field.

[0204] Accept frames and BSR (Accept with BSR)

[0205] In some embodiments, the data that the first access point is waiting for downlink to the candidate non-access point site may exceed the data volume limit for a single coordinated beamforming transmission, i.e., exceeding the data volume corresponding to the maximum number of data OFDM symbols indicated by the first access point in the Co-BF invitation frame. Therefore, the first access point may anticipate one or more more coordinated beamforming transmissions and / or indicate the total duration of the anticipated multiple coordinated beamforming transmissions in the Co-BF invitation frame.

[0206] In some embodiments, the data that the second access point is waiting for downlink to the candidate non-access point site may exceed the data volume limit for a single coordinated beamforming transmission, i.e., exceed the data volume corresponding to the maximum number of data OFDM symbols indicated by the first access point in the Co-BF invitation frame. Therefore, the second access point may carry Co-BF response information in the Co-BF response frame, including a Co-BF acceptance indication, indicating that it acknowledges that it can zero-cancel the signals sent to the non-access point site of the first access point and indicating the target non-access point site for transmission, and / or indicating its buffer status report (BSR) for the data it is waiting for downlink to the candidate non-access point site, and / or indicating its buffer status report (Low Latency BSR) for the low-latency or latency-sensitive data it is waiting for downlink to the candidate non-access point site, and / or indicating the expectation of one or more coordinated beamforming transmissions, and / or indicating the total duration of the expected multiple coordinated beamforming transmissions.

[0207] After receiving the Co-BF acceptance instruction, the subsequent behavior of the first access point (AP) is determined by the AP implementation. It can indicate in the sent Co-BF synchronization frame that it will only initiate the currently coordinated beamforming transmission or indicate that it will initiate one or more coordinated beamforming transmissions. For example, the first access point can consider the transmission needs of the second access point and, after completing the current coordinated beamforming transmission, continue to initiate another coordinated beamforming transmission (as shown in Figure 9), or terminate the transmission opportunity early, or share the transmission opportunity with the second access point. As another example, the first access point can ignore the transmission needs of the second access point and only use coordinated beamforming transmission during transmissions to its associated candidate non-access point sites, and then no longer use coordinated beamforming transmission (as shown in Figure 10). Here, candidate non-access point sites refer to non-access point sites that have completed coordinated beamforming channel measurements with the first and second access points.

[0208] Synchronization frames and the same parameters (Sync with same parameter)

[0209] In some embodiments, both the first and second access points have a significant amount of data waiting to be transmitted downlink to candidate non-access point sites, allowing for multiple coordinated beamforming transmissions consecutively. This simplifies the transmission process, eliminating the need to send Co-BF invitation and response frames in subsequent coordinated beamforming transmissions. To indicate these multiple coordinated beamforming transmissions and to allow the second access point more preparation time, the first access point can include a More PPDU field in the Co-BF synchronization frame. This involves using a reserved bit in the newly defined trigger frame, MU-RTS trigger frame, or BSRP trigger frame, or reusing the More TF field to indicate whether to continue transmitting the Co-BF synchronization frame and coordinated beamforming transmissions after the corresponding coordinated beamforming transmission is complete, as shown in Figure 11.

[0210] In this scenario, during multiple coordinated beamforming transmissions, the target site remains unchanged, the channel state changes minimally, and the transmission parameters, except for the PPDU length, remain essentially constant. The Co-BF synchronization frame sent by the first access point can be further simplified, thereby reducing transmission overhead. For example, the subsequent Co-BF synchronization frame does not carry the target non-access point (NOT) site information for the first and second access points; instead, it indicates the use of the transmission parameters, except for the PPDU length, as indicated by the previous Co-BF synchronization frame, as shown in Figure 12.

[0211] This method enables better coordination between the first and second access points, which helps reduce the transmission latency of time-sensitive data.

[0212] Next, we will introduce the situation where a denial indication is used to indicate that the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is unavailable:

[0213] In some embodiments, the denial indication is also used to indicate the following reasons: the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is in DUO mode or PUO mode; or, the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is unavailable or dynamically unavailable.

[0214] In some embodiments, the second frame carries a duration field for an Initial Control Frame (ICF) or an Initial Control Response (ICR); wherein the value of the duration field is set to a non-zero value. The non-zero duration field is used by the first access point and the second access point in a first cooperative transmission procedure to sequentially perform frame exchange of ICF and ICR to inquire about the unavailability of a target non-access point site in DUO mode.

[0215] In some embodiments, the first frame carries a duration field of an Initial Control Frame (ICF) or an Initial Control Response (ICR); wherein the value of the duration field is set to a non-zero value to indicate that the first access point and the second access point sequentially perform frame exchange of ICF and ICR in the first cooperative transmission procedure to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode.

[0216] In some embodiments, when determining the target non-access point site corresponding to the first access point participating in the first cooperative transmission, the first access point and / or the second access point do not select a non-access point site in DUO mode.

[0217] In some embodiments, when the first cooperative transmission is Co-BF, when determining the target non-access point site corresponding to the first access point participating in the Co-BF probe phase, the non-access point site in DUO mode is not selected.

[0218] Method 1: The target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point participates in the first cooperative transmission.

[0219] In some embodiments, the second frame further carries a duration field for an Initial Control Frame (ICF) or an Initial Control Response (ICR); wherein the value of the duration field is set to a non-zero value. The non-zero duration field is used to perform frame exchange of the ICF and ICR during the first cooperative transport procedure to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode.

[0220] Figure 13 illustrates a schematic diagram of a first cooperative transmission provided by an exemplary embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 13, during a shared TXOP, the coordinating AP and the coordinated AP perform Co-BF transmission. The target site corresponding to the coordinating AP is STA1, and the second site corresponding to the coordinated AP is STA2. After frame interaction of Co-BF invitation and Co-BF response frames, the coordinating AP sends an ICF to determine or query the unavailability information of STA1. STA1 responds with an ICR frame to report the unavailability information. After a short inter-frame interval, the coordinated AP sends an ICF to determine or query the unavailability information of STA2. STA2 responds with an ICR frame to report the unavailability information. The coordinated AP sends a Co-BF trigger frame, and the coordinating AP transmits downlink data to STA1, while the coordinated AP responds by transmitting downlink data to STA2.

[0221] In summary, by using the above method one, allowing the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission can increase the opportunity to transmit data to the target non-access point site in DUO mode.

[0222] Method 2: The target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point does not participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0223] In some embodiments, when determining the target non-access point site corresponding to the first access point participating in the first cooperative transmission, the first access point and / or the second access point do not select a non-access point site in DUO mode or PUO mode.

[0224] Optionally, the rejection indication is based on a rejection coding indication, which is carried in the status coding field or feedback field of the response frame. Alternatively, the status coding field can be understood as defining a rejection code indicating that the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is in DUO mode, or that the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is unavailable, for the purpose of refusing to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0225] Figure 14 illustrates a frame structure diagram of the feedback information field provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 14, this feedback information field is the feedback information field of the second Co-BF invitation frame, including at least one of the following sub-fields: punctured channel information field, reservation field, ICF / ICR duration field, acknowledgment sequence duration field, guard interval and long training size field, and maximum total spatial flow count field of the coordinated AP. Specifically, the punctured channel information field occupies 5 bits and is used to indicate the punctured information of the channel; the reservation field occupies 1 bit; the ICF / ICR duration field occupies 7 bits and is used to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode; the acknowledgment sequence duration field occupies 7 bits and is used to indicate the duration of the acknowledgment message; the guard interval and long training size field occupies 2 bits and is used to indicate the size of the guard interval and long training field; and the maximum total spatial flow count field of the coordinated AP occupies 2 bits and is used to indicate the maximum total spatial flow count allowed by the coordinated AP. Optionally, this application does not limit the order of the above sub-fields.

[0226] Figure 15 illustrates a frame structure diagram of the feedback information field provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 15, this feedback information field is the feedback information field of the second Co-SR invitation frame, including at least one of the following sub-fields: ICF / ICR duration field, acknowledgment sequence duration field, long training symbol count field, and reservation field. Specifically, the ICF / ICR duration field occupies 7 bits and is used to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode; the acknowledgment sequence duration field occupies 7 bits and is used to indicate the duration of the acknowledgment message; the long training symbol count field occupies 2 bits and is used to indicate the number of long training symbols; and the reservation field occupies 8 bits. Optionally, this application does not limit the order of the above sub-fields.

[0227] Figure 16 illustrates a frame structure diagram of the feedback field format provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 16, the feedback field format is a feedback field format with the feedback type field having a value of 2 and the Co-BF status encoding field having a value of 0, including at least one of the following subfields: Co-BF status encoding field, suggested data OFDM symbol quantity field, physical layer version identifier field, allowed extra long training field, ICF / ICR duration field, acknowledgment sequence duration field, Co-BF user quantity field in collaborative BSS field, reservation field, and Co-BF response user information list variable field. The Co-BF status coding field occupies 4 bits and is used to define the rejection coding; the suggested data OFDM symbol quantity field occupies 9 bits and is used to provide a suggested number of OFDM symbols; the physical layer version identifier field occupies 3 bits and is used to identify the physical layer protocol version used; the allowed extra long training field occupies 1 bit and is used to indicate the number of extra long training fields allowed; the ICF / ICR duration field occupies 7 bits and is used to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode; the acknowledgment sequence duration field occupies 7 bits and is used to indicate the duration of the acknowledgment message; the Co-BF user quantity field in the cooperative BSS occupies 2 bits and is used to indicate the number of users participating in cooperative transmission in the cooperative BSS; the reserved field occupies 7 bits; and the Co-BF response user information list variable field has a variable percentage of bits and is used to indicate the user information participating in cooperative transmission. Optionally, this application does not limit the order of the above subfields.

[0228] Optionally, the encoding method of the Co-BF status code field is shown in Table 2. When the value of the Co-BF status code field is 0, it indicates success; when the value of the Co-BF status code field is 1, it indicates an unspecified rejection reason, indicating an unspecified failure; when the value of the Co-BF status code field is 2-15, it indicates retention.

[0229] Table 2 Encoding Methods for Co-BF Status Code Fields

[0230] Figure 17 illustrates a frame structure diagram of a feedback field format provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 17, the feedback field format is a feedback field format with a feedback type field value of 4 and a Co-SR status code field value of 0, including at least one of the following subfields: Co-SR status code field, suggested data OFDM symbol quantity field, physical layer version identifier field, ICF / ICR duration field, acknowledgment sequence duration field, and reserved field. Specifically, the Co-SR status code field occupies 4 bits and is used to define the rejection code; the suggested data OFDM symbol quantity field occupies 9 bits and is used to provide a suggested OFDM symbol quantity; the physical layer version identifier field occupies 3 bits and is used to identify the physical layer protocol version used; the ICF / ICR duration field occupies 7 bits and is used to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode; the acknowledgment sequence duration field occupies 7 bits and is used to indicate the duration of the acknowledgment message; and the reserved field occupies 2 bits. Optionally, this application does not limit the order of the above subfields.

[0231] Optionally, the encoding method of the Co-BF status code field is shown in Table 2. When the value of the Co-BF status code field is 0, it indicates success; when the value of the Co-BF status code field is 1, it indicates an unspecified rejection reason, indicating an unspecified failure; when the value of the Co-BF status code field is 2, it indicates rejection due to LTF limit; when the value of the Co-BF status code field is 3-15, it indicates reservation.

[0232] Table 3 Encoding Methods for Co-SR Status Code Fields

[0233] In some embodiments, when determining the target non-access point site corresponding to the first access point participating in the first cooperative transmission, the first access point and / or the second access point do not schedule the non-access point site in DUO mode to participate in the probe phase of the first cooperative transmission.

[0234] In summary, by using the above-mentioned method two, the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is not allowed to participate in the first cooperative transmission. This avoids the situation where, after indicating agreement to the first cooperative transmission in the frame interaction of the invitation frame and / or response frame, the unavailable period reported by the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point in the ICR frame covers the period of the first cooperative transmission, thereby avoiding potential transmission failure problems.

[0235] Next, we will introduce the situation where the first access point enables PUO mode:

[0236] In some embodiments, when a first cooperative transport is established, the first access point does not enable PUO mode. This can be understood as the first access point that has already established a first cooperative transport should not enable PUO mode.

[0237] In some embodiments, if the first access point has PUO mode enabled and / or is in a periodically unavailable period, the first cooperative transmission is not established or the first frame is not sent, the first frame being used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0238] Optionally, if the expected transmission period of the first cooperative transmission overlaps with the periodic unavailability period of the first access point, then the first cooperative transmission is not established or the first frame is not sent; if the expected transmission period of the first cooperative transmission does not overlap with the periodic unavailability period of the first access point, then the first cooperative transmission is established or the first frame is sent.

[0239] In some embodiments, the second frame carries a rejection indication indicating that: the first access point is in PUO mode; or, the first access point is unavailable or periodically unavailable.

[0240] Figure 18 illustrates a flowchart of a multi-access point cooperative transmission method provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. The method is performed by a first access point and includes:

[0241] Step 204: Receive a second frame, which carries a rejection indication or an agreement indication. The rejection indication is used to indicate that the second access point refuses to participate in the first cooperative transmission, and the agreement indication is used to indicate that the second access point agrees to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0242] In some embodiments, the first frame further carries one or more of the following:

[0243] The first access point is expected to issue one or more instructions for the first cooperative transmission;

[0244] The total duration of the first cooperative transmissions expected by the first access point. In some embodiments, the second frame carries a rejection indication, which indicates that the second access point refuses to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0245] In some embodiments, the second frame further carries one or more of the following:

[0246] The second access point recommends or supports a second cooperative transport, which is different from the first cooperative transport;

[0247] The second access point has low-latency or latency-sensitive data waiting to be sent down to non-candidate non-access point sites;

[0248] The second access point waits for the cached status report (BSR) of low-latency or latency-sensitive data to be sent to non-candidate non-access point sites.

[0249] In some embodiments, the first cooperative transmission or the second cooperative transmission includes one or more of the following: coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF); coordinated time division multiple access transmission (Co-TDMA); coordinated spatial multiplexing transmission (Co-SR); and coordinated orthogonal frequency division multiple access transmission (Co-OFDMA).

[0250] In some embodiments, the method further includes: not sending a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

[0251] In some embodiments, the method further includes: sending a third frame for synchronization of the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission, the third frame carrying an explicit or implicit indication not to perform the first cooperative transmission.

[0252] In some embodiments, the third frame does not carry target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; wherein, the target access point site is all or some of the candidate non-access point sites.

[0253] In some embodiments, the method further includes: accepting or ignoring a second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point.

[0254] In some embodiments, the second frame carries an agreement indication, which indicates that the second access point agrees to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0255] In some embodiments, the second frame further carries one or more of the following: confirming that the second access point supports or is able to zero-off signals sent to the non-access point sites of the first access point;

[0256] The second access point will transmit to the target non-access point site;

[0257] The second access point's first buffer status report (BSR) for waiting downlink data to candidate non-access point sites;

[0258] The second access point waits for a second buffer status report (BSR) for low-latency or latency-sensitive data to be sent down to the candidate non-access point site; a first indication that one or more first cooperative transmissions are expected to be performed; and the total duration of the expected multiple first cooperative transmissions.

[0259] In some embodiments, the first instruction is sent by the second access point when the first BSR or the second BSR is equal to or greater than the first data volume.

[0260] In some embodiments, the first data volume is indicated by the first frame, which is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0261] In some embodiments, the method further includes sending a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

[0262] In some embodiments, the third frame also carries a second instruction to perform the first cooperative transmission one or more times.

[0263] In some embodiments, sending the third frame includes:

[0264] Send the first third frame; and, if the first frame is no longer sent and / or the second frame is no longer received, send the i-th third frame, where i is an integer greater than 1; wherein each third frame corresponds to one first cooperative transmission, or each third frame corresponds to another first cooperative transmission; the first frame is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0265] In some embodiments, the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame carries an indication to continue transmitting the (i+1)-th third frame and to perform the first cooperative transmission after the completion of this first cooperative transmission, and / or a third indication not to continue transmitting the first frame and / or receiving the second frame. Here, this first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission corresponding to the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame, or, this first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission performed after the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame.

[0266] In some embodiments, the i-th third frame does not carry some fields from the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame. These some fields include at least one of the following: L-SIG length field; physical layer version identifier field; U-SIG bandwidth field; BSS color identifier field; BSS color indication field; TXOP field; punched channel information field; number of ultra-high-speed signaling symbols field; number of ultra-high-speed long training type symbols field; guard interval long training type size field; number of coordinated beamforming users field; site identifier field; modulation and coding scheme field; spatial configuration field; and double low-density parity check code field.

[0267] In some embodiments, the i-th third frame does not carry the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; and / or,

[0268] The i-th third frame carries a fourth indication, which is used to indicate that the i-th first cooperative transmission uses the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point carried in the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame.

[0269] In some embodiments, the first frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRP GI3 trigger frame; Empty Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Base trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (GCR) MU-BAR trigger frame with retry; Multi-STABA frame; QoS Null frame; Control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment action frame).

[0270] In some embodiments, the second frame is one or more of the following frames: Multi-STABA frame; QoS Null frame; control frame; Action No Ack.

[0271] In some embodiments, the third frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRP GI3 trigger frame; Empty Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Base trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (GCR) MU-BAR trigger frame with retry; Multi-STABA frame; QoS Null frame; Control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment action frame).

[0272] In some embodiments, the first access point sends a first frame, which is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0273] Figure 19 illustrates a flowchart of a multi-access point cooperative transmission method provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. The method is performed by a second access point and includes:

[0274] Step 304: Send a second frame, which carries a rejection indication or an agreement indication. The rejection indication is used to indicate that the second access point refuses to participate in the first cooperative transmission, and the agreement indication is used to indicate that the second access point agrees to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0275] In some embodiments, the first frame further carries one or more of the following: an indication that the first access point expects to perform one or more first cooperative transmissions; and the total duration of the multiple first cooperative transmissions expected by the first access point.

[0276] In some embodiments, the second frame carries a rejection indication, which indicates that the second access point refuses to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0277] In some embodiments, the second frame further carries one or more of the following: a second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point, wherein the first cooperative transmission is different from the second cooperative transmission; the second access point has low-latency data or latency-sensitive data waiting to be downlinked to non-candidate non-access point sites; and a buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point for the low-latency data or latency-sensitive data waiting to be downlinked to non-candidate non-access point sites.

[0278] In some embodiments, the first cooperative transmission or the second cooperative transmission includes one or more of the following: coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF); coordinated time division multiple access transmission (Co-TDMA); coordinated spatial multiplexing transmission (Co-SR); and coordinated orthogonal frequency division multiple access transmission (Co-OFDMA).

[0279] In some embodiments, the method further includes: not receiving a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

[0280] In some embodiments, the method further includes: receiving a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization of the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission, the third frame carrying an explicit or implicit indication not to perform the first cooperative transmission.

[0281] In some embodiments, the third frame does not carry target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; wherein, the target access point site is all or some of the candidate non-access point sites.

[0282] In some embodiments, the first access point may accept or ignore a second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point.

[0283] In some embodiments, the second frame carries an agreement indication, which indicates that the second access point agrees to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0284] In some embodiments, the second frame further carries one or more of the following: confirmation that the second access point supports or is able to zero-cancel signals sent to the non-access point site corresponding to the first access point; the target non-access point site to be transmitted by the second access point; a first buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for downlink data to the candidate non-access point site; a second buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for low-latency data or latency-sensitive data to the candidate non-access point site; a first indication of expecting to perform one or more first cooperative transmissions; and the total duration of the expected multiple first cooperative transmissions.

[0285] In some embodiments, the first instruction is sent by the second access point when the first BSR or the second BSR is equal to or greater than the first data volume.

[0286] In some embodiments, the first data volume is indicated by the first frame, which is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0287] In some embodiments, the method further includes: receiving a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

[0288] In some embodiments, the third frame also carries a second instruction to perform the first cooperative transmission one or more times.

[0289] In some embodiments, sending the third frame includes: receiving a first third frame; and receiving an i-th third frame, where i is an integer greater than 1, if the first frame is no longer received and / or the second frame is no longer sent; wherein each third frame corresponds to one first cooperative transmission, or each third frame corresponds to another first cooperative transmission; the first frame is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0290] In some embodiments, the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame carries an indication to continue transmitting the (i+1)-th third frame and to perform the first cooperative transmission after the completion of this first cooperative transmission, and / or a third indication not to continue receiving the first frame and / or sending the second frame. Here, this first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission corresponding to the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame, or, this first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission performed after the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame.

[0291] In some embodiments, the i-th third frame does not carry some fields from the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame. These some fields include at least one of the following: L-SIG length field; physical layer version identifier field; U-SIG bandwidth field; BSS color identifier field; BSS color indication field; TXOP field; punched channel information field; number of ultra-high-speed signaling symbols field; number of ultra-high-speed long training type symbols field; guard interval long training type size field; number of coordinated beamforming users field; site identifier field; modulation and coding scheme field; spatial configuration field; and double low-density parity check code field.

[0292] In some embodiments, the i-th third frame does not carry target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; and / or, the i-th third frame carries a fourth indication, the fourth indication being used to indicate that the i-th first cooperative transmission uses the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point carried in the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame.

[0293] In some embodiments, the first frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRP GI23 trigger frame; Null Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Base trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (GCR) MU-BAR trigger frame with retry; Multi-STABA frame; QoS Null frame; Control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment action frame).

[0294] In some embodiments, the second frame is one or more of the following frames: Multi-STA BA frame; QoS Null frame; control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment action frame).

[0295] In some embodiments, the third frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRP GI23 trigger frame; Empty Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Basic trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (GCR) MU-BAR trigger frame with retry; Multi-STABA frame; QoS Null frame; Control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment action frame).

[0296] In some embodiments, the second access point receives a first frame, which is used to request the second access point to participate in a first cooperative transmission.

[0297] Figure 20 shows a block diagram of a first access point device 40 provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. The first access point device 40 includes a first transmitting module 42 and a first receiving module 44.

[0298] The first sending module 42 is used to send a first frame, which is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0299] The first receiving module 44 is used to receive a second frame, the second frame carrying a rejection indication or an agreement indication. The rejection indication is used to indicate that the second access point refuses to participate in the first cooperative transmission, and the agreement indication is used to indicate that the second access point agrees to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0300] In some embodiments, the first frame further carries one or more of the following: an indication that the first access point expects to perform one or more first cooperative transmissions; and the total duration of the multiple first cooperative transmissions expected by the first access point.

[0301] In some embodiments, the second frame carries a rejection indication, which indicates that the second access point refuses to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0302] In some embodiments, the second frame further carries one or more of the following:

[0303] The second access point recommends or supports a second cooperative transport, which is different from the first cooperative transport;

[0304] The second access point has low-latency or latency-sensitive data waiting to be sent down to non-candidate non-access point sites;

[0305] The second access point waits for the cached status report (BSR) of low-latency or latency-sensitive data to be sent to non-candidate non-access point sites.

[0306] In some embodiments, the first cooperative transmission or the second cooperative transmission includes one or more of the following: coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF); coordinated time division multiple access transmission (Co-TDMA); coordinated spatial multiplexing transmission (Co-SR); and coordinated orthogonal frequency division multiple access transmission (Co-OFDMA).

[0307] In some embodiments, the first sending module 42 is further configured not to send a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

[0308] In some embodiments, the first sending module 42 is further configured to send a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission, the third frame carrying an explicit or implicit indication of not performing the first cooperative transmission.

[0309] In some embodiments, the third frame does not carry the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point;

[0310] The target access point site is all or some of the candidate non-access point sites.

[0311] In some embodiments, the first access point device is further configured to accept or ignore a second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point.

[0312] In some embodiments, the second frame carries an agreement indication, which indicates that the second access point agrees to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0313] In some embodiments, the second frame further carries one or more of the following: confirming that the second access point supports or is able to zero-cancel signals sent to non-access point sites corresponding to the first access point;

[0314] The second access point will transmit to the target non-access point site;

[0315] The second access point's first buffer status report (BSR) for waiting downlink data to candidate non-access point sites;

[0316] The second access point waits for a second buffer status report (BSR) for low-latency or latency-sensitive data to be sent down to the candidate non-access point site; a first indication that one or more first cooperative transmissions are expected to be performed; and the total duration of the expected multiple first cooperative transmissions.

[0317] In some embodiments, the first instruction is sent by the second access point when the first BSR or the second BSR is equal to or greater than the first data volume.

[0318] In some embodiments, the first data volume is indicated by the first frame.

[0319] In some embodiments, the first sending module 42 is further configured to send a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

[0320] In some embodiments, the third frame also carries a second instruction to perform the first cooperative transmission one or more times.

[0321] In some embodiments, the first sending module 42 is configured to send a first third frame; and, if the first frame is no longer sent and / or the second frame is no longer received, to send the i-th third frame, where i is an integer greater than 1;

[0322] Each third frame corresponds to one first cooperative transmission, or each third frame corresponds to another first cooperative transmission; the first frame is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0323] In some embodiments, the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame carries an indication to continue transmitting the (i+1)-th third frame and to perform the first cooperative transmission after the completion of this first cooperative transmission, and / or a third indication not to continue transmitting the first frame and / or receiving the second frame. Here, this first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission corresponding to the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame, or, this first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission performed after the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame.

[0324] In some embodiments, the i-th third frame does not carry some fields from the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame. These some fields include at least one of the following: L-SIG length field; physical layer version identifier field; U-SIG bandwidth field; BSS color identifier field; BSS color indication field; TXOP field; punched channel information field; number of ultra-high-speed signaling symbols field; number of ultra-high-speed long training type symbols field; guard interval long training type size field; number of coordinated beamforming users field; site identifier field; modulation and coding scheme field; spatial configuration field; and double low-density parity check code field.

[0325] In some embodiments, the i-th third frame does not carry the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; and / or,

[0326] The i-th third frame carries a fourth indication, which is used to indicate that the i-th first cooperative transmission uses the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point carried in the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame.

[0327] In some embodiments, the first frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRP GI23 trigger frame; Null Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Base trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (GCR) MU-BAR trigger frame with retry; Multi-STABA frame; QoS Null frame; Control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment action frame).

[0328] In some embodiments, the second frame is one or more of the following frames: Multi-STABA frame; QoSNull frame; control frame; ActionNoAck (no acknowledgement action frame).

[0329] In some embodiments, the third frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRPGI3 trigger frame; Null Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Basic trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request with Retry (GCRMU-BAR) trigger frame; Multi-STABA frame; QoSNull frame; Control frame; ActionNoAck (no acknowledgment action frame).

[0330] Figure 21 shows a block diagram of a second access point device 50 provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. The second access point device 50 includes a second transmitting module 52 and a second receiving module 54.

[0331] The second receiving module 52 is used to receive a first frame, wherein the first frame is used by the first access point to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission;

[0332] The second sending module 54 is used to send a second frame, the second frame carrying a rejection indication or an agreement indication. The rejection indication is used to indicate that the second access point refuses to participate in the first cooperative transmission, and the agreement indication is used to indicate that the second access point agrees to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0333] In some embodiments, the first frame further carries one or more of the following: an indication that the first access point expects to perform one or more first cooperative transmissions; and the total duration of the multiple first cooperative transmissions expected by the first access point.

[0334] In some embodiments, the second frame carries a rejection indication, which indicates that the second access point refuses to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0335] In some embodiments, the second frame further carries one or more of the following: a second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point, wherein the first cooperative transmission is different from the second cooperative transmission; the second access point has low-latency data or latency-sensitive data waiting to be downlinked to non-candidate non-access point sites; and a buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point for the low-latency data or latency-sensitive data waiting to be downlinked to non-candidate non-access point sites.

[0336] In some embodiments, the first cooperative transmission or the second cooperative transmission includes one or more of the following: coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF); coordinated time division multiple access transmission (Co-TDMA); coordinated spatial multiplexing transmission (Co-SR); and coordinated orthogonal frequency division multiple access transmission (Co-OFDMA).

[0337] In some embodiments, the second receiving module 52 is further configured not to receive a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

[0338] In some embodiments, the second receiving module 52 is further configured to receive a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission, the third frame carrying an explicit or implicit indication of not performing the first cooperative transmission.

[0339] In some embodiments, the third frame does not carry target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; wherein, the target access point site is all or some of the candidate non-access point sites.

[0340] In some embodiments, the first access point may accept or ignore a second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point.

[0341] In some embodiments, the second frame carries an agreement indication, which indicates that the second access point agrees to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0342] In some embodiments, the second frame further carries one or more of the following: confirmation that the second access point supports or is able to zero-cancel signals sent to the non-access point site corresponding to the first access point; the target non-access point site to be transmitted by the second access point; a first buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for downlink data to the candidate non-access point site; a second buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for low-latency data or latency-sensitive data to the candidate non-access point site; a first indication of expecting to perform one or more first cooperative transmissions; and the total duration of the expected multiple first cooperative transmissions.

[0343] In some embodiments, the first indication is sent by the second access point when the first BSR or the second BSR is equal to or greater than the first data amount. In some embodiments, the first data amount is indicated by the first frame.

[0344] In some embodiments, the second receiving module 52 is further configured to receive a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

[0345] In some embodiments, the third frame also carries a second instruction to perform the first cooperative transmission one or more times.

[0346] In some embodiments, the second receiving module 52 is further configured to receive a first third frame; and, if the first frame is no longer received and / or the second frame is no longer sent, to receive an i-th third frame, where i is an integer greater than 1; wherein each third frame corresponds to one first cooperative transmission, or each third frame corresponds to another first cooperative transmission; the first frame is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

[0347] In some embodiments, the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame carries an indication to continue transmitting the (i+1)-th third frame and to perform the first cooperative transmission after the completion of this first cooperative transmission, and / or a third indication not to continue receiving the first frame and / or sending the second frame. Here, this first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission corresponding to the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame, or, this first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission performed after the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame.

[0348] In some embodiments, the i-th third frame does not carry some fields from the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame. These some fields include at least one of the following: L-SIG length field; physical layer version identifier field; U-SIG bandwidth field; BSS color identifier field; BSS color indication field; TXOP field; punched channel information field; number of ultra-high-speed signaling symbols field; number of ultra-high-speed long training type symbols field; guard interval long training type size field; number of coordinated beamforming users field; site identifier field; modulation and coding scheme field; spatial configuration field; and double low-density parity check code field.

[0349] In some embodiments, the i-th third frame does not carry target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; and / or, the i-th third frame carries a fourth indication, the fourth indication being used to indicate that the i-th first cooperative transmission uses the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point carried in the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame.

[0350] In some embodiments, the first frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRP GI23 trigger frame; Null Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Base trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (GCR) MU-BAR trigger frame with retry; Multi-STABA frame; QoS Null frame; Control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment action frame).

[0351] In some embodiments, the second frame is one or more of the following frames: Multi-STABA frame; QoSNull frame; control frame; ActionNoAck (no acknowledgement action frame).

[0352] In some embodiments, the third frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRPGI23 trigger frame; Null Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Basic trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request with Retry (GCRMU-BAR) trigger frame; Multi-STABA frame; QoSNull frame; Control frame; ActionNoAck (no acknowledgment action frame).

[0353] In this embodiment of the application, the example is given with the first frame being a Co-BF Invite, the second frame being a Co-BF Acceptance, Co-BF Rejection, or Co-BF Response, and the third frame being a Co-BF Sync.

[0354] Figure 22 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a first access point or a second access point provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. The first access point or second access point 1700 may include a processor 1701, a transceiver 1702, and a memory 1703. The processor 1701 can be used to control transmission and / or reception. The transceiver 1702 can be used to implement transmission and / or reception functions, such as implementing the functions of at least one of the first transmission module, first reception module, second transmission module, and second reception module described above.

[0355] The processor 1701 includes one or more processing cores, and the processor 1701 executes various functional applications and information processing by running software programs and modules.

[0356] Transceiver 1702 may include a receiver and a transmitter. For example, transceiver 1702 may include a wired communication component, which may include a wired communication chip and a wired interface (such as a fiber optic interface). Optionally, transceiver 1702 may also include a wireless communication component, which may include a wireless communication chip and a radio frequency antenna.

[0357] Transceiver 1702 is used to send and receive at least one frame to perform the multi-access point cooperative transmission method in the above method embodiments, and / or the multi-access point cooperative transmission method, and / or the multi-access point cooperative transmission method.

[0358] The memory 1703 can be connected to the processor 1701 and the transceiver 1702.

[0359] The memory 1703 can be used to store a computer program executed by the processor, and the processor 1701 is used to execute the computer program to implement the various steps in the above method embodiments.

[0360] Furthermore, the memory 1703 can be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or a combination thereof, including but not limited to: magnetic disks or optical disks, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, static on-demand memory, read-only memory, magnetic memory, flash memory, and programmable read-only memory.

[0361] For details not described in this embodiment, please refer to the method-side embodiment above, which will not be repeated here.

[0362] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for execution by a processor to implement the aforementioned multi-access point cooperative transmission method. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may include ROM (Read-Only Memory), RAM (Random-Access Memory), SSD (Solid State Drives), or optical disc, etc. The random access memory may include ReRAM (Resistance Random Access Memory) and DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory).

[0363] This application also provides a chip, which includes programmable logic circuits and / or program instructions. When the chip is running on a first access point device, it is used to implement the above-described multi-access point cooperative transmission method on the first access point side.

[0364] This application also provides a chip, which includes programmable logic circuits and / or program instructions. When the chip is running on a second access point, it is used to implement the above-described multi-access point cooperative transmission method on the second access point side.

[0365] This application embodiment also provides a first chip, which includes programmable logic circuits and / or program instructions. When the first chip is running on a first access point device, it is used to implement the above-described multi-access point cooperative transmission method on the first access point side.

[0366] This application also provides a second chip, which includes programmable logic circuits and / or program instructions. When the second chip runs on the second access point, it implements the above-described multi-access point cooperative transmission method on the second access point side.

[0367] This application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program stored in a computer-readable storage medium. A processor reads and executes the computer program from the computer-readable storage medium to implement the above-described multi-access point cooperative transmission method.

[0368] It should be understood that the term "instruction" mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be a direct instruction, an indirect instruction, or an indication of an association. For example, A instructing B can mean that A directly instructs B, for example, B can be obtained through A; it can also mean that A indirectly instructs B, for example, A instructs C, B can be obtained through C; or it can mean that there is an association between A and B. In the description of the embodiments of this application, the term "correspondence" can mean that there is a direct or indirect correspondence between two things, or that there is an association between two things, or it can mean an instruction and being instructed, a configuration and being configured, etc.

[0369] In some embodiments of this application, "predefined" can be implemented by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables, or other means that can be used to indicate relevant information in the device, and this application does not limit the specific implementation method. For example, predefined can refer to what is defined in the protocol.

[0370] In some embodiments of this application, "protocol" may refer to standard protocols in the field of communications, such as LTE protocol, NR protocol and related protocols applied to future communication systems, and this application does not limit it.

[0371] In this article, "multiple" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A alone, A and B simultaneously, or B alone. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship.

[0372] In this article, "greater than or equal to" can mean greater than or equal to, and "less than or equal to" can mean less than or equal to.

[0373] Furthermore, the step numbers described herein are merely illustrative of one possible execution order between steps. In some other embodiments, the steps may not be executed in the order of their numbers, such as two steps with different numbers being executed simultaneously, or two steps with different numbers being executed in the reverse order of the illustration. This application does not limit this.

[0374] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the functions described in the embodiments of this application in one or more of the above examples can be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, these functions can be stored in a computer-readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, wherein communication media include any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Storage media can be any available medium that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer.

[0375] The above are merely exemplary embodiments of this application and are not intended to limit this application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of this application shall be included within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A cooperative transmission method, characterized in that, The method is performed by a first access point, and the method includes: receiving a second frame, the second frame carrying a rejection indication or an consent indication, the rejection indication being used to instruct the second access point to refuse to participate in the first cooperative transmission, and the consent indication being used to instruct the second access point to consent to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The second frame also carries one or more of the following: a second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point, wherein the first cooperative transmission is different from the second cooperative transmission; the second access point has low-latency or latency-sensitive data waiting for downlink to non-candidate non-access point sites; and a buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for low-latency or latency-sensitive data to downlink to non-candidate non-access point sites.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The method further includes: not sending a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The method further includes sending a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission, the third frame carrying an explicit or implicit indication not to perform the first cooperative transmission.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The third frame does not carry target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; wherein, the target access point site is all or some of the candidate non-access point sites.

6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that, The method further includes: accepting or ignoring a second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The second frame also carries one or more of the following: confirmation that the second access point supports or is able to zero-cancel signals sent to the non-access point site corresponding to the first access point; the target non-access point site to be transmitted by the second access point; a first buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for downlink data to the candidate non-access point site; a second buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for low-latency or latency-sensitive downlink data to the candidate non-access point site; a first indication that one or more first cooperative transmissions are expected to be performed; and the total duration of the expected multiple first cooperative transmissions.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The first indication is sent by the second access point when the first BSR or the second BSR is equal to or greater than the first data volume.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The first data volume is indicated by the first frame, which is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that, The method further includes sending a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The third frame also carries a second instruction to perform the first cooperative transmission one or more times.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that, Sending the third frame includes: sending the first third frame; and, without sending the first frame and / or receiving the second frame, sending the i-th third frame, where i is an integer greater than 1; wherein each third frame corresponds to one first cooperative transmission, or each third frame corresponds to another first cooperative transmission; the first frame is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The first third frame and / or the i-th third frame carries an instruction to continue transmitting the (i+1)-th third frame and to perform the first cooperative transmission after the completion of the first cooperative transmission, and / or a third instruction not to continue transmitting the first frame and / or to receive the second frame; wherein, the first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission corresponding to the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame, or, the first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission performed after the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that, The i-th third frame does not carry some fields from the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that, The specified fields include one or more of the following: L-SIG length field; Physical layer version identifier field; U-SIG bandwidth field; BSS color identifier field; BSS color indication field; TXOP field; Punch-hole channel information field; Ultra-high-speed signaling symbol quantity field; Ultra-high-speed long training type symbol quantity field; Guard interval long training type size field; Coordinated beamforming user quantity field; Site identifier field; Modulation coding scheme field; spatial configuration field; double low-density parity check code field.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that, The i-th third frame does not carry the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; and / or, the i-th third frame carries a fourth indication, the fourth indication being used to indicate that the i-th first cooperative transmission uses the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point carried in the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that, The first frame also carries one or more of the following: an indication that the first access point expects to perform one or more first cooperative transmissions; and the total duration of the multiple first cooperative transmissions expected by the first access point.

18. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, characterized in that, The method further includes sending a first frame, the first frame being used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, The method further includes: when the first cooperative transmission is established, the first access point does not enable PUO mode.

20. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 19, characterized in that, The method further includes: when the first access point enables PUO mode and / or is in a periodically unavailable period, not establishing the first cooperative transmission or not sending the first frame, the first frame being used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

21. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 20, characterized in that, The first frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRP GI23 trigger frame; Empty Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Basic trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request with Retry (GCR MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multi-STA BA frame; QoS Null frame; Control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment action frame).

22. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 21, characterized in that, The second frame is one or more of the following frames: Multi-STA BA frame; QoS Null frame; control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment) frame.

23. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 22, characterized in that, The third frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRP GI3 trigger frame; Empty Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Basic trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request with Retry (GCR MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multi-STA BA frame; QoS Null frame; Control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment action frame).

24. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The denial indication is also used to indicate at least one of the following reasons: the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is in DUO mode or PUO mode; the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is unavailable or dynamically unavailable; the first access point is in PUO mode; the first access point is unavailable or periodically unavailable.

25. The method according to claim 1 or 24, characterized in that, The second frame carries a Duration field for the Initial Control Frame (ICF) or Initial Control Response (ICR); wherein the value of the Duration field is set to a non-zero value.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that, The non-zero Duration field is used in the first cooperative transmission process to sequentially perform ICF and ICR frame exchange between the first access point and the second access point to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode.

27. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, The first frame carries a Duration field of an Initial Control Frame (ICF) or an Initial Control Response (ICR); wherein the value of the Duration field is set to a non-zero value to indicate that the first access point and the second access point sequentially perform frame exchange of ICF and ICR in the first cooperative transmission process to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode.

28. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: when determining the target non-access point site corresponding to the first access point participating in the first cooperative transmission, not selecting the non-access point site in DUO mode; or, when the first cooperative transmission is a coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF), when determining the target non-access point site corresponding to the first access point participating in the Co-BF detection phase sounding, not selecting the non-access point site in DUO mode.

29. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 28, characterized in that, The first cooperative transmission and / or the second cooperative transmission includes one or more of the following: coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF); coordinated time division multiple access transmission (Co-TDMA); coordinated spatial multiplexing transmission (Co-SR); and coordinated orthogonal frequency division multiple access transmission (Co-OFDMA).

30. A cooperative transmission method, characterized in that, The method is performed by a second access point, and the method includes: sending a second frame, the second frame carrying a rejection indication or an consent indication, the rejection indication being used to instruct the second access point to refuse to participate in the first cooperative transmission, and the consent indication being used to instruct the second access point to consent to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

31. The method according to claim 30, characterized in that, The second frame also carries one or more of the following: a second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point, wherein the first cooperative transmission is different from the second cooperative transmission; the second access point has low-latency or latency-sensitive data waiting for downlink to non-candidate non-access point sites; and a buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for low-latency or latency-sensitive data to downlink to non-candidate non-access point sites.

32. The method according to claim 31, characterized in that, The method further includes: not receiving a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

33. The method according to claim 31 or 32, characterized in that, The method further includes: receiving a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission, the third frame carrying an explicit or implicit indication not to perform the first cooperative transmission.

34. The method according to claim 33, characterized in that, The third frame does not carry target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; wherein, the target access point site is all or some of the candidate non-access point sites.

35. The method according to any one of claims 31 to 34, characterized in that, The first access point may accept or ignore the second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point.

36. The method according to claim 30, characterized in that, The second frame also carries one or more of the following: confirmation that the second access point supports or is able to zero-cancel signals sent to the non-access point site corresponding to the first access point; the target non-access point site to be transmitted by the second access point; a first buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for downlink data to the candidate non-access point site; a second buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for low-latency or latency-sensitive downlink data to the candidate non-access point site; a first indication that one or more first cooperative transmissions are expected to be performed; and the total duration of the expected multiple first cooperative transmissions.

37. The method according to claim 36, characterized in that, The first indication is sent by the second access point when the first BSR or the second BSR is equal to or greater than the first data volume.

38. The method according to claim 37, characterized in that, The first data volume is indicated by the first frame, which is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

39. The method according to any one of claims 36 to 38, characterized in that, The method further includes receiving a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

40. The method according to claim 39, characterized in that, The third frame also carries a second instruction to perform the first cooperative transmission one or more times.

41. The method according to claim 39 or 40, characterized in that, Sending the third frame includes: receiving the first third frame; and receiving the i-th third frame, where i is an integer greater than 1, if the first frame is no longer received and / or the second frame is no longer sent; wherein each third frame corresponds to one first cooperative transmission, or each third frame corresponds to another first cooperative transmission; the first frame is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

42. The method according to claim 41, characterized in that, The first third frame and / or the i-th third frame carry an instruction to continue transmitting the (i+1)-th third frame and to perform the first cooperative transmission after the completion of this first cooperative transmission, and / or a third instruction not to continue receiving the first frame and / or sending the second frame; wherein, the first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission corresponding to the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame, or, the first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission performed after the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame.

43. The method according to claim 41 or 42, characterized in that, The i-th third frame does not carry some fields from the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame.

44. The method according to claim 43, characterized in that, The specified fields include one or more of the following: L-SIG length field; Physical layer version identifier field; U-SIG bandwidth field; BSS color identifier field; BSS color indication field; TXOP field; Punch-hole channel information field; Ultra-high-speed signaling symbol quantity field; Ultra-high-speed long training type symbol quantity field; Guard interval long training type size field; Coordinated beamforming user quantity field; Site identifier field; Modulation coding scheme field; spatial configuration field; double low-density parity check code field.

45. The method according to claim 43 or 44, characterized in that, The i-th third frame does not carry the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; and / or, the i-th third frame carries a fourth indication, the fourth indication being used to indicate that the i-th first cooperative transmission uses the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point carried in the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame.

46. ​​The method according to any one of claims 30 to 45, characterized in that, The first frame also carries one or more of the following: an indication that the first access point expects to perform one or more first cooperative transmissions; and the total duration of the multiple first cooperative transmissions expected by the first access point.

47. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 46, characterized in that, The method further includes: receiving a first frame, the first frame being used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

48. The method according to claim 47, characterized in that, The method further includes: when the first cooperative transmission is established, the first access point does not enable PUO mode.

49. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 48, characterized in that, The method further includes: when the first access point enables PUO mode and / or is in a periodically unavailable period, not establishing the first cooperative transmission or not receiving the first frame, the first frame being used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

50. The method according to any one of claims 47 to 49, characterized in that, The first frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRP GI23 trigger frame; Empty Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Basic trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (GCR) MU-BAR trigger frame with retry; Multi-STABA frame; QoS Null frame; Control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment action frame).

51. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 50, characterized in that, The second frame is one or more of the following frames: Multi-STA BA frame; QoS Null frame; control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment) frame.

52. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 51, characterized in that, The third frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRP GI23 trigger frame; Empty Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Basic trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (GCR) MU-BAR trigger frame with retry; Multi-STABA frame; QoS Null frame; Control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment action frame).

53. The method according to claim 30, characterized in that, The denial indication is also used to indicate at least one of the following reasons: the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is in DUO mode or PUO mode; the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is unavailable or dynamically unavailable; the first access point is in PUO mode; the first access point is unavailable or periodically unavailable.

54. The method according to claim 30 or 53, characterized in that, The second frame carries a Duration field for the Initial Control Frame (ICF) or Initial Control Response (ICR); wherein the value of the Duration field is set to a non-zero value.

55. The method according to claim 54, characterized in that, The non-zero Duration field is used in the first cooperative transmission process to sequentially perform ICF and ICR frame exchange between the first access point and the second access point to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode.

56. The method according to claim 47, characterized in that, The first frame carries a Duration field of an Initial Control Frame (ICF) or an Initial Control Response (ICR); wherein the value of the Duration field is set to a non-zero value to indicate that the first access point and the second access point sequentially perform frame exchange of ICF and ICR in the first cooperative transmission process to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode.

57. The method according to claim 30, characterized in that, The method further includes: when determining the target non-access point site corresponding to the first access point participating in the first cooperative transmission, not selecting the non-access point site in DUO mode; or, when the first cooperative transmission is a coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF), when determining the target non-access point site corresponding to the first access point participating in the Co-BF detection phase sounding, not selecting the non-access point site in DUO mode.

58. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 57, characterized in that, The first cooperative transmission and / or the second cooperative transmission includes one or more of the following: coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF); coordinated time division multiple access transmission (Co-TDMA); coordinated spatial multiplexing transmission (Co-SR); and coordinated orthogonal frequency division multiple access transmission (Co-OFDMA).

59. A first access point device, characterized in that, The device includes: a first receiving module for receiving a second frame, the second frame carrying a rejection indication or an consent indication, the rejection indication being used to instruct a second access point to refuse to participate in a first cooperative transmission, and the consent indication being used to instruct the second access point to consent to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

60. The apparatus according to claim 59, characterized in that, The second frame also carries one or more of the following: a second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point, wherein the first cooperative transmission is different from the second cooperative transmission; the second access point has low-latency or latency-sensitive data waiting for downlink to non-candidate non-access point sites; and a buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for low-latency or latency-sensitive data to downlink to non-candidate non-access point sites.

61. The apparatus according to claim 60, characterized in that, The first sending module is further configured not to send a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

62. The apparatus according to claim 60 or 61, characterized in that, The first sending module is further configured to send a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission, the third frame carrying an explicit or implicit indication of not performing the first cooperative transmission.

63. The apparatus according to claim 62, characterized in that, The third frame does not carry target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; wherein, the target access point site is all or some of the candidate non-access point sites.

64. The apparatus according to any one of claims 60 to 63, characterized in that, The first access point device is further configured to accept or ignore a second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point.

65. The apparatus according to claim 59, characterized in that, The second frame also carries one or more of the following: confirmation that the second access point supports or is able to zero-cancel signals sent to the non-access point site corresponding to the first access point; the target non-access point site to be transmitted by the second access point; a first buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for downlink data to the candidate non-access point site; a second buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for low-latency or latency-sensitive downlink data to the candidate non-access point site; a first indication that one or more first cooperative transmissions are expected to be performed; and the total duration of the expected multiple first cooperative transmissions.

66. The apparatus according to claim 65, characterized in that, The first indication is sent by the second access point when the first BSR or the second BSR is equal to or greater than the first data volume.

67. The apparatus according to claim 66, characterized in that, The first data volume is indicated by the first frame, which is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

68. The apparatus according to any one of claims 65 to 67, characterized in that, The first sending module is further configured to send a third frame, which is used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

69. The apparatus according to claim 68, characterized in that, The third frame also carries a second instruction to perform the first cooperative transmission one or more times.

70. The apparatus according to claim 68 or 69, characterized in that, The first sending module is configured to send a first third frame; and, if the first frame is no longer sent and / or the second frame is no longer received, to send the i-th third frame, where i is an integer greater than 1; wherein each third frame corresponds to one first cooperative transmission, or each third frame corresponds to another first cooperative transmission; the first frame is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

71. The apparatus according to claim 70, characterized in that, The first third frame and / or the i-th third frame carries an instruction to continue transmitting the (i+1)-th third frame and to perform the first cooperative transmission after the completion of the first cooperative transmission, and / or a third instruction not to continue transmitting the first frame and / or to receive the second frame; wherein, the first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission corresponding to the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame, or, the first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission performed after the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame.

72. The apparatus according to claim 70 or 71, characterized in that, The i-th third frame does not carry some fields from the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame.

73. The apparatus according to claim 72, characterized in that, The specified fields include one or more of the following: L-SIG length field; Physical layer version identifier field; U-SIG bandwidth field; BSS color identifier field; BSS color indication field; TXOP field; Punch-hole channel information field; Ultra-high-speed signaling symbol quantity field; Ultra-high-speed long training type symbol quantity field; Guard interval long training type size field; Coordinated beamforming user quantity field; Site identifier field; Modulation coding scheme field; spatial configuration field; double low-density parity check code field.

74. The apparatus according to claim 72 or 73, characterized in that, The i-th third frame does not carry the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; and / or, the i-th third frame carries a fourth indication, the fourth indication being used to indicate that the i-th first cooperative transmission uses the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point carried in the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame.

75. The apparatus according to any one of claims 59 to 74, characterized in that, The first frame also carries one or more of the following: an indication that the first access point expects to perform one or more first cooperative transmissions; and the total duration of the multiple first cooperative transmissions expected by the first access point.

76. The apparatus according to any one of claims 59 to 75, characterized in that, The device further includes: a first sending module, configured to send a first frame, wherein the first frame is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

77. The apparatus according to claim 76, characterized in that, The device further includes: a first processing module, configured to disable PUO mode at the first access point when the first cooperative transmission is established.

78. The apparatus according to claims 59 to 77, characterized in that, The device further includes a first processing module, configured to not establish the first cooperative transmission or not send a first frame when the first access point is in PUO mode and / or during periodic unavailability periods, the first frame being used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

79. The apparatus according to claim 76, characterized in that, The first frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRP GI23 trigger frame; Empty Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Basic trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request with Retry (GCR MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multi-STA BA frame; QoS Null frame; Control frame; Action No Ack (no acknowledgment action frame).

80. The apparatus according to any one of claims 59 to 79, characterized in that, The second frame is one or more of the following frames: Multi-STABA frame; QoSNull frame; control frame; ActionNoAck (no acknowledgement action frame).

81. The apparatus according to any one of claims 59 to 80, characterized in that, The third frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRPGI3 trigger frame; Empty Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Basic trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request with Retry (GCRMU-BAR) trigger frame; Multi-STABA frame; QoSNull frame; Control frame; ActionNoAck (no acknowledgment action frame).

82. The apparatus according to claim 59, characterized in that, The denial indication is also used to indicate at least one of the following reasons: the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is in DUO mode or PUO mode; the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is unavailable or dynamically unavailable; the first access point is in PUO mode; the first access point is unavailable or periodically unavailable.

83. The apparatus according to claim 59 or 82, characterized in that, The second frame carries a Duration field for the Initial Control Frame (ICF) or Initial Control Response (ICR); wherein the value of the Duration field is set to a non-zero value.

84. The apparatus according to claim 83, characterized in that, The non-zero Duration field is used in the first cooperative transmission process to sequentially perform ICF and ICR frame exchange between the first access point and the second access point to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode.

85. The apparatus according to claim 76, characterized in that, The first frame carries a Duration field of an Initial Control Frame (ICF) or an Initial Control Response (ICR); wherein the value of the Duration field is set to a non-zero value to indicate that the first access point and the second access point sequentially perform frame exchange of ICF and ICR in the first cooperative transmission process to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode.

86. The apparatus according to claim 59, characterized in that, The method further includes: when determining the target non-access point site corresponding to the first access point participating in the first cooperative transmission, not selecting the non-access point site in DUO mode; or, when the first cooperative transmission is a coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF), when determining the target non-access point site corresponding to the first access point participating in the Co-BF detection phase sounding, not selecting the non-access point site in DUO mode.

87. The apparatus according to any one of claims 59 to 86, characterized in that, The first cooperative transmission and / or the second cooperative transmission includes one or more of the following: coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF); coordinated time division multiple access transmission (Co-TDMA); coordinated spatial multiplexing transmission (Co-SR); and coordinated orthogonal frequency division multiple access transmission (Co-OFDMA).

88. A second access point device, characterized in that, The apparatus includes: a second transmitting module for transmitting a second frame, the second frame carrying a rejection indication or an agreement indication, the rejection indication being used to instruct a second access point to refuse to participate in the first cooperative transmission, and the agreement indication being used to instruct the second access point to agree to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

89. The apparatus according to claim 88, characterized in that, The second frame also carries one or more of the following: a second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point, wherein the first cooperative transmission is different from the second cooperative transmission; the second access point has low-latency or latency-sensitive data waiting for downlink to non-candidate non-access point sites; and a buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for low-latency or latency-sensitive data to downlink to non-candidate non-access point sites.

90. The apparatus according to claim 89, characterized in that, The second receiving module is further configured not to receive a third frame, which is used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

91. The apparatus according to claim 89 or 90, characterized in that, The second receiving module is further configured to receive a third frame, the third frame being used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission, the third frame carrying an explicit or implicit indication of not performing the first cooperative transmission.

92. The apparatus according to claim 91, characterized in that, The third frame does not carry target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; wherein, the target access point site is all or some of the candidate non-access point sites.

93. The apparatus according to any one of claims 89 to 92, characterized in that, The first access point may accept or ignore the second cooperative transmission suggested or supported by the second access point.

94. The apparatus according to claim 93, characterized in that, The second frame also carries one or more of the following: confirmation that the second access point supports or is able to zero-cancel signals sent to the non-access point site corresponding to the first access point; the target non-access point site to be transmitted by the second access point; a first buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for downlink data to the candidate non-access point site; a second buffer status report (BSR) of the second access point waiting for low-latency or latency-sensitive downlink data to the candidate non-access point site; a first indication that one or more first cooperative transmissions are expected to be performed; and the total duration of the expected multiple first cooperative transmissions.

95. The apparatus according to claim 94, characterized in that, The first indication is sent by the second access point when the first BSR or the second BSR is equal to or greater than the first data volume.

96. The apparatus according to claim 95, characterized in that, The first data volume is indicated by the first frame, which is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

97. The apparatus according to any one of claims 94 to 96, characterized in that, The second receiving module is further configured to receive a third frame, which is used for synchronization between the first access point and the second access point during the first cooperative transmission.

98. The apparatus according to claim 97, characterized in that, The third frame also carries a second instruction to perform the first cooperative transmission one or more times.

99. The apparatus according to claim 97 or 98, characterized in that, The second receiving module is further configured to receive a first third frame; and, if the first frame is no longer received and / or the second frame is no longer sent, to receive an i-th third frame, where i is an integer greater than 1; wherein each third frame corresponds to one first cooperative transmission, or each third frame corresponds to another first cooperative transmission; the first frame is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

100. The apparatus according to claim 99, characterized in that, The first third frame and / or the i-th third frame carry an instruction to continue transmitting the (i+1)-th third frame and to perform the first cooperative transmission after the completion of this first cooperative transmission, and / or a third instruction not to continue receiving the first frame and / or sending the second frame; wherein, the first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission corresponding to the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame, or, the first cooperative transmission is the first cooperative transmission performed after the first third frame and / or the i-th third frame.

101. The apparatus according to claim 99 or 100, characterized in that, The i-th third frame does not carry some fields from the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame.

102. The apparatus according to claim 101, characterized in that, The specified fields include one or more of the following: L-SIG length field; Physical layer version identifier field; U-SIG bandwidth field; BSS color identifier field; BSS color indication field; TXOP field; Punch-hole channel information field; Ultra-high-speed signaling symbol quantity field; Ultra-high-speed long training type symbol quantity field; Guard interval long training type size field; Coordinated beamforming user quantity field; Site identifier field; Modulation coding scheme field; spatial configuration field; double low-density parity check code field.

103. The apparatus according to claim 101 or 102, characterized in that, The i-th third frame does not carry the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point; and / or, the i-th third frame carries a fourth indication, the fourth indication being used to indicate that the i-th first cooperative transmission uses the target non-access point site information corresponding to the first access point and / or the target non-access point site information corresponding to the second access point carried in the first third frame or the (i-1)-th third frame.

104. The apparatus according to any one of claims 88 to 103, characterized in that, The first frame also carries one or more of the following: an indication that the first access point expects to perform one or more first cooperative transmissions; and the total duration of the multiple first cooperative transmissions expected by the first access point.

105. The apparatus according to any one of claims 88 to 104, characterized in that, The device further includes: a second receiving module, configured to receive a first frame, wherein the first frame is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

106. The apparatus according to claim 105, characterized in that, The device further includes a second processing module, configured to disable PUO mode at the first access point when the first cooperative transmission is established.

107. The apparatus according to any one of claims 88 to 106, characterized in that, The device further includes a second processing module, configured to not establish the first cooperative transmission or not receive a first frame when the first access point is in PUO mode and / or is in a periodically unavailable period, wherein the first frame is used to request the second access point to participate in the first cooperative transmission.

108. The apparatus according to any one of claims 105 to 107, characterized in that, The first frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRPGI23 trigger frame; Empty Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Basic trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request with Retry (GCRMU-BAR) trigger frame; Multi-STABA frame; QoSNull frame; Control frame; ActionNoAck (no acknowledgment action frame).

109. The apparatus according to any one of claims 88 to 108, characterized in that, The second frame is one or more of the following frames: Multi-STABA frame; QoSNull frame; control frame; ActionNoAck (no acknowledgement action frame).

110. The apparatus according to any one of claims 88 to 109, characterized in that, The third frame is one or more of the following frames: MU-RTS trigger frame; Buffer Status Report Polling BSRP trigger frame; BSRPGI23 trigger frame; Empty Data Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit Feedback Report Polling NFRP trigger frame; Bandwidth Query Report Polling BQRP trigger frame; Basic trigger frame; Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request (MU-BAR) trigger frame; Multicast Multi-User Block Acknowledgment Request with Retry (GCRMU-BAR) trigger frame; Multi-STABA frame; QoSNull frame; Control frame; ActionNoAck (no acknowledgment action frame).

111. The apparatus according to claim 88, characterized in that, The denial indication is also used to indicate at least one of the following reasons: the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is in DUO mode or PUO mode; the target non-access point site corresponding to the second access point is unavailable or dynamically unavailable; the first access point is in PUO mode; the first access point is unavailable or periodically unavailable.

112. The apparatus according to claim 88 or 111, characterized in that, The second frame carries a Duration field for the Initial Control Frame (ICF) or Initial Control Response (ICR); wherein the value of the Duration field is set to a non-zero value.

113. The apparatus according to claim 112, characterized in that, The non-zero Duration field is used in the first cooperative transmission process to sequentially perform ICF and ICR frame exchange between the first access point and the second access point to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode.

114. The apparatus according to claim 105, characterized in that, The first frame carries a Duration field of an Initial Control Frame (ICF) or an Initial Control Response (ICR); wherein the value of the Duration field is set to a non-zero value to indicate that the first access point and the second access point sequentially perform frame exchange of ICF and ICR in the first cooperative transmission process to query the unavailability information of the target non-access point site in DUO mode.

115. The apparatus according to claim 88, characterized in that, The method further includes: when determining the target non-access point site corresponding to the first access point participating in the first cooperative transmission, not selecting the non-access point site in DUO mode; or, when the first cooperative transmission is a coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF), when determining the target non-access point site corresponding to the first access point participating in the Co-BF detection phase sounding, not selecting the non-access point site in DUO mode.

116. The apparatus according to any one of claims 88 to 115, characterized in that, The first cooperative transmission and / or the second cooperative transmission includes one or more of the following: coordinated beamforming transmission (Co-BF); coordinated time division multiple access transmission (Co-TDMA); coordinated spatial multiplexing transmission (Co-SR); and coordinated orthogonal frequency division multiple access transmission (Co-OFDMA).

117. A first access point, characterized in that, The first access point includes: A processor; a transceiver connected to the processor; a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to cause the first access point device to perform the multi-access point cooperative transmission method as described in any one of claims 1 to 29.

118. A second access point, characterized in that, The second access point includes: A processor; a transceiver connected to the processor; a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to cause the second access point to perform the multi-access point cooperative transmission method as described in any one of claims 30 to 58.

119. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores at least one program, which is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the multi-access point cooperative transmission method as described in any one of claims 1 to 29; and / or the multi-access point cooperative transmission method as described in any one of claims 30 to 58.

120. A chip, characterized in that, The chip includes programmable logic circuitry and / or program instructions, which, when the chip is running on the first AP, are used to implement the multi-access point cooperative transmission method as described in any one of claims 1 to 29; and / or the multi-access point cooperative transmission method as described in any one of claims 30 to 58.

121. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes computer instructions stored in a computer-readable storage medium, a processor retrieving the computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executing the computer instructions to implement the multi-access point cooperative transmission method as described in any one of claims 1 to 29; and / or, the multi-access point cooperative transmission method as described in any one of claims 30 to 58.

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