CN104703234A - Method and device for access switching in wireless local area network - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of communication technology, in particular to an access switching method and device in a wireless local area network, which is used to solve the problem that STAs in the prior art do not consider the load of the target AP when performing access switching, which easily causes The load is unbalanced, which even leads to the problem of switching failure. The access handover method in the embodiment of the present invention includes: the AC receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source AP accessed by the STA; Access information, determining the target AP after the STA performs access switching; wherein, the access information includes load information; the AC sends switching instruction information including the target AP to the source AP, so that The source AP forwards the handover indication information to the STA.

Description

Access switching method and device in a wireless local area network

technical field

The invention relates to the field of communication technology, in particular to an access switching method and device in a wireless local area network.

Background technique

With the rapid development of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), WLAN has been deployed and applied on a large scale in many places such as buildings and enterprises.

In the WLAN network architecture, it mainly includes an access controller (Access Controller, AC), an access point (Access Point, AP) and a user terminal (Station, STA). Among them, the AP communicates with the STA through a wireless link. The AP is connected to the AC through a wired link in the uplink direction; the AC is responsible for centralized management of the AP and STAs, sending configuration information to the AP, and controlling the behavior of the AP and STAs. The AP is responsible for completing the work process according to the configuration information of the AC; when the STA uses the network When real-time services such as voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are used, how to maintain good business continuity during the mobile process becomes very important.

In order to maintain good business continuity during the mobile process, when the STA finds that the signal quality of the current access AP has deteriorated, it will choose to switch to a new AP; in the WLAN inter-AP handover scheme, the handover process mainly includes scanning, authentication Three processes of reassociation and reassociation, specifically: STA scans the surrounding signal strength, and according to the signal strength of each AP scanned, selects the AP with the best signal quality as the target AP after handover; STA sends an authentication request to the currently connected AP message, the AC that manages the AP forwards the authentication request message to the target AP, and then completes the process of exchanging relevant security parameters through the four steps of identity verification request, identity verification response, authentication request, and confirmation authentication. The resource reservation is completed; the STA initiates a reassociation request to the target AP, and the target AP responds to the STA's reassociation request to complete the handover process.

In the above solution, the STA selects the target AP according to the signal strength of each scanned AP. Since the load of the target AP is not considered, it is easy to cause load imbalance among APs, and even lead to handover failure.

Contents of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and device for access switching in a wireless local area network, which is used to solve the problem that in the prior art, STAs do not consider the load of the target AP when performing access switching, which easily causes load imbalance among APs. , and even lead to the problem of switching failure.

The access switching method in the wireless local area network provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes:

The access controller AC receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source access point AP accessed by the user terminal STA; wherein the handover measurement report includes link quality information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP ;

The AC determines a target AP after the STA performs access handover according to the handover measurement report and the determined access information of the at least one neighboring AP; wherein the access information includes load information;

The AC sends handover instruction information including the target AP to the source AP, so that the source AP forwards the handover instruction information to the STA.

Optionally, before the AC receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source AP, the AC further includes:

The AC determines identification information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP;

The AC sends the determined identification information of the at least one neighboring AP to the source AP, so that the STA, after receiving the identification information of the at least one neighboring AP forwarded by the source AP, according to Identification information of the at least one neighboring AP, and initiate a measurement on the at least one neighboring AP.

An access switching method in a wireless local area network provided by an embodiment of the present invention includes:

The user terminal STA determines a handover measurement report; wherein, the handover measurement report includes link quality information of at least one neighboring AP of the source access point AP currently accessed by the STA,

The user terminal STA sends a handover measurement report to the source AP, so that the access controller AC that manages the source AP according to the handover measurement report and the determined access information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP, Determine the target AP after the STA is switched, and send switching instruction information including the target AP to the source AP; the access information includes: load information;

The STA is handed over to the target AP according to the handover indication information forwarded by the source AP and including the target AP.

Optionally, the STA determining the handover measurement report includes:

The STA receives the identification information of at least one neighboring AP sent by the source AP;

The STA determines the handover measurement report by initiating measurement to the at least one neighboring AP according to the identification information of the at least one neighboring AP.

An access controller AC provided by an embodiment of the present invention, C includes:

The receiving module is configured to receive the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source access point AP accessed by the user terminal STA; wherein the handover measurement report includes link quality information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP ;

A determining module, configured to determine a target AP after the STA performs access handover according to the handover measurement report and the determined access information of the at least one neighboring AP; wherein the access information includes load information;

A sending module, configured to send handover instruction information including the target AP to the source AP, so that the source AP forwards the handover instruction information to the STA.

A user terminal STA provided by an embodiment of the present invention includes:

A determining module, configured to determine a handover measurement report; wherein the handover measurement report includes link quality information of at least one neighboring AP of the source access point AP currently accessed by the STA,

A sending module, configured to send a handover measurement report to the source AP, so that the access controller AC managing the source AP accesses at least one neighboring AP of the source AP according to the handover measurement report and determined Information, determining the target AP after the STA is switched, and sending switching instruction information including the target AP to the source AP; the access information includes: load information;

A switching module, configured to switch to the target AP according to the switching instruction information forwarded by the source AP and including the target AP.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the STA reports the handover measurement report to the accessing source AP, and after the source AP forwards it to the AC, the AC determines the STA's access information according to the handover measurement report and the determined access information of the source AP's neighbor AP. Perform access to the target AP after handover, and indicate the target AP to the STA; because the embodiment of the present invention transfers the control right of the handover from the STA to the AC, the AC can combine the handover measurement report of the STA and the neighboring AP determined by itself The load information and other access information are used to select the target AP after handover for the STA, so that the load of the neighboring APs can be fully considered, and a suitable target AP can be selected for the STA to access. By adopting the embodiment of the present invention, the load among APs can be balanced, the success rate of switching can be improved, and the switching process can be saved, and the network load can be reduced.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an access switching method in a wireless local area network provided by Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the extended message format of the Exploration Response Probe Response frame defined by the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a message format of a handover measurement report defined in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a message format of handover instruction information defined in an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a schematic diagram of a message format of a load information query request defined in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a message format of a load request response message defined in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a handover process in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an access switching method in a wireless local area network provided by Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an access handover process in Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

As shown in FIG. 10, it is a schematic structural diagram of an AC provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an STA provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The basic idea of the embodiment of the present invention is to transfer the access handover control right from the STA to the AC, and the AC selects the access handover for the STA in combination with the STA handover measurement report and the determined access information such as the load information of the neighboring APs. In this way, the load of neighboring APs can be fully considered, and an appropriate target AP can be selected for the STA to balance the load among APs and improve the handover success rate.

The embodiments of the present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, it is a flow chart of the access switching method in the wireless local area network provided by Embodiment 1 of the present invention, including the following steps:

S101: The access controller AC receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source access point AP accessed by the user terminal STA; wherein the handover measurement report includes links of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP quality information;

S102: The AC determines, according to the handover measurement report and the determined access information of the at least one neighboring AP, the target AP after the STA performs an access handover; wherein the access information includes: load information ;

S103: The AC sends handover instruction information including the target AP to the source AP, so that the source AP forwards the handover instruction information to the STA.

In the specific implementation process, the STA can periodically scan the link quality of the currently accessed AP and the link quality of neighboring APs. When the link quality of the currently accessed AP is lower than the set threshold value, and/or Or when the packet loss rate is lower than the set threshold value, send a handover measurement report to the accessed source AP, or periodically send a handover measurement report to the source AP. After receiving the handover measurement report, the source AP will receive the handover measurement report. The handover measurement report is forwarded to the AC, and the AC determines the access information such as the load information of the neighboring AP involved in the handover measurement report, and according to the determined access information of the neighboring AP and the link quality information of the neighboring AP in the measurement report Determine the target AP after the AP performs access handover.

In the traditional solution, because the load of the target AP is not considered, when the number of target AP users is overloaded, it is easy to cause handover failure. At the same time, due to the handover failure, the STA needs to re-initiate a new handover process, which increases the load on the network side. , and the embodiment of the present invention can select the target AP according to the load condition of the neighboring APs, so as to improve the handover success rate and reduce the network load; moreover, in the traditional solution, since the load condition of the target AP is not considered, when the target AP When the access bandwidth is insufficient, the access rate of new access users cannot be guaranteed, and at the same time, the access rate of other users will be reduced. However, in the embodiment of the present invention, APs with relatively light loads in the neighborhood and guaranteed access rates can be selected as APs. The target AP can balance the load among APs and improve the user's access quality.

Optionally, before the AC receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source AP, the AC further includes:

The AC determines identification information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP;

The AC sends the determined identification information of the at least one neighboring AP to the source AP, so that the STA, after receiving the identification information of the at least one neighboring AP forwarded by the source AP, according to Identification information of the at least one neighboring AP, and initiate a measurement on the at least one neighboring AP.

In the specific implementation process, if the AC does not indicate the neighboring APs to the STA, the STA needs to scan every signal in all channels, the scanning time is long and the efficiency is low. To switch the scanning time and reduce the power consumption of STA, the AC can pre-configure the list of neighboring APs of the source AP internally, and send the list to the source AP through the network management or internal configuration interface. When the STA accesses the WLAN, The source AP notifies the STA of the neighboring AP list by exploring the extended field of the Probe Response frame, so that the STA only needs to scan the neighboring APs obtained through the ProbeResponse frame, which improves the scanning efficiency. Neighborhood AP information planned during the network design and construction phase can also provide effective guarantee for continuous signal coverage.

As shown in Figure 2, it is a schematic diagram of the extended message format of the probe response Probe Response frame defined in the embodiment of the present invention, including frame header (MAC Header), service set identifier (SSID), switchable AP list (HO APList), The element ID (Element ID) of the switched AP list, the length (Length) of the switchable AP list, the frame entity (Body), and the frame entity include: the cell ID (Element ID) of the frame entity, the length of the frame entity ( Length), channel number (Channel x), basic service set identifier (BSSID m...BSSID n), where the Body can include one or more related units, a channel includes multiple BSSIDs, and the BSSID is used as the identifier of the AP, that is Multiple APs with the same channel number exist in the neighborhood of the source AP.

Optionally, the handover measurement report further includes the link quality information of the source AP; after the AC receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source AP, before determining the target AP after the STA handover , further comprising: the AC determining that the STA needs to perform access handover according to the link quality information of the source AP; and/or,

The handover measurement report also includes the type of the handover measurement report, and the type of the handover measurement report is a periodic handover measurement report, or a timely handover measurement report reported by the STA after determining that access handover is required; After the AC receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source AP, before determining the target AP after the handover of the STA, the AC further includes: after the AC determines that the type of the handover measurement report is a timely handover measurement report , determining that the STA needs to perform access handover.

In the specific implementation process, the STA can only report the link quality information of the neighboring AP in the handover measurement report, or report the link quality information of the currently accessed source AP and the link quality information of the neighboring AP in the handover measurement report. Quality information, you can also report the link quality information of the currently accessed source AP, the link quality information of the neighbor AP, and the type of the handover measurement report in the handover measurement report; when the STA only reports the neighbor AP in the handover measurement report When receiving the handover measurement report, the AC can determine that the STA needs to perform access handover, and according to the link quality information of the neighboring AP reported by the STA and the determined access of the neighboring AP The information selects the target AP for the STA; when the STA reports the link quality information of the currently accessed source AP and the link quality information of the neighboring AP in the handover measurement report, the AC can use the link quality information of the source AP reported by the STA information to determine whether the STA needs to perform access handover. After determining that the STA needs to perform access handover, select the target for the STA according to the link quality information of the neighboring AP in the handover measurement report and the determined access information of the neighboring AP. AP; when the STA reports the link quality information of the currently accessed source AP, the link quality information of the neighboring AP, and the type of the handover measurement report in the handover measurement report, the AC can first check the handover measurement report Type, when it is determined that the type of the handover measurement report is a timely handover measurement report, it is determined that the handover measurement report is a handover measurement report reported by the STA when it finds that the link quality of the source AP it is currently accessing has deteriorated and needs to perform access handover , it is determined that the STA needs to perform access handover. When it is determined that the type of the handover measurement report is a periodic handover measurement report, it is necessary to further check the link quality information of the source AP in the handover measurement report. According to the link quality information of the source AP The channel quality information further determines whether the STA needs to perform access handover.

In the specific implementation process, the above-mentioned periodic reporting and timely reporting methods can be combined. In this way, the timeliness of handover can be guaranteed on both sides of the STA and the AC; in the traditional handover scheme, only when the lost beacon (Beacon ) The switch is triggered after the number of frames reaches the set threshold n, and generally n>5. Therefore, using the traditional method, the time delay from determining the need to switch to triggering the switch is more than 500ms, but using the embodiment of the present invention, the STA can be based on the current Link quality, after determining the need for handover, the handover measurement report is sent immediately, which greatly reduces the handover delay.

As shown in Figure 3, it is a schematic diagram of the message format of the handover measurement report defined in the embodiment of the present invention, including: frame type (Category), subframe type (Action), measurement report content (Measurement ReportElements), and information elements of measurement report content ID (Element ID), length of measurement report content (Length), type of handover measurement report (Type), frame entity (Body), frame entity includes: basic service set identifier (BSSID), channel number (Channel Id), field The signal strength (RSSI) of the AP, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the neighboring AP, and the noise floor (SNF) of the domain AP in the channel; among them, the Category can be set to 0, which represents the Action frame of the spectrum management class; Action is set to 40, or it can be set to any type that is not repeated with the existing Action message, which means it belongs to the newly defined Handover Measurement Report (Handover Measurement Report) frame type; Type can be set to 0 or 1, which are respectively represented as periods The permanent handover measurement report and the timely handover measurement report; the Body may include one or more related units, which respectively correspond to link quality information of different neighboring APs.

In the specific implementation process, when the AC determines that the STA needs to perform access handover according to the handover measurement report of the STA, it can use the link quality information of the neighboring AP in the handover measurement report and the determined access information of the neighboring AP as The STA selects a target AP, and places the identity of the target AP in the handover instruction information and sends it to the STA; as shown in Figure 4, it is a schematic diagram of the message format of the handover instruction information defined in the embodiment of the present invention, including: frame type (Category ), subframe type (Action), handover indication (Flag), frame entity (Body), frame entity includes: cell identifier (Element ID) of frame entity, length of frame entity (Length), basic service set of target AP Identification (BSSID), channel number (Channel Id) of the target AP, where Category can be set to 0, representing the Action frame of the spectrum management class; Action can be set to 40, or can be set to any and existing Action message The non-repeated type represents the newly defined Handover Indication (Handover Indication) frame type; the Flag value can be set to 0 or 1, indicating that handover needs to be performed and handover is not required.

Optionally, the link quality information includes one or more of signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, and noise floor.

In the specific implementation process, the AC or STA can judge whether the STA needs to perform access handover according to any of the above link quality information. For example, after determining that the signal strength of the source AP is lower than the set threshold, it is determined that the STA needs to For access switching, the target AP can also be determined according to any of the above link quality information, and the AC can also comprehensively consider the above multiple link quality information. When the value is low and the noise floor is high, it is determined that the link quality of the AP is poor.

Optionally, the AC determines the access information of any neighboring AP of the source AP according to the following steps:

After the AC determines that any one of the neighboring APs is an AP managed by the AC, querying the access information of the any one of the neighboring APs in the management information of the AC; or,

After the AC determines that any one of the neighboring APs is an AP managed by other ACs, it sends an access information query request to the other ACs, and receives the access information of any one of the neighboring APs sent by the other ACs. input information.

In the specific implementation process, the handover of the STA can be a Layer 2 handover, that is, switching from the source AP to another AP under the management of the same AC as the source AP, or a Layer 3 handover, that is, switching to another AP under the management of another AC. For an AP, if it is a Layer 2 handover, the AC that manages the source AP can directly query the access information of the target AP internally. If it is a Layer 3 handover, the AC that manages the source AP needs to send an access information query request to other ACs; in addition, Another way is also possible, namely:

According to the handover measurement report sent by the STA, the AC that manages the source AP inquires the AC that manages the APs in the area that can be handed over. After the handover is replied, the neighboring AP under the AC is selected as the target AP after the handover.

Optionally, the load information includes one or more of the following information:

The set number of access STAs;

The number of actually connected STAs;

The set STA access rate;

The average access rate of the actual access STA;

Central processing unit CPU usage.

In the specific implementation process, the neighbor APs of the source AP may include the neighbor APs under the management of the above-mentioned AC, and may also include the neighbor APs under the management of other ACs. For one of the neighbor APs, if the neighbor AP is the AC Managed AP, the AC can directly query its own management information to determine the access information of the neighboring AP. If the neighboring AP is managed by other ACs, the AC can send access information to other ACs Query request, and receive the access information returned by other ACs, where the access information includes load information; as shown in Figure 5, it is a schematic diagram of the message format of the load information query request defined in the embodiment of the present invention, including: IP header ( IP Header), load request (Load Request), the message length (Length) of the load information query request, the frame entity (Body), and the frame entity includes multiple basic service set identifiers (BSSID1...BSSID n), that is, multiple The mark of domain AP; As shown in Figure 6, it is a schematic diagram of the message format of the load request response message defined in the embodiment of the present invention, including: IP header (IPHeader), load response (Load Response), the message length of the load request response message (Length), frame entity (Body), and frame entity include: the cell identifier (Element ID) of the frame entity, the length (Length) of the frame entity, the basic service set identifier (BSSID), and the set number of access STAs ( Set User Num), the number of actual access STAs (Fact User Num), the set STA access rate (Set Rate), the actual average access rate of STA access (Fact Rate), and the CPU usage of the central processing unit ( CPU Rate).

Optionally, in step S101, the access information further includes: access bandwidth information;

The AC determines the target AP after the STA performs access handover according to the handover measurement report and the determined access information of the at least one neighboring AP, including:

The AC determines at least one first candidate target AP according to link quality information and load information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP;

The AC determines at least one second candidate target AP from the at least one first candidate target AP according to the access bandwidth information of the at least one first candidate target AP;

The AC determines the target AP after the handover of the STA from the at least one second candidate target AP according to the link quality information of the at least one second candidate target AP.

In the specific implementation process, in addition to the above-mentioned link quality information and load information, the AC can also determine the target AP after the STA handover in combination with the access bandwidth information of the neighboring APs; The schematic diagram of the handover process in the example; the AC can determine the target AP after the STA handover according to the following steps:

S701: The AC receives the handover measurement report sent by the STA;

S702: AC judges whether the STA needs to perform access handover according to the link quality information of the source AP in the handover measurement report; if so, proceed to step S703; otherwise, proceed to step S708;

S703: AC obtains AP list 1 (APlist1) available for handover from the received handover measurement report;

S704: The AC determines the load rate of each AP in APlist1, and obtains an AP list 2 (APlist2) whose current load rate is lower than a set threshold from APlist1; for example, the set threshold can be set to 70%;

S705: According to the link quality information of neighboring APs in the received handover measurement report, the AC selects AP list 3 (APlist3) whose link quality parameter is greater than the set threshold from APlist2; the link quality parameter here can be signal strength, Signal-to-noise ratio, etc.;

S706: The AC selects an AP with an optimal access bandwidth mode from APlist3 according to the determined access bandwidth information of each AP in APlist3 to form APlist4;

S707: According to the received handover measurement report, the AC selects the AP with the best link quality from the APlist4 as the target AP after the STA performs access handover, and indicates it to the STA;

S708: the AC instructs the STA not to perform access handover.

Corresponding to the AC side-based access handover method above, the following embodiments of the present invention provide an STA-side access handover method. The principle of solving problems in the following embodiments is similar to that of the above-mentioned embodiment, and repeated descriptions will not be repeated.

As shown in FIG. 8, it is a flow chart of the access switching method in the wireless local area network provided by Embodiment 2 of the present invention, including:

S801: The user terminal STA determines a handover measurement report; wherein, the handover measurement report includes link quality information of at least one neighboring AP of the source access point AP currently accessed by the STA;

S802: The user terminal STA sends a handover measurement report to the source AP, so that the access controller AC that manages the source AP accesses at least one neighboring AP of the source AP according to the handover measurement report and determined Information, determining the target AP after the STA is switched, and sending switching instruction information including the target AP to the source AP; the access information includes: load information;

S803: The STA switches to the target AP according to the handover indication information forwarded by the source AP and including the target AP.

Optionally, in step S801, the STA determines the handover measurement report, including:

The STA receives the identification information of at least one neighboring AP sent by the source AP;

The STA determines the handover measurement report by initiating measurement to the at least one neighboring AP according to the identification information of the at least one neighboring AP.

Optionally, in step S802, the STA sends a handover measurement report to the source AP, including:

The STA periodically sends a handover measurement report to the source AP; and/or,

The STA sends a handover measurement report to the source AP after determining that the STA needs to perform access handover according to the link quality information of the source AP.

Optionally, the link quality information includes one or more of signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, and noise floor.

The scheme of the embodiment of the present invention is further described below through a specific embodiment;

As shown in FIG. 9, it is a schematic diagram of an access handover process in Embodiment 3 of the present invention, including:

S901: The source AC pre-configures the neighbor AP list of the source AP accessed by the STA, and sends the neighbor AP list to the AP through the network management or internal configuration interface;

Here, the source AP's neighbor AP list pre-configured inside the source AC is information determined in advance according to the WLAN network planning, and specifically includes routing information of the AP and the source AC to which it belongs, such as MAC address and IP address.

S902: When the STA is accessing the WLAN, the source AP notifies the STA of the neighboring AP list through the extended field of the Probe Response;

S903: The STA periodically scans the access link quality and the link quality of the domain AP; when the STA's access link quality or packet loss rate is lower than the set threshold value, the STA sends a handover measurement report to the source AP, Or, the STA periodically sends a handover measurement report;

S904: The source AP forwards the received handover measurement report to the source AC;

S905: The source AC receives the handover measurement report of the STA, judges whether the STA needs to perform access handover according to the uplink and downlink quality of the STA in the handover measurement report, and if so, proceeds to step S906, otherwise proceeds to step S907;

Here, the source AC needs to pre-configure the signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, and noise floor threshold related to the link quality as trigger conditions for handover.

S906: The source AC traverses the list of neighboring APs in the handover measurement report, queries the load information of each managed neighboring AP in the list in the source AC, and the bandwidth permission for user access, and/or, sends to other neighboring ACs Query requests for load information of neighboring APs managed by other neighboring ACs, and receive load information sent by other neighboring ACs;

S907: The source AC determines the target AP after the STA performs access handover according to the queried or received load information, the bandwidth permission of the user access, and the handover measurement report reported by the STA;

S908: The source AC issues target AP information to be handed over to the STA through the AP;

S909: The STA initiates a handover process to the above-mentioned target AP according to the information delivered by the source AC. The specific handover process refers to the existing IEEE 802.11r related regulations, and will not be repeated here.

Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiment of the present invention also provides an access switching device (AC and STA) corresponding to the access switching method in WLAN. The method of access switching in the embodiment is similar, so the implementation of the device can refer to the implementation of the method, and the repetition will not be repeated.

As shown in Figure 10, it is a schematic diagram of the AC structure provided by the embodiment of the present invention, including:

The receiving module 101 is configured to receive the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source access point AP accessed by the user terminal STA; wherein the handover measurement report includes the link quality of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP information;

A determination module 102, configured to determine a target AP after the STA performs access handover according to the handover measurement report and the determined access information of the at least one neighboring AP; wherein the access information includes load information ;

The sending module 103 is configured to send handover instruction information including the target AP to the source AP, so that the source AP forwards the handover instruction information to the STA.

Optionally, the determining module 102 is further configured to, before the receiving module receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source AP, determine the identification information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP;

The sending module 103 is further configured to send the determined identification information of the at least one neighboring AP to the source AP, so that the STA receives the at least one neighboring AP forwarded by the source AP. After the identification information of the at least one neighboring AP, initiate a measurement on the at least one neighboring AP.

Optionally, the handover measurement report further includes link quality information of the source AP; the determining module 102 is further configured to receive, in the receiving module 101, the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source AP Afterwards, before the determining module 102 determines the target AP after the STA is switched, according to the link quality information of the source AP, it is determined that the STA needs to perform access switching; and/or,

The handover measurement report also includes the type of the handover measurement report, and the type of the handover measurement report is a periodic handover measurement report, or a timely handover measurement report reported by the STA after determining that access handover is required; The determining module 102 is further configured to determine the The type of the handover measurement report is that after the timely handover measurement report, it is determined that the STA needs to perform access handover.

Optionally, the determining module 102 is specifically configured to determine the access information of any neighboring AP of the source AP according to the following steps:

After determining that any one of the neighboring APs is an AP managed by the AC, querying the access information of the any one of the neighboring APs in the management information of the AC; or,

After determining that any one of the neighboring APs is an AP managed by other ACs, an access information query request is sent to the other ACs, and the access information of any one of the neighboring APs sent by the other ACs is received.

Optionally, the link quality information includes one or more of signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, and noise floor.

Optionally, the load information includes one or more of the following information:

The set number of access STAs;

The number of actually connected STAs;

The set STA access rate;

The average access rate of the actual access STA;

Central processing unit CPU usage.

Optionally, the access information further includes: access bandwidth information; the determining module 102 is specifically configured to: determine at least one second access bandwidth information according to link quality information and load information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP. A candidate target AP; according to the access bandwidth information of the at least one first candidate target AP, determine at least one second candidate target AP from the at least one first candidate target AP; according to the at least one second candidate The link quality information of the target AP, from the at least one second candidate target AP, determines the target AP after the STA handover.

As shown in Figure 11, it is a schematic diagram of the STA structure provided by the embodiment of the present invention. The STA includes:

A determining module 111, configured to determine a handover measurement report; wherein, the handover measurement report includes link quality information of at least one neighboring AP of the source access point AP currently accessed by the STA,

A sending module 112, configured to send a handover measurement report to the source AP, so that the access controller AC that manages the source AP can use the handover measurement report and the determined access of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP input information, determine the target AP after the STA is switched, and send switching instruction information including the target AP to the source AP; the access information includes: load information;

The switching module 113 is configured to switch to the target AP according to the switching instruction information forwarded by the source AP and including the target AP.

Optionally, the determining module 111 is specifically configured to:

receiving the identification information of at least one neighboring AP sent by the source AP; and determining a handover measurement report by initiating measurement to the at least one neighboring AP according to the identification information of the at least one neighboring AP.

Optionally, the sending module 112 is specifically configured to:

periodically sending handover measurement reports to the source AP; and/or,

After determining that the STA needs to perform access handover according to the link quality information of the source AP, send a handover measurement report to the source AP.

Optionally, the link quality information includes one or more of signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, and noise floor.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present invention may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Accordingly, the present invention can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It should be understood that each procedure and/or block in the flowchart and/or block diagram, and combinations of procedures and/or blocks in the flowchart and/or block diagram can be realized by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or processor of other programmable data processing equipment to produce a machine such that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing equipment produce a Means for realizing the functions specified in one or more steps of the flowchart and/or one or more blocks of the block diagram.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to operate in a specific manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture comprising instruction means, the instructions The device realizes the function specified in one or more procedures of the flowchart and/or one or more blocks of the block diagram.

These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device, causing a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby The instructions provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow chart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described, additional changes and modifications to these embodiments can be made by those skilled in the art once the basic inventive concept is appreciated. Therefore, it is intended that the appended claims be construed to cover the preferred embodiment as well as all changes and modifications which fall within the scope of the invention.

Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalent technologies, the present invention also intends to include these modifications and variations.

Claims (22)

1. A method for access switching in a wireless local area network, characterized in that the method comprises: The access controller AC receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source access point AP accessed by the user terminal STA; wherein the handover measurement report includes link quality information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP ; The AC determines a target AP after the STA performs access handover according to the handover measurement report and the determined access information of the at least one neighboring AP; wherein the access information includes load information; The AC sends handover instruction information including the target AP to the source AP, so that the source AP forwards the handover instruction information to the STA. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein before the AC receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source AP, further comprising: The AC determines identification information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP; The AC sends the determined identification information of the at least one neighboring AP to the source AP, so that the STA, after receiving the identification information of the at least one neighboring AP forwarded by the source AP, according to Identification information of the at least one neighboring AP, and initiate a measurement on the at least one neighboring AP. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the handover measurement report further includes link quality information of the source AP; after the AC receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source AP, Before determining the target AP after the STA is handed over, the method further includes: the AC determines that the STA needs to perform access handover according to the link quality information of the source AP; and/or, The handover measurement report also includes the type of the handover measurement report, and the type of the handover measurement report is a periodic handover measurement report, or a timely handover measurement report reported by the STA after determining that access handover is required; After the AC receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source AP, before determining the target AP after the handover of the STA, the AC further includes: after the AC determines that the type of the handover measurement report is a timely handover measurement report , determining that the STA needs to perform access handover. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the AC determines the access information of any neighboring AP of the source AP according to the following steps: After the AC determines that any one of the neighboring APs is an AP managed by the AC, querying the access information of the any one of the neighboring APs in the management information of the AC; or, After the AC determines that any one of the neighboring APs is an AP managed by other ACs, it sends an access information query request to the other ACs, and receives the access information of any one of the neighboring APs sent by the other ACs. input information. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the link quality information includes one or more of signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, and noise floor. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the load information includes one or more of the following information: The set number of access STAs; The number of actually connected STAs; The set STA access rate; The average access rate of the actual access STA; Central processing unit CPU usage. 7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein the access information further includes: access bandwidth information; The AC determines the target AP after the STA performs access handover according to the handover measurement report and the determined access information of the at least one neighboring AP, including: The AC determines at least one first candidate target AP according to link quality information and load information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP; The AC determines at least one second candidate target AP from the at least one first candidate target AP according to the access bandwidth information of the at least one first candidate target AP; The AC determines the target AP after the handover of the STA from the at least one second candidate target AP according to the link quality information of the at least one second candidate target AP. 8. An access switching method in a wireless local area network, characterized in that the method comprises: The user terminal STA determines a handover measurement report; wherein, the handover measurement report includes link quality information of at least one neighboring AP of the source access point AP currently accessed by the STA, The user terminal STA sends a handover measurement report to the source AP, so that the access controller AC that manages the source AP according to the handover measurement report and the determined access information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP, Determine the target AP after the STA is switched, and send switching instruction information including the target AP to the source AP; the access information includes: load information; The STA is handed over to the target AP according to the handover indication information forwarded by the source AP and including the target AP. 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the STA determining the handover measurement report comprises: The STA receives the identification information of at least one neighboring AP sent by the source AP; The STA determines the handover measurement report by initiating measurement to the at least one neighboring AP according to the identification information of the at least one neighboring AP. 10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the STA sends a handover measurement report to the source AP, comprising: The STA periodically sends a handover measurement report to the source AP; and/or, The STA sends a handover measurement report to the source AP after determining that the STA needs to perform access handover according to the link quality information of the source AP. 11. The method according to any one of claims 8-10, wherein the link quality information includes one or more of signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, and noise floor. 12. An access controller AC, characterized in that the AC comprises: The receiving module is configured to receive the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source access point AP accessed by the user terminal STA; wherein the handover measurement report includes link quality information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP ; A determining module, configured to determine a target AP after the STA performs access handover according to the handover measurement report and the determined access information of the at least one neighboring AP; wherein the access information includes load information; A sending module, configured to send handover instruction information including the target AP to the source AP, so that the source AP forwards the handover instruction information to the STA. 13. The AC according to claim 12, wherein the determining module is further configured to, before the receiving module receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source AP, determine the STA handover measurement report of the source AP Identification information of at least one neighboring AP; The sending module is further configured to send the determined identification information of the at least one neighboring AP to the source AP, so that the STA receives the information of the at least one neighboring AP forwarded by the source AP. After identifying the information, initiate a measurement on the at least one neighboring AP according to the identification information of the at least one neighboring AP. 14. The AC according to claim 12, wherein the handover measurement report further includes link quality information of the source AP; the determining module is further configured to receive the source AP at the receiving module After the handover measurement report of the STA is forwarded, before the determination module determines the target AP after the handover of the STA, according to the link quality information of the source AP, determine that the STA needs to perform access handover; and/or , The handover measurement report also includes the type of the handover measurement report, and the type of the handover measurement report is a periodic handover measurement report, or a timely handover measurement report reported by the STA after determining that access handover is required; The determining module is further configured to, after the receiving module receives the handover measurement report of the STA forwarded by the source AP, before the determining module determines the target AP after the handover of the STA, before determining the handover measurement report After the type is the timely handover measurement report, it is determined that the STA needs to perform access handover. 15. The AC according to claim 12, wherein the determination module is specifically configured to determine the access information of any neighboring AP of the source AP according to the following steps: After determining that any one of the neighboring APs is an AP managed by the AC, querying the access information of the any one of the neighboring APs in the management information of the AC; or, After determining that any one of the neighboring APs is an AP managed by other ACs, an access information query request is sent to the other ACs, and the access information of any one of the neighboring APs sent by the other ACs is received. 16. The AC according to claim 12, wherein the link quality information includes one or more of signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, and noise floor. 17. The AC according to claim 12, wherein the load information includes one or more of the following information: The set number of access STAs; The number of actually connected STAs; The set STA access rate; The average access rate of the actual access STA; Central processing unit CPU usage. 18. The AC according to any one of claims 12-17, wherein the access information further includes: access bandwidth information; The determining module is specifically configured to: determine at least one first candidate target AP according to link quality information and load information of at least one neighboring AP of the source AP; Bandwidth information, from the at least one first candidate target AP, determine at least one second candidate target AP; according to the link quality information of the at least one second candidate target AP, from the at least one second candidate target AP , determine the target AP after the STA handover. 19. A user terminal STA, characterized in that the STA includes: A determining module, configured to determine a handover measurement report; wherein the handover measurement report includes link quality information of at least one neighboring AP of the source access point AP currently accessed by the STA, A sending module, configured to send a handover measurement report to the source AP, so that the access controller AC managing the source AP accesses at least one neighboring AP of the source AP according to the handover measurement report and determined Information, determining the target AP after the STA is switched, and sending switching instruction information including the target AP to the source AP; the access information includes: load information; A switching module, configured to switch to the target AP according to the switching instruction information forwarded by the source AP and including the target AP. 20. The STA according to claim 19, wherein the determining module is specifically configured to: receiving the identification information of at least one neighboring AP sent by the source AP; and determining a handover measurement report by initiating measurement to the at least one neighboring AP according to the identification information of the at least one neighboring AP. 21. The STA according to claim 19, wherein the sending module is specifically used for: periodically sending handover measurement reports to the source AP; and/or, After determining that the STA needs to perform access handover according to the link quality information of the source AP, send a handover measurement report to the source AP. 22. The STA according to any one of claims 19-21, wherein the link quality information includes one or more of signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio and noise floor.